Is there a connection between the rupee’s depreciation and the general elections? It appears so, going by some interesting numbers. In most election years, except in 2004 when the NDA was voted out and the Congress-led UPA formed the Government at the Centre, the rupee has seen a sharp fall against the dollar. The next general elections are due in 2014.
Consider this: 1984 – down 21 per cent; 1989 – down 24 per cent; 1991 – down 22 per cent; 1996 – down 19 per cent; 1998 – down 13 per cent; 1999 – down 14 per cent; 2004 – up 14 per cent; 2009 – down 25 per cent; 2013 (till now) – down 20 per cent.
Who benefits the most from a falling rupee? Those who bring black money stashed abroad back into India. Think about it.
While delivering the 10th Nani Palkhivala memorial lecture, RBI Governor D. Subbarao expressed the hope that Finance Minister P. Chidambaram would one day say: “I am often frustrated by the Reserve Bank, so frustrated that I want to go for a walk, even if I have to walk alone. But thank God, the Reserve Bank exists.”
The allusion was to the Finance Minister’s remark that, if need be, the Government would walk the path of growth alone.
Rambo II
Extending his support to the food security Bill in the Lok Sabha, Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MP from Andhra Pradesh Asaduddin Owaisi asked for 15 per cent quota for poor Muslims.
Predictably, some BJP members started creating a din, at which Owaisi shot back: “You people have Rambo to save you. What do we do?” This sent one end of the House into roars of laughter.
He was referring to reports about BJP’s likely Prime Ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, saving Gujaratis stranded in the Kedarnath floods.
Toss it higher!
The sliding rupee has a spawned a veritable rupee joke industry.
Here is one doing the rounds: A journalist, fed up with asking questions about the Indian economy, decided to seek Manmohan Singh’s view on sports. “Which game do you like best?” he asked.
The PM replied: “Cricket when played in India.” The journalist went on: “Which part of cricket do you like, batting or bowling?” Said our economist Prime Minister: “I like the toss at the beginning of the match in India.”
The bemused journalist asked why. Manmohan smiled and said, “Because it is the only time I see our rupee going up!”
Minefield of amendments
Just as it is difficult to acquire land in India, it is going to be difficult to decipher the maze of amendments for the land acquisition Bill. Reason?
The Bill is about 52 pages long and the amendments run into 25 pages! It is going to be tough for the land mafia to get its head around this, quipped an MP.
Act like a superstar...
At a late evening meeting of small-scale industry representatives, Bala V. Balachandran, a professor at Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai, started his speech with a brisk “Good evening” only to be met with indifference.
An irate Balachandran demanded the participants show more enthusiasm. “Look at Rajinikanth — 56 years old, but behaves like a 26-year-old,” he said. “Even if you are not energetic, act energetic,” he said.
Think of Rajinikanth and “imagine you can do it,” he exhorted the audience.
Overcoming the ban
Bangladeshi migrants may be a problem for the Kolkata elite, but they can’t get enough of the country’s ilish ( hilsa ) fish. With the Bangladeshi government clamping down on the export of hilsa , Bengalis on this side of the border are dependent on a parallel trade to taste their favourite Padmar ilish (hilsa from the Padma river).
Traders on both sides are laughing all the way to the bank with Bangladeshi hilsa selling at Rs 1,000 a kg or more in Kolkata.
Two strategies
Now that the Land Bill is set to become law, it may be relevant to recall that two home-grown IT services companies, Infosys and Wipro, have pursued different models for acquiring land to set up their software centres.
While Infosys has, for the most part, depended upon the State government for land allocation, Wipro has mostly used the services of an aggregator to buy land from the open market which allows it to own the land rather than get it on lease from the Government.
What remains to be seen is which of these models will survive once the Act comes into effect.