\”Can\’t buy me love,\” sang the Beatles. \”Can\’t buy me an election\” is the theme of this year\’s budget. Finance ministers usually produce freebies, subsidies and waivers in their last budget before an election. Such attempts to buy votes have …
Never before has a finance minister rejected populist giveaways so decisively in an election year. Never before has a finance minister sought to win the next elections not through tax breaks and freebies, but by accelerating GDP growth and taming …
Budget 2013: Finance minister P Chidambaram boldly votes for growth over politics Read More »
Happy days are here again, says the pre-budget Economic Survey. GDP growth is going to pick up from this year\’s 5% to range between 6.1% and 6.7% in 2013-14. Wholesale price inflation will fall to 6.2-6.6% by March despite hike …
Economic Survey 2013 paints a rosy picture yet again, but needs follow up Read More »
The Indian economy presents a puzzle today. On the one hand, it exhibits many symptoms of overheating. On the other hand, many businesses complain of a complete lack of heat. GDP projections reflect the second phenomenon, not the first. But …
Attempts to clear stalled projects will soon result in higher growth Read More »
To meet a budget crunch, taxes on income, capital gains and dividends have gone up in the US, and may rise further. This has fed speculation that the Indian budget will follow suit. There is also speculation that Chidambaram will …
Six months ago, the government was seen as a hopeless, paralysed ditherer, frightened of annoying anybody (especially Mamata Banerjee). But since Chidambaram became Finance Minister, the government has started looking like an activist reformer that means business. Risking defeat in …
New economic activism has strong political roots Read More »
Dear Mr Chidambaram, You have been globetrotting to convince the world you are dead serious about budgetary prudence, limiting your fiscal deficit to 5.3 per cent of GDP in 2012-13. You have also promised an investment-friendly climate to attract foreign …
Tax illiteracy is no solution for budget deficits Read More »
Once, budget proposals were top secret. The Finance Minister wouldn\’t breathe a word on budget-related matters for months before the event. But no more. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram is touring the world, hitting global headlines on what the budget will …
Last week, Greenpeace\’s chief in India, Samit Aich, wrote a column in ET on genetically-modified crops. In this, he repeated an old green falsehood, that Bt cotton has failed to raise cotton yields in India. For the truth, consult the government\’s Economic Survey …
Barack Obama’s triumphal second inauguration as US President has been tarnished by Al Qaida’s attack on an Algerian gas plant that killed 38 foreigners. US analysts may ignore the connection, but the Libyan chickens have come home to roost. A …
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