Talk to real estate developers around the country and they will tell you that demand for residential property remains robust at a price point of Rs35 lakh per apartment. They only admit to a 20% decline in prices from their peak levels. However, the truth is that few transactions are actually happening. The feel-good factor about the Indian economy has ended. While the government dithers over...

Borrowers are not as helpless, nor banks as aggressive

When man bites dog, it makes news. Similarly, when a big and powerful bank goes after a seemingly helpless borrower, it makes great media copy. Personally, I believe that stories about individuals who pull a fast one over big banks and finance companies is also newsworthy but banks rarely want to admit in public that they were cheated by...

At the mention of the name Barton Biggs, my first recollection is the cover of the Forbes magazine of July 1993. He posed in it dramatically, dour-faced and wearing the attire of a bear, complete with paws from which nails stuck out. The cover theme was how Biggs was bearish on the US economy and markets under the presidency of Bill Clinton. He was quoted as saying: “We want to get our...