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Thursday, December 25, 2008

AN YEAR OF ECONOMIC WORRIES ENDS: WHAT'S NEXT?

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An year ends. But now we cannot say it as simple as we had said earlier. For the year was an year of economic worries all over the world. People have been talking about recession and even depression for months and the talking is still on. Global economic slowdown is the term which everybody is talking about. In Indian point of view the year passes is an year of ups and downs. Indian markets peaked and recorded new heights in the same year and when the financial tsunami started to hit Indian bourses we just watched fingers crossed how Indian indices go down and down which was a cause of worry for almost every sector.
In January this year Bombay stock exchange index sensex touched an all time high of 21,207 and the National stock exchange index nifty touched it’s peak of 6357. Which are now hovering around 9000+ and 2900+ respectively.Once the indices were above 60 percent down. The Indian industry was in a good mood and people started spending money like anything. This was a period of economic boom. People all over the country thought that India is going to become a major economic power. Tata started it’s Nano car project in singur, West Bengal which the company claimed that would benefit the millions in the country especially the middle class society. As Rathan Tata said their dream of owing a car will be a reality. (But Mamtha Banerjee stood between Tata and West Bengal government and as a result Tata’a were forced to close the plant in singur and they had moved to Gujarath). This particular incident throws light to the fact that political parties in this country are using anything and everything for cheap political gains.
After the January peak Indian stock market indices started to fall continuously. Many traders who had invested in stocks during the peak time suffered a lot. At first everybody in the financial sector of the company thought that the falling was due to the increase in Inflation figures. As a result of more and more money came in to the market the prices of commodities, including agriculture and other necessary items skyrocketed. Whole sale price Index based inflation increased rapidly and it crossed double digit finally it touched the recent record level of 12.91. At these juncture the then Finance minister P.Chidambaram took curative measures against it. And then RBI governor Y.V Reddy helped him a lot to achieve the target of bringing down inflation figures.
The Government first said huge inflation numbers were the effect of hike in crude oil prices. This was true to some extent. But it was not the lone cause. Agriculture activities around the world in general and in India in particular are not doing well. We had shut our eyes for the news related to farmer suicide. Along with the slow down in agriculture sector the hike in fuel price was the major villain for the increase in inflation figures. Crude oil prices touched an all time high of $147 per barrel in July this year. Before that Govt increased domestic fuel prices. This also resulted in an increase of inflation numbers.
The indices fell down and down in all these months. Analysts believed that this was the result of high oil price and inflation figures. But this was only partially true. The actual culprit behind the curtain was sub prime crisis. This was a necessary evil of mad liberalization. The prophets of liberalization had never foreseen the evil. The devil started it’s journey from US and is still traveling aroung the world. The country called Iceland lost it’s all valuables including faith due to this devil. A country almost vanished from the economic map of the world. This was the immediate effect of the crisis.
More than a century old Bank in US Lehman brothers collapsed and many other prestigious institutes faced bankruptancy and some are about to face the same. Famous indices around the world including Dow jones melted to more than half from it’s peak. World is heading towards a recession that was the moral extracted from all these incidents.
So many millions around the world lost their jobs. Many companies closed their shutters on jobseekers and down sizing happened on a large scale. The most visible incident in India was the mass termination by Jet airways but after hours of high drama they all were absorbed again. Indian BPO companies are in huge trouble. Professional degree holders are looking at a bleak future. In general this is the situation around the world.

What’s Next?
Now the most important question is what’s next?. Is the crisis over or is it here to stay. No body can give a clear cut answer in this regard. Some are saying that the worst is over. But some are of the opinion that it has not started affecting India. One more different opinion is there which says we are in recession and it will take 2-3 years to overcome the crisis.
When Barack Obama will take the rein of US in January some are of the view that some good will happen in US and in the world. ( His campaign word was ‘Change’ which is needed at this point of time). In Indian situation the end days of UPA government is near. It will complete it’s term in May. India is also going to elect a new team to govern them. Whoever comes the great challenge before them would be to tackle the crisis and to bring back confidence to investors. India is a country with mixed economy. We have our own regulating bodies. Our companies are well regulated ones so far. But when the whole world is suffering from fever we will definitely shiver but to what extent that we can decide at least.
Thanks to our national builders. This shows that we can survive at this situation too. Only thing is that our leadership should work accordingly. So that we can survive in a better way and can become a major economy after the days of recession.

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