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.
2008 was a study in surprises, but that fact seems to have launched a barrage of commentary that borders precipitously on doom-mongering.
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 war against terror needs a fundamental change in attitudes on the part of the Indian media, politicians and government.
Contrary to fiscal terrorists, India has a lot of room for fiscal expansion in infrastructure and low-cost housing.
With an Obama election, America should reclaim its status as the most desirable country other than one's own
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.
So far, most of those horrified by the dramatic evidence that surfaced last week of Telecom Minister A Raja's largesse on 2G spectrum costing the nation $10bn (that on 3G will probably cost another $5bn) have comforted themselves with one thought: maybe the Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal, which is hearing the case, will conclude the policy changes were illegal and smacked of favouritism.
An article in the latest The McKinsey Quarterly argues that thanks to rising wages in countries like China and Malaysia (favoured offshoring locations for manufacturing) and high costs of oil, the advantages of offshoring are rapidly eroding.
It has been nearly four months since Sidharth Punshi, 34, former executive director at Goldman Sachs, joined Jefferies International, a global investment bank and institutional securities firm, as the managing director and country head for India. In a recent interview, Punshi told Business Standard that despite the tight liquidity scenario and a challenging global situation, Indian companies continue to chase merger and acquisition deals abroad.
The latest NCAER annual household survey, to use other data, points out that around 33 per cent of the bottom 40 per cent of households had a television set and another 12 per cent a two-wheeler in 2005 -- how they can all be poor is anyone's guess, says Sunil Jain.
In the last two years, there have been at least three instances of the government actively stepping in on Mukesh Ambani's side.
while Mumbaikars spend a smaller proportion of their incomes on food, beverages and tobacco (33.2 per cent) than Surat-ites (37.5 per cent), the total market for food, beverages and tobacco products in Mumbai in 2007-08 was Rs 28,590 crore (Rs 285.90 billion) as compared to a much smaller Rs 6,600 crore (Rs 66 billion) in Surat.
Delhi and Mumbai alone account for a fifth of the country's total surplus income. The country's top 20 cities, including both Delhi and Mumbai, account for just 10 per cent of the country's population but 20 per cent of its savings, 30 per cent of its income and as much as 60 per cent of its surplus income
A possible reason for the 'low' impact of organised retail is that organised retail in the country itself hasn't quite got its act together -- how many organised retailers do you hear of that can help cut, on a sustained basis, household budgets by 15-20 per cent more than kiranas can?
Not all stairways go to heaven; not all forecasts based on fundamentals come true, e.g. the Indian rupee at 33/$ and oil at $200/barrel?