We asked colleagues, present and past, to reflect on a man who has made such a difference to their lives and careers. Here it is then, a rich collection of memories that offer enchanting glimpses of the enigmatic Ajit Balakrishnan.
Anil Agarwal-owned Vedanta Resources (VRL), which has hired Standard Chartered Bank to raise funds for its Konkola copper mine assets, says it is engaging with several potential partners for both short-term funds and long-term equity financing for the Zambian project. A Vedanta official said its commitment to optimising capital allocation and driving expansion is a key cornerstone of its strategy for the mines. It will enhance value creation and operationalise the Konkola Copper Mines (KCM).
'I think some of us, like Mukesh Ambani, myself and those of us who head industrial units, ought to really focus on what we can really do to make the world a safer place, maybe 50 or 100 years from now.' 'For instance, how can we deal with climate change and global warming, right now?' 'The effects of it may not be felt now; in fact, we may pay a price for it today, but it will help the generations to follow.'
'The Budget needs to focus more on social welfare schemes.'
Moody's Ratings on Tuesday said India's growing water shortage can disrupt farm and industry sectors and is detrimental to the credit health of the sovereign as rising food inflation and decline in income may spark social unrest. It said decreases in water supply can disrupt agricultural production and industrial operations, resulting in inflation in food prices and hence can be detrimental to credit health of sectors that heavily consume water, such as coal power generators and steel-makers.
'Israel is counting on the United States to enter the fray on their behalf and perform destructive strikes against these targets that are beyond Israel's conventional capabilities.' 'They may well get their way if they start a war, because the United States is still committed to Israel's security, and it won't matter whether it is Trump or Harris in the White House.'
The Congress on Friday claimed that a 'silent undercurrent' is brewing across western Uttar Pradesh against the 'failures' of the Modi government, as it flagged issues such as 'neglect' of sugarcane farmers and examination paper leaks.
'The long-term impact of elections is minimal.'
rediffGURU Chocko Valliappa offers advice on how to upskill yourself to advance in your career.
As many as 86 per cent of senior business executives have deployed artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance revenue streams or create new ones, said a report by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Wednesday. As many as 69 per cent of businesses are more focused on using AI for innovation and increasing revenue than on improving productivity and optimising cost, said the 'TCS AI for Business Study'.
Bank of New York Mellon Corp has pulled out of providing financial services to the Adani group and its Carmichael coal mine in Australia, saying the venture is incompatible with its environmental, social and governance rules.
The external environment has worsened further. While the Finnish economy entered into a recession, Swedish economic growth also dipped. The Finnish gross domestic product (GDP) dropped 0.6 per cent in October-December, 2022. It was the second quarter of negative growth, which is a technical definition of recession.
Accenture, one of the leaders in global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, on Wednesday launched a training academy, in collaboration with Xavier Labour Relations Institute, Jamshedpur.
'To those who have just finished engineering or MCA or BSc, BBA, I will say they should take up whatever internship opportunities they are getting.' 'They should look for opportunities to learn the latest tools.' 'They should think innovative and try to solve problems. Only when you sharpen your skills, you will remain relevant.'
With the last quarter of 2023-24 (FY24) expected to have been soft owing to lower discretionary spend and macro uncertainty, many are hoping FY25 will be a year of recovery for the information-technology (IT) industry. The fourth quarter, January-March, is considered soft, and will continue to see the headwinds the sector has been facing. And the sector has entered the new financial year on a weak footing. Analysts are expecting Tier-I firms to report sequential growth of -1 per cent to 1.5 per cent and midcap players' growth may range between 0.7 per cent and 4 per cent.
'aris can be boiling hot in July. The choice of viscose over cotton was deliberate. Cotton would have crushed badly. We used viscose because it is a wood pulp fibre and lets you breathe. It is cooler than silk. We had to consider breathability because the athletes would be on a barge, in the heat, for up to five hours.'
Earnings growth trajectory for India's capital goods firms is likely to stay buoyant for the December 2023-ended quarter (Q3 FY24), said analysts. Guidance on margins, ordering activity in an election year and export-related demand would be key monitorables. Brokerages - Motilal Oswal, Nuvama, Kotak Institutional Equities and Prabhudas Lilladher - estimated revenue growth for their capital goods universe to be 11-16 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y).
The new government that presents the full Budget for 2024-2025 in July should be ready to restructure the way divestment is managed and implemented, proposes A K Bhattacharya.
You don't prep for 2028 but for 2040, or even 2044. Sustained sporting excellence is based on mass support, grassroots development, and funding - and it is this trifecta India needs to work on, systematically, asserts Prem Panicker.
India is expected to overtake the US as the largest developer community on GitHub by 2027, Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said during his address to 1,100 developers and technology leaders at the Microsoft AI Tour in Bengaluru on Thursday. India is the fastest-growing market on GitHub, a Microsoft-owned software development platform, with 13.2 million developers using it.
The climate for 'doing business' remains forbidding, taxtortion is still rife, corruption at state and district levels has increased, oil prices remain extortive with high taxation, and the continued red tape has kept the enterprise system as stifled as before, points out Debashis Basu.
Only NIIF has stayed the course as a viable infrastructure financing institution.
Sanjiv Puri, chairman and managing director of ITC, is looking to expand the conglomerate's play outside India by taking "strategic positions" in markets close to home in the non-cigarette fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and hospitality businesses. In a recent conversation with Business Standard, Puri revealed that ITC is setting sights beyond India's borders. "We already export to 100-odd countries. We want to scale that up and take some strategic positions in markets close to us," he said.
'There will always be hiccups given that the Namami Gange programme is spread over different sectors and involves several agencies.'
The finance ministry also said the maximum funding will be Rs 400 crore for any single project that will be seeking assistance from the 'special window' for completion of the 1,508 projects comprising about 4.58 lakh units.
When Vineet Mittal first got into solar power, sometime around 2009, and was planting solar panels in Gujarat, renewable energy looked like a sector ripe for startups. Renewables were clearly the future of energy, and the big boys - Mukesh Ambani's Reliance, Adani Group, and the Tatas - were focusing much more on coal and petroleum. Little did Mittal know that things were going to change drastically.
Here are the key highlights of the BJP's 'Sankalp Patra' for the 2024 parliamentary polls.
Mod'art, sister school of Mod'art in Paris, has opened in Mumbai, offering two courses.
The push given to rooftop solar installation in the Interim Budget ties in with its high rate of adoption in Tier-II and -III cities of India. If original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the automobile industry, government, and the solar sector are to be believed, in cities of Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Kerala, 45-50 per cent of electric-vehicle (EV) users are employing rooftop power to charge their vehicles. This is compared to the national average of 25 per cent, say industry sources.
The lack of clarity on who is next in line, when the time comes, as indeed it will one day some day, reflects poorly on the management of the world's largest political party. It scarcely need be said that a squabble between the contenders, Shah and Yogi, is exactly what the doctor ordered for the Opposition, notes Krishna Prasad.
Delhi's 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) stood at 248 on Saturday.
For the startup ecosystem in India, the scorecard so far has been a mixed bag, observes Akhil Gupta.
The Prime Minister directed that a special cell be created immediately in the Cabinet Secretariat.
'Suddenly the audience pool feels bigger, like everyone is watching everything now.' 'It's no longer limited in terms of boundaries, like a state or a language.' 'Whether it's a series, a movie or even a Korean film, the audience has access to all of it.' 'Slowly, the boundaries are blurring, so that's great for actors.'
Jannayak Janta Party chief Ajay Singh Chautala on Wednesday said his party worked with full honesty to fulfil the 'gathbandhan dharma' over the last four and half years of the alliance and his party was never power hungry.
'I found it unbelievable that L&T said 45,000 jobs were waiting to be filled because of unavailability of suitable skillsets.' 'So, when the Opposition sweepingly says there are no jobs, I'm sorry... I'm not saying it's raining jobs, but there are jobs. The (skill) gap has to be bridged.'
'The problems that the film explores still remain. It was a different time when we made the film. We were young and we thought we could change the world.'
'From our survey we found that there was a problem in the agricultural sector and drones could solve the problem.'
The government paid Rs 164.5 crore to Infosys to build the new income tax e-filing portal between January 2019 and June 2021, Parliament was informed on Monday. "The contract for Integrated e-filing & Centralized Processing Centre (CPC 2.0) Project was awarded through an open tender published on Central Public Procurement Portal (CPPP) to Infosys Ltd, the Managed Service Provider on the lowest cost basis.
'The prime minister's comment on 'revdi culture' was welcome. But I am disappointed he did not follow up on that.' 'All political parties, including the BJP, have been guilty of this.' 'Now, Modi's guarantees, the Congress's 'nyay' path and both ruling and Opposition parties are vying with each other for freebies in my home state Andhra Pradesh.'
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