When in doubt, cut and run.

The organised sector in India created a total of 416,000 jobs in 2016-17, at a rate of 1100 per day. This was 2% more than in 2015-16. Manufacturing added 197,000, education 69,000 and health added 66,000. Manufacturing and education comprised 75% of the total, which should be fantastic because it means that the 'Make in India' campaign is succeeding and more children are receiving education. HSBC expects the economy to grow by 6.5% this fiscal, by 7.0% in 2018-19 and by 7.6% in 2019-20. Retail inflation will remain at around 4%. The bond market is indicating otherwise as yields on the benchmark 10-year bonds hit 7.4% at the end of December. Rising yields mean falling prices. Banks hold $207 billion in bad loans. About $200 billion of their assets are in government bonds. A fall in the price of these bonds will add to their losses so they will be tempted to sell, pushing prices down even further, wrote A Mukherjee. The bond market was spooked by the news that the government is to borrow an extra Rs 500 billion, adding to the fiscal deficit, which jumped to 112% of the total predicted in the budget. However, part of the reason is that the government front-loaded its expenditure to stimulate the economy but revenue will keep coming in for the rest of the year, wrote S Raghavan. The market has already priced in a fiscal deficit of 3.5%, instead of 3.2%, and if this is because of infrastructure spending then it is not a bad thing. Managing the economy is going to be difficult in 2018, said an editorial in the Mint. "The economy is unlikely to get support from monetary policy. Government intervention in the farm sector in terms of higher support prices, or higher import tariffs, will push up food prices. Crude prices have firmed up in recent months, rising significantly from the lows seen in 2015." Weakness of the economy is not due to effects of demonetization or the confusion caused by the Goods and Services Tax but because "the sudden collapse of prices after August 2014 aggravated rural misery", wrote Prof Himanshu. "Kharif output this year is expected to decline by 2.8%," "reservoir levels are 5 billion cubic metres lower than last year" and "As on 29 December, wheat sowing is 1.7 million hectares lower than corresponding estimates for the previous year, which is a decline of 6%, Sowing of coarse cereals is lower by 1.1% and sowing of oilseeds is lower by 6.7% as on 29 December." Lower production means higher food prices which means bad news for election prospects. Increasing money supply by spending more will add to inflation, wrote M Chakravarty. There is a rumor that Modi may bring forward the date of the general elections while he still has public support. Cut and run. Before people wake up.