My economics background has always made me keenly interested in knowing about Indian economy with all recent developments taking place on every front. One magazine that has always helped me in this regard is the Outlook Business Magazine. It offers an ocean of information in the sense that it covers every corner of one of the largest economies in the world. Its major sections are Economy & Policy, Industry, Interviews, Columns, Life and Reports & Surveys.

I have always liked the way it covers the Economy & Policy section. This section provides me with an insight into a string of recent happenings in the Indian economy along with its major counterparts with whom it shares a strong cause and effect relationship. Most of the cover stories of the magazine are related to this section. For example, in its recent edition ( July 27 to Aug 9), the cover story “Niche Companies’ has  a comprehensive story about how big companies are also looking forward to serve to a niche segment not for the sake of volume, but for the sake of image and continued brand sustenance. In fact, I took the help of this cover story to complete my assignment on ‘New Marketing Strategies’ for my MBA course.

The other topics usually covered under Economy & Policy  have been really helpful in knowing about our economy better are capital convertibility, ongoing stock market meltdown, the subsidy regime in China, commodity futures, India and China coming together to reshape the economic world, FDI, Demographics, Crude prices, Fertilizers and a plethora of other such enlightening articles

If ever I wanted to read more intensively about a specific industry, the Industry section of this magazine has always provided me a good read. For instance, in this section, a detailed coverage on topics like Bajaj Auto’s decision to shut down its oldest plant, a US professor finding a method to make plastic from plant oils that can be later converted into fuel, booming Indian car rental market, CEO salaries and many more were very well written and they took me into the world of industrial policies. The best thing has been that all these were presented with timely, accurate and most recent data not likely to be found in many business related magazine.

Now, the most interesting section of the magazine that I wait for is its interview section. This is because this section has always helped me to know the intricacies of the business world right from the horse’s mouth. It covers some recent interviews of the top people who matter a lot in the Indian Industries and Economy like Pawan Goenka, President, Mahindra & Mahindra, Shubhashis Gangopadhyay, Adviser to our Finance Minister, Kishore Biyani, Chief, Future Group, Shinzo Nakanishi, MD, Maruti and so on. In particular, the interview of Pawan Goenka was worth reading. His vision for making SUVs and other bigger cars more fuel efficient in the near future when the whole world is likely to experience hovering oil prices was something that I really liked to read.

I like this magazine not only for its comprehensive coverage on economy, but also for some interesting stories related to somebody’s life and also people’s opinions about some current affairs taking place under the section ‘Life’. I have always found something unique to read under this section in every new edition.

Another unique quality of the Outlook Business Magazine which I like the most is the large number of featured articles and regular columns in each issue. In fact, it has a separate column section featuring a varied list of write-ups covering accountancy & taxation, advertising, automobiles, aviation, banking & finance and what not. You just have to think of a topic and you will have something relevant to read in the column section. So, my decision to subscribe to it on a weekly basis is nothing, but an intelligent decision.