Reliance Infrastructure (R-Infra) has a healthy balance sheet, with a big cash surplus and an order backlog of Rs 21,500 crore, but this has failed to impress investors. The Anil Ambani group firm&rsquo;s market cap has fallen to less than half of Reliance Power&rsquo;s, in which R-Infra holds a 45 per cent stake. Lalit Jalan, the younger Ambani&rsquo;s Wharton classmate and CEO of R-Infra, tells Nevin John that the market will, over time, recognise these strengths.

'This year will be a good time to execute large infrastructure projects'

Business Standard

BJP&rsquo;s National General Secretary Gopinath Munde is not happy with his party as it has denied ticket to Poonam Mahajan from the Mumbai North-East seat. Poonam is his niece and daughter of slain BJP leader Pramod Mahajan.

'I will not demand anything for the Mahajan family'

Martin Feldstein is the George F Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard University and a member of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board convened by the US President. He is also President Emeritus of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and served as former US President Ronald Reagan&rsquo;s chief economic advisor. In India to address the Canara Robeco Thought Leadership Series, Feldstein, who is also a Business Standard columnist.

'We will not turn the corner in 2009'

M Venkaiah Naidu, vice-president, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), talks to AASHA KHOSA on the party&rsquo;s election strategy for southern states.

&#39;Third Front is like a parking lot&#39;

Brendan Barber, the 57-year-old chief of United Kingdom&rsquo;s apex labour union, Trade Union Congress (TUC), is in sharp contrast to the fire-spitting, red flag-waving union leader common in India. For the starters, he is also a non-executive member on the board of the Bank of England.

'Helping a big group like Tatas is a big dilemma for govt'

Datla Hanumanta Raju, the new president of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI), says he will continue to work to make the profession of company secretaries more effective and efficient. His election was mired in a controversy as the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) had listed him as a director of a vanishing company (Kamakshi Housing Finance).

&#39;Strictest punishment will be given to erring CS&#39;

India should review its Kashmir policy for itself, not for others, C Christine Fair, senior political scientist, RAND Corporation, tells KS MANJUNATH
How would US President Barack Obama reorient the country&rsquo;s policy towards Afghanistan and Pakistan?
In some measure, the logic behind the appointment of Richard Holbrooke, US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, was to address Pakistan&rsquo;s regional concerns, including its disputed borders, such as the Durand Line between Pakistan

&#39;India does not have influence over Pakistan&#39;

Railway Minister Lalu Prasad was much in demand on Friday, so much so that his press conference spilled over into the corridors of Parliament. Saubhadro Chatterji caught up with him.

&#39;I have the blessings of aam aadmi&#39;

JD(U) President and NDA Convenor Sharad Yadav tells Aasha Khosa about the issues the alliance will raise during the coming Lok Sabha elections.

NDA campaign to focus on farm suicides

Harsh Pati Singhania, managing director of JK Paper and director of JK Organisation, has taken over the presidentship of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) at a time when the economy is going through a slowdown. However, in an interview with Sapna Dogra Singh, the 47-year-old Singhania expresses optimism that things would improve by the end of this year.

'Things will start looking up by year-end'

Finance Secretary Arun Ramanathan said the government was closely watching the trickle-down effect of the first two stimulus packages and will respond to the evolving situation. &ldquo;Our challenge is to implement the first two packages effectively,&rdquo; Ramanathan said adding that it was constitutional propriety that did not allow fiscal announcements to be made in the Interim Budget.

'We have tried to be conservative'

Was the Interim Budget constrained by constitutional propriety or was it a huge opportunity irresponsibly wasted by the government? Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, spoke to Karan Thapar on CNBC-TV18&rsquo;s India Tonight show.

Sops were not needed, govt had done enough

As factionalism mars the CPI(M) in Kerala, AP Abdullahkutty - suspended member of the party and a Lok Sabha MP - tells Saubhadra Chatterji about the changes the party needs.

&#39;Groupism is like cancer in CPI(M)&#39;

Before being appointed New Zealand&rsquo;s trade minister, Tim Groser served as the chairman for agriculture negotiations of the World Trade Organization. In an interview with Rituparna Bhuyan, he talks about the future of India-New Zealand trade ties and the impasse at the Doha Round of world trade talks.

&#39;We should do with India what we did with China in last 20 yrs&#39;

Even as the global economy melts, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is warming up to hosting the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summit 2009 on January 11-12. With Japan as the state&rsquo;s

&#39;Industry looks to invest even in slowdowns&#39;

In an extended interview, Montek Singh Ahluwalia assesses the state of the world economy (Part I, today), and then the outlook for India (in Part II, tomorrow).

India can attract more money even today: Montek

K Subrahmanyam, who used to chair the Joint Intelligence Committee and headed the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses for 15 years, is one of India&rsquo;s foremost strategic experts.

'India needs an internal security ministry'

Deputy chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia in this the second part of an interview, that the Indian economy can do well even in a slowing global context, if more reform is done

'To get 7% growth next year, we need a lot of reform'

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit tells SREELATHA MENON that the Centre can continue to handle the city's law and order situation but should reform the police system.

&#39;Our win is a big victory for BRT&#39;

The nuclear industry in the US hopes to garner a a major share of orders for India&rsquo;s plan to set up a capacity of 30,000 Mw by 2020 and more than 60,000 Mw by 2030, says Ted Jones, mission director, US-India Business Council (USIBC), who is leading the largest-ever mission of US commercial nuclear executives to India. Excerpts from an interview by PB Jayakumar.

&#39;We want a big share of nuke equipment market&#39;

As the court battle over gas from the Krishna-Godavari basin rages &mdash; the next hearing is scheduled on Thursday &mdash; we asked Petroleum Secretary RS Pandey if the government was working on plan B to ensure that the gas reaches the gas-starved users.

'It's not a bad time to invest in exploration'

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Page 107 - Economy Interviews

'This year will be a good time to execute large infrastructure projects'

'I will not demand anything for the Mahajan family'

'We will not turn the corner in 2009'

'Third Front is like a parking lot'

'Helping a big group like Tatas is a big dilemma for govt'

'Strictest punishment will be given to erring CS'

'India does not have influence over Pakistan'

'I have the blessings of aam aadmi'

NDA campaign to focus on farm suicides

'Things will start looking up by year-end'

'We have tried to be conservative'

Sops were not needed, govt had done enough

'Groupism is like cancer in CPI(M)'

'We should do with India what we did with China in last 20 yrs'

'Industry looks to invest even in slowdowns'

India can attract more money even today: Montek

'India needs an internal security ministry'

'To get 7% growth next year, we need a lot of reform'

'Our win is a big victory for BRT'

'We want a big share of nuke equipment market'