The new year will show whether anti-corruption, the primary issue of 2011, will be but a footnote in history.

The triumph of politics?

Business Standard

The best-tended gardens hide unnoticed weeds; even arid zones can sprout winter flowers. As the country hopes, half-fearfully, for a better 2012 than the year gone by, are there trees that one can&rsquo;t see for the wood? Consider the stock market, which saw the market value of its leading stocks drop by a staggering 25 per cent last year. Amid the carnage, are there positive trends that have not attracted attention? What about understanding the kind of companies that stand tall even now? The list of 25 most valuable listed companies makes for an instructive read. As many as 10 are state-owned, a testament to how much the government still dominates large sectors of business activity &mdash; energy (coal, oil, gas and electricity), banking, natural resources. A goodly number in the Top 25 did not exist in 1991 or were inconsequential at the time &mdash; tech companies like TCS and Infosys, private banks like HDFC Bank, telecom service providers like Bharti Airtel.

India Inc's winter flowers

As India marks two decades of reform, the year just past, 2011, may well go down as the one year in these decades in which the macro management of India's economy showed the greatest signs of strain. All the major indicators are in the red. Consider, first, the fiscal deficit. The Budget declared it would be at 4.6 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), which was hailed at the time as a sign that the finance ministry wished to strike a blow for fiscal prudence.

Little hope for 2012

Is govt ready for a European crisis? Plans to ensure macroeconomic liquidity must be in place.

Prepare for the worst

Jagan Reddy&rsquo;s overtures to Congress unwittingly strengthen the case for an autonomous CBI.

Freeing the CBI

India&rsquo;s public-sector management had its share of visionaries.

More Sreedharans

Reforming the cooperative sector needed Central action.

Board of political control

Big business is entering the news media, creating new challenges for regulators, viewers and producers.

No business like news business

Bajaj Auto&rsquo;s new four-wheeled people-carrier might well create an entirely new category.

Don't call it a car

In its hurry to meet revenue targets, the government is watering down regulations and hurting retail investors.

Disinvestment disrespect

In 2011-12, outflows on oil subsidies could for the first time exceed central revenues from the oil sector.

An oil slick for the fisc

It is time the government reintroduced an industrial management pool.

Economists wanted

Praful Patel&rsquo;s seven-year tenure in the Ministry of Civil Aviation, before he was moved to the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, was far from uneventful.

Flights of fancy?

Recent reports of the acquisition of a foreign rock phosphate mine by an Indian fertiliser manufacturer through a joint venture with a Japanese firm &mdash; in order to secure the raw material supply to its domestic phosphatic plant &mdash; should be viewed as part of a trend that needs to be sustained. India is critically dependent on fertiliser imports, since the availability of raw material for indigenous production is woefully poor. While almost 25 per cent of the requirement of urea, the most-consumed fertiliser, is met through imports, this proportion is almost 100 per cent for potassic fertilisers and nearly 90 per cent in the case of phosphatic fertilisers. Urea is, indeed, the only fertiliser that can potentially be produced without any imported content. But the paucity of natural gas, the most preferred feed stock for its manufacture, is coming in the way of doing so, necessitating the setting up of joint ventures for urea production in gas-rich countries.

Fertile fields elsewhere

The pressure to redeem foreign-currency bonds makes 2012 a difficult year for India Inc.

Time to repay

The government&rsquo;s enthusiasm in pushing votes for NRIs is misplaced.

Voting across the sea

No new compacts or hybrids, but many SUVs.

Reading the Expo

The Mahindra Satyam case raises questions about who is fraudster, and who victim.

Who's the company?

Raising revenue for fiscal consolidation will require hikes in indirect taxes.

Valuing good taxes

The government&rsquo;s new policy on assaying gold will be difficult to implement.

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