Page 3 - Weekend Ruminations

Does reputation no longer matter for today's companies and politicians?

In today's practical age, whether a country offends your religious sensibilities can be overlooked if it is a key customer for your gas or oil, writes T N Ninan

Stories during stagflation: How India fares on 'modified' misery index?

Misery is the highest in countries known for economic mismanagement: Turkey, Argentina, South Africa. Next come Russia, Brazil, Pakistan and Egypt. And then India, notes T N Ninan

For India, economic entropy presents both an opportunity and big challenge

Entropy, or the disorder in a system, is a concept not usually used to understand economic trends, but it best describes the disorder and randomness at work today, writes T N Ninan

The LIC way or the Air India way: A tale of two suboptimal paths

One path waits for the company to go bankrupt while the other continues to subject it to government whim, writes T N Ninan

Reparations for colonialism and the complicated business of compensations

How does one calculate reparations? Who decides how the money will be spent? If it is to be distributed, who will get how much - and as cash, or in some other form - wonders T N Ninan

What explains RBI's 'near-unanimous' inaction even as inflation was rising?

For the RBI, a correct reading of its mandate would have been that the inflation target is 4%, not 6%. And action to raise interest rates should have begun last year, writes T N Ninan

Why we must clearly define atmanirbharta and our reasons for chasing it

Employment deficit is a bigger problem for India than trade deficit. That and the feasibility question should not be lost in PLI's search for strategic self-reliance, writes T N Ninan

The biter bit: The sanctions on Russia are beginning to hurt buyers now

All things considered, might it have been better and cheaper, shed less blood, and avoided a huge refugee problem if Russia had been allowed a buffer zone in Eastern Europe, wonders T N Ninan

Indian economy looks better than others, but don't raise a cheer just yet

The comparative numbers spell bad news for the world rather than any good news for India, whose growth forecasts are getting tempered even as the inflation picture is getting worse, writes T N Ninan

India in a divided world: Keeping old friendships and cultivating new ones

The question for India, as a middle or swing power with long-term external dependencies for energy and military hardware, is how to not let old friendships come in the way of new ones, notes T N Ninan

Wealth-income mismatch: The curious case of India's missing millionaires

While India had 764,000 dollar-millionaires in 2019 by one account, just 316,000 filed tax returns declaring income of over $75,000. Large-scale I-T evasion may still be taking place, notes T N Ninan

Shock-proofing the economy: Quality jobs the best possible safety net

Since jobs will remain scarce for the foreseeable future, an unemployment allowance should be the next big social-security initiative, writes T N Ninan

Shooting a bunch of missiles at the architecture of globalisation

The West's attempt to bring Vladimir Putin to heel by weaponising everything from aircraft spares to finance will have much wider repercussions, writes T N Ninan

Oil shock: Economy will suffer, but less reason to worry than in the past

The fear now is that consumers will take longer to come out of their shell, growth will moderate and full recovery from the effects of the pandemic will be stretched out even longer, writes T N Ninan

An Egyptian statue, the hijab debate, and a case for women in public space

Studies show that tribals, Muslims and Dalits have the highest proportion of poor. Equipping women in these communities to be employed is a societal good and an economic imperative, writes T N Ninan

Exports: Has white-collar success trumped India's blue-collar viability?

If India were trading in only goods, a massive deficit of about $150 bn would have forced down the rupee's value, making Indian manufactured goods cheaper in export markets, writes T N Ninan

Optimistic scenario: Can growth take care of all the economy's problems?

If the government thinks growth is the solution, can it be delivered in a slowing world with rising rates - within the domestic context of slower growth even before the pandemic, asks T N Ninan

Win-win deal: Why Air India privatisation has drawn little to no criticism

That such a deal can be greeted with celebration in the camps of both buyer and seller speaks volumes about the airline and its recent history, writes T N Ninan

Negotiating pitfalls: Are there basic lacunae in India's practices?

As cumulative experience should teach us, fuzzy approaches have costs, so the homework has to be done before signing of contracts, not after, writes T N Ninan

Boom time for companies: What record profits may mean for govt's revenue

If much higher profits this year do not propel corporation tax revenue to a level higher than the FY19 peak, something must be wrong with corporation tax, writes T N Ninan