Sunil Jain explains why the government does not necessarily win if it applies a higher gas price.
A forthcoming study based on NCAER data shows a huge income gap that is directly attributable to education levels, says Sunil Jain.
Now that the Bombay High Court has rejected the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas' (MoPNG) attempts to help Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) wriggle out of its 2005 contract to supply 28 million metric standard cubic metres per day (mmscmd) of gas to Anil Ambani's Reliance Natural Resources Limited (RNRL), the pressure on it has increased several times over.
One reason why mobile subscribers haven't shifted companies is that the service is uniformly bad. But now, with new players coming in, the picture could be different, says Sunil Jain.
Decisions are also being pushed on free allotment of additional spectrum to telecom firms, on extending the licence period for 'dual technology' firms like Reliance Communications/Tata Teleservices etc, and on revising merger and acquisition norms. Given how each of these cases is so controversial, even apart from the issue of propriety, it is unacceptable that a government on its last legs should be taking such decisions.
Vote for the BJP if you have to, but not because they're going to bring back Rs 25,00,000 crore and use this to develop roads or provide piped water to India's villages. That's a pipe dream.
There is little doubt that the global economic crisis has worsened Indias growth prospects, but the slowdown began long before the US financial meltdown began.
It'll only be when other states start following this discrimination for a large enough number of products, presumably, that the political class will wake up to it. Hopefully, the courts will too.
PricewaterhouseCoopers India campaigns to appear responsible as it distances itself from the mess surrounding former client Satyam
India's growth rates may be crashing, but the rates of growth of crashing on the country's roads, and those dying in these crashes, are growing by leaps and bounds.
Perhaps the most sensible thing Goldman Sachs did in an otherwise poorly-researched report on ONGC was to talk of 'corporate governance issues with cash withdrawals by promoter,' says Sunil Jain.
The KPMG Report points out that just four per cent of all frauds have been detected by external auditors the largest proportion, 36 per cent, have been detected by internal auditors, says Sunil Jain.
Fresh suitors have emerged, and a cleanup is proceeding under a board appointed by the government. But the fraud leaves a cloud over Indian outsourcing.
While the jury's still out on whether US President Barack Obama's proposed stimulus is the right way to help fix the economy, rising unemployment is something that's likely to trouble the President for many years to come.
A good example of just how little comes to light are the series of serious allegations made by the Ambani scions in their fight over the years of wrongdoing by each other - none of these are anything that the MCA came up with, nor have they been seriously investigated afterwards.
Even more curious, while the law says foreigners can have only up to 74 per cent equity in a telecom firm in India, the 3G Information Memorandum says foreigners can bid without having Indian partners if they win the bid, they can then set up an Indian firm and comply with the rules.
The regulatory system in India has become a farce, and needs to be either scrapped, or thoroughly revamped. The way the law has been formulated, Trai is a toothless tiger -- it works well if the ministry chooses to be gentlemanly and takes the recommendations seriously; if the ministry chooses to assert its authority, there's little Trai can do, says Sunil Jain.
Swan is one of the firms which got a licence at bargain-basement prices thanks to telecom minister A Raja.
The Indian business community seems unenthusiastic about the new plan, but it's unclear how much more the government can do
In the wake of the Mumbai siege, business must weigh the persistence of political violence against the strength and promise of the Indian miracle.
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