Best of BS Opinion: India's governance deficit, from cities to companies

From bank nationalisation to Karnataka drama, here are the best of Business Standard Opinions for the day

You know something is rotten in the state of Indian corporate governance when an investigation into Infrastructure Leasing and Finance Corporation (IL&FS) reveals gifts and favours extended by the management to rating agency officials. Luxurious villas, tickets to a Real Madrid football match, and a Fitbit watch were among the inducements that change hands for favourable ratings, according to a preliminary forensic audit report by Grant Thornton.  Governance is also a top-of-the-mind issue on the 50th anniversary of bank nationalisation. That seminal exercise by Indira Gandhi, embedded in populism, had some beneficial results but as T N Ninan points out