The government will "play by the rule book" and make sure that absolute standards of probity are maintained, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said as the Opposition continued its attack over the Lalit Modi controversy. Jaitley also said there is "no question at all" about the government going on the back foot on this issue, as it has done "nothing wrong". "The government will play by the rule book and we will make sure that the absolute standards of probity are maintained," Jaitley said in San Francisco. Asked whether the controversy was creating an impression that some leaders of the ruling party and the government were siding with corrupt people, Jaitley said, "There is no question at all." To a question on the Opposition planning to disrupt the Monsoon Session of Parliament on the Lalit Modi issue, Jaitley said Parliament is meant to discuss and not to disrupt business. "We are willing to have a discussion on any subject that the Opposition wants," he said. The Finance Minister also said that the reforms can even take place outside Parliament, but its smooth functioning was important for many other reasons. "There are also some legislative reforms for which Parliament must function," he said. Under attack from the opposition, Jaitley had yesterday said the authorities would continue to do their job in probing the matter. Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj have been facing flak for allegedly helping former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi in procuring travel documents in the UK, a country which he has made his home to avoid legal processes in India. Modi, 49, travelled to London in 2010 after the Indian Premier League (IPL) got embroiled in allegations of match-fixing and illegal betting. Dushyant Singh, Raje's son, has also been under attack over reports that his company received Rs 11.63 crore in investments from Modi in 2008. Congress has accused Jaitley of doing a "clear-cut cover-up" on the entire issue and of influencing the Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe in Dushyant Singh and Modi's case. (PTI)
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Indian flour millers and global trading companies have sewn up deals to import 500,000 tonnes of premium Australian wheat since March, trade sources said, the biggest such purchases in more than a decade despite surplus stocks at home. Concerns that untimely rains in February and March would cut wheat output, especially of high-protein varieties used to make pizzas and pasta, first drove millers in India's southern ports to place the orders. Attractive prices then prompted traders such as Cargill, Louis Dreyfus and Glencore to follow, said three sources directly involved in the deals. The traders and millers could import a further 500,000 tonnes from France and Russia, where harvests are around the corner. The deals could push up benchmark prices that have already jumped on recent concerns about crop quality in the United States. "There are strong chances French and Russian wheat will find their way to India because of attractive prices ... and if the euro goes down, I expect more French wheat coming to India," one source said. Almost half of the quantity contracted so far -- bought at $255 to $275 a tonne -- has reached India and the rest is scheduled for July delivery, said the sources, who declined to be identified because they are not allowed to discuss trade-sensitive issues publicly. Although rains and hailstorms wilted the Indian wheat crop, the world's second-biggest producer and consumer of the grain has large stockpiles accumulated after eight straight years of bumper harvests. Monsoon ConcernsBut the government is likely to draw heavily from its warehouses this year if monsoon rains, critical for farm irrigation, turn out to be deficient, thereby fueling food inflation. India's weather office has cut this year's monsoon forecast to 88 percent of a long-term average, raising fears of the first drought in six years. Industry and government officials estimate this year's wheat output at about 90 million tonnes, nearly 5 percent lower than the 2014 harvest but still exceeding domestic demand of about 72 million tonnes. Since wheat is largely grown in India's central and northern plains, flour millers from southern states, hemmed in by the Indian Ocean, sometimes find it attractive to import high-protein grades from Australia. But this year's unusually large volumes have surprised some. "Other than large amounts of wheat that we're importing, we see two other significant changes," said one of the sources. "Perhaps for the first time, some imports are taking place in vessels and perhaps for the first time millers will end up buying French and Russian wheat as well." At about $185 to $190 a tonne on a free-on-board basis, French and Russian wheat is attractive for India, another source said. High-protein wheat in India costs more than $300 a tonne and imports could ebb if prices fall to about $283, the sources said. Russian wheat, however, could fall short of India's quality requirements despite a higher protein content than French wheat, said Tajinder Narang, a New Delhi-based trade analyst.(Reuters)
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Ajay Chhangani describes the roadmap to efficient utilisation of Human Resource With a meager 2.4 per cent of existent landmass, India has been a homeland for 17.5 per cent of total population of the globe. The distribution of Indian population is concentrated more in urban landscapes throughout the country. After almost eight decades after independence, India is gradually making her way to be among economically developed nations. However, the pace of development can be accelerated largely with a right approach to an all-inclusive progress. Diversity has been a unique identity of the nation. The populace is largely diversified being clustered based on multiple verticals such as economy, education, location, caste and community. 2001 census indicated that 72.2 per cent of the total population is distributed in about 638,000 villages. The remaining 27.8 per cent lived in more than 5,100 towns and over 280 urban agglomerations. From these demographics, the diversity of distribution in rural and urban localities is quite evident in India. While national leaders of pre independent India such as Mahatma Gandhi emphasized on rural empowerment, post independent reorganization of the country has been quite ineffective to convert such Ideas into reality. The government initiatives for a developed India are not apathetic to rural peripheries, but the process is apparently inadequate. Either the functioning of government initiatives is with glitches or they are with serious setbacks on policy fronts. Issues such as farmer suicide still rage the country when the brighter face of a rich India shine abroad in other nations. The functioning of government initiatives can be divided into two dimensions, one constituting at urban areas and the other comprising of the vast rural landscape. It has become an elementary feature in policy making of the country to diversify developmental activities on the lines of urban and rural perspectives. This approach of policy makers cannot be deemed as miscue owning to the vast difference prevalent in rural and urban India in diverse fronts: social, economical and infrastructural. However, in the process, the gap seems to widen instead of bringing the two on a same page. The need to emphases on rural India is based on the fact that almost three fourth of the populace lives in villages. Needless to highlight the expanse of rural India, majority of the country’s landmass is within rural landscape. These areas not only produce bread and butter of the nation but also are highly awash with rich natural resources. However, a multidimensional deficiency in almost every facets of development has plagued these areas, dragging its populace to urban locales in search of livelihood and employment. Such migration in return brings in myriad complicacies to the entire system. The rural populace being deprived of education, financial support, infrastructure and employment turns to a sheer wastage of human resource. Rural India, in fact can be the most efficient powerhouse for national development. A number of implications highlight its prospects. The first, as stated earlier, three fourth of Indian populace belongs to villages. Therefore, Indian human resource is primarily based on rural areas. Furthermore, more than 65 per cent of total population in India is under 35 years. This signifies the large potential that the country possesses in terms of labor power. Second, since, most of the country’s resources are concentrated on remote areas, by leveraging manufacturing and industry in rural landscapes, the nation can utilize them in an efficient manner. It will reduce the cost of manufacturing that will eventually help end customers. Productivity will increase impacting export and foreign exchange. Hence, these regions will be turned into prerogative engines to drive the nation towards progress. Recent initiatives by Government are ambitious to bring pace in the countries development. Initiatives such as Skill India and Make In India are enthusiastic steps. However, they will need to be on par with unique aspects of the nation surrounding distribution of populace and economy. Without bringing rural India under the ambit of active development, holistic progress of the nation is impossible. Government should ensure that recently rolled out measures should adequately focus towards empowerment of rural youth and communities. Skill development is now a priority in India. Emphases must be on dedicated schemes for capacity building in rural India. Formation of a well-established infrastructure exclusively for skill development must be initiated. Professional Skill and employment-oriented training must be provided to rural youth for creation of skilled labor force. Since, the Indian market is growing lucrative with a strengthening buying power of a section of its populace; many foreign companies are keen to invest. This will bring up many industries in various sectors in the nation, which will have a huge demand of skilled labor in coming times. Directing the Make in India initiative to rural India will bring about an impressive development in overall economy of the nation. Manufactured produce in these industries will cater both rural and urban consumption in addition to a sharp boost in the country’s export. Rural India has immense potential to add an intriguing feature to manufacturing and export. India is famous for many unique items and produces across the world. Numerous indigenous products of India have a prodigious value in international as well as in the domestic market. For instance, handicraft, handloom and textiles, orchids, herbs and similar products have huge commercial viability in the global market. Industries associated with these products should be developed with bases in rural landscapes throughout the nation. This will bring about a sharp breakthrough in indigenous industry and manufacturing of the nation and enable rural communities to become self-dependent with economic empowerment. Furthermore, industries such as tourism have enormous prospects in a country such as India. Ministry of Rural Development has a budget of 1500 Cr. yearly for their flagship scheme under NRLM-National Rural Livelihood Mission as DDU-GKY: Deen Dayal Upadhyay Grameen Kaushal Yojana. The scheme trains unemployed youths under BPL category on various skills in order to provide them employability. However, this is insufficient for the size we have available in our country. We need similar schemes for all category of people be it BPL or General. Skill development schemes that focus on infrastructure development in rural India are the need of the hour. It could be a great initiative if government schools can add vocational training along with other subjects across the nation. Apart from these, schemes should be floated to use school infrastructure in post school hours for training and skill development. There should be special incentive schemes under “Make in India” policy for Industries to setup their units in rural locales utilizing local resources. The dream of India becoming a super power aligned with countries such as the US, and neighboring China, can be transformed to reality only with proper utilization of its resources. Human resource is the best resources of any nation and for India; our rural populace can become the driving factor for development and industrialization. Time has arrived to hone this asset and utilize it for the best. The author, Ajay Chhangani, is CEO Rise India Group
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Pranav Sharma analyses why most of us consider businesses as unsympathetic to social development and the way forwardIn today’s pro- business scenario that seems to cover a spectrum of capacities, a question looms whether this development in the business sector only benefitting the rich and if the poor are still cordoned off? There’s an incoherent belief that the advent of business has posed various social challenges. Poverty, malnourishment, lack of sanitation and unhealthy conditions are to name a few. In this fractured and impatient society we see NGOs, government’s initiatives and philanthropy as the only ray of hope, whereas the business world is seen as a bearer of these social issues. But the question is why most of us consider businesses as unsympathetic? In order to address this notion, we’ll have to step back and ponder radically. While we tend to seek mobilization, the situation remains icky and impaired. If you ask why, the only possible reason can be the lack of resources. We don’t have sufficient resources to deal with these problems. Using the current model, we don’t have enough tax revenues and philanthropic donations. It’s time we confront that the scarcity of resources is only aggrandising in the advanced world. I think many have seen business as the problem or at least one of the problems in the many of the social challenges we face .Now this a low point for Business as it is not seen as a solution, now it’s been seen as a problem by most of the people and rightly so since there have been lots of bad actors out there who have done the wrong things, that have made the problem worst and thus this perspective is perhaps justified. But how do we tend to see solution to these social problems, these many issues we face in the society? Well we tend to see the solutions in forms of NGOs , in terms of Government , in terms of philanthropy. There has been a tremendous rise in this unique form of entity called NGOs , This is a unique form of organization we have seen growing , enormous talent , enormous energy , enormous innovation now is been mobilized through this structure to try to deal with all of these challenges and many of us are deeply involved in that . We have been aware of these problems from decades, we have decades of experience with the NGOs and the government entities but the awkward reality is that we are not making fast enough progress , we are not winning . These problems still seem very daunting , very impracticable and any solution we are achieving are small solutions we are making incremental progress What’s the fundamental Problem we have in dealing with these problems? If we cut of all the complexity away we have the problem of SCALE. We can’t Scale , We can make progress , we can show benefits , we can show results, we can make things better, we are helping but we cant scale . We cant make large scale impact. Why is that? because we don’t have the resources , that’s clear now , and that’s clear now that hasn’t been since decades, we don’t have enough resources and money to deal with these problems .Using the current model , we don’t have enough tax revenue, we don’t have enough philanthropic donations to deal with these problems .we got to confront the realty now. and the scarcity of the resources for dealing with these problems is only growing certainly in the advanced world. So if its Fundamentally a resource problem then where are the resources in the society? How are these resources created that we need to deal with these societal challenges? well there I think the answer is clear , they are in business, Business creates wealth when it needs by way of profit. Its meeting needs at a profit which leads to taxes which leads to incomes , which leads to charitable donations that’s where the resources come from .Only business can create resources , all the other institutions can utilize them to do important work but only business can create them . The resources are overwhelmingly generated by business. The question now is that how we Tap into this? Business generates resources when it makes profits, that profit is the small difference between the cost and the price , but that profit is the magic . That profit allows the whatever solution we have created to be infinitely scalable. The solution becomes self sustainable, Now what’s this got to do with the social problems?. One line of the thinking is that lets take this profit and redeploy it into social problems .Business should give more towards the social problems, business should be more responsible that’s been the path which we have been on for so long but this path is not leading us to where we need to go. So how can the situation be overhauled? For a country like India with a population of over 1.2 billion people, the need to change from business strategies to “Responsible business strategies” to tackle with issues such as health, nutrition, education, water scarcity and climate change, is mandatory. We have seen companies like TATA Group which are actively working for social causes. Over the years, its endeavors have encompassed provisions in healthcare services, drinking water, rainwater harvesting, tribal development, relief and rehabilitation, income and employment generation, women’s health, education, awareness programs and patronage to sports and cultural activities. Indian Tobacco Company’s initiative e- Chaupal has won immense appreciation. Their model has been designed to specifically tackle the challenges posed by the unique features of Indian agriculture, characterized by fragmented farms, weak infrastructure and the involvement of numerous intermediaries, among others. We also see companies like CISCO that are training 4 million people in IT Skills to be responsible and help expand the opportunity to disseminate IT Technology and grow the whole business to impact and address social problems. A major part of the revenue is generated through business. Now if they have a better working atmosphere, it would help them raise profits, which in turn would raise the social standards of the country. The conventional wisdom in economics and the view in the business has historically been that actually there’s a trade of between social performance and economical performance , Conventional wisdom has been that business makes profit by causing a social problem . Let’s take for example- it’s too expensive to have a safe working environment, so a lot of companies resist the effort. But if we look at it the other way round, a better working atmosphere would retain better employees who would deploy all their potential. Thus, the company will grow and so will its profit. Whereas dealing with accidental situations and regular health issues appear too costly to be borne. Businesses do not earn profits by creating social problems, not in any fundamental sense, the better we try to understand, we realize that businesses earn profits by solving them. This new thinking on the interface between the business and social problems incites a fundamental and deep synergy that pays off in the long run. Most of the companies today understand this dire need and hence are moving towards effective work conditions. Taking this recourse and tapping into organisational capacity is sure to fetch positive outcomes in the times to come. It’s a higher kind of capitalism that would ultimately meet the important needs. Shared value occurs only when social value and economic value are created simultaneously. It’s like finding an opportunity that can unleash the greatest possibility of addressing social problems. We can address shared values at multiple levels, its real and its happening but in order to get this solution working businesses will have to introspect on how they perceive themselves. Instead of being trapped in the conventional wisdom companies should embrace an ideal approach that can effectively create better circumstances with NGOs and government working part in partnership with business. The government also has to find ways to enable shared values in the businesses rather than projecting itself as a single player. As it’s said, change in perspective has the power to change the world! Pranav Sharma is founder of AUGMEN which primarily focuses on Development Sector Consulting and CSR Consultancy and Advisory
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The government on Monday (22 June) proposed income tax benefits for people making payments through credit or debit cards and doing away with transaction charges on purchase of petrol, gas and rail tickets with plastic money. In a draft paper for moving towards cashless economy and reduce tax avoidance, the government also proposed to make it mandatory to settle high value transactions of more than Rs 1 lakh through electronic mode. In order to incentivise shopkeepers, it has proposed tax rebate to them provided they accept a significant value of sales through debit or credit cards. The proposals are aimed at building a transactions history of an individual to enable improved credit access and financial inclusion, reduce tax avoidance and check counterfeiting of currency. "Tax benefits in terms of income tax rebates to be considered to consumers for paying a certain proportion of their expenditure through electronic means," said that draft proposals for facilitating electronic transactions on which the government has invited comments till June 29. It further said that all "high value transactions of, say, more than Rs 1 lakh, (be settled) only by electronic means". The paper said the tax benefits could be provided to merchants for accepting electronic payments. "An appropriate tax rebate can be extended to a merchant if at least say 50 per cent value of the transactions is through electronic means. Alternatively, 1-2 per cent reduction in value added tax could be considered on all electronic transactions by the merchants," it added. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his budget speech had said that the government would "introduce soon several measure that will incentivise credit or debit card transactions and disincentivise cash transaction". (PTI)
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Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras accused Greece’s creditors of trying to “humiliate” Greeks with more cuts as he defied a growing drumbeat of warnings that Europe was preparing for his country to leave the euro. The unrepentant address to lawmakers after the collapse of talks with European and IMF lenders at the weekend was the clearest sign yet that the leftist leader has no intention of making a last-minute U-turn and accepting austerity cuts needed to unlock frozen aid and avoid a debt default within two weeks. Meanwhile, the White House warned that an agreement was needed to avoid shaking financial markets further and Tsipras assured US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew that Athens aimed to bridge the differences with creditors.Plan B: HSBC Holdings and JPMorgan Chase are in talks to relocate parts of their businesses to Luxembourg from the UK as they weigh the possibility of a British exit from the EU. JPMorgan is close to setting up a bank based in Luxembourg to handle the clearing of euro zone transactions, paving the way for the US bank to transfer more of its business out of the UK in the event of a Brexit, according to a newspaper report. The banks are also considering the tougher rules imposed by the EU for conducting business outside the euro zone. The changes are not likely to lead to a large number of jobs moving to Luxembourg, and London would remain the European headquarters of JPMorgan for the present, the paper cited. Representatives at HSBC and JPMorgan were not available for comments. A British exit would take some time to implement after a vote to leave, JPMorgan said.Call Upgrade: Singapore’s three telecommunications operators — Singapore Telecommunications, M1, and StarHub — said they would stop providing older 2G mobile technology services in the wealthy city state from 1 April 2017, as rising smartphone ownership has led to higher data usage rates. “To cater for consumers’ increased demand for mobile data and faster access speeds, the spectrum currently used for 2G will be used to provide faster, more advanced 3G and 4G services,” the companies said in a statement.Copycat Action: China’s Alibaba plans to launch an online video service that mimics US streaming giant Netflix, a report said, marking the e-commerce giant’s latest move to expand its business scope. Alibaba will offer Tmall Box Office via its own set-top box and smart televisions that use its operating system in about two months, president of Alibaba’s digital entertainment business Liu Chunning said. Alibaba did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Joint Ride: General Motors will re-enter the US medium-duty truck market next year with Chevrolet-branded vehicles supplied by Japanese truck maker Isuzu Motors, people familiar with the matter said. The long-time partners have in the past jointly developed trucks such as the Chevy Colorado pickup, sold as the i-Series by Isuzu. GM sold its stake in Isuzu in 2006 after a 35-year capital alliance, as it faced financial difficulties, and later announced its exit from the medium-duty truck market when its problems escalated and it filed for bankruptcy in 2009.Gunned Down: Colt Defense, the 179-year-old gunmaker that supplies M4 carbines and M16 rifles for the US and foreign militaries, filed for bankruptcy, amid delayed government sales and declining demand. The West Hartford, Connecticut-based firearms maker listed assets of as much as $500 million and debt of as much as $500 million in a Chapter 11 filing in bankruptcy court in Wilmington, Delaware. Wilmington Trust Company is listed as the biggest unsecured creditor with a $261-million claim. Colt’s current sponsor Sciens Capital Management has agreed to act as a stalking horse bidder for all of its assets and liabilities related to existing agreements, according to a statement from the gunmaker.Power Of Two: Blackstone Group and Carlyle Group are making a joint bid for NCR Corp in a leveraged buyout that would be the year’s biggest at more than $10 billion, including debt, people familiar with the matter said. Blackstone and Carlyle, the world’s two largest private equity firms, have joined forces to outbid other buyout firms and acquire Duluth, Georgia-based NCR, which manufactures cash registers and ATMs. The auction for NCR is several weeks away from completion, the people said. Other buyout firms vying for NCR include Apollo Global Management and Thoma Bravo, the people said. Some of the other private equity firms that are competing could also team up, the people added. There is no certainty that the Blackstone and Carlyle consortium will prevail, or even that NCR will agree to a sale with any party, the people said. The company has been exploring options in recent months in light of shareholder pressure.Green Gift: The White House announced $4 billion in pledges from major foundations and institutional investors to pay for innovations that reduce carbon pollution. US President Barack Obama is also helping to make the investments easier. Vice-president Joe Biden will draw attention to the effort during a Clean Energy Investment Summit at the White House. The White House said the investment commitments come from hundreds of organisations from Sierra Club Foundation to Goldman Sachs. Among the initiatives is the creation of a non-profit group that would identify and assess companies and commercial investments that result in projects that are both profitable and aim to address climate change.Kickbacks? US authorities are examining payments made by Nike under a 1996 soccer sponsorship deal with Brazil for possible evidence of any wrongdoing by the company or others. Citing people familiar with the matter, allegations of corruption around Nike’s $160-million agreement to sponsor Brazil’s national team are discussed in barely veiled terms in the Justice Department’s indictment of officials in soccer’s governing body, FIFA. The indictment describes a multinational US sportswear company that struck a deal to sponsor the Brazilian federation, and then cut a side deal with a sports-marketing middleman, who allegedly used payments from the company for bribes and kickbacks. The people familiar with the matter confirmed the company is Nike.(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 13-07-2015)
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While the US debates having a woman's image on a dollar bill, it's worth noting that many nations already feature women on their currencies, writes Haider Ali Khan Men as kings, former presidents, heads of state or prominent statesmen have traditionally ruled the world's currencies. Now some want a better gender balance on currency notes, recognising the leading role women have played in society. Over the last few months there has been a campaign to put an image of Harriet Tubman, an advocate of ending the African and Indian slave trade in the United Sates, on a dollar bill. It has gained support in social media and received more than 600,000 votes to replace President Andrew on a US currency note. "It's time for a woman to be back on our paper currency," US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said. The US will replace Alexander Hamilton, featured on the $10 bill, with a historical female figure within five years, said Lew, who has sought public suggestions in this regard. While America is debating the issue, it's worth noting that many nations already feature women on their currencies. Queen Elizabeth II is on the British pound and has ruled the British mint as one of the world's longest-serving monarchs. Eva Peron is on Argentina's Peso. The second wife of President Juan Peron who served as First Lady of Argentina until her death in 1952, was known for her musicals, movies and feminist lore. Indira Gandhi's image can be found on some Indian coins. The fourth prime minister of India, who dominated India's political scene for decades, was voted the "Greatest Woman of the Millennium" by BBC in 1999. The Central African Franc depicts the image of a local woman. The Syrian queen Zenobia, famous for her resistance against Roman invaders in the second century, has her image on a Syrian pound note. The Philippines, Turkey, Mexico, New Zealand and Australia are among other countries that have women's images on their currencies.
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Only one Arvind was expected to be appointed to a key position in the economic policy making architecture of the Narendra Modi government, says Sutanu GuruArvind Subramanian, Raghuram Rajan, Arvind Panagriya. Of the three, only one was expected to be appointed to a key position in the economic policy making architecture of the Narendra Modi government. One was supposed to be sent to greener pastures and the third was never supposed to be hired. All this, if you were member of the fan boys and girls club of Modi who expected him to demolish the influence of Luytens Delhi in favour of outsiders unsympathetic to the “cause”. Ironically, Raghuram Rajan, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, who was appointed by the previous UPA regime recently received a pat on the back from Modi. The other, Arvind Subramanian, was made the Chief Economic Advisor despite publicly slamming the first Modi era Union Budget presented by Arun Jaitley in July, 2014. The third, Arvind Panagriya, has been a vocal supporter of Modi as well as his so called Gujarat model even before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections along with Jagdish Bhagwati. Modi fans who were disappointed when a “vocal critic” like Subramanian was appointed, cheered loudly when Panagriya was asked to head the newly constituted Niti Ayog which has replaced the Planning Commission. But they would have been sorely disappointed with a recent report in The Indian Express which claims Panagriya is floundering around looking for a role and a place in the sun. The paper quotes a namesless official who says, “Before this confusion over his rank, when Panagariya called a meeting, it was attended by all Secretaries. In a meeting called after change in rank and pay, Secretaries sent across their juniors,” said a source. “It is for the Prime Minister to intervene in situations like these. The bureaucracy is the last in welcoming a foreign body into the system.” In sharp contrast, Subramanian has successfully authored the latest Economic Survey and continues to be candid in his opinions. For example, he publicly stated that there could be a debate on the decision of RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan to persist with high interest rates despite clear indications that lower interest rates are needed to fnance higher growth rates. Some pundits took it as a public expression of a feud between Rajan and Subramanian. But that is mere speculation and Rajan has given no indication that he is going to dramatically cut interest rates in the near future. This despite Arun Jaitley publicly stating that he is in favor of lower inerest rates. Normally, not many would be interested in what the RBI Governor, the CEA and the Niti Ayog Head are up to individually and collectively, except their stated positions on official policy. But it just so happens that all three are star economists who have been imported from the United States. All sorts of benevolent as well as malevolent motives can be ascribed to such American imports! In fact, the curiosity and page three gossip when Rajan was first appointed by the UPA government bordered on the voyeuristic. In this particular instance, gossip factories will keep churning out stuff. But the continuation and the performance of the trio reveals is that contrary to pre 2014 hopes of fans, Modi will continue to be measured and an incrementalist when it cmes to key economic policy making.
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