Just as Finance bills are used as an&nbsp;opportunity for announcing economic policy decision, draft NTP 2011 has more on intent and direction Minister Sibal&rsquo;s reformist draft policy traverses far beyond telecom services and attempts to encompass manufacturing of IT &amp; ITeS equipment and addressing spectrum challenges for sectors beyond telecom.

National Telecom Policy 2011: A fresh breather!

Business Standard

The Supreme Court has ruled that consumption of electricity in excess of the contracted load would amount to &lsquo;unauthorised use&rsquo; under the Electricity Act 2003. Though it is not theft, penal provisions in Section 126 of the Act will apply to such cases, the court stated in the judgment, Executive Engineer vs Sri Seetaram Rice Mill. The inspectors found that the small scale unit was overdrawing power and issued notice to it. The punishment is twice the tariff for the whole period when the unauthorised use had taken place. The mill moved the Orissa high court arguing that overdrawing of power is not &lsquo;unauthorised use&rsquo;. The high court agreed with it. However, on appeal, the Supreme Court set aside the high court order. Apart from the overdrawal being breach of contract, it is &ldquo;prejudicial to the public at large as it is likely to throw out of gear the entire supply system.

Overdrawing of power will attract penalty, rules SC

The market has continued to range-trade through the past week of truncated trading. It has stayed between resistance at 5,400 and support at 5,200. If the uptrend pulls above 5,500, we would hope of a long-term trend reversal because, the key indicator of the 200-day moving averages (DMA) lies in the 5,450-5,000 zone. The institutional attitude remains net positive, with selling by domestic institutional investors (DII)s outweighed by foreign institutional investors(FII)s buying. The rupee has recovered to 49-50, as a result.

Nifty at a crucial juncture

Following 10 days of political drama, the spotlight in Europe shifted to more technical matters on Monday, with finance ministers of the 17-member euro zone gathering this evening at Brussels, the headquarters of the European Union.

Brussels begins daunting task

The new grain pricing policy for 2012-13 rabi marketing season seems a half-hearted attempt to make farmers grow more oilseeds and pulses, which are in short supply. This is apparent from a hefty hike of Rs 650 to Rs 700 a quintal, or around 35 per cent, in the minimum support prices (MSPs) of oilseeds and pulses and a relatively modest increase of Rs 115, or 10 per cent, in those of wheat, which is the main rabi crop. The timing of the announcement, coinciding with the onset of the rabi sowing season, is another indication of the government&rsquo;s intention to send out a clear signal to the farmers to this effect. However, achieving such an objective may not be that easy. For, even after the handsome increase, the new support prices of oilseeds (rapeseed and mustard) and pulses (gram and lentil) remain below the current market rates and, therefore, offer little incentive to farmers to produce more.

Moving beyond MSP

It is an idea straight out of a low-grade horror film. There is a demand for a ban on Hollywood films being dubbed in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Bhojpuri or other Indian languages. There is talk of Mahesh Bhatt and other film makers lobbying the ministry of information and broadcasting. Their contention: dubbed films are eating into the Indian industry&rsquo;s share of revenues.

Vanita Kohli-Khandekar: Why Indian films don't need protection

The group of tiny islands in the Indian Ocean known as the Maldives is about to round off a remarkable burst of neighbourhood diplomacy by the Manmohan Singh government. In the last few weeks, agreements with breakthrough potential have been signed with Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar. The Maldives will now join that list. Even Pakistan could figure, if that wayward country decides finally to give India &ldquo;most favoured nation&rdquo; status for trade. There have been hiccups, of course. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee caused one on the sharing of Teesta waters with Bangladesh.

New mood in neighbourhood

Meeting in Brussels on Tuesday to work out a way to keep the euro from collapse, finance ministers from across the European Union struggled to keep ahead of the curve, with events in Rome and Athens unfolding at a giddy pace.

Brussels meet struggles to keep pace with events

Monetary policy communication is an art, not a science, hence there is no single correct style or content. Thus, central banks&rsquo; monetary policy communication can understandably be self-serving. After all, they are privy to the decision about their action, say to raise policy rates, and can tailor the policy statement accordingly. However, the policy guidance should at least be in sync with the macroeconomic reality and the policy action announced.

Rajeev malik: Compromise, confuse and pray

Justice Markandey Katju has done his own mission, supervising the responsible functioning of the media, a disservice. By criticising the media through sweeping generalisations and with extreme na&iuml;vete, he has got its back up, provoking a sharp reaction from the Editors Guild instead of a willingness to talk and sort things out.

Subir Roy: Justice Katju scores a self-goal

Evaluating human life in economic terms has always baffled judges who are called on to decide the amount of compensation for death or injury. Some kind-hearted ones grant liberal amounts, while the strict constructionists write gripping their pens tightly. This was evident in some recent Supreme Court judgements. It almost looked like a gamble for litigants.

M J Antony: Karma in compensation

Not unless it is accompanied by other essential reforms, such as liberalisation of priority sector norms, but banks now have the freedom to manage their money better.

Will savings rate deregulation help banks?

Financial trading obeys the Pareto Principle. In fact, financial trading is hyper-pareto. Instead of 20 per cent of stocks generating 80 per cent of volume as in a normal Pareto system, less than two per cent of stocks generate 80 per cent of volume.

Build your own trading system

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee may have begun to discover the difference between being a populist, street-level crusader and a political leader who is required to behave responsibly. Her decision to defer exiting the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in protest against the latest petrol price rise suggests a belated understanding of power politics. After all, there is little to gain from biting the central hand she needs to fund her bankrupt state government. No doubt Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee&rsquo;s gentle reminder that she did not oppose the Cabinet&rsquo;s June decision to decontrol fuel prices also encouraged her to soften her opposition. The prospect of losing a portfolio as powerful and lucrative as the Railways, now headed by a Trinamool MP, must have also weakened her compulsions to exit.

Fuel for thought 

The verdict of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) setting aside the appointment of Dr T C A Anant as the country&rsquo;s chief statistician is retrogressive. Hopefully, better judgement will emerge on appeal. The issue is more important than a single appointment for two reasons: one, important principles are at stake and, two, the country&rsquo;s statistical set-up is in poor shape and needs imaginative leadership urgently. To take the second issue first, the requirements of shepherding a modern, changing economy cannot be met by the country&rsquo;s present statistical structure. It is in need of a drastic overhaul which cannot automatically be delivered by those who are familiar with the present system and can, at best, run it according to extant rules and practices. You need new ideas, structures and rules to run it. People promoted from within over time are not the best equipped to think out of the box to deliver these.

Closed shop at the top

In his 2008 book Go Kiss the World Subroto Bagchi, co-founder of MindTree, writes about an incident in the early days of setting up the company. A group of IT professionals arrived at the office and asked to meet him. Thinking they were potential investors, Bagchi met them and dutifully answered detailed questions about the company. Once they were through, they informed Bagchi that they were ready to come on board &mdash; as employees.

Kanika Datta: Know your company

After several years of dilly-dallying, Pakistan has finally decided to grant the most favoured nation (MFN) status to India. What is interesting is that press reports quoting Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar state that the decision was taken unanimously by the Pakistan cabinet.

T S Vishwanath: Advantage, MFN

The 2011 census estimates reveal that for the first time since Independence, the absolute increase in population was higher in urban areas than in rural areas. This is owing to migration, the natural increase in urban population and the inclusion of new areas under the urban category.

Indicus Analytics: Urban sanitation goes down the drain

The trend in corporate results in the quarter ended September 30, 2011 (Q2, 2011-12) is grim and unequivocal. India Inc is struggling to cope with a toxic combination of high inflation, rising interest costs and unpredictable currency movements. Overall, this bids fair to be the worst quarterly corporate performance since October-December 2008. There are a few isolated outperformers. But most firms in the Business Standard database of 1,457 listed companies have not been able to maintain margins in the face of adversity. As many as 339 have reported outright losses, while another 689 have reported lower profit after tax (PAT) compared to the quarter ended September 2010 (Q2, 2010-11).

Not out of the woods

A proposal mooted by the Union power ministry to revive the financial health of electricity distribution companies in the states has resurrected the debate over what ails the country&rsquo;s power sector and what remedial measures ought to be taken. The proposal says that the state governments should free their electricity distribution firms from the burden of their accumulated losses by either issuing them bonds or taking over these losses as loans in their books. The ministry also expects the state governments to not allow distribution companies to run up any more cash losses once their balance sheets are cleaned up.

Fixing power reforms

A crisis of confidence has engulfed India and its financial markets. Investors are despondent about the macro situation, specifically concerned about the fiscal situation and current account, worried about the growing perception of policy paralysis, and questioning the trend rate of the country&rsquo;s growth. Though investors are respectful of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and its guidance, no one is willing to give the current government the benefit of the doubt.

Akash Prakash: Bearish but invested

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