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Dear Readers,

Wishing you an ensuing Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has laid out a vision for Bharat to achieve an economy size of USD five trillion by 2024-2025. PM Modiji and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman have reiterated that wealth creators and job creators need to be respected. In fact they need protection from external forces including unstable policies and regulations, and their problems need to be addressed holistically and realistically. Reputed family businesses over many centuries have fallen victim to external forces. When their reputation gets damaged, they are unable to launch new ventures. Despite their efforts they are unable to revive the risk appetite as requested by the PM and the FM. Lenders are also in the grip of fear psychosis. When some ventures where they had lent, later ran into rough weather, the commercial decisions of approving such loans have been questioned and investigated, even leading to penalisation of such lenders at times. Of late, the bankers, in order to play safe, have almost stopped differentiating between wilful defaulters and those borrowers who have delayed the payments due to genuine problems.

Unrealistic harsh measures have been pushing the productive assets into NPA and ultimately being sold off at rock bottom prices (many a time to the overseas fund managers) affecting employment and national growth. Although the FM has expressed her willingness to protect lenders and their jobs, bankers are preferring to play it safe. For all these reasons credit flow (debt) has fallen. Deposits have been growing, meanwhile lenders’ and financial institutions’ earnings are getting affected as credit flow is falling.

The new regulations and norms are making the operational environment increasingly challenging for industries, especially MSMEs, retailers and NBFCs which are being pushed into insolvency.

Most wealth and job creators are on a debt-reducing spree. Hindalco Industries has planned to repay `6,000 crore debt from next June to bring down its debt further. The company has already reduced its net debt to ` 66,831 crore as of September-end against ` 78,266 crore recorded in the same period last year. The USD 83-billion oil-to-telecom-to-retail giant, Reliance Indus-tries Limited (RIL), declared in July that it has become net debt-free. State-owned SAIL reduced its debt by 30.5%, while Jindal Steel reduced its debt by 29.7%.

NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar said, “We expect India’s real GDP growth in 2021 22 to exceed 10% supported by a record Kharif crop and bright Rabi prospects. This will boost rural demand and spur the revival in the manufacturing sector with improving capacity utilisation. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has retained India’s GDP growth forecasts at 9.5% in 2021 and 8.5% for 2022. According to Bibek Debroy, Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to PM, “India’s economy is expected to grow by 9-11% this fiscal, followed by a 6-7% growth next year, with chances of a third wave of the pandemic being slim.”

The economies of the USA and China are expected to grow at 6% and 8% respectively in 2021, according to the IMF. The real GDP growth for the advanced economies is projected to be 5.2% in 2021, while that for the emerging market and developing economies will be at 6.4%.

Economists expect the fiscal deficit to be near 6% in FY 2022-23. India’s merchandise exports during April-October 2021 stood at USD 232.58 billion, while merchandise imports during the same period stood at USD 331.29 billion. The trade deficit was USD 98.71 billion during April-October 2021.

Fitch rating agency affirmed India’s long term foreign currency issuance default rating at “BBB-” with a negative outlook citing reduced risk to the country’s medium term prospects. The agency forecast India’s GDP growth rate in 2022-23 at 8.7%, lower than RBI, IMF and peer Moody’s investor service projected recently, but said the country’s economy would grow at around 10% in FY 2023. Fitch forecasts GDP growth of 7% between FY 24 and FY26.

After 18 months the PM has promised to repeal three agri-laws by offering an apology for being unable to convince a section of farmers. Farmers are cheering, but will continue their agitation till guarantee of MSP of crops is not given by parliament.

It is acclaimed that PM Modiji’s top priority has been the growth of economy and employment. He has been vocal about the need to support wealth and job creators. He exhorted the banks to fund them. Banks should not only work just towards building on their balance sheet, but also the wealth sheet of the Nation. Banks are flushed with liquidity. Banks can play a big role in making projects viable through their support and expertise.

Wealth and job creators’ inherent nature is to take risks, and their success works in the greater interest of the Nation and the goods and services those ventures create for the people. Lord Krishna told Arjuna in the battle field of Mahabharata (Bhagwad Gita) all men and women work according to inherent nature (inborn intelligence as defined by Lord Krishna). Many wealth and job creator families have been destroyed in the endeavours to clean the balance sheet of the lenders. It is reported  that, 35000 wealth and job creators have left Bharat and settled overseas. Their youth do not venture in business
in own motherland.

The Kanoria Foundation and SREI Foundation, along with Business Economics and the Universal Spirituality and Humanity Foundation, will be organizing the 14th WCHPS on 17th and 18th December, 2021 on a virtual platform. A galaxy of global political and religious leaders, philosophers, eminent writers, entrepreneurs, enlightened persons, scholars, industrialists, businessmen, eminent personalities and youth will participate. The confluence will infuse and ignite the message of world peace, harmony, love, unity, righteousness, service, devotion to work, prosperity, happiness, austerity, simplicity, women empowerment, creation and generation of wealth for the welfare of all and protection of Mother Earth.

Spirituality unites. It fosters humanity. It balances the outer power – power of money, power of muscles and power of authority. It awakens inner power.

We have to focus on “Service for Humanity and Nature” following the path shown by Swami Vivekananda as he said, “Ye fools! Who neglect the living God and these infinite reflections with which the world is full, Him worships – the only visible knowable, real, omnipresent, break all other idols!” Paramhansa Sri Ramakrishna said “Jeeva Sheva is Shiva Seva (service to living beings is service to Lord Shiva / Almighty)”.