The Rising Oil Price and Policy Response

Any explanations for why should Indian stock market indices should be positively correlated to global oil price? As Brent crosses $50 per barrel our NIFTY crosses 8,100. Oil prices are rising because of the decline in shale oil production in the US and the biggest drop in non-OPEC oil production since 1992. Thus it is…

SMEs in Defence Manufacturing and Procurement: Steps taken towards self-reliance in defence production

Defence procurement is conducted from three sources, foreign entities, defence public sectors undertakings (DPSUs) and the domestic private sector. The domestic private sector is comprised of large players (like Tata, Mahindra, Larsen and Tubro, Bharat Forge) and SMEs. Imports from abroad constitute almost 60% share of defence procurements. DPSUs and Ordnance Factories fulfil anywhere between…

Smelling a scam — supposedly

Potential: “If GSPC successfully pumps out even the 1.05 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, it will generate a revenue of $6.6 billion.” The KG basin. It is important to keep a hawk eye on government operations to prevent corruption and scams. However, it is destructive to try and generate a scam where there is…

Time To Change Focus And Approach

It is neither fair nor perhaps useful to evaluate a government at the end of two years of a five-year term. The ruling leadership could well have consciously initiated a spate of schemes and programs for two reasons. First, to galvanize a somnolent administration and shake it out of its lethargy and inertia. Second, the…

Peer-to-Peer Lending: What Next for India

In response to the financial crisis, banks improved their credit standards and one of the silver linings of the crisis has been an increase in financial creativity in how people raise money. Its not very clear if this is temporary or a structural change in the financial system, however, it has left certain profitable niches…

Even Out the Odds: A Switch to Greener Transport

Green Transport is a holistic approach to transportation focused on achieving a clean low-carbon and low-pollution future. Rapidly developing countries, with their exploding car ownerships and travel rates, must focus on making transport more ecologically friendly. India in particular has great potential to reap the benefits of green transport initiatives due to its huge population…