The Centre's decision to scrap the colonial era practice of two Budgets, 92 years after it was introduced means goodbye to another British legacy.The Railway Budget is usually presented two days before the Union Budget. Though there will be no Railway Budget, the railway ministry will continue to have autonomy over fares, salaries, pension bill, tariff revision and market borrowing, enabling it to maintain its distinct identity.The move could be a game changer and save the government a lot of time, money and effort. Another colonial legacy, the prime minister's residential address, 7, Race Course Road, is also becoming history now, with the road set to be renamed as 7, Lok Kalyan Marg.N J Ravi Chander   BengaluruLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew Delhi 110 002Fax: (011) 23720201E-mail: letters@bsmail.inAll letters must have a postal address and telephone number

Letters: Ring in the new

Business Standard

Realty check

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Business Standard brings you a snapshot of average current rates and unit sizes in localities that offer property in the price range of Rs 50 lakh-1 crore

Mutual Funds: Nimesh Shah

Nimesh Shah, managing director & chief executive officer, ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company, answers your questionsWhat is the best way to invest in mid-cap companies? Should I invest in mid-cap funds or in multi-cap funds? What is the difference?The key difference between mid-cap and multi-cap funds is the universe in which your money will be invested by the fund manager. A multi-cap fund is market capitalisation agnostic and hence invests in large, mid and small-cap companies. Meanwhile, mid-cap funds, as the name suggests, invest predominantly in midcap companies, which in general tend to be more volatile than multi-cap. Invest in a midcap mutual fund only if you have the necessary risk appetite, otherwise begin with large-cap funds.I have never invested in debt funds so far. How should I choose one? Are they comparable to bank fixed deposits?A debt fund and a bank fixed deposit are not exactly comparable as the latter offers fixed returns while the former does not. A de

I want to draw the attention of the authorities concerned through your letters section to the plight of children admitted to private schools in Delhi under the quota for economically weaker sections

Letters: Squandered potential

Government must come up with a clear strategy urgently

Wake up on air defence

Law-enforcement authorities are neither able to bring the defaulter back to India to face trial nor seek his extradition

Letters: After-effect

Prudence demands that India should not let its strategic interests in engaging with Pakistan be undermined by jingoistic provocations from extremist forces operating in the latter's territory

Letters: Prudence essential now

The key issue is to enhance the carrier's autonomy

Rebooting railways

The organisers of an insurance conference in Mumbai to which the Maharashtra governor was invited appeared to suddenly turn patriotic

Can't miss lunch

One cable operator said, "Pay for a month and get next two months free." Another said: "Pay for six (months), get six months free, unbelievable 100 MBPs plan."

Freebies from cable operators

Sinha, currently visiting the US, asked a Press Information Bureau official to call him only if there was something "really urgent"

Mobile bill-conscious

Even before Urjit Patel took over as Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor from Raghuram Rajan, hackers were busy using his name to fool people. A security survey by PWC quotes a fake mail from Patel (when he was RBI deputy governor) asking depositors to send their personal details, including bank details, to an email address. The mail said the recipient was the beneficiary of an unclaimed account that held millions of rupees and promised to deposit Rs 4.7 crore directly into his/her account. The giveaways were the spelling and grammatical errors in almost every sentence.

Phishing for trouble

A market leader entering the stock markets bodes well for its peers. Shares of MCX, a commodity bourse, have rallied over 10 per cent since the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange set the ball rolling on their listing plans earlier this month. A similar trend was seen when airline company IndiGo's parent, InterGlobe Aviation, hit the capital markets last year, triggering a big rally in the shares of Jet Airways and SpiceJet. "It takes a market leader to unlock the true potential in terms of valuation," said a market expert.

List and see valuation rise

Yoga guru and FMCG marketer Ramdev said West Bengal was dear to him for two reasons. First, state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had "a lot of mamta (love) for us". Second, among the three main trustees of Patanjali Ayurved - Ramdev, Acharya Balkrishna and Swami Muktananda - Swami Muktananda was from Midnapore, he said on the sidelines of a Young Ficci Ladies Organisation event in Kolkata. This was not the first time Ramdev was batting for Banerjee. Ahead of the 2011 Assembly elections in the state when Banerjee was Union Railway Minister, Ramdev had said he respected her for her integrity. "She maintains an ideal personal life and despite being in politics for so many years, there has not been a single allegation against her," he had said.

Ramdev's admiration for Mamata

With reference to Dev Chatterjee and Abhijit Lele's report, "Banks want promoter's guarantees for new loans" (September 20), mounting pressure due to rising stressed assets is prompting lenders to ask for personal guarantee from promoters and chief executive officers of companies while offering fresh credit facilities or rescheduling existing facilities to borrowers. However, to what extent the personal guarantee is worthy is a matter that can be analysed only when lenders go for the realisation of personal assets.Obviously, all outstanding non-performing assets have not risen because of financial mismanagement or malfeasance. Therefore, while granting and delivering credit facilities, it is imperative that bankers assess and recognise a particular client's need to obtain various primary and additional securities to secure his or her debt.Asking for personal guarantee may discourage entrepreneurs from starting a new business enterprise or taking over an existing one. Under the Strategi

Letters: Use with discretion

Congratulations to T N Ninan for writing the relevant and thought-provoking piece, "The minimum wage temptation" (September 17), on the proposal for implementing a steep increase in minimum wages across the country. Ninan analyses the various implications such an increase could have on the labour market and the Indian economy, with appropriate examples of coir and paddy from Kerala.If one looks at the Indian economy, it has a sophisticated workforce in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, information technology, etc. They draw much more than the proposed minimum wages at one end and the millions of workers working in small and medium-scale industries that cater to large core sector units of steel, cement, coal, power, etc on the other.  Industries in all these sectors have been facing challenges.While the debt burden of large companies in core sectors has attracted media attention, what has been ignored are the huge payables of these units to their suppliers belonging to the small and medi

Letters: Revisit the situation

Subramanian panel has many good, and a few bad, proposals

Reading the pulse

FCNR redemption can be an opportunity to let the currency slide

Commotion over rupee

Kaushik Basu, senior vice-president and chief economist of the World Bank, is among the well-followed on Twitter

Business Standard

Business Standard

Page 304 - Business Standard

Letters: Ring in the new

Realty check

Mutual Funds: Nimesh Shah

Letters: Squandered potential

Wake up on air defence

Letters: After-effect

Letters: Prudence essential now

Rebooting railways

Can't miss lunch

Freebies from cable operators

Mobile bill-conscious

Phishing for trouble

List and see valuation rise

Ramdev's admiration for Mamata

Letters: Use with discretion

Letters: Revisit the situation

Reading the pulse

Commotion over rupee

Existential question

IT's troubled times