Whodunnit Mistry

Fifteen top names in the financial sector switched off their cellphones and had hectic discussions spread over seven meetings that began at 9 am and ended at 6 pm, reaching 100 per cent unanimity in all recommendations. They represent the minds behind the ‘report of the high powered expert committee on making Mumbai an international financial centre’. If the title is a mouthful, the contents of the Percy Mistry committee report are somewhat formidable. For these 15 minds are really dreaming big.
It is one thing to announce the evolution of Mumbai from the financial capital of India into an international financial centre (IFC) amidst table thumping in Parliament as Finance Minister P. Chidambaram did on February 28, 2006. It is quite another to convert that aspiration into reality. You need grey hair, grey matter, a lot of organising power, ability to foresee the practical. But above all, you need to dream. This report lacks none of these and if three words were needed to define the big ideas in this report, they are: scale, reform, competition.

Opinion in The Indian Express, April 03, 2007

True gurus

You must meet him (a guru), a follower advised me. “He’s doing great work — and I’m part of that great work. We’ve uplifted hundreds in this village, thousands in that district, millions altogether. We’ve transformed convicts. We’ve changed lives, even souls. Meet him, write about us, give us publicity.”
I get to hear this monologue once a week or oftener. Couple of times, in my naivete, I even went out of my way to get some gyan, become a ‘better person’, learn to get in touch with my spirit. All in vain.

Opinion in The Indian Express, March 26, 2007

Feeling homesick?

The numbers are scary. As an Indian Express story on March 19 revealed, a person who 18 months ago had taken a 7.5 per cent 20 year loan for Rs 20 lakh to buy a house and would be paying an EMI of Rs 16,111, would have his future generations paying it in perpetuity if the EMI did not rise. Because of the sharp and steady increase in home loan interest rates, from 7.5 per cent then to 11 per cent today, and assuming this householder did not want to increase EMI, tenure rises from 20 years when begun, to 30 years at 9.5 per cent to 70 years at an interest rate of 10 per cent. Beyond this rate, the interest component of the EMI (which comprises interest and principal) rises beyond Rs 16,111. Meaning, unless the EMI is increased, he will be in a perpetual debt trap.

Opinion in The Indian Express, March 21, 2007

It’s a flat, flat world

The 541 point, or 4 per cent, crash in the Sensex on Wednesday coincided with P. Chidambaram’s fourth budget under the UPA administration. But that’s just where the coincidences end. The reasons for this fall lie outside the Budget, outside Parliament, outside the Indian economy — they lie in China, Philippines, Brazil, Mexico and, of course, the US.

Opinion in The Indian Express, March 01, 2007

Markets dive but why this could be an overreaction

NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 28 : No big-bang reforms. No cut in tax rates. No major change in tax slabs. And barring the needless increase in dividend distribution tax (DDT), an impractical, inflation-contending strategic cut in cement, extension of minimum alternative tax (MAT), and an incentive-killing application of Fringe Benefit Tax to ESOPs (employees’ stock option plan), no major change worth writing home about.
Just the right formula for keeping a long-term household budget, riding long-term high economic growth, in place.

Story in The Indian Express, March 01, 2007

Good news aplenty, just don’t talk of inflation

New Delhi, February 27 : For anyone wanting to gauge the pulse of the Government today, Economic Survey 2006-07 would be a useful tool. All policy-defining keywords --- inflation, growth, special economic zones (SEZs), infrastructure and even pension reforms --- have been discussed, keeping the governing coalition’s priorities and achievements in mind. In short, this ‘economic’ survey has far more ‘political’ undertones than many in the past.

Story in The Indian Express, February 28, 2007

Profit his engine, Lalu cuts fares, keeps key reforms still reserved

New Delhi, February 26 : Sharp in short-term money making, strong in medium-term strategy, but weak in long-term vision, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav’s fourth Railway Budget 2007-08 chugs on the tracks he charted four years ago. It transports record-breaking profits and freight carriage; most importantly, it delivers the lowest-ever operating ratio. Lalu’s budget yearned for attention in the Lok Sabha — but he had to yell his way.
“Rs 20,000 crore,” he shouted. “We have made a record profit of Rs 20,000 crore,” as if this feat would silence an Opposition that had decided to let the Bofors gun drown his Budget. And if the Opposition didn’t dither, Lalu, the performer, didn’t yield an inch of the centrestage.

Story in The Indian Express, February 27, 2007