COVER
STORY
VAT:
An Uphill Task?
- - N Janardhan Rao and Feroz Zaheer
The
much heated debate on Value Added Tax (VAT) has come to an
end. The implementation of VAT unfolds a new era of an improved
and modernized tax structure, which promises to bring in increased
transparency, compliance and additional revenues for the states.
However, there are some issues that need to be addressed for
the success of VAT.
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
COVER
STORY
State-Level
Value Added Tax: Towards More Efficiency and Equal Competition
- - R Sthanumoorthy
In
order to ensure trouble-free implementation of a radical and
somewhat complex tax (reform) measure such as the VAT, it
is very important first to create awareness and generate a
sense of confidence among different stakeholders.
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
INTERNATIONAL
FINANCE
Rupee
vs Dollar: India Inc.'s Choice
- - D Satish
With
the direction of the rupee-dollar rate becoming more unpredictable,
the Indian corporates are putting in place an effective currency
risk management.
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
FINANCIAL
SERVICES
Film
Financing: The JP Morgan Way
- - Ch. Rajeshwer and Sharath Jutur
JP
Morgan, which finances around 95% of Hollywood's films, combines
traditional risk management with its swanky financial database
model to bankroll blockbusters.
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
FINANCIAL
SERVICES
Banks'
Changing Asset Profile: Risk Management Challenges
-- T B Kapali
The
structural downtrend in Indian interest rates in the past
3 to 4 years could be one of the factors that encouraged the
build-up of the maturity mismatches in bank balance sheets.
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
FINANCIAL
SERVICES
Banking:
Regulation-induced Risks
- - Francisco González
The
growing burden of domestic and international regulation is
the biggest risk facing the world's banks in the coming year
as new rules impose additional costs and create a false sense
of security.
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
FINANCIAL
SERVICES
Private
Equity Firms: Victims of Success
- - D Satish and Sharath Jutur
Given
the increasing competition among private equity firms, the
future of the industry looks challenging.
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
FINANCIAL
SERVICES
ATMs:
Sans the Bank!
- - Amit Singh Sisodiya and Priyanka Sugandhi
Independent
ATMs could be the future in India.
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
FINANCIAL
MARKETS
Dollars
to Gold: Need for the Midas Touch
- - Mathew John
As
the dollar collapses or in the extreme case the world moves
to some form of gold standard, it will be wise for countries
to have larger assets in gold, as higher the store of gold,
the bigger will be their bargaining power.
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
FINANCIAL
MARKETS
Hedge
Funds: Regulating the Unregulated
- - Amit Singh Sisodiya and Sharath Jutur
Finally
the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the US stock
market regulator, has succeeded in getting hedge funds under
its regulatory ambit. But what is it trying to achieve by
doing so?
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
FINANCIAL
MARKETS
Arbitrage
Funds in India: Leveraging the Derivatives Markets
- - Amit Singh Sisodiya and Y Bala Bharathi
With
the launch of arbitrage funds in India, the mutual fund investors
are geared up to exploit the arbitrage opportunities with
lower costs than the stock market investors.
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
FINANCIAL
MARKETS
European
Financial Markets: Pros and Cons of a Single Regulator
- - Arjuna Roy Choudhary
A
good regulator understands the causes of the crises and takes
steps to prevent them from occurring.
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
FINANCIAL
MARKETS
Realty
Funds: Cashing in on Real(ty) Boom
- - Amit Singh Sisodiya and Shashidhar Mishra
The
launch of the first ever realty fund albeit in the form of
a venture capital fund, has opened doors for retail investors
to participate in real estate, a booming asset class.
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
INDUSTRY
Indian
Pharmaceutical Industry: Exploring New Horizons
- - N Janardhan Rao and Feroz Zaheer
The
challenging environment in the pharmaceutical industry has
compelled the domestic players to explore different avenues
for survival. The latest trend to hit the pharma industry
is that of targeting niche therapeutic segments.
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
INDUSTRY
Cable
Telephony: Ready to Roll
-- Amit Singh Sisodiya and Aala Santhosh Reddy
While
the telcos stare into the struggling wireline businesses,
the cable companies are moving aggressively into the telephony
market offering cheap telephony services through their widespread
cable networks.
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
CORPORATE
China
and India: Quest for Oil
- - N Janardhan Rao and Ravi Babu Adusumilli
The
Asian giants, China and India are searching for oil reserves
overseas to ensure energy security for themselves. However,
China is very aggressive and is many years ahead of India
in this race for energy security.
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
CORPORATE
Novartis:
Strategic Acquisition
-- N Janardhan Rao and Shishir Kumar
Moving
into generics was inevitable for Novartis because of the heavy
patent loss of its branded drugs and increasing price pressure.
Its acquisition of Hexal and Eon Labs will create a highly
competitive leader with a comprehensive global presence and
expertise necessary for success.
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
BUSINESS
ENVIRONMENT
Indian
Manufacturing: Challenging the Dragon
- - N Janardhan Rao and Ravi Babu Adusumilli
India's
manufacturing sector is on a strong growth path as global
companies are opting for India as the major manufacturing
hub to leverage the cost advantages and the growing domestic
market that the country offers.
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
BUSINESS
ENVIRONMENT
Social
Security: Reforms Galore
- - Amit Singh Sisodiya and Shashidhar Mishra
Why
the Social Security System in America needs reforms?
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
FOLLOW-UP
IBM-Lenovo:
Rising Concerns
- - N Janardhan Rao and Shishir Kumar
The
proposed IBM-Lenovo deal might start a new era of Sino-American
economic cooperation. But the growing US security concern
may imperil the proposed deal and put both companies at serious
disadvantages.
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
BOOK
REVIEW
Saving
the Sun
--Gillian
Tett
For
more than a decade now, the Japanese economy, which was the
most feared post World War II, has been in a dismal state.
Futile attempts were made to put the economy back on tracks.
The book, Saving the Sun explains the reasons for the current
state of the Japanese economy through the tale of Long-Term
Credit Bank, a respected Japanese bank and its attempts to
pull itself out of trouble by transforming into a Western-style
bank.
@2003 Gillian Tett.IUP holds the copyright
for the review. |
