Many times during my sojourn to Akola (my hometown), I ponder upon the thought of what and why I will never be able to achieve, what my parents have achieved inspite of getting the best education, the chosen lifestyle and the impeccable upbringing. Many of the youths of my generation, who hail from Tier-2 cities and have to almost compulsory shift their base to metros like Mumbai, Delhi et al and whose parents are involved in any non-service type of vocation would probably relate to this thought.

Most of us would take up a job and be happy to work 5 days a week and chill out on the weekend only to realize that 48 hours of weekend seem to end up in 48 minutes. We would rent a flat, stay with friends, and probably would never be able to develop relations with anyone other than our colleagues and our roommates. At that stage, the hectic schedule would even make meeting our good old friends difficult. All this to get fifty grands at the end of the month and feel satisfied.

But just imagine how can one do the same job, meet the same people and sit in front of the same laptop slogging for hours for thirty years of his life? Wouldn’t boredom set in? Wouldn’t we feel isolated and stagnant? Agreed one will have family at some time, but then you would only spend 4 hours of active participation with them on the working days.

That is where my parents win, our parents win! They are the ones who are truly successful, who are truly living their lives, who enjoy their sleep as much as they enjoy getting up for a jog. I opine that one of the major reasons for this is that they enjoy what they are doing. The business clients keep on changing almost daily, there is something new to be done daily, the developments in the surrounding need to be kept a watch on! They know all the neighbours, in fact the whole colony and vice versa. They can just drop in at any of their friend’s place anytime. They are the one who get invites for parties, functions and marriages….and they can even attend quite a few of them. They are the ones who enjoy the goodwill of their friends, neighbours, clients, business stakeholders. They are well-conversant with almost everyone – doodhwala, paperwala, kiranewala, presswala, sweeper, maid and clients, friends, relatives, neighbours, city heavy weights!!!! Do we even know the name of the person who drops in paper at our door daily? Do we ever talk to him anytime, except when he takes initiative for collecting the bill? Forget that, do we know who stays on the floor above us or how many members are there in his family?

In a B-school, everyone told us NETWORKING is the key…..whatever you do - study, learn, unlearn, copy, paste etc, the only thing that will be with you is your network and that will count your networth. But then, whatever we do, we will never be able to match the networking skills of our parents - and in turn their networth which is anyways invaluable! That’s the beauty of being your own boss, doing your own business, staying in a small city – you can enjoy almost every pleasure in the world! And all this manifests in our upbringing – the manners, the values, the importance of relationships, the significance of respecting people, the pride of belonging to a place where you feel wanted and respected and loved! Many times I wonder, when I look around, will we ever be able to give our children such values????

Guess who?

Lofted drives, silky cover drives, lightening square cuts – define his play!

Waived his shirt on the Lords after an emphatic Indian win!

Started his career with a test hundred and ended it with a duck!

Sourav Ganguly has been my hero (in purely cricketing sense!) for the past 10 years. I have grown up watching him play, I have matured seeing him scathing the best of the bowlers in all the parks of the world, I have watched him transforming Indian Cricket. I have fought umpteen times for him to decide the best player in the team, the best player in the world!

The reason for such an admiration is not that we share a similar name (as far as I know, Saurabh is spelled as Sourav in West Bengal). The reasons are not just related to cricket. They go far beyond that.

Here is a man, who has single handedly fought for himself, times and again and has come back stronger and mightier. He has everything one looks out for in an ideal – a thorough gentleman to the core, confidence is his forte, fearlessness is his passion, determination is his ammunition and leadership is his skill. He has been responsible for changing the Indian team from timid cattle to fearless tigers. Talent was always abound in Indian cricket, but there was a need for that spark, that backing, that vision, that leader.

There have been lots written about him. There have been statistics thrown. I need not mention all those clichéd statistics which make him a great player. But there is one particular statistic that I just derived after mixing and matching his other records, and never found it being mentioned. He averages about one Man of the Match award per 10 matches! And he has played over 300 ODIs. I personally feel this is huge, as there would have been many times he has played second best in a match. And remember all this when he has played most of his matches alongwith other greats like Sachin, Kumble and Dravid, and later with Sehwag, Harbhajan and Yuvraj!

Had it not been for the recent consecutive three wins over England, I would have lost my attraction towards cricket. It is saddening not to see him go out again to drive the bowlers crazy, to bludgeon his way to another century, to make us proud. After all, Saurabh – naam main hi dam hain! :D

I feared it always….I somehow knew it was coming….I knew it had struck me. I tried to run away…. I tried to ignore it…. I tried to overcome it…. But to no avail. It’s the start of disintegration. I am sure it’s not emotional….but it probably is mental disintegration. But that is too harsh a word. Is it lack of effort from my side or consistent lapse of concentration? I know there is nothing wrong in it as it happens to mortals. But probably I have fallen prey to it a bit early.

Realization happened when I blew up my first paper, then second and then third and then today fourth. I tried of foolishly convincing myself that first time it was coincidence, second time it was lack of effort, third time it was lack of luck but I fell short of coming up with an explanation after it happened for the fourth time. I am sure God helps those who themselves. And I am trying to help myself. But then, I am weak, I am broken, I am fragile. There isn’t much left within me to fall back upon. Each time I have to fall back upon the strength given to me by my family, my God and my friends. But then, I contradict my own expectations – God helps those who help themselves.

I have no option. I have no way. I have no clarity. As four have gone, other six will also pass by. Things might change. But then isn’t this the case each time. It has been a long time since I achieved something substantial for me and my well wishers. There is a need to reinvent myself. But then that is being philosophical. Reinventing oneself should come naturally. It can’t be forced. So I have to keep trying and trying till I prove these thoughts wrong, till I prove what I am worth of, till I prove that I have reason to feel proud again, till I prove God helps those who help themselves.

This isn’t something I am writing to boast of myself or my experiences. But this is mere out of experience….. I am sure most of us have experienced this…..may be many of us have realized it…Its saddening me time and again and so thought of penning it down…Hoping if someone could relate to it, could make me feel better!

People (everyone except family and probably just a very very very miniscule % of your friends) tend to forget a lot. They tend to forget especially the good, better and the best things. And the same people tend to remember a lot. They tend to remember especially one act of yours which they perceive is wrong. This one act, however innocuous from your point of view, outweighs all your relations, all your caring, all your love, all your great moments, all your fun-filled moments.

These are the same people for whom you did everything possible….in your own small way. Just yesterday, they seemed to understand us so well….and just in a matter of 24 hours, the understanding has gone for a toss. It bewilders me to understand what suddenly transpires in their minds that they just shut off their heart and mind to avoid understanding the circumstances…the limitations…the thought process behind a particular action of ours that has prompted them to change so much. Why can’t a simple rationale work for them that if one has done something, there should be a valid reason for the same and atleast give a chance to explain things.

One would argue, if they are really our true friends, either they would understand soon, or may be its our responsibility to explain them and get the misunderstanding cleared. But I am so fed up of doing this, why do its always me who has to take the first step with everyone. Why do its always me who has to think a thousand times for others….while others just walk all over me and my feelings!!!!!!!!

I don’t mean I am always right. But chances are less that I am always wrong.

Probably that’s human nature. We tend to forget what we should not and we tend to remember what we should overlook! I am trying to develop this art of forgetting the wrong things and only remembering the right ones…….

Characters - Saurabh Rathi - Rathi, Amit Bole – Bole; Pradeep Polawar - Polya; Rahul Patil – Patla; Rajendra Rajput – Raju; Rahul Kumar Shahpurwad - Anna

Even I am surprised that I have just come back from one more exciting journey in past few months. Last time it was Mahabaleshwar, Panchgani , Raigarh and Pratapgarh. Then it was Lonavla. This time it’s Malshez and Lenyadri.

As usual, this trip too was planned in less than 24 hours with people pitching in and backing out. But finally as expected, we had a solid-determined-enthusiastic-zealous team of 6 stooges, who decided to embark on a superb adventure.

The day didn’t start as expected. The taxi we had booked gave up even before leaving its stable. But luckily after a huge investment of time, energy and phone calls, we got through another taxi. But in turn, instead of leaving at 6:00 am, we finally took off well past 9:00 am. But in the hindsight, I am sure we all would agree trip was a superb RoI.

The road to Malshez is extremely scenic. It had been long I have seen so much greenery around. The nature was at its pleasing best. The road ran through hills, with deep valleys on one side and beautiful waterfalls on the other side. Rains amicably accompanied the clouds and the sunlight to display a juxtaposition of lively hues. Rarely one sees so many shades of green – Lime green, Office green, Olive, Forest green, Chartreuse - all encompassed in one frame! The collocation of waterfalls – a dozen at in one view – was probably one of the best views of the trip. From a height, the waterfalls looked like bundles of white cotton decoratively placed by Mother Nature. The water was chilling, forceful and pure. We sang and danced, walked and jogged, soaking in the waterfalls all along the way. A sumptuous meal of peetla-bhakri was perfect for our tired bodies post which we embarked on our way to Lenyadri. Lenyadri is a beatiful place amongst the hills. The road to Ashtvinayak Temple was surrounded by meadows and sweet looking canopies made the view much more pleasant. The temple is situated on a hill-top and one needs to climb the stairs to reach the top. The view from the top was absolutely breath-taking. The pristine air and the serene surrounding made our ascent worth all the effort and much more than that. The temple is built in a cave and has a unique calmness that lends an inexplicable yet so satisfying tranquility to oneself.

Concluding, it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. The gossips, PJs, comments, discussions in the car made the journey much more exciting and fun-filled. Excitedly waiting for our next trip…….

A famous adage says……Change is constant! This cliché is truly clichéd but what I realized recently was how true it was. Not all clichés sound to be true but they do so only when you experience them. Change I suppose is everyone’s partner throughout the life, and so is mine. I was thinking about the way I had evolved as a person, in terms of behavior, attitude, thinking, habits, likings – things which I never thought would change over time. And the best part of all this is I never realized when this transition happened!

I never realized when I changed from being a stubborn tot to a gullible boy, and from that to an emotional buffoon. I never realized when I stopped caring for my studies and started caring for things which never interested me in school/college. I never realized when I changed from being overly cautious to easy-going. I never realized when I changed from being laconic to a chatter box. I never realized when I changed from being introvert to (relatively) an extrovert. I never realized when I changed from a calculative mind to a spendthrift. I never realized when I changed from a timid guy to fearless and adventurous human. I never realized when I changed from a simple character to a complex individual or probably the other way round. I never realized when I started finding bliss in simpler things that life has to offer.

But then that is the beauty of life. One never knows when you change, and when you look back, you can’t even point out what brought about those changes!

Characters –

• Saurabh Rathi (Rathi) - Me :)
  
• Pradeep Polawar (Polya) – My roommate
• Rajesh Agrawal (Raju) – My school/college friend
• Nilesh Yerawar (Yera ) – My college friend
• Ritesh Ganeriwal (Ricky) - My college friend
• Manoj Kurkure (Maku) - My college friend

This weekend came as a welcome change. Firstly, pre-monsoon showers really cooled off the hot’n’humid Mumbai. Secondly, Raju called me on Friday afternoon revealing his pleasantly surprising decision to visit Mumbai. Little did I know that this weekend would turn out to be so much fun.

After a heavy dinner, myself and Raju strolled along Marine Drive enjoying the cool weather and stormy sea. Chat continued back in the room and late in the night we decided to go to Adlabs Imax to see Sarkar Raj on Saturday. I tried desperately to download Sarkar as I hadn’t seen it but to no avail. The net speed was not sufficient enough for the same.

Raju booked tickets for me, Maku and himself for the 12:15 pm show on Saturday morning. We planned to leave by 11:00 am thinking that 75 min was a sufficient buffer. Minutes before we stepped out, it started raining heavily. I managed to get an umbrella. Ran outside to get the printout of the ticket and realized that the soft copy of the ticket wasn’t loaded in the pen drive. Had to run back to the room to get the same. And the poor umbrella couldn’t save me from the heavy rain. Finally got the printout and hopped into a taxi. Reached Wadala station and enquired with about 2-3 people which side was Imax. As Murphy’s law goes, it turned out to be the wrong way. Then we walked upto the flyover (it was still raining and the clock was ticking faster) and heaved a sigh of relief to see quite a few taxis. But no one was ready to go to Imax. Finally got a bus and reached Imax. (The road with no habitation around seemed to be a familiar part of Ramsay horror movie.) The movie had already started by then.

About the movie, I felt the movie is well made (just like Jodha Akbar). Actors and Director have done a great job. But overall, given the hype, I still feel people might be a bit disappointed. There are so many characters in the movie that none of them get enough screen space to make a mark. Amitabh is his usual self and just breezes through the role so easily as is expected from him. Aishwarya looks pretty in her western attire and cries a lot in the movie. That’s the only thing she does in the movie. Abhishek is superb and the chemistry between the Bachchans surely looks great on screen. He looks convincing as a son of Subhash Nagre, the father and as a son of the soil, Maharashtra. But again, I would have loved to see more of Abhishek’s role in the movie. That’s the only saddening part of the movie. Rest actors too have done well. Overall a good time pass.

We moved out of the hall and it was still raining. We decided to go to Vashi to meet Yera. We got a cab after much search in the rain and reached the railway station only to realize that the trains on that route had been cancelled. Had a sumptuous meal given the conditions around(grilled sandwich only) and reached out for a bus to Churchgate. By now, all the hope of going anywhere else had died down. Luckily we got a bus which took eternity to get us to Churchgate but kudos to Maku, for making the journey less taxing by getting chips and biscuits to munch on.

As we reached my room, having drenched in rain, my body gave up. Sore throat. Body ache. So as if I was only searching for a reason, I slept off just to get up for the food we got from Pratap Restaurant as an experiment. It was a successful experiment. And after finishing the dinner, I went back in my BLISS mode.

Next day, Yera came over to Churchgate as myself, Raju, Yera and Ricky had planned to go Band-stand. Myself and Raju were equally excited for obvious reasons and we hadn’t been there earlier. Yera came over by 4 pm. We chatted for about an hour and then stepped out with umbrellas (it was raining already). As Ricky would have taken some more time, we decided to go to Marine Drive for a walk and then head for Bandra. When we reached Marine Drive, none of us could control the desire to soak ourselves in the rain just like so many people there – kids, teens, people both young and old – just about everyone! Not wasting a moment, we shut off our umbrellas and decided to experience the TRUE nature. I couldn’t resist the temptation to call Polya as well. And he came gleefully to enjoy the fresh rain along the seaside. So here we were. All the plans of going to Band-Stand had subsided by now as we were thoroughly enjoying the experience. We walked till Nariman Point and back, took a round along station and enjoying peanuts, chai and chanachor along the way. It was a re-energizing experience for all of us. Completely drenched in the rain water and sea water, we just didn’t realize when the time went by. Sea waves reaching the pavement and cool breeze making you tremble and with so many happy faces around truly made it much more exciting and relishing. It was a first for (I guess) all of us and this weekend would surely be there in our memory for a long long time. We met Ricky in the evening and had fun recollecting our BITS experiences. An overly fatty dinner at Bhagat Tarachand with gulab jamun and daal ka seera and a paan top it was a fitting end to one of my most enjoyable weekend in Mumbai.

Thanks Rajesh, Polya, Yera, Ricky and Maku for this treat!

"Inflation is when you pay fifteen dollars for the ten-dollar haircut you used to get for five dollars when you had hair." -- Sam Ewing.

Inflation is defined as a sustained increase in the general level of prices for goods and services. It is measured as an annual percentage increase. As inflation rises, every rupee you own buys a smaller percentage of a good or service.

Types of inflation are –

Deflation is when the general level of prices is falling. This is the opposite of inflation.

Hyperinflation is unusually rapid inflation. In extreme cases, this can lead to the breakdown of a nation's monetary system. One of the most notable examples of hyperinflation occurred in Germany in 1923, when prices rose 2,500% in one month!

Stagflation is the combination of high unemployment and economic stagnation with inflation. This happened in industrialized countries during the 1970s, when a bad economy was combined with OPEC raising oil prices.

Causes of inflation are -

Cost-push inflation: Occurs when there is supply side constraint. Supply side constraint may occur due to several reasons like low production, increase in input costs, international conflicts etc. Generally there is little a government can do to increase the supply.

Demand-pull inflation: Occurs when the demand increases significantly. The increase in demand is attributed to the fact that there is excess liquidity in the market and people have high purchasing power.

Built in inflation: Most of the time employees force the employers to increase their wages.Due to increase in the wages the cost of production increases. In order to minimize loss the manufacturer passes on the cost to the consumers resulting in increase in the prices. This further leads to demand for more wage hike. Thus the increase in wage is linked to increase in price and vice versa. It results in vicious cycle and the government faces lots of difficulty in getting out of it.

It's not India alone, where authorities are battling to keep growth on track while reining in price.Governments and policymakers across the world are confronting the same challenge on the back of a sustained spike in global commodity prices that is stoking inflationary expectations.

While India’s wholesale price-based inflation rate rose to a three-and-a-half-year high of 7.83 per cent per cent for the week-ended May 3, China's consumer price index, the main gauge of inflation, rose 8.5 percent year-on-year in April. Inflation has been a major concern in the European Union (EU) as well. The average forecast for 2008 inflation from experts taking part in the ECB's Survey of Professional Forecasters (SPF) rose to 3.0 per cent from 2.5 per cent.

Measuring Inflation – An Indian Perspective

India uses the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) to calculate and then decide the inflation rate in the economy. However, most developed countries use the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to calculate inflation.

Wholesale Price Index (WPI)

WPI was first published in 1902, and was one of the more economic indicators available to policy makers until it was replaced by most developed countries by the Consumer Price Index in the 1970s.

WPI is the index that is used to measure the change in the average price level of goods traded in wholesale market. In India, a total of 435 commodities data on price level is tracked through WPI which is an indicator of movement in prices of commodities in all trade and transactions. It is also the price index which is available on a weekly basis with the shortest possible time lag only two weeks. The Indian government has taken WPI as an indicator of the rate of inflation in the economy.

Consumer Price Index (CPI)

CPI is a statistical time-series measure of a weighted average of prices of a specified set of goods and services purchased by consumers. It is a price index that tracks the prices of a specified basket of consumer goods and services, providing a measure of inflation.

CPI is a fixed quantity price index and considered by some a cost of living index. Under CPI, an index is scaled so that it is equal to 100 at a chosen point in time, so that all other values of the index are a percentage relative to this one.

The argument against WPI is that it does not properly measure the exact price rise an end-consumer will experience because, as the same suggests, it is at the wholesale level. The main problem with WPI calculation is that more than 100 out of the 435 commodities included in the Index have ceased to be important from the consumption point of view. Take, for example, a commodity like coarse grains that go into making of livestock feed. This commodity is insignificant, but continues to be considered while measuring inflation.

India constituted the last WPI series of commodities in 1993-94; but has not updated it till now that economists argue the Index has lost relevance and cannot be the barometer to calculate inflation.

WPI is supposed to measure impact of prices on business. But in India it is used to measure the impact on consumers. Many commodities not consumed by consumers get calculated in the index. And it does not factor in services which have assumed so much importance in the economy.

But then what stops India from shifting over to CPI? The problems it seems are many. First of all, in India, there are four different types of CPI indices, and that makes switching over to the Index from WPI fairly risky and unwieldy. The four CPI series are: CPI Industrial Workers; CPI Urban Non-Manual Employees; CPI Agricultural laborers; and CPI Rural labor. Secondly, the CPI cannot be used in India because there is too much of a lag in reporting CPI numbers. The WPI is published on a weekly basis and the CPI, on a monthly basis. And in India, inflation is calculated on a weekly basis.

Concerns for India

A high rate of inflation could have a significant bearing on Indian economy’s overall growth through lower aggregate demand of manufactured items and low investment growth. Besides, a fear of a possible recession in the USA could worsen matters further. Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council had projected an 8.5 per cent gross domestic product (GDP) growth for India in 2008-09. But now the growth could fall further as policy focus shifts from high growth to price control. After growing at a blistering 9.6 per cent in 2006-07, government’s own estimates said it grew by 8.7 per cent in 2007-08. The effect of the high rates of inflation on the India growth story would depend on how long the situation of high inflation persists. The pressure on inflation is likely to persist due to high crude oil prices.

What is driving inflation in the current scenario?

But why are prices rising? Is it because of oil? With prices of global crude oil crossing $120 per barrel, oil is definitely one of the drivers. But why should high oil prices increase the cost of pulses, or fruits, which are grown at home? After the recent revision of retail prices of petrol and diesel, which has more closely aligned domestic and international prices, there haven’t been any more changes in domestic petroleum prices. Then is it because people have suddenly started eating more pulses and fish? Well, pulses are not really close substitutes of rice and wheat. Irrespective of regions and incomes, they have been staple fodder for Indian households—rich or poor—down the ages. As far as fish is concerned, the outbreak of bird flu and panic culling of chickens might have seen a spurt in fish prices in West Bengal and some neighboring states. But again, that’s not a convincing explanation for increases in fruit and vegetable prices.

Rise in food prices in India is essentially a result of supply shortfalls. With demand unchanged, lower supply leads to lower availability and concomitant price increases. In times when supplies are fine, food prices do not contribute to inflation. On the primary goods front, which consists of fruits, vegetables, food-grains etc. it is not that straight-forward. Why the price rise in primary goods is not straight-forward is that while on the one hand, it is a clear case of demand-pull inflation, on the other, it is also a bit of a supply shock when one considers the fact that there is an abnormally high percentage of fruits and vegetables that goes to waste because of the lack of cold-storage facilities. Some estimates say 50 per cent of produce goes to waste and that is a conservative number. Other than food prices, inflation can pick up due to higher prices of oil as well as manufactured items. However, from a common man’s perspective, higher food prices make him most conscious about inflation since he starts feeling the pinch on almost a daily basis. This is precisely where the current bout of inflation has acquired a damaging dimension. It has been reported that the manufacturing capacity in India is running around 95 per cent, which usually means it is running at full capacity. Therefore, when the price of manufactured products is increasing, it means that demand is usually higher than supply and that is a clear case of demand-pull inflation.

The euphoria over 9% GDP growth has made many overlook the fact that most of North India didn’t get usual rainfall this winter. This might affect the rabi output. There are already reports of oilseeds production taking a hit and forcing customs duty cuts on a variety of edible oils for increasing imports. There will probably be more supply concerns for other crops also, if the overall rabi crop is much smaller this time around. On the oil front, global crude prices show no signs of relenting. Though with elections drawing closer, further pass-throughs are unlikely, the ‘imported’ pressure on domestic prices will continue to remain.

This brings us to manufacturing. Normally, policymakers do not tend to lose their sleep over some escalation in manufacturing prices. Good demand for manufacturing usually results harder prices. However, this time the situation is somewhat different. Domestic manufacturing is facing difficulties on account of high prices of imported raw materials, particularly metals. Sustained high input prices will, sooner or later, force producers to increase finished product prices. This is likely to unleash a chain effect of price rises throughout the economy as users of manufactured inputs also start raising their prices. Higher prices of auto parts leading to higher prices of passenger cars are a typical example. The worst-affected will be the average consumer. With high food prices hitting hard at home, the situation won’t much better outside with purchasables also becoming dearer.

In India, growth and prices usually tend to move together. Either they rise in tandem, or remain moderate. There is no doubt that high growth with low prices continues to remain the foremost objective of macroeconomic management. However, in a country where supply isn’t very fast in responding to changes in demand, flare-ups in prices are unavoidable. Thus high growth with moderate prices is hard to achieve on a sustained basis unless supply-side constraints are taken care of. The spread of organised retail, particularly food retail, can help by ensuring quick delivery of agri-produce to consumers. That might involve a greater participation of foreign retailers.

Government measures to control Inflation

We all know the phenomenal growth of Indian economy in the last few years. This growth has not come without its side-effects. One of the causes for the increase in the prices of essential commodities has been due to the fact that both India and China have been recording excellent growth in recent years. It has to be noted that China and India have a combined population of 2.5 billion people.

Given this size of population even a modest $100 increase in the per capita income of these two countries would translate into approximately $250 billion in additional demand for commodities. This has put an extraordinary highly demand on various commodities. Surely growth will come at a cost.

The excessive global liquidity has facilitated buoyant growth of money and credit in 2005-06 and 2006-07. For instance, the net accretion to the foreign exchange reserves aggregates to in excess of $50 billion (about Rs 225,000 crore) in 2006-07. Crucially, this incremental flow of foreign exchange into the country has resulted in increased credit flow by our banks. Naturally this is another fuel for growth and crucially, inflation.

The Indian Government has been trying hard to contain inflation as it also has a political dimension. It has tightened the money supply. In addition, it has raised the export duties on many basic commodities and at the same time, tried to encourage imports by reducing the import duties. It also has announced many subsidies and has vowed to break the cartel existing between cement and steel companies. In addition it is also taking measures to ban futures trading of essential commodities.

The Reserve Bank of India has adopted the strategy of dealing with excessive liquidity through the Market Stabilization Scheme (MSS). Similarly, the increase in repo rates (ostensibly to make credit overextension costly) and increase in CRR rates (to restrict excessive money supply) are policy interventions that have been undertaken by the RBI. But these policies are with serious limitations in the Indian context with huge forex inflows

It appears that the RBI's dilemma can be resolved if not by easing the monetary policy, but at least by holding on to it, so as to address growth concerns. Any tightening of monetary policy would have serious implications at a time when the investment climate is not at the pink of health. Further, in a cost push inflation scenario, any monetary tightening will be ineffective.

It also a timely reminder about the need to keep a low interest rate cushion when the economy is doing well, so that it gives the Government a sufficient enough interest rate buffer that it can exercise and increase rates when inflation rears its head.

For the foreseeable future ahead, Indian economy will have inflationary pressures stoked up due to factors that are cost-push than demand-pull. Inflation is more likely to arise out of the economy's inability to provide the critical inputs necessary to sustain the fast pace of growth. In such circumstances, monetary policy will be more critical in lowering the cost of capital and encouraging growth, and will have only a minimal role in controlling inflation.

In the final analysis, a 7-7.5% GDP growth rate is by any yardstick a very good deal, especially at a time of such tumult in the global economy. Given the fact that the robust 9% plus growth of the past few years, was taking its toll on an over-stretched economy and supply side constraints were becoming increasingly evident, a relative cooling off should even be welcomed.

Given all our supply side constraints and infrastructure bottlenecks, sustaining a 9% growth without stoking off inflation was impossibility. A slowdown in growth to 7-7.5% should suit us, in so far as it would help prevent over-heating and consequent build up of inflationary pressures, all of which have the potential of squeezing medium-term growth itself.