Cover Story
- Rajan had already made his presence felt at RBI and on the financial reforms front within those two years. He had made the monetary policy sharply focused on consumer price inflation (CPI). His successor will need to decide which ones to follow through.
Minimal Impact
Britain's exit from the European Union may prove to be good for India in more ways than one. For a country that had, so far, only responded to proposals made by other WTO members, the move to initiate a new agenda is a positive development. The aviation sector is abuzz with action. After clearing the national civil aviation policy, the government has relaxed foreign direct investment (FDI) norms, allowing 100 per cent FDI in scheduled domestic carriers. While Indian diplomats were busy picking up the pieces after a China-led consortium of member countries of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) managed to close the door on India at the Seoul plenary meet, another story was unfolding back home - the roll-out of Plan B. Production of cotton, spices, rubber and coffee has risen sharply since 1990/91. India is now fast emerging as a major exporter of these crops. The trend of largescale pledging of shares by fund-starved promoters seems to be slowing. Is the much-awaited deleveraging finally happening?
Doors Wide Open?
On June 20, around 3 pm, a tweet from the Twitter handle of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) made a big claim - India has become the most open economy in the world for foreign direct investment (FDI). Today, the research centre in Gurgaon remains the last remnant, in terms of a direct physical presence and arguably a positive highlight, of around $10-billion (986.4 billion yen) Japanese pharma major's misadventure in India. Emojis have been around since the late 1990s, but they became ubiquitous only in the past few years. Now brand strategists and marketers are beginning to use them in their communications as well. While local hoteliers are expanding on their own, too, the big trend is the sheer number of management contracts that they are entering into with the country's top hotel chains. Labour trouble continues to torment automobile companies in India, even as they work to get ahead in an attractive market. Corporates globally have employed 'Pay for Performance' (PFP) method of evaluation and compensation, but recently questions and doubts have been raised about this approach. In a massive clean-up effort, the stock market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), is mulling the delisting of companies that have remained suspended and not traded for seven or more years due to various penal reasons. Communicating the exact pick-up and drop location to users can be difficult too; often these can be in the middle of a road, next to a tree. Shuttl solved this problem through its location-based app. Increasingly, this is a scenario being played out across the country. In spite of the large number of financial institutions and banks present across the country, access to financial services has been a huge challenge for a majority of the population. As a tax enthusiast, PM Narendra Modi must be elated that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is almost done. It was stuck for ages because Tamil Nadu did not like it; none of Arun Jaitley's wiles or Amit Mitra's arguments made its finance minister budge. The package to promote the textile sector and bridge the export gap with competitors is a welcome step The book provides dollops of encouragement to professionals to turn any adversity into opportunity. The book is a window into the good old days of India's optical industry, peppered with anecdotes."We are seeing increasing use of our systems by Indian enterprises"
In an exclusive interview with Business Today's Joe C. Mathew, WIPO Director General Francis Gurry talks about the emerging areas in intellectual property. Soon, phone enhancements will be possible by attaching modules - camera, battery, speaker - externally. Fad or trend?"Our ways of dealing with distress have been very, very slow, murky and, to some extent, unfair"
Outgoing Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan spoke to Business Today Editor Prosenjit Datta and Deputy Editor Anand Adhikari on how he was positioning the central bank as a knowledge institution to manage the change in monetary policy framework, and banking and finance. Trade Frauds, Trade Elasticities and Non-tariff Measures on June 30, 2016 in Kuala Lumpur
Payment Blues
According to estimates by different agencies and experts, between Rs 1 lakh crore and Rs 3 lakh crore of private contractors' money is stuck with the government due to delays or disputes.
"Prohibition has not helped curb alcohol consumption"
Michael Norgaard Jensen, Managing Director, Carlsberg India, talks to Sumant Banerji about tackling uncertainties in the domestic liquor industry in India and its sustainability. The very phrase "monetary policy" sounds technical and sleep-inducing, but it is an extremely vital issue that impacts the lives of everyone, particularly the poor, because of its immediate effect on inflation and the very structure of society due to its longer term impact on resource allocation. $85 billion what the Indian government expects to fetch after the Union Cabinet approved the base price for the country's largest spectrum auction to date
PeopleBusiness
A private equity fund managed by Goldman Sachs is in advanced stages of negotiations to invest $200-250 million in Subhash Chandra's road infrastructure company Essel Highways, according to a report in a business news daily.
