Steel production in 62 countries reporting to the World Steel Association increased to 122 million tonnes (mt) in November 2012, compared to the year-ago period-a rise of 5.1 per cent (Click on graphic)

Steely Growth

Business Standard

A new price index for agri commodities; a Business Standard and Indicus Analytics Initiative (Click on graphic)

Indicus price monitor

In the finance ministry that he heads, P Chidambaram appears to harbour no doubts about his powers. At least if a recent letter from a joint secretary in the finance ministry to all government departments is anything to go by. Advising them to follow strictly the restrictions on expenditure in the last quarter of the current financial year, the joint secretary wrote that compliance of the instructions was being monitored at the &ldquo;highest level in the Ministry of Finance&rdquo;.

Spending powers

This refers to the Q&amp;A with Tejashree Patel, &ldquo;Not Modi, Central grants helped Gujarat develop&rdquo; (December 23). The Central government&rsquo;s grants to any state is not the personal property of any leader at the Centre. Although grants are available to every state, can Patel explain why Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has been successful in providing electricity to every household in Gujarat uninterrupted for 24 hours a day.

Lettes: Modi's Gujarat

The nation is rightly agitated against the lack of security and law and order throughout the country. As many police officials have pointed out, they are often not allowed to do their duty because of ministerial pressures. When they are given a free hand, they do a good job. In the aftermath of the assassination of Indira Gandhi, there was large-scale violence in Delhi and several other parts of India. But authorities turned a blind eye to atrocities committed on a minority community. Today, some of those culprits are at high positions in the government and the Congress. But Maharashtra, in general, and Mumbai, in particular, were a haven of peace even in the midst of that turmoil. The police made heavy security arrangements in all places where the community and its places of worship were concentrated.

Lettes: Restoring law and order

The initial optimism in the fertiliser sector soon after the Union Cabinet approved the new investment policy for urea had led to an increase in prices of fertiliser stocks over the last week. The positive mood, however, is finally beginning to give way to some searching questions. The new policy, awaited ever since its 2008 version failed to attract any response, aims to fix problems that have led to the urea sector going without any real capacity addition since 1999. Certainly, the new policy seems more able to woo investment for greenfield urea production projects or even expansion of existing units. It may possibly allow the revival, too, of some of the eight closed units of public-sector fertiliser producers such as the Fertiliser Corporation of India (FCI) and the Hindustan Fertiliser Corporation (HFCL).

Fertile hopes

This refers to the report &ldquo;Has Maruti found a solution for its labour woes?&rdquo; (December 21). Frequent strikes and violence by the labour class has brought to the fore that labour crisis is inevitably present in India.

Letters: Protect workers

The federal US government is moving closer and closer towards the &ldquo;fiscal cliff&rdquo;, revealing the degree to which political brinkmanship can hold the entire world economy to ransom. If US President Barack Obama and the Republican-controlled US Congress are unable to agree on a series of compromises to cut the budget deficit by the end of 2012, then a previously mandated halving of the deficit will go into effect. By all accounts, this sudden and massive contraction of spending will cause a recession in the United States and have correspondingly negative effects on the global economy. The mild recovery in the United States is the only unambiguously good news about the world economy for all of 2012, and the implementation of the fiscal cliff would reverse that.

The world's cliff

Narendra Modi&rsquo;s return to power for the third term, despite all the adverse propaganda against him and his views on development and governance, has proved that voters can&rsquo;t be influenced by sloganeering, mud-slinging and promises of the moon. They are now going for development, good governance and strong leadership. The poll verdict is voters&rsquo; clear rejection of the divisive politics of caste and community. That is proved by the dismal performance of Keshubhai Patel&rsquo;s Gujarat Parivartan Party and the victory of BJP candidates in Muslim-dominant areas. It is a sign of growing maturity and a developing sense of judgement in voters &mdash; something our democracy is in dire need of.

Letters: A hat-trick comeback

This refers to the editorial &ldquo;Beyond the fog of spin&rdquo; (December 21). Narendra Modi has almost single-handedly managed to win the elections for a third time in a row. No one has questioned the economic achievements of Gujarat under him. But the issue is whether his growth is excluding the poor &mdash; as also the minorities. Apparently, if we impartially examine the issue, we&rsquo;ll find that his growth model is faulty and needs modifications.

Letters: Modi's growth model

India may be the world&rsquo;s most cricket-mad nation but it does not have a single town named after the sport. If that sounds like an odd statement, consider that there actually is a town named Cricket. No, it&rsquo;s not in any of the world&rsquo;s cricket-playing nations either but in the unlikely country of the US &mdash; North Carolina to be precise. According to US official data, Cricket has a population of a little over 1,855 and a median annual income of $29,987 (Rs 16.4 lakh). Incredibly, too, Cricket is also a first name in the US &ndash; there are records of one person in the country to bear that as a given name. It is, the same source tells us, the 8,325th most popular name in the US.

A town named Cricket

If the current government needed one index of how slowly economic reform has progressed in India it need look no further than its doorstep at the bottom of Raisina Hill where a protest, mostly by young men and women, against a brutal gang rape in New Delhi has descended into a pitched battle with the police. For many, the protests are overdone, the argument being that similar crimes occur elsewhere in the country and are rarely highlighted thus. But the intensity of middle-class anger in this instance is instructive; it focuses on repeated crimes against urban professional, working women, emerging from the social purdah that society has long imposed. In a sense, therefore, it represents a voice for their oppressed, silent sisters everywhere in India.

Demonstration effect

Senior investigating officials from agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation were likely to be facing a serious crisis in their social life, a former senior official predicted. With several high-profile people now under the radar in various cases of criminal conspiracy and other wrongdoings, he explained, officials will probably avoid parties or attending personal ceremonies for the risk of being spotted with any of them, or worse, being photographed by the paparazzi. So many conscientious officers will actually give this year&rsquo;s party season the go by.

CBI's 'social' problem

The second of three instalments of StatsGuru that examine the big challenges India faces going into 2013 considers the problems with India&rsquo;s public finances. As Table 1 shows, the essential problem is that fiscal deficits, for the states but particularly for the Centre, are far too high as a proportion of gross domestic product. They went up at the time of the financial crisis of 2008 &mdash; partly for reasons unrelated to the crisis &ndash; but have stayed stubbornly high.

StatsGuru: 24-December-2012

Every Monday, Business Standard analyses one family&rsquo;s finances and suggests a suitable way forward(Click on graphic)

Case study

Ideally, one should not have too many schemes. Too many schemes will lead to over-diversification and limit returns. For instance, 10 large-cap schemes would mean you have invested in the same kind of stocks. Have various kinds of schemes, depending upon your profile. So, have a combination of schemes and themes. According to a Morningstar study, a mutual fund research agency, after seven schemes, the value that you add to your portfolio does not increase.

Tipping point

I have incurred a capital loss of Rs 3 lakh on sale of shares.

Taxation: Homi Mistry

Business Standard brings to you a snapshot of average current rates and unit sizes in localities that offer property in the price range of Rs 4 crore to Rs 6 crore.

Real estate investment: A wider picture

The Bharatiya Janata Party&rsquo;s (BJP&rsquo;s) flip-flopping on its decision whether to support or oppose the controversial quota Bill in Parliament has started affecting the party at the grass roots. In Firozabad, Uttar Pradesh, senior leader Murli Manohar Joshi was scheduled to address a public meeting. Soon after Joshi reached the dais, a BJP supporter jumped onto the stage from the crowd and started shouting anti-party slogans. In fact, he also took off his black jacket and waved it like a flag to oppose the decision of the BJP leadership. The Opposition party has supported the quota Bill in the Rajya Sabha but opposed it in the Lok Sabha. However, most BJP leaders from Uttar Pradesh have opposed the decision to support the Bill.

Political wobble

It is no secret that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi doesn&rsquo;t get along with most leaders of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) in the state. Senior leaders of the VHP, who had joined hands with a section of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to oust Modi from Gujarat, and instead supported Keshubhai Patel to become the chief minister, had a rude shock when the Assembly results were announced. Modi managed to secure two-third majority and made a comeback for the third time. Senior VHP leaders couldn&rsquo;t do much but issue statements to congratulate Modi on his victory. The first among them was senior leader Ashok Singhal. Others in the party, including Praveen Togadia, chose to remain quiet.

Business Standard

Business Standard

Page 796 - Business Standard