Uttam Ghosh offers his take on the upheavals in the sub-continent this past week.
The All India Insurance Employees' Association has opposed the government directive seeking to open up top posts in the state-owned insurers to the private sector, saying this would lead to greater private influence and "eventual privatisation".
New business premiums of life insurance companies dropped 5.2 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in August to Rs 30,959 crore, owing to a double-digit decline reported by state-owned Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), data from the Life Insurance Council showed. LIC recorded a 17 per cent YoY fall in new business premiums to Rs 16,023 crore during the month, while private life insurers reported a 12 per cent YoY increase to Rs 14,936 crore.
Balanced advantage funds (BAFs), which adjust between stocks and bonds depending on market conditions, have increased their equity holdings over the past year, with most schemes now predominantly invested in equities.
India's mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity cooled in the second quarter of 2025-26 (Q2FY26), with deal value falling to $26.26 billion from $29.04 billion a year ago, according to Bloomberg data.
Uttam Ghosh's take on the Congress presidential election.
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on Bihar's latest political drama.
The average cost of an organisation for a data breach has risen 13 per cent to Rs 22 crore in 2025 from Rs 19.5 crore in the year-ago period, according to a report released on Thursday. However, despite the surge in costs, the security in artificial intelligence is still lacking, the report by global tech major IBM said.
Credit quality of Indian corporate is expected to be stable in the second half of the current financial year (H2FY26), supported by easing monetary cycle, and declining inflation, coupled with income-tax relief and rationalisation of the goods and service tax (GST) rates, among others.
'The informal sector can grow at a 100 per cent rate -- we have to plan big.'
As the quick commerce (qcom) race hots up, a new model - vertical qcom - is gaining investor attention. Unlike horizontal players such as Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart, which stock everything from groceries to gifts and gadgets, vertical platforms focus on depth over breadth.
Adani Group said on Friday it will invest around Rs 1 trillion in various sectors of Andhra Pradesh over the next ten years, deepening its commitment in the state where it will partner with Google for an artificial intelligence (AI) hub in Visakhapatnam.
The central government has proposed just two tax rates of 5 per cent and 18 per cent in the revamped Goods and Services Tax (GST), slated to replace the current indirect tax regime by Diwali this year, highly placed sources said.
'It's better to stay away from large IT stocks until there is clarity on tariffs.'
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on Russia's terrifying nuclear threats.
This marks a rebound after more than two years of underperformance during a strong rally in smallcap stocks.
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on how Uttar Pradesh voted
Almost a decade after India shifted to a formal inflation-targeting regime under the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) framework of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), a high-level panel of economists said that the flexible inflation targeting has largely worked in keeping it under control and no major revamp is required.
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on the plight of stranded Indian students in Ukraine.
Uttam Ghosh's take on the Big Ministerial Shuffle.
The unemployment rate for those aged 15 and above increased marginally to 5.2 per cent in September, according to a government survey released on Wednesday. The unemployment rate (UR) was 5.1 per cent in August, 5.2 per cent in July and 5.6 per cent in May and June, as per the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on Gautam Adani's hostile takeover attempt of Radhika and Prannoy Roy's NDTV.
The government has identified critical sectors, including electronics, chemicals, leather and footwear, and toys, where value chains can be strengthened to facilitate and drive foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country. Invest India, the investment promotion and facilitating agency under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), has been actively identifying key value chains to focus on.
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on BJP leader Nitin Gadkari's recent comment that 'Democracy runs on two wheels -- the ruling dispensation and the Opposition'.
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on the Aam Aadmi Party's victory in the Punjab election and Arvind Kejriwal's aspirations to go National.
Public sector banks (PSBs) have written off bad loans of about Rs 5.82 lakh crore in the last five financial years, Parliament was informed on Tuesday. During 2024-25, the loan write-off of PSBs was at Rs 91,260 crore, compared to Rs 1.15 lakh crore in the previous fiscal, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on the Enforcement Directorate being deployed to intimidate the ruling regime's political opponents.
Global funds' assets under custody (AUC) in India have been flat this year, with a Rs 2 trillion drop in information technology (IT) holdings offset by gains in financial stocks. AUC is the total market value of equities held by FPIs.
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on the current upheaval in the Shiv Sena.
Uttam Ghosh wonders whether Meta will be a kinder, gentler and non toxic version of Facebook and its progeny WhatsApp.
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on the brutal political violence in Mamata Banerjee's Bengal.
Labour markets showed positive momentum in August as the unemployment rate fell for the second consecutive month to a four-month low of 5.1 per cent from 5.2 per cent in July. It was on account of the start of the sowing season.
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on issues that raise the MEA's hackles.
A couple from Kerala, running a chit fund company in Bengaluru, has allegedly fled after cheating over 1,300 investors of more than Rs 50 crore. Police have launched a manhunt and are investigating the extent of the fraud.
Banks are receiving requests for cancellation of approved car loans, in view of the implementation of GST rate cut, which will lower the price of passenger vehicles and also lead to subsequent reduction in the amount needed to purchase them. It is to be noted that the 56th GST Council meeting earlier this month, approved substantial reduction in the GST rate for cars for up to 1,200 cc to 18 per cent from the existing 28 per cent.
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on Kapil Sibal's revelation that he quit the Congress, a party of which has been a member of for 30 years, last week.
The government has not made any amendments to the foreign direct investment (FDI) policy for countries sharing land border with India, sources said on Wednesday. In 2020, the government issued Press Note 3 under which investors from these land bordering countries have to mandatorily take prior approval of the government for making investments in any sector.
The Centre has proposed exempting life and health insurance policies for individuals from GST, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and convenor of insurance GoM Samrat Choudhary said on Wednesday. Currently, health and life insurance premium attracts 18 per cent GST.
Uttam Ghosh wishes all our readers a Healthy, Happy, Kind and Successful 2022.
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