The RBI&rsquo;s latest policy move is clearly influenced by growing threats of inflation and inflationary expectations to India&rsquo;s macroeconomic stability. Its decision to keep the policy rates and CRR unchanged amid deteriorating growth outlook looks vindicated, given that the news about the May 2012 CPI inflation, which came a tad later on Monday, read 10.36 per cent.

Cautious policy amid stagflationary conditions: M D Mallya

Business Standard

The outcome of this weekend&rsquo;s Greek elections was a positive surprise, but some may argue that RBI&rsquo;s decision to keep rates on hold was a negative surprise. We disagree. This was the right decision, and it will serve to strengthen RBI&rsquo;s credibility.

Decision gives credibility boost: Leif Eskesen

The government would award port projects worth Rs 14,500 crore this financial year to augment major ports&rsquo; capacity to about 934 million tonnes (mt) a year, Shipping Minister G K Vasan said on Monday. The ministry has set a target to award projects for creating 244 mt of capacity during 2012-13, spread across 42 projects at an estimated cost of Rs 14,500 crore. The capacity of major ports by the end of March 2012 was recorded at 689.83 mt a year.

Augmenting capacity

This week, world leaders will gather for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNSD) in Rio de Janeiro. Taking place 20 years after the first Earth Summit (that is how it got its name Rio +20), this meet is a renewed bid to rally the world behind a common environmental blueprint.

The journey to save the earth

The confusion over whether the Cabinet had approved a bonus of Rs 100 per quintal over and above the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs 1,250 per quintal for paddy for the 2012-2013 crop marketing season took everyone by surprise. The first press statement issued by the government after a Cabinet meeting last week said a bonus of Rs 100 per quintal had been approved for paddy over and above the proposed increase of Rs 170 per quintal. The release was then withdrawn, and a fresh one issued that did not mention the bonus. The food ministry, officials said, was dead against the bonus, given the fact that high MSPs had already inflated its annual food subsidy burden. Whether the ministry had a role in withdrawing the old statement or whether the original release was just an official miscommunication is anybody&rsquo;s guess.

MSP: extra confusion

Greece is on track to get a new coalition government consisting of the two parties that broadly back its bailout from European partners and the International Monetary Fund. The conservative New Democracy and the expected minority partner, the Socialist Pasok, have said they want to renegotiate the bailout deal to soften its impact on the country's severe recession.

Change of guard

I read your edit &ldquo;After Rajat&rdquo; (July 19) with interest. Forget imprisonment, there is no action being taken against insiders. I have personally reported about two dozen cases. I have also written to the Securities and Exchange Board of India that in takeover cases, it is mandatory to give share prices for the last two weeks or 60 days. If prices move up significantly during this period, then there should be a system of carrying out an immediate investigation of insider trading.

Letters: The rot within

I am 25 and earn Rs 30,000 per month. I have investments in Public Provident Fund and National Savings Certificate. I also make a fixed deposit of Rs 20,000 (for a year) every month in the name of my father, a senior citizen. I pay my insurance premiums of the maturity amount (of my deposits). I invest Rs 1,000 a month in mutual funds. I am a conservative investor, but think I need to take more exposure in equity or other instruments.

Financial Planning: Malhar Majumder

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has again established its independence and refused to act under pressure. RBI&rsquo;s contention that rate cuts will have little effect on growth is correct. The onus is now on the government to recast its economic priorities to address supply side constraints and increase the purchasing power of the aam aadmi.

Letters: Govt must recast priorities

I have been told Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) has been introduced for individuals.

Taxation:  Homi Mistry

Apropos Jyoti Malhotra&rsquo;s column &ldquo;The Afghan gamble&rdquo; (Mappings, June 15), it is clear that the Taliban is again on the rise in Afghanistan. The assassination attempts on President Hamid Karzai are clear pointers to the fact that Taliban fighters still harbour ambitions to rule Afghanistan and topple the current government.

Letters: Tackling Taliban

There is much debate in Karnataka over who would be the first to stop smiling: the ever-smiling Karnataka Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda or the spiritual guru Nityananda. The chief minister had ordered Nityananda&rsquo;s arrest for several misdemeanours and he is in danger of losing his empire of ashram properties in the state. The reason for the debate stems from the names of the two adversaries. Translated, they mean the same thing: &ldquo;Forever happy&rdquo;.

'Happy' competition

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has chosen to hold both the repo rate and the cash reserve ratio steady. There are reasons why it might have thought that monetary loosening is a bad idea. Prominent among them is the concern that the euro zone will not be able to get its act together on Greece quickly enough to ensure that liquidity does not freeze up worldwide the way it did in 2008. It might be keeping its powder dry for that eventuality.

Inadequate response

Smartphones may be a boon for reporters in search of story breaks but for government officials, they have become a bane. So much so that there are bureaucrats who agree to meet reporters only after making sure that the conversation is not being recorded. They are even suspicious when a reporter presses a few keys on the handset to put it on silent mode or to receive a text message. There are others who formally call press briefings but don&rsquo;t allow them to be captured on camera or a recorder. Naturally, it gives them the advantage of backtracking from their statement in case it backfires.

Outsmarting the smartphone 

T N Ninan&rsquo;s column &ldquo;Should she be complaining&rdquo; (Weekend Rumination, June 16) is timely. West Bengal&rsquo;s tax collection efforts have been quite anaemic. In fact, the state&rsquo;s tax-to-GDP ratio is less than half of Maharashtra. Its tax efforts have not been efficient or vigilant in capturing the full value of trade, services and medium-scale industries &mdash; sectors that have grown more than big industries in Bengal. Leakage points are well-known &mdash; textile, electronics, transport, metals, real estate and health care sectors. The Centre&rsquo;s special help must come with certain commitments from the state to improve its tax performance. The jury is still out on the efforts of the chief minister and the finance minister to improve tax collection since last year&rsquo;s collections fell way short of the target.

Letters: Improve tax collection 

This refers to your edit &ldquo;Short-lived euphoria&rdquo; (June 18). The Congress party deserves praise for nominating Pranab Mukherjee as the United Progressive Alliance&rsquo;s (UPA&rsquo;s) presidential candidate despite the Trinamool Congress&rsquo; vehement opposition. By doing so, the Congress leadership has not only shown some guts, but also that it can deftly handle regional parties like the Samajwadi Party. But the road ahead is not going to be easy for the Congress because of the growing stature of regional parties in national politics. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could do well to remember that he was successful in implementing the first round of reforms as the finance minister in the early nineties only because of the full support he had received from the then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao, even though Rao was heading a minority congress government.

Letters: Kudos to Congress

The conviction of Rajat Gupta in a Wall Street insider trading case has sent shock waves through the corporate universe. Mr Gupta embodied the Indo-American dream: an orphaned immigrant with a stellar academic record, he reached the top at McKinsey. Side by side, he built a reputation as a philanthropist. He was also a prime mover in establishing the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad. He also served on many boards, including at Goldman Sachs and Procter &amp; Gamble.

After Rajat

This refers to &ldquo;UPA gets another shot&rdquo;(Raisina Hill, June 18). Though it&rsquo;s true that Manmohan Singh&rsquo;s postion as the prime minister is safe till the next general elections, his hands would remain tied by powerful personalities in the UPA regime (read Sonia Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee). It is questionable whether the prime minister will have a say in &ldquo;choosing&rdquo; a finance minister considering UPA&rsquo;s track-record of relying on Cabinet shuffles instead of allowing the prime minister to bring new faces. Singh will exercise his choice only if he is asked to do so.

Letters: A question of choice

Reserve Bank of India Governor Duvvuri Subbarao has a tough decision to make. The rate policy expected today comes as the RBI&rsquo;s twin responsibilities, growth and inflation, spiral out of control, as Table 1 shows. Even as GDP shrinks quarter after quarter, inflation has stayed consistently high. However, the wholesale price index for manufacturing (&ldquo;core&rdquo; inflation) has dipped slightly, even as the consumer price index has spiked back up to double-digit levels.

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