Budget 2013-14: Wishlist

Business Standard

The Olympicsâ€™ counterproductive, short-sighted decision

Wrestling with confusion

Recalling loans to Kingfisher took too long

Delayed hard landing

This refers to Madan Sabnavisâ€™ article â€œWhen all theories collapseâ€ (February 11). If economic theories are found wanting in bailing out the worldâ€™s downhill economies, it is because 21st-century economists have to grapple with a complicated world economy. They have to contend with numerous variables and constraints that cannot be encapsulated in an integrated model. Economies the world over are more interdependent than ever, and yet very competitive. They are interactive and open through widespread communication systems, and yet cautious about sharing information. The task of balancing growth and inflation is strewn with conflicting mediators, such as the fiscal deficit, current account deficit, liquidity trap, investment and consumption, exports and imports, exchange rates and so on. So far it has proved to be the search for the Holy Grail.

Letters: In search of new theories

This refers to the article â€œLove them, love them notâ€ (February 14). The bitter fact is that according to Citigroupâ€™s â€œIndia Equity Strategyâ€ report, India is set to lose its low-cost economy status. There are various reasons: lack of infrastructure, power shortages, high-tax regimes, government delays and administrative corruption. On the other hand, countries such as China and Japan have good infrastructure and sufficient power supply. Also, there are no administrative delays in starting business in these countries. To top it all, these countries are offering incentives to business executives. Clearly, India has much to learn from China and Japan.

Letters: How not to do business

This refers to the report â€œKFAâ€™s collateral enough to cover dues, say banksâ€ (February 14). Itâ€™s time of reckoning for banks that lent to Kingfisher Airlines regardless of risks. People who deposited their hard-earned savings in the banks and tiny shareholders will not be satisfied until the last rupee is recovered from the airline. Recall at this juncture the furious debates in Britain over how the functioning of big banks caused depositors losses. In India, bank CEOs, their boards and the financial services department â€“ which was carved out of the department of economic affairs â€“ are answerable for their commissions and omissions. It is hoped that young MPs, irrespective of their party affiliations, will raise this issue forcefully in Parliament.

Letters: Flight plan

Trader associations opposing foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail are nominally aligned with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its offshoots on the issue. But they have broken the annual RSS taboo on Valentineâ€™s Day and chosen to celebrate the occasion. Nothing romantic in these outpourings, however. In this case, itâ€™s taken the form of a countrywide declaration of love for the â€œMotherlandâ€, which, the anti-FDI lobbyists insist, is being mortgaged to foreign business interests. The irony of using an entirely foreign festival to make their point appears to have escaped most traders and their associations.

Buying the Valentine craze

It would be logical to think that the courts would have become more vigilant about checking visitors after the alleged recording of CBI prosecutor A K Singhâ€™s conversation with one of the accused in the 2G telecom spectrum scandal, which CBI thinks is Unitechâ€™s Sanjay Chandra. But it is free entry to the Patiala House court; no one stops any visitor from carrying recorders, iPads and other devices. Earlier, when the crowds thronged CBI judge O P Saini's court room at the height of the trials, a bevy of policemen checked everyoneâ€™s bag and someone who recorded proceedings on an iPad was reprimanded by the judge.

Off the record

The disagreement between the finance ministry and the Central Statistics Office over the estimated economic growth in the current fiscal year has had a fallout among independent economists too. A senior economist who is often happy to comment, on the record, on the countryâ€™s economic developments, whether they are positive or negative, suddenly turned cautious about the arguments over the half-a-percentage point differential in the full-year GDP estimates. â€œDonâ€™t quote me this time,â€ he told reporters. Asked why he had suddenly turned reticent, he said his friends in government had indicated to him that â€œhigher-upsâ€ were not very happy about the economist community speaking frankly about the issue.

No comments

Make defence procurement process transparent

Dealing with defence deals

The end of regulatory forbearance on CDRs

The RBI tightens up

OIL & GASKey developmentsPartial deregulation of diesel pricesThe Rangarajan committee report suggestion- Gas pricing mechanism linked to international gas price benchmarksLimiting LPG cylinder consumption at subsidised rates to nine cylinders per household a year

Entrepreneurship couldnâ€™t have been defined any better than how Harvard Business School professor Howard Stevenson states: â€œEntrepreneurship is the pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled.â€ Entrepreneurship is about empowering, risk taking, innovating and determination.The world is connected and people are aware of the uncertainties in the world economy, which increases need for innovation and focus on entrepreneurial activity that fosters economic growth. With India churning maximum number of engineers, more people can become entrepreneurs with their education background.EmpoweringIn this flat world, fostering entrepreneurs has become one of the prime concerns for the government policy makers. From lifestyle to agriculture to infrastructure, entrepreneurs across the length and breadth of the country have been recognised for their achievement/ contribution. Interestingly, with the rise of information technology

The welcome rise of entrepreneurship

This refers to Ajit Balakrishnanâ€™s column â€œRealising Indiaâ€™s industrial dreamsâ€ (February 7). India missed the bus of the industrial revolution during the first half of the last century. The possible reason could be that the country was under the rule of the British, who kept us away from any manufacturing activity. But India missed the next bus of the manufacturing revolution, too, that many other Asian countries boarded in the last three decades of the last century. This indicates that we lack what it takes to be a country with a strong manufacturing sector. The writer points out only one aspect, that of competent leadership, for a successful manufacturing unit. However, the crippling factors are many and complex, the solutions to which are not in sight.Kishor Kulkarni, MumbaiLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg New Delhi 110 002 Fax: (011

Letters: India's industrial revolution

A needless controversy is raging between the finance ministry and the ministry of statistics and programme implementationâ€™s Central Statistical Office (CSO) on whether the economy is headed for a five per cent or a 5.5 per cent growth in the current fiscal. The CSO has projected a five per cent gross domestic product growth in its advance estimates, based largely on data till November and projections for the next four months factoring recent trends. This indicates a further slowdown in the second half of the year (H2) from 5.4 per cent in the first half (H1). The finance ministry â€“ apparently keen to establish that things are looking up after P Chidambaram took over in August â€“ cannot fathom these statistics. It says the downward looking trends have taken an upward turn after September owing to the governmentâ€™s reform measures, and the growth rate in H2, even though marginally, would be better than that in the first half â€”  giving an overall 5.5 per cent growth for the year.

Letters: Five per cent or 5.5 per cent?

Pawan K Ruia, chairman of the Ruia Group, which recently lost tyre-maker Dunlop to a court decision, was spotted at the Allahabad Junction railway station after the Maha Kumbhâ€™s Mauni Amavasya Snan on February 11. Given that India Incâ€™s heavy-hitters came in on jets, private and others, to Allahabad and fly out after a quick dip, it was unusual to see a hassled Ruia run for his train on a packed railway platform just hours after over 30 died in a stampede. Is the closure of Dunlop already forcing the industrialist to travel cattle-class? Or, was it a case of last-minute planning? Either way, Ruia may just be looking for some divine intervention, and where else than the Maha Kumbh for some of that!

Burning rubber

After bankers decided to recall the loans to Kingfisher Airlines, reporters were understandably keen to rush into Trident Hotel at Nariman Point in Mumbai, where the meeting with the airlineâ€™s senior management was held. Although a couple of reporters managed to get in, others were stopped. Asked why, the hotelâ€™s security officers simply said the media was not allowed. Since those reporters who managed to get in generously passed on the managementâ€™s quotes to others, the lack of access was not a problem but the fact that the hotel staff helped keep the media away at their own discretion from the Kingfisherâ€™s senior managers is worth wondering about.

No entry

Co-operative banks account for a minuscule proportion of the countryâ€™s total banking business and nothing reflects this more than the slower-than-tortoise pace at which the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) sends them orders. In the second quarterly review of monetary policy announced in October 2012, the RBI reiterated its standing instruction banning bank finance for gold purchases. A detailed order on this was sent to scheduled commercial banks immediately. The same instruction for the co-operative banks, including the state and Central co-operative banks, came much later in February, over a week after the third quarterly review of monetary policy was announced on January 29.

Tortoise treatment

LAST WEEK WE ASKED:  Do you think the new IITs will be able to outperform their older counterparts in terms of academics, research and placements within a decade?

Student's corner

AUTOKey developmentsRRecent initiative by Department of Heavy Industry to release the National Mission for Electric Mobility is a welcome move. It has several recommendations on how to fast-track the introduction and manufacture of electric vehicles (including hybrids)Governmentâ€™s decision to deregulate diesel prices will help bring a balance in the sale of petrol and diesel carsLiquidity and high interest rates impacted the sector for the major part of the financial year, which led to a subdued consumer demand

The companyâ€™s presence in India dates back more than 40 years to the early â€™70s, and since then it has been providing the country with military hardware and solutions

Business Standard

Business Standard

Page 773 - Business Standard