Compound inflation.

"Data released by the commerce and industry ministry...showed the eight core sectors, spanning cement, coal, crude oil, electricity, fertilisers, natural gas, petroleum and refinery products, (and) steel, grew by 12% in August, higher than 8.4% in July and above the 4.2% in August last year. Five out of eight sectors posted double digit growth. Cumulative growth between April to August was at 7.7%." "Rs 1,62,712 crore (Rs 1.627 trillion) gross GST revenue collected during September 2023; records show 10% Year-on-Year growth." pib,gov.in. Not surprising since, "Retail inflation in India moderated to 6.83 percent in August on an annual basis after surging to 7.4 percent in July, government data showed." ET. On an annual basis means that prices rose by 6.83% over prices in August 2022, which rose 7.0% over August 2021, which rose 5.3% over August 2020, which rose 6.7% over August 2019. RI. Since inflation compounds year-on-year, an article that cost Rs 100 in 2019 will cost Rs 128.43 today which is an average rise of over 7% every year. GST collected on that article will have gone up by the same percentage. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been mandated by the government to keep inflation at 4% with a margin of 2% on either side and it has failed dismally. Since GST accrues as a percentage of the price, the government is raking it in. Clearly the present governor of the RBI is not "a snake who sits over a hoard of money" like his predecessor Urjit Patel. DH. If prices are soaring it means that the value of the rupee is falling. "The country's foreign exchange reserves declined further by USD 2.335 billion to USD 590.702 billion for the week ended September 22, the RBI said." PTI. Reserves hit a high of $645 billion in October 2021. "The reserves took a hit as the central bank deployed the reserves to defend the rupee amid pressures caused majorly global developments since last year." The hope is that a stronger rupee will make imports cheaper and help to stem the rise of consumer price (CPI) inflation. CEOs and promoters of Indian firms chant "India, India" at every given opportunity but "for the period April to June, corporate investments fell 6.2% in comparison with April-June 2022. They stood at 12.3% of GDP, the lowest in the first quarter of any year in the past decade." wrote Vivek Kaul. They will invest only when they have used up all their spare capacity, if demand rises. "At 5.1% of GDP, the net financial assets of households are at a 47-year low," which "means that households have been financing consumption by borrowing and spending more, and saving less." As further proof, "Credit card spending by Indians surged to a record high, raising concerns of potential defaults as indebted households stepped up their borrowing spree ahead of the festive season."ET. "The amount transacted through cards rose to an all-time high of 1.48 trillion rupees ($17.8 billion) in August, up from July's 1.45 trillion rupees, according to the latest data by the RBI." Hence, 42% of Indian graduates under the age of 25 years are unemployed, according to a new survey by Azim Premji University. FPI. No jobs, no wages, inexorably rising prices, huge GST collections. Amrit Kaal indeed.