With $120 billion worth of deals, 2018 was the best year on record. Many also blame frequent policy flip-flops and increasing tax scrutiny as big dampners for business.
To begin with, there would be the immediate integration of various technology stacks. This would create more business for global consulting and IT services entities such as KPMG, PwC, EY, Accenture and IBM, among others. Indian service providers - Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and Wipro, for instance - would also cash in.
Equities in India saw record FPI inflows of $16.8 billion in November and December, taking the benchmark indices to new highs.
Xi Jinping is winning the war without firing a shot in Sri Lanka, observes Colonel R Hariharan (retd).
The PwC survey found more than 50 per cent respondents reporting lack of adequate skill sets
From watches and sunglasses to trekking/fitness bicycles, online shoppers seem ready to loosen purse strings.
A significant 71 per cent of India's CEOs are very confident of their companies' growth in the next 12 months, a 7-point increase over last year's and 33 points above this year's global average (38 per cent).
Last year's Budget had created uncertainty about the quantum of tax to be withheld on dividends paid to non-residents, as the exact tax rate was not specified under section 195.
Individuals flew the flag for philanthropy in FY20, escalating their contribution significantly in comparison with company and foreign fund donations, according to the Dasra/Bain & Co India Philanthropy Report of 2021. Funding by individual philanthropists went up by 42 per cent from Rs 21,000 crore in FY19 to Rs 30,000 crore in FY20.
Mutual funds aspirants have the option of snapping up smaller AMCs or applying for a new licence.
Record equity divestment by the Reliance Group in its telecom and retail businesses garnering around $23 billion revved up the deal street in 2020, which otherwise would have gone down as one of the dullest on record, and dealmakers are seeing sunnier days in 2021 given the large scope for consolidation in a slew of sectors ravaged by the pandemic. With Jio Platforms alone garnering over $16 billion (Rs 1,18,318 crore) by selling 25.24 per cent stake and Reliance Retail notching up $6.4 billion (Rs 47,265 crore) by divesting around 9 per cent shareholding, the deal street signed off with $85 billion in the deal kitty across 1,270 transactions. This is higher by about 10 per cent over 2019. What is significant is that over a third of the total deal value came from Reliance transactions, say investment bankers.
The increase in infrastructure spends in the country is likely to be driven by sectors like housing, telecom, healthcare, education and transportation.
India conceding ground to bring only top 100 digital companies like Google, Facebook, and Netflix into the global taxation pact may have revenue implications. This will mean that New Delhi will have to withdraw the contentious 2 per cent equalisation levy on e-commerce operators by 2023. This may have revenue implications for India, experts pointed out, as the equalisation levy has a much lower annual revenue threshold of Rs 2 crore (euro 0.2 million) as against euro 20 billion agreed by 130 countries at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). India, along with other developing countries, was pitching for at least euro 1 billion threshold to cover at least 5,000 global entities. India collected Rs 2,057 crore from the equalisation levy in 2020-21, an 85 per cent growth over Rs 1,136 crore in the previous fiscal.
Companies such as Tata Sons and Bharti Telecom, which are unlisted but have listed subsidiaries, may soon have to file periodic financial statements with the registrar of companies under the new provision of the Companies Act. The provision requires greater financial disclosures by a certain category of unlisted companies.
The industry is expected to spend an additional $500- 1,000 million during the same period on logistics functions.
As per the Budget proposals, migration of a fund to a fund in IFSC will not be regarded as transfer if done on or before March 31, 2023. Transfer of units will be tax neutral. Grandfathered investments of the fund to continue to enjoy capital gains exemption on future sale by the IFSC fund. There is no impact on carry forward of losses for the investee company.
Last Saturday, USL board asked its Chairman Vijay Mallya to quit.
The bill to nullify retrospective taxation offers a fair solution within the framework of Indian law and Parliamentary sovereignty to companies which have been subjected to such demands, Finance Secretary T V Somanathan said on Thursday. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced 'The Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021' in the Lok Sabha that seeks to withdraw tax demands made using a 2012 retrospective legislation to tax the indirect transfer of Indian assets. The Bill provides for the withdrawal of tax demand made on "indirect transfer of Indian assets if the transaction was undertaken before May 28, 2012 (i.e. the day the retrospective tax legislation came into being)."
Recruiters are now in search of candidates with soft skills alongside tech-based knowledge, says Ambrish Sinha.
Billionaire and Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra along with top Silicon Valley investors Naval Ravikant and Balaji Srinivasan are backing space tech start-up Agnikul as part of a new funding round. Chennai-based Agnikul said, on Thursday, that it has raised $11 million in Series A funding round led by Mayfield India. It is the largest funding round for a private Indian space technology company in the country. Existing investors pi Ventures, Speciale Invest and Artha Venture Fund also invested in this round.
Accountancy regulator ICAI on Wednesday agreed to withdraw disciplinary proceedings against audit firm Price Waterhouse Delhi for its alleged involvement in the multi-crore scam in Satyam Computer Services.
Although the June collections were higher than that in July, however, it is important to note that during the previous month, a large number of taxpayers also paid taxes pertaining to February, March and April 2020 on account of the relief provided due to COVID-19.
The five-year (2015-16 to 2020-21, or FY21) compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of the overall auto industry is now negative at 2 per cent, against 5.7-per cent growth it saw in the previous five years (from 2010-11 to 2015-16).
Salman Khan's lawyer on raised a question in the Bombay high court as to why police had gone for a blood test when no witness or FIR had ever suggested that the actor was drunk or was smelling of liquor.
The year 2018 is likely to be steady in terms of institutional investment into real estate
The fourth additional sessions court in Hyderabad on Wednesday posted the orders on the bail petition of Price Waterhouse auditors to Thursday.
The Tata group may have to deploy upwards of $1 billion to improve the airline's passenger reservation system, upgrade and refurbish Air India's fleet, primarily the wide-body aircraft which are the mainstay for the airline's international operations, people in the know said. While the group has not yet decided on how it intends to integrate Air India with its existing airlines AirAsia India and Vistara, sources said the first task will be to refinance Air India's existing loans, upgrade its aircraft gradually, and rewrite multiple business contracts with vendors and suppliers. "They will have to do 100 things to stabilise the airline and will have to put in a lot of money," DIPAM secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said, confirming that many aircraft are grounded.
'Rationalising TDS on dividends for FPIs to reduce it to treaty rates ranging from 5 to 15 per cent, depending on the country of residence of FPIs from current rate of 20 per cent will provide a big cash flow relief for FPIs.'
The cricketing world is all set for another feast with the Indian Premier League.
Analysts expect firms to shift focus to online platforms to boost sales in these Covid-19-impacted times.
PriceWaterhouse (PW) has said that it resigned as statutory auditor of Satyam Computer Services with effect from February 12, 2009, while stating that it would co-operate with the ongoing investigations into the Rs 7,800-crore (Rs 78 billion) fraud at the IT major.
According to experts, work from home, volatility in stock markets worldwide, and redemption pressures compelled investors to defer new investment plans.
Led by the booming e-commerce sector, private equity investments in India surged over 17 per cent with deals worth $ 11.49 billion
FutureBrand, which is a global brand transformation company, said part of Reliance's success could be attributed to Mukesh Ambani's recasting of the firm as a one-stop-shop for Indians.
While auditors have come in for a lot of praise for their proactive stand against what they perceive to be dodgy practices followed by companies, there is still a long way to go, says Shyamal Majumdar.
India is likely to lose Rs 53,000 crore from its economy as companies are unable to hire people with right talent for the job and are incurring high recruitment costs, says a study.
The court also observed that working for Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh does not make a person communal and anti-social.