Wrong Bill, wrong time

Business Standard

The proportion of food grain lost in storage and transit in the first quarter of 2013-14 was so high (0.37 per cent in storage and 0.55 per cent in transportation) that a Parliamentary question on this issue to the ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution was "lost". The starred question number 34, which was due to be answered on August 6, was nowhere to be found on the Lok Sabha website, though the questions preceding and following it were uploaded. Of course, a hard copy of the answer was available, but it is interesting that the online omission remains. Did it have something to do with the passage of the food security Bill in the Lok Sabha?

Food losses for thought

A section of the Bharatiya Janata Party is quite desperate to project Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the party's prime ministerial nominee ahead of the general elections. To this end, some of the mandals in Mumbai and Thane celebrating Janamashtami, the birth of Krishna, plan to project Modi as the god in their annual Dahi Handi competitions. Some mandals are even preparing special Modi masks. Meanwhile, others are planning to give away gunny bags of onions as prizes for the teams that manage to break the auspicious handi, a telling comment as any on the government's mismanagement of the food supply chain.

The Krishna complex

On the social media site twitter, people are followed and they follow others. Even leaders who have great followings follow a significant number of other people. For example, Barack Obama's official twitter handle @BarackObama, which is followed by 35 million people, follows 658,747 tweeple. Back home @pmoindia, the handle of PM Manmohan Singh follows 50 people, @shashitharoor follows 405 people and @narendramodi follows 671 people. But there is one exception. He does not follow anyone on twitter. He is Manish Tewari, the minister for Information and broadcasting, whose twitter handle @ManishTewari describes him as "Lawyer, political activist with an academic interest in international/ strategic issues" has 13,133 followers. But the "following" counter which shows people he follows draws a blank.'

The man who doesn't follow

Cereals such as rice, wheat and coarse grains account for about 14 per cent of India's Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket. Once the "landmark" Food Security Bill becomes a law, the prices of these cereals will immediately drop by 90 per cent from their current rate of Rs 15-20 a kg to Rs 1-3 a kg. This 90 per cent drop will see CPI inflation come in at sub-3 per cent come February, after generously factoring in a Rs 4/litre increase in diesel prices until then. For those worried about the fiscal gap, ratings agencies may be placated by a few large divestments or large special dividends from public sector companies this year, including perhaps, the Reserve Bank of India. One should not write off the United Progressive Alliance's chances in the upcoming General Elections. It is not easy to rationalise that one family has ruled so many for so long. Yet, it has happened.Rohan Soares  MumbaiLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Z

Letters: The price factor

This refers to Priyanka Kishore's article "Rupee approaching tipping point (Market Mind, August 26). The analysis includes current account deficit (CAD) as a reason for the slide of the rupee and succinctly points out that it is the third year that India is grappling with the implications of a weakening currency. In analysing  the cause and effect, the author left the CAD alone and dwelt on the external factors. But, it does not take much analysis to say that the ill-conceived populist economic measures and the apparent apathy of the government to the profligacy behind it is the main reason for the current state of the rupee. Much stronger measures to contain the CAD, than the ones deployed now, with due consideration to the supply side, too, would strengthen the currency internally and that will in turn contribute substantially to hasten the stabilisation process.N Subrahmanyam  HyderabadLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Sh

Letters: Ill-conceived measures

This refers to the editorial "Non-performing managers" (August 26). While I fully agree with the views of Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor K C Chakrabarty, the remedies suggested in the editorial would not prove to be of much help. Neither the tenure, the selection process, nor the pay packet per se are affecting the performance of managers in government-owned banks. But what is affecting their performance is the lack of accountability and the other ills mentioned by Chakrabarty. How many chairman and managing directors have been taken to task for quick mortality cases? Moreover, your suggestion that a substantial part of the pay should be linked with performance might prove to be counterproductive. What would define a performer? Many would be inclined to jack up the top line to show good growth even at the cost of asset quality. The remedy lies as rightly suggested in the editorial - in hands-off approach and accountability.S V Bhise VadodaraLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mail

Letters: Element of accountability

The food security Bill aims to give cereals to the beneficiaries. However, there has been a drop in consumption expenditure since 2004-05

A changing India?

Over the last month, debt markets have been volatile due to the liquidity tightening measures announced by the Reserve Bank of India. As a result, yields on government securities shot up, which means the prices fell sharply. Due to this, the net asset values of debt mutual funds saw a decline. For instance, categories like gilt medium- and long-term funds and income funds have been hit the most. However, some categories like gilt short-term, ultra short-term and liquid funds have recovered since then.According to Sujoy Das, head of fixed income, Religare Invesco, investors should look at shorter term funds of six months to one year. But those invested in long-term funds should stay invested because the losses are marked-to-market losses and not capital losses.

Short-term debt funds recover from RBI shock

Ignoring problems of corporate governance

An ironic twist

Domestic ore users should not set export policy

The iron ore dilemma

Fierce internal rivalries within the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership demand that other party members are required to perform a delicate balancing act. No one has excelled at this better than Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh. To avoid upsetting any one faction of the party, he has invited as many representatives of the different camps for his Vikas Yatra, a road show to showcase his government's achievements before the November polls. When he started the journey, he invited Lal Krishna Advani. Later, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who had emerged as a power centre in his own right, took a turn with the Yatra. Then, last week, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj was invited to restart the Yatra, which had been put on hold following a Naxal attack on the Congress convoy that killed key leaders. Now, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley has joined the Yatra. And when it concludes in the first week of next month, party President Rajnath Singh will be

Fellow travellers in the BJP

The traffic police had a field day collecting fines the day Tina Ambani appeared at the Patiala court in New Delhi as a witness in the 2G spectrum case. That was because the road outside the Patiala Court house, where lawyers and reporters usually park their cars, was choc-a-bloc with OB vans of TV crews and vehicles belonging to the large entourage that accompanied Mrs Ambani to court. As a result, the regulars to Patiala Court were forced to park in no-parking zones rather than farther away so that they didn't miss her session.

A fine balance

Brand building may be the name of the game in the current economic slowdown and no one is following this more diligently than the Planning Commission. Insiders said the Commission has decided to put its own logo and name on all its official stationery such as letterheads and so on. So far, Yojana Bhavan used stationery with the standard Government of India logo embossed on it. The current exercise is said to be an effort to check theft of official stationery but the branding cannot do the plan body much harm either and is certainly a cheaper exercise than last year's refurbishing of toilets.

Stationery effort

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director Ranjit Sinha's statement that has been widely reported today, ("CBI: Was not consulted on calling Ambani's", August 26), is that the CBI did not want to call Anil Ambani and his wife as witness and they were called by U U Lalit who was appointed as the special public prosecutor by the Supreme Court. While the statement is factually correct, it is uncalled for and unnecessary in the present context. This statement will generate undue controversy and might give legal handle to those who they are trying to prosecute. A very senior lawyer such as U U Lalit would not follow any illegal procedure. Moreover, the summons were permitted by the Court. And it was always within the knowledge of CBI. If we, the people of India, knew this for a long time from newspapers, how did the CBI not know it? CBI's panel of lawyers must have been present in the Court when U U Lalit appeared. If the CBI did not make it an issue at that time, why raise the issue by

Letters: Uncalled-for statement

This refers to the report "My dear dear jeans" (August 24). Once upon a time, jeans were strictly weekend wear. But gradually, they've infiltrated every facet of our lifestyle. Now we wear them to work, big dates and even to formal events. Sales of premium denim jeans that can cost more than Rs 1.25 lakh in some cases, have proved durable. In these days of going green and environment consciousness some one came out with a figure that it takes about 12 litres of water to produce a pair of jeans. Interestingly, the less expensive jeans are looking better every day. On closer inspection, the cheaper versions might lack quality, but their sales are brisk. As the report emphasises many of the top executives of premium denim brand companies say they're not fazed by lower-priced competition. Ripped jeans for men and women are the new shining part of casual fashion. It's not a new fashion but it never gets old as well.H N Ramakrishna  BangaloreLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Ed

Letters: In my jeans

This refers to the editorial "Non-performing managers" (August 26). The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor's remarks on the reasons for the unabated growth in non-performing assets (NPAs) of public sector banks is true and this callousness gets accentuated when the slowdown of the economy also becomes handy to justify the non-performance. Accounting gimmicks in banks have been a regular feature since there has always been a trade-off between the auditors and management. Even the RBI becomes helpless since its system of regulation and supervision does not offer scope for proper scrutiny of all transactions and borrowal accounts. Unfortunately, the loss on account of NPAs is borne by the shareholders, depositors and good borrowers. The only way to solve this menace is to make banks and borrowers accountable through close monitoring and supervision of loan accounts.T V Gopalakrishnan  BangaloreLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4

Letters: Accounting gimmicks

Asset classes have been reacting to bad news, both global and domestic. Stocks and bonds have tipped over in the ensuing sell-off by foreign investors. And, there seems to be no respite from the woes.Amid all this, one way to protect yourself from financial uncertainty, stock market volatility, the economic slowdown and even your own mistakes and excesses is to prepare a financial plan and stick to it. A well-grounded financial plan that encompasses your current financial situation, your goals and income needs not only shields you against volatility and diversification but also ensures the portfolio gives you steady returns over the long run. We ask three financial experts and wealth managers to prepare a financial game plan for you:Review your progress every quarter: Gaurav MashruwalaUse a three-pronged strategy for financial planning that encompasses wealth protection, accumulation and distribution.Financial protection is the first step. Maintain funds equal to about three months of

Stress test for your portfolio

Although the stock market has taken something of a beating since the US' central bank announced it would withdraw its monetary stimulus, many believe this is the time to find and pick stocks with potential. Business Standard has examined some of the largest sectors by market capitalisation and companies that are doing well by sectoral benchmarks on various indicators. Table 1 shows price-earning ratios for selected sectors. The entire automobile sector has a fairly low P/E, but even within that, TVS Motors has a very low ratio. Similarly, in steel, some Jindal-owned companies have low P/E ratios. Table 2 shows sales growth. Fast-moving consumer goods have seen good growth but P&G Hygiene has had standout growth even within the sector. Mahindra & Mahindra has more than twice the sales growth of the sector on average. Table 3 shows profit growth, negative for many sectors. But Escorts and Maruti buck the trend for automakers, and Havells India has grown profits at 20 per cent whi

StatsGuru-26-August-2013

Every Monday, Business Standard analyses one family's finances and suggests a suitable way forward

Case study

My house is insured for Rs 50 lakh. However, I am going abroad for two months. Do I need to inform my insurer about this? Also, what are the typical exclusions in a householder policy?Yes, I would advise you to inform and check with your company if your home insurance policy will continue to provide the cover during your trip abroad.Generally, home insurance policies do not cover for perils if the house remains unoccupied for more than 30 days. However, some firms do allow for continuation of the insurance cover, provided you intimate the insurer in advance about the house being unoccupied for a certain duration.Are newborns covered under maternity policies? What all does the insurer pay for in such policies and what are the exclusions?Some maternity policies provide cover for newborns against any hospitalisation-related expenses in the 90 days since birth. To continue with the cover for a newborn beyond this period, you would need to purchase a separate health insurance policy for you

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