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.
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.
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.
Raghuram Rajan, the PM's honorary economic advisor, said in 2006, 'It is important for India to exchange its paternalistic, directive government, which seeks to remedy every wrong through a subsidy, a quota, or a scheme, for one that creates an enabling environment for the people and unleashes their entrepreneurial zeal.' Two years later, his words seem prescient. But how much of what he says should be done will be done by the government in the limited tenure it has left.
According to McKinsey numbers, IT expenditure can give a return of up to around 10 times by reworking supply chains and logistics, managing resources better and so on. If a firm reduces IT expenditures by around 15 per cent, this will add around 0.5 per cent to long-run EBIT. Retaining expenditure levels could add 1-2 per cent to EBIT in terms of better merchandising and 3-5 per cent in terms of better pricing by reducing revenue leakages.
Three alternative approaches under consideration envisage addressing the flaws of the domestic market, broadening the foreign institutional investor framework and replacing the FII regime with a QFI framework. By reducing the complexity of obtaining permits, foreign investors will be encouraged to us onshore Indian stock market platforms. Individual investors will be allowed to trade on Indian bourses by opening a demat account and a bank account.
The decision by the Union government and the Reserve Bank of India to infuse Rs 1,25,000 crore (Rs 1,250 billion) into the banking system in the last two weeks alone is unlikely to fuel inflation, say economists, since this infusion will only meet the basic demand and not lead to a spillover.
© 2025 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances