Best of BS Opinion: The right call, India's revamped FTA strategy & more

Here are the top BS Opinion articles of the day

Here are the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for Thursday.
 

The Union Cabinet’s decisions on Wednesday are vital steps towards reviving the embattled telecommunications sector in India and preserving its competitive nature. Of these, one major improvement— long sought by telecom companies – is the rationalisation of the definition of “adjusted gross revenue” or AGR, which serves as the basis for companies’ dues to the government. In this regard, our lead editorial notes that the next steps must be taken by the companies themselves. They still have the debt burden to deal with, and creating a sustainable business model while paying down debt must be the focus of their strategy. Read here...

Early harvest schemes as a trade liberalisation mechanism is at odds with the global trend of developing and developed countries actively pursuing membership of deeper free trade agreements, writes economist Amita Batra. Read here...

The tax portal problem is a goof-up by both sides, and making Infosys the only villain in the story is quite unfair, writes Shyamal Majumdar. Read here...

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“PM Modi took a bold decision over AGR [adjusted gross revenue] today. A decision has been taken to rationalise the definition of AGR. All non-telecom revenue will be taken out of AGR.”

 

Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw