Underline the need for improved energy efficiency that is green and...
The record low temperatures across northern India seem all the chillier due to inadequate and rather deficient energy systems — including the sheer lack of central heating for most —made worse by...
View ArticleThree-fold action plan to ensure success of NITI Aayog
NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog has, after months of talk, finally replaced the Planning Commission. But it needs to get the maatra in the Devnagari script right, with the...
View ArticleMines and Minerals Amendment Ordinance, 2015: The more things change, the...
Cases concerning impropriety in mines and minerals, as they wind through the courts, continue to make news, albeit in the inside pages. In the spate of recent Ordinances, a disproportionate number...
View ArticleOnly a reformist Budget will put Modi government back in game
Following the stupendous electoral victory of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Delhi assembly elections, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley needs to go on the front foot and present a reformist Budget...
View ArticleBudget 2015: Regular, well-designed innovation surveys need of the hour
The Union Budget seeks to boost investment, employment and the growth momentum. In tandem, there’s the move to rev up the development-delivery mechanism and social security with targeted focus and...
View ArticleThe auction of the smaller mines for captive use makes sense
In the ongoing auctions of the relatively small Schedule III and Schedule II coal mines, for specified end-use, the real game changer has been the Centre’s decision to earmark the proceeds for the...
View ArticleNGT policy: Clear the air on pollution
Latest figures suggest a huge rise in air pollution in the National Capital Region (NCR), and the way ahead is to put in place effective measures to tackle the menace in the short and medium...
View ArticleWhy we need GST
The Narendra Modi government needs to reach out to the Opposition and strive for political consensus to overhaul the indirect tax regime, or the taxation of goods, services and sales. The point about...
View ArticleUnreasonable tax demands like MAT on FIIs make no sense
The future, it is said, is like a distant foreign country where one has never been.Yet in finance and economics, expectations are of paramount import, as reflected, for instance, in stock market...
View ArticlePower is most important to Make in India and Digital India plans of PM Modi
Of the several issues current today, the power sector seems the least problematic. Output is rather buoyant, pan-India: the power ministry website mentions, in block letters, not just the highest-ever...
View ArticleWhy FM Arun Jaitley needs to reach out to Opposition on goods and services tax
Union finance minister Arun Jaitley needs to reach out to the Opposition to get back to the business of legislation and pass the constitutional amendment Bill on the goods and services tax (GST). The...
View ArticleWhy India needs a proactive policy to rationalise demand for petroleum products
Expert analysis of the global oil market suggests that over the next five years, prices of crude would remain subdued and range-bound. The International Energy Agency, in its mediumterm oil market...
View ArticleNumbers game: Does India’s statistical set-up need a revamp?
There’s a questionable numbers game in town. In fact, there is something rotten in the way India’s industrial production figures are estimated and revised. The stodgy statistical set-up seems wonky and...
View ArticleKeep doing the right thing on the tax front
After the electoral drubbing in Bihar of the ruling NDA at the Centre, the Narendra Modi government needs to step up reforms to boost markets, enterprise and growth. In particular, the central...
View ArticleReforms at the well head
The petroleum ministry has proposed welcome big-bang reforms in the upstream oil sector, for the exploration and production (E&P) of hydrocarbons in domestic sedimentary basins. But the move has...
View ArticleBreathtaking solutions for global warming and climate change
This seminar season, the hot topic clearly is global warming and climate change. In Delhi, there is much talk, waffling and general confusion about local policy initiatives in the offing, and attendant...
View ArticleWay ahead is to reform indirect tax regime with GST
The Centre needs to follow through with pending legislation for the goods and services tax (GST). As the recent Arvind Subramanian expert committee points out, the lack of reforms in the indirect tax...
View ArticleBudget 2016: Government must tighten fiscal policy to rev up growth, markets
The Mid-Year Economic Analysis report, which was put out in the public domain last month, makes a strong case for looser fiscal policy in the forthcoming Budget. The report calls for tweaking the...
View ArticleGovt must bring down corporate tax rate to be globally competitive
It is time again to think loud about tax design, outlays and the Budget. In the unrepresentative days of old, there seems to have been very little discussion on expenditure and outlays. A wall display...
View ArticleThe debt focus of public sector banks needs changing
The Centre is reportedly keen on reforming the stodgy public sector banks (PSBs), which account for about 70% of commercial banking activity, but have a disproportionately higher 85% share in banks’...
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