Cover Story
- Last year, the government provided budgetary and extra budgetary support of Rs 92,000 crore to its companies and only got back Rs 56,000 crore as dividends. Here's why it shouldn't keep throwing more money into this bottomless pit.
The Harvester's Ordeal
Food prices might be going up, but the Indian farmer hardly gets to reap the benefits of the rising prices of his produce. A few years ago, the Reserve Bank of India and State Bank of India were locked in a verbal duel. While India's largest bank was demanding a concession for the industry by way of a reduced cash-reserve ratio the regulator was not in a mood to oblige. Though many companies are defaulting on PF deposits, the problem is far from alarming. Well, recent reports and a look at the annual report of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation suggest that your provident fund money may not be as safe as you thought. While modern trade (branded retail chains) has been doing better than general trade (the local kirana stores) in urban markets for a while, it was the lacklustre performance of rural markets that hit most FMCGs. The determinants of inflation are complex, and change quite quickly Bonus issues by India Inc. in 2015/16 have touched a five-year high, but still lag in absolute terms. The danger of rising retail inflation slowing down the interest-rate-easing cycle is real. The telecom sector's woes stem from the central government's faulty policymaking. The evolving institutional framework for financial markets isprompting RBI to shed discretionary powers.
Light Wave
In just over two years, a state-owned company has ushered in an LED revolution. It has brought down prices, disrupted the marketand made the industry nervous. Whats next? E-Commerce companies begin hunt for alternative revenue models as pressure to deliver on unit economics mounts.
GST: Is India Inc Ready?
This survey by Business Today and BMR Advisors seeks to assess industry's preparedness as well as perception towards GST by capturing responses of top business and tax leaders through a web-based questionnaire. Car makers are happy. But jittery too - they fear potential buyers will delay purchases in expectation of price cuts when the GST comes into force next year. This could impact sales in the short term. A recent report by ratings agency ICRA Ltd says banks' share in consumer credit shrunk from 66 per cent to 55 per cent in the past six years. NBFCs increased their share from 14 per cent to 19 per cent during the same period. The fisheries industry in India is one of the largest employers with 14 million people dependent on it. But only less than 1 per cent of the market is organised. The book showcases why China is the next big story of the 21st century, especially in the area of innovation. The book is an account of the monumental changes liberalisation brought on India's culture, lifestyle and economy.It's a bird. It's a plane. It's Super Bheem!
India's favourite home-grown toon character, Chhota Bheem, is evolving, gaining new powers and getting a new storyline. Can the mighty kid woo more viewers in a competitive market? India needs to adopt clean technologies to arrest environmental degradation and become a trailblazer for the rest of the world. Leaders in solar technologies are some of the South-East Asian nations with China in the forefront, and the US. India trails way behind, adopting only those technologies it can afford after other countries have perfected them. The development of storage technology will help India combat pollution."India is very talented, but needs technology"
Bilateral ties between India and Japan have seen consistent improvement in the past decade. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe built on this momentum through a "Special Strategic and Global Partnership" in 2014."Our priority is access as a company"
Namal Nawana, CEO of US-based diagnostic firm, the $2.6-billion (2014 revenues) Alere, talks to Joe C. Mathew about the role of technology in making medical products affordable.Has Your Organisation Lost Its Adaptive Intelligence?
Here are five ways you can get it back. If a studio owns a movie it bears all profit or loss. But studios in India acquire a film from a production house at a marked-up price and merely promote, market and distribute it instead of focusing on creating content.We Are Laying the Foundation for Mines of Tomorrow
Samsung combines the best parts from Galaxy S7 Edge and adds a lot more to create a fantastic device. Goqii 2.0 comes with an improved hardware, app and expanded ecosystem. The 3.5-mm audio jack will be history with new-age smartphones, as USB Type C connectors take over.Government Needs to Create a Framework and Step Aside
Harnessing the power of content to enhance customer experiences. Rs 8,000 crore is the estimated net loss for state power distribution companies for 2016/17, says an India Ratings and Research report. Cumulative losses for discoms as of 2014/15 stood at Rs 58,275 crore.
Energy as a Start-up Opportunity
India is energy-starved. We consume more energy than the grid can supply. A lot of the energy we use depends on expensive oil imports. And because we - consumers and businesses - don't get all the energy we need from the grid, we generate some of it. Technological improvements are set to transform the wind energy scenario in India.
Not a Pretty Picture
Representatives of telecom companies wanted the government to delay the sale of the 700 MHz band, the focal point of the auction. They argued that their companies were financially strained and would find it difficult to pay for this expensive band.
