Author: Mahendra Ved, New Delhi
While the Indian car sector is travelling in the fast lane, road and public transport projects have not kept pace. Indians bought about 2.5 million cars last year, worth US$30 billion, while another half a million were exported.
This year, assuming that car-loan rates decline and the economy improves, the market could grow by 10 to 12 per cent — and even if rates remain static, the car market will still grow by 5 to 7 per cent. Read more…
Author: Mahendra Ved, New Delhi
India’s ongoing samudra manthan (‘great churning’ as per Hindu mythology) against corruption has, hopefully, returned to course after hitting a big rock last week when the world watched the democracy at work with dismay.
The debate was disrupted when the Manmohan Singh government detained Kisan Baburao (Anna) Hazare, the principal proponent of a draft law, Jan Lokpal, seeking to create the office of ombudsman. Read more…
Author: Mahendra Ved, New Delhi
The feasibility of India giving credit worth billions to other nations was unthinkable a decade ago, but thanks to a resurgent economy, India has recently moved from being a recipient to a benefactor.
This differs from the earlier ‘protectionist’ approach. Read more…
Author: Mahendra Ved, New Delhi
Bangladesh’s microcredit conglomerate, the Grameen Bank, founded by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, and with its 20,000 employees and 8.3 million customers, has distributed Taka 600 billion (US$8.2 billion) in loans as of January 2011.
The Grameen concept of lending small sums to poor women in rural areas — who would not dare to enter a regular bank — has been replicated in many countries with a fair degree of success. Read more…
Author: Mahendra Ved, New Delhi
People around the world are happy about the release of Aung San Suu Kyi from detention, just as they are unhappy about the way Myanmar held an election that preceded her freedom. For India, Suu Kyi’s release is another step in its complicated diplomatic relationship with Myanmar.
Persecuted since she won an election in 1990, Suu Kyi has had phases of freedom in the past. The difference this time is that the military junta feels international pressures, and after forcing a fait accompli so far as governance is concerned, wants to engage in a public relations exercise. Read more…
Author: Mahendra Ved, New Delhi
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s three-nation visit to Malaysia, Vietnam and Japan marked a reassertion of India’s resolve to ‘Look East’ to achieve its strategic, geopolitical and economic goals. Closely preceding the visit of US President Obama and the G20 summit in Seoul, this tour was of significant strategic importance.
The highlights of his tour were: the signing of a commitment to expand trade with Malaysia; a number of pacts with Vietnam; and an understanding with Japan on nuclear energy. Read more…
Author: Mahendra Ved, New Delhi
India’s national reputation was on the precipice last week, earning the odium for its delayed and botched up preparations for the XIX Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, due to commence on October 3.
The crisis is ironic in that there was no political or economic emergency, nor a natural disaster, nor a military threat. At stake is the organisation of a major sports event with which prestige, credibility and profits are attached. Read more…
Author: Mahendra Ved
No other region in the world has a greater affinity in terms of culture, language and, above all, poverty, than South Asia. Also, no other region has a deeper history of mutual mistrust. It has prevented cooperation among a region which constitutes half the world’s poor. As the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), which represents the region’s eight nations, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, turns 25 this year, we ask, what progress has been achieved in the region?
While smuggling is rampant, trade within the region is languishing. Each country is looking for ‘safer’, more lucrative markets outside the region. For instance, only 3.2 per cent of Bangladesh’s trade is within the region. When demand in developed countries recently decreased, this trend changed but only marginally. Read more…
Author: Mahendra Ved
Two summits in three months is unusual, even considering the strategic ties India and Russia have nurtured for over five decades.
On March 12, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited India for the fifth time, with the previous four having been whilst he was President. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was also in Moscow last December as part of what has become an annual dialogue taking place each winter. Since 2000, Putin has either visited Singh or received him in Moscow. In 2000, he told then defence minister George Fernandes: ‘Please tell your people, I am India’s best friend.’ Read more…
