Top headlines: Wealth tax on super rich, weak rural demand, and more

Business Standard brings you the top headlines on Tuesday morning

Economic Survey 2021-22: Fiscal space may allow capital expenditure push

The Economic Survey 2021-22, penned by Principal Economic Advisor Sanjeev Sanyal and his team at North Block, not only did away with one of the volumes started by former chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian, but was also bereft of any big-bang ideas for the government.

It is not that ideas given in the earlier Economic Surveys, such as the Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile (JAM) trinity, universal basic income, and printing more money, were all accepted by the government, but those did stir debates on policymaking. However, a day ahead of the Union Budget for 2022-23, the Survey said the government had the fiscal space to ramp up capital spending. Read more

Economic Survey estimates conservative, says CEA V Anantha Nageswaran

In his first public appearance since being appointed the chief economic advisor, V Anantha Nageswaran said on Monday that the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) growth projections in the Economic Survey of 2021-22 are conservative compared to other agencies.

Nageswaran said the Survey’s assumption that crude oil prices will average at $70-75 a barrel through the year is realistic. Read more

2% wealth tax on super rich likely to fetch nearly Rs 1.1 trillion

A wealth tax on the super rich or billionaires is gaining traction globally with several uber-wealthy individuals in the US and western Europe themselves advocating a higher tax on them.

At present, taxes are largely levied on income, proceeds from asset sales, and economic transactions, such as production and sales of goods & services. But there is no tax if the super rich choose to accumulate their wealth, rather than sell it. This, some critics argue, has resulted in a big source of wealth and income, escaping the tax net. Read more

Weak rural demand takes a toll on consumer segment, say experts

Weak rural demand has become a concern not just for the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry, but it has impacted sales of other consumer segments like consumer durables and apparels as well.

Sanjiv Mehta, chairman and managing director of Hindustan Unilever told Business Standard in a recent interview, “Value growth in rural areas is still positive. Negative growth is volume growth. That’s very clearly a distinction because the headline growth is still positive. And, there are a couple of things which I would say. One is the unprecedented inflation, which has taken place in some of the big categories over the last two years.” Read more

For gig workers, labour rights and benefits remain elusive in India

The recent protests by employees of Urban Company and the case of a  a Zomato delivery executive who died in a road accident point to the severely straitened condition of gig workers during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. 

Budget 2021 had promised several measures to help the cause of gig economy workers, but most of them are yet to see the light of day. Even after a year, the country’s gig workers continue to be without any social security cover or a minimum wage guarantee. Read more

States charge up for a data centre boom as global majors bet big on India

In her 2020 Union Budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman outlined a national data policy, citing the truism that data is the new oil. Some months before that, in 2019, Europe’s largest data centre hubs, Amsterdam and Singapore, which accounted for 60 per cent of Southeast Asia’s data centre supply, had announced a pause citing reasons from higher power intake to environmental sustainability. Read more