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Allegations leveled by Palagummi Sainath, Rural Affairs Editor of The Hindu newspaper that its competing daily, the Times of India, published an article at the behest of Mahyco-Monsanto Biotech without disclosing this fact to its readers and subsequently gained financially from its publication, have been endorsed by a committee of Parliamentarians in a recently-published report. Whereas the report, prepared by a panel of MPs belonging to different political parties, does not mention the ToI by...

“For some, coal means diamonds and gold. For others, the coal signifies bread. They go underground not to take out coal but to sustain their life. They put their lives at risk. They are ready to face death at any moment. But they don’t earn much. The bulk of the profits generated by mining coal is appropriated by the mafia. This is the main reason for poverty here.” This was a perceptive statement made by Amit Raja, a talented journalist who has authored a book titled Aag mein Jharia (Jharia on...

A set of bewildering questions are being raised by industry lobbies and a section of the media about the levy of a one-time fee for excess electromagnetic spectrum fee held by India's telecommunications companies and the refarming or reallocation of spectrum in the privileged 900 MHz (MegaHertz) band that had hitherto been "reserved" for the early entrants. An impression has been sought to be created that these measures have suddenly come out of the blue and that these are both anti-industry and...

A cartoon in The Hindu (that predates the current Ambedkar cartoon controversy) depicts the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, trying to calm down a bunch of jubilant students, saying “I banned Marx, not marks”. Trinamool Congress chief Banerjee’s ire is primarily directed towards her arch political rival, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), whose mouthpiece, Ganashakti, which she does not want the State-funded libraries to subscribe to. There are many others on her list...

IS INFLUENCE being used to scuttle a major money-laundering case against the Agarwal family, the mining magnates who control the Vedanta Resources/Sterlite corporate empire? Circumstantial evidence certainly points in this direction. On October 13, there was confusion in the Delhi High Court, where a division bench comprising Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah and Justice S Muralidhar was about to hear a case: It suddenly transpired that the Enforcement Directorate (which is under the...

Is more competition what India's latest exchange for financial instruments, MCX-SX (Multi-Commodity Exchange - Stock Exchange), will be able to bring to the table and is this the key to a vibrant and more inclusive capital market? Had it just been a matter of competition between exchanges, the advent of the National Stock Exchange would have made all the difference. The NSE, however, started playing "big brother" soon after it ousted the Bombay Stock Exchange from that position. A source close...

India's financial markets are at present highly skewed and dominated by a few players. Consider these facts: The cash equities segment is only 10 per cent of the total turnover of all stock exchanges with 45 per cent of the turnover accounted for by 25 brokers. Equities' futures and options (F&O) comprise more than 75 per cent of total trading volumes on the country's exchanges. Over 70per cent of the total cash equities turnover is cash settled and the entire equity F&O turnover is cash settled...

With the MCX Stock Exchange (MCX-SX) receiving approvals in August to start trading in currency options from both the watchdog of India's capital markets, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and the country's banking regulator, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the dust may have settled on the newest stock exchange after four years of courtroom battles but fundamental questions about the state of bourse management in India remains. As news broke in July that the MCX (Multi-Commodity...

Allegations leveled by Palagummi Sainath, Rural Affairs Editor of The Hindu newspaper that its competing daily, the Times of India, published an article at the behest of Mahyco-Monsanto Biotech without disclosing this fact to its readers and subsequently gained financially from its publication, have been endorsed by a committee of Parliamentarians in a recently-published report. Whereas the report, prepared by a panel of MPs belonging to different political parties, does not mention the ToI by...

THERE IS a reason to believe that the legal suit that NDTV has filed against The Nielsen Co is based on an investigation conducted by Nielsen’s own global head of security, a former FBI official. This report suggested that Television Audience Measurement (TAM) India operations were among the most corrupt in the group. NDTV will use Nielsen’s own internal report to make its case. Perhaps that’s the reason why NDTV chose to file the complaint in New York where Nielsen has its headquarters. This is...