Sports is the preferred marketing tool over celebrities, events and product placements in movies, music, art.

Sports as a marketing tool

Business Standard

A Jean Paul Gaultier corset worn by Madonna and a whip used by Harrison Ford in one of the Indiana Jones movies were among the major attractions at Christie&rsquo;s international &lsquo;pop culture&rsquo; auction on November 29(Click on graphic)

The pop culture, again

Auto sales in November(Click on graphics)

Moving to a lower gear

What the Jet-Etihad marriage could mean(Click on graphic)

The walk to the altar

I am shifting from Bangalore to Delhi soon. I have a car with a Bangalore registration.

General Insurance: Bhargav Dasgupta

This refers to the editorial &ldquo;Ponty Chadha&rsquo;s world&rdquo; (November 29). A government dependent on markets, directly or indirectly, to raise revenue for itself is prone to perversion. The way Gurdeep Singh Chadha has operated in three states, assuring them of tax revenues, is just a step before fascism. We wonder what locus standi Chadha &amp; Co, as enterprises with profit motive, had in terms of curbing smuggling of goods they produced. Enough reasons have been given for him to be targeted by rival gangs. The police department is to blame for this fiasco. This is similar to the strategy adopted by Chhattisgarh, promoting the Salwa Judum against Naxals. Kashmir did the same by arming civilians with weapons. All of them were failures.

Letters: The government's job

This refers to the report &ldquo;Centre&rsquo;s guideline on Sec 66(A) of IT Act has no backing of law&rdquo; (November 30). By definition, law is &ldquo;a rule or system of rules recognised by a country or community as governing the actions of its members&rdquo;, while justice, simply put, is &ldquo;the administration of law in a fair and reasonable way&rdquo;. The apex court&rsquo;s considering taking suo motu cognisance of the recent arrests, and its surprise to the fact that nobody had so far challenged the provision (contained in Section 66 (A)) of the Information Technology Act, points to the catastrophic phase our country&rsquo;s architecture responsible for dispensation of justice is going through. In the absence of a will to administer law in a fair and reasonable way, guidelines from the government and rulings from court will have limited potency. This will should come as a credible message from the highest level. It will be next to impossible to make laws mischief-proof.

Letters: Law and justice

This refers to the report &ldquo;Microfinance is in danger zone: Ramesh&rdquo; (November 28). Jairam Ramesh&rsquo;s statement that microfinance does not provide a panacea for alleviating poverty is exemplary. Foreign and local donors who support the microfinance sector in the name of poverty reduction should take that seriously. Instead, microfinance funds could be used more productively in alternative investment opportunities, including rural infrastructure (through food-for-work programmes) and agricultural research. Rural infrastructure includes an array of options &ndash; from roads to energy &ndash; essential for reaping the benefits of agricultural research. Studies have shown that the rate of return of these investments can be as much as at least 300 per cent.

Letters: Utilise MFI funds better

What can a central bank do to control the demand for gold? Precious little, going by a conversation between two respected former governors of the Reserve Bank of India, C Rangarajan and Y V Reddy, at an event organised by the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research. Reddy joked that the prejudice against gold has a gender bias. He looked at Rangarajan and recalled that he once told him that his wife (Rangarajan&rsquo;s) had this fondness for gold and kept buying it. Rangarajan tried to dissuade her, but in the end he agreed that she was right.

The golden rule

The Chinese may be making faster inroads into Africa than India, but the China phobia runs strong in some countries on that continent. According to an Indian businessman who visited South Sudan capital Juba, a ramshackle town with one hotel charging $500 a night and where the army polices the streets at night, a sign outside the government&rsquo;s offices read, &ldquo;No Chinese allowed&rdquo;. This was after the country discovered an underground pipeline built by the Chinese that ran parallel to an overland pipeline taking crude oil out of the country to a port in North Sudan, from which the country recently split.

China syndrome in South Sudan

Sahara group counsels wanted to submit drafts for Rs 5,120 crore with the Supreme Court on Friday. They requested the Chief Justice to allow them to deposit the drafts with the court. &ldquo;I have not seen so many zeroes in my life. Sebi [Securities and Exchange Board of India] is not accepting it. SAT [Securities Appellate Tribunal] has directed us to you. We don&rsquo;t know where to keep it,&rdquo; one of the lawyers pleaded, pointing out that the Supreme Court-determined deadline ended that day. &ldquo;Even we have not seen these many zeroes. You can keep it in your pocket from where you took it out,&rdquo; the judge said with a smile, adding that the matter would be listed for hearing on Monday.

Zero sums

The issue of REC or Rural Electrification Corporation bonds, which opened on Friday, will give tax benefits under section 54EC of the Income Tax Act. REC plans to raise Rs 4,500 crore through the issue. The interest rates on offer are 7.72 (for 10-year bonds) and 7.88 per cent (for 15-year bonds) &ndash; marginally higher than average wholesale price index measure of inflation at 7.36 per cent (March-November). Investors can use these bonds as a safeguard from long-term capital gains tax. Any capital gain as a result of a transfer of a long-term capital asset, say property sale, is not charged tax if the gains are invested in REC and National Highways Authority of India bonds. For example, if you have sold property and are sitting on capital gains, reinvesting the amount in these bonds will save you tax.

Tipping point

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

Case study

When Members of Parliament cutting across party lines started questioning the newly appointed Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on inordinate delays in completion of railway projects, a candid Bansal told his colleagues in the Rajya Sabha, &ldquo;Railways is one department where we have been making various announcements for new projects,&rdquo; then stressed the point, &ldquo;in response to vociferous demands raised by honourable members from time to time.&rdquo; He then went on to add, &ldquo;That has landed us in a situation, we must all admit today, where there is a humongous throw-forward of projects, both in physical terms and, concomitantly, in financial terms.&rdquo; It was then the turn of Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agarwal.

Break free

There seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel for the beleaguered United Progressive Alliance, or UPA, government with the logjam in Parliament over a vote on foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail being resolved. From being unable to take any kind of reform agenda forward because of insufficient legislative numbers, the coalition of support that is likely to allow the ruling UPA to win a parliamentary vote after a discussion on FDI should also let it look forward to addressing some of the long-pending legislative programmes. If all goes well, legislation affecting sectors as diverse as insurance, pensions, forward contracts, company law and regulation of competition should now see the light of day. Once the government is seen to be able to act, it is likely to change the mood of business and the stagnation in investment &ndash; which lies at the heart of the present slowdown in growth &ndash; should begin to end.

Hope after FDI compromise

The Central Statistics Office of the Government of India has released figures for growth in gross domestic product in the second quarter (Q2) of 2012-13, and they do not make for comforting reading. GDP at factor cost grew by only 5.3 per cent compared to the same quarter, between July and September, of 2011-12. In the first quarter, GDP grew by 5.5 per cent &mdash; so growth is, by this measure, continuing to slow. Given that growth for the first half of this financial year is at 5.4 per cent, clearing six per cent for the whole year, therefore, seems near-impossible. Indeed, even the Reserve Bank of India&rsquo;s target of 5.8 per cent seems distant. The lowest growth in a decade, well under six per cent, is far more likely.

Growth crisis deepens

In the days of the Raj, the British and the maharajas used to retreat from the hot and humid capitals of Calcutta, Delhi, Bombay, Bangalore, and Madras and head for the hills. They created a network of beautiful hill stations (highaltitude towns) famed for their cool air. Among them were Darjeeling and Simla in the foothills of the Himalayas, and Ooty in the Nilgiri Hills.

Riding the realty boom

Fraud cases

The cricketing world is passing from twilight to the evening of one of its periods of greatness. Over the past two decades, a few players of extraordinary talent, who bore comparison to the legendary greats of the game, have fascinated viewers and tormented their opponents. Sachin Tendulkar debuted in 1989; Brian Lara in 1990. Mr Lara is long gone, but Mr Tendulkar remains. The comparisons and contrasts between those two epoch-defining batsmen, which sparked a decade of heated conversations, ended with Mr Lara&rsquo;s retirement; but by that time this brilliant batting generation had been reinforced by many others. Rahul Dravid, a few months older than Mr Tendulkar, debuted in 1996; Ricky Ponting, a year younger, played his first Test in 1995; and Jacques Kallis, a year younger still, started the same year.

The great generation  

Vishwa Hindu Parishad, an extended arm of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, has started Hindu medical helplines and call centres in 25 states to help patients in government hospitals. This helpline will also provide tiffin service to patients and their relatives.

Business Standard

Business Standard

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