Spam can be really annoying but there are a few that are hard to ignore. One such purportedly sent from the Reserve Bank of India under the subject line "official payment notification" says, "Attention beneficiary! £500,000 GREAT BRITISH POUNDS will be released to you in your name". The attached document says the recipient was listed as a beneficiary in the recent schedule for payment of outstanding debts incurred by the "BRITISH GOVERNMENT pending since 2007 to 2013". It also talks about a meeting - that took place "recently on the 20th of November 2013" - where "RBI governor Dr Raghuram Rajan, and Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations met with the Senate Tax Committee on Finance, regarding unclaimed funds". Here's the catch: the recipient is "required to pay 22,200 INR ONLY in cash deposit" as transfer fees. A lottery of £500,000 for Rs 22,200 only, not a bad deal, eh?

Cash down

Business Standard

Mihir S Sharma's column "The kid's not all right" (Ticker, October 12) offers good advice on how to package the intent and content of a political message. Natural spontaneity, emotional sincerity, matching of words and deeds and understanding the target audience are hallmarks of effective communication, not its literary flourish. Rahul Gandhi's labelling of the Ordinance on convicted politicians lacked spontaneity and sincerity since it came too late after the event and his storming into a press meeting looked more contrived than natural. His use of literary phrases may have appealed to the intellect, but not the heart.Messages such as Martin Luther King Jr's "I have a dream" and Subhash Chandra Bose's "Tum mujhe khoon do, main tumhe aazadi doonga (Give me blood and I will get you freedom)" were simple words but electrifying in effect because they stirred up emotions.Due to his lack of fluency in any non-English Indian language makes Rahul heavily dependent on his speech writers who do

Letters: Content and intent

The concluding sentence of the editorial "Tears from onions"(October 15), sums up the problem of food inflation. Supply constraints continue to blunt the edge of the monetary policy. The government - not the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) - is responsible for raging inflation on two counts: its inability to remove the supply constraints and the continuing fiscal deficit. Andy Mukherjee's article "Towards inflation targeting" (October 15) has targeted the monetary policy of the RBI for the continuing inflationary trends in the economy. This is quite a wrong diagnosis in the Indian context. The RBI has repeatedly reminded the government about the limitations of the monetary policy in tackling inflation. It has even advised the government to remove supply-side bottlenecks and to rein in government finances. The monetary side of the inflation story has been over-emphasised during the last five years. Tinkering with policy rates will not tame inflation.K V Rao  BangaloreLetters can be mailed,

Letters: A solution for inflation

This refers to the article "Policy on underground coal gasification likely soon" (October 14). While the government is likely to come up with a policy on underground coal gasification, it should also look at importing equipment used in countries such as Australia, China, Russia, Mexico, the US etc. to extract gas from the gassy coal mines in India. As of now these mines are lying vacant due to the need for adequate technology to reduce the gas levels to a safe level. In Australia, according to legislation, underground directional drilling is required to bring the gas to safe levels before an approval for mining is issued. In India, there are many mines in the eastern coal belt that can be a good resource for power generation.The required equipment for this is not manufactured in India. Such equipment needs to be imported, but the end users are reluctant to import them because of the Directorate General of Mines Safety that has a cumbersome procedure, which insists on the local testing

Letters: Tapping coal mines

The CBI on Tuesday said it had filed a first information report against Kumar Mangalam Birla and his company, Hindalco, in the Coalgate scam. Besides Birla, a number of top industrial houses in the country are facing some probe or the other, ranging from bribery to illegal mining to insider trading. A snapshot of the charges faced by some top Indian companies:

India Inc under the lens

This year's Economics Nobel rewards disagreement

A heterodox discipline

Other ways to raise capital's efficiency also needed

Beyond finance reform

While some National Spot Exchange Ltd borrowers are known for their strong-arm tactics, others are spiritually inclined. One of them goes further so that anyone who calls him gets a dose of his spirituality. His caller tune goes: "Ishwar apne saath hai, Darne ki kya baat hai. (When god is by your side, what is there to worry about.)" Investors calling him for their hard-earned money were wondering if that is a cryptic message in the caller tune before they even start talking to him. But with the Economic Offences Wing and other enforcement agencies now going after the borrowers, it is mostly this tune callers get to hear rather than an answering voice.

Divine intervention

Pawan Munjal, Hero MotoCorp's Chief Executive Officer, and his senior executives are inclined to wear their company's values, but not quite on their sleeves. At a recent event to launch 15 upgraded products Hero MotoCorp has developed over the two years since it parted ways with Honda Motor Company, the company management, including Munjal, were seen sporting leathers belts with the company's logo prominently embossed on the buckle.

Buckling up for competition

Andhra Pradesh may soon become history when the state splits into Telangana and Seemandhra but the proprietors of the hugely popular Andhra Bhawan eatery in central Delhi seem unfazed by these impending realignments. Even as tensions in the home state ratchet up over the bifurcation, it is learnt that Andhra Bhawan, with its well-deserved reputation for great food and efficient service, will be opening a new branch in south Delhi soon. So, though the name may well be wiped off the nation's records, the good food at Andhra Bhawan and its patronage will ensure it lives on in one way or the other.

Long live Andhra Bhawan

This refers to the editorial "Succeeding on Phailin"( October 14). While state and central government authorities deserve all the praise, the urgent rehabilitation of millions of evacuees must get the same quality support. The role played by mobile connectivity and better roads at the local level also deserve mention. The government must simultaneously work on ways that minimise costly evacuation during cyclones. People with pucca houses were willing to stay put since they were confident of facing the high wind velocity and heavy rainfall. Thus, one solution may lie in creating conditions for the construction of more pucca houses in coastal villages. These cost more and can only be supported by bank loans.The central and coastal state government can take a few steps in this respect. Maps of village residential areas should be prepared and published online. They should issue ownership certificates to residents that can act as title deeds. They can also notify the creation of equitable m

Letters: Avoiding evacuations

Harishanker Subramaniam in his article "L&T judgment opens a Pandora's Box" (October 14), says "Now a sale of an apartment would suffer stamp duty and VAT, both levied by state along with service tax levied by the Centre, making such apartments more expensive. The early implementation of the goods and service tax can be the only solution to such multiplicity of taxes…." This is a factually correct picture but the conclusion is flawed. This has happened because of his misunderstanding of the goods and services tax (GST).Currently, stamp duty is not being included in the GST. It was never even proposed. So, it will be continued to be charged after GST also. The existing value added tax and service tax will be subsumed in the GST and they will also be charged, though in a different name. So, the sale of an apartment will continue to be as expensive as before. The multiplicity of taxes, of course, will be reduced in the sense that in place of three taxes, there will be two.Sukumar Mu

Letters: Tax tally

This refers to the report "Govt ready to take tough decisions to check deficits: FM" (October 14). I could not follow why such statements are also being made in Washington. Everyday our finance minister is making such statements to contain the current account deficit (CAD). He had already made one such statement on July 2 (Financing high CAD a challenge: Chidambaram). The question is when will he take tough decisions? What are those tough decisions to keep a check on the CAD? It is a matter of fact that he does not listen to others. He is an unchallenged leader. He is just like a freestyle wrestler who nobody wants to challenge out of respect. Nobody is stopping him to take tough or soft decisions? Now, let us see what are the tough decisions regarding the CAD he has in his mind?S C Aggarwal  Cherrybrook, AustraliaLetters 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.inAl

Letters: FM's tough decisions?

CRISIL's Core inflation Indicator (CCII), a measure of demand-side pressure on prices, rose to 2.7 per cent in September from 2.6 per cent in August. However, it remains significantly lower than 6.5 per cent a year ago. The decline in CCII in recent months reflects sustained weakness in domestic demand. Industrial output grew by a mere 0.1 per cent in April-August, against a year ago. This was despite a low base of 0.2 per cent Index of Industrial Production (IIP) growth during April to August last year. Trade data for the first half of 2013-14 showed imports, excluding oil and gold, falling by around five  per cent on a y-o-y basis, reflecting slowing demand for consumption and capital goods.In September, higher inflation was observed in certain manufactured items such as chemicals, machine tools, leather and rubber and plastic. However, the impact of higher inflation in these non-food manufactured categories was offset by a continued decline in price rise of manufactured food, which

Weakness in domestic demand

Infosys back in favour

Persistent food inflation constrains monetary policy

Tears from onions

Till a few weeks before Walmart's high-profile exit from its partnership with Bharti, officials in the commerce ministry consistently told journalists that the US chain was a sure-fire foreign entrant to multi-brand retailing in India along with the British chain Tesco. Now that Walmart has retreated and its entry as a stand-alone retailer is in doubt, attention has focused on British chain Tesco. Commerce ministry officials who oversee retail policy continue to insist that it is a sure bet for front-end retailing soon. This despite the fact that Tesco has been present in India in a sourcing and technology tie-up with the Tata group for some years but there are no signs of its front-end stores yet. Interestingly, Udyog Bhavan also maintains that the French chain Carrefour's proposal may take time.....

And then there was Tesco...

Former Finance Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yashwant Sinha has a wry sense of humour and it was amply on display at a press conference on the 2G telecom spectrum scam where he spoke in his capacity as member of the joint parliamentary committee (JPC) investigating the issue. Greeting journalists ahead of the festival season, he added a word of advice. "Don't burn crackers, Delhi is already very polluted," he said, and added after a tiny pause, "And politically too." Given the politics within the JPC over fixing the blame for the scam, maybe Sinha was only half-joking.

Burning issues

But Sinha was not joking when he said there was enough evidence against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the 2G spectrum scam. Sinha said former Telecom Minister A Raja had informed the prime minister at every step of the allocation of spectrum to telecom companies in 2010. Sinha then went a step further to make the case himself. "Raja would tell the prime minister everything. He would even inform the prime minister when he was leaving for home from the office," he said with heavy irony.

Too much information?

This refers to the editorial "Succeeding on Phailin" (October 14). What irony. We have the capacity to plan and stand up to nature's furious Phailin. The situation is so remarkable that out of the 1 million affected, only 18 lives were lost - one deceased in 50,000! But we are unable to face our fellow men's follies. Pilgrimage disasters are neither the will of god nor the retribution of nature. The needless temple tragedy in Madhya Pradesh (MP) resulted in a fatality ratio of one in 20. All vulnerable religious sites need to be covered under an National Disaster Management Authority genre of protection. A list of such places and the standard operating procedures must be put in place. There is no point wearing the proud plumes of Phailin, only to be left with mud on the face at MP, on the same day.R Narayanan  GhaziabadLetters 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

Letters: Pilgrimage disasters

CRISIL has analysed the sales growth of 9,200 micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the manufacturing and service sectors. Their performance was analysed for the period from 2009-10 to 2011-12 (refers to financial year, April 1 to March 31). The analysis reveals that MSMEs in the service sector performed marginally better than their counterparts in the manufacturing sector. Service sector MSMEs achieved sales growth at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30.46 per cent, whereas manufacturing MSMEs registered a CAGR of 29.42 per cent in the evaluation period.Growth of service-sector enterprises was driven mainly by MSMEs operating in the trading segment. Their high growth rate of 35.20 per cent can be partially attributed to the highly volume-driven nature of their business and the impact of inflation in the value of goods traded. In comparison, MSMEs in segments like hospitality, transport, education, broking, and consulting registered a growth rate of 24.66 per cent. The

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