Aunindyo Chakravarty – Author, NDTV.com

Blog: Opinion Polls Show Modi Ahead But Not Because of Balakot

Aunindyo Chakravarty | Monday March 11, 2019

The three opinion polls that ran on TV channels yesterday said that the NDA will be within striking distance of a majority. However, the numbers were not significantly different from the polls done in January before the airstrikes inside Pakistan.

Blog: Why Modi 2019 Is Not Indira 1971

Aunindyo Chakravarty | Wednesday March 06, 2019

There's no parallel between Indira Gandhi's wave election in 1971 and the coming Lok Sabha polls. Indira was riding on economic populism, Modi is trying to capitalise on anti-Pakistan nationalist fervour. Will war clouds on the western front help him tide over the bad news coming daily on the economic front? If he manages to pull it off, he would have written a brand ...

Blog: Modi Has Pak On Back Foot, What Should Follow Now

Aunindyo Chakravarty | Thursday February 28, 2019

The subcontinent has been sitting on a nuclear powder-keg which has kept India and Pakistan from fighting full-scale conventional wars. It is essential that India act quickly to de-escalate the situation before things go out of control. After all, one of the key assumptions in traditional game theory is that all players are rational actors. In the case of the Pakistan...

Blog: Higher EPF Returns Could Mean That You Pay More In EMIs

Aunindyo Chakravarty | Friday February 22, 2019

When the EPFO pays you more on the mandatory deduction from your salary, you might end up paying more in terms of EMIs. To top it, you will enjoy the benefits of a higher EPF interest rate only after you retire, you will feel the pain of higher EMIs right now.

Blog: PM Modi Needs Trump to Ensure Pakistan Never Repeats Pulwama

Aunindyo Chakravarty | Tuesday February 19, 2019

India needs to ride this change in the global balance of power, to checkmate the Pakistani military. That, perhaps, is the only way for us to tackle cross-border terrorism. It is, perhaps, our only ticket to lasting peace.

Blog: Priyanka Factor Should Worry Modi More Than The <i>Gathbandhan</i>

Blog: Priyanka Factor Should Worry Modi More Than The Gathbandhan

Aunindyo Chakravarty | Friday February 15, 2019

Will Priyanka generate enough of a groundswell to upset electoral equations in the state? And who will the Priyanka Factor dent, if at all? Will she eat into the upper-caste, better educated, more affluent urban vote share and cause problems for the BJP? Or will she take away a sizeable chunk of the Muslim vote and hit the SP-BSP combine?

Blog: Liberals, Relax. Rahul Gandhi Isn't Getting UP All Wrong

Aunindyo Chakravarty | Wednesday February 06, 2019

It is precisely during big elections that parties galavanise their workers, increase contact with voters and fine-tune their electoral machinery. If the Congress goes it alone, it will not win many seats, but it will be able to put a vote-gathering structure in place. It is the only way for the party to survive in the long run, by establishing itself in Uttar Pradesh,...

Blog: 'Modinomics' Fails The Man It's Named For, Can He Recover?

Aunindyo Chakravarty | Monday January 14, 2019

Team Modi might harp on how fast India's GDP is growing, but it has begun to sense that Modinomics needs a mega tweak.

Blog: Understanding The Modi Government's 'Angel Tax' Controversy

Aunindyo Chakravarty | Saturday December 22, 2018

Hundreds of startups have been served notices under a section of the Income Tax Act which has come to be known as the 'Angel Tax'

Blog: Behind-The-Scenes Of Urjit Patel's "Surprise" Resignation

Aunindyo Chakravarty | Tuesday December 11, 2018

The story that culminated in RBI Governor Urjit Patel's resignation probably began the day when the Modi government decided to appoint S Gurumurthy to the RBI's board. The swadeshi-spouting chartered accountant who believed that the RBI "has lost its capacity to think for India", and who had openly blamed it for the economic troubles of India's small businesses...

Blog: RBI Policy Suggests 2019 Will Be India Vs <i>Bharat</i>

Blog: RBI Policy Suggests 2019 Will Be India Vs Bharat

Aunindyo Chakravarty | Wednesday December 05, 2018

To the political economy watcher, this suggests Lok Sabha 2019 could see a big urban-rural divide.

Blog: Modi Government's Own Data Exposes Farmers' Horrific Plight

Aunindyo Chakravarty | Wednesday December 05, 2018

The Modi Government's critics have long been saying that India's farmers are in trouble. Now, its own data shows that the critics were right all this time. GDP numbers for the second quarter of this fiscal, released last week, reveal how badly Indian agriculture is doing.

Blog: Fuel Prices May Favour Modi In 2019. Here's Why

Aunindyo Chakravarty | Wednesday November 28, 2018

Have you noticed how no one is talking about petrol prices any more? Your friends aren't cribbing, there are no Prime Time talk shows about it. That's because prices have dipped in the past one month.

Blog: Having Messed Up Economy, Team Modi Wants RBI Bail-Out

Aunindyo Chakravarty | Tuesday November 20, 2018

India's central bank has often been made the scapegoat when the economy has slowed down. Successive governments have wanted the RBI to stimulate the economy through easy money policies. We all know what easy credit flows during the UPA years did to India's government banks. Now, it seems, the Modi government also wants to take this easy route.

Blog: The Correlation Between Indigestion And Economy. Ridiculous, But True

Aunindyo Chakravarty | Tuesday November 13, 2018

The immediate future seems to be bleak for both India Inc and our farmers. Urban consumers like us will not be affected immediately, because food prices are likely to stay low. This could be a blessing in disguise for our official statisticians. The cheaper the food, the more we'll eat. And then, not just Bongs like me, but every Indian will start taking 'Digestive En...

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