This is the second time that Orient- Express has spurned the offer from Indian Hotels

Second time unlucky

Business Standard

Bloomberg Markets&rsquo; inaugural list of the world's richest people, in the December 2012 issue, showcases the billionaires who pull the levers on the global economy. Together, the net worth of the top 20 individuals totals $713.4 billion.

Super rich

Several indicators &mdash; from core sector data, primary car sales to PMI in manufacturing &mdash; indicate a revival of the economy. The Reserve Bank of India may not have cut interest rates, but has indicated it could do so in January-March quarter. However, it may be too early to celebrate, as car sales go up during the festive season every year.

Greenshoots of revival?

Palaniappan Chidambaram took over as the finance minister in UPA-II on August 1, and took charge of a troubled Indian economy. This is his third stint in North Block - the first one was between 1996 and 1998 in the United Front governments and the second one between 2004 and 2008 in UPA-I. But, his current job is the most challenging - to improve growth prospects and tame inflation.

100 days in office Finance Minister P Chidambaram

India Against Corruption led by Arvind Kejriwal has alleged that India&rsquo;s prominent business tycoons, including Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani, Naresh Kumar Goyal and members of the Dabur Group, amassed more than Rs 3,100 crore in Swiss banks through money laundering and hawala.

Kejriwal ups the ante against black money

This is the second time that Orient- Express has spurned the offer from Indian Hotels.

After the US presidential elections, Christopher Ferrarone, global equity strategist, UBS, shared his thoughts on the implications of the elections on the global economy and markets.

Going over the fiscal cliff could be a disaster

The draft National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy (NPPP) is learnt to have been taken off the Cabinet&rsquo;s agenda at the last minute over the finance ministry&rsquo;s objection to the price-fixing mechanism recommended by a group of ministers (GoM). The Union Cabinet was slated to discuss the pharma policy in its meeting today, but the &lsquo;item&rsquo; was not taken up after finance ministry concerns.

Decision on pharma policy deferred

The controversy over National Herald and The Associated Journals rages on in New Delhi&rsquo;s political circles with Opposition parties intent on hauling the Congress over the coals for an &ldquo;interest-free loan of Rs 90.5 crore&rdquo;, while old timers in Lucknow rue the sullying of recent history. They say Kaiser Bagh in Lucknow, the site of the erstwhile National Herald office, brings back memories of Jawaharlal Nehru writing his editorials there, of how the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi would live in Lucknow with a young Rajiv Gandhi, while her husband Feroze Gandhi was the managing director of the newspaper. The paper&rsquo;s edition in New Delhi never had quite that emotional connect.

Herald of another age

After four successive quarters of disappointment, corporate results showed encouraging trends in the quarter ended September 30, 2012. An analysis of 1,071 companies (excluding banks and other financial entities) by the Business Standard Research Bureau, reported in this newspaper on Wednesday, indicated that most key margins have improved. There has, however, been a slowdown in the sales growth rates.

The margin story

Recent analysis by Ingovern Research Services, reported by this newspaper on Wednesday, shows once again the governance rot in India&rsquo;s companies. Nineteen per cent of the directors, both executive and independent, in top companies attend fewer than 75 per cent of the board meetings.

Just too many meetings

Those attending Chhattisgarh&rsquo;s first global investors&rsquo; meet anticipated many presentations and documentaries by potential and current investors. But they were taken aback when a film meant to profile Vedanta actually turned out to be a life sketch of its London-based promoter Anil Agarwal. As images appeared on screen showing Agarwal&rsquo;s childhood in Patna, senior state officials rushed to stop the film but paused when they realised it might send the wrong message to top industrialists attending the meet. Nevertheless, it perturbed Chief Minister Raman Singh enough to ask Industry Minister Rajesh Munat in sign language who had approved the documentary. Not me, the hapless Munat signalled back. Now, officials are looking for the person who helped Vedanta screen a hagiography of its founder. Eventually, they pinned the blame on the event managers. Whoever the culprit, the upshot of this faux pas was that other documentaries that were to follow could not be screened.

Vedanta's show

Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor Subir Gokarn, who is in charge of monetary policy, usually speaks at academic institutions and RBI puts out a schedule of events at which the governor and deputy governors will participate in the forthcoming week. Of late, the schedule has started carrying a footnote that reads: &ldquo;Dr Subir Gokarn&rsquo;s speaking engagements in academic institutions are generally off-the-record.

For the record

The item &ldquo;Bihar on my plate&rdquo; (Chinese Whispers, November 7) said it was Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar&rsquo;s ardent wish to include a food item from Bihar on every Indian&rsquo;s plate. This is a valid and fruitful thought. I wish chief ministers from our other states would express a similar hope. That would certainly lead India to a higher trajectory of economic progress. After all, writers on global trade and the supermarkets&rsquo; role in it have pointed out that a Londoner&rsquo;s Sunday lunch contains half a dozen items that have flown over 25,000 miles to reach his table.

Letters: Progress on the menu

Ivan M Menezes, Chief Operating Officer - Diageo, played a key role in the landmark transaction with United Spirits. Expected to lead Diageo, he has been a friend of Vijay Mallya, and the rapport did play a crucial role in finalising the transaction, discussions of which had started six years before. In a call with the Indian media, Menezes explained what it meant for Diageo.

Strong biz to become stronger: Ivan M Menezes 

In India, there is always context to a statement. So much context, apparently, because of how complicated this country is, that Indians often prefer to ignore all context completely. This is the case with the outrage across the internet, and in West Bengal, that the writer Girish Karnad, known for writing some of modern India&rsquo;s best-loved plays, called Rabindranath Tagore a &ldquo;mediocre playwright&rdquo;. This statement was part of a discussion of Tagore&rsquo;s multifaceted output &mdash; he was a poet, a novelist, a writer of short stories and plays, a composer and an artist &mdash; and Mr Karnad&rsquo;s perfectly reasonable point was that he was better at some of these things than he was at others. Mr Karnad argued that many of Tagore&rsquo;s plays were meant to be performed in-house, and by family members; and also that he thought that some of the poorer characters were one-dimensional.

Poet and playwright

At a time when all political parties are gearing up to target the United Progressive Alliance government on the issue of foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail during the winter session of Parliament, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi has found a new way to protest. These days, he is busy playing the snake charmer&rsquo;s instrument, along with other traders of Delhi, to protest against the Congress-led government. However, this form of protest has led the other senior leaders of his party expressing their disapproval.

Business Standard

Business Standard

Page 818 - Business Standard

Second time unlucky

Super rich

Greenshoots of revival?

100 days in office Finance Minister P Chidambaram

Kejriwal ups the ante against black money

Second time unlucky

Going over the fiscal cliff could be a disaster

Decision on pharma policy deferred

Herald of another age

The margin story

Just too many meetings

Vedanta's show

For the record

Letters: Progress on the menu

Strong biz to become stronger: Ivan M Menezes

Kejriwal ups the ante against black money

Poet and playwright

Snake-charming protest

100 days in office Finance Minister P Chidambaram

Greenshoots of revival?