India's competition regulator Competition Commission of India has absolved sugar manufacturing associations and their members of cartelisation and price manipulation charges.  Earlier, the competition regulator had sent a notice to sugar mills associations and their members charging them of cartelisation and price manipulation. The suo motu action charged Indian Sugar Mills Association (Isma), National Sugar Mills Co-operative Federation, and some private sugar firms of cartel violation.  However, the sugar associations and companies...

Three bills the Centre has lined up to regulate higher education have been described as “draconian” by private institutions, which fear their enactment will bring the segment under a “police raj”. Two of the bills provide for jail terms and stiff fines to ensure that colleges and universities obtain accreditation before — and not after — starting courses and refrain from making exaggerated claims to attract students. For instance, under the “unfair...

The central government claims that allowing foreign direct investment into India’s retail sector will benefit small farmers, expand employment and lower food inflation. What has been the experience in India with organised retail so far and what has been the global experience with FDI? Sukhpal Singh (sukhpal@iegindia.org) is currently at the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi. After being under relentless attack for a week, the United Progressiv Alliance government was forced to...

Singapore spot market, not production costs, driving Indian petrol price Have you ever wondered why when petrol prices go up or down they do so uniformly across the retail outlets of the three oil marketing companies — Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum? If they are three different companies with their own refineries and distribution systems, then surely their costs and selling prices must be different? Welcome to the strange world...

-The Times of India   HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh and Member of Parliament Ashok Ganguly have appealed to Corporate India to come out strongly in support of a besieged government, which is overwhelmed by opposition to its proposal to open up foreign investment in retail.   The two senior business leaders are part of a group of 14 eminent citizens who came together to raise the issue of policy paralysis and later on the...