The Hindu Business Line : Thursday, October 13, 2005

Make mandatory risk-disclosure
THE RESERVE BANK of India Governor, Dr Y. V. Reddy's suggestion to corporate borrowers to disclose voluntarily their risk exposure, especially to derivatives and foreign exchange, has come not a day too soon. With increasing integration of the ... More

ACCOUNTANCY

Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance
TO BETTER understand why you need a PC, or personal computer, let's take a look at the pathetic mess you call your life, says Dave Barry. To better understand PC, or Mr P. Chidambaram, though, we need to take a look at ... More

Preference in conversion
T. V. Narayanaswamy on the applicability of Takeover Regulations to the conversion into equity shares of preference shares which carry voting rights More

Laws and their extra-territorial applicability
Are foreign companies beyond the fringe benefit tax regime, asks Jayesh Kariya More

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Best practices for micro-finance, please
The general literature on micro-finance leaves the impression that there are no best practices in place as yet but that a consensus is developing in this direction. Even as the best practices for MFIs/MCIs are laid down, as in the case of other fin ancial institutions and sectors, can one consider what may be called `sound' practices that would be consistent with the spirit of dynamism associated with micro-finance, wonders A. Vasudevan. More

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Independent directors and vicarious liability
Independent directors are invited to sit on the board purely for their special skills and expertise in particular fields and they represent the conscience of the investing public. As long as they show due diligence, the law should exempt them from all types of liabilities for the actions of the board or the managing director they may not be aware of. In the absence of such safeguards, no worthwhile talent can be expected to join a company's board in the capacity of an independent director. More

BRANDS

What's in a name?
HOW IMPORTANT are brand names per se? Does the rose by any other name really smell as sweet? Marketing orthodoxy has for long stood contrary to Shakespeare on this question. Whether the name must mean something, or evoke a clear image or ... More

BOOKS

Do all financial routes lead to Beijing?
CHONGYANG Festival was celebrated a few days ago in China as the day of the elderly. The day is also known as the Double Ninth Festival, because it falls on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. A worrying fact, ... More

LETTERS

Burdening LIC

Power play

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