This refers to ‘A strong rupee is not bad news’ by Aarati Krishnan (April 28). It is indeed a surprise that rupee not only held its position but also strengthened itself. Though it seems overvalued in real terms, there is still abundant liquidity in the system which could be mainly attributed to the demonetisation effect. This could be the main reason for RBI’s reluctance to intervene. Also the Union Budget and recent developments on the political front including the vibrant stock market have sent positive signals to investors, accounting for foreign exchange inflows leading to strengthening of the rupee. Overall it is welcome development for borrowers from overseas markets since it will bring down their interest cost and also help keep the cost of trade deficit under control.

Srinivasan Velamur

Chennai

Transparent faith

With reference to ‘EVMs are tamper-proof, says maker ECIL’ by V Rishi Kumar (April 28), one finds comfort in the reassuring words of Debashish Das, CMD, Electronic Corporation of India Ltd. The message is loud and clear. EVMs are meant to be tamper-proof and are produced and handled with utmost care. Where allegations surface, government and judiciary are willing to probe and make efforts to make corrections and use higher levels of technology to preserve trust in the system. This is the takeaway from the EC’s move to try Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail units in future elections and the judiciary’s earnest to probe the allegations quickly and transparently.

MG Warrier

Thiruvananthapuram

Dubious ranking

A survey conducted by a private think tank has reported that Karnataka is India’s most corrupt State, and Himachal Pradesh, the least. Both are under Congress rule. Among the households surveyed, 77 per cent have said that they have to pay bribes for public services. In 2005 Karnataka was less corrupt with 57 per cent reporting bribe-giving. Then Bihar was the most corrupt with 74 per cent. A good leader with an impeccable record of service in politics has to be anointed CM for there to be a difference.

KV Seetharamaiah

Hassan, Karnataka

Fight corruption

The fact that the Lokpal Bill has been introduced umpteen times in the last 50 years or so and still its implementation has still not seen the light of day says something. (‘No barrier to naming Lokpal: SC’, April 28). The fact that the BJP has taken shelter under the pretext of the absence of a recognised leader of Opposition to maintain the status quo, clearly reveals that the party is not walking the talk.

V Subramanian

Chennai

Investors, get wise

With reference to ‘What’s in a number’ (April 28), it reflects poorly on an economy with strong fundamentals that readily takes its cues from the smallest political event to chase every other stock to new highs. Weak fault lines continue to exist, it in the narrow band of retail speculative stock transactions and the dated 30 component Sensex and in other sectoral shares as well.

Sensex seems to be largely reduced to a day-to-day ATM for retail investors, which is fine except that swings tend to become hugely separated from the core value of a stock. Indian stock markets still remain tied to its nascent days of a command economy wherein speculation and short haul political developments were content to feed on each other. This mindset continues to operate and small investors keep getting hurt. It is time our stock indices were reworked and investors got wiser where fundamentals prevail over raw speculation.

R Narayanan

Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh

Erratum

With reference to the story ‘At SBI, it is bachelor’s party time’ (April 28), the news of SBI providing an allowance to its employees for marriage is completely baseless and incorrect.

We would like to clarify that SBI has not issued any instruction on marriage allowance to bank officers and employees.

Ritesh Mehta, AVP, Media Relations

SBI, Mumbai

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