TMS Ep577: Assembly election results, PMGKAY extension, Santa rally, COP28

Results of four out five state elections are out, and BJP has bagged three of them. The result for the fifth and remaining state of Mizoram will be declared today. While BJP’s plan of regaining a foothold in south India couldn’t take off as Congress bagged Telangana, the saffron party emerged stronger in north by winning MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. So what do these results tell us about the future course of Indian politics? To find out, Business Standard’s Ankur Bhardwaj caught up with National Affairs Editor, Archis Mohan. 

At an election rally in Chhattisgarh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to extend the free food grains programme by another five years. And just last week, the Union Cabinet gave its nod to the extension -- which is likely to cost around 11.8 trillion rupees to the exchequer over five years. It comes at a time when MSP of several crops has been revised upwards and subsidy bills on petroleum and fertilisers are soaring. So has the government budgeted enough for the free foodgrains scheme? 

Indeed, tax buoyancy and impressive GDP numbers suggest that India can afford to offer free foodgrains to the needy. Meanwhile, good second quarter numbers also gave the markets a reason to cheer. The Nifty50 index started off December by claiming new highs. The index topped the psychological level of 20,250 last Friday, and hit a fresh lifetime high of 20,292. Interestingly, our markets have rallied during 3 of the last 4 December months. So, is this the start of a yet another Santa rally in our markets? Find out what market experts think of the markets, sectors to bet on, and key levels that investors should watch out

The last week also brought cheers to developing nations on the climate change front. On the first day of COP28, member countries agreed to make operational the loss and damage fund. And on the same day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed to host the UN climate conference in 2028 or COP33 in India. Listen to this episode of the podcast for more about COP and also the loss and damage fund.