Appu Esthose Suresh

There’s little connection between cash in economy and corruption

Cash in circulation in an economy has little correlation with corruption, a comparative analysis of World Bank and Transparency International data suggests, deepening suspicion that those with black money prefer to keep their ill-gotten wealth in other forms of assets.

Why govt’s demonetisation move may fail to win the war against black money

The demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 banknotes is unlikely to help the government suck out black money from the economy as hoarders keep a tiny portion of their ill-gotten wealth in hard cash, going by income-tax data.

Currency ban: Only one-third have bank access; NE, backward regions worst hit

Few Indians having access to banks will add to people’s hardship following the withdrawal of ₹500 and ₹1,000 denominations from circulation. The impact will be felt more in north-eastern states and backward districts of the country where banks are few and far.

AirAsia paid ex-CEO Mittu Chandilya’s aide to set up meetings with CMs: Audit

A day after Cyrus Mistry was removed as Tata group chairman, he wrote an email to the Tata Sons board saying a report had found fraudulent transactions worth Rs 22 crore between Air Asia and companies in India and abroad.

Khandwa: The SIMI ‘hotspot’ at the centre of MP prisoners’ ‘encounter’

Five of the men killed on Monday after the alleged shootout, which activists and opposition say was a staged gunfight, were from Khandwa, the alleged hotspot of Students Islamic Movement of India in Madhya Pradesh.

Nearly 10% of Indian exports never return, says RBI data

Figures available for 44 years reveal that the sudden spurt in export proceeds that were not remitted back to India started in 1994; the second wave was in 2000

In 44 years, India lost at least Rs 17 trillion to tax havens

Indians exported goods and services worth at least Rs 17 trillion over the past four decades but did not remit an equivalent amount in foreign exchange

Why police theories on jailbreak by SIMI operatives ring hollow

Spent bullet casings weren’t among items recovered from a place on the outskirts of the Madhya Pradesh capital where police gunned down eight members of the banned group, SIMI, on Monday after they escaped from prison.

Doubts swirl but state govt rules out NIA probe into SIMI ‘encounter’

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) will not probe the police shooting of eight Islamist prisoners who escaped from a Bhopal jail, Madhya Pradesh home minister Bhupendra Singh said on Tuesday

Doubts swirl but MP govt rules out probe into SIMI ‘encounter’

The SIMI encounter is unquestionable and it will not be probed by NIA. They will investigate only the jail break, Madhya Pradesh home minister Bhupendra Singh said.

Religious violence keeps UP’s political pot boiling

India nominates SBI chief for MD-COO post at World Bank

SBI’s Arundhati Bhattacharya in race for top World Bank job

State Bank of India chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya will be India’s nominee for the post of managing director and chief operating officer at the World Bank, two senior government functionaries told HT.

Govt grapples with GST network glitches

Ahead of UP polls, will communal politics harm Kairana’s secular harmony?

As Kairana seems to have set the discourse as UP gears up for the upcoming polls, it remains to be seen whether the town will descend into violence in the months to come – or stick to its Kirana tradition of harmonious existence.

Doubts over the communal angle in Kairana exodus

Local administration’s verification of 119 names given by the BJP MP found that 66 had left their homes five years ago, way before gangster Mukhim Kala was active or the SP was in power

IS snares mostly educated young men from India

Revenge road to terror and back

Revenge road to terror and back: Govt scripts new doctrine for radicalised youth

Scores of radicals are surfing cyberspace and the challenge is to keep them from venturing onto a road that may lead to terror.

Educated, middle-class Indian youngsters drawn to Islamic State

Data accessed by HT shows about 70% of 152 Indians arrested, detained or counselled for links to

The meteoric rise and accidental fall of defence dealer Sanjay Bhandari

In 2014, after the BJP came to power, a top secret report of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) listed Bhandari as a close aide of Vadra, son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and mentioned that he was friends with the son of a former senior BJP leader.

Income Tax officials zero in on rapidly growing defence dealer

Income tax officials have searched 18 premises used by a defence dealer who is on the radar of the government over the unusually high growth of his business in recent years.

Karti Chidambaram’s daughter Aditi willed big chunks of global empire

Congress leader P Chidambaram’s son Karti was the executor of four wills that bequeathed shares of Chennai-based Advantage Strategic’s wholly owned Singapore-based subsidiary to the former Union minister’s granddaughter in June 2013, documents recovered by a joint income tax-enforcement directorate probe show.

Mary Kom, Suresh Gopi, Navjot Sidhu may be nominated to Rajya Sabha

The other probable nominations are BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, former journalist and party ideologue Swapan Dasgupta, cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu and economist Narendra Jadhav.

House of debt: The story of rising corporate debt

Vijay Mallya’s Rs 9,000-crore loan default may have grabbed headlines, but the liquor baron’s troubles could well be the tip of a corporate debt distress iceberg.

Fivefold increase in communal incidents marks run-up to Assam polls

The number of communal incidents has shown a fivefold surge in Assam over the previous election year.

Diversified they fall: When corporates move beyond core competence

How corporate groups wrote the script of their own downfall by moving beyond their core competence

British arms dealer offers help in AgustaWestland chopper deal probe

A British arms dealer wanted in India in the now-scrapped AgustaWestland chopper deal has offered to “assist” in the probe provided he is not arrested, HT has learnt.

There is a limit to which an economy can afford exemptions: Jaitley

For a finance minister who had presented the Union Budget in the morning, Arun Jaitley appeared remarkably relaxed on Monday evening at his office in New Delhi’s North Block, occasionally allowing for lighter moments. He had the look of a man who knew he had done what had to be done. You can see it in his answers; right from the first one, they are direct, to the pint, and pithy

India on guard: How well prepared are we to stop another terror attack?

In the high-voltage cat-and-mouse game between terrorists and security forces, why is the jihadi usually ahead? Hindustan Times examines the gaps