some difficult words from editorials , which is important and very helpful for IBPS PO/CLERK/LIC AAO/RRB & SSC CGL EXAM and other exams !!!
The Hindu: Out of favour: the love for Indian bonds
More people are losing their love for Indian bonds. Foreign investors have been net sellers of over $1 billion in Indian debt this month, almost cancelling out inflows since the beginning of the year. Domestic investors were already spooked by a widening fiscal deficit, so foreign selling now has managed to add pressure on the market. The deserting of the Indian market by foreign investors comes at a time when the Centre is looking at tapping the bond market aggressively to finance its election-year spending. The yield on the benchmark 10-year bond has risen by almost 100 basis points since late-July amid lacklustre investor demand. The rise in yields is due to a variety of reasons that have pushed both foreign and domestic investors to re-price Indian sovereign bonds. For one, the government is expected to step up borrowing ahead of elections; in fact, the fiscal deficit targets for the current as well as the coming fiscal year were revised upwards in the Budget. This has fuelled market fears about a rise in inflation. Further, the public sector banks, typically the biggest lenders to the government, have turned wary of lending. As the losses on their bond portfolios mount, they have turned net sellers of sovereign bonds in 2018. Another tailwind affecting bonds is the prospect of higher interest rates in the West, which has made Indian bonds look a lot less lucrative in the eyes of foreign investors. The weakening rupee, probably a reflection of higher domestic inflation and fund outflows in search of yields, has added to selling pressure.
Given these pressing concerns, it is no surprise that Indian sovereign bonds have witnessed a relief rally since news broke on March 26 that the Centre will trim its market borrowing during the first half of the coming fiscal year. The yield on the 10-year Indian sovereign bond has dropped by more than 20 basis points since that day. The Centre’s borrowing target for April-September was cut to ₹2.88 lakh crore, which is about 48% of the total budgeted borrowing for the year, in contrast to ₹3.72 lakh crore in the first half of this year. Interestingly, first-half borrowing was more than 60% of the annual borrowing target in each of the last two years. The government also announced a cut of ₹50,000 crore in the total amount of market borrowings for the year, opting instead to dip into the National Small Savings Fund to meet its funding needs. Cutting down on market borrowing is a decision linked to the market’s ‘decision’ to punish the government for profligacy. The bond rout should thus serve as a timely warning as it looks to ramp up spending ahead of elections. Lastly, with the vacuum created by the state-run banks, it may be time for the Reserve Bank of India to re-examine the rule limiting the role of foreign investors in the bond market.
1. Spooked (noun) : भूत
Meaning : frighten; unnerve.
Synonyms : alarm, curdle the blood, discomfort, horrify, make one’s blood run cold, make one’s teeth chatter, panic, petrify, scare away, scare stiff, scare the pants off of, scare to death, startle, strike terror into, terrify, unnerve.
Antonyms : abandon, desert, leave, withdraw.
Usage : they spooked a couple of grizzly bears.
2. Tap/tapping (noun) : दोहन
Meaning : a device by which a flow of liquid or gas from a pipe or container can be controlled.
Synonyms : valve, spout, stopcock, cock, spile; faucet, spigot.
Antonyms : disown, leave alone, reject, repudiate, repulse.
Usage : she turned the cold tap on full.
3. Lacklustre (adjective) : मंद
Meaning : lacking in vitality, force, or conviction; uninspired or uninspiring.
Synonyms : dull.
Antonyms : Lively.
Usage : no excuses were made for the team’s lacklustre performance.
4. Variety (Noun) : विविधता
Meaning : the quality or state of being different or diverse; the absence of uniformity or monotony.
Synonyms : diversity, variation, diversification, multifariousness, heterogeneity, variegation, many-sidedness, change, difference.
Antonyms : uniformity.
Usage : his mother introduced more variety into his diet.
5. Tailwind (noun) : अनुवात
Meaning : a wind blowing in the direction of travel of a vehicle or aircraft; a wind blowing from behind.
6. Concerns (verb) : चिंताओं
Meaning : relate to; be about.
Synonyms : be about, deal with, cover, treat, have to do with; discuss, tell of, go into, examine, scrutinize, study, review, analyse; relate to, be connected with, pertain to, appertain to; archaicregard.
Antonyms : ignore, neglect.
Usage : the report concerns events which took place immediately after the end of the war.
7. Contrast (noun) : विरोध
Meaning : the state of being strikingly different from something else in juxtaposition or close association.
Synonyms : difference, dissimilarity, disparity, dissimilitude, distinction, contradistinction, divergence, variance, variation, differentiation; contradiction, incongruity, opposition, polarity.
Antonyms : agreement, conformity, copy, equality, facsimile, homogeneousness, likeness, similarity, uniformity, unity.
Usage : the day began cold and blustery, in contrast to almost two weeks of uninterrupted sunshine.
8. Profligacy (noun) : आवारगी
Meaning : reckless extravagance or wastefulness in the use of resources.
Synonyms : absurdity, amenity, dissipation, exaggeration, excess, exorbitance, expenditure, extravagancy, folly, frill, icing on the cake, immoderation, improvidence, lavishness, luxury, outrageousness, overdoing, overindulgence, overspending, preposterousness, prodigality, profuseness, profusion, recklessness, squander, squandering, superfluity, unreasonableness, unrestraint, unthrift, waste, wastefulness, wildness.
Antonyms : decency, goodness, honor, kindness, wholesomeness.
Usage : the government returned to fiscal profligacy.
9. Ramp up (idiom)
Meaning : To increase. A noun or pronoun can be used between “ramp” and “up.”
Usage : Ever since that break-in, they’ve really ramped up security at the office. You need to seriously ram up your study efforts if you want to get an A on this exam.
10. Vacuum (Noun) : शून्य स्थान
Meaning : a space entirely devoid of matter.
Synonyms : empty space, emptiness, void, nothingness, vacuity, vacancy; rarevoidness, nihility.
Antonyms : fullness.
Usage : the experiment has to be conducted in a vacuum.
