Upfront
Good Numbers
Rs 15.2 lakh crore
What the week-long Make in India fair in Mumbai attracted as investment pledges from global and Indian investors. Though impressive, this number fell short of the Rs 25 lakh crore of investment pledges that the three-day Vibrant Gujarat summit had attracted a year ago.
Bad Numbers
Rs 8 lakh crore
The amount of stressed assets in the balance sheets of Indian banks, as per an estimate of the Reserve Bank of India.
Rs 1.4 lakh crore
The amount of bad loans written off by Indian public sector banks in the past three years alone, according to a report by a newspaper.
Social Media Howler of the Month
"Anti-colonialism has been economically catastrophic for Indian people for decades. Why stop now?"
Tweet by Marc Andreessen, famed Silicon Valley venture capitalist, inventor of Netscape browser, and board member of Facebook, reacting to TRAI's ruling that disallowed Facebook's Free Basics...He later deleted the tweet and apologised
"We strongly reject the sentiments expressed by Marc Andreessen last night about India"
Facebook quickly put out this statement after the twitter storm that followed Andreessen's tweet.
"...deeply upsetting and they do not represent the way Facebook or I think at all,"
Facebook founder Marc Zuckerberg reacting to same tweet by Andreessen
Thumbs Down
"This is not the right time for bullet train in the country but there was a need for improving existing facilities, speed, infrastructure and comforts of passengers"
"Maybe after eight to 10 years, we may require bullet train,"
E. Shreedharan, the Metro Man, on the sidelines of an event in Nagpur when asked what he thought of the super fast trains that the government was planning...
