Slowdown-Structural or Cyclical?

Bertie feels the term 'structural slowdown' is generously used in opinion pieces

- MARKETS with Bertie

Markets with Bertie. Of late, Bertie has noticed opinion pieces and commentary by foreign banks about the structural slowdown in India. Economic growth is slowing and a host of high-frequency indicators are mirroring that loss of momentum so it is not surprising to him that structural slowdowners are crawling out of the woodwork. But Bertie has a fundamental problem with the term. He does not know what it really means but like its twin 'structural reform' it gets generously thrown around in opinion pieces and by talking heads.

Whenever Bertie feels at sea about the meaning of such big words, he turns to his friend and economics guru Ron for enlightenment. The duo decided to head to the Mumbai Cricket Association ground and watch the all-stars Mumbai Ranji team take on minnows Jammu and Kashmir. Bertie was hoping that between scintillating shots by M/s. Sharma and Jaiswal, they would find a bit of time to clear the slowdown fog. Unfortunately, they found a lot of time.