The price of ensuring no disruption after rolling out the GST seems to be an imperfect GST with many relaxations in its compliance norms, says A K Bhattacharya.

India may hold the promise of a big market for China, but that promise is yet to be fulfilled

The GST's significance for the BJP's politics is as important as its implications for the Indian economy, says A K Bhattacharya.

As the Modi government enters the fourth year of its tenure, it is looking more confident, shedding its earlier inhibitions about offering sops or new opportunities to big business, says A K Bhattacharya.

Besides advancing the presentation of the Budget to perhaps the first week of January, , there are four new initiatives that could be rolled out from the next Budget, says A K Bhattacharya.

The new IIP numbers should spread cheer among those who were part of the Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance, earlier accused of having presided over a steady deterioration in industrial performance, particularly in the last two years of its tenure, says A K Bhattacharya.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has five key aspects to his style of leading -- total command over bureaucracy, direct approval on every decision, flexible approach to issues, importance of communication and adept at repackaging schemes, says A K Bhattacharya.

Govt mulls gradual switchover to the January-December financial year

If the government could do without 23 per cent of the authorised posts, surely a start could be made in government downsizing by abolishing these vacancies, says A K Bhattacharya.

Similarities between NDA and UPA on some key policy issues are now becoming too stark to be ignored, says A K Bhattacharya.

A more vigilant Opposition and a more aware civil society including the media could have certainly helped keep a check on an unhealthy trend, says A K Bhattacharya.

The indebtedness of Indian companies has had an adverse impact on the economy's investment climate apart from weakening their performance and seriously impairing the financial health of the banking sector. Unless both the problems are resolved, there is little chance of reviving investment and boosting growth on a sustainable basis, says A K Bhattacharya.

Those who like to draw comfort from the fact that UP is the country's third-largest state in terms of the size of its economy should also note that its growth rate is one of the lowest, its per capita income is almost half of the national average and its poverty rate at 30 per cent places it at the twentieth rank among all the states, says A K Bhattacharya.

If the Modi government's approach to economic policy making is any indication, expectations of a sudden spurt in economic reforms after the assembly election results appear to be grossly misplaced.

Just 5 departments account for about 88 per cent of the Union government's civilian employees. A leaner bureaucracy will help Modi keep his promise of maximum governance with minimum government, says A K Bhattacharya.

In a Q&A with Doordarshan, Jaitley discusses how he chose the areas on which he would spend more.

Never before in post-reforms India have Union Budgets seen a steady reduction in fiscal deficit for five consecutive years, points out A K Bhattacharya.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley should not drop the ball on continuing the battle against black money and move towards digital transactions to reduce the preponderance of cash in the economy, says A K Bhattacharya.

'In the coming months, expect more government action that will be packaged as an assault on black money,' warns A K Bhattacharya.

'Tata may have sensed that the suddenness of the decision to replace Mistry would become controversial and it was proper to keep the prime minister informed of the decision,' says A K Bhattacharya.