India has not issued a new bank licence since 2004. There is a persuasive case to be made that India's banking sector needs to be more open; but aspects of the recent decision to award more licences are, none the less, disquieting. Well-informed voices from across the spectrum of opinion have, in the past few days, been raised against the proposal to allow large business conglomerates to set up banks if they have a "successful track record" - judged, presumably, by the licensing authority - and a minimum capital of Rs 500 crore. The head of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, C Rangarajan, has urged the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to start by issuing licences to "non-corporate businesses" first, and to look elsewhere only if there are no such qualified applicants.

Asking for trouble

Business Standard

The government on Thursday introduced the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill, 2013, in the Rajya Sabha

New in the house

Rupee symbol

The historic slide of the rupee has inspired many jokes in the social media but in the Indian financial world, where a lot of money rides on superstition and auspicious timing, a popular theory doing the rounds is that ever since Rs  replaced Rs as the official symbol, which was in 2010, the rupee has been beset by vaastu problems which explains its steady decline, according to the top executive of a finance firm. The veracity of this theory is thoroughly questionable, of course, since the rupee actually strengthened against the dollar in calendar 2010, ending the year at 44.99, but it does go to show that no one really knows what's going on with the currency.

Symbolic issues

Elusive Pax Syriana

Private sector slowdown drags down growth

A bleak prospect

So what was the most popular gift for sisters in Chhattisgarh this rakhi? No, not cash, clothes or sweets but a few kg of onions, according to Chief Minister Raman Singh. He claims this is what he heard on several legs of the Vikas Yatra he is undertaking to showcase his government's achievement ahead of November state polls. The soaring price of onions, thus, has provided him with one strong point with which to highlight the mismanagement of the United Progressive Alliance. He even joked that onions usually provoked tears when they are cut; now they do the same when they are being bought.

Raman's rakhi tear-jerker

Outgoing Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor D Subbarao's fine sense of humour has had little opportunity for play over most of his tenure with inflation and the runaway rupee proving back-to-back crises. Now, with less than a week to go for his stint to end, he was able to enjoy the luxury of making a joke at his own expense at last Friday's Statistics Day Conference. "I know you are all waiting for one statistic, which is how much did the governor pay for his haircut so that you can compute the governor's haircut index of inflation. I have decided not to reveal that number for two reasons," he joked. One, computing the premium he pays the barber would not be realistic given his "non-existing hair". Second, the statisticians at RBI will have to recalibrate their index in a week's time to his successor Professor Raghuram Rajan who has a rather fuller head of hair.

Hair today

Your editorial "Tale of two models" (August 30), criticises the move to bring back N R Narayana Murthy to revive Infosys and the argument is supported by a comparison with the actions of Microsoft and a comment by T V Mohandas Pai. I think the criticism is unjust and arguments weak. Microsoft isn't known for making great choices since the time it gained a monopoly on the PC business by taking advantage of the laws of the time and Mr Pai, couldn't be completely unbiased in his comments on Infosys' culture since he had quit when he was not picked to be the chief executive officer (CEO). How about comparing the move to bring back Murthy with Starbucks getting retired Founder and Chairman Howard Schultz back to the role of CEO in 2008? Starbucks was sinking when Schultz returned and now the business is flourishing. Procter & Gamble, more recently, did the same and got its retired CEO Alan Lafley back and the move was well appreciated by everyone. Why don't we just watch how the move wo

Letters: Narayana Murthy's return

This refers to the editorial "Restoring credibility" (August 29). It rightly suggests that the time has come to revamp our Foreign Trade Policy. Our major imports being oil, gas, coal, phospate etc. are mainly sourced from West Asia and Africa. Iran recently agreed to trade in rupees. Similar efforts need to be made with other countries. Secondly, Africa needs infrastructure projects such as rail, road, airports and agricultural equipment, besides other consumer items, but does not have the money to pay. It is time we resort to the old ways of trading viz. the barter system which would prove beneficial. We had similar trading arrangements with erstwhile USSR, under the Escrow account management.N Balasubramanian  GurgaonLetters 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: Revamping foreign trade

The data published by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on outstanding credit and deposits of scheduled commercial banks include principal and interest. Banks calculate the interest following the accrual principle. Besides, what has accrued on bank credit but not yet due for payment, there is interest attributable to non-performing assets. A year-on-year comparison is usually done in reviewing the trends in credit and deposits. It is vitiated by the fact that a rise in interest may account for a substantial proportion of the change. Unfortunately, the return prescribed under Section 42 of the RBI Act, 1934, does not provide for a separate reporting of principal and interest on domestic business, although it is available for foreign currency liabilities and assets. It may require an amendment of the Act to get the bifurcation of the total into principal and interest for domestic business but it should not be difficult since there will no objection from the Opposition to set right a techni

Letters: Principal issue

On Wednesday, oil prices rose to a six-month high, amid a looming US-led military strike against Syria, and traders and analysts cited concern over stability in West Asia. Prospects of a US military strike on Syria have led to fears that Damascus, or its closest ally Iran, may retaliate against US allies in the Gulf - all leading global oil or gas suppliers

Why Syria matters to oil markets

The Financial Technologies group, in the eye of a storm with the payment crisis at National Spot Exchange, had over the years become a refuge for many ex-bureaucrats and former regulators. It was a win-win as the group, whose exchange businesses were highly susceptible to policy changes, gained from the understanding and connections of the former bureaucrats, who themselves got an opportunity to put their retirement years to good use. Here are some of the prominent such FT recruits among many.

FT's web of bureaucracy

But India's online boom faces many constraints

The net rises

"The movement of the exchange rate of the Indian Rupee recently has been a matter of concern. The Rupee has depreciated sharply against the dollar since the last week of May. There are concerns, and justifiably so, of the impact this would have on our economy.

Rupee fall a matter of concern: Manmohan Singh

The disconnect between India's politics and the markets

Opinion:Disconnect between India's politics and the markets

Accountability in Microsoft; what about Infosys?

Tale of two models

Your strongly worded editorial "Wrong Bill, wrong time" (August 28) will go in vain. The person who runs the country said, "I have made up my mind; do not confuse me with facts." Her only target is to install her most unwilling and uninspiring son on the thakth and for that if the country's economy needs to be sacrificed, let it be so. The most miserable story is that a group of spineless people lacks the courage to refrain her from playing ducks and drakes with the economy.Nirupam Haldar, KolkataLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew Delhi 110 002Fax: (011) 23720201 · E-mail: letters@bsmail.inAll letters must have a postal address and telephone number

Letters: Toying with the economy

Apropos the editorial "Wrong Bill, wrong time" (August 28), thank you for summing up the game of Politics versus Economics precisely. The bets on this game have already been placed by the foreign institutional investors and rating agencies are all set to revise their scores. The captains have declared their game plan of not drawing any red line to indicate how far the rupee could fall. The silent spectators - millions of investors like me - don't need Cassandra's abilities to guess the outcome.There are certain waves of optimism that come with random articles and comments. Mihir S Sharma's column "A pointless panic" (Policy Rules, August 23) was one such breeze. After comparing India with several other playgrounds such as Turkey and Indonesia, he concluded that all the pitches have a similar soil quality and maybe a similar game is unfolding everywhere, which is more global in nature. His analysis was unique, but it discounts one critical issue related to India - our massive, burgeonin

Letters: Only one outcome

Ram Jethmalani was trying to get the Supreme Court to heed to his request for getting the truckloads of documents sent by the Sahara group verified by the court or a quasi-judicial authority. He said, if the claims of the group were proven wrong after such verification, then "send us to jail". Jethmalani repeated this phrase several times in the course of his two-hour argument. At one point, Judge K S Radhakrishnan intervened, saying tongue in cheek, "You have repeated the same thing, 'send us to jail', seven to eight times...."  Jethmalani backtracked saying "Being old I have the habit of repeating myself, my lord." He added,  "It hurts that your lordship did not show any reception of my argument."

Repeat offence

Heard on the Delhi Metro on Wednesday, the day the rupee breached 68 to the dollar. "The rupee has fallen so much it has almost reached Chidambaram's age," said one commuter. Replied his companion gloomily, "And it will soon touch Manmohan Singh's age." At least the first part of the statement is true since the finance minister will turn 68 in early September. As for the prime minister, he will turn 81 later in the same month.

The ageing rupee

Schadenfreude is a German term that uniquely expresses the pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others. The Street has adapted it to suit the crisis in the National Spot Exchange (NSEL). "Shahdenfreude" is the new term doing rounds these days and it is defined as the evil pleasure one derives from the misfortunes of NSEL promoter Jignesh Shah. Shah's meteoric rise had rubbed many competitors up the wrong way and they are the ones oozing with Shahdenfreude these days.

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