The Times of India

The Bombay Sensex, comprising the 30 top companies on the stock market, hit a historic high of 14,000 last week, up from less than 9.000 at the start of the year. This was a huge achievement. But the market mood […]

India is experiencing record economic growth and record crimialisation of politics at the same time. GDP growth in the June-September quarter was a phenomenal 9.2%, raising hopes that India may actually overtake China in the not-too-distant future. Yet euphoria on

Even when markets fail, market-based solutions can often be better than government ones. This needs emphasis in the wake of the Nobel Prize for economics going to George Akerloff, Joseph Stiglitz and Michael Spence, for showing that lack of information

During the visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao last week, there was much loose talk (but no decision) regarding an India- China Free Trade Area (FTA). This is a terrible idea that must be aborted. The most important reason is

India is firmly in the grip of vote-bank politics. So, the clamour for job reservations for scheduled castes and tribes in the private sector will grow as we approach the state election in Uttar Pradesh next March. The clamour will

The UN Human Development Report 2006 paints a dismal picture of social development in India, which ranks just 126th out of 177 countries. We must be cautious about glowing predictions that India will soon become a global economic superpower. Without

Globalisation has for the first time in history made poverty an advantage. It obliges companies to search the globe for ways to cut costs. The lower the wages in any country, the more competitive production there is, other things equal.

I am delighted that the pioneer of microfinance, Mohammed Yunus of Grameen Bank, has won the Nobel Prize. Disclosure norms oblige me to report that I have co-promoted two microfinance institutions, Arohan in Calcutta and Sonata in Allahabad. So I

Three years ago, I thought Indian economy was trapped in a neo-Hindu growth rate of around 6 % per year. I was wrong. Growth has averaged 8% in the last three years, and looks set to hit that level again

Critics of globalisation have long claimed that the West controls the world financial system and uses this to help Western multinationals to dominate the world. Think again. In the first nine months of 2006, Indian companies have made foreign acquisitions