Best of BS Opinion: The case against loan melas, the lesson in bank merger

Here's a selection of Business Standard opinion pieces for the day

How very different state-owned banks are coming together and why the government must make fresh plans for fiscal consolidation. Pallav Nayak sums up the views.

The risk from the surprise slashing of corporate tax rate is that the fiscal deficit will go up and the government will appropriate more savings from the system. The government would do well to make a fresh fiscal consolidation roadmap to instil confidence in the system, says our first edit.

The government's announcement that PSBs would hold “shamiana meetings” to enable small businesses and retail borrowers to access loans makes it clear that it is willing to suspend normal procedure to push liquidity. Credit access has to improve, but loan melas are certainly not the way to go about it, says our second edit.

Hundreds of meetings, 'buddy branches' and 'pulse checks' mark the complex work of merging Bank of Baroda, Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank. The market may take time to digest but the merger could be a template for creating mega banks, writes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.

Private persons look at the prospective reward-to-risk ratio, of the cash that is finally delivered back to the shareholder, when they consider investments. Ajay Shah explains how tax rates, government policy, and legal agencies can influence the reward-to-risk ratio.

Quote of the day

"The Prime Minister deserves respect in foreign countries as (there) he is a representative of our nation. But when he is in India, we have the right to ask him questions." — Congress leader Shashi Tharoor.