Indian companies are busy on deal street, merging and acquiring like never beforein fields as diverse as telecom and aviation, pharmaceuticals and software. Some weeks, there is more action overseas

Like marriage

Business Standard

The Indian fashion design industry is an oxymoron in more ways than one, in part because fashion exists at too many levels in the country to have any one meaning, and in part because industry

Beyond the ramp

Times have changed. In 1979, Ghanshyam Das Birla, the tallest Indian industry leader then, spoke at a luncheon meeting organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci)

A K Bhattacharya: Reforms and reservations

Even as the telecom market grows exponentially (40 per cent last year), the regulation of this vital industry is coming up short. For many months now, mobile phone service providers have been

The line is busy

The ministry of urban developments proposal to modify the Master Plan for Delhi, if not struck down by the courts, offers at least a partial solution to the situation resulting from the courts

Capital solutions

Governments at the Centre and in the states are finally cranking themselves up to deal with the growing menace of communist extremism, which is said to have spread to as many as 160 districts, or

The Naxalite challenge

The Election Commission may have put the government on the back foot with regard to the proposal to reserve up to 27 per cent of seats in schools and colleges for members of the other backward

Reservation maths

Having faced something of a liquidity crisis a few weeks ago, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was expected by some observers to infuse additional resources into the system. However, in the days that

Tilting towards growth

Indias leading infotech firms continue to grow fast, with healthy numbers for the fourth quarter of 2005-06 and the year as a whole. While this has been the case for a decade now, maintaining the

IT powers on

With the Sensex once again hitting a new high point on Wednesday, falling only marginally short of the 12,000-point mark, bulls are back in business after a brief fright last week. And this time, it

Now domestic money

In India, it is called reservation or quotas; in the US they prefer affirmative action, which is not the same thing. When he addressed the Confederation of Indian Industrys annual meeting on Tuesday,

Obviate quotas

Look at any macro-aggregate, where the base is large, and the changes almost always look small, even non-existent. Thus, no matter how fast Indias economy grows, it will be a while before the per

New hope on power

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is widely regarded for his ability to convincingly articulate even those points of view to which he does not really subscribe. This is a useful attribute to have in

Confusion on Nepal

Two wrongs, they say, do not make a righta piece of wisdom that can be applied to the governments wheat policy. First, the ill-timed decision in February to import half-a-million tonnes of wheat

The old mistakes again

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has got itself a new role, just when many were beginning to wonder what it would do if, in a world awash with liquidity and blessed with strong growth, no one

New role for the IMF

Though oil prices continue to soar to record levels, they are not about to overturn the global economy, or even Indias. Last years trade deficit of $40 billion was accounted for wholly by oil

No tipping point yet

Gone are the days when monsoon rainfall prediction would immediately impact marketsboth commodities and, to an extent, shares. This is borne out by the cool, if not wholly indifferent, manner in

Not saying much

Missing deadlines seems to have become routine in global trade liberalisation. With the World Trade Organisations (WTO) director-general, Pascal Lamy, cancelling the mini-ministerial meeting

Doha: No talks

Perhaps the worst need not be feared any longer, for Pramod Mahajans condition remains stable, even if it is not improving. Since he has survived for six days after the shooting, the chances of

Pramod Mahajan and BJP

The Budget speech has advertised a focus on flagship programmes such as Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). The expenditure on the department of elementary education and literacy is sought to be raised

Flagship programme?

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should be congratulated on pulling off a landmark nuclear deal with the US during President Bush's visit. From the information that is available, the deal seems to be on

A landmark deal

Incisive columns and editorial comment by top opinion leaders

Page 295 - Editorial Comment