News digest: Govt bats for rate cut, Subramanian to stay as CEA, and more

From CEA Arvind Subramanian's term extension to Modi's promise of providing housing to all, BS brings you up to speed with latest

Govt bats for rate cut to revive growth

The government has started advocating another rate cut from the Reserve Bank of India’s six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) — to spur lending and consumption, and revive the economy. “There is scope for monetary easing because of inflation projections. Inflation last month picked up but our analysis has taken that into consideration… We had based it on a mid-term inflation of 4 per cent,” said a senior official on Saturday when asked what the Centre thought of another rate cut. The next meeting of the MPC is on October 3-4. Read more

CEA Subramanian gets a year’s extension

Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Arvind Subramanian (pictured) will continue in his current role for at least a year beyond his tenure, which ends on October 16, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Saturday. This ended weeks of speculation on Subramanian’s future in the government; there were reports that he would quit before his tenure was over. Read more

Unified regulator for GIFT City on the cards

The Union finance ministry is finalising norms for a unified regulator for the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) situated at GIFT City in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, which has clocked $7 billion of business in banking, insurance, and capital markets so far. Read more

PM promises homes for all in 5 years, jobs

Amid expectation that the Centre might soon announce a booster shot for the economy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday reiterated his government’s promise of providing every poor person, whether living in rural or urban areas, a house by 2022. The PM said his government and party’s agenda was development, not merely votes. Read more

Amazon picks 5% in Shoppers Stop for Rs 180 cr

US online retail giant Amazon has picked up a 5 per cent stake in Shoppers Stop for Rs 179.26 crore, its first foray into India’s offline retail space as it looks to beat rivals Flipkart and Paytm Mall. E-commerce is estimated to make up only 2 per cent of India’s overall retail sector, with nearly half of the sales coming from smartphones. Read more