Food Corporation's anti-competitive practices probed

The biggest hoarder

Business Standard

Govt must learn the lessons of Delhi's Airport Express

Line of warning

That Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation Srikant Jena has something of a precarious grasp of the statistics that his ministry handles is an open secret. Just how precarious was underlined on Statistics Day in front of an audience jam-packed in Vigyan Bhavan. Jena, who chose to speak extempore rather than rely on the speech prepared by his department, consistently mentioned some random numbers from the 66th Round of the National Sample Survey conducted by The National Sample Survey Organisation. He seemed blithely unaware that the results of the 68th Round of the survey are already out. Interestingly, Jena emphasised that the data released should be "near to accurate". But the minister himself missed this parameter by miles.

Jena's number crunch

A "samosa" could well be a password or advance information about the future of many upcoming events. That might sound weird but not for veteran journalists covering press conferences organised by the Press Information Bureau (PIB). Last week, the PIB had scheduled a press conference at 7 p m on a Cabinet meeting that would deliberate a decision on the contentious increase in administered gas prices. At around 7.30 p m, samosas were supplied. Some senior journalists immediately departed, saying, "If samosas are supplied early at a late evening press conference, it means the event may not happen. It is a password for us." They were right because the conference was cancelled at 9.15 p m.

PIB's samosa password

Crony capitalism has become such a hot-button issue in politics that Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh are desperately trying to discover what transpired at a meeting between London-based Vedanta Resources Chairman Anil Agrawal and Chief Minister Raman Singh and senior bureaucrats at Raipur in the last week of June. Agrawal had come to the state capital for a day to discuss the prospect of approval for a 1,200-Mw power plant that his aluminium company Bharat Aluminum Company (Balco) had built at its factory in Korba district. The Congress, which is in opposition in the state and has been opposing Balco's power plant, is suspicious. Congress working president Charandas Mahant even went on record to demand that the minutes of the meeting be made public. But behind the scenes, Congress leaders are informally enquiring from different quarters whether any "deal" had been reached in return for government approval.

Chasing the deal

This refers to Debashis Basu's article "Are mutual funds relevant?" (Irrational Choice, July 1). I am wary of mutual funds (MFs) after some initial experience and fall into the category of people that the author has so well described in the piece - the urban savers.I used to think I am the only one who is afraid of taking risks with MFs.I now know that I am justified in my cautiousness. With little time (or inclination - let me be honest here) available to spend on educating myself into the nitty-gritty of complex investments, I stick to the simple, good-old, fixed deposits. I know what I earn might be less than what I lose due to inflation. But at least I am not losing as MFs are doing.I understand that debt-linked MFs might be a better option in which to invest. But again, I don't know enough of that either.Namita Waikar  PuneLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew Delhi 110 002Fax: (011) 23720201E-mail: lette

Letters: Mutual fund myth

Apropos William Pesek's article "China's Frankenstein economy" (June 27). The writer has posted several red flags to indicate that the Chinese economy might implode in a couple of years. That would put take the world economy huge steps backwards in terms of growth. Some other red signals that have not been mentioned in the article are also worth mentioning.For example, corruption among high-ranking officials has perpetuated the economic bubbles and pushed many sectors to the current point of instability. Another factor weighing on China's growth is the housing bubble. Although China has plenty of bustling, overcrowded cities, it also has many empty buildings. Several experts have warned of a Chinese housing bubble that can exceed the one witnessed in the US during 2008, due to massive sub-prime mortgage growth. One of the biggest issues plaguing the Chinese banking sector is the large number of "bad loans".A Standard and Poor's report said, "A credit turndown is unfolding in China. Mas

Letters: Red signals over China

This refers to the report "Rupee slips below 60/$" (June 27). The market reacted to the Securities and Exchange Board of India's initiatives, pulling the rupee down by more than a rupee against the $ on June 26. The sudden demand for the dollar was not from regular foreign exchange seekers but from the foreign institutional investors (FII) who are pulling out their investments. The new norms in "buyback" and preferential allotment and easing in listing norms for the small and medium enterprises are welcome measures. Easing norms for FII inflows will only add to "speculative" trades in the bourses. These measures may boost the Sensex but not economic growth.N Ramamurthy  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 Sebi effect

Vinod Jain

Good track record, established brand name, wide network coverage and financial inclusion become catchwords in rush for banking licence

Players flaunt their cards to get into lending game

NEW DATACAD NARROWSThe current account deficit (CAD) for January-March narrowed sharply to 3.6 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), helping a battered rupee gain some ground against the dollar.

Green shoots tracker

The Reserve Bank of India on Monday received 26 applications for new banking licences, including from many large corporate houses and those in the financial services business. Lesser known names are in the race, too. Here's a look at the strengths of some of these companies and the areas where they might need to pull up their socks

Banking licence aspirants: How the big names stack up

India's top car makers posted lacklustre sales in June as low consumer sentiment fuelled by high fuel prices and interest rates hit demand.

A lacklustre show

The brand has been able to reinvent itself with every 
Friday, when a new hoarding goes up at  90 locations across India

Amul's buttery-smooth transitions

UN report shows holes in govt's food security proposal

More than cereals

Why households don't trust equity mutual funds enough

Sharing the blame

Chhattisgarh Home Minister Nankiram Kawar may be the de facto number two in the state Cabinet but he often acts like the leader of the Opposition, at least according to embittered ruling party members. His latest salvo is a campaign against the Jashpur district collector for alleged irregularities in distributing ration cards. Kawar openly accused the collector of taking bribes. The collector protested but Kawar stood his ground and made the documents public to underline the alleged corruption in the process. Chief Minister Raman Singh is a mute spectator to this, not entirely unhealthy, development in which a key member of government is playing the role of opposition to the system of which he is a part.

The dissident within

For Petroleum Minister M Veerappa Moily, the announcement of a revised gas price with effect from April, 2014 has clearly been an epic struggle, given the fierce controversy that has developed around the issue. Talking informally to journalists after a press conference, he painstakingly explained the political and economic reasons for the steep price rise. When he finished, a journalist asked him all the questions he had set out in his explanation. This irritated Moily, who is from Karnataka, so much that he resorted to a familiar Hindi saying. "Poora Ram katha sunne ke baad, why are you asking about Sita's relationship with Ram?" he retorted in Hinglish (Why are you asking who Sita is after listening to the whole story of the Ramayana?).

The 'Ramayana' of gas prices

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) celebrated the grant of its first registration certificate for information technology products with great fanfare. An internal event was followed by the distribution of press releases and cheerful photographs to the media. The irony is that even as these festivities had the Samsung Printers division - recipient of this first certificate - on cloud nine, the rest of the industry was worrying itself sick. That's because under a new rule electronics products in India face a possible blackout after July 3 if laptops, printers and tablets, among other products, do not get a BIS certification. Almost 1,500 applications have been sent to the BIS, of which a handful were certified. Despite this backlog, the week-long preparations that went into the celebratory event kept most department officials away from their routine work. Had they applied themselves to all the other applicants, the entire industry could have joined BIS in celebration.

Certified backlog

This refers to the editorial "Unhappy at 20" (June 28). Buffeted by overzealous regulators and revolving door type of investments by foreign institutional investor (FIIs), the performance of the indian mutual funds industry has been lacklustre and has given investors very poor returns. In fact, the stock market is, in a way, controlled by the FIIs, and mutual funds look puny in comparison. Whatever be the merit of doing away with entry load and role of the agents, the net results are that the mutual funds have no one to promote their products.The CNX Nifty gave poor returns of 6.3 per cent in the last five years in equity funds. The FIIs virtually dictate the stock market and the mutual funds are often caught on the wrong foot. Unless the funds' base expands to take on FIIs, little will change. The assets of the mutual funds industry are gradually shrinking and the government should come out with tax incentives and take steps to ensure the growth of the funds. Investment in the mutual

Letters: Mutual funds in trouble

This refers to Surajeet Das Gupta's article "Box-office bonanza" (June 30). It captures how, thanks to the growing number of multiplexes and rising income levels of the movie-going public, film-making has turned into a lucrative, though risky, business. Since films are also an expression of technology-assisted art, have they registered the same progress in this field? Of the six top grossers of 2013, none are rich in artistic content.No doubt, they compete with the best technically - camera work, choreography, music, picturisation among others. But they lack quality in vital areas such as subtlety, lyrics, thematic content and lingering impact. Unless there is a transformational change in film-making, the Karan Johars will make money but will be soon forgotten - just as we have forgotten Manmohan Desai. But quintessential directors like Satyajit Ray (he directed two Hindi movies too - Shataranj ke khiladi and Sadgati) will stay in memory and history even if they did not create box offi

Letters: Artless Bollywood

This refers to the T N Ninan's column "One more" (June 29, Weekend Ruminations). His disparaging remarks about C Rangarajan are uncharitable. Why can't gas pricing be dealt with by a committee headed by someone "whose day job is as a macroeconomist"?That said, I concede that, more often than not, committees do the bidding of the government of the day. Keeping aside the merits of the issue from an economic point of view, which are currently under intense debate by specialists, one can legitimately question the propriety of the government, which is in the last year of its term, to take decisions that are to come into effect only from next year. If the author openly says the price hike has been designed to "please India's richest man", the government has asked for it.Parthasarathy Chaganty  MumbaiLetters 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

Business Standard

Business Standard

Page 714 - Business Standard