opinion

Opinion | Petty graft could sabotage water and waste management, and the PM’s biggest schemes

Once waste management is introduced, and water contamination is taken care of, India will witness considerably reduced expenditure on health-related diseases.

Karnataka Crisis | No law can catch up with the decline in moral standards

More than the deficiency in the law, it is the degeneration in moral values of the current crop of politicians that is to blame for the trouble.

Startup Corner | ShopClues' woes point to a bigger malaise unfolding in venture world

The famed startup story is showing cracks. Once a leader in unbranded products, ShopClues is an example of how lack of foresight and complacency can affect a business

Is India’s competition watchdog finally coming of age?

The Competition Commission of India is going that extra mile. CCI’s recent order on Maruti Suzuki shows that it’s now willing to look beyond agreements and into the actual conduct of companies

Markets | Will banks soon be able to transmit lower interest rates to borrowers?

Bank deposit growth is looking up and the credit-deposit ratio is coming down

Recovery in commercial vehicle segment is unlikely to happen anytime soon

The growth of inland waterways and the dedicated freight corridor will impact long-term truck demand

Auditors log out: SEBI cracks the whip, but a lot more needed

The scrutiny is on. Auditors can no longer shirk their responsibilities by taking refuge under we-are-watchdogs-not-bloodhounds argument

Bretton Woods@75: A few surprises here, some similarities there

J M Keynes, a key architect of the modern monetary system, may have a mixed feeling if he were alive now. The global economic coordination is anything but smooth

Corporate corridor | Early FMCG results show some companies will keep the growth flag flying

The narrative of a FMCG slowdown may be true at the industry level but individual results show that some companies are not taking a slowdown for granted.

Kulbhushan Jadhav case| Why ICJ verdict is also a diplomatic victory for India

With more than two-thirds of the court which pronounced a verdict on Kulbhushan Jadhav made up of professional diplomats, the decision was overwhelmingly a diplomatic manoeuvre backed by arguments based on law.

Karnataka Crisis | It’s time we strengthened anti-defection laws

Elected representatives abdicating electoral mandate should come with some consequences that disincentivises, and if not, penalises unprincipled defections. A moratorium on standing for election or occupying any electoral post for a period of five years is a great place to start.

Policy | Model tenancy act is well intentioned but change unlikely soon

Land and urban development are state subjects and a new central law, once enacted, will be relevant only to the extent states decide to pass their own new laws on the subject in the light of the new central law.

Policy | The government should respect what the market is trying to tell it

Last Friday, 357 stocks touched new 52-week lows

Chandrayaan 2 | 15 crucial minutes and the commercial possibilities it opens

Unlike national pride that powered the first wave of space race, mercantile interests now spur spacefarers. Monetising access to space and space-based services and resources is the name of the game.

The reverse swing: Small data more important than Big Data

In the context of investing, the current fad for Big Data and machine learning seems overblown. Successful investing entails understanding basic probabilities well. While machines can be used to crunch these probabilities, the old-fashioned method of reading annual reports has worked pretty well.

50 years of bank nationalisation | It was more politics than economics

Banking nationalisation continues to cast a long shadow over Indian political economy even 50 years after the fateful day it was signed into a law. Given the political realities of India, it will continue to be relevant even 50 years from now.

Priority or parity for operational creditors under IBC? Lenders want an answer

There is an apparent grey zone on the amount to be set aside for operational creditors. It’s a good case where legislators should step in

Audit trail | When auditors resign, SEBI wants them to go out with a bang

SEBI is tightening the screws on auditor resignations, both on when they can resign and the disclosures to be made when that happens.

Politics | What a slowdown in China means for the world and India

The expected transition in the Chinese economy provides many new opportunities for India in the areas of manufacturing, infrastructure building as well as new linkages with the world’s second-largest economy.

Policy | 50 yrs of bank nationalisation: Is it time to privatise all banks?

Governance practices can be revamped only if PSU banks cut their umbilical cord to the government. All proposals in this directions – and umpteen committees have suggested this too – have just remained talk.

Politics | Kerala’s double standards towards businesses and industry

While at one hand the Left government is trying to project an image of being business-friendly, on the other it is stuck in petty red-tape.

50th anniversary of bank nationalisation: a surreal personal memoir

Before he became a commentator on the economy and markets, our columnist was a public sector banker.

Testing waters: Can co-working be the lucky mascot for Oyo?

Co-working as a business model is getting all the attention. But Oyo has to deal with a tough challenge from the likes of WeWork

Policy | Will the new Model Tenancy Act bridge the trust divide?

Conflicts between tenants and landlords are well known. The draft new Act is a long overdue attempt to set the house in order