The Economic Times

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

  India’s Real Effective Exchange Rate (REER)    36-country basket 5-country basket 1990-91 75.58 141.99 1991-92 64.20 117.75 1992-93 57.08 112.38 1993-94 61.59 100.4 1994-95 66.04 100.4       2000-01 66.53 101.18 2001-02 68.43 102.49 2002-03 72.76 98.24 2003-04

When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits the US later this month, he will ask the US to lift curbs on the transfer of technology and equipment for nuclear and other purposes. He needs to emphasise that this is not about

Despite substantial GDP growth in the last two decades, India remains a poor country that ranks far behind others in almost every parameter. But there is one respect in which India is world number one: remittances from the overseas Diaspora.

Every year, Fortune magazine brings out data on the 500 biggest American companies. Most people read it to see who has become biggest and most profitable. I read it equally to see who got hammered and humbled. To my mind,

The new year 2005 has opened on a note of high optimism. The Sensex has hit a record 6680, and the CSO has estimated GDP growth in the July-September quarter at 6.6%, following 7.4% in the preceding quarter. The latest