"Rexit": A Tough Job for the Government
This refers to your well presented cover story on the Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan's proposed exit from office (Rexit)once his term ends in September 2016 (Unfinished Agenda, July 17). Rajan's exit proposal is being widely discussed in the country and has caught the imagination of the media and the masses. And the media coverage has made it a prestige issue for both the government and Rajan alike. The opposition parties are already pointing fingers at the government but that is understandable as they have their own axe to grind. All said and done, Rajan has done his job quite expertly so far, and his replacement will have a tough job in extracting the country and its economy from the morass it is in due to a few national and international issues. Taking his unfinished agenda of reforms to its logical conclusion should now be the top priority cutting across all party lines. Rajan has, indeed, left his imprint on policy making and let us hope whoever follows him does a good job.
J.S. Broca, New Delhi
Who Needs FDI?
This refers to your article on FDI (Doors Wide Open?, July 17). Who needs FDI when there is enough money for investments in India itself? Our tax laws are faulty, which encourage hoarding of black money. The other failure is corruption and bureaucracy. Foreign investors bring their money in India and create employment opportunities, but they earn sizeable profits and take out the capital. Instead of FDI, it is better to create a friendly investment regime with minimum red-tape, corruption and roadblocks India to manufacture and sell goods. Gandhiji's Swadeshi movement helped make economic progress without attracting FDI or foreign help. But this is possible only if the government so desires.
Mahesh Kapasi, New Delhi
A Win-win for the Common Man
This refers to your story on crowdfunding platforms (Herd Mentality, June 5). There is no doubt that equity crowdfunding has democratised funding and made access to capital easier for entrepreneurs who do not have access to the traditional venture capital/angel investors. It also seems a win-win for the common man, who wants to be an investor as he can potentially be part of an exciting start-up that could someday be a Google or Facebook. As an investor, who would not want that? However, having seen this model play out in the US for the past couple of years, and having participated in many such investments as an investor, I should point out that there is a considerable risk for the investor. Just because many people are investing in a start-up is no assurance that the venture is going to succeed and the investor will get the promised returns he is expecting. The main issue is that most investors in a crowdfunding model have neither done the due diligence nor have the time to do so. In some cases they even lack the skills to perform the due diligence required before investing. Everybody is hoping that someone in the crowd would have done that. As such, there is a good chance that they might lose their entire investment.
Prasenjeet, through e-mail
A Great Indian Brand
This refers to your article The New L&T (July 3). It is quite interesting to read this well researched article. L&T is a great Indian brand. The challenge will always be to protect it under changing times, especially when heads roll in the company. A.M. Naik was an institution himself. To replicate that goodwill and success will not be an easy task for S.N. Subrahmanyan and his team. Good resource is always in short supply. It was intriguing to know that even a company like L&T is suffering from a resource crunch when it comes to manning key leadership positions in its various businesses. Hope to see more articles in Business Today, like this one, on Indian corporates.
Robin Banerjee, Deputy Managing Director, Bilcare
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