Have a heart!

The controversy over External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj helping the former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi with visa papers is uncalled for. As one more attempt was made to draw political capital out of what’s clearly a non-political issue of someone trying to get travel documents to visit his ailing wife, the government defending Sushma and clearing the air was timely. While the minister used her good offices on humanitarian grounds for Modi to travel, such unhealthy episodes do not augur well for Indian polity.

R Prabhu Raj

Chennai

Trigger growth

This is with reference to your editorial, ‘Growth matters more’ (June 15). The RBI reckons the depositors’ interest — this money counts for the bulk of bank lending, and thus drastic reduction in interest rates is not warranted. The RBI repo window is a small portion of banks’ funding. The policy rate serves only as a signal for commercial banks for their interest rates. Thus the transmission of rate cuts by the RBI as a whole in the lending rates of commercial banks need not happen. Corporate borrowers need not depend on banks’ lending for funds as they have got wider options now to raise resources. Even agriculture loans are available at cheaper rates.

It is the small and marginal borrowers who are not capable of raising resources through ECB or bonds. Individuals availing consumer, education, personal or housing loans are the real sufferers of high lending rates. Hence it is essential for commercial banks to reduce lending rates, for which reduction of deposit rates would also be called for. Banks can have a separate base rate for retail, personal and MSME loans, lower than that for corporate loans, with appropriate risk pricing added to the same. Once demand picks up, then even if interest rate is hiked, it may not have much effect on growth.

Rugmani Vinod

Thiruvananthapuram

The Indian economy seems to be reviving at least on paper thanks to the RBI’s decison to cut key rates and banks passing on this benefit to industry. While India targets a growth rate of 7 per cent , I am sceptical about the targets fixed. Considering the macroeconomic policies, the challenge will be to sustain industrial growth.

The general view of India Inc is that the government is not meeting their expectations. Therefore, before our PM travels around the globe seeking investors, he needs to first convince companies here why they should not move out. Although our CAD narrowed to 1.3 per cent of GDP, our exports have not picked up.

Vivek Mathai

Mavelikara, Kerala

Upgrade ration shops

When customers goes to the ration shop and present their card, it takes time to search for the customer’s details from the fat ledger. Then, it takes more time for the person in charge to write a manual bill, resulting is considerable waste of time while people are kept waiting.

The concerned authorities should ensure computerisation (computer and printer for printing bill instead of writing manual bills) of ration shops which will speed up the process and save precious time.

TS Karthik

Chennai

Maximising benefits

The recommendations made by the Bibek Debroy panel on railway reforms show that high efficiency in operations can be achieved without compromising on social objectives.

The concept of regulator and commercial accounting encourages need-based planning, thus putting national interests ahead of electoral politics.

At the same time it does not violate the common man’s right to good connectivity. That also means connectivity through road and airways which serves the social objective of providing bare minimum facilities to one and all. Thus the committee recommendations envisage optimum utilisation of resources with improved efficiency. They would be well worth looking at.

Vikram Sundaramurthy

Chennai

Step up

With reference to the edit, ‘Growth matters more’ (June 15), if the government is able to manage food supply well then we are heading towards a 5 per cent inflation for the current financial year. The government needs to step up investment in infrastructure, railways, power transmission, seaports, airports and highways. When idling capacities get used up for the industry there will be positive cash flow; they can repay their debt and look at expansion.

The government should allow 100 per cent FDI in retail by which we can hope to get critical investment in our agricultural supply chain which has the potential to keep food inflation in check. This will give a booster shot to our rural economy by replacing the monopoly of the middle man in agricultural produce procurement. We need a new bankruptcy law which can take care of the existing NPAs in a rational manner and on the other hand we need to recapitalise our PSU banks which have a market share of 75 per cent in the banking industry. Low inflation and reasonable growth which are sustainable is in the hands of the government which needs to act quickly on all fronts.

CR Arun

Email

Capital idea

The Union government giving its stamp of approval to amend the Indian Medical Council Regulations 2002 incorporating the clause that doctors to write prescriptions in capital letters is long overdue. Illegible prescriptions jotted by doctors makes it a daunting task for pharmacists to decipher. Writing the prescriptions in capital letters mentioning the generic names of drugs makes dispensing the drugs a hassle-free exercise.

HP Murali

Bengaluru

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