Let the markets decide

Govt and regulators should not micro-manage industry

Every policymaker in India repeatedly underscores the need for further liberalisation of the economy and allowing a greater play of market forces. But the reality is that even everyday commercial decisions are routinely subjected to over-regulation. Two such examples have come to light in the past few days. The first one concerns two airlines — IndiGo and SpiceJet — deciding to charge a fee for their online check-in service. The proximate cause was the need to make up for higher costs that the airlines were facing. Unsurprisingly, the reports extracted noisy protests from flyers, prompting the civil aviation ministry to