Accountancy
On and off the fulcrum
V. Prasanna Bhat looks at the different areas where leveraging gets applied
Corporate
Redefining the apex chambers
What is the role of apex chambers of commerce in a liberalising and globalising economy and with revolutionary changes in communication and information technology happening? Two traditional functions of the chambers during the licence-permit regime -- lo
bbying for business interests and providing data and information to its constituents on a variety of subjects -- have become less relevant in the new milieu.
Economy
Public expenditure management -- Key to fiscal reforms
The fiscal problem cannot be solved merely by suggesting reforms through the Budget, and the government expressing its commitment to declaring policy objectives. There are no straightforward solutions to prudent public expenditure management, says U. S.
Pant.
Editorial
Oily move
FOLLOWING INTENSE PRESSURE brought upon the policy-makers and after a great deal of suspense, the Government has raised the basic rate of import duty on vegetable oils, both refined and unrefined (except crude palm oil), by 10 percentage points. The hike
is justified on the ground that large import of edible oils, triggered by depressed prices of oils in the international market and duty-free import of vanaspati from Nepal (under the Indo-Nepal Treaty of Trade), has negatively impacted the domestic proc
essing industry. According to the Ministry of Food and Consumer Affairs, the present rationalisation of the duty structure follows a review of the edible oil situation and aims at harmonising the interests of consumers, farmers and processors as also reg
ulating the unabated imports of edible oils.
Miscellaneous
Cricket, 50 years from now
IMAGINE WHAT the sports writers might be writing about cricket in 2050. Excerpts from their column would read something like this:
Journalists on a journey of self-discovery
IN KALMAR we were a group of 21 women journalists; 19 from developing countries and two from Sweden, the host country, which had invited us. It was a three-week seminar on ``Women in Journalism.''
Taking stock of the market
IF YOU want to know the status of the volatile Indian stock market, there are several programmes designed to tell you all. The more popular of these are India Business Day on CNBC India and STAR Business News on Star News.
