-The Economic Times   Inflation - retail as well as wholesale - has increased in March over relatively benign levels in February. At 5.7%, the growth of inflation based on the wholesale price index ( WPI) was at a three-month high, compared to a ninemonth low of 4.7% seen in February. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) now sets policy rates by looking at inflation based on the consumer price index (CPI)....

-The Hindu   Ideological labels are likely to mislead by channelling the debate into issues of capitalism and socialism and detract from the real problem George Santayana said: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Having forgotten the license-permit-quota-raj that enveloped us from 1950 to 1980 and its ‘crony socialism,' many intellectuals, mediapersons and politicians have now discovered ‘crony capitalism.' The license raj consisted of stifling controls imposed on...

-Live Mint Data shows that Indian growth has moved in sync with what was happening in the rest of the world while Indian inflation has had a life of its own Mumbai: The war of words between P. Chidambaram and Yashwant Sinha on the way the Indian economy has been managed over the past decade is the sort of political grandstanding that is expected in the last stage of what has...

-Outlook Sydney: The OECD today said India needs to address its infrastructure shortfalls and pervasive state control in business activities, among other things, to maintain robust growth. In its 'Going for Growth' report, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) called for structural policy reforms to boost growth. "To maintain robust growth, India needs to address its infrastructure shortfalls, pervasive state control in business activities and unequal access to quality education. "It also...

-Live Mint Reducing poverty through growth matters more than reducing inequality Income inequality is back on the radar of politicians and policymakers, if it had disappeared in the first place. The World Economic Forum's Global Risks 2014 report highlighted severe income inequality as one of the top 10 global risks. In a speech in London on Monday, Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), paid special attention to...