Based on household-level data on occupation and income, a calculation for helping citizens get to their feet A labourer carries vegetables in sacks at a vegetables market during the nationwide lockdown imposed to contain the spread of the COVID-19, in Chennai, Monday, April 6, 2020. (PTI Photo) This column offers a ‘people view’ — household-level data — of Indian households to feed into the ongoing macro-level discussion about the right level of financial support needed to help citizens get to their feet following the loss of income caused by the lockdown, and where it should be deployed.. Presented here is a ground-up calculation based on what categories of jobs and job arrangements mainly contribute to the income of households, and what that actual income level is. Macro-level discussions are based on a broadbrush understanding of occupation — large swathes of informality, agriculture dependence and migrants. We base our assessment on

If brand-speak represents popular culture, we have less to worry about than some of us might think. Image credit: Siddhant Jumde The good news is that Indian brands unequivocally live in the world of customers and the people of India, and not in the world of politicians. They speak to people, mindful of commercial good sense, by tapping into popular culture; adding to the good news is that they still see popular culture as being quite far removed from the patriotic jingoism of today’s politics. Every Independence Day and Republic Day, brands in India do special campaigns—citizen brands talking to citizen consumers—and the conversation is quite revealing of the way business thinks about the state of the nation. We haven’t yet seen what the brand-speak for Independence Day 2019 will be, but it is a very safe bet, based on recent trends, that most will neither echo nor argue against

Budget does well to focus on investment and infrastructure rather than propping up consumption to boost the economy. There are few takers for the notion, despite data, that for most of consumer India, unless incomes grow there is no way consumption can or should grow. (Illustration by Suvajit Dey) The 2019 Economic Survey’s focus on investment as a key driver of economic growth is very welcome. It changes the alarming paradigm that business and media have been working with — since investment is not happening, in order to bolster slowing economic growth the focus of policymaking should shift to boosting consumption, with cash transfers, reduced excise duties, decreased interest rates on retail loans and so on. Why investment has slowed down and how to revive it has not received even a fraction of the public attention that consumption has. There are few takers for the notion, despite data, that for most of