Finance
India’s budget for new financial year to be in tough constraints
New Delhi, India – On February 1, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s authorities will current its final price range for a full monetary yr earlier than he, and his get together, the Bharatiya Janata Occasion (BJP), face elections within the first half of 2024 and he seeks a mandate to manipulate the nation for the third consecutive time.
Modi’s authorities must present for financial development and a wider social welfare bundle at a time when international financial headwinds and home financial components make it powerful for India to do any higher.
The nation’s premier financial statistics company, the Nationwide Statistical Workplace, just lately estimated India’s financial development price for the present monetary yr, which ends in March, at 7 %, decrease than the 8.7 % development the federal government had predicted firstly of the monetary yr. The World Financial institution has predicted India’s development within the subsequent monetary yr to be decrease, at 6.6 %. Another economists have pegged it even decrease after seeing the newest authorities estimates.
The federal authorities’s capacity to extend the amount of cash it collects as taxes in proportion to the scale of the economic system, and its dedication to scale back its fiscal deficit price, the quantity it has to borrow to spend as a proportion of the nation’s nationwide earnings, in subsequent monetary years, has now been clearly restrained. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman may have her activity reduce out to ship on each development and welfare.
“Assuming that the federal government will comprise the deficit on the budgeted 6.4 % in 2022-23, there’ll must be a discount of 1.9 proportion factors over the following three years, and fairly a substantial a part of that must be carried out within the forthcoming price range,” wrote M Govind Rao, an economist who has served in prime resolution making and advisory positions within the Indian authorities.
With a watch on that objective, New Delhi tried up to now yr to shore up funds by making an attempt to dump its stakes in a number of state-owned firms however with restricted success. Coupled with its incapacity to considerably improve tax collections, the federal government will likely be restrained in opening its purse strings.
The federal government has already been coping with persevering with excessive costs of products and companies, exterior of meals and power or the so-called core inflation, which hovered at above 6 % in November and also will must be tamed.
“Our inflation stays elevated, however there was a welcome softening throughout November and December 2022. Core inflation, nevertheless, stays sticky and elevated,” head of India’s central financial institution, the Reserve Financial institution of India, Shaktikanta Das stated on January 27.
Repackaging present schemes
New Delhi’s outlay for fundamental wants like well being and schooling has already been low.
As a proportion of GDP, the federal government’s expenditure on schooling slid from 0.45 % in 2019-2020 to the budgeted 0.40 in 2022-23. On well being, the federal government budgeted 0.35 % of GDP as expenditure, decrease than what it had spent the yr earlier than, based on the Centre for Funds and Governance Accountability, a non-profit watchdog.
The federal government has restricted manoeuvring house to considerably change these numbers within the new monetary yr as a result of a big share of its budgetary expenditure is already locked into dedicated expenditures, reminiscent of salaries and pensions and an elevated load of repaying curiosity on its borrowings within the earlier and present yr.
“In actual phrases [after discounting for inflation], the federal government’s monetary help for a lot of schemes has stagnated or diminished,” stated Dipa Sinha, assistant professor of economics at Ambedkar College in Delhi. “In some circumstances the place the federal government did announce enlargement of social welfare schemes, on the bottom, the enlargement has not occurred.”
Previously, the Modi authorities has lined up for its budgetary limitations and restraints by, at occasions, repackaging and reconfiguring present social welfare schemes even because it reaped political dividends by spending constantly on publicity. It has additionally targeted extra on making certain extra environment friendly supply of social welfare schemes utilizing the distinctive digital identification for residents referred to as “Aadhaar”, with blended outcomes and controversies in regards to the exclusion of respectable beneficiaries.
Through the pandemic, Modi topped up a subsidised grain programme for the poor. Underneath a legislation that an earlier Congress-led authorities legislated in 2013, India has supplied subsidised meals grain to 75 % of the poor in rural India and t0 % of the poor in city areas, and Modi added extra free provides.
Nonetheless, in December 2022, the federal government repackaged and revised the total set of subsidised and free meals schemes to avoid wasting the federal government 250 billion to 300 billion rupees ($3.06bn to three.67bn) this yr, based on varied estimates. The federal government has not formally stated how a lot it would save on the subsidies by this shift. As an alternative, it has been celebrating the repackaged scheme as a transfer that additional aids the poor.
To additional bolster that declare, the whole meals subsidy scheme has been renamed and is now referred to as “Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojna” (The prime minister’s meals scheme for welfare of the poor). Modi’s authorities has informed the states to verify the poor beneficiaries get receipts together with the free meals that mark out the monetary profit the federal government has supplied.
On the identical time, the federal government pushed arduous earlier than India’s prime courtroom to not improve the protection of its social welfare schemes by making an allowance for the inhabitants improve since 2011 and figuring out new beneficiaries. India’s final census was held in 2011 and allocations for a number of social welfare schemes have used that census as a base. The federal government has repeatedly deferred the launch of a brand new census train, citing technological and technical causes.
Document unemployment
Since 2019, the BJP-led Indian authorities has relied on the personal sector to spur development and supply jobs whereas it has tried to concentrate on investing in infrastructure. That yr, the federal authorities reduce the speed at which it taxed firms within the hope that companies would make investments the cash they saved from the taxman to kick begin greater development and supply extra jobs.
That gambit didn’t repay and finance minister Sitharaman has now been loudly complaining about it. “Since 2019, I’ve been listening to that the trade doesn’t discover it conducive [to invest], so I introduced the [corporate] tax price down. I hold defending the personal sector when even provocatively individuals have stated what would you need to inform the personal sector … I need to hear from India Inc; what’s stopping you?” she requested rhetorically at a public occasion.
Consequently, the roles situation has continued to be bleak. India recorded its worst unemployment price for 16 months in December 2022: 8.7 %, based on the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economic system (CMIE).
The upcoming price range could also be too late to show the ship and discover the assets to interchange a reluctant trade to spur development and on the identical time present extra for social welfare schemes even because the rise in inequality is an actual concern in India, as was additionally identified by BJP’s ideological dad or mum organisation, The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), in a webinar in October.
“In distinction to what even the finance minister admitted some months again, the financial survey the federal government launched at present [January 31] suggests that every one is nice, that the personal sector has stepped up on investments and consumption [expenditure by citizens] has risen. Nevertheless it’s the consumption of the richest 10 % of the inhabitants that’s driving consumption,” stated Jayati Ghosh, professor of economics on the College of Massachusetts Amherst.
“If, within the financial survey, the federal government is enjoying blind to the truth, I doubt that the price range will present a distinct strategy to addressing the financial challenges and attempt to improve the incomes, livelihoods and consumption by the underside 70 % of the individuals,” she stated.
Nitin Sethi is a member of The Reporters’ Collective.
Finance
Former Finance Manager of Historic Sotterley Charged with Embezzlement of $15,000
Angela Marie Hanson, 52, of California, Maryland, has been indicted on charges of embezzlement and theft following allegations of financial misconduct during her tenure as Finance Manager for Historic Sotterley, Inc. According to court documents, Hanson is accused of stealing nearly $15,000 over a five-month period from October 31, 2023, to April 15, 2024.
Hanson, who oversaw financial operations at the historic property, is scheduled for her initial court appearance in the Circuit Court for St. Mary’s County on January 13, 2025. She faces a felony charge of theft scheme involving $1,500 to $25,000, a misdemeanor embezzlement charge, 50 counts of theft between $100 and $1,500, and 17 counts of theft under $100.
Authorities allege that Hanson misappropriated funds using a debit card linked to Historic Sotterley’s “Museum Shop” account. Over 50 ATM withdrawals and several unauthorized purchases were reportedly made at local businesses, including gas stations and convenience stores.
Court filings claim Hanson also transferred funds between Historic Sotterley’s accounts to conceal her activities. Investigators allege that Hanson continued these actions even after her employment ended in February 2024.
The St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office led the investigation, which included reviewing banking records, witness testimony, and surveillance footage. Historic Sotterley’s Executive Director identified Hanson as the only individual with access to financial systems and administrative rights during the period in question.
Investigators state that surveillance footage shows Hanson conducting ATM withdrawals using the organization’s debit card. When questioned by law enforcement, Hanson acknowledged managing Historic Sotterley’s finances but denied any intent to defraud.
Finance
The Secret to Making Successful Financial New Year’s Resolutions – NerdWallet
The investing information provided on this page is for educational purposes only. NerdWallet, Inc. does not offer advisory or brokerage services, nor does it recommend or advise investors to buy or sell particular stocks, securities or other investments.
The start of a new year can bring a surge of motivation around setting new goals, including financial resolutions.
One way to help those goals become reality, financial experts say, is to make them as specific as possible. Then, track your progress, while allowing flexibility for unexpected challenges.
“It’s easier to track progress when we know where we are going,” says Sylvie Scowcroft, a certified financial planner and founder of The Financial Grove in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
That’s why she encourages her clients to set clearly defined goals, often related to paying off a specific debt, saving a certain amount per month or improving their credit score.
Here are more tips from financial experts about crafting 2025 financial goals:
Pick your top priorities
Trying to accomplish too much can feel overwhelming. Instead, pick your priorities, says Cathleen Tobin, CFP and owner of Moonbridge Financial Design in Rhinebeck, New York.
She suggests focusing on those big, often emotionally-driven goals to find motivation.
“It’s more compelling than just a number,” she says. For example, do you want to make sure you’re on track for retirement or save money for a house? “Start there.”
Be as specific as possible
Scowcroft says she sees clients get tripped up by selecting overly broad goals, such as “get better with money.” Instead, she encourages people to select specific action items, such as “sign up for a budgeting tool and set aside time each month to learn where my money is going.”
That level of specificity provides direction so you know what steps to take next, she adds. For example, if your top priority is to become debt-free, then your specific goal might be to pay off an extra $200 of your debt balance each month.
Tobin says labeling savings accounts so they correspond with goals can also help. An emergency fund could be named something like “Peace of mind in 2025,” so you remember why you’re saving every time you make a transfer.
“It’s more motivating than just ‘emergency fund,’” Tobin says.
Get more financial clarity with NerdWallet
Monitor your credit, track your spending and see all of your finances together in a single place.
Track your progress
Measuring your progress as the year unfolds is also a critical component of successful goal setting, Tobin says.
She compares it to weight loss. If you want to lose 20 pounds by June, then you need to lose about a pound a week for the first six months of the year. Similarly, she says it helps to break savings goals into microsteps that specify what you need to do each week.
Schedule a weekly or monthly check-in with yourself to make sure you are meeting those smaller goals along the way. You might want to review your debt payoff progress or check your credit score, for example.
“Being able to break it down into steps that can be done each week or twice a month really helps,” Tobin says.
Automate where you can
If your goal is to save more money, then setting up an automatic transfer each month can help turn that goal into reality, as long as you know you have the money in your checking account to spare.
“It reduces the mental load,” says Mike Hunsberger, CFP and owner of Next Mission Financial Planning in St. Charles, Missouri, where he primarily supports veterans and current members of the military.
He recommends starting small to ease into the change.
“I wouldn’t jump to double what you’re currently saving,” he says. For example, when it comes to saving in a retirement account, if you’re starting with a 3% contribution, you might want to bump it up to 4%, then slowly increase it from there.
“My number one piece of advice is to start small, but make sure you scale over time,” Hunsberger adds. “Because it’s gradual, you probably won’t notice it impacting your lifestyle.”
Adjust as needed
“Stay flexible,” Scowcroft says. “Part of it is just being kind to yourself and not being too rigid.”
When unexpected challenges come up, such as a big unplanned expense, you might have to pause making progress on your goal and reset.
You might even need to change your goal. Scowcroft says that doesn’t mean you “failed,” just that life changed your plans. Dwelling on any negativity won’t help your forward progress.
Team up with a friend
Sharing your goals with a friend can also make it easier to reach them, Scowcroft says.
“It really helps to have an accountability buddy,” she says.
She suggests putting a regular “money date” with your friend on the calendar so you can ask each other how you’re doing, brainstorm any challenges or even budget together side-by-side.
“It’s a fun excuse to meet up with a friend.”
Get more financial clarity with NerdWallet
Monitor your credit, track your spending and see all of your finances together in a single place.
Finance
I’m not financially literate. Here’s how I could be. – The Boston Globe
If you asked me what the process for setting up a Roth IRA looked like, I doubt I could offer you a thorough response. The same goes for mortgages and loans and interest. When I had to fill out my first W-9 form, I was admittedly more than a bit confused.
In short, financial literacy isn’t my forte. And that’s because, like many Massachusetts public school students, I’ve never had to take any sort of personal finance class.
Indeed, throughout the debates over eliminating MCAS as a graduation requirement for high schoolers, we heard quite a bit about the state’s educational gold standard. So is it not the least bit shameful, or at least embarrassing, that our state does not require high school students to take a financial literacy class when a majority of states do?
Absolutely. And it needs to change.
Twenty-six states, including Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Connecticut, have passed legislation making a personal finance course mandatory for high school students. Meanwhile, Massachusetts received an “F” from the Champlain College Center for Financial Literacy, which released a report card in 2023 evaluating how each “state delivers personal finance education in its public high schools.” In addition, a 2023 report card(link?) from the American Public Education Foundation gave the state a “C” for its financial literacy requirements — a score worse than or equal to all but six states.
Meanwhile, across the state, credit card and student loan debt have spiked to eye-popping levels. As of the second quarter of this year, the average Massachusetts resident had a credit card balance of $8,556 and $33,710.38 in student loan debt. The latter is particularly troubling for young people like myself. For the next four years, countless high school seniors throughout the Commonwealth will be attending college, paying tens of thousands of dollars on top of day-to-day expenses.
The need for personal finance courses in Massachusetts is tremendous — a need that, as per a 2021 report from the state’s Office of Economic Empowerment, is recognized almost universally among teachers and, importantly, students.
Yet, as a result of being taught next to nothing about personal finances, many of us are left ill-prepared for these new circumstances. Our understanding of credit cards is limited to, as State Treasurer Deb Goldberg so eloquently articulated to GBH, “The parent puts a plastic card into the wallet and boom: out comes money.” And so the cycle of taking out loans, accumulating massive debt, and working for years before being able to pay it off persists.
Why perpetuate the cycle when it is so clear that these classes work? According to a 2021 Ramsey Solutions survey, among the teenagers who have completed a personal finance class, nearly 80 percent said that they’ve created a monthly budget for themselves, 94 percent felt confident about saving money, and 87 percent understood how to pay income taxes. And, as noted in the OEE’s report, personal finance courses are tools that “increase social mobility for low-income or immigrant students.” Requiring such classes really couldn’t make much more sense.
At my own high school, Brookline High School, financial literacy is offered in the form of a popular elective, “The World of Money: Practical Studies in Finance and Investment,” which “integrates the basic principles of economics, money management, investing, and technology,” according to the course catalog. Every spring, as course selection rolls around, hundreds of students eye this semester-long course, but with only so many spots, most cannot take it — and, consequently, miss out on an opportunity to learn about financial literacy.
Recognizing the imminent need to educate ourselves on matters of taxes, loans, investments, and more, several members of Brookline High School’s Student Council, including myself, have proposed amendments to our student handbook that would incorporate a financial literacy component in our graduation requirements and incorporate personal finance lessons into our weekly advisory classes. Our work would ensure that such important life skills are accessible to all students, not merely for those lucky enough to find a place in the class.
But while such efforts are certainly a step in the right direction on this issue, they are not enough. Financial literacy should not be a privilege for schools with a proactive student body; it is a fundamental aspect of our lives, and our state’s education system must begin reflecting that. The state must require personal finance courses for graduation — it’s the smartest investment we can make.
Ravin Bhatia is a senior at Brookline High School.
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