Almost there

The Senate votes for financial reform, but some important issues remain unresolved

FINANCIAL reform is coming to America. On May 20th, after more than three weeks of often rancorous debate, the Senate approved the biggest overhaul of the financial system since the Great Depression, by 59 votes to 39. Its bill must now be reconciled with one passed by the House of Representatives in December. The result will be Barack Obama’s second big legislative victory of the year, after the passage of health-care reform in March.

The other vampires

Pressure mounts on an oligopoly

“LIKE vampires in the dead of the night”, rating agencies “will outlast us all”, said Bill Gross of PIMCO, a fund manager, this month. The ne’er-do-wells that fuelled the mortgage crisis by overrating trillions of dollars of dodgy debt have had a relatively easy time of it recently. But the heat on the oligopoly that dominates the industry—Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) and Fitch—is rising.

Another European mess

Plans to regulate private equity and hedge funds take two steps forward

The oil dilemma

Growth can be held hostage
Mukesh Ambani may have a stake in asserting that oil prices may go beyond $100 a barrel and that India should get used to living with high oil prices, but he is right.

Dysfunctional borrowers

Tougher IMF conditionality may be good for Pakistan
A low growth rate, a low savings and investment rate, a high inflation rate and high external debt ratios are only some of the obvious indicators of a failing system in Pakistan. Yet, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has poured another $1.13 billion into a black hole called Pakistan

Fishy subsidies

The US and EU must liberalise the fisheries trade

	The US commerce department’s decision to continue with the anti-dumping duty on shrimp imports from India may mar prospects of boosting shipments to that country

Bimal Jalan: Reform of global financial system

By any reckoning, the global financial system is once again in turmoil. A couple of years ago, after the sub-prime fiasco, it was the US that was in trouble, and there were serious doubts about the future of the dollar as a reserve currency. Today, it is the euro, the currency of the European Union (EU), that is facing a crisis because of the acute fiscal problems of Greece and some other European countries.

Liberty versus security

Of hawks and doves

An emerging divide in the coalition, and how it may be healed

 

The recovery of General Motors

The medicine starts to work

Profits are back at General Motors, but it is too soon to declare a return to health

Labour law overhaul to ease separation pain

Retrenched Staff Can Access Labour Tribunals Within 45 Days, Firms Employing Over 20 Staff To Have In-House Grievance Cell, BPO Staff To Gain

Four PSUs may get Maharatna tag next month

Four state-owned companies--ONGC, SAIL, NTPC and IOC--are likely to get the Maharatna status next month that will allow them to take investment decisions of up to Rs 5,000 crore independent of the government.

India and Europe’s tribulations

It is well understood that when the question of confidence is raised, the best and the only way to respond is immediately . If you let the problem fester, it gets worse and contagion begins to spread.

RIL-RNRL verdict: What will the cos renegotiate?

The verdict on one of the fiercest corporate battle between the Ambani brothers, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries (RIL) and Anil Ambani’s Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) over the supply of gas from the Krishna-Godavari basin is out.
After listening to both sides, in what was a split verdict approach, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of RIL by 2:1.

A glut of MBAs?

Hard data supports the onset of this glut of MBAs. In 2000, there were about 600 colleges in India offering about 70,000 MBA seats. By the end of 2009, the number had increased to 1,400 colleges offering about 120,000 MBA seats! The intake of the top-20 institutes alone has increased from 1,500 in 2000 to over 5,000 in 2009, and is poised to increase further in the next five years as more IIMs come into operation while the current top-ranked ones (IIMs and others) further expand capacity or add new campuses and programmes. By comparison, the US (whose economy is over 10 times bigger than that of India) has about 1,000 colleges offering about 150,000 MBA seats to both US citizens and to a growing pool of international applicants. In the entire European Union (EU), whose economy is also over 10 times that of India and which has much more diversity in terms of number of countries and businesses, there are just about 550 colleges offering about 100,000 MBA seats. Major EU economies such as Germany, France and the UK individually offer between 8,600 and 27,000 MBA seats despite each being significantly larger and more global than India is at this time.

Is it too late to enter China market?

s it too late to enter the China market? Foreign companies have long seen the country with its 1.3 billion people as a potential bonanza. But have those foreign companies who have yet to make their move missed the boat?

China's influence grows in global auto market

Automakers are modifying luxury cars to suit China's new rich and creating scaled-down sedans and minivans for the populous but lower-income family market.

China's growing influence echoes defining periods of expansion in the industry's history -- from Europe to Detroit a century ago and the rise of Japan since the 1970s.

China's influence grows at World Bank

World Bank member countries reached an agreement on Sunday to shift more power to emerging and developing nations, under which China's votes increased to 4.42 percent from 2.77 percent, making it the third largest voting power holder in the Washington-based international institution.

A Birthday Present : View From Israel

Obama is a man of many talents, but most of all he has the ability to convince. He is capable of touching the profoundest emotions of people and peoples. I hope he uses this talent for the good of the two long-suffering peoples of this tortured country.