• OPINION

  Monsanto clash bad for innovators

  News, Mihir Sharma, Published on 31/08/2016

  » Monsanto's many battles with the Indian government have typically been cast as clashes between poor Indian farmers and a giant multinational that's overcharging for its genetically modified seeds. And certainly, the US agriculture giant isn't the most sympathetic of companies. Its seeds are indeed expensive and, in the case of cotton, no longer deliver the returns promised as resistance builds up.

• OPINION

  'Gradualist' reform slowed growth

  News, Mihir Sharma, Published on 26/07/2016

  » On July 26, 1991, Manmohan Singh -- then Finance Minister, and later prime minister for 10 years -- rose in parliament to deliver an address that would transform India. That speech, outlining the first budget of a just-elected government under Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao, launched India's journey of economic reform, dismantling many decades-old socialist-style controls on the private sector.

• OPINION

  Major tax reform is just the start

  News, Mihir Sharma, Published on 24/06/2016

  » In opening up sectors from aviation to defence to 100% foreign ownership this week, India's government is clearly hoping to signal that its reform drive is revving up again. Next on the agenda may be one of the most far-reaching new measures in years: a long-awaited, nationwide goods-and-services tax, or GST.

• OPINION

  Could India be the first country to get rid of cash?

  News, Mihir Sharma, Published on 22/07/2016

  » 'Black money" -- the colloquial name for a vast network of off-the-book cash transactions and unbanked savings -- is one of India's biggest scourges. Amounting to as much as $460 billion (16 trillion baht) a year, bigger than the GDP of Argentina, all that money lies beyond the reach of the tax authorities, creditors and anti-corruption investigators.

• OPINION

  Butter before guns please, Mr Modi

  News, Mihir Sharma, Published on 17/06/2016

  » The breathless excitement that surrounded Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Washington, DC last week wasn't completely undeserved. By pushing forward Indo-US defence and strategic ties -- in spite of considerable domestic opposition to any de facto alliance -- Mr Modi can claim to have made India stronger. Yet unless he puts similar effort into fixing economic relations between the two nations, much of that progress could be at risk.

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