New body to replace Plan panel might retain 40% of existing staff
While good news from several quarters has been trickling in, El Nino might be a dampener, says T N Ninan.
It goes without saying that the best performers are in the private sector, says TN Ninan.
Experts will give their inputs for Budget.
The city needs some autonomy, or it will continue to decline in all the ways that are familiar, observes T N Ninan
In a sharp attack on the Narendra Modi government, BJP leader Arun Shourie on Monday contended that it believes that managing economy means "managing the headlines" and that people had started recalling the days of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
With the Congress already opposed to the proposed law, regional parties might become the swing factor, says T N Ninan.
'While the GST is structured to be an all-encompassing tax and to create a vastly expanded digital network of recorded transactions, no one knows how traders long used to avoiding taxes will apply their ingenuity,' says T N Ninan.
'Somehow, I don't see the Modi government shutting down Air India.' 'So, Mallya may prove to be luckier than the government; at least his financial clock has stopped ticking,' says T N Ninan.
'Does the country risk being enclosed in a geographical cocoon if it spurns a multi-continent project for which everyone else has signed up,' asks T N Ninan.
'What do you think the Congress is today?' 'Is it a political party heading for a life-and-death battle?' 'Or an NGO, just doing its thing and hoping it will improve the state of the world?' asks Shekhar Gupta.
'While people complain of the difficulties they are experiencing because of the lack of currency, they remain supportive so far of Mr Modi's initiative.' 'What the country should be concerned about is the prospect of a prime minister who is willing to sacrifice economic gain and risk large-scale job losses in exchange for personal popularity,'
The key reason for the country's stagnating exports is its failure to build a strong manufacturing base, says T N Ninan.
'Surplus money in individuals' pockets has moved away from real estate and flowed into the stock market either directly or through mutual funds.' 'This being one reason for the continuing surge in stock prices.' 'Market indices have soared to levels that are well above historical averages for price-earnings ratios.' 'Market pundits insist that this is not a stock price bubble, but when was the last time the pundits called a bubble a bubble?'
'Either China is building regional transport infrastructure long before it needs it, or this is in a chain of Chinese investments with more strategic than economic intent,' says T N Ninan.
'These trends put at risk not only minorities or the media or some other out-of-favour group, they can and do concern everyone,' warns T N Ninan.
India needs to get back to economic growth of seven to 10 per cent growth.
While people have paid the price for the disruption it caused, now is the time to reap its benefits, says T N Ninan.
What the railways need to do is to establish a clear link between higher fares and better service, says T N Ninan.
Is it because of the failure to deliver serious institutional reform or that, at the end of the day, we are like that only, asks T N Ninan.
Our governments are easily prone to arbitrary decisions but if you are dealing with international firms, such arbitrariness can turn back and bite you, says T N Ninan.
Revamping Indian Railways will need bold thinking, and lots of money and time. And all three may be scarce, points out T N Ninan.
Columnist T N Ninan wonders when there is real progress to talk about, why our ministers make exaggerated claims.
The Aditya Birla group's decision to merge two companies, each with an existing clutch of diverse businesses, flies in the face of the accumulated wisdom regarding conglomerates, says T N Ninan.
'One wishes that today's 'take no prisoners' brand of politics would give way to an understanding of the national interest that is shared by both government and Opposition.'
There is a vital difference between Bofors and Rafale, explains Shekhar Gupta.
'If we don't want to be the poorest large economy even in 2030, we need to be doing very much more than is being attempted.'
If the country is to meet its jobs and income challenge, there has to be a parallel focus on jobs in the formal sector.
We could be on the brink if our export industries actually start losing jobs, says Shreekant Sambrani.
The doodle you're seeing on Google's home page today is created by Vaidehi Reddy, a class 9 student of Army Public School, Pune.
If the Modi government is going to set new benchmarks of performance, don't expect the majority of his dozen-odd ministers-who-matter with economic portfolios to be making the difference, says T N Ninan.
It is a pity that the Modi government, which began on the right note when it came to pricing issues, has changed colour and become interventionist in its impulses, says T N Ninan.
Whether it was the Bofors gun in 1986 or Italian helicopters in 2012, a leak or disclosure at the source overseas is like dynamite, and usually impossible to refute. They acquire a life of their own in the hands of the media, says T N Ninan.
The Modi government has ambitious plas to achieve 10% growth, but there is no assessment of how much money is needed for the whole package of measures, and where it will come from. In short, there is no plan for how to get from here to there, points out T N Ninan.
If you take the minimum wage to Rs 15,000 tomorrow, the choice may not be between Rs 8,000 and Rs 15,000; it might be Rs 15,000 or nothing, says T N Ninan.
At a time when more and more of government spending is done by states, the impression you get from these large advertisements could well reflect the slogan of Emergency days: the nation is on the move, says T N Ninan.
Sons-in-law are 'in' these days in the circles of power.
Many stalled projects are about to get going again, providing potential relief to banks, says T N Ninan.
The record of other prime ministers too shows how much can change when a prime minister is faced with the two-year challenge, says T N Ninan.
One way to do a reality check on the official numbers will be to develop a desi version of what came to be called the Li index in China.
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