1. Indian Express has an editorial which points to datapoints on trends and insights about the state of the Indian economy
Across a range of sectors such as housing, automobiles, two-wheelers, mobile phones, the incoming data points towards a continuing divergence in consumption patterns — robust sales at the top end of markets, alongside subdued sales at the lower end of the spectrum... Maruti Suzuki accounts for a significant share of the cars sold in the country. In the fourth quarter, sales of its cars in the mini and compact segment (this segment accounts for almost two-thirds of the company’s total sales) actually contracted. In comparison, sales of its utility vehicles continue to grow at a robust pace... In the case of housing, there are also indications of the affordable housing segment coming under pressure. As per Anarock research, the segment’s market share has dipped from 38 per cent in 2019 to 26 per cent in 2022 due to a combination of factors, including the economic condition of buyers. And with demand for this segment coming under stress, Anarock observes developers changing gears, launching more projects in the mid and premium segments. Reports do point towards healthy demand for these segments across major cities. Similarly, as per Counterpoint Research, even as India’s smartphone shipments have actually declined, the premium segment has registered robust growth, and is likely to have almost doubled its share during January-March 2023 as compared to the same period last year. In the case of two wheelers — another indicator of household demand at the mid and lower segments of the income distribution — while domestic sales did rise by 17 per cent in 2022-23, they still remain lower than levels seen in 2018-19 as per data from SIAM. And while the number of individuals working under MGNREGA have fallen from the highs observed during 2020-21, they remain higher than pre-pandemic levels.
2. A much-needed realistic assessment of India's over-hyped start-up sector. I think, for a country like India, instead of channelling policy attention to technology start-ups with questionable claims to innovation, the priority should be MSMEs in manufacturing. The start-up hype has also misallocated scarce risk capital, whose opportunity costs are very high.
3. Some stats about electricity and water tariffs in Indian states
In 2020-21, the average cost of supplying power was pegged at Rs 6.19 per unit. In comparison, the revenue from discoms operations worked out to only Rs 4.21 per unit. This means that for every unit of power sold, discoms were able to recover only a little more than two-thirds of the cost.In the case of water, the recovery is even lower. According to some estimates, water boards across the country are on average able to recover only around a third of their operation and maintenance costs. For instance, in Tamil Nadu, the operational cost is about Rs 20.81 per kilolitre. But as per the state’s White Paper in 2021, only Rs 10.42 per unit was levied from urban local bodies and Rs 8.11 per unit from rural bodies. In the case of the Delhi Jal Board, in 2021-22, its projected income was insufficient to cover its operating costs and its interest liability. And in Haryana, the tariffs proposed for treated wastewater are less than half the total costs of water supply estimated at Rs 11.67 per kilo litre.
4. FT report on ethics violations within the US Supreme Court
For years, Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas quietly enjoyed a close friendship with eccentric Republican political donor Harlan Crow. The conservative judge travelled on the billionaire’s private jet; accompanied him on holiday to Indonesia; and vacationed at his Adirondack estate, where Crow commissioned a portrait of the two men, and three others, relaxing with cigars on the deck... The ProPublica report said Crow had purchased Thomas’s childhood Georgia home from the justice and his family, a transaction that Thomas did not publicly disclose despite a law requiring justices to do so for any real estate deals larger than $1,000. Thomas also did not disclose his lavish vacation on Crow’s yacht nor his repeated use of Crow’s jet — disclosures that should not have been exempted, according to legal experts... Crow’s donations to a group founded by Thomas’s wife, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, a conservative activist, have also raised eyebrows... other justices, including the late Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, had taken trips subsidised by wealthy businessmen, donors or universities... In a separate investigation Politico recently reported that Neil Gorsuch, another conservative justice, sold a Colorado property he co-owned to the head of big US law firm Greenberg Traurig, which has had multiple cases in front of the court...In a statement, Thomas said he had been advised by colleagues on the judiciary that “this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the court, was not reportable”... “The fact that justice Thomas not only accepted these gifts, but claims he’s gotten advice from other judges indicating that he did not have to disclose [this] information demonstrates that we have some problem much bigger than justice Thomas,” said Donald Sherman, deputy director of the watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
Edward Luce argues how the politicisation of appointments to the US Supreme Court and its own actions are undermining its credibility and creating conditions for institutional decay.
5. The Arab Spring turns full circle as Tunisia, where the pro-democracy revolts began in 2011 and was held up as a beacon of democracy in the region, appears to be sliding back to autocracy under President Kais Saied, a former constitutional law professor who won power in 2019 promising to clean up corruption. This comes amidst a dire economic situation and an IMF bailout is under negotiation.
6. Chile moves to take control of its lithium mines from private miners and conduct operations in a PPP mode through entities which are majority owned by the government's mining companies.
Lithium prices have crashed from $80,000 per tonne to below $30,000 per tonne this year on the back of weak Chinese demand and rising supply from Australia, Argentina and several African countries.
Ninety two per cent of all high-end semiconductors are made in Taiwan.
8. A primer on quantum computing.
9. A new paper finds that in the US, the wages for the low earners have risen fastest since 2020
According to a paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research, real hourly earnings for the lowest earners rose by 6.4 per cent between January 2020 and September 2022.
10. In the US and Canada, two-thirds of new cars sold are SUVs and the average car weighs more than 1750 kg.
11. Industrial policy in the US starting to show some results in terms of attracting foreign investments. But investments have also come with a race to the bottom in states and local governments offering massive subsidies.
12. Business Standard reports that the Government of India have decided to stop building new coal-fired power plants, apart from the 28.2 GW of thermal plants at various stages of construction. It's being planned to bring a new provision in the National Electricity Policy to this effect.
In contrast, China's National Development and Reform Commission said in a March 2022 document that outlined its energy policy, that the world's largest coal user "will rationally build advanced coal-fired power plants based on development needs." China plans to build some 100 new coal-fired power plants to back up wind and solar capacity.
This comes even as the thermal capacity being added every year remains high and the majority,
Bank financing for energy supply totalled $1.9 trillion in 2021. Of that, $842 billion went to low-carbon energy projects and companies, and $1.038 trillion went to fossil fuels.
Such abrupt decisions may not be in the country's interests. Even climate change mitigation decisions have their costs-benefits assessment.
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