Running on empty: The long, long wait for reform

.....Even as Chidambaram and his colleagues at North Block battle it out to push the reform agenda through, one man who will be watching the developments carefully will be Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Duvvuri Subbarao. Chidambaram’s pronouncements may have pepped up the markets, but they’re unlikely to have worked on Subbarao who will be waiting for concrete steps to bridge the yawning fiscal deficit. Hence, in the absence of any concrete reform steps so far, Subbarao and his Mint Road team would be unwilling to budge on their no-rate-cut stance............

Read......