-The Business Standard   The government needs counter cyclical policies to tackle vegflation, which has become a recurrent problem Somebody help. Narendra Modi and Arun Jaitley are held hostage, not by jihadists, recalcitrant opposition, international capital or the ever-erratic monsoon, but by faceless, nameless manipulators of Nasik, Navi Mumbai and Azadpur markets. The "raw" terror they have let loose resounds in the corridors of government as well as media power. Cutting to the chase,...

-Outlook   Electricity distribution to the end consumer in India needs reform in order to achieve the target of electricity to all by 2019, says the World Bank. "Power distribution in India needs sweeping reforms if it is to bring back the country to a high growth trajectory and meet its goal of expanding access to electricity to all by 2019', the Bank report released today said. Today, India's annual per capita power sector...

-The Business Standard   Regulator studying pricing models in various nations; draft legislation likely by end of March Pharmaceutical companies might be up for stricter price regulations. The government is planning to bring in a legislation that would take into consideration pricing models across the US, European Union (EU), China and 14 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), which regulates prices of medicines in the market,...

-The Hindustan Times The government\'s first budget is likely to signal the new administration\'s intention of reforming India\'s fuel pricing regime with monthly hikes of Rs. 10 per cylinder of cooking gas (LPG). Each household will, however, continue to be entitled to 12 subsidised cylinders a year. Currently, a subsidised LPG cylinder costs Rs. 414 in Delhi while the market price - which consumers pay for any demand beyond the quota -...

-The Business Standard   Unlike consumer prices, wholesale inflation provides little comfort If the consumer price index (CPI) numbers for May, released last week, provided some comfort about softening inflation, the wholesale price index (WPI) numbers for the same month, released on Monday, did just the opposite. Headline inflation went up from 5.2 per cent year on year in April to six per cent in May, the highest, by a whisker, since December....