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Why I Worry About Savings, Investment

Whether nominal or real, India's investment rate needs to increase by 3 to 4 percentage...

Why Modi Prefers Babus At RBI Helm

Perhaps because the Modi government had some differences of opinion with two of the...

Will Trump's Tariffs Threat Bite India?

The impact of Trump's announcement of increasing import tariffs will have negligible...

Prosperity Is Not India's Birth Right

If growth reverts to the pre-Covid level, a lot of people may have to temper their rosy...

Beware! Markets Headed For Downturn

Trumponomics, poor growth, and high valuation certainly don't make a bullish recipe for...

Why Is Maharashtra An Underperformer?

'Why has Maharashtra slipped up over the past couple of decades?''Not only is this...

Trump's Tariff Tussle With India

'While criticising India's high tariffs, Mr Trump stated he would impose reciprocal...

Bibek Debroy: A Guru I Could Look To

Bibek Debroy was one of the very few economists not bound by any single area of...

The Man Who Saw Tomorrow

Here stood a man who embodied the legacy of whatever Brand Tata stood for, embellished...

Did You Know About Tatas' China Link?

The Tata Group is one of the very few Indian MNCs which has carved out a niche in...

Monetary Policy's Strong Message To NBFCs

The RBI is fully aware that the high-cost loans and high indebtedness of the borrowers...

High Time India Resists Real Estate Mania

Once we break free of the idea that land is scarce, real estate is just a pile of...

How DAP Targets Honest Taxpayers...

DAP does not consider past I-T returns to match a taxpayer's resources with their...

Can Kirana Stores Beat The Q-Com Threat?

Indian kiranas are agile enough to face the q-com challenge, but it's going to be a...

LIC earmarks Rs 600 crore for digital shift

State-run Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has committed Rs 600 crore for its...

Will GST Relief On Insurance Benefit Us?

The life insurance industry does not have a good track record when it comes to passing...

Banks Caught In A Trap

The cost of deposits is on the rise, but banks can't raise interest rate on close to...

Make Tax Officials Accountable!

'Tax officials view most taxpayers as evaders.''The I-T department has a perverse...

How We Can Create Millions Of Jobs

'Three manufacturing sectors can create jobs by the million: Apparel, food, and...

Indexation: How Nirmalaji Can Fix It

The best solution would be the one followed in 2018 -- allow cost indexation until...

Political Savvy Nirmalaji's Bold Budget

Few finance ministers announce any taxation measure that could upset the stock...

The Threats To India's Prosperity

Looking under the hood, I see India on the terrible, but commonplace, road to...

Budget Must Focus On Raising Revenue

With the fiscal deficit target staring at the government, the FY25 Budget has limited...

Budget: Time To Bet On Big Ideas

The generation of quality jobs and skill development should be the focal point, cutting...

Revealed: The Lives PSU Bankers Lead

A peek into the life of a public-sector banker who did well professionally, but paid a...

Dear Prime Minister Modi....

There are reports that the government will soon cut income taxes by about Rs 50,000...

How To Curb Speculation In F&Os

'Sebi had no problem with derivatives until trading exploded after Covid.''But now,...

India's Economic Reality And The Hype

From connectivity woes to infrastructure advancements and the startup boom, there is a...

Uncle Sam's Dollar Ponzi Scheme

US's terrible political and economic leadership will ultimately cost the dollar its...

How Swift Changed Maruti's Thinking

Swift Dzire has clocked 2.5 million in sales, and you might, in a non-too-distant...

Unemployment: Disease Lies In Education

In tackling India's unemployment problem, look beyond the finance minister and focus on...

Time To Make Budget More Transparent

The Budget should use the extra RBI surplus to better effect, suggests A K Bhattacharya.

How WCT20 Can Help Boost Trade

Global consumer preferences can be influenced through music, films, literature, yoga...

We Missed Industrial Revolution

Is India headed there again? questions Ajit Balakrishnan

Extraordinary Story Of EPFO Digitisation

A remarkable story which helped in transforming a bureaucratic organization, to a...

Why Foreign Financial Firms Quit India

There was no smooth surge in middle class prosperity for foreign businesses to tap into...

Have You Heard Of Crotonville?

The top-notch faculty at Crotonville, including Noel Tichy, Ram Charan, Vijay...

Why Future Of Cars Don't Look Electric

When it comes to electric cars, the electric dream is turning out to be a six-letter...

Are MF Stress Tests Of Any Use?

These are usually found among small and midcaps. It is not easy to find such stocks,...

Wage Pact: Will Bankers Make More Money?

Postings to places at an altitude above 1,000 metres but less than 1,500 metres,...

Why Indian Corporates Lag In Buybacks

Many promoters still consider the cash in the company as their money and are averse to...

The RBI Story: 90 Years And Going Strong

Of the eight RBI governors who have held office since the 1991 economic liberalisation,...

Investors In India Needs Red Carpet, Not...

'India needs many more job creators, both in manufacturing and services, to make it...

CBIC Goes Soft On GST Investigations

The principal commissioner has been made responsible for developing and approving any...

The RBI Way Of Firefighting

Why is the RBI harsh on Paytm Payments Bank?Why did it give Rana Kapoor of Yes Bank Ltd...

India's Startup Scorecard

For the startup ecosystem in India, the scorecard so far has been a mixed bag, observes...

Gold Loans On RBI, FinMin Radar

Loan against gold as a product is catching on fast.Let's keep the momentum going, but...

Why's Mukesh Ambani Betting Big On Media

Could it be about clout? Given its size and influence, RIL doesn't need the media for...

Free Divestment From Finance Ministry

The new government that presents the full Budget for 2024-2025 in July should be ready...

40-yr-old fintech gurus need 60-yr-olds to handhold

The message is clear: The 60-year-old wise uncles need to handhold the 40-year-old...

What to make of sharp GDP variations in election year

Questions will be raised over why those changes take place and whether non-economic...

How did investors miss Byju's numerous red flags?

Byju's is set to go the way of Housing.com and Zilingo. It is only a matter of time....

View Consumption Survey Numbers With Caution

Could the MPCE survey results be used as a basis of reconstructing the Consumer Price...

The Lamborghini theory of India's consumption patterns

Lamborghini has sold 10,112 cars worldwide -- so India's 100 is certainly a big deal...

What Led To Paytm's Big Fall

At the heart of Paytm's slide lies the abject failure of its Super App strategy, notes...

GDP Surge: Economy Truly Booming?

This period of strong growth not only offers opportunities but also calls for strategic...

Byju's Spectacular Meltdown

The edtech major promised a learning revolution, offering hope to millions of...

Will Bull Run In PSU Banks Continue?

>It's not easy to predict the market. But there are at least two positive factors to...

New Challenges Facing Banks

As the fight for deposits intensifies, the cost of money will rise and the margin will...

Paytm Crisis: StartUp Founders Take Note

Startup founders need to sit up and think about how not to take stardom for granted and...

Has Paytm Woken Up Too Late?

Has Vijay Shekhar Sharma given up on the bank?For now, he seems to be on a save-OCL...

Who Fared Better? Modi Or Manmohan

Whether it was the MGNREGS or the NFSA or the Aadhaar-based DBT scheme for cash...

What Are RBI's Challenges In 2024?

The challenge for the RBI in 2024 is likely to be less about containing elevated...

The Mystery of ZEE and DIIs

Why are DIIs holding such a high stake in Zee, which is beset with alleged governance...

Is Nirmalaji A Believer In Numerology?

There hasn't been any dramatic moment in the first act (the Budget) but nobody would...

Just A True Vote On Account!

She has shown shrewdness, sensitivity, and courage. All of these will be needed in...

Is It Time To Smile, Nirmalaji?

Now that the economy is growing at a higher-than-expected rate, it is time to...

Banks Bound To Honour Bearer Cheque

The National Commission held that any individual possessing a bearer instrument is...

Is The Worst Over For IT Industry?

Certain changes in the past two or three years could have a long-term structural impact...

P2P Lending: Barking Up The Wrong Tree

P2P platforms do not have the safety net.Instead of playing the role of an...

Digital Loan Apps: Boon Or Bane?

For the time being, digital lending remains a grey area, notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.

Is Golden Decade For Indian Markets Over?

Have the markets already played out their dynamics before the economy has even properly...

Time To Be Cautious In Bull Market

A piece of slightly negative news can cause a serious setback, warns Debashis Basu.

Zudio Is Indian Retail's 2023 Blockbuster

Zudio was the standout performer as it tapped into the pentup demand in small-town...

Bank Liable For Employee Oversight

The Commission concluded that the bank officials had evidently been negligent in...

RBI Governor Is A Trapeze Artist

Shaktikanta Das is a master of the finest balancing act who listens to all but takes...

Benefits of Working in a Big Enterprises

Average wages paid by listed companies is more than twice the salaries paid by other...

FTX Failure: Lessons To Be Learnt

Damage from new shenanigans can be contained if regulators move quickly when something...

What Will Nirmalaji Do About Income Tax?

Instead of conceding the demand for a cut in personal income-tax rates, Finance...

12 PSBs Post Profit Of Rs 256.85 Billion

Collectively, the pack of 12 has posted a 50 per cent rise in profits -- Rs 25,685...

Are We Witnessing A Silent Bull Market?

The most important positive of India's stealth bull market is earnings growth across...

e-Rupee: An Idea Whose Time Has Come?

The RBI refuses to classify a cryptocurrency as an asset since it doesn't have future...

Is India's Government Too Bloated?

Perhaps the finance ministry or NITI Aayog could take a detailed look at what...

Don't Make It A Pre-Election Budget, Nirmalaji

The need of the hour for the government would be to tighten its fiscal belt, recommends...

Term Deposits: Banks Must Offer Higher Rates

That's the only way to convince those who have money to return to the bank fold,...

Why Bank HRs Are Under Pressure Suddenly

Employees across segments, including those involved in specialised jobs such as...

How Will Economy Perform In Samvat 2079?

The likelihood is that India will maintain a moderately upbeat economic tempo -- well...

MFs Are Putting Investors' Money At Risk

Mutual funds, as experts and custodians of another set of retail investors' savings,...

Don't Miss Signs Of Economic Slowdown!

Don't be surprised if growth in the second half of the financial year drops below 4%,...

How Long Will GST Growth Continue?

It is now becoming increasingly clear that rising imports have played a significant...

Ban Loss-Making Companies' IPOs!

The most important step is delivering what is needed -- a fairer IPO pricing, notes...

Has Modi Done A Good Job On Exports?

Seven years after Modi took office, merchandise exports were lower in 2020-2021 than...

Reimagining Venture Capital

Ajit Balakrishnan on keeping an eye on democratising finance in India.

India Needs To Shift To Modern Economics

Old ideas contained in the heads of old economists still dominate.That's not good,...

Are Indian Markets Decoupled From Developed Markets?

Just because India has outperformed the US markets in a short recent period, it does...

Expect Another Rate Hike In December

Probably 35 bps.There could be even an encore in February 2023 to take the policy rate...

RBI Norms Don't Tackle Illegal Apps Menace

Of the 2,562 customer complaints received between January 2020 and March 2021, a...

India 2022: Huge Economic Challenges

Every patriot should learn from our history and recognise that celebrating size will...

Bad loan recovery process can get worse

Since the bankcuptcy law came into effect from December 2016, with every quarter, the...

Why is Sebi hesitant to ban retail algos?

Because they have become too big and pervasive and the time to regulate is long gone,...

What Was The Secret Of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala's Success?

His advice was to always start with small positions because we are bound to make...

Banks Made Profits of Rs 1.57 Trillion!

If the banks throw caution to the winds for building loan books, the hydra-headed bad...

Chips: Can India Be A World Leader?

Is self-reliance the right approach in a mega-buck game, or better to be part of a...

When Will Banks End Customer Harassment?

The branch managers have come out of their glass cabins and the sellers' market has...

The Rakesh Jhunjhunwala I Knew

A family man, a confident investor, someone who was sure two decades ago that India and...

How Social Media Turned Porn Upside Down

Social media allowed them to connect even more directly with potential clients, and...

Clearly, RBI is not worried about growth

This is why it can fight out inflation, chin up, observes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.

Over To Rain Gods To Lift Consumer Mood

The 6.7% growth in Index of Consumer Sentiments in July 2022 is the highest since...

Can India Overtake Turkiye, China?

India's growth in the last three financial years has averaged just 1.9%.It is natural...

DON'T WORRY About The Rupee!

The currency market won't care for our moans, groans, cries and sighs.The rupee will...

Will Govt Cut PSBs Loose?

Merely bringing down the government stake below 51% may not find any taker for the...

Will RBI Rescue Banks Again?

Many banks' profits will take a hit and a few of them could even end up being in the...

What Zomato, Ola, Paytm Need To Learn

Start-ups don't care that mad-money funding comes to a hard stop after an IPO, observes...

Want Stronger Rupee? Manage The Economy

India's politicians need to do a better job of managing the economy: Inflation control,...

RBL Bank: Strange Corner Office Changes

One thing is for sure: It smacks of the regulator's lack of confidence in the bank's...

Both Customers And Banks To Feel Pain

Shifting to floating rate deposits can work as an anaesthetic gel for some customers,...

Capex Has Taken New Turn Under FM

The dividends for the economy from such a rapid rise in capital expenditure would be...

As US Fed Sneezes, Will India Catch A Cold?

If the central banks act harshly now, the markets will crash and then rally.If they are...

Challenges before NITI Aayog's Suman Bery

The most immediate challenge for growth is the disruption of the global economy brought...

Significant Increase In Industrial Jobs

The growth is particularly remarkable because it comes at levels higher than during the...

What Rise In Interest Rates Means For Banks

With the rise in interest rates, bond yields have been on the rise; this will dent...

Inflation: Was RBI Caught Napping?

The RBI's mistake may have been in interpreting its mandate to maintain retail...

Sebi And Phenomenon of Confusing Rules

Since 2016, Sebi has made many rules to prevent unauthorised trading by...

HDFC-HDFC Bank: Great Marriage, But...

But there are challenges, observes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.

Labour Force INCREASED By 8.8 Million In April

This is one of the largest monthly increases in the labour force, observes Mahesh Vyas.

Banks' NPAs never went away, they were only hidden

Indeed, there were frauds, and the politician-banker-industrialist nexus played a role...

What Went Wrong at Axis Mutual Fund

Following the money and freezing anything unaccounted is the only way to set an example...

The T-Shirt Wars

Ajit Balakrishnan on the evolution of a cultural symbol.

Revealed: Our Banks' Financial Health

We'll need to wait a couple of years to see how many restructured loans turn bad and...

At 38.2 mn, unemployed would be largest in any year

It would be larger than even in the pandemic year of 2020-2021, notes Mahesh Vyas.

NSE's Colo Case: Will CBI Do What Sebi Didn't?

It is the biggest issue we have ever faced in the securities market, where a sensitive...

Jugaad An Insult To Indian Innovation?

'When resources are few; when frugality demands repairing a broken thing rather than...

Why RBI Announced Rate Hike In May

In its scheme of things, tackling inflation now comes ahead of ensuring growth in the...

Too Early To Cheer Up On Economy

So, while it is great that India's numbers look relatively good, don't raise a cheer...

Global Economic Crisis:What India Can Do

The employment situation remains dire.Whatever can be done to promote greater low-skill...

Workforce Shrank By 3.8 Million In March

What the labour market statistics of March 2022 show is India's biggest sign of...

India MUST Create Programming Languages!

Why hasn't India produced a single earth-shaking idea like Python or the World Wide...

Are Banks In Good Shape?

Flush with liquidity, banks are eager to lend. And, therein lies the problem, warns...

The Pension Challenge Confronting India

When we look at the pension expenditure of the states, so far, there has been no gain...

Rahul Bajaj, World's Favourite Indian

'Rahul inspired Indian industry with an ethos, an ethos of being more confident, more...

Middle Income Groups See An Uptrend In Income

This is reflected in an improvement in their sentiments as well, explains Mahesh Vyas.

Playing Moneyball With The IPL?

'Did the Moneyball philosophy get redefined in the domain of the cash-rich IPL, which...

How India Can SHOCK-PROOF Economy

Since jobs will remain scarce for the foreseeable future, an unemployment allowance...

Stock Markets Unconcerned About Inflation

We have not suffered such huge price shocks across so many basic commodities, at the...

Why Are FPIs Bailing Out From India?

Since October, FPIs have sold over $26 billion worth of stocks, which is the largest...

Post-Ukraine, Nirmalaji Must Revisit Budget

Budget has already bombed at the box office and passing it without a revisit will be a...

As office reopen for business, REITs may be a draw

Distribution yields could rise, but risk of Covid, higher interest rates remain.

'Auto is an extremely attractive bet'

'Valuations are very attractive, and most companies are cash-rich with strong dividend...

India Wants To BUY At Last!

A change in the desire to buy consumer durables is perhaps the most important indicator...

Who Are India's 'Unemployed'?

An overwhelming proportion of the unemployed declare their nature of occupation as...

How Regulators Can Stop Being Puppets

'All regulatory agencies must be made Constitutional bodies like the Election...

Start-ups, IPL & the Veblen Effect

India added three unicorns per month in 2021 to nearly double the overall number to...

NSE Rot Goes Deeper

The rot is is not limited to Chitra Ramkrishna and the yogi, observed Debashis Basu.

Why Has RBI Scrapped Polymer Currency Notes Idea?

The RBI has shelved its plan for polymer notes more than a decade after it invited...

Nirav Modi has been dethroned!

If there were an Olympics for bank frauds in India, Rishi Agarwal, founder and former...

Suez, de-globalization, and a Semiconductor Fab

'If the almost literally heart-stopping Suez block has any positive outcome, it is to...

Managing Internet tech change wisely

Ajit Balakrishnan on learning from past technology revolutions.

NSE Outage: Interoperability won't work

While most brokers have upgraded their backend systems to trade, their front-end...

Why are More Women Jobless?

Indian women have education, inspiration and perspiration -- but not enough employment,...

Covid will have long-term effect on economy

'The finance ministry's decision to accept the deficit target of 4.5 per cent in...

Diesel at 100!!!

'The question often being asked is whether the demand for petrol and diesel is price...

When will EC ban loan waiver poll promises?

Every political party loves to use the bait of loan waiver to woo the electorate. If...

Economy is recovering, not Employment

The return of the unemployment rate to pre-lockdown times is not worth celebrating...

India's BIG BREAKOUT Moment

After years of disappointing growth, the economy and the markets are poised for a...

What is the RBI governor up to?

What is killing the risk appetite of the bond buyers is the inconsistency in the...

The MYSTERY over NSE's Feb 24 'tech glitch'

It is mystifying how the NSE, a near-monopoly, gets protection, as the February 24...

4 ways Nirmalaji's Budget is different

But it is disappointing to note that Sitharaman's third Union Budget continues to...

Will PMC Bank find salvation?

Mired in corruption, politics and with a history of suicides by its hapless depositors,...

The Budget: A Reality Check

Do the actual numbers bear out the claims made by the government or do they suggest...

Nirmalaji, what about growth beyond FY22?

We will find it difficult to exceed an average of 5 per cent growth in the medium term,...

Beware Zohnerism!

Zohnerism drives our daily consumption of news and shaping our understanding of most...

Visionary Budget or worse than Pranab's?

The sad truth is that the debt-to-GDP ratio will shoot up close to 90 per cent in the...

Questions to ask about the Bad Bank

Why do we need a bad bank, owned by the banks themselves when there are at least 28...

Employment: Glad tidings from January

January 2021 more than recovered the loss of employment of the past three months, notes...

Why's Modi going against his natural instinct?

The promise of a less suspicious government is surprising.What about the disconnect...

Will the real Mr Modi please stand up?

Human memory about policy issues is short.That alone can explain why many are...

Is Modi stepping onto a minefield?

A faltering economy may have led to a re-think on economic strategy. And Mr Modi might...

Netflix-ication of print media in India?

Monetising online readership, a deeper focus on content and getting revenue from the...

When will Modi cut high taxes on fuels?

The logic of deregulation was that the consumer was protected no matter what the price...

Why households are unhappy with the Budget

The finance minister did very well for equity market investors but not so with...

Services will steer India's future economy

Whether one likes it or not, services constitute the value-addition sector that the...

All hail Modi's 1st BJP Budget

The Modi government is notoriously honest about one fact: It does not listen to...

Mr Modi, time to pay back middle class on fuel prices

It is time he stood up and assured the middle class that they can count on him as one...

Nirmalaji must wield the whip. Often

'Let us hope that this Budget delivers.''It needs 10 per cent plus real GDP growth in...

Budget has a vaccine for banking's virus

Of the three major Budget announcements related to the banking sector, privatisation of...

For banks, the option is to go digital or die

Bankers need to take a call on whether they will allow technology firms to run banks or...

Budget 2021: No evidence of an economic strategy

There are several welcome standalone reforms, but these do not add up to a coherent...

Not a Budget for Employment

It is important to increase employment in general.It is even better to increase good...

Another storm brewing on Wall Street?

Given the dimensions, it is bound to have at least ripple effects across markets. Could...

Gold monetisation scheme: What you must know

Banks and friendly neighbourhood jewellers can serve as good channels to provide...

Two cheers for the Budget!

While a DFI will help banks derisk their loan portfolios, creation of a bad bank will...

India Inc has no RISK APPETITE for UNICORNS

That's because India does not have a serious venture capital industry with an appetite...

Why does the FM ignore JOBS issue?

The Economic Survey will remain a documentation of the government's resolve to not...

India's growth story is over

You can make all the speeches you want, you cannot argue against 39 straight months of...

Budget: Nothing but Housekeeping

The Budget would have been the perfect vehicle to introduce some bold initiatives. That...

Will this Budget be a 'Game Changer'?

That is what you will hear again after Nirmala Sitharaman presents a speech that will...

20-somethings account for 80% job losses

Those who lost jobs in December were women, graduates, post graduates, salaried...

Will the Bull keep running?

Markets are assuming that by the second half of 2021, the world will be approaching...

What will Nirmalaji do on February 1?

If Nirmala Sitharaman does indeed present a 'never-before' like Budget on February 1,...

K V Kamath: What will drive India's growth in 2021?

If we work together with dedication, concentration and effort, we should be able to...

Time to privatise government owned banks

The only feasible way to have a healthy banking sector could be making it mostly...

Economy requires a BATTLE PLAN!

'In India's case, using wrong information, and recourse to off-budget borrowing, masked...

SCARY! Huge increase in unemployment

The count of the unemployed mounted to 38.7 million in December 2020 compared to 27.4...

Why Xi Jinping 'fixed' Jack Ma

Alibaba's pervasive economic and social influence in China is seen as a threat to the...

Economy to bounce back next year!

The economy has shown sharp resilience in the past and has also bounced back in good...

Let ex-servicemen partner farmers in agri cooperatives

The government should set up agricultural co-operatives in every cluster of villages...

Budget must provide a realistic road map

'But can it afford to present a scenario within the existing legal framework of fiscal...

Complacent banks will turn dinosaurs

In the new decade, the scene will change because the banks till recently had been...

What to make of this bull market?

It is impossible for anyone to explain how markets are hitting record highs during an...

2021 will be under 2020's shadow

'In the real economy, the scars of the pandemic will continue to define 2021.''It is...

How economies changed in 10 years

Even as both India and the world struggle to re-build after COVID-19, they face...

Rana Kapoor: Banker gone Rogue

'The book captures Rana Kapoor's hunger for real estate leading to bungalows in Delhi,...

Why are govts out to de-fang FAANG?

So far, there seems to be limited debate about their activities in India, where...

Corporate India cut wages amid soaring profits

The cut in wages by companies whose operations were not shut by the lockdown was more...

How we can avert 2021's Climate Crisis

'To keep the next catastrophe at bay, a carbon free economy will be an imperative.'Our...

No Country for Young Working Women

'By November 2020, men recovered most of their lost jobs, but women were less...

Modi needs to listen to our economists

We have a government with an extremely weak economic team advising a PM who hardly pays...

Is Yes Bank out of the woods?

'Infusion of fresh capital, handsome growth in deposits and focus on recovery should...

Markets are sending clear message

The broadening of the market rally sends the signal that growth will be broad-based,...

Govt response to the pandemic was right

The government kept its nerve in the face of a massive shock. It chose not to resort to...

Will this Budget lower income tax?

The budget-making exercise offers golden opportunities despite challenges, observes...

Does Modi want small companies to fail?

India has too many small companies and this is inefficient.It should instead have only...

Why Wistron vandalism is bad for India

'The workers's dance of wilful destruction has the potential to kill all investments...

COVID fallout: Markets crowded, but malls empty

What can malls do to entice customers? Brand coach Ambi Parameswaran has a few...

Why be afraid of businessmen owning banks?

Bad loans of PSBs are at Rs 20 trillion.Most of it is, I sense, due to corruption and...

What will Nirmalaji's Budget give us?

Can the finance minister manage our expectations, asks A K Bhattacharya.

What I got when I flew Air India for Rs 169,613

Even a rump Air India could not hope to get away with the shoddy service and scrappy...

How not to be a shoddy manufacturing nation

If India wants to become a globally competitive manufacturing hub, it will have to...

Should we be afraid of corporates entering banking?

If indeed the gate opens for big industrial houses, the RBI needs to be smarter than...

No escape for Modi Sarkar from extra borrowing

Clearly, the extra borrowing of Rs 4.2 trillion the government has planned so far will...

Why it is hard to call a bubble in tech stocks

It is not clear as to whether we are in a bubble in technology stocks. What is clear,...

Economic recovery is not complete

The recovery seen in the increased economic activity till September or October is...

Lakshmi Vilas Bank had dug its own grave

Its obsession for growth, chasing corporate clients and giving up its original mandate...

We must have just 2 rates of income tax

10 per cent for those who earn up to Rs 30 lakh a year and 25 per cent for those who...

Corporate-run banks: Will depositors benefit?

The most common complaint of financial consumers is cumbersome processes, complicated...

As India Inc's profits soar, wage bill falls

The lockdown has taught companies a lesson or two on running business with fewer human...

How long will savings, profits, stocks remain high?

How long will the RBI allow the government to borrow cheaply?A change in policy...

Covid is driving demand for gold loans from banks

For the first time, consumers, including those at the so-called bottom of the pyramid,...

What kind of economic recovery will we have?

The only path to recovery of the economy lies in profit growth that triggers off...

Listed cos increased headcount in a bleak year

These companies provide better quality jobs and so it is particularly reassuring to see...

43,000 cr! That's how much banks fleeced borrowers of

The RBI, which has no interest or mechanism to get feedback from bank customers, is...

Two routes to atmanirbharta

Both India and China talk now of self-reliance when their external trade, in relation...

Reimagining Industrial Era GDP measures

...and getting GDP to measure India's data economy, recommends Ajit Balakrishnan.

How to get banks to restart lending to corporates

Let all the stakeholders, especially the government, remember that if the Make in India...

A case for raising defence FDI to 100%

Access to India's defence market must be made conditional -- available only to those...

Paying farmers for not burning stubble is wrong

To justify that farmers must burn if they are not paid cash incentive is doing...

How can Nirmalaji raise more revenue?

Every option before the finance minister comes with a price tag, observes T N Ninan.

Will there be less account engineering?

IThe fiscal deficit target for 2020-2021 was originally set at 3.5 per cent of GDP.But...

Jobs: October has some bad news

Keeping the employment rate from slipping is challenging.To merely keep the employment...

Do SBI Cards' bad loans have a deeper meaning?

If credit card delinquency spells trouble, there may be questions with regard to the...

How RBI can prevent frauds

Historically, the RBI has tried to keep the crooks at bay by issuing a circular a day....

Bangladesh may overtake India this year

Bangladesh might overtake India this year by per capita income in nominal dollars, but...

Digital currency: China leads. India must catch up

India should not be left behind. It should join the seven central banks which are...

Is this tech bubble like the one in March 2000?

Are we seeing a replay of March 2000? What are the similarities and differences and how...

India needs to create 8 mn jobs every year!

Nothing in India's recent history suggests that India can provide 8-9 million jobs a...

How about a Hammurabi Code for financial offences?

Scams happen with high regularity because the price of getting caught is...

India's electronics manufacturing dream

...but are we chasing yesterday's dreams, asks Ajit Balakrishnan.

Oil levies cushion revenue shock for Modi

The oil sector has been quite lucky for the Modi government.It has often provided an...

Virus has done for Modi what IMF did for Rao

That's why he is now finally focusing on the two things that alone can help: Fiscal...

The good and bad news on jobs

The labour participation rate tells us how many of the working age population are...

Will Modi's second push on economy succeed?

There will be uncertainty about outcomes,but one must hope for the best, observes T N...

Does Modi want to FIX the Economy?

The problem is major, and the problem affects hundreds of millions of people.Ignoring...

Good to see Bikhchandani, Banga on the rich list

'To all the MBAs that burn the candle at both ends, travel half-a-million miles every...

Meet SBI's new boss

DDinesh Kumar Khara is someone who cares for others's ideas and suggestions. If he...

Control Covid for economy to recover!

Unless we control the coronavirus, we are going to struggle to get our economy and...

Why is RBI copying US Fed?

'India is not so distant from years of high and entrenched inflationary expectations...

Reforms are about implementation, not announcements

'The promises of netas and babus and new laws, however well-meaning, mean little.''What...

India's tax regime and the Vodafone problem

The manner in which India has allowed the rule of law to be subverted for over eight...

Why Modi chooses protectionism over pragmatism

'There can be no dispute over the adverse impact such a policy will surely have on...

Auto industry must do well for economy to do well

'Given all the linkages, the monthly registration data for new vehicles, may well be...

Why is RBI allergic to 55-year-old bankers?

Is the RBI unable to accept with grace that beyond 55, one can have the ability to head...

Lockdown wipes out job gains since 2016

The biggest loss of jobs among salaried employees was of 'white-collar professional...

What Modi must do to boost growth

'The answer for a quicker boost to growth is simple -- run a much larger deficit, use...

How to solve financial sector's $75 bn problem

'The solution is to enable a graceful transfer of the deposit and funding 'franchise'...

Why is Vistara making such huge losses?

Market estimates suggest the airline has already totted up Rs 1,800 crore of losses in...

Where will multi-cap funds find small-caps to invest?

And if there are so many opportunities, why haven't they invested in them, asks...

Loan moratorium: Who will pay interest?

If banks cannot charge interest from borrowers during the moratorium, who will bear...

PM Modi, you have time on your side

The last three prime ministers who served full terms started out in their early 70s. Mr...

Why ED is the best bet for the Kochars

The agency's poor track record in convictions is the only light at the end of a rather...

GST payout: Why Centre is avoiding a vote

The question on who should borrow from the market and whether the borrowing will be...

Indians' love for things foreign

...Is this a virus more dangerous than Covid-19, asks Ajit Balakrishnan.

What economic crisis will do to India

'This encourages escapism through the politics and economics of nationalism, made worse...

5 reasons why economic recovery will be slow

Risk aversion is currently a dominant depressant to economic recovery, points out...

Rs 8 trillion of banks loans will be restructured!

What will be its impact on the banks's balance sheets? Since banks need to provide for...

India lost 21 million jobs in the Covid lockdown

There were 86 million salaried jobs in India during 2019-2020. In August 2020, their...

The truth about India's ease of doing business claim

'The recalculated ranking showed India should have had a higher ranking earlier (113 in...

Has economy de-linked from coronavirus?

'With the June quarter GDP shrinking by nearly a quarter, there is an even greater...

GST needs a political fix, not a legal one

This is a moment when the leaders at the Centre and states must show true leadership...

Why Tata's buyout of Air India makes sense

The industry is hoping the Tatas deepen their dive and offer two stable airlines -- a...

What's better about new taxpayer's charter

Apart from its enforceability through courts due to it being part of the I-T Act, two...

When Pranab clashed with Manmohan, twice

Pranab Mukherjee's stewardship of the economy will stand out as much for the manner in...

Jobs for youngsters dwindle in slowing economy

'The 20 to 24 age group accounted for 35% of job losses till July.''The 25 to 29 age...

Faceless assessment and the problem of tax arrears

'It may be prudent not to plunge into a new online tax appeals system in one go, which...

My Business: Gone with the Covid

'Covid or no Covid, I knew I had made the right decision (calls from my bank to extend...

The Rise and Rise of the Attention Economy

'The attention economy is making it economically valuable for us to spread our...

Loss of Salaried Jobs in Lockdown: 17 million

'Loss of these urban salaried jobs is, therefore, likely to have a particularly...

GDP crisis: Is there a way out of the gloom and doom?

'The government has said it has kept its powder dry to fight the true battle against...

Brand Dhoni in 2025: Boom or bust?

Will retirement bedim the sparkle of Captain Cool, asks ad guru Sandeep Goyal?

The 5 wise men who will decide corporate loan recast

Under the watchful eyes of five wise men, who know the industry well, banks will not...

Portnoy's complaint about Warren Buffett

When it comes to Mr Portnoy, it is hard to claim that his trading patterns are any more...

Time for Modi to use India's market size as a weapon

Opening up India's market to neighbouring countries can be as strategic as access...

Will Sterlite verdict put investors off Tamil Nadu?

What will the Centre and the Tamil Nadu government do to answer the queries and fears...

The curious case of the SBI chairman

What makes the SBI case even more curious is that the government didn't insist on a...

Why Modi's tax charter reads like a cruel joke

'Under this government, tax laws have become more draconian, and the government itself...

Corporatising OFBs: An idea whose time has come

'The much-awaited decision could be a welcome change at a time when the Indian armed...

The Work From Home Revolution

Will it trigger a social and management revolution as well, asks Ajit Balakrishnan.

The looming banking crisis no one's talking about

The financial sector has been deeply troubled since 2013. It is now in a full-blown...

How can Modi rescue the economy?

The government may have to resort, eventually and however unwillingly, to printing...

Should market experts be part of RBI's MPC?

'Three external members of the first MPC are respected researchers with excellent...

18.9 million salaried employees lost jobs in lockdown

While salaried jobs are not lost easily, once lost they are also far more difficult to...

India is in a financial mess

'In a serious fiscal situation like this, an ostrich-like focus on annual budgeting,...

An economic recovery is underway, but...

The recovery momentum could be petering out well before the recovery is complete, notes...

How to protect investors from stockbrokers

The problem is with the broking model and what brokers are allowed to do, notes...

Connect the dots: Reliance, ITC, SoftBank

Mukesh Ambani is stringing in new partnerships within the Reliance ecosystem with the...

When an American professor worked at the RBI...

'We get to know secrets such as some of India's top-rated firms do not always make...

Happy and happening: Seenagers rock!

They have everything they wanted as a teenager - only they seem to have got it all 50...

Airtel's Sunil Mittal: 25 years of mobiles in India!

India is today the second-largest telecom market in the world with over a billion...

Jobs: Lockdown hit young, women most

While the lockdown hit employment in all age groups, it hit the employment of...

Jobs return to urban India at last

The employment that is returning is mostly essential services required by Indian...

Why reduce bank CEO to a titular head!

'The CEO will neither be able to guide the senior team in operational matters nor...

How did the Twitter hack happen?

The hack may have been done by a rogue Twitter employee, or it may have been a smart...

Modiji, this is your last chance

'The most important thing to do is to stop taxing citizens so brutally,' recommends T C...

Why are our banks so secretive?

'The finance ministry and public sector banks have tried to keep the names of wilful...

Let's prepare for coming economic war with China

India has no option but to shut China out, notes T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.

Is the worst over for the Indian IT sector?

The IT industry advisories show that they think they've weathered the worst, observes...

The Mystery of Rising FDI as GDP Slumps

'An explanation perhaps lies in the culture of revisions that has grown deep roots in...

Hinduja squabble: Lessons for business khandaans

'India is home to the third-largest number of family-owned businesses in the world.'...

Modi and the problem of 2 minute presentations

'It won't be easy to undo the damage that has been done to the economy by the lockdown...

$30 bn Sale & Leaseback of India's Internet Economy

India's Internet economy has two choices: An immediate $30 billion Sale-and-Leaseback...

Securing the Future of India's Internet Economy

'Google and Facebook need to be tamed, their garb of 'Investing in India's future' need...

Economy will determine Modi's political future

'Mr Modi has a huge opportunity before him.''Whether he grabs it the way Mrs Gandhi did...

Why we import what we do from China

We import from China not because we love China, but because they sell us these things...

7 out of 12 PSBs made losses in first quarter

'The PSBs ended up recording Rs 7,709 crore losses in the March quarter compared to the...

Modi needs to listen to good advice

Listening -- really listening -- to advisers in the government and outside would...

How India can be truly Atma Nirbhar

'India's future: To manufacture so efficiently that we do not need protection,' says...

COVID-19 vaccine: The Need for Caution

History shows us that even effective vaccines could have unknown side effects that...

Economy: Why Modi must be on guard

'The road ahead for the government's fiscal management will be full of many new...

Want to buy a house? Now is the time!

'This is for the first time home loan rates have dropped below 7 per cent,' notes Tamal...

What every investor must know about the bull run

'When fund managers talk of being bullish for the long term, they assume strong...

Work has begun in urban India, but, differently

'Usually, urban wage rates are 50 per cent higher than rural wage rates. But, this...

Do you use Fintechs? Read this please!

Fintechs need to behave with responsibility and transparency. A lot of mis-selling has...

Why advertisers are boycotting Facebook

'This is the first time there has been an attempt to use market forces to counter...

Is Modi afraid of expert advice?

It is time the government cast its net wide for seeking expert advice on managing the...

India should hike defence spending to 4% of GDP

'As for tricky relations with China, India needs less of summitry type event management...

How the RBI's new home finance rules affect you

'Real estate loans are given in the garb of retail loans, sourcing money cheap from the...

Can Indians live without Chinese imports?

'India imports 70 per cent of its bulk drugs from China. Are we going to live without...

Want to know what India's top bankers are up to?

The bosses of SBI, Union Bank and Central Bank have been driving down to their offices...

Sell household gold, revive the economy

'There is a misconception that gold is a dead asset in India.''Around 30 per cent of...

Modi, mines, viprit buddhi

Yes, India needs desperate measures to kick-start growth. But selling off its lungs to...

How oil holds the key to India's economic health

Every time the Indian economy has faced headwinds due to international developments,...

India's road map for a $5 trn self-reliant economy

'The first year of the Modi government's second term has laid the roadmap for the...

Does Modi Mean Business?

'Anyone can string together a few alliterative words, but are they a substitute for...

Hurrah! Unemployment rate falls as India unlocks

'People are getting back to work.''The worst seems to be over.''It is very likely that...

Are we over-celebrating 'work from home'?

Microsoft top boss Satya Nadella feels the increase in productivity has come at the...

India's 1st smart city is set to take off in a big way

'Initially, Gift City was just another real estate project, but all that changed with...

Covid-19 is an opportunity for real estate sector

The timing is ripe for the creation of multiple special situations realty focused...

Is anyone using the loan moratorium?

'Banks have to be braver, willing to take more risks and give confidence to the...

2 out of every Rs 5 the govt spends is borrowed money

When emerging from this crisis, the govt must consider a fresh approach to reviving...

How reliable is India's GDP figure?

'Given that the economy is going through a slowdown, further downward revisions of the...

EXPLAINED: What is Fiscal Deficit?

Do the words 'fiscal deficit', whenever they come up for discussion anywhere - be it...

Why Modi flunks the economic reforms test

There is a pattern to the Modi government's economic decisions.The follow-up, the...

Death knell for printed books, newspapers?

Or a brief stop on the way to better times, asks Ajit Balakrishnan.

Bankers are COVID Warriors too!

'Like doctors, health workers, police, bankers are also COVID warriors,' notes Tamal...

Andaman & Nicobar can attract Hong Kong investments

'Leaders of the Indian community in Hong Kong had broached the idea of developing the...

Nirmalaji, junk rating agencies, save the economy

'It may sound like sacrilege, but does it really matter if the global raters downgrade...

We need more Rajiv Bajajs in our boardrooms

'Businessmen like Rajiv render public service when they speak truth to power,' observes...

The Marie Antoinette of Indian politics

'Everybody knows that any solution would upstage and expose official bungling.''That is...

India Inc, stop whining!

'Instead of wailing about the absence of tax benefits, the private sector should press...

Work from home forever

'Employees may well be expected to be on call at almost all times -- much like the...

Explained: How P2P lending can help us

'As banks grapple with risk aversion and savers see an erosion in the value of money,...

Unlock 1: 3 challenges facing India

'When the lockdown grounded a billion people, nothing had been planned well: Testing,...

How Mukesh Ambani re-invented Reliance again

Dhirubhai may or may not have owned the government; it would seem his son wants to own...

EPS woos investments, but is the environment friendly?

In the midst of huge job losses as a fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, Tamil Nadu...

How the military can get a bang for every buck

The best available recourse to keep the defence sector healthy, is to source most of...

Renovate a house in flames without dousing the fire!

'The stimulus message was tagged on to what was meant to be an exhortation to...

Explained: What the RBI is telling banks

'Credit expansion is probably the quickest way to get the economy going again.''Easy...

What the future holds for the economy

Will people buy as many cars as before if more office-goers are working from home? How...

FDI shifting from China to India? It's a bad joke!

'The belief that FDI will shift from China appears to be a strategy of politicians to...

122 million jobs have been lost in the lockdown

'Over 27 million youngsters in their 20s lost their jobs in April.''33 million men and...

Why it makes sense for banks to lend to MSMEs

'In times of recovery, we may see a rural-urban divide with the urban pockets affected...

Modi has become a great reformer

Whether it took the corona crisis to bring about the transformation, or otherwise, the...

Modiji, 7 ideas for a new India

'Now is the time for India to course correct and for the government also to course...

A better world after Covid?

It is time to shrug off the ideological shackles about the way we work, play and live,...

Does Modi lack courage about the economy?

'Modi has not lacked courage in the political sphere. It is time he showed it in the...

Can Modi dig India out of the COVID hole?

'A balanced head plus heart approach would be a full opening up of the economy...

Be warned! Dark economic times ahead!

'Two consecutive quarters of negative growth are the technical definition of an...

Petrol, diesel prices depend on govt, not crude rate!

'I have no problems with the finance ministry or with state governments treating petrol...

New FDI policy may hurt India's start-up dream

'As much as $4 billion in India's start-up companies has come from Chinese...

12 suggestions to solve India's COVID-19 economic woes

'A total overall of the existing way of working by abolishing taxes and allowing...

RBI wants to end lazy banking

'Banks are being encouraged to lend instead of parking their resources with the RBI and...

Why Franklin-type fiascos will keep happening

'MFs acted as reckless lenders and not as prudent investors.''Clearly, how debt funds...

Unlocking the lockdown will be even tougher

'How do we ensure that the unlocking, which is desperately needed for earning income...

How COVID-19 spoilt India's oil bonanza

'The impact of COVID-19 on the economy has been so overwhelming that even a significant...

There is simply no escape from printing money

'This is not without risk because extraordinary steps taken in exceptional times have...

India's tweaking of FDI norms aimed at only China

'India-China economic ties are likely to take a hit in the wake of the new situation,...

Post lockdown, Modi must be bold to revive economy

'Once the lockdown is lifted, we will need the mother of all fiscal and monetary policy...

Will RBI's rate cut force banks to lend?

'One way of doing this could be offering credit guarantee to the banks, say 10 per...

COVID-19 crisis: How small businesses will survive

'Their dharma propels them to pay their workers; otherwise, they know the boys would...

The challenge of the lockdown

'How the lockdown is phased out or lifted will tell us if the government has succeeded...

For many, this is not a lockdown, but a knockout

'The economic impact of this lockdown is evidently huge.''Its impact on the livelihood...

BIG headache awaits banks this September

'We do not know when we will get to the business-as-usual mode.''Many borrowers may not...

What should the RBI do next, Mr Das?

'No one cares about fiscal deficit now. Or for that matter, inflation.''The focus is on...

The economy is in crisis

'We may have moved back three decades on the fiscal situation,' notes T N Ninan.

Hail the power of networks!

Not just in the fight against COVID-19, but also in politics, economics and society,...

How India Inc is making the most of PM-CARES

'If the government was serious about co-opting the corporate sector meaningfully in the...

Explained: The 3-month loan moratorium

'Common sense says if one can afford, servicing the loans during this period is a...

The Economy: What Modi must do after the lockdown

'The telecom companies are our lifeline now, despite having nearly collapsed under debt...

COVID-19: Job loss, salary cuts are BIGGEST worries

'A large number of people are suddenly waking up to the fear of losing jobs,' says...

Can economy recover after COVID-19, lockdown?

'It is hard to imagine a sector which will not be violently affected by the health...

Revisit the reforms process from a new perspective

Now that the coronavirus induced economic mess has provided the occasion, opportunity...

5 MUST-DO actions for the Modi government

The government has an opportunity right now to save Indians from deep recession, and in...

Should govt declare a financial emergency?

'So far, no government has imposed a financial emergency in the country,' notes A K...

Budget, the other casualty of COVID-19

'Even before the outbreak of the flu, it had become clear that the tax revenue numbers...

The financial world is a dangerous place

Banks can collapse, markets can be rigged, investment instruments can become worthless...

Why private healthcare is important to fight COVID-19

'Most of the testing capacity in India is in the private sector.''Whether it is the...

Fiscal stimulus is not the need of the hour

What might be useful is targeted assistance to those sectors and individuals that are...

In India, jobs the biggest casualty of coronavirus

'The impact of economic sho­cks on the labour markets is usually on the young who delay...

Why is the stockmarket reacting like this?

'If the epidemic is sharply contained in a month or two, we have a huge buying...

How the world will change after coronavirus

'Tens of millions will be working from home for months at a time, which means the...

When will Modi privatise railways?

'The new trains should be fast, but the roll-out of the privatisation plan should be...

Why did RBI take this route to save Yes Bank?

'The RBI has not allowed any commercial bank to fail in the past three decades.''It has...

Economy: Are shoots of recovery visible?

'While growth will bounce back from the current sub-5 per cent, it will stay lower than...

6 important economic lessons of coronavirus

'The coronavirus epidemic highlights the need to start thinking more actively about...

Doctors, lawyers and academics on strike

Ajit Balakrishnan offers a thinking man's guide to the angst of the professions.

What Modi needs to know about economic problems

'As the 1991 experience showed, the solution to a large trade deficit may be to open up...

The Saffronisation of Corporate India

'All these incidents go to show that the day of the anodyne, apolitical corporation is...

Has Modi given up on the economy?

'The government has given up its focus on economic growth because it it not something...

Public sector banks are not out of the woods yet

'The snakes and ladders game will continue till the consolidation process is complete...

Magic pill to revive growth

How do we get back to higher trend growth?The heart of the problem lies in private...

Why do economists like Raghuram Rajan leave India?

The ones who came more recently were clutching the green cards that gave them an escape...

Let India's telecom sector bloom

'All the three stakeholders will have to sacrifice their current position and find an...

Will this RBI plan boost growth? Or dent it?

'The assumed linear correlation between forced lower yields, higher bank borrowing from...

Make in India is not a strategy, it is a logo

'Modi's strategy to redesign India's economy was Make in India, but that has flopped,'...

Why will anyone opt for tax amnesty scheme?

'Appellants may not lap up the scheme because, first, to do so would amount to...

I just called to say I love you

Has the advent of technology made it easier, or more difficult, for brands to...

Should India allow foreign money to finance deficit?

'If such inflows materialise, what will be the effect on the rupee's value -- and...

Budget: Government must explain the numbers

'Nirmalaji's Budget announcements have long-term implications and are not backed by...

Why only 15 million Indians pay tax

Mr Modi should be conscious that it was his choice to slash the number of tax-payers...

Why did FM deviate from fiscal deficit target?

The government should have mentioned clearly the specific structural reforms that were...

Are the markets forecasting an economic recovery?

'For those looking at forward-looking signals for the economy from the stock markets,...

Who is Prasanta Pattanaik, Padma Shri?

Had he not been a student, admirer and follower of Amartya Sen, T C A...

Why the current slowdown is more serious

'What is unusual about the current period of slow growth is that it has come without an...

India has 76 million entrepreneurs!

'Wage earners are shrinking. In both, the organised and unorganised sectors. And,...

Has Nirmalaji's tax plan made India CAs mukt?

If the finance minister's tax proposals have stimulated demand at all, it's for CAs,...

If your bank goes bust, how much money will you get?

'The new ceiling will cover around 93 per cent of all deposit accounts, up from 90 per...

Slowdown: Is there an end in sight?

The Economic Survey seems convinced that 2019-2020 saw the bottom of the economic...

It does not look like a 'do or die' Budget

'More a show that you are doing something in the Budget even if that something never...

Does Modi dislike Budgets?

'The Modi doctrine of national Budget is clear now.''If six of these in a row did not...

E-commerce in India: To be or not to be

Ajit Balakrishnan offers a thinking man's guide to e-commerce controversies.

Redefined in Budget 2020: Who's an Indian resident

No attention to detail seems to have been paid while introducing such a major provision...

Should India hike duty free allowance?

Samridhi Bhardwaj analyses the dynamics of duty-free liquor allowance in India.

How to judge Nirmalaji's second Budget

'The next general election is four years away. That's enough time to recover --...

When will Modi's priorities shift to the economy?

'It is almost certainly wrong in assuming that the Modi government will use its strong...

Will Modi take swadeshi route to privatise Air India?

'Air India's privatisation is acceptable as long as its control does not pass on to a...

When, o, when will PM shift from ideology to economy?

'India is growing at the lowest rate in the last decade.' 'If it continues in that path...

Being evil pays. Does it pay enough?

Construction companies will make money building detention centres. Information...

Watch out for Michael Patra at RBI!

'I am sure Dr Patra will get the fullest cooperation from the finance minister who...

Budget 2020 has failed to live up to expectation

The immediate need is to put more money in the hands of agriculture-based and rural...

India, you have a problem

'The global corporates are concerned: You used to have policy predictability, now it's...

The Problem With Budgets...

'There is a time for lowering one's expectations of the economy -- and therefore not...

Do Modi's ministers understand business?

Piyush Goyal's comments about Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's investment in India reveals...

Return of the Bharatiya 'Baniya' Party

'The BJP has shown signs lately of returning to its trader mindset.''Several strong...

The mistakes companies make...

How Bajaj, Colgate, Raymonds, Zee lost out..Strategic errors have hurt many companies,...

How India can return to higher growth rate

'The slide in growth has arisen primarily because we have an NBFC crisis on top of a...

A fragile economy can't afford social strife

Neither the CAA nor the proposed NRC are important enough to stake the well-being of so...

2020: Equities will remain in favour

Amid slowing growth and low interest rates, investors will need to focus on...

Coming soon! The end of public sector banks

'We may bite the bullet and draw up plans for privatisation.''If that is done now, the...

Budget 2020: What Nirmalaji must focus on

'The economy has to become the government's No. 1 priority, which it is not at the...

How India can improve quality of data collection

As a well-wisher of the Indian Statistical System and part of the system for more than...

How to Fight Slowdown: Demand Revival Is Key

'The current crisis is one of incomes, driven by poor job growth, agrarian distress and...

Let's pray we see closure of bad loans

'When bankers are hounded by investigative agencies for credit decisions going wrong...

How will India's telcos survive?

'While consumers have benefited tremendously from rock-bottom telecom tariffs, the...

Air India's prospects of finding a buyer look bleak

'With a less than comely bride and no dowry to speak of, the prospects of landing a...

IBC: A game changer

'By not only decriminalising routine business failures, but by ensuring that...

Let's stop making cash the villain

Ajit Balakrishnan offers a New Year resolution for our policy-makers.

Coming soon! AI in Indian courts

'It is feared that AI can predict the outcome of a case once it is launched.''It knows...

Will Modi find a buyer for Air India?

'Industry observers are certain the next attempt will succeed even if they have to...

2020 is a critical year for the Indian economy

'If India can only grow at 5%, why bother spending time on the country?' asks Akash...

Will India Inc separate chairman and CEO roles?

If India Inc sincerely feels the separation of posts is not a good governance measure,...

Modi may shut Air India by June

'The Modi government is trying hard to see if it could be sold to a private...

In advertising, to err is human

'The advertising business, methinks, needs to tone down a bit. Take control of itself,...

Do you know what Modi's AMs are, and what they do?

'The AMs are a different beast and reflect the political play within the...

Nirmalaji, time has come to modernise Budgeting

'The finance minister in her Budget speech should spell out how exactly she intends to...

Job losses are inevitable in IT

'The focus for IT companies will shift from adding scale to building a smaller, more...

Where have all the women bankers gone?

Women dominate Indian banks's clerical and officer rolls, but few make it to the...

Modiji, enough of politics, focus on economy now!

'With the big political job done, the time has come to pay attention to the economy,...

Industry-Mody govt: A new phase?

'What stood out at these meetings between industry representatives and government...

Catching criminals via FASTag? Why ever not!

In a country where crimes are rampant, including financial crimes with ATMs sometimes...

4 mistakes Modi made with GST

'Perhaps GST was too complex a system for the Indian economy at its present stage of...

Is India's economy crashing?

'Defence funding is channelled to State-owned research organisations where scientists...

2020 will see fresh challenges for banking

'Given the emerging trends, it may be time for India to embrace digital banking,' notes...

Arvind Subramanian: How India can address Slowdown

'The current budgetary practice of shifting expenditures off-balance sheet in order to...

Why are banks afraid of trade unions?

Individual banks should break away from the industry pact and have their own...

How voice & video will dominate in 2020

'What amazes me the most is that today users communicate with voice-activated speakers...

Why Budget 2020 will be different

In fact, no other recent Union Budget has held so much significance for the Indian...

What Nirmalaji should say in her Budget speech

'We have set out a timetable to reduce income tax rates for all incomes below Rs 50...

Economy very close to hitting crisis point

'The Indian economy is in slowdown and growth may stay slow,' notes Devangshu Datta.

Do you know who owns listed companies?

'Institutional ownership, by December 2018, had increased 37.5% from approximately 22%...

2019: Year of reality check

From promoters losing their firms to consumers realising there are no free lunches,...

For Modi, politics trumps the economy

Perhaps the calculation is that economic recovery will have been achieved before the...

How BJP could have avoided CAA storm

'The majoritarian solution is what the BJP always prefers.''But this solution suffers...

The uncertain times continue for banks

It is difficult to say if the banking sector will see the worst behind it by March...

Why BJP should be grateful to Rahul Bajaj

'A close relationship between India Inc and the government cannot help the BJP win...

How will you revive economy, Mr Modi?

'Mere fundamentals will not do the trick,' cautions former commerce secretary Rahul...

Why Bajaj continues to be super

The Bajaj Super could not be called a pretty scooter, but it was sturdy and reliable,...

What Modi got wrong about the economy

'There has been far too much overconfidence about the size and composition of the...

How has the RBI governor fared in Year1?

'The no-rate cut policy and preference to wait for the Budget and clarity on the fiscal...

Why is India Inc so scared all the time?

'India Inc has been afraid to criticise the government of the day for many years now,...

Beware! Economy headed for greater trouble

'The large scale and widespread shrinking of the labour force in November, the peaking...

How far will the Cybertruck go?

'The unveiling of the Cybertruck seems to me the turning point in the design and...

Rao-Manmohan reforms are outdated

'Those who are talking of adopting the Narasimha Rao-Manmohan Singh policy must...

Rahul Bajaj and his phantoms of fear

'I suggest Rahul Bajaj come out in the open and give us his own white paper on the...

Do we know where 150 million Indians spend?

'Being one of the 150 million upper middle class consumers, I can vouch that the...

Nirmalaji, don't waste this chance!

'When growth drops precipitously from 7% to 4.5% in four quarters, it is for all...

Why it's still difficult to do business in India

Do a straw poll of any business friends and you will laugh and weep at what they go...

Is Modi going the Manmohan way?

'The Modi government, like the Singh one, has run into what is called a perfect storm,...

The telecom mess has just got messier

'Tinkering will not do. Merely staggering spectrum dues comes nowhere near solving the...

How will Modi fix the terrifying jobs crisis?

'The rise in unemployment, underemployment, discouraged workers and job insecurity is...

Making computers intelligent

Computers need to be trained to recognise images, says Devangshu Datta.

Is India Inc against gays?

'It is inconceivable that there are no gays working in Indian corporations but...

What is made in India AI?

'Perhaps a better question to ask would be: Is this 'Made for India'?' asks AI expert...

What matters is employment, not unemployment

'The high unemployment rate being witnessed today is not only the highest in three...

Modi must oversee India's trade policy

India needs a National Trade Policy Council, chaired by a minister who reports directly...

How to revive the real estate sector

'The government has to stop trying to fix things for lenders, projects, homeowners and...

How to give the economy some animal spirit

Fix India's real estate sector. Fix India's public sector banks, advises Tamal...

Can India get to $5 trillion?

'There is a fiscal crisis building up, which might become apparent when the Finance...

3 failures: Why the RBI is in a mess

'When an institution believes its knowledge and capability is superior to everyone, it...

How to remove Delhi's smog

'It is time to think up a policy of incentivising farmers in the states around...

Why did India's building craze halt?

'The real estate sector has been badly bruised because it has become too reliant on...

India and the economics of good intentions

Good intentions are best left to political parties, governments and religious...

Time is running out for Lakshmi Vilas Bank

'It's a toss-up between a fire sale of equity or merger with a strong bank,' points out...

7 ways India can improve its investment climate

'From the investor's point of view, a real change would happen only when business...

How India's exports can gain from global slowdown

'If global growth continues to be sluggish, India instead could potentially take a...

4 reasons why India said no to RCEP

'It seems a wiser decision to pull out at the right moment than regret after joining...

The truth behind India Inc's wage 'rise'

'The 5.3% growth in wages per employee is the lowest growth in nine years,' points out...

The Poverty Puzzle

There's no silver bullet to get rid of poverty, says Alok Sheel.

Would you pay to see Sachin, 46, bat today?

'Can Tendulkar recreate the magic of his youth?', asks advertising guru Sandeep Goyal.

Is our money in the banks safe?

'Clearly, the depositors of cooperative banks need the maximum protection.'

How to get out of the Great Indian Slump

'Should the most important part of economic reform not comprise the way we look at the...

High Onion Prices? Modi must do nothing!

'Let the high price of onions clear the market, matching supply with demand.''Let onion...

Whistleblowing and handling whistleblowers is tricky

'Handled poorly, it could either lead to a witch-hunt in organisations that is fertile...

Staying out of RCEP will come at a cost

It became increasingly clear that the real negotiations the government had to conduct...

Abhijit Banerjee and the mystique of the Nobel Prize

Does Abhijit Banerjee's Nobel Prize help India reduce extreme poverty, asks Rajeev...

What Modi can do to tackle slowdown

'Event management can distract from, but not permanently mask, execution failures,'...

Worse news awaits the economy

'Without bold action to deal with our banking crisis, count on the economy's doldrums...

Why 100% FDI in real estate will actually help economy

'As of now, foreign investors are the only viable source of long-term funds for the...

Why does Dr Banerjee provoke BJP ire?

'Mr Modi would compliment a Nobel Prize winner, but members of his party or the...

India should foster innovation, not stifle it

'India's main focus needs to be on policies that foster innovation and freedom for...

6% growth rate looks like optimism

'Growth would have to be 7% in the October-March period, if the year as a whole is to...

How India can get back on high growth path

'The revival of household savings and investment is the litmus test of whether we are...

Can CEO Rakesh Sharma do a Houdini on IDBI Bank?

'Is the worst behind IDBI Bank? Can its managing director and CEO, State Bank of...

Why Modi wants to sell government assets

'Fiscal purists would quarrel with the idea of selling assets to pay for current...

How India can grow at 8-10% for over a decade

The cost of doing business in India is much too high and adversely impacts...

How to fix the PMC Bank crisis

'Put the assets of PMC Bank and the personal assets of the HDIL promoters and head of...

Influencing the influencer

'An influencer is expected to have upwards of 100,000 followers across various social...

Bhagwat's message to Modi

'By holding forth on Swadeshi economics, Bhagwat is showing his intent to fight back,'...

Why awards and rewards to revenue officers must go

'In a highly rotten system, favourite officers are given rewards even when there is no...

Can corporate tax cuts boost growth?

'Tax cuts will have only marginal effects in the short run and significant positive...

Why onions make us cry

'Electronic media splash sensational headlines of the bulb prices about to cross the...

Does Nirmalaji know how to turn the economy around?

'We can only hope that the government has finally 'got it' and will stay focused on...

India must stop being the West's digital colony

'India missed the software products revolution (and now is in danger of missing the...

Time for a states income tax?

States could then stop complaining about the Centre and fashion their own economic...

Does China have much to celebrate these days?

'The leadership is confronted with an economy growing at its slowest pace in 20 years,'...

Markets are fearlessly giving Modi the bad news

'If you ask India's finest business leaders, they now tell you -- in whispers, of...

Reforms badly needed in India's trade policies

India's export share in global trade has been close to 2 per cent now for over five...

How Banerjee-Duflo's economics is relevant for India

For Duflo and Banerjee, an important part of their work has been ensuring that the...

What's the truth about the fiscal deficit?

'Why do we make finance ministers go into contortions, to tell us that near 6% is...

Why did govt sack so many tax officers?

'If more than 60 commissioner-level tax officials were compulsorily retired in the span...

Chennai Connect doesn't improve India-China trade ties

China had been trying hard to enter the Indian market, without opening its own to...

How Sitharaman can cut India's fiscal deficit

'The intention of the government is to bring back the economic growth trajectory and...

How the BoB-Vijaya-Dena merger was executed

'The market may take time to digest this merger but it could be a template for the next...

How Modi, Xi can tackle the trade deficit

'Since the bilateral deficit is a reality -- and a worry -- we need to find a way to...

Tourism in India is set to scale greater heights

'Today, hospitality and tourism are one of the biggest job creators and India is the...

Great expectations over India-US trade issues

Some reversal of unilateral ad hoc trade policy measures may have been all that was...

How Bangladesh pulled ahead, what India needs to do

Piyush Goyal, the minister for commerce, said in an interview the other day that he...

'Loan takers will benefit at the cost of depositors'

If the interest rate on bank deposits is linked to any external benchmark, it would...

IndiGo's penny wise, pound foolish ways

If the airline could work out flight disruption arrangements with other airlines that...

India's toilet challenge

'India's achievement will go a long way in the world meeting its Sustainable...

A bit of economic history from Indira's time for Modi

'Indira's decline was spectacular. The Arab-Israel Yom Kippur war, followed by the...

FM's booster dose has a few unanswered questions

'Though I welcome the reduction of tax rates for corporates, I wonder why the benefits...

Does India have enough skilled labour?

'Is the labour market full of people who cannot find jobs or does it also consist a lot...

5 things PM Modi must do to revive economy

Luckily for him, Modi once again has a golden opportunity to go down as a great...

Should the govt borrow to fund capex?

'From lenders or purely fund raising point of view, money could more safely be deployed...

India's aviation sector needs to fly with caution

In the domestic market, the industry could actually do with more consolidation. Fewer...

The curious case of Lucknow's Bhartiya Micro Credit

'Only a forensic audit can answer the questions the lenders have but don't dare to...

PSU bank mergers is worrying because of its history

These banks are all owned by the same promoter, and the promoter is broke. That...

Will US-China trade conflict lead to a currency war?

'The initiation of a currency war could mark the opening of a new front in the US-China...

With external benchmark RBI has created a new mess

'Under the floating rate system, when interest rates go up, banks are quick to increase...

Is 9% growth possible? The answer is yes

'The goal is achievable. What is stopping us from getting there?' asks Aakar Patel.

How the government should recruit its economists

'In order to qualify to even apply for the job of CEA, the applicant should have worked...

Implementing reforms has been govt's biggest challenge

'Administrative delays and hiccups in implementation have typically been the bane of...

Is the current government smarter than Einstein?

'For a Union minister to mock the basic maths behind criticism of the government's...

A tax puzzle that's almost impossible to solve

If the tax revenue growth remains as tepid as 6.6 per cent, the revenue shortfall would...

From minding cows to minding algorithms

Ajit Balakrishnan on handling the transition to the Information Age.

4 trade reforms that India urgently needs

'The current institutional arrangement that disperses strategic decisions to the...

Nirmala Sitharaman kisses fiscal restraint goodbye

'Already, tax revenue has been running well short of targets. Along with the undeclared...

Inequality can push a country into deep recession

In the second part of the series, Pranab Bardhan there is evidence that inequality has...

Why we should worry about growing economic inequality

'Attempts to redistribute income from the rich to the poor through progressive taxes...

Indian economy is like a man with aggravated hydrocele

'The Indian economy has become like a car that has the appropriate wheels on one side...

When advertising created celebrities

Sasha Chhetri, the Airtel 4G girl, is a better known face across India than most...

Technically, the unemployment rate in J-K is zero

'There is no one to offer jobs to the unemployed. And, there is no business for the...

India Inc and the march of foreigners

'The most successful Indian firms are setting the trend, make the current partnerships...

Economy is the elephant in the room

Prime Minister Modi should realise that his favourite preoccupation of India's standing...

Deed done, now to make mega bank merger work

'We can't have the best of both worlds -- large, efficient, world class...

Slowdown is almost entirely due to salaried persons

'Unless income grows fast enough to outpace price inflation in services, which are in...

Economy, trade are new megatonnage of strategic clout

'When your economy is growing at 8 per cent or above, it is a case of what you might...

Let us have a trade Akhand Bharat

'We have not been able to use the potential of our location in the region and the world...

How ordnance factories can reclaim their lost glory

'Corporatisation is not only in OFB's interest and important for its long-term...

Modi needs to engage with macro-economic policy

'Key personages in the government, and that includes the prime minister, engage...

So what's next in the stock market?

The fact remains that it is almost impossible to predict the course of the stock...

Why Indian banks keep missing the bus

'The government should seriously contemplate a gradual reduction of the ownership and...

Modi's tryst with India's wealth creators

'The private sector is now the engine for economic growth. Mr Modi's statement on...

How a micro-loan revolution can tackle growth slump

'A large theoretical and empirical literature in development microeconomics suggests...

Someone in PMO needs to tell Modi he is the problem

'The problem seems to be this: Whereas as chief minister Modi was anxious to draw...

What ails India's aluminium industry

'The government needs to take immediate steps to provide a reprieve from multiple...

Why list of corporate frauds in India is getting long

'Governance has been a serious concern in Indian companies (mostly family-owned)...

Long haul awaits the economy

'Other than addressing the problems of cane growers, the government has done little to...

The twin challenges facing Modi

If Manmohan Singh was hobbled by allegations of sleaze and a stagnant economy, Modi...

Death of India's telcos

'In the headlong rush to 5G, pause to ponder: How much capital invested in 4G will be...

Modi, Manmohan, Atal: All the PM's economic advisors

While his predecessors, Manmohan Singh and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had trusted confidants...

What Indian CEOs can learn from Lee Iacocca

'The legend that was Iacocca may be difficult for any to rival despite millions of...

Who influenced banks to give loans to Kingfisher?

Why did the banks take such a large exposure to Kingfisher? Did a few politicians and...

Why govt should not withhold permission to GM crops

'The ill-advised policy of denying such useful and sought-after seeds to the farmers...

The impending return of the book

Ajit Balakrishnan on why an anti-digital wave like the anti-carbon one is around the...

Why Arvind Subramanian is wrong on overestimated GDP

'No one has so far showed problems in the MCA data (only the Central Statistics Office...

Knocking economics has become a popular sport

'But the world would be much poorer without economics' contribution to understanding...

Even Pakistan's growth rate is ahead of India's

'Misplaced national priorities have brought the economy to a cul-de-sac,' says...

Economy: Modi II will have to undo Modi I's damage

'If businesses are focused on de-leveraging, they can hardly be investing. This is the...

Why women show up as 'inactive' in stats despite work

'It is a shame that the female work participation rate is still abysmally low.'But it...

Case against jump-starting corporate bond mkt in India

'Instead of synthesising bond markets with steroids loaded with economically distortive...

How to recapture the spirit of 1991

'In 1991 the right rhetoric was backed by major policy change driven by a committed...

How cash-starved Modi govt plans to prune expenditure

'If the current mood in North Block, headquarters of the finance ministry, is anything...

It's time for Modi to make hard choices

The confluence of an impossible trinity at home and natural, economic, technological...

The real source of tax terrorism is the government

'The deeper problem is big government -- a giant monster with a giant appetite, which...

Manufacturing vs services imbalance at tipping point

'Over the first four months of this financial year, services exports fetched $74.05...

The big GST puzzle

'The concept behind GST is that the best and most efficient way to compensate the poor...

Like in 1991, animal spirits need to be revived

'On every rational count, today's India is in dramatically better shape than 28 years...

Employment hope is still alive in urban India

57 per cent of the respondents believed that the jobs situation would improve in a year...

Are the 'golden years' of housing real estate over?

sentiment of end-users as well as investors who previously banked heavily on...

Why Modi may no longer be in denial on economy

The reasons for the prime minister to speak to the readers of an economic newspaper and...

Why banks don't pass on rate cut benefits to customers

The largest contributing factor to such practice is the pile of bad assets. Banks do...

The economy needs another wave of reforms

The Bankruptcy Code and the GST are a good start. But reforming land, labour, power,...

Why interlinking of rivers is a dangerous idea

A disruption in low salinity layer of water because of massive damming of rivers under...

Modi needs to do a 370 on economy

'Modi must pull off the economic equivalent of his Article 370 coup. No one thought it...

Recipe to tackle India's economic slowdown

A structural shift to meet the demand for affordable health and education of reasonable...

Quick fixes won't revive the economy

'No one should labour under any illusions. Without structural change, sustainable...

India's growing coffee culture

Indian coffee shops market over the next four-five years will grow between 6 and 18 per...

Old India is still sceptical about funding start-ups

Though startups find 17 mentions in the Budget speech of the finance minister, and have...

India Inc's premature exuberance for J-K

Since investment demands political and social stability, the Centre needs to offer...

Where does Modi get his economic advice from?

This question has been puzzling observers of the Indian economy for the last five...

Why we need Jal Chaupals in our water-greedy cities

India beats even China and US in groundwater extraction, which is perhaps why the rate...

'Subir Gokarn was an outstanding macroeconomist'

I was impressed by his sharp intellect, his ability to connect the dots in...

In India, business is always a soft target

We can only solve the inequality and growth problems if we allow the private sector a...

What is holding Modi govt back on the economy

'The Modi regime is not willing to use its huge political capital for taking any...

The problem with the economy is much deeper

It is meaningless to discuss what the government can do. The road map is unknown, the...

Is the govt right in issuing sovereign bonds?

India's total hard currency debt as of end March 2019 was $ 543 billion of which $...

Opting for a lighter touch, the Jaswant Singh approach

Can even the most powerful and best-intentioned minister guarantee that the...

India's exchange rate policies are flawed

If net forex outflows turn out to be relatively high in the next few years, the rupee...

2019 shaping up as a summer and winter of discontent

With Indian companies still tackling the fallout of the triple shocks of...

How to become a true 21st century tiger economy

'Just look at how India has succeeded in doubling the population of its tigers in the...

Why RBI will cut rates further this fiscal

Given the various risks to growth, one could argue for rate cuts to be deeper than the...

How to cleanse the rating agencies' mess

All raters need to go for Sadhguru's internal cleansing process through a forensic...

A bureaucrat's transfer

Why did the government think it was necessary to shift Subhash Garg from the finance...

Feels like the 'Hindu rate of growth' all over again!

While Prime Minister Modi grapples with serious matters of State so very successfully,...

Who's to blame for these horrific airline 'accidents'?

DGCA, the main pilot flying the airline or the commander in the pilot's seat need to...

How govt can arrest flight of FPIs from Indian markets

In addition to easing monetary policy, investors would like to see more attempts to...

3m contractual workers in auto industry are vulnerable

Contractual labour is vulnerable independent of whether it is engaged by the organised...

Why rain harvesting doesn't work in India

'The State cannot harvest rain; people have to be involved.'It has to be done in every...

Did Zomato err by engaging with an aspiring bigot?

By responding to the customer in question, Zomato forgot the basic norm of business...

4 ways India can overcome its water woes

As one of the fastest urbanising countries in the world, Indian cities would continue...

How the insolvency code changed to stigmatise failure

'The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016 was essentially meant to enable smooth and...

Au revoir, brands?

The current focus on data to measure marketing success could herald the end of an era...

How the banking sector is getting privatised

'If private banks hold on to their role as growth drivers, it won't be long before they...

This is no recipe for strong economic growth

If the market players and businessmen had paid attention to the government's actions,...

Essar Steel: A perverse bankruptcy judgment

The NCLAT's order is offensive because it goes against every tenet of bankruptcy...

Should nationalisation of banks be reversed?

A debate on whether State-run banks need to be privatised or not is a superficial...

Will Ravneet Gill manage to 'save' Yes Bank?

Enjoying the backing of the regulator, Gill has identified the core problems,...

2 preconditions for Budget's growth strategy to work

'The Budget provides the clearest statement of the government's intention of...

BJP's Big Problem: No economic thinkers

'How do you deliver wealth when you don't have the slightest idea about it?' asks T C A...

India can't afford flight of entrepreneurs and capital

'The super-rich -- entrepreneurs, CEOs, CFOs -- are generators of wealth. They already...

Don't we Indians matter too?

If foreigners need reasonable taxes, why offer citizens something else? If foreign...

Should India's next be a well-being Budget?

'Perhaps India can become the first emerging economy to present a well-being Budget or...

Why it doesn't feel like economy is growing at 7%

The 7 per cent GDP growth estimates presented now by the official agencies do not...

What Nirmalaji said and meant

'A buoyant market economy is one which is led by the innovation and imagination of...

50 years of nationalised banks: Time to celebrate?

The 50th anniversary of bank nationalisation is an appropriate occasion for the owner...

The rise of India's Silver Generation

The seniors are no longer just being used as props in happy family photographs in ads....

Budget done, over to the RBI now

'With low inflation and fiscal prudence, we will see more rate cuts in coming months,'...

India must have a future in Electronics

'It is in electronics that the gap between where we are and where we need to be is most...

Nothing but a political Budget

Note that the Budget speech's focus on rural India is part of a carefully constructed...

Budget does little to provide growth impetus

'Alas, there is no "big bang" reforms package in this Budget,' says Shankar Acharya.

Budget an exercise in hiding bad government finances

'No Budget has so far has addressed the issue of the government's abysmal productivity...

Where the Budget falters

'The future will lie with countries that stay ahead of the globalisation curve and...

Budget: Govt to tighten screws on tax avoidance

'The government believes there is still significant scope to bring more people under...

Budget: The joke's on the middle class

'That Modi and the BJP can continue to treat the rising and expanding middle class this...

Did the Budget ignore the fiscal crisis?

'The Budget numbers presented severely underestimate the magnitude of the unstated...

Sitharaman's first Budget is progressive and visionary

The Budget is impressive in its clarity on both the destination and the direction, says...

Share buyback tax was not warranted

Levying buyback tax at a flat rate of 20 per cent (plus applicable surcharge and cess),...

Talk to Me: Paradigm shift how we consume information

And if you have started wondering why such innovations come only from American...

English Cricket, Bank of England: The Great Revival

'These are interesting days for watchers of English cricket and central banking,'...

Is market pricing for water the solution?

The only way water will be used efficiently by consumers is if they have to pay an...

Does India really need imported economists?

Today, with growth having slowed and macro-economic challenges in every direction,...

The Jet brand that Naresh Goyal built

Even in ruin, Jet retained its one essential brand quality: Dignity, says brand guru...

We've no idea what we are going to do in next decade

'An era of fiscal pessimism is setting in, which, if not countered intellectually, is...

The vision is missing, Nirmala-ji!

Nirmala Sitharaman's maiden Budget has not disappointed but vision and details,...

Shaktikanta Das on how RBI handles crises

The central banks' role is important, both during normal as well as crisis times. While...

Time is a luxury India does not have

'Is India going to miss some more of its potential demographic dividend?''If so, it...

'Fresh start', a big challenge facing the MFI industry

The origin of the challenge is the so-called "fresh start" process.Many in the MFI...

Column: What led Viral Acharya to quit RBI?

Although this may not be music to Raghuram Rajan and Viral Acharya's ears, the real...

How Modi can rescue the economy

''I have been saying for the last 25 years, to no avail naturally, that the only...

Budget is a 5 year Test match, not a one-day event

'The fiscal situation is stressed (when is it not?!), economic growth has slowed, tax...

India's wine drinkers deserve better

'Wine is an indicator of the quality of life,' says Alok Chandra.

No knights in shining armour on the horizon

Hopes of radical approaches to some of the daunting problems of India, kindled by the...

Still a long way for women to inherit land

There is a drastic difference between genders in the right to inherit land. Over a...

The way forward for #MeToo

'Awareness should be raised; protocols and procedures, and reporting mechanisms must be...

Two major tasks for Sitharaman

First, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, much-lauded as a game changer, needs serious...

What Indian brands don't understand

'Indian creative and digital agencies seem to be completely missing the mark,' says...

Can Modi 2.0 improve the economy?

Change will have to begin with Mr Modi, who by all accounts has shown little active...

Why I salute Azim Premji

'Azim Premji has given away about one-and-a-half lakh crore rupees of his wealth.''Most...

Jobs data: Less ambiguity likely

Users of employment / unemployment statistics can enjoy the benefits of -- initially...

Modi 2.0: Realty likely to get a shot in the arm

A host of dynamic reforms, policies and announcements during the last five years are...

Modi 2 must improve India's tech competitiveness

In the era of the fourth industrial revolution, mere tinkering with existing government...

Modi must now stop imitating the Congress, turn right

'If Modi wants to help the poor and get the credit for it as well, he must do what...

Why I stopped being my bank's 'priority' customer

'I know margins are under pressure, but have banks begin to stoop so low to enhance...

Three cheers for Khan Market!

'Khan Market is useful if not central to our existence,' says Kishore Singh.

For Nirmalaji's immediate attention!

'No one seems to have looked at the extent of money that is being borrowed by...

6 suggestions for Nirmala Sitharaman, India's new FM

Tamal Bandyopadhyay offers some unsolicited advice for a government wh,ich came to...

Major issues facing Team Modi

Falling private sector investment and farm distress are problems that call for...

India must be ready for slower growth

'Since the growth is not fast enough to provide jobs for the young, the fallout will be...

Mystery of the missing price rise during elections

'How does one square up the fact that despite the infusion of money at election time...

What Mr Modi must avoid in his second five-year tenure

Modi

Can Project Insight end tax evasion?

It's possible to curb tax evasion using high-end technology. But it requires an honest...

How China's BRI is making inroads into Europe

'Chinese companies have acquired stakes in 13 ports in Europe, including in Greece,...

Let's find new ways to clean up banking

'In their over-enthusiasm to clean up the system, both the banks and the regulator...

Modi2 must focus on the economy!

'If he were to ask me, I would tell Mr Modi that the real Congress legacy he has to...

Grim economy awaits next PM

'The Budget will have to be substantially re-cast as soon as a new government takes...

Is there a possibility of next rate cut?

Probably in August. We can argue whether RBI is dovishly neutral or neutrally dovish...

Is Mindtree saga a disaster in the making?

Acquisitions are done to synergise with existing offerings of firms; to strengthen or...

GST and the skewed 60:40 formula of the Modi govt

It is possible that the Centre has now become wiser and has decided to follow an...

Giving wings to startups

Ajit Balakrishnan offers a recipe for creating 100,000 plus angel investors in India.

Digital India: Modi's unqualified success

'The digital economy will generate 60 to 65 million jobs by 2025, 20 million more than...

Are farmers in India and China losing the plot?

Lack of literacy is compromising the ability of farmers in India and China, two of the...

Jobs, the most important issue among voters toady

It keeps getting harder every day for the government to drive its narrative that ample...

FMPs crisis: Lessons for all to learn

'Why are FMPs used as a vehicle for promoter funding against listed shares?' asks...

US diktat: Why didn't PM stand up for India?

The Modi government caved in under American pressure without even token resistance.Two...

Very tough times lie ahead for next govt

'The new government will have to contend with slowing economic growth, weak private...

India needs a weak coalition government

'A rag-tag coalition is more insecure and hence, more inclined to reform,' argues...

Can India evade US's Iran oil sanctions?

Whatever be India's course of action, it will have an impact on India-Iran ties, notes...

Challenging times for Vodafone Idea

'Vodafone Idea has losses running over Rs 10,000 crore in the last four quarters.''It...

The Jet Crisis: Please answer these questions!

'By August 2018, it was evident that Jet was heading into serious financial...

How govt can save the ravishing hills of Kumaon

Uttarakhand's Kumaon hills are setting new standards in dirt and poor solid waste...

Why election manifestos make little sense today

A political party's manifesto is the first stage of building a compact with the voters...

Raghuram Rajan's sermons

'Dr Rajan is often preachy with commandments aimed at nobody in particular,' complains...

What will Modi 2 give India?

'What will this supposedly more business-friendly government do if it gets a second...

Will Supreme Court finally end RBI's supreme conceit?

For the past 10 years or more, the RBI has been turning down dozens of applications...

The dark side to 100% electrification of India

India has achieved 100 per cent electrical connectivity, but 100 per cent...

4 key reasons why elections don't impact stock markets

In prior elections, not only have opinion poll forecasts been very different from the...

India may be entering a Goldilocks period

'The attempt to build a negative narrative about India's economic performance is...

Frying pakoras, becoming chowkidars no one's ambition

The BJP needs to worry about the kinds of professions it has landed up glorifying --...

Why bank chiefs are worried about their pay structure

The RBI wants to include shares and options within the variable salary of the CEOs,...

How CM Modi showed us what PM Modi would be like

The expectation that Mr Modi would be a major reformer, capable of reinvigorating the...

There is only one way to measure employment

It's high time we now turn the popular question on its head -- when there is no growth...

A job for the next prime minister

'Once we are past this electoral season, during which all promises are presented as...

The 4 factors that will revive India's growth story

GST rate cut for real-estate, income transfer scheme, farm loan waivers execution and...

BIGGEST mistake that Jet Airwars made

An overriding ambition to rule the domestic skies prevented Jet Airways from becoming a...

Why is Uday Kotak being singled out for his bank's success?

'I find the RBI edict to the Kotak Mahindra Bank to reduce Uday Kotak's shareholding...

How cross-border listings will help India

Such listings will help internationalise our currency, give us economic heft, compel...

Why benchmark rate for bank loans is still an illusion

None of the four benchmarks suggested by the RBI is ideal as banks in India create loan...

Are mutual fund investments really SAFE?

The Securities and Exchange Board of India does not seem to have understood the...

Modi Sarkar's Rs 6.26 trillion bonanza for PSUs

Modi government's story of five years with regard to equity allocation for PSUs shows...

What LIC needs to do to turn IDBI Bank profitable

While IDBI Bank's 140 million customers and 1800-odd branches will come in handy for...

The mighty fall of India's business czars

Who is to take their place? Will a new generation of entrepreneurs start up with better...

The digital disruption that is tearing through Indian media

Zee and Star, the two largest media companies in India, are undergoing some radical...

The year of living dangerously in Karachi

'Rawalpindi must downsize its quest for 'strategic depth' in Afghanistan and Kashmir,'...

Why it will be difficult to prove Kochhar's 'guilt'

Regulators and investigators around the world have access to sophisticated tools making...

Why FY20 may be a difficult year for the PSUs

While the five years of the Modi government have indeed seen a healthy increase in...

How India's demographic dividend is being eroded

Rural and urban regions present different labour participation and employment levels....

Travesties of the basic income scheme

Alas, the 'basic income' schemes that have hit the headlines in the recent past are a...

Lessons India Inc can learn from Kochhargate

Banking is a boring business but still the banker should enjoy it as fancy awards and...

Why is Modi wooing the aam aadmi?

'Should you give a man fish, or teach him how to fish?' 'Lurking hidden in the new bout...

Only a govt job is considered real 'employment'

'...because of its permanent nature.''If you work for the private sector or for...

Why FY20 may be a difficult year for the PSUs

While the five years of the Modi government have indeed seen a healthy increase in...

How Piyush Goyal managed to walk a very tight rope

Governments make budgets to retain and consolidate their hold on power, not to please...

Selfless, faceless civil servants and their truly heroic acts

Enabling the online booking and payment for Indian Railway tickets is one such case....

A 4-point formula to boost farm economy

The formula for success of farm economy is very simple -- farmers should be able to...

The nuts and bolts of Kochhargate

In the first of a two-part series, Tamal Bandyopadhyay explains why the ICICI Bank's...

Govt needs to keep a tight leash on expenditure

The negative aspect about the Budget is that the capital expenditure has been...

Why political class is betting on welfare spending

There appears to be a growing perception among the political class that faster growth...

Budget rebate for individuals not as bold as it seemed

Even if the same party returns to power, what is important to debate is that having...

The REAL story behind India's employment data

Is India witnessing jobless growth or is there actually no issue with employment? The...

5 things Modi got right on the economy

'Good economics isn't necessarily bad politics, or vice versa,' says Shekhar Gupta.

If GDP is over-estimated, the tax targets are too high

'We get an overzealous army of tax inspectors pushing the economy too hard,' says Ajay...

An interim Budget with all the features of a full Budget

Forget about interim Budgets, one cannot easily recall even a full Budget of any...

Indian advertising agencies are changing

'The list of things to be done or added or removed will keep growing and it will be a...

Alas, Kochhar is NOT kosher

'I am not surprised that hubris brought Chanda Kochhar down. It would appear that as a...

Why are our passports so shabby?

'Why can't a country that builds and manages airports of acknowledged excellence at...

Mystery of the 'vanishing' jobs data

Given the rapid changes in the Indian labour market, there is an urgent need to have...

Challenges facing the 3 musketeers of Indian banking

What connects P S Jayakumar of Bank of Baroda, V Vaidyanathan of Capital First Ltd and...

Tax returns go hi-tech

Within the next two years, verification and scrutiny of returns will happen...

Capital infusion won't fix PSBs

Those behind recapitalisation are neither aware nor do they care.After all, they have...

Can India grow at 9-10% in 2022-23?

Niti Aayog's plan to create a 'New India' in less than four years should invite...

God help our economy

Given Indian corporates's high indebtedness, new credit will be used for servicing...

Trai-ing times dawn for TV viewers

Trai's regulatory intervention was supposed to stimulate the market, but the latest...

Shaktikanta Das's biggest challenge

The RBI governor has to convert the zero-sum game with the government from a...

India's West-South vs North-East mismatch

'Persisting with the inequalities, indeed seeing them get worse, is no one's...

Why India's insolvency law lacks bite

Woefully inadequate infrastructure is just one of the many reasons why a case is not...

Can India still catch the R&D bus?

China has consistently spent more than 2% of GDP on R&D while India's expenditure...

Where to hedge in 2019

Continue to invest normally unless prices fall drastically in April-May.If prices do...

The Great Property Crash

'In many parts of the country, the empty nest-and-empty-nest egg story is a painful...

Do you know what a Fudget is?

'Will Mr Jaitley listen, or is that expecting too much in pre-election season?' asks T...

The vanishing middle manager

Can business schools re-invent their role, asks Ajit Balakrishnan.

What 2019 holds for the banking sector

The evolving RBI-government relationship, a reversal in the interest rate cycle and...

How Bharat can escape vicious poverty and debt trap

Why do hundreds, and in some cases, thousands, turn up for a single vacancy at the...

The story of the Rs 2,000 note

Some genius assumed that a 2,000 note could seamlessly replace 500s and 1000s in...

What to expect on the tax front in 2019

India is on the brink of overhauling its tax system, implementing the BEPS project and...

Energy is India's key challenge in 2019

The country must get its act on global alliances right in order to feed its fuel-hungry...

Don't write off payments banks, yet

While payments banks surely lose money, their operating ratios were looking better in...

What RBI governor needs to do

'Trust your new governor,' Omkar Goswami advises RBI Deputy Governor Viral Acharya....

An open letter to the RBI governor

Central banking is a science, not an art, Tamal Bandyopadhyay tells RBI Governor...

NBFCs are not banks!

'We are all in a tizzy about NBFCs in the aftermath of the IL&FS default.''We tend...

The Little Guy is the Indian Person of the Year

'No matter how many government schemes there are for the poor, the system works more...

Jobs, cash and other Indian headaches

Is it time to take a relook at our economic theories? asks Ajit Balakrishnan.

Lessons from the Fortis/Raymond family feuds

'Nothing in this world is permanent. So also in business.''And more so in family...

Only industry can solve agriculture's problem

The challenge for politicians is that the continuous electoral cycle favours...

Why RBI cannot pay Rs 3.6 trillion to the govt

Neither the foreign exchange, nor the gold, and certainly not the revaluation reserve...

TV had a good year in 2018

'Through the year, we heard many talk about the increasing time spent on digital. But...

Social media influencers to #metoo, 2018 was a 'brand' new year

What sets 2018 apart from previous years is the magnitude of the shocks that hit our...

The year in four faces

Urjit Patel, Binny Bansal, Nirav Modi and Rahul Gandhi personify the big trends that...

Where is Radha Mohan Singh?

'The BJP leadership and its agriculture minister must make up their mind on what kind...

How RBI's reserves can boost the economy

The use of RBI capital to strengthen public sector banks will have many positive...

Mr Modi, slowing economy needs a boost!

'Course correction today would be good politics and also good economics,' notes T N Ninan.

The Zomato boomerang

'For the likes of Zomato or Swiggy or Foodpanda or similar others, the customer has...

Manufacturing may not generate jobs at the expected rate

'From the time India liberalised in the 1990s, the government has policies are for...

10 million jobs: Was it a promise or a 'chunavi jumla'?

The key to job creation is to increase labour participation - draw more people into the...

How 4-5% of India's GDP is wiped away every year

Corrosion is a big menace for anything with steel application from rebars in...

Does RBI's board have the skill to handhold the management?

If indeed we want the board to manage the RBI, probably the government should take a...

Revised GDP numbers out of govt's hat!

Whatever the claims about the new GDP numbers being technically superior to earlier...

How workers are being crushed by a brutal Gig Economy

Drawn in by fuzzy promises about unleashing the entrepreneur in each of us and the...

How to end the govt-RBI rift

'Has the time come to devise Version 2 of ad hoc T-bills?''In return, the government...

GST: Did we just miss the biggest opportunity?

With all the brouhaha over GST, and (often) a limited understanding of the long-term...

Who will succeed Urjit Patel?

'It is likely the government may opt for an IAS officer.''For the government, an IAS...

Urjit Patel's resignation is no calamity

'India's economic fundamentals are much too strong to be affected by his resignation,'...

The chakravyuh of the RBI governor's job

The friction with the political class is not only about interest rates and monetary...

3 major factors that will drive the rupee in 2019?

Risk sentiment is likely to be favourable if oil prices stay benign, global growth...

Why Mallya's payback offer should be welcomed

'Mallya has offered to pay the original amount.''Let us say he means the principal...

Is this why govt needs money from RBI?

Money permits patronage. Money means power. No wonder details of the crores locked up...

Will Jaitley present his 6th full Budget next year?

A K Bhattacharya lists three reasons why Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will most likely...

GST anti-profiteering provisions: Not so profitable anymore

One of the grey areas is whether the anti-profiteering provisions can provide for a...

How to make jobs programmes work

A breakthrough will come from what we teach and how, says Ajit Balakrishnan.

Why India needs a Data Protection Law

'It's looking odds-on there won't be a data protection law before this edition of the...

Why Binny Bansal was ousted from Flipkart

Where Binny slipped up badly was in gauging the level of transparency and governance...

RBI-govt tussles are not new

T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan recalls a tussle between the government and RBI when Rajiv...

Where have all the Indian bankers gone?

There is a dearth of talent in the Indian banking industry. A testimony to this is the...

It's 19/11 and D-day dawns for the RBI

'If the RBI board forces the management's hand on all the key issues, it should be...

RBI vs govt: What Modi should have done

'All that Mr Modi needed to do was to call Urjit Patel over for a cup of tea and ask...

Why invoking Section 7 is a risky affair

The use of Section 7 is fraught with risks to the autonomy of the central bank, the...

Cutback in oil output, rise in crude prices could impact India

Given that India will get a huge part of its oil supplies from Iran through its...

India's business champs struggle to stay afloat

'Unless cash has ceased to be king, the issue is the same in the aviation, telecom and...

On RBI, let the public know who stands where

If indeed the issues involved between the government and RBI are of immense public...

5 proposals govt will discuss with RBI on November 19

There is as yet no clarity on how the process of consulting with the RBI Governor,...

US-China trade war: How India stands to GAIN!

China is on the lookout for investment pastures where its money is welcome, safe and...

How best to nurse the weak banks back to health

The choice clearly is between prompt corrective action and slow but sure destruction,...

Are ad agencies being re-invented?

Or is all of media being re-invented, asks Ajit Balakrishnan.

Viral Acharya needs a 'Bharat Darshan'

'Tilting at the Government in English in front of India may make him feel like Joan of...

Why PSBs are so stressed: The RBI View

'Without appropriate supervisory constraints in place, banks are in a position to delay...

Boosting exports key to solving India's economic woes

A long term solution to reduce India's Current Account Deficit will be to increase...

What next for IL&FS?

The board will first need to unpack IL&FS - it has 169 group companies with 24 direct...

What 2018 Economics Nobel means for growth-hungry India

India has remained obsessed with cheap capital and infrastructure spending when instead...

For the time being, the rupee takes the centrestage

'Most importantly, marking a departure from the past, the RBI has made it clear that it...

Here's a cyber security roadmap for the financial sector

Traditionally, financial institutions have operated risk functions in silos. However,...

The truth about training

'I wondered how one could impart training to grown men to not lie,' notes Keya Sarkar.

The real reason for Delhi's annual smoke season

The Delhi metropolitan area has one of the highest concentrations of population in the...

Not Lehman but a Northern Rock moment for India

Most of the NBFCs do not take public deposits but that does not mean they cannot create...

Durga Puja economy is worth Rs 1 lakh cr!

If the Puja as a brand can be marketed more effectively outside Bengal, even overseas,...

The watch dogs that didn't bark for IL&FS

Did men and women of redoubtable experience and public service, upholders of the...

Why the rupee loses more than other currencies

'The rupee has lost value against all other major Asian currencies, including that of...

How India, Iran plan to bypass US oil sanctions

'Indian and Iranian sources both confirmed to me that India and Iran are moving ahead...

Dangers lurk, as India Inc chooses deleveraging over growth

Total net debt-equity ratio improves for third consecutive year, while investment in...

Why govt must prioritise attracting foreign capital

Given the concerns around trade wars that threaten to jeopardise global capital flows...

What's the fair value for the rupee?

'Global investors expect the rupee to be more vulnerable in the downturns in the future...

Why India's airlines ain't flying higher and higher

The biggest let down for India's aviation sector has been the failure of the government...

Chanda Kochhar falls on her sword, but why now?

'Make no mistake, legally Chanda Kochhar was not and still is not obliged to quit.'...

How govt is blatantly misusing LIC to save failing companies

Investors in LIC's insurance and other schemes are receiving a lower rate of return...

Explaining the why of algorithmic conclusions

Ajit Balakrishnan on the emerging crisis in the tech world.

Has Indian economy gone into election mode?

The Indian economy's election-year syndrome cannot be ignored, says A K Bhattacharya.

Are we staring at a new NPA crisis?

The measures to reduce the current account deficit should have focused far more on...

Iran, Opec and the politics of oil

The oil cartel's decision to maintain the production ceiling at its 2016 level, despite...

Why 72-73 may be the fair value of the rupee

We should not see a strong rupee as strength but target a fairly priced rupee for...

Are politicians responsible for India's banking crisis?

'As long as the government owns the banks, bankers will follow signals from politicians...

King of good times just refused to grow up

'As he goes down, he will almost certainly drag a few others down with him.''Once the...

Should India charge Internet cos for market access?

'Considering that an Internet company's market value is largely determined by its...

Billionaires have always called the shots in India

'James Crabtree ignores the emergence of a nexus between business and politics going...

Bring petrol and diesel under GST NOW!

Steep taxes on petrol and diesel add to the cost of economic activity and reduce the...

GDP growth unlikely to exceed 7.5% in current quarter

'Political parties bring out money they have stashed away and start spending it. How...

Of Modi, Trump and the rise of crony populism

India's real risk is not that crony populism would fail, but that it would succeed,...

ARIIA: A true sangam of Lakshmi and Saraswati

'If India has to emerge as the world's laboratory and a global innovation hub, the...

Look beyond GDP numbers: India story doesn't shine as much

'There is no one capturing and presenting the larger picture, such as to provoke debate...

Nothing is a secret now, not even your new business

Balgopal Athavale was startled that the day after his new business was registered, he...

Tax terrorism continues under NDA, and has risen further

Like the UPA government, probably the NDA government also feels that hardships caused...

GST and anti-profiteering: Can it work?

'These provisions may even be seen to be a threat to burgeoning businesses, since they...

India must grow at 8 or 9%. 7.75% ain't enough

'A sustainable growth rate of 8 per cent is evidently some distance away,' says T N Ninan.

What the kanwariya yatra tells us about jobs situation

Can 3 crore out of the 8.9 crore young male population of the nine states set off on a...

Two major risks that make Aadhaar vulnerable

The persistence with Aadhaar, to the exclusion of all other identity systems, is a...

No wonder they call him Ustaad

Shamsheer Ustaad refused to become collateral damage when his industry modernised,...

Warning: Inflation ahead

'Election years tend to see high government expenditure on unproductive schemes, though...

Why does PepsiCo want to curb free speech?

'Ask a beat journalist their opinion, and you will always be told that they are more...

How many of the PAN numbers are 'real'?

About 45 per cent of those who are part of the workforce, or about 207 million, are...

What will the next generation of Indian leaders look like?

Will the next generation possess an even more internationalist outlook, and lose their...

Has India missed the electric vehicle revolution?

Signals received from the government in the past one year reflect a state of utter...

Arithmetic behind PM's 10 mn job claim is flawed!

The independent institute advising the PM on jobs seems to have missed the point that...

India's food mountains and the problem of plenty

'We are not talking pennies. The milk business is as large as the automobile industry...

What do Mukesh Ambani and Ramdev have in common?

Apply the 'insurgent' tests on what Ambani, Ramdev and Agarwal have done of late, and...

Did the world dodge a bullet in the crash of 2008?

The flawed response to the crisis has fed a us-vs-them mentality in which the banker,...

Why rupee slide is not that big a threat

We are much better placed than in 2013 with our overall fundamentals much stronger -...

Universal Basic Income? Telangana has the answer

Telangana's Rythu Bandhu policy is an embryonic UBI, or rather embryonic QUBI (a...

GST: One crucial lesson India can learn from Singapore

Singapore's single-rate GST structure cannot be India's model. But its practice of...

Clear and present danger in MSP decision

The new MSP would worsen, rather than rectify, the two most pressing problems of Indian...

Retail is the Big Hope for India's Economy

The boom in organised retail will set the tone for major economic overhaul.The ripple...

How best to tackle India's water crisis

The tragedy is not the inevitable drought or the inevitable flood. It is our inevitable...

How the private sector has stalled India's reforms

'The failures of private businessmen have set back the process of market-oriented...

Are we heading for a tech bubble?

'The pressure on relative performance and the feeling of being left out among many...

Why LIC buying 30% of IDBI Bank is bad news

'LIC's proposed investment will come out of what is technically called the...

Is it Reliance Digital vs Chadha uncle now?

Why should Reliance Digital position itself as an alternative to Chadhaji's store?It...

Government is playing poker with banks

'By not letting bankrupt banks fail, we have discouraged ordinary folk from taking...

Net neutrality and the privacy debate

Indian policy-makers must see the choices before them as economic, not moral, ones,...

Which should India have: JLR or Maruti?

Maruti, which is majority owned by Suzuki Motors of Japan, pays massive tax, generates...

REVEALED: What went wrong with bank loans

'Flush with funds, lending became a cash management exercise.''Road projects, power...

Why company auditors are suddenly showing some spine

While auditors have come in for a lot of praise for their proactive stand against what...

The intriguing tale of India's trade with North Korea

India remains North Korea's 2nd-largest import source after China, according to several...

How GST refunds are being resolved

'So far, the government has sanctioned more than Rs 300 billion as GST refunds,' Ansh...

Artificial Intelligence: Where India stands

A culture of science and innovation must be embedded in society wherein people not only...

Time ripe for structural changes in banking sector

India has a unique window of opportunity to effectuate long-lasting structural change...

A case in favour of cutting GST rates

A road map could be laid out for a gradual reduction in the tax rates from the current...

Will Flipkart be Walmart's Waterloo?

'"We want to get the learnings from Flipkart and take it to other parts of the world,"...

Decoding the Q4-FY18 GDP numbers

While the positive surprise has been the high growth in agriculture, the negative...

The twin Phoenixes that will rule the capital markets in 2018

What this also does is create a new FAWG (Flipkart, Amazon, Walmart and Google) story...

How the Web lost its innocence

Ajit Balakrishnan on how the Web could return to its original egalitarian goals.

New EPFO data brings some cheer for India

'The top 10 industries encompass 84% of the total new payrolls, indicating that...

RBI alone can't enforce a fast banking turnaround

While the RBI can nudge things along, ultimately bank owners must recapitalise and...

Real reason behind the tension between Mint Road & North Block

The lack of an informal communication channel is what should bother the government and...

Remembering Ashok Mitra

Dr Mitra called the Pandara Road crowd a 'cheerful collective of young dreamers,'...

Forget China, let us be Indonesia instead

'While we may aspire to be a democratic if smaller version of China, we may only manage...

What's been Modi Sarkar's biggest achievement?

While GST and insolvency laws are among the major achievements of the Modi government,...

5 steps to cure India's banking system

Bankers pay a small price for their misdeeds, no matter how large the cost to their...

3 factors that will ensure India grows at 8% or more

GST stabilisation, DTC implementation and banking reforms are crucial for sustaining...

Villain, victim or scapegoat?

'NiMo having skipped, the next best bet is a high-profile banker.' 'Ms Usha happens to...

The Problem with Modinomics

'In macroeconomic policy, timing is all, and by leaving things too late, Mr Modi may...

Ayushman Bharat may help patients access life-saving drugs

'We have often heard the mythical argument that patents block access to life-saving...

Full corporate recovery will happen only in 2019-2020

'An upswing in corporate performance should last at least three years.''Today there is...

=Falling rupee will boost exports, save jobs

'It is time to allow the rupee to move towards its true value, as it is hurting Indian...

2018-19 promises good growth for India

'Clearly, the financial system is a drag on the economy and underlines the need for...

Demonetisation was an absurd and dangerous policy

In refusing to accept its failure, the government has sowed the seeds of further...

Has RBI really stopped printing Rs 2,000 notes?

What's the real reason behind ATMs running dry even in states that are not...

Why Air India has failed to find a suitor so far

The biggest challenge is not the airline's debt, but downsizing its 16,800 employees,...

Why privatising PSBs is not feasible

India has a long way to go before it develops a culture of professional boards...

How to provide 24x7 electricity for all Indians by 2027

'The 24x7 power for all vision is inspiring, because as we've so often seen, where...

When parents are delighted to have a start-up son-in-law

For the new millennium generation, slowly and at an accelerating pace, it is attractive...

How to fix India's housing problem

Surendra Hiranandani -- chairman and managing director, House of Hiranandani --...

Hands down, Gadkari is Modi's best minister

'There is merit in appointing people with ability and energy, then leaving them to do...

How Indian Railways fools India

Taking advantage of the indifference of passengers, the Indian Railways routinely...

How to get Parliament to debate the Budget

Let there be a rule that if the Budget is not passed and funds cannot be drawn from the...

Voda-Idea need to tackle challenges within to face Jio's threat

Evolving a common work ethic and culture will be critical so that the merged entity...

Pinarayi and Gadkari link up on development

'Curiously, Pinarayi's approach, stressing the imperatives of development, is robustly...

I'm willing to bet there is no case against Chanda Kochhar

'... not even a moral one, let alone a legal one.''Even if it is assumed that Deepak...

Hopes dashed, why India Inc fears Modi now

'The Modi government needs some big private sector trophies to affirm its...

Is the Centre discriminating against South India?

'Every Finance Commission creates its winners and losers' point out T N Ninan.

Govt borrowings: Will there be a pleasant surprise in September?

Backloading the government's borrowing programme suggests the finance ministry's...

Facebook scandal: Machines shape your opinions

'Political parties can play up different ideological aspects to fit individual...

Is Modi's best nowhere near good enough?

The failure to reform has meant that there is no buzz about job opportunities, or about...

How consumers are forcing big brands to behave better

Is this paradigm shift in brand-consumer power-sharing coming to fruition in India too?

Why MPC will most likely keep repo rate unchanged

High frequency indicators suggest that a growth recovery is underway, but very...

Public sector: Perform! Else die or be sold

'Else they will form a growing 'hospital sector' -- and the taxpayer will be asked to...

Wanted: An agency to probe financial crimes, hacking

'A separate 'Investigation Agency (Other Offences)' or IA(OO), can be created under the...

Will solar energy power Modi's dream of 'electricity for all'?

India has an unprecedented opportunity to develop solar industry because like China, it...

Creating 'employee value' is essential for success

'It is important that employees are trained to acquire skills that would be needed in...

Why does Modi want India's youth to sell pakodas?

'Given that he would have a good understanding of how many jobs the economy can create...

2 key reasons why India's banking system is in a mess

In the atmosphere created by the reaction to the PNB fraud and RBI's resolution...

How to double farmers' income

'In the long run, the boost to farmers' incomes must come from technological...

When Nirav Modi sent me chocolates...

We might not have been seeking out baubles, says Kishore Singh, but there's nothing...

The US is in decline, China is on the rise

'We have here the world's largest economy and dominant superpower thrashing about as it...

Supreme Court verdict puts 60,000 jobs at stake

The Supreme Court-mandated ban on all mining operations in Goa -- the second in less...

Why scams happen in India

Do we not understand that risk and return go hand-in-hand, or do we, in our rush to get...

Form 16 or Form 16A: What would you opt for?

'A gig economy is more suited for superior economic outcomes.''You try to create an...

Aadhaar-based PDS reforms fail the last-mile test

Last-mile verification with Aadhaar-Based Biometric Authentication have the worst...

How best to restore India's toxic banks to health

The government must set up a Bank Investment Company to shrink its role in PSBs, if we...

What a fool I have been!

'Paying my taxes, diligently repaying my loans, following the rules, scrupulously doing...

Internet Trouble

'Is the tech wonder of our times headed for trouble?' asks Ajit Balakrishnan.

The one mythology lesson everyone in marketing must learn

Marketers are required to be more Sisyphus than The Vitruvian Man, says Bharat Bambawale.

Doing a disservice to the services sector

How sustainable and prudent is the policy of boosting services without commensurate...

5 ways NITI Aayog is using AI to change India

'AI will be bigger than the advent of the Internet or the harnessing of...

Looking beyond loan writeoffs for farmers

Governments must encourage micro-irrigation, use of natural manure and pesticides in a...

Who will regulate the regulators?

It would be a good idea to create independent oversight committees for each regulatory...

How RBI can prevent PNB-like frauds

'If the RBI had done the right things, these mistakes would not have happened in banks,...

When we work as one, we can truly transform India

If we have to develop this nation, says Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, it can only...

Why there won't be any winner in Donald Trump's trade war

India's economy could also suffer some ill-effects without necessarily triggering...

7% growth may shut the door on banking reform

'The one sector where there is still a sense of crisis is banking, but the government...

Modiji: Privatise Banks Now!

'Modi wants to reverse everything Nehru did, but is shy of touching his daughter's most...

Let us stop taxing women!

Double tax exemption on wages paid to women can encourage companies to hire, retain and...

Neglect of 1992 scam led to Mallya, Modi frauds

'The Modi government has been taking credit for improvement in respect of the ease of...

Does Aavas have the answer to India's banking crisis?

Aavas is turning heads in the country's mortgage financing space because it selected to...

How 'forex specialist' Shetty retired as deputy manager at PNB

A large number of public sector bank employees, as a matter of routine, do not "take"...

Return of the Licence Raj!

Are we creeping back to controls on corporate decision making? Three moves over the...

Did India actually create 7 million jobs in 2017-18?

'If the 7 million estimate is true, then either our understanding of the past was all...

Bite the bullet! Privatise banks like PNB

'The government must find worthwhile private owners for some of the banks, increase the...

PNB scam: What Modi-Jaitley can do now

Reduce the government stake in public sector banks to 33 per cent, recommends A K...

Why Nirav Modi reminds me of Nick Leeson

Decades apart, but the drama linked to the two appears similar, says Nivedita Mookerji.