As prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayees annual vacations were high-profile media events; one might have expected that things would have changed, now that he is an ex-prime minister. 


Message from Manali

Business Standard

No one will deny that dismantling the administered pricing and distribution of steel, and lowering tariff barriers, have done the domestic steel industry a world of good. Forced to compete after years

Great leap back

The change of government at the Centre may have freed the IIMs from the clutches of Murli Manohar Joshi, but they would be unwise to uncork the bubbly. 


Challenges facing IIMs

The Indian monsoon is known to progress in surges. As such, breaks in its advance after having hit the country's mainland are quite common. This has happened this year as well, though the overall

So far, so good

Indian software has put in a remarkable year (2003-04), going by the financial results being announced. Market leaders Infosys and Wipro have boosted a return to optimism about the industry by

Change of mood

If one were to exclude the market boom of the last 12 months, the last five years have been traumatic for mutual fund investors. First, there was the US-64 crisis, then the gradual winding down of

The elephant and the ant

Will the publics money be any safer if the market regulator does indeed go ahead with plans to introduce compulsory ratings for initial public offerings (IPOs)? 


No guarantee

Steel Authority of India (Sail) has announced an expansion plan that will raise its production capacity by two-thirds, or 8 million tonnes of hot metal, in as many years. 


Priorities for Sail

The pricing of sugarcane, as with other agro-commodities, has invariably been influenced by political considerations as much as economic ones. 


More trouble for sugar

There is only one way to interpret what the voters have said: they want change, and will not be easily satisfied. They have decisively voted out the Vajpayee government; and they have voted against

A vote for change

With the coming into force of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) from Monday, mankind has in place for the first time a legally binding mechanism to control highly

Getting rid of POPs

This years monetary policy announcement comes when several risks loom large on the horizon. 


Holding operation

Fixing the sharp decline in employment growth, and the neglect of agriculture during the NDA years, were told, is the new governments objective. What needs to be done to achieve this, however, is

Holes in the agenda

The stock markets have weathered a hurricane in the past few days. Now that the worst is over, its time to look back and draw a few lessons from the unprecedented volatility.


A different market now

The ramifications of the European Unions expansion and now the warming of its ties with Russia transcend immediate horizons. For, these are likely to have a bearing on issues like the earths

Russia's moves

All societies have trouble with their history. It is therefore commonplace to see friendly versions being peddled while the less savoury aspects are either deleted completely or glossed over. It is

My truth is better...

The Common Minimum Programme as it has finally emerged is less appealing than the optimists might have hoped. The negatives clearly outweigh the positives and reflect the governments dependence on

'Show me the money'

The World Bank-sponsored Shanghai conference on poverty has highlighted the need to learn from success stories in reducing poverty, while avoiding dogmatic attitudes. 


Lessons from Shanghai

Election manifestos, even when posing as vision documents, serve (or are supposed to serve) two basic purposes. One is short-term and election oriented: promises to different voter groups. 


The vision thing

FY2004 has been an exceptionally good year for the Indian economy. The third quarter GDP numbers show that its now the fastest growing economy in the world, its stock market has been one of the best

The Jas & Vaj show

When the country's foreign exchange reserves crossed $50 billion a couple of years ago, it sparked debate among policy makers about the costs and benefits of maintaining such a high level of reserves.

Step jump in value?

Incisive columns and editorial comment by top opinion leaders

Page 350 - Editorial Comment