PM Modi's UK visit comes at a bad time: How the British press viewed the Bihar defeat

Looks like the drubbing Narendra Modi-led NDA alliance received in Bihar state assembly elections will resonate till 10 Downing Street in London. The Prime Minister's three-day visit to Britain, beginning on 12 November, is being billed as an important milestone in the evolving bilateral relations between New Delhi and London, especially since an Indian prime minister is visiting Britain after a full decade.
The massive loss in Bihar, touted as one of the most important elections since 2014 General Elections, has not gone unnoticed by British media. The loss is more personal than a party loss, noted The Guardian, since Narendra Modi took personal interest in the Bihar state assembly polls and he almost became the face of the campaign after addressing 30 campaign rallies. What makes the situation worse is that BJP did not announce their chief ministerial candidate while over-relying on Modi's 'charm'.

Bihar election results: Modi-led NDA fails to make a mark

Bihar Election Results: For the Narendra Modi-led NDA, a victory in Bihar will be a shot in the arm for the party after the defeat in Delhi

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Narendra Modi launches gold monetization schemes

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India has surpassed China as the world’s largest gold consumer, buying 562 tonnes of yellow metal so far this year, against China’s 548 tonnes. Photo: PTI

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched three schemes to monetize gold holdings in the country and reduce India’s import bill.

Modi on Thursday launched India’s first national gold coin ahead of the festive season along with the gold monetization scheme and the sovereign gold bond scheme.

While the gold monetization scheme will enable households to deposit their gold with banks and earn interest of up to 2.5% on it, the sovereign gold bond scheme will help subscribers earn interest up to 2.75% without actually holding gold in its physical form.

The 24-karat national gold coin has an emblem of the Ashoka Chakra engraved on one side and of Mahatma Gandhi on the other.

Speaking at the launch ahead of Dhanteras (two days before Diwali), Modi said these schemes should enable India to utilize 20,000 tonnes of gold lying idle in India and channelize it into productive investments. Many people buy gold and cutlery on Dhanteras.

“India has surpassed China as the largest importer of gold this year buying 562 tonnes of the yellow metal so far as against 548 tonnes China has bought,” he said. Modi encouraged people to participate in these schemes in large numbers to usher India into its “golden period”.

“Can we have an online monitoring system to see how much money we get from households each month and how much are our imports coming down by?” he asked. India imports around 1,000 tonnes of gold every year, resulting in large-scale foreign exchange outflows.

Gold is the savings vehicle of choice for many households and it is essential to tap the institutional market by giving savers an option to hold these savings within the formal financial system transparently, according to Somasundaram P.R., managing director, World Gold Council India, an industry lobby.

“These schemes will be transformative for the Indian gold industry. However, the expectations from the schemes in the short term must be tempered as it will take time to build the infrastructure and products and for customer acceptance to grow,” he said.