“The future depends on what you do today” - Mahatma Gandhi
In this week’s wrapup we talk about India’s progress since independence, the Inland vessels bill, Oil bonds, the Economic Impact of the Taliban Takeover and lastly Electric scooters.
Also, there's no Markets edition this week (since we are taking a small break), but we will be back again next Saturday.
From 1947 to 2021
On the occasion of India’s 75th Independence day, we posted a few colourful charts on social media outlining the progress we've made as a nation these past few decades. What followed was an overwhelming response from you guys so we decided to make these infographics into our main story and elaborately discussed them in our Monday Newsletter.
Just to give you a teaser, these are the topics covered in the full version of the story
- India’s advances in foodgrain production
- A breakdown of the sectoral contribution to India’s GDP since 1947
- India's Export story
- Evolution of our roadway network
And you can read more here.
A new mode of transport?
India is blessed with many great rivers that flow through the country’s heartland. These rivers and many other inland waterways can be used to transport goods and people at an affordable price. If done correctly, they could complement the already stretched rail infrastructure and the congested roadways of India. But unfortunately, this has been a pipe dream for the most part. Or at least until now maybe. Because India recently overhauled its archaic laws governing inland waterways. And many believe this could give the sector the impetus it needs to grow and thrive. So we did a full story outlining the aspects of the new legislation in our Tuesday Newsletter, do check it out.
Are oil bonds to blame for the high fuel prices?
Recently the finance minister of India made critical remarks on oil bonds, implying that they were responsible for fuel prices being sky high these days. Which led many to dig up the old UPA policy and figure out whether the finance minister’s comments had any merit. We too were appealed by the prospect and so we dedicated our Wednesday story to analyse the rationale behind oil bonds. So if you were on the lookout for a nice explainer of oil bonds, look no further we have you covered. Click here to learn more.
The Economic Impact of the Taliban Takeover
Afganistan is an economically impoverished country. 90% of the country’s population lives on less than $2 a day, and its GDP in 2020 was just under $20 billion. Although it made some improvements in the past twenty years, mainly thanks to the aid from the US and its allies, its gains remain modest.
However, as the Taliban returns to power it threatens to jeopardize all progress. And if you were wondering about what lies ahead for Afghanistan's fragile economy, well then, you should definitely read Thursday’s Newsletter.
Is Ola finally paving the way for an electric scooter revolution?
Ola Electric became the newest entrant in the EV scooters segment launching two attractive models priced at ₹99,999 and ₹1.29 lakh. But if this too still seem a bit pricey, don’t forget most of the states have an EV policy whereby you can get some subsidies (discount) on the final cost. This bit of product launch led us to think more about how EV scooters are quickly becoming a rage. So in our next story, you can read about Ola’s aspirations in the EV business and the electric scooter revolution.
Anyway, that's it from us this week. We will see you on Monday. Until then don't forget to share this article on WhatsApp, LinkedIn and Twitter
