Retail sales of cars are back to January 2018 levels in August 2021. Two-wheeler retail sales are 22 per cent lower, nearly four years down the line.
'In times of recovery, we may see a rural-urban divide with the urban pockets affected more by COVID-19, but the MFI business model should encourage banks to handhold them in this hour of crisis,' notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Aadhaar architect Nandan Nilekani on Friday India is well-placed on the government and businesses fronts to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) in unique ways to solve challenges and tap into opportunities. Nilekani noted that over the last few years, the government has focussed on how to make transactions more efficient and effective, which has driven digitisation across the board. He added that as a byproduct of this, huge data now across systems has been generated and that the time is right to apply AI across the board to India's most challenging issues across areas like healthcare and education.
Since its launch in September, Ayushman Bharat has issued 20 million cards and has set an ambitious target to hit another 30 million within the next three months.
With car penetration of around 22 per 1,000 population, India continues to be a big opportunity to sell cars, especially in rural areas.
Promotional activity had seen some reversal in October, but it back in a big way across categories, especially in shampoos, soaps, skin care and detergents.
'They suck talent and dump elsewhere,' says ZohO founder Sridhar Vembu.
Unlike the first two stimulus packages, this time the focus would be on boosting demand.
A bunch of CEOs in their mid-30s and early 40s are trying to rectify the scenario where shady lending applications trap hapless borrowers with astronomically high interest rates and even bodily harm if the money was repaid. Anup Roy reports.
The Pune-based company sells the Platina and CT brands in the entry-level - 100-110cc - segment.
'The answer for a quicker boost to growth is simple -- run a much larger deficit, use the resulting public resources to ensure adequate price support for agriculture, subsidise wage costs of MSMEs and accelerate public sector construction-intensive activities,' advises Nitin Desai.
Housing sales mostly declined during the first and the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic but prices did not fall in most of the cities but rather increased in some cities, according to the Economic Survey 2021-22. The pre-Budget document also highlighted that the housing demand recovered after both the waves on the back of pent up demand, low interest rates on home loans and reduction in stamp duty by some states. The survey has analysed the National Housing Bank's data on change in housing transactions in Q1FY21 (first COVID-19 wave) and Q1FY22 (second COVID-19 wave) over the pre-pandemic levels of Q1FY20. It also looked into change in housing prices index during this period.
Satyajit Ray would have been a hundred years old on May 2. To mark the legendary film-maker's birth centenary, Rediff.com bring you a treasure trove of features from our archives.
But demand has shown signs of pick up in the last 10 days of April after the government allowed resumption of economic activity beyond the urban municipal limit.
'Rolling out the vaccine is not a major challenge in India.'
Maybe Modi could ask a patriarch of the stature of the late G D Birla to flesh out the details of a new company to manage government land privatisation.
The company expects Bournvita Crunchy to strengthen its presence in the cookie segment.
Non-banking finance companies face renewed asset quality and liquidity risks amid a second wave of COVID-19, Fitch Ratings said on Thursday. These challenges are likely to increase if recent restrictions to contain the pandemic are expanded or prolonged, leading to greater economic and operational disruption, it added. The rating agency further said that an increase in the rate of infections and broadening of social distancing restrictions pose downside risks to its 12.8 per cent growth projection for the current fiscal.
It doesn't make sense to view the womb through the prism of religion, community and tradition, warns Shyam G Menon.
As the Centre pushes reforms in the power sector, especially for the beleaguered electricity distribution segment, several states, especially those ruled by Opposition parties, are clamouring against it. Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Kerela have voiced their reservations against the proposed amendments to the Electricity Act, 2003. The irony is the states opposing the amendments on the ground of threat of privatisation already have private partnerships in power supply. The proposed Bill was slated to be placed on the floor of Parliament in the Monsoon session. But it still awaits Cabinet approval amid several states complaining that they have been not consulted on the issue.
Telecom industry body COAI has approached the information technology ministry for removal of fake and misleading messages from social media platforms like Facebook, Whatsapp and Twitter linking spread of COVID-19 to 5G technology. The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), whose members include Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, said the claims linking 5G with coronavirus are baseless as 5G networks have not yet been installed in the country and even 5G trials are yet to be started by the telecom operators. In a letter dated May 15 to MeitY additional secretary Rajendra Kumar, COAI director general S P Kochhar said: "To safeguard the national interest, we request your good office to kindly instruct all the social media platforms such as Facebook, Watsapp, Twitter, etc, to remove all such posts and misleading campaigns from their platforms on an urgent basis." People have been sharing audio and video messages on social media platforms in which 5G towers are being blamed for rise in casualties across the country even though none of the companies have installed 5G technology anywhere in India.
From Jammu and Kashmir to Andhra Pradesh, consumers are facing power cuts ranging from 2 hours to 8 hours.
Accelerating quantity and quality of entrepreneurship towards benchmarks from high-performing countries and Indian states can create over 30 million women-owned enterprises, of which 12 million can generate employment, a joint report by Bain & Company and Google said.
The first half of 2019-20 will be under pressure, since prices are expected to go up by Rs 7,000-8,000 at a time when sentiment is poor.
'Health will continue to be at the centre of the government's attention as it underpins economic recovery and our collective well being.'
'Initially, Gift City was just another real estate project, but all that changed with Modi moving to New Delhi,' notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The founding members of The E-Commerce Council of India include Snapdeal, ShopClues, UrbanClap, Shop101, Flyrobe and Fynd, among others.
Isn't it time to review the 'fit and proper' criteria for banking licence, particularly with reference to individuals applying for it, asks Tamal Bandyopadhyay?
The first consortium includes Afcons Infrastructure, IRCON International and JMC Projects, while the second group of companies include NCC, Tata Projects and J. Kumar Infra Projects.
Upon completion, the factory will create almost 10,000 jobs and will initially have an annual capacity of 2 million units.
'It could tempt investors to pick stocks that are not fundamentally sound.'
Car deliveries during the nine-day period saw sharp year-on-year (double-digit increase for most automobile companies.
In addition to new launches and restructuring across product segments, festival demand also aided growth.
In mid-2020, when Kushal Pal Singh, the undisputed king of India's vast real estate market, relinquished the top post at the country's largest realtor, he left behind an empire that is best compared to the Greek myth of the Phoenix. Once the leader of Delhi's organised real estate market, DLF's steep decline in the 1970s and its majestic rise since has often been cited as a business resurrection story. Now, a year after his departure from the helm of affairs, history seems to be repeating itself at the real estate major. In the 1970s, it was the government prohibitions that had forced DLF to venture into uncharted territory; some five decades later, the Delhi-headquartered firm has set its eyes on another growth trajectory that holds immense potential.
Since the Covid pandemic, bicycle sales have surged, orders are pouring in, and stores are already feeling a shortage. 'I have not seen this kind of excitement around bicycles and you are talking to a 57-year-old man,' said Pankaj M Munjal, chairman and managing director, Hero Motors Company (HMC), the largest Indian bicycle producer;
'It says, we are not just an overseas player -- we are Kia India and here for good'
In this era of online commerce and virtual shopping, Raymond Ltd, one of India's oldest textile manufacturers and retailers, has tailor-made an offline strategy to maintain a strong foothold in the tier III and IV towns. Samreen Ahmad reports.
According to BCM, Hyderabad-headquartered BE has licensed the recombinant protein Covid-19 vaccine candidate developed at Baylor.
Categories such as washing machines, refrigerators and television sets have seen sales growth of around 8-10 per cent in August compared to last year, industry sources said, with September also reporting a similar growth trajectory.
