Financialisation and Slow Growth in Private Investment

SINCE the global financial crisis, investment growth has not recovered to its pre-crisis level worldwide. India despite being a fast growing economy, the growth in gross fixed capital formation shows a declining trend in the past two decades. In the post-crisis period, the governments introduced various institutional reforms in the rubric of ‘ease of doing business’, also corporates could have greater access to finance and external borrowings and public investment was geared to crowd in private corporate investment.

Let’s Not Misread Recent Fall in Inflation

THIS is indeed good news that the combined general consumer price index (CPI) declined for the fourth consecutive month from January 2023 to April 2023. In rural areas the successive decline in inflation as per the general CPI is also recorded for the past four months and in case of urban areas, the decline in inflation is for the third consecutive month.Inflation figures measure the change in prices on a month on month or year on year basis reflecting the rise in prices with reference to previous time point.

Disconcerting Trends in the Economy

THE recovery of the economy immediately after the pandemic was reflected through positive and increasing growth in various sectors as businesses were back to normalcy. Much of these growth rates have been reflective of the pent up demand accumulated due to lock down and related disruptions. India records a relatively high growth rate compared to other countries and is estimated to be the second largest contributor of regional growth after China.

Capitalism and Unfree Labour

WAGE labour is a distinctive feature of capitalism but not necessarily all wage labour can be considered as ‘free labour’, neither is it true that capitalism is inimical to unfree labour. Marx sarcastically mentioned that a worker is doubly free in the sense s/he is free to sell labour power as her/his own commodity and also free of all means of production by which s/he could have valorised her/his own labour.

Patriarchy Subsidises Capitalism

THE uninterrupted supply of labour in capitalism is ensured by a socio-cultural arrangement of producing the ‘worker’ within family and household. This is not a capitalist site of production where goods and services are produced as commodities by engaging wage labour. Instead the worker as an able-bodied subject is produced within the family by involving unpaid labour.While discussing about primary accumulation of capital, Marx did refer to a process of alienating direct producers from the means of production and this has been done by the use of coercion.

Annual PLFS Report: Increased Vulnerability and Erosion of Rights

THE latest annual report of Periodic Labour Force Survey, 2021-22 published by NSSO, Government of India draws attention to many perennial problems that India seems to be facing in the employment front. True indeed that the annual unemployment rate has marginally declined compared to the pandemic period but the structural concerns such as high rates of youth unemployment, high unemployment rates within the educated, increased vulnerability due to rising self-employment and erosion of rights of regular salaried workers, continue to remain as dark spots in India’s labour market.

…And A World to Win!

THE Communist Manifesto begins with the profound observation that the history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggles indicating history in the making through class contestations. Capitalism has undergone different regimes of accumulation coordinated through institutions and regulations conducive for particular regimes.

Workers and the Poor under Neoliberalism

THESE days talking about rights of people as individuals or as groups defined by specific identities, marginalised due to cultural and reasons other than that related to work is acceptable and seems fashionable but raising issues of workers is something which is considered to be dangerous! All oppressed people can legitimately raise their voice for their right and dignity but not workers who are exploited by capital, an impersonal systemic class rule.

Cronyism and the Optical Illusion of ‘National Interest’

THE impact of the short seller Hindenburg report on Adani’s share values and the consequent political response of the government reveals some of the worrying trends that the Indian economy seems to be witnessing at the moment. It is not so surprising that the Indian State came forward in defense of big capital which in any case it had been doing for the past couple of decades and also ‘cronyism’ is not a new trait in India’s history of State-business relationship.

Budget 2023-24: Hoax of ‘Populist’ Relief

THE first advance estimates released by the NSO on January 6, estimates the nominal GDP of India for the current financial year 2022-23 to be Rs 273 lakh crores and in this backdrop the budget proposed by the finance minister projects a 10.5 per cent nominal growth leading to a nominal GDP of 301 lakh crores for the financial year 2023-24. The Economic Survey 2022-23 estimates a real growth rate for the year 2023-24 to be 6.5 per cent as the baseline figure which indicates an implicit inflation to the tune of 4 per cent for the financial year 2023-24.

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Peoples Democracy

economic policy & Labour