Chennai battered

This is with reference to ‘Physically battered and image bruised, Chennai limping back to normalcy’ (December 7). The heavy rains in Chennai and the aftermath have once again proved that our infrastructure is very poor and cannot withstand heavy rainfall.

While our leaders and politicians are busy making tall promises, the common man is suffering.

Crores of rupees are spent on subsidies and freebies instead of improving infrastructure.

Reckless urbanisation, age-old drainage system and wrong urban planning is hindering efforts to deal with extreme weather events. This is a wake-up call for the authorities to introspect and improve our infrastructure.

Veena Shenoy

Thane

Apropos, ‘Physically battered and image bruised, Chennai limping back to normalcy’ (December 7). Heavy rain triggered by Cyclone Michaung has brought Chennai to its knees and caused several deaths, even as floodwaters have inundated roads, subways and government hospitals and swept away vehicles. But, the TN CM Stalin’s efforts to claim oneupmanship in handling the floods compared to 2015 when AIADMK was in power stands hollow. The misgovernance and lack of preparedness raise questions about the implementation of the National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project. Tamil Nadu is categorised as a highly vulnerable State along with Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha and West Bengal. This implies that these States have to remain in a state of readiness for any eventuality throughout the year.

N Sadhasiva Reddy

Bengaluru

The NBFC problem

Apropos ‘Allow some NBFCs to decouple from banks’ (December 7). The writer’s suggestion to decouple some Non Banking Finance Companies with autonomy to receive deposits and to manage their own lending risks is not a pragmatic suggestion. NBFCs are vulnerable to lending risks than regulated banks and the failure of several big NBFCs like IL&FS, DHFL are not a happy augury. Banks despite cautious lending are saddled with bad debts.

Hence the dependency of NBFC on bank borrowing and long-term bond selling are the less risky ways.

NR Nagarajan

Sivakasi

Moody’s Growth Ratings

Apropos ‘Moody’s outlook cut for China puts pressure on reforms’ (December 7), the rating narratives and trends should be re-assessed and re-evaluated. Moody’s, Fitch or S&P’s ratings are quite volatile and take short-term indicators for rating.

These ratings are short lived and have little bearing on international trade and commerce and have little impact on the countries rated. In fact, all countries and more particularly top economies have been facing crises on some fronts but have inherent shock absorbers in their economy. Despite China’s economic problems, it still has trade balance in its favour and remains the largest manufacturing hub.

The world is embroiled in multiple wars in Europe and the Middle East. China’s expansionist, protectionist and restrictive policies are major concerns and have long term impact on economies of India and these countries.

Vinod Johri

New Delhi