The Business Blog
Read biographyThe Business Blog is a daily business blog anchored by Firstpost senior editors. It will offer quick comments and insights into major business news developments from the pink press.
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If it’s June, it’s time for a diesel and gas price hike
By R Jagannathan Dear India, brace yourself for a hike in diesel prices this week. Also LPG. And, maybe, even kerosene. Do we have any inside dope on this? A special line to the PM, maybe? Nah! But last year the government raised diesel, cooking gas and kerosene prices by 9-20 percent #Manmohan Singh #oil #Oil subsidies #Petro-fuels #Petrol #Pranab Mukherjee
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How not to rescue the rupee: The UPA misses a chance
By R Jagannathan It was billed as redemption day for the economy, with the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) jointly announcing a slew of measures to arrest the decline of the rupee and improve global confidence in the Indian economy’s prospects. In the end, what we got was #Economic slowdown #External Commercial Borrowing #FII Investment #Gilts #rupee-dollar #TheExplainer
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What files are Pranab-da’s office staff shredding?
By R Jagannathan Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, whose tenure at North Block has gutted much of the economy and shredded all hopes of an early recovery, is performing his last two acts before he heads for the lawns of Rashtrapati Bhawan. One, as we all know, he heads the Empowered Group of #eGoMs #ExitMode #Omita Paul #Pranab Mukherjee
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Bengal’s self-goal: Haldia Petro MD ousted in boardroom coup
When one coup fails, try another. Bengal Tigress Mamata Banerjee failed to oust Pranab Mukherjee from being the UPA’s nominee for the President of India, but her state government has pulled off a compensatory corporate coup instead back home. In a boardroom coup on Tuesday, Mamata’s Industries Minister Partha Chatterjee wrested #BoardroomCoup #CorporateWarfare #Haldia Petrochem #Mamata Banerjee #Purnendu Chatterjee #Sumantra Choudhury
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Why the euro will fail for sure
The world may be keeping its fingers crossed on Greece, which has just about managed to elect a fairly pro-austerity frontrunner, but it’s time to uncross them: for the euro will not survive. We should take that as a certainty, not something that can be avoided. No amount of blundering #Eurozone crisis #Germany #Greece
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Why Subbarao told the finmin to take a walk
By R Jagannathan Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who recently expressed the hope that he could walk on the lawns of Rashtrapati Bhawan even before Sonia Gandhi announced his candidature for president last week, has now got a coded message from the Reserve Bank Governor that, maybe, he should take a #Duvvuri Subbarao #MonetaryPolicy #PolicyWatch #Pranab Mukherjee
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Sharma vs Jairam: Cong flyweights in shadow-boxing bout
If you thought only the heavy-weights of the UPA—Manmohan Singh, Pranab Mukherjee and P Chidambaram—are at daggers drawn, you have another thought coming. Even the flyweights are having their own little pow-wows. A few days ago, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh took potshots at the government for failing to bite the #Anand Sharma #Jairam Ramesh #Politics Decoder #Pranab Mukherjee #Shadow-Boxing #UPA Jockeying
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Should the rich leave all wealth to their children? Naah
At a closed-door meeting of India’s wealthy businessmen with Bill Gates in Bangalore last Friday, an interesting idea was floated: it may be better for the rich to bequeath their fortunes to charity than their offspring. The event, hosted jointly by Wipro chairman Azim Premji, Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata and #Azim Premji #Bill Gates #Capitalism #InMyOpinion #Mahatma Gandhi #Rakesh Jhunjhunwala #Ratan Tata #Trusteeship #Warren Buffett
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Wakey, wakey: India slips to No 4 in growth sweepstakes
Even about a week ago, Kaushik Basu, in an exit interview after resigning as Chief Economic Advisor in the finance ministry, could shoo away the economic cassandras with this argument: but we are till the second-fastest growing economy in the world. What can we do if the whole world is #Economic growth #Growth League #Kaushik Basu #Q4 GDP
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Petro-fuels: The search for second-best solutions, or worse
By R Jagannathan The search for a sensible petroleum pricing policy is always a search for second- and third-best solutions in India’s political economy. For one, a solution is being sought only because the fiscal deficit of Pranab Mukherjee is so high that his subsidies can no longer be hidden in some #Fuel tax #IOC #Petrol #ThatsJustWrong