governance, political economy, institutional development and economic regulation
Our garden is full of goodies come and get what you need. This is what Finance Minister Sitharaman conveyed to the people (and voters) of India in her 2023-24 budget speech. Adding to the ever deepening gift bag that the Modi administration has held out to voters since 2015, the budget not only slashed income […]
Read More Budget Bounties 2023-24State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (SERCs) constituted under state level legislation in seven states from 1995 and subsequently under the Electricity Regulatory Commissions Act 1998 (since subsumed into the Electricity Act 2003) have failed, to uniformly tackle the twin problems of high operational cost and distorted retail tariff structures not reflective of the cost of supply. […]
Read More Amending the Electricity Act 2003- Getting the regulatory incentives rightIndia has changed. Gone is the earlier hesitation about being coldly pragmatic while keeping the public interest in mind. Foggy Post-Colonial and Cold-War ideological baggage is being stowed away, appropriately. The clear guard rails developed for dealing with the Ukrainian crisis do the country proud—extending principled support for the continuation of the international mediation effort, […]
Read More Being optimistic on IndiaFifteen months down the road to economic recovery, the economy is still limping back to the normal circa 2019-20. GDP in the first quarter of the current fiscal year (April to June fiscal year 2021-22) at INR 32.4 trillion (constant terms) is 20.1 percent higher than the same quarter last year- that’s the good news. But it […]
Read More Indian economy – struggling to reach 2019-20 GDP levelsTamil is an ancient language which jostles Sanskrit on antiquity but remains in vibrant, modern use. It is also a cultural identity. Post-Independence, in 1947, the erstwhile Madras Presidency became the Madras State within the Union of India. In 1956, its borders were redrawn to shed the non-Tamil speaking peripheral areas of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, […]
Read More Tamil Nadu needs an economic rebootEconomists belabour the point that emerging out of the pandemic–induced economic downturn is qualitatively different from emerging out of a long–drawn economic recession. Simply put, it is easier to get back to where you were. Turning on a light switch and flooding a dark room with light instantly is apt for describing what happens once […]
Read More Unraveling fiscal stressFinance Ministers have an uncanny way of figuring out what makes the fish bite and neutralizes the sceptics. Nicely rounded words in the budget speech – like phonetic “quick wins” – come in handy to send the roosters crowing a new Dawn. A three pronged paradigm shift in the budget? FM Sitharaman’s salad dressing for […]
Read More Budgetary provisions matter more than the speechThe average human lives for 70 years, though women outlive men. A child born over the next five years will still be alive in 2100 when the world tips over into the +2.5° heating trap triggering catastrophic forces of nature – sea level rise washing away entire islands and shore lines, floods from unseasonal rain, […]
Read More Towards a net zero IndiaElectricity is at the core of a digitized India. The digital world was brought home to the average citizen via liberalization of telecom in 1995. A near universal shift from low access in fixed telephony to near universal mobile connectivity for 1 trillion adults, including net connectivity for two thirds, illustrates the impressive results achieved […]
Read More Sculpting new age power utilitiesSome babies never grow up. Vodafone Idea is one such fat, old, baby which is now crying for help. That the agreements for Telecom Licensees are badly worded is obvious from the unintended Kafkaesque consequences emanating from the strict legal interpretation by the Supreme Court. Indian utility regulation deeply flawed Sadly, this is not the first […]
Read More Indian utilities are babies which should go with their bath water
Opinion India 