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| June 30, 2008 | | The real reason why stock markets are crashing
Increased allocation to commodities by Index Speculators makes returns from such investments far more attractive than from stocks, and thus the markets are crashing, says .
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| June 27, 2008 | | How the <i>mallu</i>s of Kerala made it
The Kerala phenomenon -- of little work, high growth -- is best explained by the capabilities approach to growth. The rest of India has always tended to ogle at Kerala and the mallus.
India's inflation: A macroeconomic mess
The policy response to inflation has been somewhere between poor and awful. What does this imply for India? While it is convenient, but no less accurate for that reason, to ascribe the origins of recent problem to external forces, Indian policy-makers have to move on.
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| June 26, 2008 | | Ranbaxy deal: Let's look for a business model
The Ranbaxy sale marks the end of a phase for Indian pharma, with the need to evolve the next.
Salary boom? Here's a reality check
At a time when salaries continue to rise, ICICI Bank says it's important to keep economic realities in mind.
Indian economy: The darkening sky
The indicators of slowing growth proliferate in the daily papers. The government and RBI are in a small minority in expecting growth in 2008/9 to attain 8.5 to 9 per cent. The great majority of independent analysts expect the outcome to be in the 7 to 8 per cent range, with a growing number favoring the lower side of this band. Equity markets have tanked and stock prices are in doldrums. The really nasty surprise has come from inflation.
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| June 23, 2008 | | Why the US is an economic burden on the world
To put things in perspective, Americans constitute 5 per cent of the global population, but consume about 40 per cent of the global resources.
All about making retail work in India
A possible reason for the 'low' impact of organised retail is that organised retail in the country itself hasn't quite got its act together -- how many organised retailers do you hear of that can help cut, on a sustained basis, household budgets by 15-20 per cent more than kiranas can?
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| June 21, 2008 | | Are corporates bilking the shareholders?
Instead of being agents creating shareholder wealth, the corporations at the heart of this form of capitalism seem to have become instruments for enriching their managers by bilking their owners -- shareholders.
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| June 14, 2008 | | Family owned biz? Learn from Malvinder
If the operating principle is that all members of a family must be given an equal role in the business and that they will not make way for better managers who are not members of the family (in other words, the feudal principle), it is hard to see such a company prospering for long in a competitive market.
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| June 10, 2008 | | Is Bengal ready for re-industrialisation?
It is time to reform our schools and colleges, to impart marketable skills and to reorient the youngsters to harsh reality of private sector jobs.
Jaya versus FM: Advantage Jaya
What must be worrying the mandarins in the North Block is that the reply of the finance ministry completely contradicts the decision of the SAT in the Goldman Sachs case. Surely we are in for interesting political times.
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| June 06, 2008 | | The SMS (serial) killer idea
The "Serial SMS" is an idea waiting for imaginative minds to harness as a productivity tool, information and education tool, marketing strategy, incremental sales strategy or just an environment-friendly way to communicate.
Creative spark lights up telecom ads
The telecom segment is all flush with a burst of creativity. Interesting interpretations and insights are cropping up all over, so much so that even the weakest of these ads shines brighter than the advertising in other categories.
India's warped economic policy
The duty on buses which carry more people is the same as that on small cars, such is our warped policy.
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| June 03, 2008 | | A derivatives scam? JPC probe needed
To me, these are all characteristics of a scam. It is time that the derivative issue is christened as one. Given this scenario, it is time the RBI interfered in this matter. In the alternative a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the entire issue may well be in order.
How to excel at your workplace
Concepts and practices related to vision, strategy, entrepreneurship, business ethics, change management, corporate responsibility, seamless communicability and so on, which are quite important for today's businesses, remain under-emphasised.
High salaries attract people to PSUs?
There are many issues that will have to be resolved before the committee's recommendations can be translated into practice. First, the backlash from clubby bureaucrats from the elite all-India services will have to be dealt with. Then, the experiment with a more flexible system and variable pay based on performance should not be introduced across the board, but tried out in a dozen or two enterprises, to see how it works in practice.
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| May 30, 2008 | | Telecom: Where's the access code?
The wise men who formulated the National Telecom Policy 999 broke the vertically integrated National Telecom Network into three segments, i.e., Access (Fixed and Mobile), National Long Distance and International Long Distance.
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| May 29, 2008 | | Why India cannot sustain high economic growth
The high growth rate over the last few years has been more cyclical, than structural, in nature. And continued supply side bottlenecks will necessarily mean that periods of high growth will trigger inflationary pressures.
A good CEO may not mean good service
In markets like India where demand for a range of goods and services still outstrips supply, readers will readily be able to identify the disconnect between a CEO's reputation, the company's performance and the quality of customer service. There are, for instance, successful banks that deliver stunningly indifferent service even though their CEOs are stars on the corporate firmament.
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| May 28, 2008 | | Paradox of economy: To grow or not to grow
Organised retailers in India today are caught in a bit of a bind: on the one hand, they're raring to roll out new stores so that they can grab space and market share. But, on the other, lease rentals are prohibitive and footfalls don't seem to be getting converted into the kind of buying many thought they would. It's not easy anymore.
Oil crisis - bonds and subsidies won't do
We are in an era where oil will remain far above accepted norms of pricing. When oil is above $100, band aid solutions of bonds and subsidies are not sustainable.
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| May 27, 2008 | | Should the FM say 'Thank God it's not Friday'
The government's response to the price hike needs to be less panicky. The imposition of export duties, reduction in import duties, increasing the minimum export prices, restricting exports and raising the cash reserve ratio for banks have been among the measures that have resulted from this concern over inflation.
Tell people to consume less fuel
The first quarter of 2008 saw India's air passenger growth at 11 per cent compared to nearly 28 per cent for the first quarter of 2007. If you were to pick any airport, let's say Mumbai, traffic growth has dropped to single digit from double digits and forecasts are that it will fall further. So, the rising price of crude is already telling on air traffic consumption, as airlines are unable to hold on to rising fuel costs.
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| May 26, 2008 | | Inflation: Profit for the rich, patience for aam aadmi
The government is left with the only option of risking inflation and presumes that it can fudge figures and get away with it in the onrushing elections.
6-point strategy to stave off a staggering oil crisis
Raising the prices of petrol and diesel notionally is neither here nor there, and only puts off the evil day. Tentative tinkering will only mean the double jeopardy of the crisis continuing unabated and stoking the fires of inflation.
AAI's back in control
When the country's biggest and busiest airports at Delhi and Mumbai were privatised a few years ago, Singapore Changi Airport, ranked among the top two airports in the world by Skytrax for over six years consecutively, walked out of the bidding process, arguing it was unfair. Zurich, ranked number six, wasn't there, either. Frankfurt Airport was there, but as a minority partner of the GMR consortium, which won the bid for the Delhi airport.
How luck favours investors
RBI is already worried about the derivatives exposure of corporate India. That means many positions that could become lucrative may be closed prematurely and that's sheer bad luck.
Hollywood, here I come, says Anil Ambani
Sure, while Mumbai's tinsel town has made some attempts to break in (Aamir Khan's Lagaan made it to the 2002 Oscar nomination for foreign films), few Indians have managed to enter this exclusive club. Not anymore. The efforts of the threesome have finally paid off and the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) is set to put its imprint on Hollywood.
Growth okay but at what price?
Last November, he said he wanted SBI's balance sheet to grow from $150 billion (Rs 600,000 crore), at the time, to $250 billion (Rs 10,00,000 crore), in the next couple of years. By the end of the March 2008, SBI had already hit a balance sheet size of Rs 720,000 crore, which meant it had clocked a brisk 28 per cent growth in FY08. But, in the meanwhile the environment too has deteriorated.
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| May 24, 2008 | | Why crude oil could bounce back
Outside Saudi Arabia, there is no spare capacity. Sanctions on Iran have meant that no new outside funds have come to bolster the current production of around 4 million barrels a day. Outside Saudi Arabia, there is no spare capacity. Sanctions on Iran have meant that no new outside funds have come to bolster the current production of around 4 million barrels a day.
RBI: Waiting to exhale
It is striking how quickly the over-hyped optimism over the evolving India economic story has given way to a reality check in general and pessimism over the economic outlook in particular. Capital inflows into India were attracted by the increasing domestic and global acknowledgement of the favourable structural economic shifts.
Understanding food prices
While price volatility is not inherently bad, commodity futures markets and hedge funds operating on these markets will help reduce price volatility. While price volatility is not inherently bad, commodity futures markets and hedge funds operating on these markets will help reduce price volatility.
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| May 23, 2008 | | US's globalisation angst
There isn't much to prove the point that the problems of the US are because of globalisation.
Of the business of protest
From SLAPPs to hiring professional protesters, industry's working overtime to find new ways to attack.
Stop, watch and sell: New ad mantra
Today, as I watch my son-in-law handle my grandkids, balancing friendliness with discipline and not missing an iota of either, I realise that this middle path that he adopts, is probably the best of all leadership/parenting methods, says .
SBI erring on the side of caution
SBI's move may not have moved the farmers, who had stopped paying their monthly installments ever since Finance Minister P Chidambaram announced a Rs 60,000-debt waiver plan, but it did create a furore in political circles. Finally, Chidambaram, by his own admission, had to intervene and get SBI to roll back the move. For the 57-year-old SBI chief, who has earned an unprecedented five-year term, it proved to be a rare instance of being 'misunderstood'.
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| May 22, 2008 | | Textile sector, still a great opportunity
The sector has the best potential for employment generation (besides retail and healthcare) and hence garnering the support from the state governments for land and other infrastructural support should be easier.
Why oil bonds are not a solution
What is becoming increasingly clear is that they are an opaque and hugely inadequate response to the current problem of sustained increases (over the last five years) in global oil prices.
Free air tickets: Unfair trade practice?
The Delhi State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission's decision to fine mobile phone firm Vodafone Rs 50 lakh (Rs 5 million) for offering prizes of gold coins and a Maruti SX4 as part of a promotional scheme is something all marketers in the country would do well to pay attention to.
India's agriculture at stake
The political exigencies are, unfortunately, likely to overwhelm the need for undoing the damage to the agricultural credit sector. At stake, therefore, is the much-needed resurgence of the Indian agriculture.
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| May 21, 2008 | | What IOC can learn from SBI
The apparent reason for this bold step is SBI's concern over rising defaults on loans for such farm equipment. The additional trigger for this may have also been the SBI top management's assessment that defaults on farm equipment loans will only rise in the wake of the central government's announcement of the Rs 60,000 crore (Rs 600 billion) farm loan waiver scheme.
IFRS: The magnificent obsession of ICAI
The latest passion of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is not selling blazers. Nor is it inauguration of residential courses. It is IFRS, IFRS and IFRS. Or International Financial Reporting Standards.
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| May 20, 2008 | | The inflation scare
The fear that the recent rise in the inflation rate will scupper their chances of re-election has led the United Progressive Alliance government to blame the usual suspects: hoarders, monopolists, and of course, foreigners. So bring back discredited policies: raid hoarders, torment speculators and ban export of agricultural products.
For entrepreneurs, it's all about execution
B-schools should try and add skills in their students through some practical experiences and lessons in superior execution and in establishing methodologies on identifying ideas that can provide value to customers and hence make a business successful.
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| May 19, 2008 | | What the Eco-Survey tells us
The Economic Survey 2007-08 has some interesting insights for infrastructure aficionados.
Food fright
The most important safety valve as far as food supply is concerned is the short production cycle.
Govt suppressing inflation rate?
Inflation is far too important a problem to have to rely on an inadequate and, ultimately, unreliable database for solutions.
Praful Patel's wrong, again
Aviation Minister Praful Patel's outburst against Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia is perhaps not difficult to understand since most people think it was actually Patel who should have been keeping an eye on the delays at the Delhi airport.
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| May 07, 2008 | | Oil, oil, everywhere
Today, the current spike is accepted as a long-term reality and has impacted all aspects of the economy in different ways
Losing the plot on inflation
The central bank should be made responsible for delivering on an inflation target.
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| May 03, 2008 | | Story of the assumed Great Depression
The world financial markets were close to breakdown just a month or so ago. While the rest of the world's central banks missed the big picture, not so the US Fed led by Prof. Ben Bernanke. His timely interventions, and a worldview of what works and what does not, has most likely helped avert a global financial meltdown; if such a meltdown had occurred, it would have affected all of us quite severely.
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| May 01, 2008 | | Tackling inflation: Govt on the right track?
The government has got down to tackling inflation with all the weapons in its armoury -- tariff cuts, export restrictions, physical controls, administrative measures to prevent stockpiling -- while the Reserve Bank has tried to squeeze out excess liquidity.
Dark side of the jobs boom in India
Studies have indicated that only one in four graduates from India's colleges are employable. This means till the time the quality of education improves, the other three will have to remain content with either door-door canvassing for savings accounts, or watching people's tea and toilet habits, or honing up their American accents in graveyard shifts.
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| April 30, 2008 | | India's forex story and rising external debt
Once you take into account the forex needs for four months of imports, NRI deposits, short term debt and FII flows, India's forex reserves of $300 billion don't look so large.
Nation building through great institutions
One such is the Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions near Bangalore, which recently turned 15 and showcased a remarkable transition with founder and inspirational head Darshan Shankar handing over the executive leadership to deputy, engineer-turned- forester D K Ved.
RBI credit policy: Is this the right move?
The expectations from Tuesday's RBI package veered towards a hike in the repo rate, the stronger of the two instruments that the RBI has used of late, although there was a significant view that this would not be done in recognition of the concerns about growth. While this has surprised the markets, which have reacted with relief, the question is whether this is an appropriate response to the current circumstances.
Investors may sweat in May
The month has turned negative returns in eight out of the last 18 years.
Patent law: Is the US style right for India?
Intellectual Property is still a strange beast in this country. People eye it rather warily, uncertain of its temperament (how hard will it bite or is it the clawing sort?) and the hidden threat in its still unfolding contours. To familiarise businessmen with this creature, industry organisations have been doing a fair amount of spadework – organising seminars, workshops and talks by visiting experts.
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| April 29, 2008 | | How are ideas born? Tips from an ad guru
In my opinion, ideas are free-floating bodies in the ether space and one's sensibilities are the receiver -- the sharper the receiver, the easier it is for ideas to get attracted.
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| April 28, 2008 | | Is the IMF incompetent or...
What is galling to note here is that such serious systemic flaws have crept in undetected for over couple of years despite multilateral supervision and surveillance.
Will the RBI hike rates again?
A repo rate hike may hurt growth far more than it will help deal with an inflation rate that is already dropping.
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| April 25, 2008 | | Mobile service outages: Do brands matter?
Some zones in Mumbai like sections of Pedder Road, Western Express Highway, Dr E Moses Road, JJ Flyover, experience poor mobile network connectivity. With Virgin Mobile coming into India with a brand franchise agreement with Tata Teleservices, will it make any difference in mobile connectivity? Is brand becoming the biggest or at least a strong differentiator? Except some differences between CDMA and GSM, most service providers give similar kind of network services.
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| April 24, 2008 | | Paradoxes of UPA's farm policy
Is the BJP clearer on agricultural policy than the UPA? It appears to be worse off, actually.
When airlines' put looks before safety
Racism is rampant in the airline industry in India as all airlines prefer fair skinned people for their cabin crew. On some of the newer airlines, members of the cabin crew are among the most fair skinned people that you will find anywhere in India. A flight attendant performs two roles -- safety and service. But by selecting cabin crew on basis of skin colour & looks, the airlines are seriously harming the safety aspect of their duty. Cabin crew should be caring & commanding
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| April 19, 2008 | | Sins of omission, RBI style
Whichever side of the debate you are on, there is no getting away from the fact that difficult choices have to be made in a situation where you are asked to fight two contradictory problems at the same time. Investment and growth matter more to some people, but prices are a hotter political problem -- the walk-outs in Parliament are over inflation, not the slowdown. So it is not hard to guess on which issue the government will focus.
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| April 16, 2008 | | Declare an economic emergency?
The dilemma is more acute for Indian policymakers as the present inflationary bout is in good part made up of rising food prices, which deal a severe blow to the fight against poverty
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| April 15, 2008 | | Public loot since 1947: Let us bring back our money
Huge sums of public money have been stashed abroad by Indians in various tax havens. Our democracy and democratic traditions with all their pitfalls as explained above are incompetent to deal with the extant issue. And if we have to recover our money, it can be done through a direct action of the aam aadmi -- you and me. Are you ready?
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| April 11, 2008 | | A tough job for Air India boss
He's taking charge of a carrier which is in the midst of dealing with a new reality. The ink on the merger is not yet dry and the internal politics has led to groupism within the senior management. Predictably, management attention has been diverted to handling personnel issues rather than on the core function of running the airline.
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| April 10, 2008 | | How to provide best healthcare to government personnel
As a CGHS cardholder myself, frequently sharing experiences with many other beneficiaries, I can unhesitatingly testify to the sympathy and helpfulness with which the doctors and staff of dispensaries attend to patients.
The shadow of inflation looms large
The Iraq war marked the onset of high and higher oil prices. There was a steady rise in the prices of most commodities in the global markets including metals and food in the last three years for various reasons including substantially increased consumption in new markets such as China, Russia, India and West Asia. However, till recently, most economies were able to manage such price escalations through classic macro-economic management tools.
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| April 09, 2008 | | Why finance ministers fear inflation
Of the five years when Manmohan Singh was the finance minister, only in two years did the government manage to keep the average annual inflation rate below 10 per cent. The remaining three years were hit by an average annual inflation rate (based on the wholesale price index) of 13.7 per cent in 1991-92, 10.1 per cent in 1992-93 and 12.6 per cent in 1994-95. Yet, a comparison should be useful.
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| April 08, 2008 | | Property sale proceeds can be repatriated entirely
A N Shanbhag, the highly respected investment guru, and his son Sandeep Shanbhag, answer your questions on NRI investment.
Economy: How to deal with external shocks
The right policy response to global price increases is not straightforward. The draft report is wide-ranging in its scope, and it attempts to provide a coherent, integrated view of financial sector reforms that would equip India's financial sector to support growth, widen financial access and maintain stability over the next decades. The report is being released for public discussion at a critical juncture in both the domestic and global economy.
The real dangers facing Indian economy
Of course, we would still grow at 7-8 percent. We would still be smug in our achievement and say it is still better than most of the economies in the world. As for double-digit growth, let that remain only in paper.
Banks as casinos, corporates as gamblers
It is time to realise that both corporates and banks are playing with other people's money. And RBI has to intervene in the matter decisively and at once. It needs to set up a high power committee comprising eminent bankers, lawyers, media personnel, finance and foreign exchange experts to set right the matter.
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| April 02, 2008 | | Bangalore: From pathfinder to laggard
The politics of Deve Gowda and that of the bureaucrats who badmouthed and helped kill a remarkable public-private initiative like the Bangalore Agenda Task Force have been the city's nemesis.
How to solve the inflation crisis
The long-term answer lies in getting the central bank to focus on inflation.
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| April 01, 2008 | | Why Ratan Tata should not retire
Ratan Tata looks like someone who is just getting ready to take-off.
Govt and NGOs: It's a cold war
Governments have great power over NGOs through the laws they enact or administer. They can either 'help or hinder them'. The NGOs feel they have been left out in the reforms and they do not have a level playing field compared to other sections, which have been handed simplification and other benefits. A cold war is going on between the charities & the Government. Standing committee on finance expressed concern that many charitable institutions misuse provisions of income tax.
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