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CEO Poll: Modi govt meets expectations of India Inc on reforms With the Narendra Modi government completing two years in office, an overwhelming majority of the 50 chief executive officers (CEOs) surveyed by this newspaper said the government has met their expectations on economic reforms. The average rating was seven out of 10. In a nationwide survey conducted by this newspaper over the past three weeks, CEOs said a number of steps taken by the government - bringing down the corporate tax rate, clearing the retrospective tax mess and a new bankruptcy law - have made it easier to do business in India. They also appreciated initiatives like Digital India and the Swachh Bharat campaign. When asked about the positives of the government, CEOs cited better foreign relations, taming inflation and bringing down corruption in governance as top achievements. ALSO READ:  Narendra Modi: Governance and that Hindutva image "I think there are perceptible signs of improvement in the ...

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to leave its key interest rate steady at 6.75% next week and only make one cut this year as rising inflation ties its hands, according to a Reuters poll. That marks a turn from rapidly cooling domestic consumer price inflation, which allowed the RBI to lower the repo rate four times in 2015. Its last 50-basis-point cut in September took markets by surprise, but the RBI isn’t likely to act as aggressively in 2016, as a renewed uptick in food-costs driven inflation puts the central bank’s medium-term price target at risk. This week’s poll of nearly 40 economists showed only one 25 basis-point rate cut this calendar year, between April and June, unchanged from earlier expectations.  Read Articles  

Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan on Wednesday sought to ease fears amid the stock market plunge and therupee nearing its lowest-ever level, saying things will stabilise and people will look at stable emerging markets, including India. The rupee, Rajan said, has been "relatively strong" in the emerging-market currency basket, but India is affected by the "same kind of jitters" hitting other world markets. "My sense is that, at this point, if you are an emerging market, you focus on fundamentals, try and get inflation down, try and get your current account deficit down, keep your fiscal on target, do all the good things, and then people reward you," he said in Davos. ALSO READ: Raghuram Rajan urges Oz firms to invest in Indian market Investors "take the money off the table in a hurry when they are doing it everywhere, but then they come back". "My sense is that after the initial volatility, things will stabilise, people will tr...