                            (1 US dollar = 60.7650 Indian rupee)
<![CDATA[BRICS Bank: worthless at best, a disaster at worst]]> 
First, the 'good' news. Normally, I am not particularly
impressed by symbolic gestures such as where a bank's
headquarters are located. Still, given that it feels like the
central point of the BRICS bank is to be a symbolic gesture
about the inequities of the current global economic order, one
shouldn't ignore the symbolism altogether. India has conceded
that Shanghai will be where the bank is located, although most
reports say that it was an open question at the beginning of the
summit.  It is a pity the government gave in on this. (It did so
while blaming its predecessor, a pretty shameful evasion of the
truth.) Still, the government did at least manage to ensure that
the first president of the bank will be Indian. Had this been a
permanent concession - the way the head of the World Bank is
always American - it might have been able to balance the problem
of location. But it isn't