oppn parties Uber, Ola And Economic Recession

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News Snippets

  • The Indian envoy in Bangladesh was summoned by the country's government over the breach in the Bangladesh mission in Agartala
  • Bank account to soon have 4 nominees each
  • TMC and SP stayed away from the INDIA bloc protest over the Adani issue in the Lok Sabha
  • Delhi HC stops the police from arresting Nadeem Khan over a viral video which the police claimed promoted 'enmity'. Court says 'India's harmony not so fragile'
  • Trafiksol asked to refund IPO money by Sebi on account of alleged fraud
  • Re goes down to 84.76 against the USD but ends flat after RBI intervenes
  • Sin goods like tobacco, cigarettes and soft drinks likely to face 35% GST in the post-compensation cess era
  • Bank credit growth slows to 11% (20.6% last year) with retail oans also showing a slowdown
  • Stock markets continue their winning streak on Tuesday: Sensex jumps 597 points to 80845 and Nifty gains 181 points to 24457
  • Asian junior hockey: Defending champions India enter the finals by beating Malaysia 3-1, to play Pakistan for the title
  • Chess World title match: Ding Liren salvages a sraw in the 7th game which he almost lost
  • Experts speculate whether Ding Liren wants the world title match against D Gukesh to go into tie-break after he let off Gukesh easily in the 5th game
  • Tata Memorial Hospital and AIIMS have severely criticized former cricketer and Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu for claiming that his wife fought back cancer with home remedies like haldi, garlic and neem. The hospitals warned the public for not going for such unproven remedies and not delaying treatment as it could prove fatal
  • 3 persons died and scores of policemen wer injured when a survey of a mosque in Sambhal near Bareilly in UP turned violent
  • Bangladesh to review power pacts with Indian companies, including those of the Adani group
D Gukesh is the new chess world champion at 18, the first teen to wear the crown. Capitalizes on an error by Ding Liren to snatch the crown by winning the final game g
oppn parties
Uber, Ola And Economic Recession

By Linus Garg

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the auto industry is suffering low sales as millennials prefer to ride on Uber and Ola instead of owning cars to avoid the hassle of driving and looking for parking slots. This is once again a classic example of a government not willing to acknowledge a problem and looking for excuses to explain the slowdown in the economy.

Sitharaman should know that preference for riding on Uber and Ola can be one of the minor reasons but can never be one of the main reasons for the precarious position the auto industry finds itself in. On the other hand, car sales are being driven by Ola and Uber because as demand rises for such rides, people are investing in cars to run them on the app-based platforms.

Further, it is not only the sales of cars that have plummeted. Demand has fallen across the board for all kinds of vehicles, including two-wheelers and commercial vehicles. App-based platforms cannot be held responsible for that. It is lack of manufacturing activity and falling profitability for businessmen and lack of jobs and no rise in salaries for the salaried-class that is preventing them from investing in acquiring new assets.

The finance minister must be aware that auto sales have been going down for 10 straight months now. She must also be aware that GDP growth rate is going down, companies are reporting lower sales in their quarterly results, manufacturing has contracted for the last few months and credit off-take has slowed down to a trickle. All this taken together shows that the economy is in recession.

Hence, instead of looking for excuses or responding in knee-jerk fashion, the finance minister should apply her mind and think of structural reforms. She should find the money to invest in infrastructure to perk up demand. The government must not sleep on the matter and instead must tackle it on a war footing. 

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