Minhaz Merchant

Minhaz Merchant is the biographer of Rajiv Gandhi and Aditya Birla and author of The New Clash of Civilizations (Rupa, 2014). He is founder of Sterling Newspapers Pvt. Ltd. which was acquired by the Indian Express group

Latest Articles By Minhaz Merchant

Economic Costs Of War

Minhaz Merchant

Opinion Columns

India is exploring options to circumvent the sanctions by paying for Russian crude in rupees and enhancing rupee-ruble trade in other sectors

The Privatisation Puzzle

Minhaz Merchant

Opinion Columns

Privatised PSUs will be accountable to public shareholders. Their management will be scrutinised. Unlisted PSUs are often warrens of corruption and inefficiency

The Undervalued Rupee

Minhaz Merchant

Opinion Columns

Scale and range need large investments. Timely shipping requires impeccable logistics, quick local transport, low taxes and flexible labour. Quality obviously needs skilled manpower.

Taking Post-Budget Stock

Minhaz Merchant

Opinion Columns

Following the 2022-23 Union Budget, if the government now doubles down on privatisation, lower personal income tax and implementation of labour legislation, the mood in the stock market can turn swiftly.

East India Company, Redux

Minhaz Merchant

Opinion

India’s second endemic weakness is the glacial pace at which the judiciary operates. India needs separate commercial courts where corporate disputes like Amazon-Future and Zee-Invesco can be settled quickly, transparently and professionally.

Decoding China’s Growth

Minhaz Merchant

Opinion Columns

With India entering a decade of high economic growth and China’s economy slowing to 4.5 per cent a year, the gulf in per capita income is set to narrow further.

2022: Corporate Catharsis

Minhaz Merchant

Opinion

The way young startup founders do business is also changing. The valuations of their startups, many of which are not yet profitable, have skyrocketed. The market valuation of Byju’s, for example, is estimated to be $48 billion (Rs. 3.75 lakh crore) in a future Nasdaq IPO. That is more than the combined market capitalisation of Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra.

Modi’s Reformist Surge

Minhaz Merchant

Opinion Columns

While it speeds up its third generation reformist agenda, the Modi government is obviously mindful of the seven key assembly elections due in 2022

Economy’s Inflection Point

Minhaz Merchant

Economy India

India has lost a year’s growth due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But with reforms like the Gati Shakti masterplan to coalesce and boost projects under the $1.5 trillion National Infrastructure Pipeline and a turbocharged PLI scheme to make India an export hub, the country could make up for lost time faster than anyone could have rationally expected a year go.