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

Letters: Gas pricing dilemma

Business Standard

On the 20th anniversary of private mutual funds setting up shop in India, can it be said that it has lived up to its potential? Certainly, as Table 1 shows, it has grown assets under management considerably - though not, perhaps, as much as it could have. However, if the idea was to enable the participation of small investors in the market for equities, mutual funds have not done as expected. While in the early years, in the 1990s, equity assets were more than debt assets for mutual funds, it was debt mutual funds that really took off first, and equity funds only later - and they have struggled to catch up. Indeed, as Table 2 spells out, investors have soured easily on equity, unlike on debt. Net investment in equity mutual funds has been in negative territory for much of the time shown. And while debt mutual funds' growth has tapered, the investing public continues to be interested in these. Nor is this surprising when the record of private sector equity mutual funds is examined. As T

StatsGuru:  How has the 20-year-old private MF sector performed?

Prices of Bengal gram/chana rose steadily from the winter of 2010. That finally peaked last September

Indicus price monitor

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI's) latest edition of the report on external debt has flagged the disturbing trend in the country's external indebtedness. In this connection, I would like to recall the experience during the Gulf Crisis of the early 1990s when external debt, especially of short duration, was at an unsustainable level. One of the major problems then was the differing estimates of its extent. The figures of the RBI and the government did not agree; on top of that were the various estimates floated by international organisations such as the World Bank. Governor Venkitaramanan appointed a two-man group called "Policy Group on External Debt Statistics of India" in December 1991 to reconcile the data and formulate a scheme to put them on a reliable basis. It included Y Venugopal Reddy, then joint secretary in the finance ministry, and me as adviser (international finance) in the bank. The group was assisted by a task force of officers of the bank and the finance ministry who vi

Letters: External debt

Apropos M C Joshi's letter "Nitish is not secular"(June 28), a fuzzy conception of secularism hardly helps to make a fair analysis of the current political situation. Perhaps, unwittingly, the theory of "guilt by association" was invoked to say Nitish Kumar is not secular. Kumar provides a perfect foil for Narendra Modi in the ongoing secularism versus sectarianism debate. The very fact that Kumar severed all links with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the wake of the implicit projection of Modi as the prime ministerial candidate establishes his secular credentials. Had the BJP groomed and projected a Vajpayee-like leader as its face for 2014, Kumar would not have remained in the National Democratic Alliance with the same comfort level. For him, it was not a question of gaining or losing in electoral terms from the decision taken to break off from the BJP. But a question of saving the nation from the threat posed by the forces of sectarianism, epitomised by his Gujarat counterpart.

Letters: The concept of secularism

For the last 17 years, Nitish Kumar was aligned closely with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and even continued with it after the Gujarat riots. Now, for his own reasons, when Kumar has given a slip to the BJP, he is being called "secular" by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. It is not for nothing that former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha said sometime back that Singh is an "underrated politician and an overrated economist".Sukumar Mukhopadhyay, New DelhiLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew Delhi 110 002Fax: (011) 23720201  Â·  E-mail: letters@bsmail.inAll letters must have a postal address and telephone number

Letters: PM on Nitish Kumar

The war of words between Aam Aadmi Party party leader Arvind Kejriwal (pictured) and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's Political Secretary Pawan Khera has taken the form of daily Twitter wars. Miffed Kejriwal supporters online reminded Khera of the sheer number of his followers (403,791 at last count) to which Khera retorted, "Number of followers one has does not mean anything. Hitler had millions, and Jesus had 12." The battle lines between the two had, incidentally, been drawn offline when Khera dragged Kejriwal to court on defamation charges alleging that the latter, by defaming Dikshit, had inadvertently defamed him as well. Khera has resorted to calling Kejriwal another member of the #Feku club (meaning someone who makes fictitious claims), the other famous personality of that online "club" being Narendra Modi.

#leaders & followers

Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas M Veerappa Moily believes he has a positive influence on the Sensex. Soon after the Indian markets went up more than 500 points on Friday, riding on the big-ticket policy decision of almost doubling domestic natural gas prices from April 2014, a seemingly upbeat minister joked: "When I took charge of the oil ministry, the market zoomed 300 points, and on each policy measure, including diesel deregulation, it reacted positively. I have a magical touch on stocks."

Moily's magic

In an attempt to outdo Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who is well known for his social networking one-upmanship, the Gujarat Congress jumped the gun, with embarrassing consequences. On June 26, the party issued a statement condoling the death of Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela who was on life support. Undersigned by spokesman Jayrajsinh Parmar, the statement quoted senior state party leaders Arjun Modhwadia and Shankersinh Vaghela and described Mandela's life and how he was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi. The very next day South African President Jacob Zuma announced that Mandela's condition had improved but was still critical. The Gujarat Congress' goof-up even found its way on to the state party president's twitter handle, though it was removed later.

Dead wrong

Does UPA-II at last intend to take some decisions?

Yet another start

Whatever the motivation, scrapping SEZs is the right thing to do

Happy ending

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

Case study

Realty check

What is a tax refund?You are eligible for a refund when the tax liability or the amount of tax to be paid is less than the amount paid. A claim can also be made when the taxes were deducted because you did not declare your investments. For the salaried, it is possible the company deducted excess tax since you did not declare your investments.How do I get a refund?The tax return will show the amount of refund. In case the return shows you are getting a return, the cheque or transfer comes to the address/bank account directly. If you want to declare some more investments, a revised return of income needs to be filed.  The claim has to be made using Form 30.

Tipping point

Our model is straight forward and democratic: Tony Fernandes

With the exception of Titanic, top 15 Hollywood films that grossed the most worldwide are about wizards, superheroes or weirdos. The recently released Warner Bros's Superman reboot, Man of Steel, enjoyed the biggest June opening ever at $113.1 million in the US and is going strong at the box office. A look at the 15 top-grossing Hollywood movies of all time:

A step into wonderland!

The correlation between the BSE mid-cap index and the Nifty has steadily declined since 2008 and currently sits at an all-time low. Also, dispersion in fundamentals is more pronounced now

Small/mid-cap stocks A rewarding space

Punjab is in the grips of election fever - panchayat elections are to take place there in a few weeks. How can you tell? Because government liquour shops are recording booming business. Potential candidates have already started buying liquour in anticipation of the polls. The odd people out are the women - both candidates as well as voters. Women voters say anyone who tries to bribe them with liquor will ensure he doesn't get their votes. Women candidates say they will never give liquour as bribe to vote - and warn that nothing much should be expected from those who have to get their voters drunk in order to get elected. The district administration has already warned that anyone having more than two bottles of liquour in their home will be arrested.

Here's to the elections - cheers!

The Narendra Modi effect has now begun to take its toll on other leaders. Rajnath Singh, president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was in Jaipur recently to address a meeting of minorities. The note that Singh tried to strike was that the BJP had never discriminated against the minorities and "if anyone has any complaints, they should talk to me". Immediately, Mahir Azad, the state minorities commission chief (and obviously a Congress sympathiser), came up on the stage and handed Singh a memorandum. He then asked a question: "What has the Gujarat government done for the minorities? Isn't it true that not a single Muslim has got a scholarship from the Gujarat government? How is this possible? Does this mean there are no Muslims worthy of getting a Gujarat government scholarship?" he asked. Immediately, there were slogans and counter-slogans in the gathering, and Singh scurried out of the room escorted by his colleague Shahnawaz Hussain.

The minority effect

Corporate India seems uncomfortable with mixed workplaces

Women in flight

YES Bank will appoint three of its top management executives on its board subject to approval from the Reserve Bank of India and shareholders. The country's youngest bank currently has a lean board (with seven members including the CEO) compared to other private sector banks. The move is aimed to strengthen the professional character of the board.

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