Economy
Financial reform and bank fragility
INDIA'S post-Budget stock market collapse is still taking its toll in the banking sector. After the Madhavpura Mercantile Cooperative Bank (MMCB) and Global Trust Bank (GTB), the most recent bank to come under a cloud and lose its chief executive is the small, but relatively high profile Nedungadi Bank from the South. These banks were till recently considered leaders in their league, with a reputation for dynamism and good management.

IMF-World Bank group meetings -- Taking over others' turfs
I AM reporting from virtual Washington where the meetings of the Development Committee and the International Monetary and Finance Committee, interspersed with media conferences, were held from April 25 under the aegis of the International Monetary Fund ( IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG). Comfortably ensconced in my soho (small office home office), on streaming video I watched the whole proceedings and heard the statements of the leading players on the world's financial stage. All the documents, includ ing the World Economic Outlook, and media transcripts, besides the innumerable handouts of non-governmental organisations, were in my hands via my PC within moments of being released. In addition, I had something which I would not have had from hour to h our had I been physically at the venue of the meetings: Commentaries over the print and electronic media as they appeared round the world. What a delight to be a denizen of the digital age!

Editorial
Limited progress
THE DEADLOCK OVER the provision of limited mobility service using the Wireless-in-Local-Loop platform is nowhere near resolution. If the Group on Telecom and IT Convergence, set up under the directions of the Prime Minister, was expected to resolve this impasse through its recommendations, it too appears to have failed. On the contrary, the GoT-IT recommendations have only added to the confusion that prevails over the introduction of this service.

Foreign Trade
Multilateral rules on FDI
THE surge of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and the associated expansion of MNC activities has transformed the world from what it was 15 years ago. MNCs account for a large share of business activities worldwide and fi gure significantly in the growth of the newly-industrialising East Asian economies (including China), the revitalisation of industry in North America, and the integration of Europe. In addition, they conduct a substantial portion of world trade in non-ag ricultural goods and services. The erstwhile communist nations of East Europe and the former Soviet Union look to FDI as a means to upgrade their economic performance; these are nations to which FDI was all but closed as recently as the late 1980s. The s ources, destinations and the industrial composition of FDI have become much more diverse than was in the 1970s and earlier, when foreign investment was looked upon with suspicion.

PSU
PSU and USP
UNIQUE Sale positioning (USP) is not only the general marketing technique meant for competing products, but, applies equally to sale of equity in public sector undertakings (PSUs), if one works backwards from the recent controversy over the sale of Balco 's shares.

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