THe highs & lows of Interest Rates

THE REDUCTION in the interest rate by the Government on public provident fund (PPF) and other small-savings instruments, such as National Savings Certificates and post-office monthly income accounts, by one percentage point has triggered an interesting debate on whether it signals a lower interest rate regime.

FACED WITH A worsening fiscal situation that is threatening to get out of control, the Finance Minister, Mr. Yashwant Sinha, recently warned of `hard options' and the Government having to `bite the bullet'.

IT HAD to happen some day, and already there are enough signs that electronic extortion is all set to become the scourge of the 21st century. No wonder. The very fact of exponential growth of some of the mightiest companies engaged in e-commerce and cont ent sites on the World Wide Web has put an idea or two in the minds of blackmailers prowling the Net looking to start protection money rackets in cyberland.

  THE day of the Union Budget is fast approaching, and the Finance Minister, Mr. Yashwant Sinha, will present his third successive edition on February 29. That, by itself, is a remarkable feat. Mr. Sinha, in presenting the first Budget of the new century, is under pressure to present a milestone version that would mark the beginning of a new economic epoch.