This refers to the report "India loses most-favoured EM tag in April" (April 30). The strong signals emanating from the market point to the lackadaisical attitude of the government in converting its announcements into reality. The market's negative trend reveals the fact that both domestic and external investors are losing faith in the government.The government needs to give top priority to the implementation of the announced reforms. It should try to take the Opposition parties into confidence to get all the pending Bills cleared without any lag. This could help instil some confidence in the market.The announcements regarding "achhe din" (good days) and "Make in India" should become a reality. The government should leave no stone unturned to send out the signal that it is strongly committed to bringing speedy economic reforms in the country.V S K Pillai  KottayamLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew Delhi 110

Letters: All for economic growth

Business Standard

Now that the debate on the reformation of financial sector architecture has been temporarily laid to rest, it is possibly not a bad idea to examine some of the ideas for what they are. It has to be acknowledged that the debt and monetary management roles of the Reserve Bank of India have elements of conflict embedded. But what about conflict in the Ministry of Finance as owners of banks in managing debt to which banks are primary subscribers. The model of an independent debt management agency has been copied from countries with minimal ownership role of the government in the financial sector. In fact, if the Life Insurance Corporation's role in government divestment is any indication, the conflict isn't really a theoretical construct. There might, of course, be a case of a debt management agency under the finance ministry even after considering this conflict. But the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) didn't even consider it.Moreover, under what circumstances, is t

Letters: Financial role-play

The social media has gone crazy about the fact that even to write a condolence message, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi had to copy it from a mobile phone

Chatterbox: Lost in translation

The cause and meaning of Vijay Mallya's likely exit

Of good and bad times

The Reserve Bank of India acts as an agent of the government to implement the borrowing programme and it draws necessary statutory powers for debt management from Section 21 of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934. A look at what it means:

Explaining public debt management

Recent govt steps on foreign-funded NGOs deserve a review

Up the wrong tree

US Fed's assessment a net positive for India

Cold comfort

At an event hosted by a state-run power company in Haryana, Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal and Haryana Chief Minister M L Khattar were faced with a barrage of tough questions on funds contributed by a real estate company. At the event, the ministers proposed a scheme to improve power transmission and distribution in Gurgaon that required collaborating with real estate companies in the city. The first real estate company expected to contribute funds for this venture is facing the ire of market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India and the Competition Commission of India, and has a case pending against it in the Supreme Court. When some journalists brought up the issue, Khattar left the venue in a huff. The power minister was left trying to calm the frayed nerves of local reporters.

Power play

Marriage and divorce seem to be the favourite analogies of our parliamentarians. Recently, when Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu urged the Opposition to assist the government in clearing the real estate Bill in the Rajya Sabha - where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government is short on numbers - Janata Dal (United) or JD(U) leader K C Tyagi and a few other Opposition members opposed the manner in which the government was pushing through legislation, bypassing parliamentary committees. Naidu, also the parliamentary affairs minister, tried to lighten the mood and urged Tyagi not to appear so grim. Tyagi got up and reminded him that the BJP and JD(U) had been allies earlier. "I wish to tell the minister that I still look upon him with great affection," he said. "Our 'talaq' (divorce) involved no charges of cruelty, nor did it involve any verbal slanging matches. In fact, the customary 'iddat' (waiting period) after a divorce is not over yet. So, it is not right to say tha

Of marriage and divorce

Bollywood stars and television production houses are known to choose the names of their movies and telly serials based on the advice of numerology experts to ensure a dream run at the box office or among TV viewing audiences. The trend is catching up in other sectors as well. The Kolkata-based Kalpena Industries recently changed its name to Kkalpana lndustries (India) Limited. In a communication to BSE, the company said, "(The) name of the company has been changed vide fresh certificate of incorporation dated March 09, 2015, issued by the Registrar of Companies, West Bengal."

You name it

Apropos A K Bhattacharya's column "Towards an Indian GST regime" (New Delhi Diary, April 29), the summing up done in the last para is the best part of the piece. It would indeed be a 'pragmatic move' to go ahead with the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) with certain necessary compromises. The dual GST model to be adopted by India would be like a joint venture between the Centre and the states. Therefore, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has to make compromises in the structure of the GST, so as to get the states on board.A purist might not like these compromises. But how long can the country wait with seemingly endless negotiations between the Centre and states since 2006? As summed up by the author, let us move forward with an "imperfect GST", and let the all-powerful GST Council make course corrections at the earliest opportunity. The imperfections pointed out can surely be corrected when the unfounded fear of the states about loss of revenue is dispelled.Sumit Dut

Letters: GST - A restructuring job

This refers to A K Bhattacharya's column "Towards an Indian GST Regime" (New Delhi Diary, April 29). I agree with the author's conclusion that it would be wiser for the finance minister to make a beginning with an imperfect Goods and Services Tax (GST) with all its flaws and improve it later. But I do not agree with his acceptance of the views of some experts. They talk vociferously about the imperfections in the Indian GST, but cleverly hide the fact that GST in big federal countries all over the world are equally imperfect and even more. The one in Brazil is so imperfect that it has been described by economists as a "patchwork quilt". Even the European Union's value added tax (VAT) has structural flaws, leading to reports of large-scale cash purchase and evasion, particularly in poor countries. The best of the lot is Canada, but even Canada has not subsumed the sales tax and every state charges sales tax at different rates, apart from the central GST of 7 per cent. India has been abl

Letters: The other GST models

This refers to Nilanjana S Roy's column "Those who stay" (Speaking Volumes, April 28). The concern raised by the author regarding the safety and security of the 'liberal community' is genuine in today's context. The brutal killing of an atheist blogger, Avijit Roy, in Bangladesh, the murder of Dabholkar in Maharastra and the recent gunning down of Sabeen Mahmud for floating the idea of Balochistan, all these victims have one 'mistake' in common - the desire to speak their minds.We must try and mitigate this infringement on the freedom of expression. The author has put across to the readers that expressing one's opinion is an indispensable part of every human and we must work towards keeping it intact.Abinash Dash Choudhury  BhubaneswarLetters 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: Live to speak

Govt's effect on rural and urban West Bengal

Ms Banerjee's successes

Who will pay for failure of Tilaiya power project?

The social costs

Visiting Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani addressed a joint meeting of the business chambers - the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci), the Confederation of Indian Industry and Assocham - yesterday. During his speech, Ghani praised the strategy of Afghan ruler and founder of the Sur empire in north India, Sher Shah Suri. The speech inspired Ficci President Jyotsna Suri so much that while giving a vote of thanks at the end of the conference she said she was also a 'Suri', just like Sher Shah (Suri). She added India and 'Pakistan' should have stronger trade ties, but quickly corrected herself - it ought to be India and Afghanistan - which had Ghani in splits.

Source of inspiration

After West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee renamed six townships in the state last week, social media was abuzz with suggestions on how some other streets/localities in Bengal could be rebranded. One particularly funny post suggested, among other things, that Kalighat, Banerjee's place of residence, should be renamed Hawainagar (presumably because of Banerjee's penchant for wearing flip-flops or hawai chappals as they are known in Bengal) and Alipore should be renamed Saradhanagar (Madan Mitra, who was arrested in connection with the multi-crore Saradha scam, is lodged in Alipore Jail). Taking a dig at the Trinamool Congress-run Kolkata Municipal Corporation's tax waiver scheme decided last year for people who painted their houses blue and white - the colours that adorn Argentina's national flag - the post concluded that West Bengal should perhaps be called Argentina.

Rebranding ideas

While kicking off an earnings call with analysts after Bharti Airtel announced its results for the fourth quarter and the full year ended March 2015, the moderator said the conference call might be terminated if there was a natural disaster, of course, after an announcement to that effect. That was the first time one heard a company mentioning 'natural disaster' as a possible reason to cut short an earnings call. Usually, companies restrict the introduction to a brief about the company, the reason for the call and the corporate executive who would take questions on the report under review.

Disaster preparedness

This refers to the editorial "Rahul Gandhi's 'Are you serious?' moment" (April 21). In a democratic set up, it is the masses who decide on leadership. India has given the leadership role to the Gandhi family for the sacrifices they made. And the legacy will continue with Rahul Gandhi as its future leader.Recalling the various decisions of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi is fine but blaming Rahul Gandhi for any lapses is not fair. He should be judged by his own actions. On April 19, he spoke from the heart and the masses hailed him as a hero.Time is not static, it moves on. The times have changed and so will the history and techniques of business, and economics. Roosevelt used radio, Kennedy used television and Obama used social media. This shows that the history, perception and usability keep changing.Moreover, some in the media rated Rahul Gandhi positively for his firebrand speech in Parliament.Manohar Lal Yadav  AlwarLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Busines

Letters: In defence of Rahul

The Narendra Modi government has lost much of its sheen in the one year that it has been in power due to its inactions, as was expected in India and abroad. Modi's slogan of "achhe din" (better days) has been completely belied. This is visible in the declining stock market, poor corporate financial results, rising bad loans of banks, farmer suicides and the government's apathy towards all these problems, which corporates, FIIs, farmers and the public had expected while voting the National Democratic Alliance to power.Modi's over-enthusiasm to tour as many countries as possible, efforts of making world records - as seen by launching the populist Jan Dhan Yojana, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s membership campaign through missed calls - are all away from the reality and working against him and the party. Public speeches were welcomed by the public before Modi came to power, as people wanted change at the Centre. But now, they want real work and not speeches. The BJP must realise that Modi

Letters: Where are the achhe din?

Apropos the editorial "Waiting for action" (April 29). Markets largely mirror the state of an economy. There is an unmistakable deja vu in the ongoing uncertainty of bourses, a throwback to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)-II era. Our economic fundamentals have hardly changed from 2012/13 to a year into a new government, for the major reason that global economies are yet to recover from the post-2008 upheaval.The growth levels in UPA II were never alarming, given the global scenario. The government fell due to political faux pas and a perceived administrative ennui exploited by an impatient Opposition. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in its anxiety to leverage the prevailing stasis, assumed that a political change would usher in an economic revival on its own. It disregarded the basics and worse, engaged in projecting a larger than life image of itself. The complexities of a global economic dispensation are not tackled on hope or hype.The BJP's performance is contingent on major

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