Also last week, the business press reported that Ernst and Young [E & Y] has predicted that 2004 will be a watershed year for India, when over Rs 15,000 crores will be recovered by banks. One way the banks will go about collecting their money is by creating special purpose companies that will be vested with the bad debts. These in turn will be sold off to other corporates for whom these assets are a good buy. E&Y suggests that there are opportunities in India for global investors, opportunity funds and investment banks. They have invested over $20 billion around the world in distressed assets and India is an emerging market. 

To round off this series of connected news, let us note the novel suggestion made by Mr Justice Rajendra Babu of the Supreme Court. Addressing a joint conference organised by FICCI and the Bar Association of India on ‘Reinventing the Indian Legal System for achieving double-digit growth’, he proposed that India set up special courts for handling business cases. By hiving off cases relating to company law, bankruptcies, corporate taxation and disputes to these courts, he suggested business transactions will become fairer and fast. These courts will also relieve the pressure on mainstream courts that deal with civil and criminal cases.

Taken together, these developments hold much promise for the economy.