Top 66 Sucheta Dalal Quotes

It is an open secret that customs officers pay millions in bribes to secure the lucrative posting in the airport, cargo terminals or ports.

Technology is changing so fast that investment in hardware is getting riskier everyday. On the other hand, whether it is traditional computers or smart gadgets which are part of the convergence technologies of the future, some planning of hardware needs is still important.

Mumbai is on a seismically sensitive zone; it is also dangerously exposed to the sea.

People have so little faith in their elected representatives that they expect the media to push government into action. Yet, for all the hysteria that we hacks may whip up, it has little long-term impact.

Although television and newspapers have played the biggest role in hyping up the World Cup, they are at the lowest end of the megabuck chain.

Bloomberg does not cater to the Indian audience. It does display Indian stock indices, and during trading hours has a ticker tape of Indian stocks running across the bottom, but then so do most of the news channels.

Indian companies have begun to pay lip service to the concept of intellectual capital but a miniscule of them, that too non-family run businesses, understand what that means.

The savvy investor is one who does not believe every rumor on the street and learns to read between the lines of newspaper reports.

The e-wallet allowed anyone with a valid e-mail ID to send and receive money from just about anybody, or to settle bills through money stored online in safe systems. All it needed was registration on the e-purse providers website by filling out a simple form.

For some reason most Indians seem to think that it is the job of the media to fight corruption and their own role is restricted to sighing over their newspaper, or debates on the local train as they commute to work.

I do know that lifting from the Net is rampant, journalists do it, students are bound to do it and obviously a lot of academics are also doing it.

India has no shortage of deserving causes or good leaders; there is only short supply of activists and people who are willing to support their causes.

Nobody expects the tax collector to be a friend, but one does expect the government to apply its mind to making payments and refunds fair and user friendly especially for those who are actually paying tax.

By creating a minority quota in lending the government is clearly playing politics and wants to fatten its vote banks, whether or not it makes commercial sense.

As a parent, would you not endorse a decision by your child’s school, which encourages her to read a newspaper everyday? In fact, you would be even more approving if the prescribed newspaper was a leading national daily.

Everybody loves to receive gifts and free goodies, and often parents are loath to look out for hidden strings attached to corporate freebies.

While readers know that advertisements keep the product cost low, they still buy a newspaper for its editorial content and not for its advertisements.

I am not knocking the Net as a research tool. It is the best, and obviously, life has never been better for students.

I have missed meetings because a Speed Post from a government office reached after the meeting. But these are rare blips in a large network.

India is a little different from the developed world because discipline of any kind is alien to us. Along with the right to spit in public, we will resist all attempts to discipline our driving. As pedestrians, we will cross any road at will, and as cops, we will view traffic offences as business opportunities.

Even in downtown office areas, people would probably beg for a shuttle bus service to ferry them swiftly to the railway stations and bus stations, instead of forcing them to travel squashed up in shared-taxis.

The fact that technology makes it so easy to misuse personal information and encroach on a persons privacy has triggered a debate over whether Indias privacy laws are adequate to protect people.

Indias rapid economic growth has mainly been due to the dismantling of government controls. An attempt to reintroduce monopolistic pricing must be strongly opposed.

Security concerns are especially high with regard to the e-filing of Income Tax returns that is rapidly being extended from commercial entities to individuals. Leading IT security experts and tax consultants are unhappy at the lack of security in e-filing of Income Tax returns.

We are living in a globalised world and most of us are worried stiff about powerful interest groups steadily pushing India towards obscurantist and fundamentalist beliefs and regressive economic policies.

If India is notorious for never punishing scamsters and letting politicians get away with loot, rape, murder and worse, it is because they are part of a cozy conspiracy of silence. There are innumerable instances of how politicians as a class let each other off the hook after kicking up some dust in parliament.

India needs fresh thinking and quick decision-making to get out of the stifling bind of its galloping population and deadly poverty.

At the end of the day, you have to admit that it’s just not cricket anymore; it is a multi-billion-dollar entertainment industry, that has to be viewed in a correct and sober perspective.

Senior politicians and police officers as well as their children get away with murder and run extortion rackets. It is all accepted with some anger and a shrug.

Globally, the toll-free numbers advertised by companies promise more than they deliver. And even websites are at pains to ensure that customers cannot get through to individuals, so there are no names, phone numbers or direct e-mail IDs to people in charge.

We do not have to sit back and suffer the consequences of corrupt government deals and inefficiency, but unless a large number of people are convinced of this, nothing will change.

Secured debentures of the non-convertible variety were the rage in the mid-1980s, but their glamour ended on their maturity when it became obvious that there was nothing secured about them.

Apart from World Cup merchandising, television companies and game-specific advertising, you see restaurants and bars working overtime to drag people into their eateries with the lure of large projection screens and special World Cup menus.

Sachin Tendulkar is undoubtedly India’s biggest national icon. Being the object of a billion people’s adoration is a tough job.

Industrialists have begun to realise that they would probably be better at influencing policy themselves, rather than depend on some political stooge or corrupt bureaucrat.

If you are a small investor, do take the basic precaution of going to a registered broker/sub-broker and getting receipts for your transactions. Or simply shrug you losses away as you would if you lost your shirt at a casino.

Driving to work is a nightmare in most Indian cities; people do it because they have little choice.

In an ideal world, judges are not supposed to read or be influenced by media reports. But it is difficult to ignore television news which does not distinguish between reportage and comment.

Sure, investors do tend to overreact, but they are investing real money based on doubtful information. Complacency or a wrong move sees their money literally vanish into thin air.

It is worth asking if advertisements are ever an effective counter against negative publicity. International experience shows that it depends on the issue.

Journalism itself is by no means pristine clean; it has as many corrupt elements as other sections of society.

Some argue that even physical databases were open to abuse and fake passports or driving licenses were fairly common. But technology, coupled with poor security systems, can ruin innocent victims lives by wiping out their bank balances or investments, or by misusing their identity for dubious deals.

Motherhood, pester power and emotional blackmail – Indian marketers have cottoned on to the fact that these three themes can sell just about anything – from food and toys, to insurance products, tonics, televisions and air-conditioners.

Few Indians realise that the shift towards a market economy requires us to be alert and to fight for our rights and very few of us are willing to spare the time or money for such battles.

India has a high level of corruption, a lethargic bureaucracy and is low on accountability. Investigations are long drawn and often aimless; those in power are rarely sacked for incompetence unless the media sets up a serious clamour for justice.

The sales tax, excise and property registration departments are all more eager to collect cash in their drawers than to collect for the government’s coffers.

Even in private e-mail groups, it is journalists who seem outraged, anguished and disheartened at what has been described as the ‘prostitution’ of news; the reader response is always lukewarm.

The Bombay-Pune Expressway, a spanking, modern, six-lane highway will, when completed, be India’s first truly international road constructed on the lines of the autobahn or the turnpike.

Advertisers with their bag of goodies and promotions have entered classrooms and begun to put up billboards and posters inside schools. They persuade cash-starved schools into opening their doors to them by paying for access to classrooms and space for their advertising material and promotions.