Articles

Can US do a Japan in Iraq?

Why is the US hell-bent on toppling Saddam Hussein? To install a democracy? Don\’t make me laugh, many will say. Yet all other explanations look equally laughable. Some say Bush Jr wants to finish the job his father started in …

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Ratan Tata at 65

Ratan Tata has retired as executive chairman of the Tata group on reaching the age of 65. How good has he been for India’s largest industrial group? I have sometimes criticised him over the years, but my overall verdict has …

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VAT as a trade weapon

As I explained a fortnight ago, GDP can be regarded as the sum of all incomes, or the sum of all value added in production by citizens. The two are equal. So, we could tax all income through income tax …

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How to compete with China

Indian industrialists are terrified of competing with China. But fears are also evident in the once-miracle economies of south-east Asia. East Asian countries like Korea and Taiwan have long graduated out of labour-intensive goods into high-tech ones, and do not …

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Narendra Modi, future PM

Too many journalists have proved guilty of projecting wishful thinking as analysis. Despite widespread media criticism, Narendra Modi won a landslide victory in Gujarat. Many journalists are now trying to explain lamely why they were wrong, and some hope he …

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The alchemy of VAT

The Kelkar Committee has submitted two reports. One is on direct taxes, levied on incomes and wealth (eg. income tax, corporate tax, wealth tax). The other is on indirect taxes levied on goods and services (eg. excise duty, sales tax). …

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