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Who was primarily responsible for the fiasco in the Unit Trust of India that led to the June 2001 freeze on transactions in the Unit Scheme of 1964 (US-64), the country's oldest and largest mutual fund? Was it the then Chairman of the UTI P S Subramanyam? Was it the secretary in the ministry of finance at that time, Ajit Kumar? Or his junior in the ministry, Jaimini Bhagwati, joint secretary, capital markets? Or was it the then Union finance minister Yashwant Sinha who is now the country's...

An unscrupulous promoter, his brother and their associates first acquired control over an urban cooperative bank. They then proceeded to milk the bank dry. Then, despite their connections with influential politicians, they found themselves behind bars. This is the story in brief of scamster Anand Krishna Johari and the ill-fated City Cooperative Bank of Lucknow. In the process, Johari and his cohorts have left behind hundreds of ordinary middle-class investors whose hard-earned savings have...

The more things change, the more they remain the same. Those who refuse to learn from the mistakes of the past are condemned to repeat them over and over again. These maxims are especially valid for financial scandals in India. And these are not my words. Similar sentiments have been expressed in a draft report prepared by the Joint Parliamentary Committee inquiring into last year’s stock market scam. Here is a sentence from the draft report: “It is the considered view of the committee that…the...

The manner in which the Indian associate of Coca-Cola has been thumbing its nose at government authorities in New Delhi is an example of how arrogantly a giant multinational corporation can behave. Given its awesome financial clout, Coke believes it will be able to successfully arm-twist a couple of bureaucrats and their political bosses to enable it to renege on its contractual obligations. Coca-Cola India has been deliberately dragging its feet on floating an initial public offering of shares...

The instances of crass corporate corruption currently convulsing the American economy are certain to have an impact across the globe. At one level, we can derive small comfort from the fact that crony capitalism is not confined to countries like India or even Asia as a whole. After all, the scams that have taken place the world's most advanced capitalist nation now threaten to lead all the way to the White House, to the doorstep of the US President George W Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney...

Sahib Singh Verma is a self-made man. From librarian of Dayal Singh College to Chief Minister of Delhi, he has risen slowly but surely up the political ladder. Labour Minister Sahib Singh VermaA grassroots activist of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, he is also believes in the virtues of patience. After he was ignominiously removed from the Chief Minister's position to make way for Sushma Swaraj on the eve of the assembly elections in December 1998, Verma was promised a berth in the Union...

The problem with coercive diplomacy is that it is akin to a double-edged sword. The weapon cuts both ways. Like a scalpel, it can cut off a diseased organ in the hands of a skilled surgeon or it could maim and even kill. For six months since December last year, Indian troops and their counterparts from Pakistan have been confronting one another in an eyeball-to-eyeball situation - to use Defence Minister George Fernandes' colourful phrase - along the international border and the Line of Control...

On June 18, the Union Cabinet decided to promulgate an ordinance for the securitisation of assets of banks and financial institutions. Earlier, on May 7, the Cabinet had decided that the government would introduce a bill called the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Bill, 2002, during the Budget session of Parliament. This bill was, however, not introduced due to 'paucity of time.' Whereas the contents of the ordinance are not known, what has not...

The more things change, the more they remain the same. From All Fool's Day this year, the Union government was supposed to have dismantled the administered pricing mechanism for petroleum products. However, not too many were fooled. The politicians and bureaucrats who control the ministry of petroleum & natural gas housed in New Delhi's Shastri Bhavan seem most reluctant to give up their awesome powers over the working of the oil industry. Companies in this sector, which include some of the...

A recent judgment by a division bench of the Delhi high court could have far-reaching implications for the country's financial sector. The court has sought to plug the tax avoidance loophole in the infamous Mauritius route used for portfolio as well as direct foreign investments bound for India. If this judgment stands as it is at present and is not challenged and stalled by the country's Supreme Court - which might well not be the case in the near future - the status of Mauritius as a tax haven...