India: fifth largest economy

India recently overtook the UK to take over as the fifth-largest economy in the world.

Image source - Indianexpress

Important Points

India overtook the UK to take over as the world's fifth-largest economy in the final quarter of 2021.

India increased its lead in the first quarter of the computation, which is based on US dollars, according to IMF GDP data.

India vs. the UK

• The nominal cash size of the Indian economy in the quarter through March was $854.7 billion on an adjusted basis and using the dollar exchange rate on the last day of the relevant quarter.
• The UK was $816 billion based on the same figures.
• With the pound losing 8% against the rupee this year, sterling has underperformed the dollar relative to the Indian currency.
• Impact on the UK: For the next Prime Minister, the UK's slide down international rankings is an undesirable backdrop.
• The country is dealing with the nation's greatest inflation rate in four decades as well as growing recession risks, which the Bank of England predicts might persist well beyond 2024.

India's Development

• This year, the Indian economy is anticipated to expand by more than 7%.
• Indian equities have recently recovered, and as a result, their position in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index has risen to the second slot, behind only China's.
• According to the IMF's forecast, India will pass the UK in dollar terms annually this year, leaving the Asian powerhouse just behind the US, China, Japan, and Germany.
• India was the eleventh-largest economy ten years ago, while the UK was the fifth-largest.

Comparison and Problems

• One of the most important contrasts between the two countries is their population sizes.
• India will have 1.41 billion people as of 2022, compared to the UK's 68.5 million people.
• In other words, India’s population is 20 times that of the UK’s.
• It seems unlikely that this gap will be closed quickly.
• GDP per capita: Since there is such a large disparity in the size of the two countries' populations, dividing a country's GDP by its population makes for a more accurate comparison of income levels.
• Unsurprisingly, the ordinary Indian's salary is far lower.

Human Development Index:

• The health, education and standard of living indicators that make up the Human Development Index are combined.
• India's position on the HDI contrasts with the UK's.
• Despite its secular progress, India may still require ten years to catch up to the UK in 1980.

Universal Healthcare Coverage (UHC):

• The UHC Index is based on the average coverage of key services such as reproductive, maternity, neonatal, and child health, infectious illnesses, non-communicable diseases, service capacity, and access, and is scaled from 0 (worst) to 100 (best).
• There is still a long way to go, even if India's faster economic growth and the government's policy focus on healthcare programs since 2005 have made a noticeable improvement.

Way Forward

• Increasing Government Spending: Increasing the combined tax-to-GDP ratio is a necessary condition for increasing the size of government spending as a percentage of GDP. Furthermore, by the middle of the 2030s, the combined expenditure on health and education should reach 3% and 6% of GDP, respectively, before increasing to roughly 5%.
• A balanced fiscal policy should also ensure that the total government revenue accounts are in balance and that all capital receipts, including fiscal deficits for capital expenditures, are utilised.
• Technology Adoption: Investing in education and technical skills would hasten India's adoption of foreign technologies, hence boosting the growth-promoting effects of technology.
• Data from the International Labour Organization (ILO) show that India's female labour force participation rate has been dropping recently. According to ILO predictions, this rate could drop as low as 18.6% in 2020. Women's participation in productive activities may actually rise if the emphasis is placed on their health and education.
• Increased savings and investment: A positive feedback loop of increased per capita income, decreased dependency ratio, and increased female earnings in the family may encourage increased savings and investment, and subsequently growth.

Also, Read - Digital Lending

Digital Lending

Image Source - Inc42

The Reserve Bank of India recently stated that regulated businesses providing credit through digital lending will have until November 30 to adhere to the lending standards for already-existing digital loans.

About digital lending

• It entails financing through websites or mobile applications while utilizing technology for authentication and credit scoring.
• By utilizing current capabilities in traditional lending, banks have started their own independent digital lending platforms to enter the digital lending sector.

Significance:

• Specifically in India's microenterprise and low-income consumer segments, financial inclusion aids in addressing the country's enormous unmet credit need.
• Reduce Informal Borrowing: By making the borrowing procedure simpler, it aids in minimizing informal borrowing.
• Time-Saving: It cuts down on the amount of time needed to process loan applications locally. Additionally, digital lending platforms have been shown to reduce overhead expenses by 30% to 50%.
• India continues to have the second-highest proportion of the global population without a bank account.
• The fact that over 190 million adult Indians don't have any sort of bank account presents a big opportunity.
• From USD 33 billion in FY15 to USD 150 billion in FY20, and with an expected increase to USD 350 billion by FY23, the value of digital lending has increased significantly.
• Customer annoyance is decreased via increased process openness and quicker decision-making.
• It lessens the likelihood of incomplete files, which slows down application screening.
• It promotes improved communication with the client regarding the details of what needs to be disclosed upfront.
• Additionally, the analytics and intelligence portions of the loan process can be digitalized by financial organizations.
• For short-term loans like BNPL, digital lenders frequently omit these strict credit checks.
• Loans are more readily available to first-time applicants because they either rely on alternative credit score data or have little to no financial information.

Challenges:

An increase in unlicensed mobile and digital lending platforms leads to problems such as:

• They impose exorbitant interest rates and additional hidden fees.
• They use offensive and obnoxious healing strategies.
• They abuse contracts to gain access to borrowers' mobile phone data.
• For digital loans such as consumer loans, instant loans, etc., there is no regulatory framework.
• Absence of proactive safeguards against phoney lending platforms
• Lack of LSP and digital lending app monitoring systems.
• Concerns about data privacy and unethical business practices, as well as mis-selling and cyber security, are further challenges.
• RBI's Regulation of Digital Lending Guidelines

Guidelines of RBI to Regulate Digital Lending:

Application

• All digital loans provided by commercial banks, non-banking financing companies (NBFCs), and primary, state, and district-level central cooperative banks are subject to the rules.

Present and potential clients

• These rules are going to be in effect right away for both new and returning clients who are applying for new loans.
• current digital loans
• Additionally, they adhere to these rules.

Arrangements for outsourcing

• Even if regulated organizations sign outsourcing contracts with digital lending applications or lending service providers (LSPs), their obligations will remain the same (DLAs).

Account

• All loan payments and disbursements must only be made between the borrower's bank account and those of the regulated entities. It must be free of any pass-through or pool accounts belonging to the LSP or other parties.

Exceptions

• The only exceptions are disbursements that are solely covered by the statutory or regulatory mandate, money transfers for co-lending between regulated entities, and disbursements for specific end uses, provided that the loan is disbursed directly into the end-bank beneficiary's account.

Fees and Punishment

• Regulated entities must make sure that any fees that must be paid directly to LSPs are done so.
• LSP shouldn't charge the borrower directly for them is still owed should be the basis for the penal interest charged to borrowers.
• The borrower should be informed in the key fact statement of the annualized rate of such penal costs (KFS).
• The annual percentage rate (APR), the recovery procedure, and information on the grievance redress officers assigned to deal with digital loans will all be included in a KFS.

Waking up the client

• They must make sure that the borrower is informed of all relevant product information.
• Additionally, they must let the borrower know about the LSP, who will be in charge of recovery.

Calming down time

• For loans with a maturity of seven days or longer, the RBI has said that the duration cannot be less than three days.
• For loans with a term of fewer than seven days, it is one day.
• A borrower has the opportunity to pay off a digital loan's principal and proportionate APR during a cooling-off period without incurring any penalties.

Data sharing and customer data collection

• According to RBI, the goal of getting borrowers' agreement must be made clear at each stage of interaction with them. Additionally, the borrower's express authorization must be obtained before disclosing any personal information to a third party.
• The only exception is when such sharing is necessary to comply with legal or regulatory requirements.

Way Forward

• A digital loan platform can make safer selections thanks to high-end measurements and analytics.
• Processing quickly: They can determine right away whether to provide the loan and for how much.
• Customer-focused strategy: The goal of India's digital loan industry is to make processing and paperwork simple.
• Customers must use due caution and select the appropriate product and lender.
• Regulation: This market has always needed a solid set of restrictions to keep it in check.

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Chinook Helicopters

Chinook helicopters built by Boeing have recently come under scrutiny due to problems with engine fires.

Image Source - Boeing.co.in

About Boeing CH-47 Chinook

• A heavy-lifting, twin-engine helicopter with tandem rotors.
• Created by the American rotorcraft manufacturer Vertol and produced by Boeing Vertol (later known as Boeing Rotorcraft Systems).
• High Capacity: Each Chinook helicopter can transport up to 9.6 tonnes of cargo.
• Disaster management: The helicopter can assist with parachute drops, medical evacuation, search and rescue operations, and aircraft recovery.

Salient features of the Chinook

• Chinook, a heavy-left multi-mission transport helicopter, will be utilized to ferry supplies, equipment, artillery, personnel, and ammunition across the battlefield.
• It can easily manoeuvre over difficult, thick terrain thanks to its great degree of manoeuvrability.
• For the Indian Air Force, which operates in some of the most difficult terrains in the world, its 24 X 7 and all-weather operational capabilities are essential.
• In addition to military activities, they can be utilized for civil development, medical evacuation, disaster relief, search and recovery, and battling fires.
• It has the capacity to move infantrymen who are fully outfitted for specialized operations. The digital cockpit management system is completely integrated.
• 45 soldiers and a maximum cargo of 11 tonnes may be transported by the Chinook.

Current Problem:

• The US Army has grounded the Chinook fleet after receiving information that some of the helicopters may have experienced engine fires.
• Despite the fact that there have been no injuries as a result of these fires, it was decided to halt the helicopters as a precaution.

Application by the Indian Air Force (IAF)

• In 2019, a ceremony held in Chandigarh saw the induction of the Chinooks into the IAF.
• A Chinook helicopter unit has one base in Chandigarh and another in Mohanbari Air Base in Assam.
• As it waits for additional information on the US development, the IAF has not grounded its fleet of 15 Chinook helicopters.

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Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

In India, September 5th is recognized as Teachers' Day. Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan's birthday is honoured on this day.

Image Source - Zee News

About Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

• Date of Birth: He was born on September 5, 1888. He was India's second president from 1962 to 1967 and its first vice president from 1952 to 1962.
• He was raised by Telugu Brahmins.
• He was also a distinguished thinker, academic, and recipient of the Bharat Ratna award.

Authorial Works

• Advaita Vedanta served as the philosophical foundation for Radhakrishnan.
• In 1917, he also wrote the book "The Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore."
• His other publications include East and West: Some Reflections (1939), Eastern Religions and Western Thought (1939), An Idealist View of Life (1932), Indian Philosophy (1923–27), The Philosophy of the Upanishads (1924), and An Idealist View of Life (1932). (1955).

Awards:

• In 1954, he received the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour.
• In 1931, he was made a Knight, and in 1963, he was made an honorary member of the British Royal Order of Merit.
• In 1948, he won the position of Executive Board Chairman of UNESCO.
• Contributions to Society: He was one of the founders of Helpage India, a well-known NGO in India that supports the less fortunate aged.
• He was the first Indian to occupy the Spalding Professor of Eastern Religion and Ethics chair at the University of Oxford (1936-1952).
• He took up the cause of Hinduism against "uninformed Western criticism" and was a significant contributor to the development of modern Hindu identity.

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