How far the govt will go towards establishing its control depends on the effectiveness of domestic institutional resistance and on how much it wants to risk international censure.
On 08 Mar 2021 Bangladesh might overtake India this year by per capita income in nominal dollars, but it is not yet close to becoming South Asia's economic powerhouse anytime soon.
On 17 Oct 2020 Opening up India's market to neighbouring countries can be as strategic as access denial to others. The game should be played both ways, even if it upsets domestic business lobbies.
On 16 Aug 2020 It may never be the language spoken in most homes and remain much smaller than mother tongues, but English will continue to have its place as one of two official languages in India.
On 02 Aug 2020 While the govt has done many things right, it has also made mistakes that have weakened India. It should acknowledge challenges, reverse economic slide, and build national cohesion.
On 27 Jul 2020 India has existed as a cultural entity from pre-historic times, but most people are not conversant with how and when the nation-state took shape.
On 28 Jun 2020 It's all good to be tactical - keep China out of strategic markets; hit back in the same coin if it looks to keep India's key sectors out - but don't shoot yourself in the foot.
On 21 Jun 2020 Anyone can string together alliterative words, but are they a substitute for serious thought and coherent action? Real economics involves choices, or every day would be Christmas.
On 14 Jun 2020 When emerging from this crisis, the govt must consider a fresh approach to reviving growth, revisiting the Centre-state fiscal balance, and devising a re-imagined GST 2.0.
On 07 Jun 2020 You could run a sensible subsidy and price support system at a fraction of today's cost, and still have enough money left over to offer a more generous income support to all farmers.
On 02 Jun 2020 Congress should have long goals, energy, media strategy, good governance to come back to power.
On 21 May 2016 Whether it was the Bofors gun in 1986 or Italian helicopters in 2012, a leak or disclosure at the source overseas is like dynamite, and usually impossible to refute.
On 30 Apr 2016 Can the targets of achieving high economic growth be achieved without planning?
On 24 Apr 2016 India's trade infrastructure is in a bad shape. India's imports are very high than its exports. The government has promised some investments and policies in this sector.
On 16 Apr 2016 The total quantum of water supply has barely improved since Independence, while demand has exploded.
On 27 Mar 2016 Many stalled projects are about to get going again, providing potential relief to banks
On 19 Mar 2016 When the state is unable to provide adequately for the bottom half of the population, should it be giving tax benefits to the well-off?
On 05 Mar 2016 Has Narendra Modi re-set his political sights? What's there in the Budget?
On 29 Feb 2016 It is true that India is having improvements in the economic fronts. But what are the real numbers? Why does the government say exaggerated numbers?
On 20 Feb 2016 One way to do a reality check on the official numbers will be to develop a desi version of what came to be called the Li index in China.
On 06 Feb 2016 Is it a tit for tat play going on here between Congress and BJP?
On 30 Jan 2016 It may be time to look at the market forecasts that pundits had made earlier.
On 23 Jan 2016 The Brics line-up has yielded to a shaky China-India story, with new question marks over China even as India remains a "B+" performer.
On 16 Jan 2016 Sustaining anything in the region of 7% growth should be good enough in a troubled and risk-laden world.
On 08 Jan 2016 Are we worse off at the end of 2015 than at the start?
On 25 Dec 2015 Public investment financed by the government's own or borrowed resources do not provide an adequate answer to the problem of relatively low investment.
On 18 Dec 2015 The last-minute desperation to clear Delhi's air before people choke to death shows India's tendency to not act until the last minute
On 11 Dec 2015 The government should encourage the use of solar energy.
On 04 Dec 2015 What is the preogress report of Modi Government? Well, there are some good and bad reports. There are some good projects but the implementation part of it is slow.
On 28 Nov 2015 Post-7th Pay Commission recommendations, the pay being offered now should not be a disincentive for public-spirited people with ability. Can the government afford this hike?
On 21 Nov 2015 If the surge in tax collections is sustainable, the finance minister has the elbow room to shoot for a fiscal deficit that is significantly lower than the Budget's 3.9 per cent of GDP, or to bump up.
On 13 Nov 2015 What the government should is to concentrate on economic issues with diversionary issues being put back in the cupboard.
On 07 Nov 2015 India was to hand over NAM Chairmanship to Zimbabwe, which had gained Independence a few years earlier.
On 03 Nov 2015 There must be a way of combining sensible policy, based on a certain worldview and an agenda, with a bias for action.
On 26 Oct 2015 Narendra Modi is the first PM after Indira Gandhi with the power and possibly the intention to change the Indian system.
On 16 Oct 2015 The new dread-word is deflation. What does this mean for India? This can cause a threat for domestic producers. This is because of the global situation. We can be prepared and by improving efficiency...
On 09 Oct 2015 What the government needs to do, perhaps, is to spell out an action agenda for the next four months, in the run-up to the 2016 Budget.
On 02 Oct 2015 Can election change the condition of Bihar? At least improving the transport facilities....
On 26 Sep 2015 Seven years after the financial crisis, countries have done well. India is also doing well but there is a lot of difference in the programmes announced and how they are implemented.
On 19 Sep 2015 Steel is a basic input for the entire engineering industry (cars, household goods, machinery of all kinds), and for the infrastructure sector (roads, railways, power, real estate, etc). Raise the cost...
On 12 Sep 2015 Will the changes in the names of places and streets be accepted? How should they be named?
On 05 Sep 2015 If there is one thing the Census 2011 shows, it's that India will remain overwhelmingly Hindu forever
On 29 Aug 2015 Global market is in a turmoil. How can India have a stable economy? There are no easy solutions but to play safe.
On 21 Aug 2015 It is not correct to blame the media when effective communication suffer. The government will have to recheck its media policies and the distance it has to keep the media.
On 15 Aug 2015 Of all the markets in which politicians interfere with prices, the land market is probably the last that will be reformed.
On 08 Aug 2015 A survey's design determines its findings; understanding the logic behind measurement is key to interpretation.
On 01 Aug 2015 China and India have approached trade negotiations very differently: the former with confidence, the latter in a defensive crouch.
On 25 Jul 2015 Can state owned banks revive Indian economy? Let's see what the managerial solutions to revive banks show us.
On 18 Jul 2015 Elected representatives should be ready to admit the mistakes which they have done and not flaunt the wealth. They should be sensitive to what is happening around them.
On 11 Jul 2015 Greece is in huge financial trouble. Greece is paying the price for past follies like fictitious national accounts, unsustainable pension programmes, non-existent tax revenues and (the biggest mistake...
On 04 Jul 2015 The school education system needs a desperate overhaul. The human resource development minister in New Delhi be focusing on it too, in the middle of her other pressing concerns.
On 27 Jun 2015 Politicians have continued taking people for granted and managed to stay above the law.
On 22 Jun 2015 Will those who promote ayurvedic products that have iron as a standard ingredient, get the same treatment as Maggi noodles, or benefit from benign neglect?
On 15 Jun 2015 The new government wants to increase investment in various sectors. The government has funds but the Finance Minister has said about lack of funds in the Budget. Public private partnerships (PPPs) can...
On 17 Jul 2014 Is the Finance Minister going to do a salvage operation? [BS week end ruminations].
On 27 Feb 2013 Recent history tells us that the growth rate of the economy does not automatically go up and down with good and bad monsoons. [BS Weekend Ruminations]. URL:[http://www.business-standard.com/india/news...
On 18 Jul 2012 What India has to do to overcome the dents that India has suffered in its international image? India will have to play a delicate game of exercising autonomy in its pursuit of national objectives with...
On 10 Apr 2012 The poverty line deviates from the reality. The government's redefinition is a good thing, but the danger is it won't go far enough. [BS Weekend ruminations]. URL:[http://www.business-standard.com/ind...
On 27 Mar 2012 The food security Bill's focus ignores changes in agriculture and eating habits. [BS editorial]. URL:[http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/t-n-ninan-notremembered-country/467874/].
On 19 Mar 2012 The time has come for the governmant to make up for its sins of the past three years. The Budget must be judged on whether it shows that the govt is in the mood to recognize its follies, and in a posi...
On 05 Mar 2012 What Mumbai needs as a starting point is a city administration that is accountable to the city's residents, and a directly elected mayor, as in all great cities of the world. [BS Weekend Ruminations]....
On 22 Feb 2012 While studying the economic growth of the two rising giants of Asia (India and China) it is seen that India is far behind China in many aspects. URL:[http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/t-n-ni...
On 23 Jan 2012 Even though it would be considered politically premature by both the Congress and the BJP – it may be best to think in terms of fresh elections. URL:[http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/t-n-ni...
On 03 Jan 2012 Delivering the third Business Standard lecture on Thursday night, Raghuram Rajan provided an interesting insight into the reason for high inflation in India. The professor of finance at Chicago, who i...
On 23 Dec 2011 If the story earlier was that the number of Maoist-affected districts was increasing, that no longer seems to be true. URL:[http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/t-n-ninan-turningtide/456691/].
On 02 Dec 2011 To ensure that the benefits to the poor go to the really poor, then there has to be proper definitions for poverty and poverty line. URL:[http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/t-n-ninan-poverty-...
On 28 Sep 2011 In a week when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that combating inflation is now its primary focus, it is important to ask: is RBI fighting yesterday’s war, instead of peering into the future t...
On 08 May 2011 The government has alienated the public through months of scandal on a scale not seen till now. URL:[http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/t-n-ninan-our-tahrir-square/431532/]
On 13 Apr 2011 The press (including this newspaper) has been screaming blue murder about the spectrum scandal from the time it was perpetrated in broad daylight, nearly three years ago. Not only did nothing happen,...
On 10 Feb 2011 It is not unknown for politicians to enter office with one set of assumptions, or worldview, and adopt an altogether different one shortly after assuming office. The most recent example is Nick Clegg,...
On 15 Nov 2010 The general assumption in New Delhi’s “strategic community” is that it is in India’s interest for Americans troops to stay on in Kabul. The theory is that the US is doing the hard work that is beyond...
On 11 Nov 2010 American jobs are being lost because of outsourcing, to places like Bangalore. So, unlike many other visiting dignitaries, President Obama is going to give that city a careful miss during his three-da...
On 11 Nov 2010 China is not only on the path to Great Power status, it also means to exercise its newfound muscle. What is difficult to understand is why it wants to behave like a rogue power when the world would wa...
On 05 Nov 2010 So, should Delhi bid for the Olympics? Certainly not, if we are to have a repeat of how the Commonwealth Games (CWG) were organised; and of course not, if we are going to try and compete with Beijing...
On 03 Nov 2010 Many structural changes have taken place in the economy over the past two decades — a greater share for international trade in GDP, higher savings and investment rates, even increased investment in in...
On 01 Nov 2010 A list put out by Forbes India says that India has 69 dollar-billionaires. That gives the country a near 7 per cent share of the world’s billionaires (said to total 1,011), whereas its share of world...
On 27 Oct 2010 It’s 14 months since Nilekani, now 55, decided to trade the life of a successful techie chieftain for official Delhi, a minefield for any interloper who dares to intrude. Between then and now, Nilekan...
On 26 Oct 2010 For all one knows, the Commonwealth Games may go off without a hitch. How much that will repair the damage already done to Brand India is a matter of guesswork. All that can be said just now is that i...
On 18 Oct 2010 An issue that has attracted surprisingly little notice is the size and growth of the trade deficit. Even more worrisome is the flat trajectory for exports — which escapes notice because comparisons ar...
On 24 Sep 2010 The Gandhi mother-son duo and the prime minister have come down on two sides of the land acquisition/environment debate. Manmohan Singh is focused on delivering 9 per cent economic growth; he sees a c...
On 24 Sep 2010 The government gave out some interesting numbers on Monday. The revenue secretary told a news conference that nearly 96 per cent of the 32.5 million who pay income tax reported a taxable income of und...
On 14 Sep 2010 This editorial is about understanding the mining business in the state of Orissa by following the money.
On 30 Aug 2010 This editorial is about the debate on globalising the way money is counted in India.
On 26 Aug 2010 This editorial talks about how the country's mood is darker than it was a year ago.
On 16 Aug 2010 This article explores the question of why India cannot score greater success in manufacturing, especially the export of manufactured products. In conclusion it suggests enclave solution as the answer.
On 09 Aug 2010 A sports extravaganza is supposed to be a “coming out” party for the host country. Tokyo hosted the Olympic Games in 1964, timing it with the introduction of that new wonder of the world, the Shinkans...
On 03 Aug 2010 This piece is a discussion of the pros and cons of incomes tax, and the people who administer it, initiated on the occasion of Income Tax Day.
On 03 Aug 2010 This editorial questions whether the two values freedom and liberty can come together?
On 19 Jul 2010 The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) seems to have decided, somewhat belatedly, to fight for its own autonomy. Well, it’s better late than never, and there is much to recommend in the suggestion by RBI to...
On 14 Jul 2010 The Ambanis have a formidable business reputation, with skillful media management to match. There is a constant stream of newspaper column inches given over to writing about their business growth, dea...
On 06 Jul 2010 This editorial is about the difficulty of finding suitable candidates for board seats.
On 28 Jun 2010 This article deals with the arrest of chief executive of BP, Tony Hayward, on the charge of “culpable homicide reducible to criminal negligence”.
On 21 Jun 2010 One of Marx’s more commonly quoted aphorisms is that “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce”. There are few countries where that could be truer than India—as the Bhopal case shows....
On 14 Jun 2010 This editorial piece talks about the changing scenario of India's Economic Growth. There was a time when the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) would look with mild disdain at an India th...
On 14 Jun 2010 This article talks about the rampant trade unionism which is on the verge of fading with reference to the recent short lived strike by Air India employees and many such cases.
On 31 May 2010 In this article TN Ninan looks at the how the 15 economic ministers have performed. He starts with the finance minister whose record seems very patchy as he has not been able to deal with inflation an...
On 27 May 2010 Is Asia a cohesive analytical unit in any practical sense?
On 17 May 2010 Cutting the deficit this year was the easy part; the real fiscal challenge lies ahead
On 03 Mar 2010 Bihar has achieved double-digit economic growth over the past five years is a wonder
On 21 Jan 2010 Discusses about the different poverty measuements.
On 22 Dec 2009 The time may have come to stop thinking of five-year plans, and to focus instead on 10- and 20-year scenarios.
On 23 Nov 2009 No reponse form the policies that the government is announcing
On 20 Nov 2009 If a private sector partner goes wrong on business assumptions, it should not be the government or the consumer who pays
On 09 Nov 2009 The government simply has to find a way to deliver the basics. That is what will defeat the Maoists and hold off China.
On 27 Oct 2009 Did you know that there has been no warming of the globe over the past decade?
On 16 Oct 2009 Are economic reforms and the greater role of markets responsible for growth being anti-poor and anti-equality, or is it the failure of governance in poverty-ridden states like Bihar and Jharkhand that...
On 22 Sep 2009 The best economic news of the past two years can be that the worst recession in 80 years may be over.
On 31 Aug 2009 If recent survey data are to be believed, Indians are among the most optimistic people on earth.
On 23 Jun 2009 Owning a house has become very costly now. If more land were thrown into the market, home ownership will not be a deam for the majority.
On 19 Jun 2009 A large scandal hit company has found a buyer despite the matter that its accounts were all fictious.
On 27 Apr 2009 The question today is whether all the issues that were neglected when things were going well, will now get due attention when we can see even more clearly what needs to get done.
On 19 Apr 2008 The question today is whether all the issues that were neglected when things were going well, will now get due attention when we can see even more clearly what needs to get done.
On 19 Apr 2008 The political strategies of India and China
On 11 Feb 2008 As the title of the article says, the question asked here is who can fight terrorisn in Pakistan?
On 21 Jan 2008 About different games to see whether the affected player or team to appeal against the wrong decision to a higher authority.
On 09 Jan 2008 Congress party has to find out why the aam aadmi has deserted the party? There are some advice to Sonia Gandhi which she will not get from her advisors.
On 31 Dec 2007 Two years later Delhi will have an airport that can handle 40-50 million passengers-making it one of the 10 largest in the world. And it will have been built in barely half the time that it took Singa...
On 19 Dec 2007 Chindia isa word that came up recently. There are comparisons between the two countries about their economic growth. But there are differences between the two countries.
On 13 Dec 2007 The United Nations Development Programme has just put out its latest Human Development Report, containing the human development index (HDI) for 177 countries, with the data being for 2005. India ranks...
On 03 Dec 2007 India's economic reforms are evaluated.
On 26 Nov 2007 A large number of home-grown businessmen and international firms are looking well beyond the next quarter and looking long-term at what the future will be, and making sure that they will be a part of...
On 06 Nov 2007 The tragedies and discrimination that happen in our country in the name of caste shows that there is a beast in all of us.
On 06 Nov 2007 As the rupee has climbed against the dollar, the impact on big firms, small and medium sized software firms, are outlined. There is a “scissors crisis” of revenue under downward pressure because of ch...
On 22 Oct 2007 What is the position of the Prime Minister among his Cabinet colleagues after signing the nuclear deal with the US?
On 15 Oct 2007 Different options that RBI and government must decide regard to future inflows of international capital to India.
On 08 Oct 2007 Some of the company managers tune their business strategy to match the quarterly cycle of results announcements. Rapidly growing economies will deliver such high valuations, and many of them will be s...
On 01 Oct 2007 Government has done a lot for the development of textile industry. But India is not at all doing well in the international markets compared to countries like China and Bangladesh. Government has not d...
On 24 Sep 2007 Many companies have realized the need to talk of, and do something about, corporate social responsibility (CSR), but in many cases this is merely CPR: corporate public relations. The correct thing for...
On 17 Sep 2007 Need for SOPs (standard operating procedures) in many government departments can be seen form the maintenance of cities in India. Many unplanned decisions have caused difficulties to pedestrians. It h...
On 10 Sep 2007 Examples of various initiatives for e-governance from Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are given. The application of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology in different sectors can impr...
On 04 Sep 2007 The life of an investment banker in New York who is dealing in the collateralised debt obligation (CDO) market.
On 28 Aug 2007 There is a change in the financial scenario. Any sustained bout of fair weather on the markets creates business excesses as investors and consumers start discounting risk more and more. So it is healt...
On 20 Aug 2007 Financial contagion is dangerous because you don’t know where it will hit, and how hard. Every country has to remmber this and make arrangements so that a criris does not repeat as happenend in 1997 (...
On 13 Aug 2007 India’s good economic performance and friendlier ties with important countries that have been either distant or hostile, is achieved by a leader with whom the country can feel at ease. But Dr. Manmoha...
On 06 Aug 2007 The advent of political uncertainties has led to questions about poor governance which can lead to economic under performance.
On 31 Jul 2007 The macro-economic numbers put out by the official statistical systems do not capture the full underlying reality because of a variety of accounting fudges and delayed decisions. Taken in its totality...
On 30 Jul 2007 Rupee has to be depreciated so that the rural small scale sector enterprises and also the urban employment providers like the BPO sector are not affected.
On 16 Jul 2007 Export growth and rate of increase in bank credit have slowed down, oil prices are very high, becasuse of the interest rate hike, housing demand has reduced. Even though Sensex has crossed 15000, GDP...
On 10 Jul 2007 Now that President Hu has finished a visit that is generally seen as having been useful but less than a triumph, and has hopped across to Pakistan to announce a free trade pact and faster growth in tr...
On 26 Nov 2006 It is astonishing, and entirely unpredicted, that India’s outbound investment should begin to rival inbound FDI. The numbers quoted in a full-page report by the Financial Times earlier this week say t...
On 07 Oct 2006 Investors in today’s India should not need to seek escape from poor infrastructure and irrational labour laws, in special zones; rather, the underlying problems should be tackled in the country as a w...
On 01 Oct 2006 The world economy is slowing down, the commodity sector is headed for bleaker times, the downswing phase of the business cycle could see problems emerge that are hidden during the good times, protecti...
On 01 Oct 2006 If business gains at the expense of other stake-holders (consumers, the tax department, farmers), economic benefits get captured by a small minority at the top of the pyramid. Even without skewed poli...
On 01 Oct 2006 If one might attempt a hypothesis, it would be that India’s communist parties would like to adjust to the reality of the day by giving up their old identities and becoming social democratic parties, b...
On 01 Oct 2006 Dr Singh in fact has a rare blessing: alone among all governments of the past four decades, his government is not faced with a mid-life crisis; all that it needs to do is avoid mid-life paralysis. And...
On 19 Aug 2006 Why has India’s fashion fraternity, and indeed the official government system, not worked out a formal male attire that is suitable to the country’s mostly tropical climate, and at the same time appro...
On 03 Jun 2006 Why is politics a hereditary business in India, unlike most other democracies?
On 01 Jun 2006 The country’s export of automobiles has grown faster than software over the last four years. it does look as though automobile manufacture will be a new arrow in the country’s quiver. [Editorial . B...
On 03 May 2006 It does look as though automobile manufacture will be a new arrow in the country’s quiver. This may be hard to believe, when one looks at the strengths of the automobile industries in the US and Japa...
On 03 May 2006 The reality of caste representation in the corporate sector may not be out of line with what the government would like.
On 23 Apr 2006 While the last 15 years have seen a flowering of enterprise because of the opening up of the Indian economy, today’s more open trading and investment system (which allows the big international players...
On 16 Apr 2006 While the last 15 years have seen a flowering of enterprise because of the opening up of the Indian economy, today’s more open trading and investment system (which allows the big international players...
On 16 Apr 2006 If the DMK’s seemingly outrageous promise of a free TV set makes people sit up and look at the issue from ground level up, why, we may finally tackle our subsidy problem!
On 09 Apr 2006 |