Four fatal failures

What the Cairn loss reveals about the Indian state's incompetence, incapacity, and arrogance

When a French court declared in favour of Cairn Energy plc earlier this month, allowing property owned by the Indian government in Paris to be frozen — which the company said was a prelude to it taking full ownership of those properties — it was a new form of international humiliation for India. For some, it felt like a reminder of the dark days three decades ago when India faced a balance of payments crisis and its global property was in danger of being sold off. But for many in the international investment community, the headlines about seizure of Indian