The IMF is now of Europe, by Europe, for Europe

European Monetary Fund

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Speaker's decision a first step to ending disruption

Wise suspensions

The Central government recently announced plans to launch a Rs 500-crore Pharma Manufacturing Technology Upgradation Fund for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the pharmaceutical industry along the lines of a similar scheme (TUFS) for the textile industry. As per the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemical & Fertilizers, only 15 per cent of domestic pharmaceutical manufacturers are making quality drugs of global standards, due to non-availability of funds.CRISIL has analysed the performance of about 510 SMEs in the pharmaceutical sector which it rated during 2011-2015. The study revealed that the gearing (excluding promoter loans) of these enterprises remained low at 0.57 times, demonstrating the flexibility to borrow funds for upgradation of technology, if necessary.Currently, however, only 20 per cent of these pharma SMEs have an international presence while the remaining 80 per cent are catering only to the domestic market. Moreover, these export-oriented SMEs r

Pharma SMEs to benefit from proposed technology upgradation fund

The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) 2014 general elections campaign was built on the pledge that it would usher in a "Congress-mukt Bharat" (Congress-free India). Taking a cue from that, Jharkhand Chief Minister and BJP leader Raghuvar Das has envisioned a "Nitish-Lalu-mukt Bihar" and urged the people of the state to vote accordingly during the coming Assembly polls. "After Prime Minister Narendra Modi ensured freedom from the corrupt Congress, it is time to free Bihar of the jungle raj of Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad," the BJP leader said at a meeting in Patna over the weekend.

Repurposing a slogan

As a mark of respect to former President APJ Abul Kalam, who passed away last week, some employees of a few government offices in Kerala decided to report for work on Sunday. Among the offices that remained open on the traditional weekend holiday were a handful of panchayat offices, the Kerala State Women's Development Corporation (SWDC) and some units of Kudumbashree, a women-oriented, community-based, poverty reduction project of the government of Kerala. In fact, the staff of the SWDC worked two extra hours on that day to fulfil the wish of the 'people's president'.

Good work

During a Supreme Court hearing on a case relating to Sahara and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), the Sebi counsel Arvind Datar accused the business house of coming up with different theories on refunding investors at different points of time. All these had been struck down by the court repeatedly, he argued. Rajeev Dhawan, arguing for Sahara, later asked what was wrong with theorising, and pointed out that his client was only trying to explain its strategy. To this, judge T S Thakur said, "We are asking for one good explanation. Not five theories."

Theories of law

This is with reference to TCA Srinivasa-Raghavan's well-argued article "Why the CPI-M must oppose the IFC"(August 2). As pointed out in the article, former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor Usha Thorat in her article in the Indian Express has brilliantly argued the case for not rushing through the Indian Financial Code (IFC). Economist and former deputy governor S S Tarapore too, sought to retain the RBI's present capabilities.The RBI cannot be compared with central banks of other countries with limited central banking functions. In the past, the government has depended on the RBI on several occasions for coming out of tricky situations.We need not leave the task of protecting the RBI's autonomy to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or to any political party, for that matter. The people should  fight the disruptive forces within the country and outside that hope to cash in on the weakness of the financial regulator.RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan's term will end in 2016. It w

Letters: Fresh debate needed

With reference to the report, "PSBs to get Rs 70,000 cr from govt in 4 years" (August 1), the figure appears to be a big one for the 22 claimants - excluding the five associates of the State Bank of India. But considering that the amount would be infused over four years, it is quite insignificant. The balance capital of Rs 1,10,000 crore would be raised from the market. It has been assumed that market valuations would improve on account of "far-reaching governance reforms, tight management of non-performing assets (NPA), risk controls and a better operating environment".First, the present government has attempted certain reforms but these are not far-reaching, considering the number of issues in management. Second, public sector banks (PSB) have been talking about reining in NPAs for five years without much result. Significant legal reforms should accompany banking reforms. Bad assets can be recovered if there is fear among promoters.PSBs cannot ramp up their risk control in credit man

Letters: Control risks

Nitin Pai has put across his point well in the column, "The necessary art of ignoring Pakistan" (July 30). Benign neglect or policy hibernation is needed with respect to our engagement with Pakistan. There seems to be two schools of thought on Pakistan's inveterate animus towards India. Some say that Pakistan is a normal country, trying to leverage its limited assets in its dealings with India. Others believe that Pakistan tries to do everything possible to damage India, even at great cost to itself. The latter reasoning cannot hold forever, but evidence of the past 68 years leaves little room for optimism.Let us abandon the recurring urge to resolve our disputes with Pakistan and have the National Security Advisor or Foreign Secretary take up that responsibility. The results are unlikely to be worse than those we have seen in the past decades.Kishan S Rana New DelhiLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew Delhi

Letters: Policy hibernation

Microsoft still dominates PC operating systems, however, with the nearest competitor, Apple's OS X, at just below five per cent

StatsGuru: What the Windows 10 launch means for Microsoft

Business Standard analyses one family's finances and suggests a way forward

Case study

Amitabh Chaudhry, managing director and chief executive officer at HDFC Life, answers your questionsIf I surrender my endowment plan before maturity, will I lose the entire accumulated bonus that have been paid until now?In case of surrender, you will not lose the entire accumulated bonuses. You will either get 100 per cent of the accumulated bonuses or a percentage of accumulated bonuses will be payable to you as a component of surrender value. Please refer to your policy contract.Is a single-premium policy better than the one in which I have to pay premiums every year?The decision on whether to opt for single or annual premiums depends upon the requirement or outlook of the individual. Here are some aspects that can help you decide between lumpsum and annual investment1. When investing in unit-linked products (ULIPS), the frequency of the investment is crucial. If your stock market outlook is positive then a single premium investment is better in the rising market. Those who want to

Life Insurance: Amitabh Chaudhry

Indian brands are rarely as global as the businesses they serve

Branding lessons

More capital for public sector banks won't work without reforms

Hardly a solution

Animal rights organisation People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) has poured cold water on Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad's plan to lead a procession of 1,000 horse carts, known locally as Tum Tum, to reach out to the poorest of the poor ahead of the Bihar Assembly polls, scheduled later this year. Peta said besides being cruel to the horses that were supposed to be used, the move was also against the 2012 advisory of the Election Commission that barred political parties from using animals for political campaigns. Ideal for the state's dusty and rough interiors, Lalu's Tum Tums were meant to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party's high-tech raths deployed for campaigning.

Lalu's plan scuppered

With due respect to the departed former President, everyone seems to have an APJ Abdul Kalam story. One such story going around on WhatsApp groups is narrated by Chennai-based exporter Sowbhagya Enterprises' senior executive A Balasubramaniam: "APJ was gifted a wet grinder at a function in Erode. He refused it as a gift, but wanted the grinder for his home. So, he gave a cheque in favour of our company. We had not deposited it as a mark of honour. However, we got a call from his office to deposit the cheque or the grinder would be returned. Hats off to him. Nation's pride."

Gift of grinder

Devotees of Lord Shiva have the option of taking a shower beside river Subernarekha in Namkum block of Ranchi, Jharkhand, as part of their annual Shravan ritual. Traditionally, Shravan devotees take five dips in the Subernarekha, then walk a 10 km-stretch to a temple with a vessel full of the river water to offer Lord Shiva. This year, the Ranchi district administration felt the river was too dirty for the ritual dips and decided to place tankers attached with showers beside the river for devotees.

Holy shower

This refers to the article, "Why real estate may not crash" (July 31). The author's argument is based primarily on his assessment that a sizeable number of builders are not highly leveraged and hence can afford to sit on their inventory of unsold stock.However, an important factor that may come into play is the government policy on the anvil. The government is likely to make it expensive for builders to stop work on unfinished projects by making them pay interest to the buyers, if the project is not completed by the promised date. If that happens, builders would be forced to raise money by selling their ready stock to complete the projects. Even if corporates take over the incomplete projects, they may not oblige the builders by buying at the market price. They will try to squeeze the builders as much as possible and that should bring down prices.Kishor Kulkarni  MumbaiLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew Del

Letters: Realty blues

Recent developments related to the interest rate fixing panels do not convey anything positive. The revised draft of the Financial Code proposes the setting up of the committee while according the government the right to select the majority of its members and curbing the veto power of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor, which was available in the earlier Financial Code. Such a move would be deemed as interference in the working of the RBI and would be counterproductive in the long term. Ratings agency Moody's has conveyed a similar sentiment.While it is understandable that a logjam in the Rajya Sabha has slowed down the reforms process initiated by the government, the latter should not make moves that put a question mark on the competency of the country's central bank. The impasse has to be resolved through political dialogue within the country's democratic framework while maintaining the independence and transparency of RBI's functioning in our financial system.M L Kabir  Kolkat

Letters: Stop messing around

Apropos the report, "Coining of 'Hindu terror' by Congress weakened anti-terror fight: Rajnath Singh" (July 31), the blame game between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress over terrorism is preposterous. The leadership of the parties should not forget that terrorism threatens the sovereignty and fabric of our nation. They should forget their ideological differences and reach a consensus to consolidate our fight against national and global terrorism.If political parties continue to fight among themselves over this issue, terrorist organisations will take advantage of this schism to perpetrate more attacks on our country. This is not the time for Home Minister Rajnath Singh to bring up his predecessor, P Chidambaram's comment as this will worsen the ongoing impasse in the Lok Sabha.Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala too, needs similar advice after he said the BJP had a poor track record in tackling terrorism, alluding to the Kandahar IC-814 hijacking, the e

Letters: Need consensus

Questions about application of death penalty

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