Robber Barons Redux, from the FT

"India and Russia are accustomed to being bracketed together as two of the world’s most promising high growth markets. But is there more to it than just being adjacent initials in the fabled Brics acronym? Foreign investors are not alone in worrying this might be the case," writes the Financial Times in an article that makes an interesting addendum to my recent piece on India's new Robber Barons.

Among other good tidbits, the article quotes Tony Jesudasan, an aide to Anil Ambani, head of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group and Reliance Telecom, as saying that “judicial activists” in India are gripped with the notion that Asia’s third-largest economy is following Russia’s example in creating a generation of oligarchs. But it goes on to quote some prominent "activists" like conservative icon Brahma Chellaney and media tycoon Arun Poorie (of the India Today group).

Meanwhile, the bean counters are worried, too, the article says: “We met with about 50 investors in Singapore and Hong Kong last week,” the authors quote Rohini Malkani, economist at Citigroup in Mumbai, as saying. “About 70 per cent remain bearish on India, with investments, inflation, and politics topping the list of worries.”