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COVER STORY
Government's Borrowing Program :
A Fine Balancing Act
- Y Bala Bharathi and Sanjoy De
The government has envisioned an unprecedented borrowing program at the cost of fiscal discretion
for this fiscal. The underlying notion is to get growth back on track which will eventually result in huge
capital flows into the economy, as liquidity chases growth. However, there remain some downside risks too.
FINANCIAL MARKETS
Banning Entry Load : A Cosmic Change
- Y Bala Bharathi and Sanjoy De
In a radical move, the capital market regulator has banned the entry load for all mutual fund schemes.
The move is likely to change the dynamics of the mutual fund industry in India.
FINANCIAL MARKETS
Qualified Institutional Placements : Losing Faith?
- T Jyotsna
QIPs, which scripted a splendid show even a few months ago, are now being shunned by issuers
and investors alike.
FINANCIAL MARKETS
Primary Market :
Revival Signs
- Amit Singh Sisodiya and Ramana Pemmaraju
India's IPO market, which was comatose for over a year, looks all set to make a smart comeback, as
a clutch of IPOs, including some big-ticket PSU disinvestments, are slated to hit the market soon.
BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
Online Social Networks : Success Sans Profits
- Amit Singh Sisodiya and Ramana Pemmaraju
Despite their surging popularity and soaring membership base, a majority of online social networks
have struggled to earn a dime for their offerings.
BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
Made in China : Going Global
- N Janardhan Rao
Despite China being the global manufacturing hub, top Chinese companies oddly remained
without identities in the past. However, branding has become the new buzzword in mainland China and
business leaders are rethinking their next strategy for growth, beyond low-cost proposition.
BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
Soaring Prices :`Food' for Thought
- Amit Singh Sisodiya and Sudesh Gonela
Relentless rise in food prices has raised alarm bells across the globe, amidst falling yield, shifting
crop pattern and a truant weather, making food unaffordable for millions of world's poor.
TECHNOLOGY
Dogfight in IT Industry :
Google vs. Microsoft
- Hemant K Bhargava
The battle between Microsoft and Google will shape how our society makes use of technology, computing
and information. It will determine which firm will shape and control the future of computing and ultimately profit
from it.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
Microfinance : Deadline for Target or Turmoil?
- Monika Goel, Somdeo
While the potential for growth in the microfinance sector is huge, there are systemic and
growth-related issues that need to be addressed for the sector to realize its full potential.
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMY
China :
The Next Bubble?
- R Venkatesan Iyengar
Opinion on whether the Chinese economy is in the midst of a boom-bubble-bust cycle is divided.
However, as the liquidity glut swamps the Chinese mainland, a nervous world is watching with its fingers crossed.
MONETARY MUSINGS
Credit Policy : Skating on Thin Ice
- GRK Murty
Central bankers are known to always skate on thin ice, for their business is making things
possible—for the businesses, and for the
economy as a whole. And during periods like now when the world economy is
passing through the worst crisis next only to that of
the 1930 economic depression—that too, a crisis that started in the
country which had assisted many other countries in
weathering the 1930 crisis, thus leaving the world today with no such
support—the skating becomes still more challenging for central
bankers from emerging economies.
CORPORATE STRATEGY
Air India :
In Troubled Skies
- Y Bala Bharathi and Sanjoy De
The Indian national carrier is in a serious crisis and banking heavily on government-sponsored
revival packages. But it may not be an easy flight ahead for Air India, as it is in the midst of violent cross winds.
CORPORATE STRATEGY
Fighting the Tech Slump :
Big Blue Does It Again
- Amit Singh Sisodiya and Ramana Pemmaraju
The tech titan, which beat many an economic recession in the past, comes out triumphant once
again, delivering a solid performance in the second quarter of fiscal 2009.
ARTS & ARTISTS
Svapnavasavadatta : Mnemonic Interludes
- Nirmala PG
Be it heroes, idealists or kings, one
question which has tormented since ages has been the question of
balancing the conflicting claims of personal life with the larger interests of the
nation/society. In this attempt to strike a balance, the victim in most cases is
the suffering individual, unwillingly submitting to the exigencies of his
exalted position.
APOLITICAL
FTAs :
The Second Best Alternative?
- grk
After six years of painstaking negotiations, India at
last signed the Free Trade Agreement (FTA)—of
course, relating only to goods—with the Association of South
East Asian Nations (ASEAN) on August 13. It shall, however,
come into force from January 1, 2010.
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