Last week, Delhis Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit lowered VAT rates on 190 items and completely exempted somewhile this will bring down prices in Delhi, as was the objective, it will also ensure that

Leaky VAT

Business Standard

The findings of media research firm TAM, that educational institutions were the single largest advertisers in the print media in 2004 (up from the sixth position in 2003), should come as no surprise,

Educating India

Indian cricket appears to have touched a new low in the just-concluded series against Pakistan. On a superficial view it is easy to blame it all on the players. 


Pitching it wrong

The credibility of the long-range monsoon forecasts issued by the India Meteorological Department may have suffered on account of frequent errors, but the forecast of a normal monsoon this year may

A good year ahead

Half a century ago, when the world was a very different place, 29 of them had met here to consider much the same thing: social and economic well-being for their large and impoverished populations, and

Bandung, 50 years on

Next Thursday, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Y V Reddy unveils his monetary policy for financial year 2006, against a backdrop of great change in markets across the world. 


Manas Chakravarty: Monetary policy in a bear market

The road to hell, as the old saying goes, is paved with good intentions, and so it appears with the draft Unorganised Sector Workers Bill. 


The road to hell

The Reserve Bank governor will present tomorrow his credit policy for the next half-year. In essence, he does not need to do anything at all, other than to say that he is keeping a watchful eye on

On balance, do nothing

A flood of foreign direct investment in real estate is expected, now that the government has eased the restrictions in this sector. 


New urban options

RBI Governor YV Reddys decision to hike the reverse repo rate by 25 basis points may have surprised the bond market, but its pretty clear from the monetary policy statement that the central bank is

Signalling the risks

While it is obvious that the profligacy of state governments is largely to blame for the fiscal mess they are in today, a point not made so eloquently or even frequently is that the central government

Physicians, heal thyself

The governments decision to issue an ordinance with retrospective effect from 22 years ago, simply in order to avoid paying back cigarette major ITC the Rs 350 crore (plus interest) of disputed taxes

High handed

Pakistan has got an unexpected setback with regard to the dispute with India over the Baglihar hydel-power project in Jammu and Kashmir. 


Don`t roil the waters

Finance Minister P Chidambaram has aired his concerns over Indias jobless growth. 


Missing the bus

In 2003, a civic body in Maharashtra severed its decade-old tie with a public sector bank. The reason? The bank was unwilling to lend about Rs 90 crore for a road project at a rate that the civic body was demanding. 

Indian banking`s problems with growth

There are two ways of dealing with any kind of surplus. One is to consume it; the other is to send the extra away. But whatever happens, you never ration it. But India is different. 


Old habits

In 2003, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) issued regulations which created a Market Participants and Investors (MAPIN) database. 


Truly unique IDs

Standard &amp; Poors upgrading of Indias long-term foreign currency rating one notch to BB+ is, to a large extent, a non-event. 


A non-event

Though the government has sought to give the impression that the one percentage point hike in interest on the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is a concession it has made for getting the

Poor bargain

Several generations of economics students have been taught that a defining characteristic of an underdeveloped economy is a low savings rate. 


The policy constraint

While the states calculate if theyve won or lost as as result of the 12th Finance Commission report, the recommendations appear responsible as well as pragmatic since increased funds for states have

Fiscally responsible

Incisive columns and editorial comment by top opinion leaders

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