The Times of India

WILL THE Clinton visit to India be followed by a relaxation of economic sanctions against India? A straw in the wind is the clearance by the governing board of the World Bank on Tuesday of three loans totalling $511 to support reforms and improved governance in Uttar Pradesh. The US, Japan and Germany abstained on More >

Has economic liberalisation failed to reduce poverty? Data from the National Sample Survey (NSS) of households suggest that the proportion of people below the poverty line has remained more or less unchanged around 36 per cent in the 1990s. So several critics have jumped to the conclusion that liberalisation and fast growth have bypassed the More >

The IMF and World Bank have long quarrelled about what policies would have helped most when the Asian financial crisis struck in 1997. On the eve of the spring meeting of the two organisations, the quarrel has been resuscitated by Joseph Stiglitz, former chief economist of the World Bank. Having criticised the IMF throughout the More >

Suddenly, last week, Indian tech stocks mimicked Nasdaq’s mood swings and crashed to a near-meltdown, setting investors on the run, before settling back on their perch. What caused this economic bungee-jump? Was it a sign of bubble-bursting that the nebulous Internet stocks were doomed to face or a routine fluctuation of fortunes? The Sunday Times More >

The FM said recently that the consensus on economic reform is breaking down, that politicians of all parties are no longer keen on continuing down the path of liberalisation. I have to disagree. There never was any consensus on liberalisation. What we had was a consensus on half-baked liberalisation. The consensus on liberalising was never More >

As a failed prophet, I may not have much credibility when I make stock market predictions. In late 1998 I expressed the view that the US stock market was grossly over-valued, and that a crash in that market could send ripples round the world and worsen the Asian financial crisis. In fact, the US markets More >

We live in the WTO era of rule-based trade aimed at increasing competition and removing distortions. Yet there is an absolutely huge exception to this rule called OPEC (Organisation of Oil Exporting Countries). This cartel brazenly aims to manipulate production to fleece consumers. Now, attempts to fleece do not always succeed. The very jacking up More >

Rarely in history have so many written so much about so little. The visit of President Bill Clinton to South Asia is a minor event which will soon be forgotten. So why are the media carpet-bombing the public with reports on every aspect of the Clinton visit from the decor in his hotel room to More >

Watch out, Indian MNCs are going to take over American globocorps, predicts Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar. Even as Indian leftists think Bill Clinton is coming to take over India, Indian companies are preparing to take over American ones on a gargantuan scale. Infosys and Wipro, our two most glamourous infotech companies, both want automatic permission More >

You must have heard of sweat equity or ESOPs (employees stock options plans). Infotech companies use these to pay employees in kind, in the form of options to buy company shares at a very low price. These are typically phased over several years with a lock-in period to induce employees to stay on in the More >

After a decade of supposed reforms, the fiscal deficit of the Centre and states is almost as high as in 1991, when India went bust. This is not because of ignorance or stupidity. It is because of eroding governance. A collapsing state cannot collect revenue, the most basic function of the state. Bihar has long More >

Yashwant Sinha was expected to present a hard Budget, but has come out with one that is both hard and soft in spots, like an overripe banana. He has shown courage enough to slash food and fertiliser subsidies, tax exports (including software), increase the dividend tax, and marginally increase the top income tax rate. He More >

HIGH fiscal deficits do not automatically mean bankruptcy, but they do constitute an ominous road sign. The Economic Survey ’99-00 implies, without quite saying so, that India may be closer to the brink than optimists in stock markets and chambers of commerce think. The combined fiscal deficit of the Centre and state, which was 9.1 More >

Much heat has been generated by the proposal of the BJP to tinker with Indian history as written by Professors Sumit Sarkar and KN Pannikar. Yet this pales beside the attempt of Mamta Bannerjee to rewrite the history of the Indian Railways in her Railway Budget speech. “We are all aware of the significant contribution More >

THE NATIONAL Sample Survey carries out a full poverty survey once in 5-6 years. In between, it also carries out mini-surveys with a thin sample. The value of mini-surveys is disputed by economists, but these are the only sources of poverty data for the years between the big surveys. Leftist critics have long claimed, on More >