The Financial Express -- Expressions

This page contains Editorial and Op-Ed articles

Friday, December 5 1997

Letters to the Editor

The rupee: A crisis of confidence

The recent rupee crisis and the Reserve Bank's response to it has raised several basic questions. First, is speculation destabilising? Second, is there anything sacrosanct about the way in which speculation should be curbed? Why is it OK to attack speculation through market measures or through monetary policy, and is it heretical to use physical controls? These questions also cast aspersions over the desirability of capital account convertibility because of the inherent risks.

The cost of supply-side delay

Supply - side economics has dominated policy agenda for the past two years, during which industrial growth lost steam. Slowing industrial growth received less attention than it deserved in 1996-97, mainly because the GDP growth, buoyed by a spurt in agricultural output, was on track.

Betting on revival

Unit Trust of India (UTI) and Morgan Stanley, a key FII player, are betting on a turnaround in the stock markets in the not too distant future. Their message is that now is the time to buy. The UTI reportedly believes that the market has discounted the maximum instability that could take place on the political front while Morgan Stanley holds that corporate earnings are slated to grow handsomely in the coming year. As this prospect becomes clearer, the Sensex will cross the 4900 mark by December 1998.

The Index -- Satyam Computers

The rupee

The cost of supply-side delay

Betting on revival

In a limbo