Supreme Court’s Delhi Metro verdict opens a Pandora’s box for public-private infra projects
Last year the finance ministry instructed state-owned companies not to contest adverse awards to help build a non-adversarial climate on arbitration. The Supreme Court’s verdict undercuts those instructions.
Investing for absolute returns can liberate investors
Chasing relative returns, with index performance to be beaten, tends to keep fund managers bound to big-cap stocks. Absolute-return investing offers more freedom but can be more challenging too
A four-day work week won't be on the horizon for decades
Keynes had forecast a better work-life balance long in the future. A reduced work week can’t be enforced harmlessly but markets may evolve to enable it.
Question hour: Have opposition parties done well in Parliament?
Data analysis shows a difference in how the BJP and Congress made use of a mechanism devised to hold governments accountable. The ministries that were put to most scrutiny saw a shift after the BJP won power.
Amul in America: Let’s take Indian cooperatives global
Globalizing Indian cooperatives requires policy support. We can learn from practices in countries where cooperatives have successfully globalized. Let’s start with a few by offering them a framework for that aim.
India’s creeping port acquisitions open a sea of opportunities for local firms
After Maldives, which has begun to hand over its port at Male to China, the involvement in Sittwe signals victory for India at the opposite end of the Indian Ocean
AI’s impact will parallel that of the internet, not steam engine
It’s fashionable to use much older analogies for it than we should, but comparing AI to the internet offers a broader and more nuanced understanding of its potential impact.
India's youth employment needs close analysis, not casual commentary
The ILO-IHD job report should be read without an ideological slant to understand India’s labour market transformations.
To hold exams or not: It isn’t an easily answerable question
Unfortunate confusion over this dilemma in Karnataka has made school students suffer needlessly. Has the right to education law been misinterpreted?
Elephants can learn to dance by emulating what cheetahs do well
Large corporations can learn from nimble startups and create an ownership mindset to gain advantages.
Wealth inequality: Give all Indians a stake in capitalism—literally
Wealth disparity is a glaring issue no doubt, but drastic redistribution would prove too disruptive for anybody’s good. A policy of PSU stock grants for every Indian household deserves a trial.
Airfares are soaring amid turbulence in civil aviation
Airfares in India are soaring, especially on busy routes. Vistara’s flight cuts—or is there more to it?
Big SIP numbers: Beware of what’s about to come
An effective investment strategy - figure out your entire asset allocation, for the mutual fund component select perhaps two diversified scheme and keep investing in the selected funds both via SIPs and lumpsums
Sensex at 75k: Why the bulls are unusually calm on the eve of an election
Stable market conditions and hopes of policy continuity regardless of the outcome of the polls are keeping the bulls in business.
We need urgent global talks on the EU’s carbon adjustment import charges
The CBAM could unfairly hit export industries in countries like India as it ignores differential obligations for climate action. It needs sorting out.
10-year plan: Can the Indian rupee go global without 100% convertibility?
An e-rupee may hold an edge in pursuit of an ambitious aim set by India’s PM, but we need to grapple with how capital controls could be eased to enable the currency’s globalization.
Ola’s India refocus makes sense
Ride-hailing major Ola Cabs is set to withdraw from its three overseas markets. It plans to focus not on globalization, but electrification, and there’s good reason for it.
Aadhaar-based age tokens can solve a privacy problem
Age-gating under India’s new privacy law needn’t mean websites asking for our personal documents. India’s digital identity system allows us to implement a tokenized solution at scale.