News in Short

• Fitch Ratings projected India’s medium term growth to slow down to 6.5% from FY23 onward, after the initial rebound to 11% in FY22, as the economy suffers lasting damage from the pandemic.
• The Supply-side potential growth will be reduced by a slowdown in the rate of capital accumulation as the investment has recently fallen sharply and is likely to see only a subdued recovery.
• The agency downgraded its projection of supply-side potential growth to 5.1% annually over the five-year period from 2020-25 compared to its pre-pandemic expectation of 7%.
• Fitch retained its forecast of a 9.4% contraction in the ongoing fiscal, higher than the -7.7% growth projected by the government in its first advance estimates of gross domestic product (GDP).

• After rice, India is set to turn a major exporter of wheat due to surging international prices from Chinese stockpiling and ultra-low interest rate money increasingly finding its way into agri-commodity markets.
• The US Department of Agriculture (USTA) upped its forecast of Indian wheat exports for 2020-21 (July-June) to 1.8 million tonnes (mt), as against its earlier estimate of one mt. That would be the highest ever in the last six years.
• The trebling of shipments this year is mainly on the back of rising global prices. Wheat future contracts for March delivery at the Chicago Board of Trade exchange are currently at $244.35 per tonne, 18.3% higher than the $206.59 a year ago.
• This opens up possibilities for Indian exports to nearby markets, especially Bangladesh that buys mostly from Russia.
• With the Russia government levying a 25 euros-per-tonne export tax on wheat, Bangladeshis beginning to shift its purchases towards India.

• President Donald Trump was impeached by the U.S. House on a single charge of incitement of insurrection for his role in a riot by his supporters at the US Capitol.
• Wednesday’s historic 232-197 vote makes Trump the only U.S. president to be impeached twice, a little more than a year since his first.
• It was supported by all Democrats and 10 Republicans, including Liz Cheney, the third-ranking GOP leader in the House.
• Mr. Trump was first impeached by the House in 2019 over his dealings with Ukraine, but the Senate voted in 2020 to acquit him. He is the first President to be impeached twice. None have been convicted by the Senate.

• US President-elect Joe Biden announced he has nominated former US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power as administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
• If confirmed by the Senate, Power will head the agency which oversees US foreign humanitarian and development aid.
• Power served in the Obama-Biden administration from 2013 to 2017 as the 28th US Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
• From 2009 to 2013, Power served on the National Security Council staff as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights.

• Indian physicist and Padma Shri awardee Rohini Godbole has been conferred with the Ordre National du Merite, one of the highest distinctions granted by France to honour eminent persons.
• Godbole is a professor at the Centre for High Energy Physics in the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, has been recognised by France, not only for her contributions to the collaborations between France and India but also for her work in promoting the visibility of women in science.
• Ordre National du Mérite is a French honour to reward “distinguished merit” order of merit with membership awarded by the President of the French Republic.
• Godbole is also an elected fellow at the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI), Academy of Sciences of the Developing World, The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) and the Indian National Science Academy.