The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has reduced the repo rate by 50 basis points. I am sure the industry and business world will welcome this move and demand a proportionate reduction of lending rates by commercial banks too. And it is quite possible that most of the commercial banks will oblige and reduce their base rates.However, the plight of one group of customers seems to be overlooked - that of the the depositor. It is quite natural that when the banks reduce their lending rates, in order to maintain the interest spread they will definitely reduce the interest rates on deposits too. Else their profitability will be affected adversely. But such reduction of interest rates on deposits will adversely affect the common man, especially the senior citizens who may be depending on the bank interest for their sustenance, that too when there is no respite from inflation. Shouldn't the government and the RBI consider this too and build some mechanism to reduce the plight of these people? Banks

Letters: Balancing act

Business Standard

This refers to the editorial, "An impressive show" (September 28), no one can dispute the need to digitally enable people. It is also beyond doubt that the more the government's functioning gets digitised, the more transparent and efficient it can be. But the operative term here is "can be". Digitisation, by itself, is not a sufficient condition for it - it is merely a powerful enabler of a smooth and efficient interface between the government and the public. However, what must not be lost sight of is the need for a complete review and even a revamp of the laws, rules, regulations and processes that fundamentally define governance. Unless that is mended, digitisation will simply be akin to computerisation of a bad system, amounting to replicating a bad system more efficiently. On another track, the enthusiastic response to India's digitalisation initiative from the Silicon Valley biggies is only to be expected because it does offer a big business opportunity to them. But the actual ben

Letters: Improve governance

This refers to the article, "Dengue, another climate alert" (September 28), every year, malaria/dengue carrying mosquitoes kill more than 600,000 people, most of them children. Over the centuries, people have battled these mosquitoes in many ways, including draining swamps, spraying insecticides and distributing millions of bed nets. Our cities with poor sanitation, garbage piles, water barrels, old tires etc provide the ideal breeding places for mosquitoes. The dengue mosquito maybe adapting to climate change and if so this is no surprise. Insects rapidly do this in a few generations and this is apparent with the pesticide resistant insects that afflict our food grains. Two new promising technologies involve editing DNA to render the insects resistant to the parasite or to engineer infertility into mosquito DNA. Scientists consider using genetically modified mosquitoes to combat many deadly diseases in the developing world. Brazil and a few other countries in South America are trying

Letters: New technology

Click on graphic

Insurance agents: Exits outnumber entry

According to data from the Life Insurance Council, more than 270,000 agents exited the sector this financial year

They are planned well, but time now for action at home

PM's foreign visits

Bihar polls may have spooked oil price reforms

Deregulation in limbo

APJ Sheikh Salim, grand nephew of former president APJ Abdul Kalam, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday. Salim, 34, emerged as the spokesperson of the Kalam family after the former president passed away in July. Along with the rest of the family, he had insisted that Kalam's final rites be performed in his hometown, Rameswaram, not in New Delhi, as originally proposed since Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior Cabinet ministers were expected to attend. Salim had also issued a statement thanking BJP MP Maheish Girri for initiating the process to rename Aurangzeb Road in Lutyens Delhi as APJ Abdul Kalam Road. Salim's understanding of 'political' issues no doubt impressed the BJP leadership. That BJP President Amit Shah was present to welcome Salim, grandson of Kalam's eldest brother, to the party indicated the importance it attached to his induction.

Rolling out the red carpet

As the controversy over Rahul Gandhi's visit to Aspen, Colarado, refused to die with the Bharatiya Janata Party working overtime to keep the fires raging, the Congress vice-president's office tweeted a picture of Gandhi at the conference with the caption, "Very interesting discussions on the global economy and the disruptive power of technology at the conference in Aspen".

Late as usual

Low marketing spend limits manufacturing MSMEs' customer outreach

Marketing spend as a percentage of total cost of sales for MSMEs across the sector effectively remains below four per cent

At the release of a report on the much-hyped coal auction, a journalist asked Coal Secretary Anil Swarup if the auction should be deemed a failure since most mine owners were planning to surrender their blocks. Without batting an eyelid, Swarup said, "Bring those mine owners; they never said anything like that to me." The journalist said he was merely citing the report released at the event. As nervous silence gripped PwC analysts who had compiled the report, some of them could be seen rushing to the journalist and to Swarup in a bid to explain that the report did not say any such thing. The episode ended with Swarup breaking into a fit of laughter at the confusion, while the organisers looked unamused. Meanwhile, the coal ministry continues to defend court cases on the various steps involved in the auction filed by some private players.

Action over auction

Business Standard has done a yeoman's service to the cause of lifting the morale of the bureaucracy by writing a well-researched report on September 24 about the delay in the appointment of Najib Shah as chairman of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC). The Prime Minister's Office has not okayed Shah's appointment as CBEC chief. He is holding the post as member for the last three months. It has been pointed out that in his previous posting as director-general of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Shah had issued demand of duty of Rs 2000 crore to Adani Power for alleged overvaluation of machinery imported by it. Shah also alerted the Income Tax Department for consequent evasion of income tax.If it is true that the delay in his appointment as chairman is caused by the action he had taken against Adani, it would have serious repercussions on the morale of not only the Indian Revenue Service, but also the whole bureaucracy. The bureaucracy will realise that such coercion o

Letters: Delay could prove dear

Apropos the report, "Why is the PMO concerned over railways' performance?" (September 25), the note from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) is silent on the most vital issue: rail safety. Ever since Suresh Prabhu took charge of the railway ministry there has been a spate of train accidents. The related formal enquiry reports and the post-enquiry action taken report are never put in the public domain.It's disturbing to learn that the PMO had to intervene to highlight the "less than satisfactory performance" of the railways, with respect to many of its key projects. This report reveals that the railways is lagging behind, as it had, till the end of the first quarter, spent 20 per cent of the Rs 40,000-crore gross budgetary support provided by the Centre for the current financial year. Even now there is no substantial improvement in the railways' spending, according to the latest data available in the media.While the details of the PMO's note has been accessed by Business Standard, the ref

Letters: Fund mismanagement

Economic relations between India and the United States have deepened significantly over the past decade and more. Trade has multiplied manifold, as Table 1 shows - and has, importantly, remained relatively balanced.The composition of trade has changed, however. As Table 2 notes, pharmaceuticals have become a major export for India to the US. And while high technology remains a significant component of imports from the US, gold last year was the most imported item, as displayed in Table 3.Another component of the economic relationship is migration. Table 4 notes the immigrant population of Indians has doubled since the beginning of the century. Indian immigrants are overwhelmingly more likely to be engaged in high-value occupations, as shown in Table 5. Indian immigrants also differ from other immigrants in being more likely to be recent arrivals, asTable 6 demonstrates. Table 7 shows where they settle - California, home of Silicon Valley, is a stand-out state here, followed by New Jers

StatsGuru:Tracking the key numbers behind India's relationship with the United States

At the UNGA excitement just doesn't end. This week, on October 1, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will address the UNGA meeting

PMs of India, Pak will be so near, yet so far

Debate: Can Consumer Protection Bill protect e-tail users?

Akhileshwar Pathak

The Consumer Protection Bill, 2015 introduced in the Lok Sabha seeks to replace the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. The new law proposes to bring e-retail users and players into its fold. Experts discuss various aspects of the new Bill

At a recent insurance summit, Sudhir Mungantiwar, minister of finance, planning and forests, Maharashtra govt, borrowed heavily from Bollywood to explain his point

Formula film

BJP President Amit Shah might come across as a no-nonsense organisation man, but his newly-launched website presents an entirely different side of him

Cultivating an image change?

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's public spats with Lt Governor Najeeb Jung are too many to be enumerated

Real enemy

PM's digital push gets Silicon Valley's nod

An impressive show

More action needed to plug defence equipment gaps

Better, but not enough

Ravi Venkatesan

Interview with Chairman of Social Venture Partners & partner at Unitus Seed Fund

Business Standard

Business Standard

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