Top headlines: Parameswaran is new NITI CEO, Toyota to deepen ties in India

Inflation will return to the Reserve Bank of India’s mid-point target in two years, a senior central banker said, with policy actions aimed at cooling price pressures set to take a toll on the economy. More on that story and other headlines.

Parameswaran Iyer, credited for Swachh Bharat plan, is new NITI Aayog CEO
 

Parameswaran Iyer, a retired civil servant who led the Swachh Bharat cleanliness mission, is the new CEO of NITI Aayog, said the government on Friday. Iyer’s tenure will last two years. Incumbent CEO Amitabh Kant's tenure ends on June 30. The personnel ministry order said Iyer's appointment is on the same terms and applicable for Kant. Read more

War in Europe may snuff out global recovery: RBI Dy Governor Michael Patra
 

The current geopolitical situation arising from Russia's invasion of Ukraine threatens to 'snuff out' global economic recovery post the Covid-19 pandemic, Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor Michael Patra said on Friday. "Emerging markets bearing the brunt of the Russia-Ukraine war despite being bystanders," said Patra, addressing an event by industry body PHD Chamber of Commerce. Read more

Inflation likely to exceed top of RBI band until December: Shaktikanta Das
 

India's central bank is on course to bring down prices but the retail inflation rate is likely to remain above the top end of its mandated target band until December, Governor Shaktikanta Das said in an article in the Times of India on Friday. "We are well on track to bring down inflation and inflation expectations. Until December, CPI is expected to remain higher than the upper tolerance level. Thereafter, it is expected to go below 6% as per our current projections," Das said. Read more

Agnipath hiring: Armed forces must avoid the track Indian Railways took
 

In the din over the armed forces’ Agnipath recruitment scheme, it is worth stepping back to study a fairly similar pattern that the Indian Railways (IR) has followed for its apprentice programme. The problems are similar — trained apprentices demand a full-time job, but IR is willing to offer, at the most, concessions in the admission test. As the job market shrinks, the level of stridency is rising here, too. These controversies also go some way towards explaining why the private sector has been reluctant to jump on the apprenticeship bandwagon, despite successive governments asking it to do so. Read more

Toyota, Suzuki to deepen ties for production, net-zero commitments in India
 

Japanese auto majors Toyota and Suzuki on Friday said they will deepen their collaboration in the fields of development and production in India. Under the initiative, the two companies will start production of a new SUV developed by Suzuki at Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) from August this year, they said in a joint statement. Suzuki's Indian arm, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd and TKM will market the new model in India as Suzuki and Toyota models, respectively, it added. Read more