This years Business Standard Banking Annual, published yesterday, has consolidation in the banking industry for its theme. The timing couldnt have been better because, as the recent quarterly

Consolidated banking

Business Standard

A large part of the jump in US productivity over the last decade, the McKinsey Quarterly estimated a couple of years ago, was due to the performance of the retail sector. 


Getting the toes wet

Foreign institutional investors have been pouring money into the stock market, and the influx of dollars has in turn led to a sharp appreciation of the rupee. 


Managing the rupee

According to a news report, the union finance ministry wants the sponsoring banks for regional rural banks to merge the latter with themselves. 


One size doesn`t fit all

When Jaswant Singh took charge at the external affairs ministry, early in the tenure of the Vajpayee government, he had outlined oil diplomacy as one of his core objectives. 


Securing energy

Time seems to be running out for India to meet the December 31, 2004, deadline set by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for aligning the countrys patent regime with global norms and the provisions

Honour the deal

It is heartening to listen to the Prime Minister and finance minister these days. Whether it is to domestic business leaders at the meeting of the PMs trade and industry council, or to foreign

India shining?

Indias disillusionment with the multilateral trade process is evidenced by the enthusiasm with which it has gone around entering into bilateral or plurilateral agreements, mainly with its immediate

Principle vs strategy

Governments the world over have a simple SOP: what you dont know cant hurt us. So they guard information with great tenacity. And the worse governance gets, the more tenacious they become. 


Opening up the files

Though bound to go down well with the masses, Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ram Vilas Paswans proposal to impose trade margins on the bulk of the countrys Rs 20,000 crore pharmaceuticals

Patently absurd

Ever since he came into office, the minister for commerce and industry, Kamal Nath, has been extremely bullish on Indias export potential. This was reflected in the exim policy statement, in which he

Stretch targets

The news of a 60 per cent chance of a weak El Nino developing in early 2005, is surely not welcome, given the possibility that this presages a below-normal monsoon next year as well. However, concern

Monsoon warning?

Preferential allotments of shares have long been a contentious issue, because of the obvious possibilities of their misuse. 


Stricter rules

Scrapping the monthly sugar release mechanism from the next cane crushing season (beginning October 1, 2005) will indeed be a bold move towards sugar deregulation. 


Don`t cheer just yet

The Cabinet has cleared the Employment Guarantee Bill, which is likely to be introduced in Parliament within the next few days. This has been preceded by a vigorous debate which has raised a number of

The wrongs of a right

The ongoing stir by mandi traders in Madhya Pradesh against the direct sale of farm produce by farmers through ITCs e-chaupals is nothing more than resistance to a new form of competition. 


E-chaupal opportunity

The newly created Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises has started functioning, replacing the Disinvestment Commission. 


Let go

On Saturday, one of the worlds most iniquitous arrangements in international trade will have ceased to exist. 


New opportunities

The decision by the Indian railways to exercise its option and merge the Konkan Railway Corporation (KRC) into itself when the shareholders agreement expires next year, highlights the difficulties

Back-tracking

As many as seven ministerial-level round table conferences on panchayati raj have been held in just six months to spur the states to put these grassroots democratic institutions in order. 


A shot at self-governance

There is a silver lining when banks fortunes have clouded over because of the end to windfall gains through treasury operations during a regime of falling interest rates. This is that the drop in

The silver lining

Incisive columns and editorial comment by top opinion leaders

Page 346 - Editorial Comment