The Hindu Business Line : Thursday, March 20, 2003

Raising the FDI cover
IT SEEMS INCREASINGLY likely that the Government will seek Parliamentary approval for a hike in the ceiling on foreign direct investment in the insurance sector to 49 per cent from the 26 per cent now permitted. This should occasion no surprise. ... More

BUDGET

Giving agri-business a boost
THE Budget comes at a time when the Indian agri-business sector is faced with a sustainability crisis — declining farm productivity, falling commodity prices, sluggish export, and environmental degradation due to excessive soil mining and ... More

Well-packaged but sans core objectives
ANY expectation of a path-breaking fiscal exercise by Mr Jaswant Singh was belied by his maiden Budget, which though full of admirable sentiments was lacking in commensurate substance. Yet, prima facie it appears positive with a largely ... More

ECONOMY

Little incentive to reduce fiscal deficit — Digging holes and filling them up
Developing economies sometimes effectively engage in fiscal deficits to increase the economic growth rate. But though India has long been reconciled to high fiscal deficits, the economy is in a slowdown. It has, however, been spared some of the negat ives, such as higher rates of inflation and interest, and increasing current account deficit. Thus, the Finance Minister has little incentive to reduce the fiscal deficit, argues Dhanmanjiri Sathe. More

ACCOUNTANCY

Old beans in new can
Kannan Srinivasan on the name-change binge among accounting firms More

Loose ball
AS IN commentator boxes where they debate the batting style of two left-handers against one bowler, a common exercise in newsrooms is to compare how two papers have reported the same story. The luxury of such evaluation, to judge who did better, ... More

The search for a vice-grip
G. D. Agrawal on the Bill-in-waiting that relates to financial companies More

ECONOMIC OFFENCES

Moral suasion
NO SOONER had I settled into the chair in the friendly neighbourhood barbers' than I almost jumped out of my skin. For, behind the spotless white apron, in the place of my genial hairdresser, was my genial bank manager! Adjusting his red silk ... More

LETTERS

VAT Bill

Change agents

Comments & Letters to the Editor to: bleditor@thehindu.co.in
Subscribe to: Business Line