Union Budget 2013-14

As a contributing writer to MarketExpress.in, my first post was published today. It is a commentary on Union Budget, which has focused more on fiscal consolidation than populism. India has very limited room for fiscal profligacy. The Finance Minister rightly said that February 28 is one day in life of the nation. My pre-budget column for Moneycontrol.com had similar opinion. A credible fiscal deficit is the necessary condition for India but not a sufficient condition to bring the economy back on growth path. The sufficient condition lies beyond the budget. It is the revival of animal spirit that will matter in India's recovery from dead-low growth point.

Having 'identity' document or 'proof of address' document is one thing and convincing the respective authorities about these is another. I have faced it several times. Here is a real life experience of India's leading consultant, Dr Janmejaya Kumar Sinha.

If you are working in a city and staying in a rented flat without formal lease agreement (reality in most of Indian cities), do not try for getting a cooking gas connection because you may not be able to submit any so-called valid address proof. More hilarious if the flat is offcial accomodation provided to wife and you want connection in your name. If you are not yet married, first and foremost try to arrange for all required documents for registering your marriage before you actually tie the not; else half of your life may be spent in prooving that you are married. Enough of nuisance: fixed line telephone bills (of MTNL/BSNL) is valid address proof but not if you opted for better telecom service & chose private providers or having bill for post-paid mobile service.

For a starter, getting identity and address proof is a big task. For obtaining one document, you need another as proof . . .

Amazing & intelligent I-Phone 4 Experience

Just became a proud I-Phone 4 owner, a gift from wife, who is also my best friend. It is a great piece of technology in my hand. Cannot ask for more. Apple has got one more Deewana in me. Let me explore every bit of my new gadget.

Economics through Google Maps

IMF World Economic Outlook release also has
Outlook in Maps. It is better than table or chart if you want to have quick view. I wish IMF also provides option for customisation in case one likes to compare a set of continents or economies.

Google is everywhere. IMF's Map is also powered by Google Maps. I read this interview of Google CEO sometime back in which he said,

"... As you go from the search box [to the next phase of Google], you really want to go from syntax to semantics, from what you typed to what you meant. And that's basically the role of [Artificial Intelligence]. I think we will be the world leader in that for a long time."

About the power of Google, one sentence of his interview explains everything:

". . . that every young person one day will be entitled automatically to change his or her name on reaching adulthood in order to disown youthful hijinks stored on their friends' social media sites."

Economics is simply complex

Fun of predicting Nobel winner

Don't understand why people are in the busines of predicting winner (s) of Nobel Prize (s). The website of Nobel Prize says nominations received for any category is disclosed with a lag of 55 years. Thus, many a time none of the bets may figure on final list. Chicago's favourite Nobel Prize Pool could not guess right for the third year in a row. However, two of the winners were favourites at Harvard's poll - Peter Diamond & Dale Mortensen.

This year again Jagdish Bhagwati and Avinash Dixit were favourites for Economics prize on betting circle of Chicago.

It is interesting to note that Bhagwati's mentor Solow and his student, Krugman, both are Nobel Prize winners.
Chicago Pool for 2009 also showed Barack Obama as possible contender for Economics Prize. After 55 years, it would be even more interesting to see if the President was really a nominee.