The nuclear question
Ever since the BJP manifesto talked about exercising the nuclear option, large sections of India's weak-kneed intelligentsia have been working overtime to make sure that the option is closed forever. So much so that even the BJP, which has traditionally been hawkish on national security, seems to be soft-pedalling the issue.
Modern patents: An invitation to disaster
World-Class or modern patents are new terminologies recently adopted by US MNCs and US trade representatives to designate a patent system, which provides stronger patent protection to rightholders, than even the TRIPS agreement. People often use these terms under the mistaken belief that these refer to a modern and progressive patent system, which will promote research and technological development.
Marketing decontrol needed
The long awaited move of decontrolling the oil sector is finally taking place, with the government showing intentions of introducing the market determined pricing mechanism (MDPM). This will allow refinery to price their products independently depending on what the market can take as against the earlier policy of the centre fixing the prices.
Bank stocks: Great leap forward
With the credit policy due to be announced next week interest has been sparked off in bank stocks. There seem to be a few reasons floating around that could have prompted this. For one, in addition to a further reduction in CRR, the removal of the SLR requirement on inter-bank advances has been a long standing demand from banks.
The Index
NIIT -- Propelled by the buoyancy in the software sector, the NIIT scrip has been trading at around Rs 1,600 per share (P/E of 55). In keeping with past trends, the company has posted decent results for the half year ended March 31, 1998. Net sales have increased by 45.54 per cent to Rs 204.18 crore and operating profit is up by 38.71 per cent to Rs 37.93 crore.
# HEAD_6
