The Economic Times

Analysts have warned for years that India risks being isolated from global trade negotiations because its stalling tactics in the World Trade Organization (WTO) have caused Western powers to lose interest in that organisation. Instead, they have shifted to bilateral […]

The high price of dal is big news. Rahul Gandhi says arhar dal costs as much as Rs 180 a kg, more than even the cost of chicken, and sneers derisively that the BJP chant of ‘Har har Modi!’ should

How well has Narendra Modi fared in two years? On the economic side, he has not been the radical reformer liberalisers hoped for. On the socio-political side, he has not been the communal ogre that many liberals feared. He has

Brexit heralds not just Britain’s exit from the European Union but the decline and maybe fall of the 20th century ideal of a liberal, globalised world. It heralds a 21st century ethos based on ultra-nationalism and racist xenophobia, blaming foreigners

Even before Brexit, India has suffered Rexit. Raghuram Rajan has announced he will exit as RBI governor when his term ends in September. Every RBI governor since 1992 got an extension. So, Rajan’s case stands out. Global investors widely view

Foreign investors I met in Singapore in May were anxious to know whether Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan would get a second term. Almost all of them said that billions of dollars would flow out of India

Booms and busts are not aberrations. They are intrinsic to market democracies. Many folks love the idea of steady, uninterrupted progress. This is socialism’s false promise, and helps explain why that philosophy remains attractive to many despite proven repeated failure.

Does GDP growth matter in state elections? A statistical exercise by this newspaper some years ago suggested that if average GDP growth during the incumbent’s rule accelerated compared with the five previous years, there was a 60% chance the incumbent

Six months ago, I wrote a column, ‘Why bother about small interest rate changes in India?’, (goo.gl/7cFp1L, September 16, 2015) that I could reproduce and yet be spot on after the RBI’s cut in interest rates last week. It will

I have welcomed this Budget, but with fingers crossed. First, it may be based on faulty statistics. Second, the global financial typhoon sweeping across emerging markets may make nonsense of all Budget projections. Nominal GDP is projected to grow 11%