On Friday, 24 October 2008, the Sensex, the Bombay Stock Exchange’s benchmark index, fell 11%. Shares of real estate companies Unitech and DLF fell 50% and 24%, respectively. Shares of Reliance Industries fell 16%, the steepest decline since 1993. ICICI Bank’s shares also fell 16%, marking a four-year low. Scrip after scrip touched 52-week lows. It took a certain stiffness of spine to conclude...

From airlines to realty, the Indian government has practically announced that almost every industry, even if it is in trouble because of its reckless expansion, will be bailed out at taxpayers’ expense. With just a few months to go for the general elections, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance has no qualms about using taxpayers’ funds for loan melas to corporate India. Its task has...

In 2005, SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) plugged loopholes in the preferential allotment rules by introducing a stringent three-year lock-in and regulating the price at which preferential equity/warrants could be offered. This ended promoters’ self-enriching game of giving themselves equity at a discount and making a profit by selling existing shares. But it didn’t matter. We...