The bitter truth

Which is that one industry (not critical to national security) that continues to be controlled even 23 years after the liberalisation was announced while most sectors have been decontrolled?

Which is that one sector where companies may sell at prices influenced by market forces but must continue to pay for their raw material at a cost dictated unilaterally by the government?

Which is that one sector where manufacturers have been unable to pay farmers until now for raw material purchased last year?

Which is that one sector where a state government prices the raw material at one level while another prices differently, making it possible for manufacturers in one state to be completely outpriced by the stroke of a pen?

Which is that one sector where the government has consistently dictated an exorbitant cost that manufacturers must pay raw material providers - not out of their love for farmers but because this may translate into higher votes and yet that very state has seen four different governments in the last four state elections?

Which is that one sector where the state government has set such a high cost manufacturers must pay for the principal raw material that as things stand today there is a loss of Rs 7 a kg of the end product manufactured - and yet raw material costs may be raised yet again by state governments this October?

Which is the one sector where the manufacturers continue to suggest that the cost of the raw material be linked transparently to the realisation of the end product, thereby evolving vendors into partners, but the government refuses to listen?

Which is that one sector where, because of the irresponsibility of one state government, you have thousands of crores of bank loans under risk of non-repayment, endangering the health of the country's banking system?

Which is that one sector where the irresponsible management of cane cost by the state government has affected the viability of the end product from that state, which incidentally is acknowledged as one of the best places in the world to grow the raw material?

Which is that one sector where virtually no capacity investments have been made in the core business for nearly seven years but which could trigger widespread chaos if it were to suddenly discontinue production?

Which is that one sector, which is the second largest manufacturer of its principal product in the world, but has attracted no FDI across the last decade because international investors have less faith in state governments than they do in the climate?

Which is that one sector where commissions after commissions instituted by the central government have insisted that the faster the government exits the sector the better for all stakeholders and yet the government continues to exercise control through one mechanism or the other?

Which is the one sector where if you ask a chief financial officer or the managing director on how the company is likely to perform even after one half of the year has passed, they are likely to say they don't know?

The answer to all these questions is one.

India's sugar industry.

The author is a stock market writer, tracking corporate earnings and investor psychology to gauge where markets are not headed