Currency - Podcasts by Virendra Singh Rawat: Recent Episodes
Virendra Singh Rawat
India is augmenting nuclear energy as a green power source to meet the growing electricity demand in the country.
nuclearenergy #nuclearpower #nuclear #electricity #energy #India
Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor is scaling up to fulfill India's ambitious target of becoming a net exporter of arms and military ware in the near future.
With two Indian AI companies joining the unicorn league, India is fast scaling up its sovereign AI capabilities to compete in an AI driven global trade, geopolitical and economic spectrum.
The US accounts for more than 50% of the global market cap, while its GDP is only almost 25% of the global GDP.
AI-related debt has grown to $1.2 trillion in 2025 - making it the largest segment of high-grade investment market.
Tourism especially religious tourism is propelling the local economy and job market in Uttar Pradesh.
US president Donald Trump's uncharitable comments and actions seem contemptuous, yet it could be a blessing in disguise for India to chart a new course for trade.
The AI global market is proliferating fast, and is likely to hit a $trillion by 2027 as companies and economies onboard the AI tech bandwagon.
This much hyped AI competition between the US & China has the potential to recast global power dynamics since AI is being increasingly used in military conflicts and surveillance.
A US court has ruled that Google violated antitrust law by spending billions of dollars to nurture monopoly, and thus becoming the world's default search engine.
While it is nearly impossible to predict nature and the imminent fallout on the local climes, yet some of the recent rainfall and landslide incidents have been attributed to climate change and global warming.
A UN report has estimated that the global population would cross 10 billion till the early 2080s. India, which will witness its population peak by 2062, needs to hasten its march to become a high income country before that happens.
The pouring of Desi money in the Indian stock market is providing the much needed heft to bourses and insulating the domestic economy from the sudden bouts of selling by the FIIs.
Modi is reckoned as hard task master, who does not buckle under pressure whether politically or diplomatically. This streak will keep Modi 3.0 on solid footing.
Riding the global AI boom, India's AI spend is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 31.5 percent to hit $5 billion by 2027.
Joe Biden administration is mulling over opening a fresh front to safeguard the US interests by curbing the export of advanced AI models like ChatGPT to China.
Elon Musk has forecast that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will become smarter than humans as early as 2025!
Global food waste is currently to the tune of more than a billion tonnes annually even as tens of millions of poor people face chronic hunger.
AI is everywhere being hotly discussed and debated. While AI can be incredibly smart in some areas, it could be plain stupid in others owing to lack of common sense like humans.
US intelligence has claimed that Russia might trigger a nuclear attack in space. The purported nuclear hit would not target earth from space but satellites in low space orbit.
Education and campus stress is forcing students to take the extreme step. Growing competition, peer pressure and constant nudging from parents is creating a vortex of distressing phenomenon for the young minds, especially those with higher emotional quotient.
Artificial Intelligence or AI technology is now being employed in agriculture for higher yield and augmenting farm income.
AI algorithms can be used for weather forecasting, and analyse chemical composition of soil to know which nutrients could be lacking.
Bharat or India, which hold the current presidency of G20, has scored big geopolitical points at the New Delhi Summit with the consensus resolution.
A growing number of countries have accused USA of weaponising dollar for geopolitical motives. At the same time, there is a growing chorus for expanding the basket of global reserve currencies to insulate domestic economies from arbitrary actions by the US.
In this context, the Narendra Modi government is pushing Rupee as a medium for trade transactions as also reserve currency.
China is the world’s second largest economy, and is known as the factory of the world.
However, the Dragon is facing a gamut of setbacks on economic and geopolitical fronts.
In simple terms, the value of currency is a measure of its buying capacity in relation to another currency. A number of domestic and external factors determine this value.
Dollar is the top US brand in the world. Dollar is what drives the US economy even when the chips are down. Whether it is inflation or deflation…wartime or peace…the pole position of dollar in the global trade and currency markets is steadfast.
July 2023 has been reckoned as the hottest month ever on Earth in almost 120 thousand years!
In fact, we need not refer to any such scientific data since as individuals we can vouch for the high temperature and humidity in July. Global warming not only impact human health directly but global food security as well!
India is pitching Rupee for settling bilateral trade transactions instead of the US dollar.
The US-China trade war has been going on for quite some time. The US has now imposed restrictions on China to import critical technologies related to the manufacturing of high end silicon chips.
France, which boasts of having the global gold standard in individual freedom and secularism…has been witness to mayhem over the past several days.
The response of the French police was rather slow and meek to curb violence.
While France is at the forefront of criticising other nations when the latter crackdown upon unruly mobs and vandals, the Emmanuel Macron government in France was forced to replicate the same template to bring the situation under control!
After establishing their hegemony on Earth, the major economic and military powers are vying for other celestial bodies mainly moon.
While countries like USA and Russia have already proven their mettle in the space technology, nations such as China and India have also joined the race.
The world history is replete with examples where military expeditions of people have created popular narrative. More or less, this template is true even in the current 21st century.
The US is wooing India to ally with in a slew of global security, economic and strategic alliances. India which was once under foreign rule has turned the tide…for a possible reverse colonialism…which is already taking shape!
China is a difficult customer. It is like a belligerent youth who seemingly enjoys needling others. Today, China has rather frosty relations with most of its neighbours as well as those far and wide…from India to USA and Japan to Australia to name a few.
Well, China is also seized of the matter and…the dynamics at play which puts it in a rather tricky situation!
After Ukraine war, more and more countries — from Brazil to Southeast Asia — are calling for trade to be carried out in other currencies besides the US dollar.
Today, stress is killing more people than hunger globally. Mental health issue is nothing short of a pandemic… it is a silent killer and not medically infectious as Covid-19.
US, the world's top economy, is weeks away from honouring its bond payments and other commitments even as its sovereign debt ceiling of US$ 31.4 trillion is on the verge of breach.
AI or artificial intelligence learn from their virtual environment and ever expanding pool of web resources, there is a danger that it might soon think human like and pose an existential risk to mankind!
Today, US dollar is the top reserve currency in the world. Other reserve currencies including Euro, Pound, Yen etc simply pale in comparison to the US$.
Now, India should harness its growing economic prowess and technological and digital advancements to position rupee as one of the new reserve currencies.
Apple CEO Tim Cook launched two stores in India to sell its range of premium products including iphones. The launch is expected to nudge more iconic brands to expand footprint in the country and boost the 'Make in India' vision.
Overcoming multiple challenges, India is firming up strong geopolitical ties with new allies and promoting its independent foreign policy to protect its long term territorial, food security, energy security and economic interests.
We can say India is on the right track to actualise its much vaunted image of a ‘Vishwa Guru’ in the community of nations.
Over the past few years, the role of IMF as the lender of last resort has become limited. Plus, its capacity to foretell global economic or banking crisis has also come under severe criticism, and rightfully so! Who will bailout IMF if the Bank were to fall going forward?
The interconnected world and globalisation also mean that crisis in one country is exported to other regions in no time.
US is facing a banking sector crisis, which is partly bred by the successive interest rate hikes by Federal Reserve. While three leading US banks have already been shut by authorities, more could follow suit in the coming weeks.
Paradox called China is a difficult customer. The country is akin to a wayward youth who enjoys a rather needling relationship with other folks due to its frosty equations with major world economies including USA, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia to name a few.
Modi, who has acquired a cult status in India, is now emerging as the most powerful global leader in the league of nations.
UP Global Investors Summit 2023 garnered more than Rs 33 trillion in investment proposals across different sectors.
India's Budget 2023-24 is a tight rope walk amid multitude of global and domestic economic headwinds.
Global IT sector is battling job market squeeze due to economic slowdown and bleak outlook.
Indian Rupee is starting to make its journey from being a domestic currency to a medium of settling global trade transactions!
The rising Covid cases in China is another challenge for the embattled global economy amid Russia-Ukraine war, inflation and pandemic blues.
The global economy is passing through a difficult times characterised by inflation, rising interest rates, falling currencies and expected recession.
Moonlighting or engaging in an additional job along with a permanent one has kicked up a raging debate in the Indian IT job market.
The global economy is facing a tough challenge across various front including inflation, stagflation, economic downturn, energy and food crisis, border conflagration etc.
The protracted Russia-Ukraine war is now literally beginning to cripple Europe due to energy crisis ahead of winter months.
The 21st century world is staring at a challenging modern milieu of water, energy and communication forming the bedrock of its future survival.
Fed and RBI, the central banks of world's two leading economies USA and India respectively, are on a spree to hike interest rates to contain inflation.
The global inflationary pressures have made the central banks to hike interest rates.
While the RBI has followed suit, the trend is expected to continue in the coming months til the inflation is tamed to about 4 percent in India.
India has completed 75 years of its independence from British rule.
Over the past 75 years, India has witnessed a number of highs and lows, yet as a nation, we have been successful in maintaining our own and emerging as the world's largest and most vibrant democracy.
Chinese economy seems to have overcome the pandemic blues to post highest ever trade surplus of more than US$ 100 billion in 35 years.
Bollywood has been disrupted like never before. Mumbai film industry has been jolted big time by the South Indian films, which hitherto played second fiddle to North Indian cinema.
South films, owing to better content and editing, have clearly edged out the mediocre offering by the North Indian flicks.
Indian Rupee has lost nearly 7% against dollar in 2022. However, Rupee is likely to recover from hereon due to a host of domestic and global factors.
The South Asian region is currently facing tough financial and forex crisis. The cesspool has already hit Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Now, Bangladesh is also up against the headwinds, and is seeking a bailout by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
India is staring at a double whammy of falling rupee and rising inflation.
Prime minister Narendra Modi is facing a tough challenge on the domestic front to firefight the phenomenon with less than two years for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Uttar Pradesh will import more than half-million tonnes of coal to replenish inventories of thermal power plants amid supply bottlenecks. The value of coal import is pegged at Rs 1,100 crore.
The BJP is looking to woo the Muslims, especially the most backward and economically deprived sections.
The opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh are in a disarray following successive electoral defeats at the hands of the BJP.
With Yogi Adityanath gaining heft at the national level, the opposition will find it tough to get even with the saffron party in the coming polls.
The fall in the Indian Rupee is not too bad considering the current economic and geopolitical situation in the world.
The economic sanctions on Russia is now biting the European Union which is forced to revert to coal fired power plants due to gas supply cut by Putin.
India plans radical transformation of the defence forces with #Agnipath scheme to tackle new age external threats.
Runaway global Inflation has roiled countries across the continents. There is little respite in sight despite interest rates hikes by the central banks.
Normal rainfall or monsoon season is predicted for India this year. Good rainfall translates into economic growth and provides a booster shot to other sectors including industry, manufacturing, FMCG, infrastructure, tourism, automobiles etc.
Yogi Adityanath 2.0 presented UP Annual Budget 2022-23 of more than Rs 6.15 trillion with an eye on the crucial 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Yogi Adityanath led Uttar Pradesh government has junked coal imports in the backdrop of the coal crisis gripping India.
Yogi Adityanath government 2.0 will table Annual Budget 2022-23 of more than US$ 77 billion for Uttar Pradesh next week in the state legislature.
It would be India's top state budget and better UP's last year's Rs 5.5 trillion (about $71 billion) budget for 2021-22 financial year.
Uttar Pradesh government will organise a mega groundbreaking ceremony on June 3, 2022 in Lucknow.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the event, investment projects worth Rs 75,000 crore will be launched.
Inflationary trends in India have a large imported content in the form of fuel and edible oil prices.
The RBI action plan of hiking repo rate to control the runaway inflation will have little impact unless the government takes structural and systematic policy stances as well.
Yogi Adityanath 2.0 will onboard IT and tech giants to digitally empower youth for better job opportunities.
These blue chip firms include the likes of HCL, Tata Technologies, Tech Mahindra, IBM etc.
The Uttar Pradesh government is setting up e-learning parks in 120 colleges across the state to boost digital learning curve.
These parks will also promote digital good governance in the hinterland.
Uttar Pradesh government will soon float a global tender for awarding the lease of gold mines in Sonbhadra district.
At least three mines have been identified for gold mining, while other mines have been found to have abundant quantities of other minerals including potash.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has drafted a research paper on cryptocurrency taxation, valuation and audit.
In her 2022-23 Union Budget speech, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced the Centre would impose a 30% tax on gains made out of selling crypto currency.
India is also working on its own digital currency to be launched in financial year 2022-23.
The Russia-Ukraine war is indirectly feeding into the coal crisis in India. The rising demand for power in summers coupled with steep coal prices in the international market is depleting coal inventories in the thermal power units in India.
The UP power utility had proposed to import coal, but the plan has raised the hackles of the state energy sector regulator. The watchdog has questioned the need, urgency and roadmap of imported coal and sought urgent answers.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has donned the mantle of a tough headmaster and implemented school like discipline for bureaucrats and senior officials.
The CM has ordered officials to report for duty on time, fixed half and hour for lunch and mandated disposing of files within three days.
Any breach of these norms will attract tough action by the state government.
The Russia-Ukraine war is impacting coal supplies in the Asia region. The coal prices are already moving North while there is a spurt in demand by the thermal power plants to meet rising power demand in summer.
The Uttar Pradesh government is also shoring up coal stocks in the power plants to beat the heat and preempt any build up coal crisis in the coming peak load months.
Yogi Adityanath government 2.0 is expected to soon effect a major bureaucratic reshuffle in Uttar Pradesh.
The ruling BJP is now preparing for the next 2024 Lok Sabha polls in right earnest.
As such, the BJP government helmed by Yogi is looking to post a panel of high performance officials to improve good governance index. This will help it overcome any build up of anti-incumbency before the big poll battle two years from now.
Yogi Adityanath government 2.0 is targetting to attract investment to the tune of Rs 10 trillion in the first 100 days of assuming office.
We know that Uttar Pradesh is aiming to become a trillion dollar economy in coming years. To achieve this ambitious goal, the state would need massive investment in different sectors with the help of the private sector companies.
A big investment event is being planned to be held in June or July 2022.
Uttar Pradesh is India's most populous state with the largest annual budget size.
Today, it is among the country's largest state economies. Now, UP is targettting to become a trillion dollar economy in the next five years.
The state has invited global bids from consultants to prepare the blueprint in this regard.
With Yogi Adityanath government 2.0 in UP, the ambitious task will see enough action in the coming months to keep the investors and business community besotted to the state's development agenda!
The grand finale of the Uttar Pradesh elections is now round the corner with five phases of total seven phases already completed.
Among the assembly constituencies, which will witness polling on Mar 3 and 7 are Gorakhpur and Varanasi - the pocket boroughs of UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The ruling BJP is banking heavily upon the magic of Modi-Yogi duo to reclaim UP, which has the country's largest number of 403 assembly seats.
In the high octane 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, four phases have already been completed.
Now, only three phases are left in the Central and Eastern UP districts. There is, however, no clear indication as to which way the wind is blowing in the country's most populous state.
In this podcast, I try to demystify the UP elections gone by so far and what we could expect in the remaining phases before the votes are counted on March 10.
The first phase of UP assembly elections touched 58 constituencies spread across 11 districts in the Western region.
This area is comparatively economically better off compared to the Central and Eastern UP districts.
The ruling BJP and SP-RLD combine took the contest down to the wire. My analysis.
Uttar Pradesh elections are around the corner and the major political parties especially the ruling BJP and Samajwadi Party have promised a string of freebies in their manifestos.
However, these parties probably have given little thought to the financial and fiscal aspect of their sops. Whether, the UP budget has the capacity to service these populist pre-poll promises, I probe in this podcast.
The Narendra Modi government has given a booster shot to the domestic ethanol segment.
India is looking to boost the ethanol landscape for insulating the sugar industry from seasonal market fluctuations, paring the oil import bill, ensuring speedier farmers' payments and curbing air pollution.
The Budget has proposed to slap an additional Rs 2 per litre excise levy on unblended petrol from Oct 2022.
The 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections are vital for the ruling BJP as well as Yogi Adityanath.
Yogi needs a big win in UP to cement his place in the saffron party and to emerge as a credible successor candidate for Modi in the national politics.
There is a lot of fuss about crypto currency and digital currency around the world.
India is also looking at issuing it's own digital currency to counter the crypto currency landscape.
This podcast tries to decide the mystery around crypto currency as well as digital currency.
The podcast talks about what Uttar Pradesh hopes to get in the Union Budget 2022-23.
UP is estimated to get more than Rs 2 trillion (lakh crore) in the next financial year. The devolution of central taxes and duties are alone pegged at more than Rs 1.45 trillion.
The next UP government would have ample financial resources at its disposal with liberal funding from the Centre.
IIT Kanpur has aligned with India's vision to attain self reliance in defence manufacturing.
IIT Kanpur will mentor MSMEs to move up the military hardware value chain and contribute to making India a net exporter from net importer of defence and military items.
Currently, India is among the world's top importers of military ware to equip its 1.5 million strong defence forces.
BSP president Mayawati has a deft strategy up her sleeve to impact the outcome of the UP elections.
She is silently playing out her moves on the election chessboard to assert her presence in the 2022 polls.
Her choice of candidates is likely to disturb the SP-RLD Jat-Muslim bloc applecart.
The Currency podcast channel condenses Union Budget 2022 imperatives for the uninitiated.
In the backdrop of pandemic and polls in five states, especially Uttar Pradesh, the Union Budget could turn out to be a bag of goodies.
The Narendra Modi government could also try to keep the farmers in good humour ahead of the polls, especially in UP and Punjab.
The podcast talks about IIT Kanpur gearing up to contribute to space research and produce space scientists.
IT will provide a research platform to explore for life in outer space and try to answer similar queries that have long baffled the general public and the scientists community alike.
IIT Kanpur has now set up an exclusive department to spearhead research in space and astronomy.
The podcast talks about Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath taking the poll plunge from his pocket borough of Gorakhpur in Eastern UP or Purvanchal region.
Earlier, he was expected to try his luck from Ayodhya, however, the ruling BJP decided to instead field him from Gorakhpur, thus putting an end to the popular rumours.
The development is significant since it also puts pressure on the opposition parties to follow suit and field their top leaders to vie at the hustings.
This is the signature tune of 'Currency'. It marks the beginning of an exciting podcast journey.