This refers to the report "US cuts India's air safety rating" (February 1). The US Federal Aviation Administration's decision to downgrade India's safety ranking from Category I to Category II is a matter of great concern for the country's booming civil aviation sector. This points to the fact that India lacks the necessary regulations to meet minimum international air safety standards, the deficiency in technical standards or the lack of trained manpower.In the last decade, our aviation sector has seen a boom, but we have paid little attention to air safety. One of the reasons is that we have focussed more on developing large, modern and high-tech airports. We have not invested in developing and training human resources. We find a big shortage of air traffic controllers; many pilots have left Indian carriers for greener pastures because of low salaries and the inadequacy of modern training by Indian airline operators.It is high time the government appoints a strong chief for the Direc

Letters: Mayday, mayday

Business Standard

The column "The happiest day of my life..." (Worm's Eye View, February 1) made an interesting read. The urge to express oneself, though slow to evolve, must happen one day, more so for managers. The faculty's role in furthering this evolution is critical to a team's learning process. Naturally, this would be a happy moment, and no wonder the author will never hop jobs again.S Ramakrishnan  ChennaiLetters 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: The urge to express

This refers to Debashis Basu's column "Hail the PPP banking model!" (Irrational Choice, February 3). The writer has beautifully narrated the plight of state-owned banks and that too in the hands of the largest shareholder (read Government of India). His public-private-partnership banking model has not referred to another ominous fact between public sector banks (PSBs) and private sector banks. India Inc has accounts with PSBs just for the sake of it, that is, to channel routine government transactions. Their other creamy business has been passed on to private banks. This is, of course, purely a commercial decision. But the big question is: how come PSBs are allowing India Inc to take away the creamy business from their books? As the writer has put it, what about the accountability of top management in PSBs? Isn't "irresponsibility" still a small word to explain the callousness of executives at state-owned banks? The Indian Banks Association has become a mute spectator to all this when

Letters: The accountability question

A price index for agri commodities: A Business Standard and Indicus Analytics initiative

Indicus price monitor

The United States Federal Reserve has begun to taper its bond-buying programme in earnest, causing the expected turmoil in world markets. In the middle of 2013, when the taper was first discussed, India was among the worst-affected emerging markets. This time, it hasn't suffered quite as much. As Table 1 shows, the rupee has lost a great deal against the dollar since January 1, 2013, but is not doing as badly this year to date. Nor, as Table 2 shows, has the stock market suffered as much as most peers.One big reason is shown in Table 3: India has done better than any other competitor in controlling its current account deficit. Still, problems remain. As Table 4 shows, its Budget deficit is still bigger than many other countries' - perhaps affecting the yield on its government securities, shown in Table 5. Table 6 shows that Indian retail inflation is also an outlier. But the country is not an outlier in terms of wholesale inflation, as Table 7 shows. In terms of growth, laid out in Tab

StatsGuru-03-February-2014

Today, Rakesh Jain, chief executive officer of Reliance General Insurance, answers your questionsHow important are a customer's know-your-customer (KYC) details for an insurer? I have noticed some insurers insist on KYC, while some don't. What is the reason for lack of uniformity?KYC norms differ according to the insurance claims and premiums amount. According to the norms, insurance firms need to mandatorily collect KYC documents from a retail customer in cases where the claims payable exceed Rs 1 lakh. In cases where the premium is paid in cash, for amounts exceeding Rs 50,000 per transaction, the customer needs to quote his/her PAN (permanent account number) to justify credible sources of funds. However, they may not ask for KYC documents for amounts less than Rs 1 lakh. While KYC procedures help the insurer verify and validate a customer's identity, it also helps the customers get hassle-free claims when needed.I am covered for health by my employer. My wife and I also own individu

General Insurance: Rakesh Jain

How will Ben Bernanke be judged by historians?

A complex legacy

Culture of tolerating low standards needs to end

India's failing regulators

The recent Greenpeace attack on Essar group's headquarters in Mumbai has made other companies jittery - especially those with mining interests. The Aditya Birla group, which co-owns the controversial Mahan coal mining project, has turned its headquarters in Worli into a fortress with new security guards in place dressed in black commando uniforms. The number of guards have been increased significantly in case Greenpeace turns up at the Birla headquarters. Meanwhile, the Essar group has sacked its entire security team following the Greenpeace attack which received worldwide attention - just for its sheer daring.

Greenpeace-proofing the office

After delivering sermons on the tax system, Ramdev appears to have become an astrologer. At a recent press conference called to criticise the Reserve Bank's decision to withdraw from circulation notes issued before 2005, the versatile yoga guru started taking political questions. He said both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are going to lose their seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. To substantiate his forecast, Ramdev reminded his audience that nobody believed him last year when he predicted a tally of less than 100 seats for the Congress in the 2014 general elections, a prediction that now appears eminently believable. Asked whether he was getting into politics, Ramdev said "Aasan karte karte singhasan theek karenge (I will fix the political system while doing yoga)".

Ramdev, astrologer?

Realty developers have been hit hard by the slowdown and are cutting costs where they can, but some realtors appear to be insulated from it all. Last week, K V Developers, a new real estate company, held no less than two press conferences in five star hotels - one in central Delhi and one in Mayur Vihar in east Delhi - at different times of the day to announce the launch of its first project in Greater Noida. Those who did not go to the first conference received urgent calls from the PR agency to attend the other one. Asked about this dual policy, the agency said the second conference was meant to accommodate journalists from Noida who could not travel to Delhi.

Two much

The decision to increase subsidised LPG cylinders to 12 a year beats all logic, as corroborated by the Reserve Bank of India governor. For an average family, one cylinder runs for almost two months, that is six cylinders a year. Any further purchase by the household at market rate will increase the fuel cost only marginally. The entitlement of 12 cylinders will tempt the household to sell the surplus cylinders in the market. Moreover, the argument that this decision will help counter inflation is contentious to say the least. If the government really wanted to check inflation, it could have taken steps when the apex court exhorted it to release foodgrains from godowns. If the government had made some symbolic releases, the prices of of foodgrains would have come down, reducing food inflation. The government of the day has created more problems for the next government in its desperation to lure voters.Naresh Saxena  New DelhiLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Busine

Letters: A flammable decision

This refers to the editorial "The Suzuki problem" (January 30). It is a case of gross misgovernance. Criticising Suzuki's action in peremptorily annexing a plant set up by Maruti, to its own 100 per cent owned subsidiary, does not go far enough. There is no economic justification for the move. It is a simple act of abusing its position in the market to appropriate to itself the entire manufacturing profits of the new plant. The proposal is so indefensible that the management is trying to justify it with the argument that the Indian shareholders will earn eight to nine per cent on the funds. We, the shareholders, have not entrusted our resources to Maruti's board of directors to earn nine per cent. We expect them to earn a much higher return, which they have done throughout. A special tax on such companies is not a solution. The taxation policy should not be used to correct the failure of the regulatory system.Minoo Mody  MumbaiLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Bus

Letters: All the wrong gears

When a gas cylinder was delivered to my home recently, my wife called to say that the vendor was asking for a very high amount - Rs 1,200 plus - even though it was well within our entitled number at subsidised cost. Cooking gas being a necessity, there was no choice. She paid. But within two hours there was a series of pleasant surprises. An SMS came stating that the subsidy would be refunded to me. Within an hour another SMS came informing me that the amount had been refunded. And when I checked my bank account the next day, the amount was already there. I was impressed to no end. A pleasant experience of a government effort. Newspapers and TV channels are never tired of reporting about the negative things happening in India. While there is nothing wrong in sharing negative developments to improve a situation, it is also necessary to present the positive aspects. The media must support new things that work for the good of the nation. The government has now abandoned this newly-created

Letters: One step back too many

1 The term "collective bargaining" was first used in the middle of 1891 by economic theorist Beatrice Webb who was one of the co-founders of the London School of Economics.2 Tomatoes3 Aditya Birla Group.4 Cadbury's Dairy Milk chocolates.5 Thomas Friedman coined the term Evernet that describes Internet access that is instantly and always available from a number of different devices.6 Sir Edward Lutyens. Apart from architecting the Rashtrapathi Bhavan in New Delhi, he is also known for designing the Napoleon, Circleback and Spider back chairs.7 Puma8 Psion, a UK based company which was taken over by Motorola Solutions in 2012.9 Murrugappa Group.10 Prominent logos used by AltaVista. It was once one of the most popular search engines that was purchased in 2003 by Yahoo!, which retained the brand but based all AltaVista searches on its own search engine. On July 8, 2013, the service was shut down.There were ten all-correct entries for quiz No. 341. Sumanth Patlolla from Hyderabad wins Rs

Answers to the Strategist quiz (#341)

Millennials have a positive perception of business and believe it is having a positive impact in areas traditionally seen as the responsibility of government such as education, skills, and training and healthcare, say a Deloitte survey

What Gen Y wants

In 2013, India was fourth on the list of nations with the highest steel production and recorded the second-highest growth of 5.1% among the top five producers

Steel output rallies

RAKESH KAPOOR

SHANTANU NARAYEN

AJAY BANGA

INDRA NOOYI

With Satya Nadella set to become Microsoft CEO, more India-trained professionals are taking top positions in the world. A study by Egon Zehnder, a global executive search firm, shows that in 2011, S&P 500 companies had more Indian CEOs than of any other nationality except American. Indians led seven companies and Canadians four. As Time magazine wrote in a 2011 article, India's leading export: CEOs, "Unlike, say, a Swede or a German, an Indian executive is raised in a multiethnic, multifaith, multilingual society, one nearly as diverse as the modern global marketplace." Surely, sky is the limit for Indian CEOs...SHANTANU NARAYEN| Age: 50 years| Designation: CEO, Adobe Systems Inc since 2007; board member, Pfizer| Education: A master's in computer science from Bowling Green State University, an MBA from Hass School of Business, a bachelor's degree from Osmania University| Past work: At Apple; co-founded Pictra Inc| Claim to fame: Appointed member of US President's Advisory Managemen

Meet the global CEOs of Indian origin

Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi's "revolutionary" idea of candidate selection in select Lok Sabha constituencies through a system like the American "primaries" may have upset Kapil Sibal (Chandni Chowk) and Krishna Tirath (North West Delhi) whose seats were included in this list. But soon the party removed these two constituencies from the list. However, two other Congressmen Ajay Maken (New Delhi) and Gurudas Kamath (Mumbai North West) have offered their constituencies to be laboratories for this pilot project. Gandhi's close aide Meenakshi Natarajan, who represents Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh, has also offered her seat for this experiment. No doubt, the gesture of this trio will have a positive impact on their political fortunes within the Congress.

For greater electoral good

The 2014 electoral battle is likely to see a clash of star power. Disco king Bappi Lahiri is formally joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) this week. This has enthused the West Bengal BJP unit so much that they are keen to field him in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, especially since the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has actor Mithun Chakraborty of "Disco Dancer" fame in their ranks. TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee has fielded Chakraborty on a TMC ticket for the Rajya Sabha. While politically, the influx of star power is essential for the BJP to grab attention in a state where it has very little presence, it will also be interesting to keep a watch on the future antics of both "Bengal exports to Bombay" who became synonymous with the disco era in Bollywood.

The disco way to power

Google-Samsung agreement shows way forward for industry

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