In a year of overwrought spectacles that slavishly sucked up to the audience, I found refuge in a bunch of 'mainstream' Indian films that espoused such old-fashioned values as dedication to craft, close observation and casual bravery, explains Sreehari Nair.
Most Indian fathers still want their children to study at the IITs and IIMs and draw a six-figure salary.
US hedge fund Tiger Global and Japanese investment giant SoftBank have trimmed their investments in Indian start-ups by over a third - from $3.8 billion in the second half of 2021 to a mere $1.08 billion in H1 2022, according to data from Venture Intelligence. While SoftBank's investments in India dropped from $1.9 billion in H2 2021 by more than a fifth to only $0.33 billion in H1 2022, that of Tiger Global fell from $1.92 to $0.74 billion in the same period. Private equity (PE) fund trackers point out that this year most of the deals that Tiger Global has invested in are in the early stage (up to series D), and only a few are in the series E and above.
According to data compiled by deal space research firm VCCEdge, private equity firms invested $7.97 billion in India during the 12 months ending December 2010, compared to $4.06 billion during the previous year.
'We share everything with each other.'
Despite the $11.7 billion raised by Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) through stake sales, venture investments in 2020 have declined by a fifth to $28.9 billion till September, consultancy firm EY said in a report on Thursday. Since mid-March, coronavirus infections started getting reported in the country, which has now become the second highest globally in terms of numbers. The lockdowns severely dented economic activity, leading to a 23.9 per cent contraction in the gross domestic product (GDP) for the April-June period and expectations of a 9.5 per cent contraction by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for 2020-21.
'The deal pipeline across products is robust for 2024.'
Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad Yadav had thrown barbs at the prime minister over his having no family.
The State Bank of India (SBI) is setting up a Rs 500-crore (Rs 5 billion) private equity (PE) fund to cater to the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector.
A 30-year-old man, who had kidnapped a child and taken the ransom via UPI on his mobile wallet, has been arrested by the Noida police who used his digital footprints to trace him, officials said on Monday.
Of the total, 55-60 per cent investments are made by overseas PE firms, he said, added that "for the year ahead, leading PE firms such as ChrysCapital and Henderson Equity Partners have several deals in the pipeline".
His attack on the government came days after Indian Army personnel clashed with Chinese soldiers in the Tawang sector in Arunachal Pradesh.
While the country is gripped by Ram Mandir frenzy, Danish Husain -- without shouting from the rooftops -- silently staged his opinion with this play on one of India's best-known poets, observes Neeta Kolhatkar.
Private equity investments in Indian companies grew 38 per cent to $62.2 billion last year, with inflows into Reliance Industries' telecom and retail ventures contributing nearly 40 per cent of the total value of the deals, a report said on Wednesday. Barring investments into Jio Platforms and Reliance Retail, the total deal value was down by 20 per cent over 2019 as the volume of large deals of more than $100 million dipped by a fourth, as per the report by Bain & Company and India Venture Capital Association. Overall investment activity remained muted from March to May last year due to COVID-led uncertainties and investor confidence recovered strongly in the second half to pre-COVID levels with late-stage and buyout deals witnessing increased traction, it said.
In January, Visa's chief executive officer, Al Kelly, said during an earnings call that "there's been a burst of the balloon in valuations in the fintech world". Noting that the trend of lower valuations "is a helpful characteristic of the current environment", he added: "We will look for capabilities and management teams that will bring more value to Visa than we can bring ourselves." Data from KPMG's Pulse of Fintech H2'22 shows that global fintech investment - via mergers and acquisitions (M&As), private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) firms - at $164.1 billion in 2022, was down 31 per cent over the year before. Indian fintechs held up better during this timeframe, attracting $6 billion, or a fall of 24 per cent.
'The world needs Gandhi now more than any other time in history.'
Emotions welled up inside Saurashish Lahiri when Akash Deep, the latest Bengal speed merchant to enter Indian dressing room, rang him up.
Private Equity and Venture Capital funding in India needs to increase three-fold to $30 billion annually from the current level to shore up funding for small but promising companies, said a KPMG-CII report.
'The people of Kota will show Om Birla his place.'
Designer Swapnil Shinde shares his views on Bollywood, designing for Indian politicians and working with Madhuri Dixit Nene.
Chastened by the outrage caused by arrest of cartoonist Aseem Trivedi for "sedition", the Maharashtra government has now ordered an inquiry into how he came to be booked for the serious offense.
Education finance is a complex and dynamic sector. There are too many variables -- the course, the calibre of students, the universities, and the job prospects once the course is over, notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
'All the big production houses are making superhero films, so I thought I should make one too. So I have made a genuine superhero film,' Vivek Agnihotri says about his new film, The Vaccine War.
Investors may have to wait a little longer for Unified Payments Interface (UPI)-based block mechanism in the secondary market even as the market regulator has set the effective launch date as January 1, 2024. Several brokerage firms said they may take a few months more to implement it. Investors will be able to register for this facility only if the stock broker has opted for the UPI block facility.
According to a report by Ernst & Young, 45 PE-backed companies raised $17.2 billion in proceeds, highest quarterly total since the second quarter of 2007.
'She has lived through a lot,' close friend Asha Parekh revealed to Subhash K Jha.
The sharp correction in the Indian markets from their peak levels has made valuations attractive, say analysts, who advise buying selectively, but only from a long-term perspective. Fifty-six of the Nifty 100 stocks, according to Mahesh Nandurkar, managing director at Jefferies, now trade below the 10-year historical averages, including stocks in financial, select auto, and pharma sectors. "Valuation (one-year forward consensus price-to-earnings, PE) has declined 25 per cent from October 2021 peak, almost matching the 33 per cent price-earnings contraction during the 2011 tightening cycle when repo rates went up by 375 basis points (bps) versus 250 bps this cycle.
They will not be followed by analysts and no fund manager can buy such small companies with low trading liquidity.
Large companies, those that are talked about in the media and tracked on social media, have already been discovered. They won't lead to extraordinary gains, Debashish Basu points out.
The Indian markets have seen a good run in the last three months with the S&P BSE Sensex rising around 7 per cent and the Nifty50 moving up 7.5 per cent. The next leg of the market rally from here on, analysts suggest, will be driven by a growth in corporate earnings over the next few quarters. That said, they do not expect material / sharp downgrades to India Inc's earnings estimates despite headwinds for the economy.
Narendra Modi on Wednesday said he was committed to bring back black money stashed abroad and assured people that if BJP is voted to power, he would set up a task force, amend laws and distribute the money brought in as "gift" among honest tax-payers.
'Not sorry to any politician. Ever. No one. Any party. FIR kar lo (register an FIR). Case kar lo (register a case). Koi farak nahi padta (it doesn't make any difference) - I am not a pushover - won't be bullied. Don't make an issue where there is none. It might be an election year - but people are smart. Indori people - super smart. I'll come to Indore when I wish, as many times I wish - and am confident of Indori mehmaan nawazi (good hospitality)'
'Just the amount of work which is there just to become more and more successful in banking. For this to happen you need to have leaders who understand technology.'
Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani is sure to raise eyebrows with its over-the-top quality, but hey, this is the unabashed Bollywood we once fell in love with and who is better than Karan Johar to retrieve the genre, asserts Mayur Sanap.
One-time watch for all those wear their patriotism up their sleeve, don't bother about checking the facts, and want to enjoy a dramatic mix of fact and fiction, notes Prasanna D Zore.
Sukanya Verma quizzes you to find out just how much you know about the movies.
At least 14 of the top 20 venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) funds in India reduced new deals with start-ups by a fifth in 2022. The number fell from 572 in 2021 to 456 this year, according to data from Venture Intelligence. Sequoia Capital, a leader in investments, retained its top slot but its number of deals fell from 110 in 2021 to 70 this year.
As India successfully lands Chandrayaan-3, does the moon look as beautiful as one's beloved or has the Chanda Mama of folk ditties acquired a whole new meaning?
PEs and VCs are taking a closer look at their bouquet of investments. Leading voices in the sector are categorical that cash-burn rates -- that's blowing up equity to acquire market share -- as a business model can't continue to be the polestar.
The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed three bills to replace the colonial-era criminal laws by voice vote.
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