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| There has been a slew of activity undertaken by the Government over the past 12 months, viz the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act (SARFAESI Act), the Electricity Act 2003, the setting up of the Competition Commission, and the gathering pace of disinvestment. |
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| And we have not even begun counting the dramatic changes proposed in the new Companies Act. The implications of these developments have not been fully understood. |
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| The overwhelming cynicism with which these initiatives have been ignored points to both the belief that nothing changes in our country and, more disturbingly, to our state of unpreparedness. |
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| Each of the acts mentioned above has the potential to change both the markets it pertains to and the lives of a large number of people of this country. |
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| For instance, the Electricity Act 2003 has done away with the very notion of the State Electricity Boards (SEBs). This will therefore require a big change in the way State Governments need to take care of the current constituencies they cater to, be they agriculturists, employees of the SEBs, those consumers of SEB who do not pay, and indeed those who do. |
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| The Act potentially touches every consumer of electricity. It is already in force and those entrepreneurial enough to understand and take advantage of it will benefit. |
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| However, perhaps driven by the many past failures to see any change taking place in this sector, most people are sceptical about the impact of the Electricity Act. |
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| They also rightly point out that there is still a lot that can be done by the State Governments and the State Regulatory Commissions to undo the effect of the liberalisation that the Act seeks to unleash. |
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| Agreed. However, what is important is that these ententes, if they could be so termed, are untested and have to be generated in the face of competitive forces. |
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| Whether they will be effective, or whether creative entrepreneurship will overcome these hurdles, remains to be seen. I would prepare for the latter. |
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| Similarly, the SARFAESI has also been dismissed as a lightweight hindrance. I think not. The cynics point to the fact that the force of the Act has been annulled in the very first case that the antagonists proffered. |
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| They refer to the Mardia case, where the Supreme Court has restrained the financial institutions that have seized the assets of Mardia Chemicals for non-payment of dues, from selling the same to realise their dues. |
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While the case now awaits the Court
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