The stock markets have been range-bound in the past few weeks, after a sizzling run in December. After the markets superlative performance last year, some amount of profit-taking is only to be

Correction phase

Business Standard

After dissembling over newspaper revelations of an all-expenses-paid New Years vacation in Goa, Civil Aviation Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy should be left with no option but to submit his resignation,

Rudy awakening

Jagdish Bhagwati, the well-known economist, once called the rapidly proliferating regional and preferential trade agreements a spaghetti bowl of confusion, loose ends and rules that no one can

Too many too soon?

It is normal for all state governments to do their budgeting in isolation and not be sensitive to how their individual actions have a bearing on the overall fiscal situation, across governments. This,

Budgetary blues

The big difference in the Chinese and Indian growth stories this year is that the first is fired primarily by massive investment, the second more by consumer spending. 


Unbalanced growth

By all accounts, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has done a great job so far, especially in comparison with the only other metro project in the country in Kolkata. 


Staying on track

Going by the dramatic cuts in telecom rates over the past few years, and now in port tariffs for coastal shipping (these are to be cut by up to 40 per cent) as well as for airports (landing charges

By land, by sea

A recent judgment of a division bench of the Gujarat High Court has brought important issues involving medical insurance to the fore. The bench, comprising Justices R K Abichandani and D A Mehta, has

Insurance issues

The new year began on a good note with newspapers reporting an 8.4 per cent GDP growth in the second quarter of 2003-04, and the first day of the year has some more cheer  exports during November

More good cheer

By all mainstream accounts of the global economy, the year 2003 marked a turnaround. The United States economy posted a rise in GDP of 8.2 per cent in the July to September quarter, the long-suffering

The return of gold

Perhaps the most telling indicator of the success of the proposed South Asian Free Trade Area (Safta) is the fact that, soon after the plan to have a free trade zone by 2006 was made public (a formal

Making Safta work

If the government does finally come out with an ordinance to scrap the Conditional Access System (CAS) for watching cable television, as reports suggest it is planning, it will be a welcome victory.

Just scrap it

On the face of it, Sebis decision to ensure a minimum non-promoter stake of 25 per cent for listed companies sounds like a good idea. 


Better leave it alone

If there is one vital natural resource that is becoming more scarce despite being available in abundance, it is water. 


Towards micro-irrigation

In his speech at the annual day function of the National Institute of Bank Management, the Reserve Bank of India Governor warned banks on two factors  their very low deposit rates, and the

A turning point

It is ironic that while an early election has been supported because it would prevent the government from coming out with a slew of populist schemes, what is now being planned is precisely this 

Election freebies

The manner in which the government has announced a series of indirect tax changes is unprecedented. 


Ad hoc, improper

If Murli Manohar Joshi has his way, he will give away a whopping Rs 4,000 crore a year through concessions on education fees. 


Dr Joshi's ideas

State paranoia can manifest itself in many ways. There have been some outstanding examples of it in history. The first to show the symptoms was Britain in 1914, when the World War I broke out. 


State paranoia

Incisive columns and editorial comment by top opinion leaders

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