The Economic Times

Politically, the world changed irrevocably on 9/11. Yet from an economic viewpoint 9/11 could be called the day when hardly anything changed. Predictions of economic apocalypse proved laughable wrong. India is averaging 8% GDP growth for the fourth year in […]

Surprisingly, the dust may soon settle on the pesticides-in-cola issue. Sunita Narain of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said on Friday that she agreed with this newspaper’s editorial line, that cola drinks should not be banned but should be

Governance matters for economic reform. This was the theme of a lecture by Prof Pranab Bardhan, University of California, at the annual India Policy Forum on Monday organised by NCAER and Brookings. Clearly, good governance aids growth. But in India

Does it matter if the Doha Round of the World Trade Organization ends in failure? The mini-Ministerial round of talks at Geneva missed its June 30 deadline, and no new date or agenda has been set. The lack of seriousness

One of the traditional arguments for opening up capital markets is that it facilitates diversification of stock portfolios. Instead of keeping all their investments in just the national market, investors can buy stocks, bonds and mutual funds across the world,

One of the traditional arguments for opening up capital markets is that it facilitates diversification of stock portfolios. Instead of keeping all their investments in just the national market, investors can buy stocks, bonds and mutual funds across the world,

It\’s the East India Company in reverse. Parts of Europe are in a funk about an “Indian invasion” says The Economist, the British financial magazine. Lakshmi Mittal has become the biggest steel producer in the world through a series of

Economics assumes that human beings are rational. But human reactions to stock market movements are utterly irrational. When markets rise, everybody cheers. When markets crash—as has been the case for two weeks—everybody moans. A hunt for culprits often ensues. No

Earthquakes deeply affect social and economic development. So I was surprised when journalists and businessmen told me during a recent Gujarat visit that the Kutch earthquake of 2001 was a blessing in disguise. They claimed that the five-year exemption from

Reliance Industries Ltd plans to set up a completely export-oriented oil refinery in Gujarat. The former petroleum Minister also wanted export-oriented refineries in the public sector. This violates the basic principles of refining that I learned as a young reporter