P V Narasimha Rao

Business reacted with caution to the reforms of 1991, and demanded protection from multinationals and imports. Twenty-five years later, traces of that demand can still be foundAugust 31, 1991 was a hot and humid Saturday in New Delhi. While people went about their routines, businessmen started to queue up at 7 Race Course Road, the residence of Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao, in the morning.This was Rao's first interaction with business after he had taken charge on June 21. He had inherited an economy that was a shambles: foreign exchange reserves had depleted to precarious levels, growth had plummeted and inflation was high. Rao, along with his finance minister, Manmohan Singh, had devalued the rupee in two phases on July 1 and 3 and had, in the industrial policy of July 24, done away with industrial licensing, slashed the list of industries reserved for the public sector, allowed 51 per cent foreign investment in a whole range of sectors and relaxed the dreaded Monopolies & Res

Guarding their turf

Business Standard

In the mid-2000s, it was fashionable amongst Indian businessmen to acquire at least a company or two abroad

Bhupesh Bhandari: When overseas buys go bad

Jaitley bats for easier tax regime

Finance minister proposes one-time scheme for dispute resolution for past cases under retrospective tax

Mobile handsets were considered a quick way to kick-start 'Make in India'. Indians were the second largest buyers after the Chinese and all handsets were being imported

Bhupesh Bhandari: For a better 'Make in India'

Farhanaz Ispahani captures this transformation admirably in her book, a scholarly work that will help understand the turbulence one sees in Pakistan

Pakistan's pure bigotry

As Patanjali expands, I expect rivals to think of ways to stop the juggernaut

Bhupesh Bhandari: Mr Ramdev's 2016

The fat deals made people suspicious and opened the sluice gates for the 2G controversy

Bhupesh Bhandari: Spectrum fear factor

The Indian telecom market is highly competitive, and tariffs here are amongst the lowest in the world

Bhupesh Bhandari: The cost of broadband for all

By the time the Emergency was declared in 1975, Sanjay Gandhi had developed a strong dictatorial streak

Sanjay's laboratory

The operators have decided to contest it tooth and nail - they could even go to the courts

Bhupesh Bhandari: Paying for dropped calls

The last time Mukesh Ambani entered mobile telephony some 14 years ago, there were serious fireworks largely over interpretation of rules and guidelines. It promises to be the same now as Ambani readies for his second foray. This time too, before the battle can begin in the market place, a slugfest over rules and regulations has broken out.There are no doubts in anybody's mind that Reliance Jio's entry will be disruptive. Mauled by the tariff wars of 2009, precipitated by then telecom minister Andimuthu Raja's decision to hand out new licences on the now infamous "first come, first served" basis, it is only in the last year or two that the telecom companies have got their rhythm back: yields have improved and data traffic has risen at a fast clip. On the other hand, most have spent large sums of money to acquire spectrum. If Reliance Jio resets the rules of the game with low voice and data tariffs, most incumbents will find themselves back to square one.Mr Ambani's Reliance Jio had tak

Bhupesh Bhandari: Telecom wars 2.0

Roshini Sanah Jaiswal: Once was Aristocrat

Roshini Sanah Jaiswal

Roshini Sanah Jaiswal has taken it upon herself to restore Jagatjit Industries to health

The ITU/Unesco report says that there will be 300 million new internet users in 2015; if India grows at same pace as in 2014, it will account for as many as 12% of them

Bhupesh Bhandari: Broadband take-off

The imprint of hindutva

The popular publishing house Gita Press was also a powerful voice for the Hindu right. A well-researched history chronicles its little-known role in the revivalist movement

Gita Press and the imprint of Hindutva

If you thought price controls, compulsory exports, diktats to banks, quotas, surcharges, and prohibitive import duties went out of fashion when India liberalised its economy 24 years back, you need to think again. A section of Indian industry has started to demand these protective measures in order to survive. And they are serious about it.A few days ago, two associations, one that represents sugarcane farmers and the other sugar mills, demanded price control on sugar. Sugar prices were decontrolled some years back. Now, the associations want the government to fix a "minimum support price" for the commodity - of course the mills will be free to sell at a higher price.The current sugar price, these associations said in a recent full-page advertisement, is grossly inadequate for them to pay the government-mandated price to farmers. So, they want the government to set the minimum support price of sugar at Rs 32 to Rs 34 a kg, at which price they will be able to pay the farmers fully.In ad

Bhupesh Bhandari: Back to Licence Raj?

The problem of dropped calls has got everybody exercised, from the common man to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It was only after Mr Modi made his displeasure felt that telecom operators promised to solve the problem within 45 days. The Department of Telecommunications is mulling penalties on telecom operators that don't take concrete action to reduce the frequency of dropped calls.Meanwhile, landline phones are back in use. Data continues to move at snail's pace. State Bank of India Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya recently said that bad connectivity will hamper financial inclusion after she faced network issues in Mumbai. As in most other situations where the private sector is involved in the delivery of a service, the blame game has begun. Allegations of the country being taken for a merry ride by private telecom operators have started doing the rounds.The telecom operators say their spectrum is bursting at its seams, and the unprecedented surge in data traffic has made it worse. In S

Bhupesh Bhandari: Why calls drop

A recent event requires us to revisit the Birla history

Willed power

OP Munjal

Easygoing and affable, he was the quintessential relationships man, and a product of the strong entrepreneurial spirit of Ludhiana

OP Munjal: He cycled his way to success

Company's premium push is welcome but the task is tough: examples of a mass-market brand becoming premium aren't too many

Bhupesh Bhandari: Maruti Suzuki's premium push

Two books provide insights into Gorkha martial traditions, but is it time for a new narrative

The gods of war

Of late, there has been much talk of an imminent crash in residential real estate. The sector is expected to crumble under the weight of high inventories. After the clampdown on black money, fresh sales have come to a halt. Thanks to low sales and the banks tightening the screws, builders are in a financial bind, which is expected to precipitate distress sales. One research house has predicted that this will shave sizeable percentage points off India's growth in the coming quarters.Actually, the sector has been stuck with high inventories and faced a liquidity crunch for at least two years now - and yet, prices haven't tumbled. There has been some correction, but there is no evidence of a crash. That is because a sizeable number of builders are not highly leveraged, and can therefore afford to sit on unsold stock for some more time.This is how residential real estate works in India. The builder pays for the land and then sells the project. With the money paid by buyers, he carries out

Bhupesh Bhandari

Bhupesh Bhandari

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