Apropos Debashis Basu's article "The price of regulators' ignorance" (May 6), the author rightly suggests it is unfair to label depositors as being "financially illiterate", thereby indirectly blaming them for falling prey to such predatory practices. It's the regulators' responsibility to act against entities that illegally collect deposits from the public, and action must be taken expeditiously the moment such practices come to their attention. In this respect, the author mentions that while deposit-taking from the public is supposed to be regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), collective investment schemes (CIS) fall under the purview of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). Considering the Saradha group's activities comprised both collection of deposits and CIS, no single regulator was directly accountable for initiating action in this case. Hence, it is critical that the government institutes a mechanism by which fraudulent financial activities of this sort (pa

Letters: A fraud prevention body?

Business Standard

This refers to the report "Pawan Hans may enter commercial airline business" (May 5). Air India received a bailout package of Rs 5,000 crore in 2012; and it's yet to get out of the red. Not many expect it to become viable at all. Even private airlines, such as Kingfisher, are drowning. Although reports indicate that the airline may get some money from banks, after its loans are restructured, and from some foreign sources, it is a long way. Meanwhile, low cost flying, which was presented as a propellant of the airline sector, is becoming unfeasible. Although it is a good model - one that must be worked upon and not abandoned - it is not until mid-2014 that the private airlines can be expected to return to profits.In this light, how will Pawan Hans now getting involved in airline operations within specific regions, say, between Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur, help support traffic? Increasing air traffic in hinterlands is a good idea, but a private company would probably be better placed to tap

Letters: Pawan Hans: Doomed to fail

Bureaucrats seldom consider as justified "ever-greening" by private sector corporate chiefs who continue to head their companies for decades. But when it comes to their own institution, even the top bureaucrats cannot resist the temptation to do the same. In a note circulated in the Forum of Indian Regulators,  a top bureaucrat suggested that since the age of retirement for a bureaucrat has been extended from 58 years to 60 years, the same for regulators must also be changed from 63 years to 65 years. He is making, of course, the highly misplaced assumption that a regulator's position is meant for retired bureaucrats.

Evergreen regulators

India needs new thinking to protect its e-frontiers

The thin cyber line

In this year's Midas' List of Top Technology Investors, Facebook's initial public offering (IPO) cast a shadow over the rest of the venture capital industry.

Venture capital behemoths

Global thermal coal prices are expected to remain under pressure in the near term on lower Chinese demand and rising inventory. While Coal India's (CIL) April despatch has been in line with expectations, the company is unlikely to meet its medium-term despatch targets due to supply-side constraints

Coal tracker

In one of the biggest ever bank heists, a global cyber-crime ring stole $45 million from two West Asian banks by hacking into credit-card processing firms and withdrawing money from ATMs in 27 countries. Accounts were hacked into in two separate incidents. In one of the attacks, in just over 10 hours, $40 million was raided from ATMs in 24 countries involving 36,000 transactions.

Global cyber heist

Until Railgate exploded, Railways Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal had - as almost anyone would testify - an impeccable reputation. When 12 senior leaders and spokespersons gathered at the Congress' Rakabganj office (more commonly known as the war room) on May 1 to hear out Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, Bansal was one among them. Kumar till then was the only one in the eye of the storm over the Coalgate scam. Ironically, Bansal then took the moral high ground and upbraided Kumar as did the other Congress leaders for being "not the collateral damage" - but "the main damage". Little did Bansal know a fate like Kumar's awaited him in less than 48 hours. The Central Bureau of Investigation arrested Bansal's nephew Vijay Singla and Railway Board Member Mahesh Kumar on the night of May 3. Subsequently, on May 10, both Bansal and Kumar were forced to tender their resignation.

The immoral high ground

Why did it take so long for the Congress to force the resignation of Ashwani Kumar? It seems when the issue came up at the core committee meeting and Sonia Gandhi said both ministers should be sacked, Manmohan Singh demurred on Kumar. "He has done nothing. All he has done is try to protect me. Let us wait," Singh is reported to have said at the meeting.

Protection minister?

Taliban threats hang over Pakistan's historic elections

A troubled achievement

An unhealthy step

After the Saradha Ponzi scheme went bust, thousands of investors from all over West Bengal have been queueing up at the government-constituted enquiry commissions office in New Town, on the outskirts of Kolkata, to file applications for financial aid promised by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. So much so that  the hitherto obscure Golbari bus stop next to the commissions office has earned a new name. The conductors of many New Town-bound buses are now heard shouting chit fund bus stop, the better to attract commuters who want to visit the commissions office to lodge their applications.

This way for chit fund

Kapil Devs upmarket home in Greater Kailash-I was involved in some messy legal battles after the civic authorities had sealed a portion of it in which his wife was running a boutique. The property was then under tarpaulin covers for a while for some renovation. Now, a brand new structure has come up complete with lush lawns, and taxi-drivers are only too happy to point out Kapil Devs home to passengers. But a closer look reveals that the main gate has a prominent Sahara group logo embossed on it. Has Dev leased it to the group known for its cricket connections? Or is there a bigger deal?

Kapils sahara?

The Planning Commissions emphasis on having adequate representation of women in all major discussions seems to have borne fruit. A senior official said ever since a leading member of the commission complained about the inadequate representation of women in the annual talks between the state governments and the Plan body to finalise the Plan, states now include at least one woman member in their team.

Planned gender balance

Apropos the editorial Stoking inflation (May 8), the food security Bill is a giant retrograde step of the worst kind. Amartya Sen has said it would be ethical to pass the Bill. It is not ethics at all; it is pure economics. Food security cannot be created by legislation. It has to be achieved by increased production and a good system of redistribution. By entitling 67 per cent of people for food subsidy, apart from subsidies for fertiliser, oil and other things, will make almost 75 per cent of people depend on subsidies. This will cost the central government around Rs 1.31 lakh crore. And 80 to 90 per cent of this will be eaten away by middlemen and leaders. Moreover, what happens to the direct cash transfer (DCT) then? Surely, both cannot be made to run together. The whole idea of DCT was mooted, supported and partially implemented to replace the leaky public distribution system (PDS). The ill-effects of the food security Bill can be summarised as following: (a) It will increase fisca

Letters: Flaws in food security Bill

This refers to the report "Cocoberry stirs up frozen yogurts" (May 8), which concludes by saying: "The frozen yogurt consumption in India is a measly 0.3 kg per capita". If we go by this figure, then Indians consume 360,000 tonnes of frozen yogurt per annum. The report also refers to an Assocham study that said the current size of the yogurt market in India was Rs 750 crore. Both these estimates are way off the mark. What is known as yogurt or frozen yogurt in western countries is not the same product as what in India is called curd or dahi. The figures quoted by the author, as also by Assocham, are closer to the annual figures of the Indian dahi marketed by the organised sector. The frozen yogurt sale in the country is unlikely to exceed even one per cent of this figure. In the same report, R S Sodhi, managing director of GCMMF (Amul), is quoted as saying "there is practically no market for frozen yogurt" and that "the market is at a nascent stage in India". As the CEO of the most pop

Letters: Frozen yogurt vs dahi

Apropos the editorial Voting out misgovernance (May 8), the Karnataka Assembly polls results prove that state elections are purely dependant on local issues. Given the corruption scene at the Centre, the Congress should not have won in Karnataka. Maybe this is the Congress chance to keep people issues at the forefront, and focus on governance and development, to resurrect its damaged image.Bal Govind NoidaLetters 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 Congress last chance

Sector-wise allocations in 2013The real estate industry attracted the most investments, accounting for 23% of the total investments in terms of deal value with an aggregate of $657.27 million (16 deals). The utilities sector was the second, attracting $454.96 million (16%) across six deals in 2013. Banks, healthcare equipment & services were the other top sector groups

A snapshot of PE activity & deals

A Kotak Institutional Equities report has revealed the free float market capitalisation of the country's benchmark Sensex is just 43.5 per cent against more than 95 per cent in the US and above 80 per cent in the UK, Germany and Japan. In fact, free float - shares held by the public, not promoters - of India's stock market is one of the lowest in the world.

High stakes

Govt cannot brazen out Supreme Court's observations

Freeing the parrot

GLAXOSMITHKLINE PHARMACEUTICALSReco price/date: Rs 2,398/May 7Current/target price: Rs 2,338/Rs 2,110GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (Glaxo)'s Q1'CY13 results disappointed on both the top line and margins. The disappointment on revenue was due to supply chain constraints at manufacturing sites and supply constraints around vaccines, the management said.However, given the supply constraints are expected to last another quarter and expected adverse impact of pricing policy for the domestic business, analysts believe earning downgrades remain a possibility. Given the recent run up in the stock, analysts believe there is little room for upside at current valuations.  Maintain Neutral.Nomura Equity ResearchTV 18 BROADCASTReco price/date: Rs 67/May 6Current/target price: Rs 30/Rs 34TV18 Broadcast (TV18) is one of the largest media networks in the country. The company would be the biggest beneficiaries from digitisation of cable. Higher net subscription revenues and turnaround of loss-making

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