S and P retains FY24 India growth projection at 6 percent, to be fastest growing in Asia Pacific (GS Paper 3, Economy)
Why in news?
- Recently, the S&P Global Ratings released its quarterly economic update for Asia-Pacific.
- S&P Global Ratings retained India's GDP growth forecast at 6 per cent saying it will be the fastest growing economy among Asia Pacific nations.
- The GDP growth forecast for the current and the next fiscal has been kept unchanged from the forecast made in March partly on account of domestic resilience.
Key Highlights:
- S&P said retail inflation is likely to soften to 5 per cent this fiscal from 6.7 per cent, and the RBI is expected to cut interest rates only early next year.
- In India, under the assumption of normal monsoons, it expect headline consumer inflation to soften to 5 per cent in fiscal 2024 from 6.7 per cent. Softer crude prices and tempering of demand will bring down fuel and core inflation, respectively.
- The fastest growth at about 6 per cent was projected in India, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
- S&P has lowered the growth forecast for China to 5.2 per cent from 5.5 per cent for 2023.
About S&P Global Ratings:
- Standard & Poor's (S&P) is a leading index provider and data source of independent credit ratings.
- The McGraw-Hill Cos. purchased S&P in 1966, and in 2016, the company became known as S&P Global.
Vikram, Pragyan to return for another tryst with the moon
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Why in news?
- India’s third moon exploration mission, slated for a mid-July launch, will share the names associated with the 2019 Chandrayaan-2 lunar adventure.
Vikram & Pragyan:
- The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) plans to retain the names of the Chandrayaan-2 lander and rover for their Chandrayaan-3 equivalents as well.
- This means, the Chandrayaan-3 lander will bear the name Vikram (after Vikram Sarabhai, the father of the Indian space programme) and the rover, Pragyan.
- Much to its disappointment, the ISRO had lost the Chandrayaan-2 lander-rover configuration and the payloads aboard after Vikram crashed on the lunar surface while attempting a soft landing.
Scientific instruments onboard Chandrayaan- 3:
- The lander, rover and the propulsion module will have payloads for performing experiments designed to give scientists new insights into the characteristics of earth’s lone natural satellite.
- The lander will have four payloads:
- Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive Ionosphere and Atmosphere (RAMBHA),
- Chandra’s Surface Thermo physical Experiment (ChaSTE),
- Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) and
- the LASER Retroreflector Array (LRA).
- The six-wheeled rover will have two payloads:
- the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) and
- the LASER Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS).
- In addition to these, there will be one payload on the propulsion module, the Spectro-polarimetry of HAbitable Planet Earth (SHAPE).
What’s next?
- ISRO’s plans to launch the third moon mission in mid-July aboard the LVM3 (formerly GSLV Mk-III) rocket from Sriharikota.
- A propulsion module will carry the lander-rover configuration to a 100-km lunar orbit.
- Once the Vikram lander module makes it safely to the moon, it will deploy Pragyan, “which will carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during the course of its mobility”.
