opinion

Global food prices have snapped back above March levels

A V-shaped recovery in global food prices is taking shape. Domestic food inflation is also giving it company

Relief for borrowers should not come at the cost of undermining banking system

A strong banking system is a necessary condition for sustainable and broad-based economic recovery

The Abraham Accord and winds of change in West Asia

Tolerance, both as a term and a concept, is a commodity that has made strong headway over the past few years in West Asia, a region more than often criticised for its social, political and cultural rigidness that also reflect in the laws of the land there

Happiest Minds Technologies IPO may give short term happiness

Companies of this size do not usually get a high discounting in the market

Is India staring at stagflation?

Numerous international and domestic institutions have estimated economic growth to contract in 2020-21. If there’s no respite from the pandemic in the near future, the adverse impact on the economy would persist, and the recovery would be uneven

Thoothukudi Sterlite plant has become a disturbing symbol for Indian industry

Aatmanirbhar Bharat has found resonance in most of the sectors, except copper. The domestic copper industry lies like a prostrate, disembowel Gulliver, totally helpless

Make-in-India and the cost conundrum for domestic AC makers

India’s AC market size at present is just six or seven million units, which is also not a patch on China’s market size of 90-100 million units

Indian software biggies ride a third wave

Goldman Sachs foresees a third wave which will create a rising tide that will lift all boats, particularly the more robust ones like TCS, Infosys and HCL Technologies

Performance indicators — Rank and reality

While India’s improvement in the innovation index is welcome, the controversy over World Bank’s EoDB ranking should make us cautious about such catch-all metrics

FMCG stocks are expensive, why they may remain so

The consumption play is getting stronger as it becomes evident as the lights dim on the investment stage. What this means for the already expensive FMCG stocks

Composite PMI shows India’s private sector activity continued to shrink in August, but at slower rate

The services sector saw its fifth consecutive month of decline

Equity indices may not mirror the economy, but who’s complaining

It is not only selected stocks that are causing the market indices to look better, but also the changes that have been going on over the years in the index, whereby the non-performing ones are taken off the index

Mundhra scam and the importance of Question Hour

Sixty-three years ago, on September 4, an innocuous unstarred question raised during the Question Hour in Parliament led to the unravelling of the infamous Mundhra scam — India’s first big financial fraud

Legal Matters | A moral argument against life without parole

Life sentences without possibility of early release is favoured by those who oppose the death penalty — but that is not without its defects

Could we have a re-run of the Roaring Twenties this decade?

Will COVID-19 leave long-term economic scars? Economic research says it will, but much of the West had a huge boom after the Spanish Flu of 1918, which killed millions

Small-business failures loom as federal aid dries up

Many experts still expect Democratic and Republican leaders to reach a deal on an aid package that includes support for small businesses, but a new, large-scale programme seems increasingly unlikely

Chart of the Day | Saved by the State

How long can the government continue to prop up the economy?

Visa woes | Trump or Biden, Indian immigration to US won’t drastically improve

The notion that a Democratic administration under a Joe Biden presidency, with Kamala Harris as Vice-President by his side, will mitigate immigration woes for the Indian white-collar diaspora is myopic at best

Shinzo Abe leaves behind a deep imprint on India-Japan ties

For India, Abe will remain a very special Japanese leader. His fondness for India and his vision for India-Japan ties have been central to his vision of the Indo-Pacific

Is a business-friendly Kerala a mirage?

The Left government’s efforts look promising on paper, but the ground reality is different. Instead of fresh investments pouring into Kerala, existing companies are compelled to pack up and leave

What Modern Monetary Theory has to say about the US Fed’s change of strategy

Although the recent policy statement by Powell seems like a small victory for labour, MMTers have warned that the Fed is likely to revert to its old ways after the economic crisis unleashed by the pandemic abates

China’s recent restriction on technology exports is just sabre-rattling

China's government is imposing restrictions on technology that leaves its borders which can potentially affect a whole range of products. Its real target may lie somewhere else

Covid-19: When experts learn, do they shift the goalposts?

Where the experts strike out along a new route is to downgrade the priority given to widespread testing till now, which it says does not prevent deaths which should be the primary goal

Tata Motors’ zero debt target a positive step, but risks aplenty

Reducing costs, improving business efficiencies to increase profits and improve free cash flows, and selling a stake in non-core businesses could help achieve the objective