The Economic Times

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

In a Parliamentary democracy, Ministers are generally supposed to be elected representatives of the people. But not in the era of? Sonia Gandhi. Increasingly, her cabinets—it would be na?ve to call them Manmohan Singh cabinets—are stuffed with her nominees from

Table: Global growth rates, % per year     2003 2004 2005 2006 (est) Subsaharan Africa 4.2 5.1 5.2 5.6 Former Soviet Union (CIS) 7.9 8.2 6.5 6.0 CIS excluding Russia 9.1 10.5 7.7 7.0 China 9.3 9.5 8.5 8.0

For years, Indian businessmen have complained that they cannot compete internationally because of costly electricity. However, electricity prices globally are shooting up, mainly because natural gas prices are going through the roof. In consequence, Indian companies with captive coal mines

As the Bombay Sensex bobs up and down, I am amused by explanations emanating from stockbrokers. Some attribute fluctuations to the latest quarterly results, others to the ups and down of oil prices, still others to Indian economic and political

Is the tide turning against India? It ran a current account deficit of $ 6.2 billion in April-June 2005, against a surplus of $ 3.3 billion in the same quarter last year. This represents an annualized current account deficit of