Fantasy sports.

"The latest Ipsos 'What Worries the World Global Survey'," in September "shows the Global South is driving optimism with Asian markets being most optimistic. India was placed third in the pecking order, after Singapore (82%) and Indonesia (80%)." "Global citizens on the contrary were more pessimistic with only 38% believing their country is moving in the right direction." To prove the point, "Consumer confidence touched a four-year high in September." Mint. "The Current Situation Index (CSI) reached a four-year high on the back of respondents' better assessment of current general economic situation and employment conditions in September 2023," The RBI said. "During the month CSI touched 92.2." What the breathless report does not mention is that anything below 100 is still negative. A higher negative, but negative nonetheless. "India's industrial production (IIP) in August rose to 10.3% on an annual basis after growing 5.7% in July."ET. This is supported by the S&P Global Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for August at 58.6 (above 50 is positive) but fell slightly to 57.5 in September. Naturally, "India Inc is all set to report an 8-10 percent jump in revenues for the September quarter while profit margins will also witness an expansion, an arm of rating agency Crisil said." BS. "This will be the first time in four quarters that the revenue growth will see an increase, it said." "Gross direct tax receipts totaled Rs 11.1 lakh crore (Rs 11.1 trillion) up to October 9, 2023 - nearly 18% higher than the comparable period of last year, official data." TOI. The latest World Economic Outlook (WEO) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) "now expects India's 2023-24 GDP growth to be 6.3%, a 20-basis point increase from the July numbers." HT. "India's merchandise trade deficit narrowed to $19.37 billion in September, the lowest in five months," as "Merchandise exports from India declined by 2.6% to $34.47 billion in September as compared to $35.39 billion recorded in the same month last year. India's imports fell from $63.37 billion in September 2022 to 53.84 billion in September 2023, a year-on-year decline of 15%." DH. "Powered by the strength and skills of our people, India is a global bright spot, a powerhouse of growth and innovation," tweeted PM Modi. TN. "The joblessness rate in urban areas for people aged 15 years and above stood at 6.6% in the April-June 2023 period,...the ministry of statistics and programme implementation's four-monthly periodic labour force survey (PLFS) showed." HT. "The labour force participation rate (LFPR) is at a four-quarter high of 48.8%." Which means 51.2% of the workforce is not working or even looking for work. Unfortunately, JP Morgan analysts expect a "washout" year for the 2023-24 financial year. ET. And, "India's impressive recent economic gains are unlikely to displace China as the world economy's main growth engine anytime soon, according to HSBC Holdings PLC." ET. Economic growth is like fantasy sports. Just pick a number.