Who will win the ugly war within the Samajwadi Party's ruling family? Who will emerge victorious in the unlikely battle at Bombay House, the Tatas HQ?
Uttam Ghosh compares the two events -- the labour ministry's ignorance and a young intellectual's incarceration -- and is mystified as many Indians are by what occurred.
Corporate India is embarking on an ambitious investment drive, with capital expenditure (capex) expected to double to $850 billion over the next five years, according to a report by S&P Global Ratings. Indian power & transmission, airlines, and green hydrogen sectors would spearhead the spending, the report said.
'The (Maoist) organisation is in visible decline. Their senior leaders are ageing. Forest life is unforgiving -- older leaders simply cannot cope physically.' 'Earlier, they attracted educated youth from cities. That stream has dried up. Today's recruits largely come from poor village backgrounds and lack ideological depth.'
'Maintain a balanced approach with a preference for short-to medium-duration funds.'
"We currently manage collections for over 98 million retail and small-business loan accounts, covering a loan book of about $250 billion," says Rishabh Goel, cofounder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Credgenics, a software-as-a-service platform for debt collection. With more than 700 million smartphone users and over 450 million UPI users, digital access is everywhere.
'An asset must generate income. Equities yield dividends, bonds pay coupons, deposits give interest, and real estate earns rent.' 'Gold, silver, and even Bitcoin produce no income, they merely store value. So, they should not be compared to productive assets.'
US accounts for a large part of revenue for top Indian pharma companies like Gland Pharma (54 percent), Dr Reddy's (53 per cent), and Aurobindo Pharma (48 per cent).
The government on Tuesday announced a new centrally-sponsored scheme for skilling 20 lakh youth over the next five years. The announcement was made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Union Budget 2024-25. The minister said that model skilling loan scheme will be revised to facilitate loans up to Rs 7.5 lakh.
These super-rich Indians intend to reside in their chosen host country permanently while retaining their Indian citizenship.
The Bombay High Court has ruled that a spouse threatening or attempting to commit suicide amounts to 'cruelty' and is a valid ground for divorce. The court upheld a family court's decision to dissolve a marriage where the husband alleged his wife threatened to send him and his family to jail by committing suicide. The court found that the husband's claim of cruelty was supported by evidence, including the wife's attempt to end her life.
Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty rebounded sharply on Monday after five days of steep decline amid value buying at lower levels and a rally in global markets. Besides, hectic buying in blue-chip stocks ITC, HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries also helped in market recovery.
'Indian markets may underperform global peers for the next two quarters.' 'But beyond that, India should catch up and resume its long-term growth path.'
If pharmaceutical exports from India to the US come under a 25 per cent tariff bracket, the impact on earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) could be around 5 per cent, felt analysts. This is after assuming that about 75 per cent of the tariff would be passed on.
The overall number of frauds, including those related to loan accounts and digital payments, jumped by three times in FY25, primarily due to reclassification of 122 cases as per a Supreme Court order, the Reserve Bank said on Thursday. The fraud value jumped to Rs 36,014 crore in FY25, up from Rs 12,230 crore in the previous fiscal year, while the number of fraud cases went down to 23,953 in FY25 from 36,060 in FY24.
Uttam Ghosh joins the vociferous debate on the Indian Citizen's Right to Privacy with his unique perspective on the issue.
'What we see now is a much stronger need for data sovereignty.'
Chinese manufacturing prowess and its dominance in the strategic sector will have a bearing on India's growth projection in the medium term and its march to become a developed nation by 2047, the Economic Survey said on Friday. The Survey has said India needs to grow at 8 per cent for about two decades to become a developed nation by 2047, but it will have to face challenges from global developments and reliance on Chinese imports.
The Reserve Bank on Wednesday lowered the inflation projection for the current fiscal to 4 per cent from 4.2 per cent earlier, taking into account good agricultural output and falling crude prices.
'Market momentum and investor interest are at unprecedented levels, making this the opportune moment.'
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on the decisions of airlines banning stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra for his alleged heckling television journalist Arnab Goswami aboard a flight on Tuesday.
The domestic stock market this week would monitor the geopolitical developments after India and Pakistan reached an understanding to stop military actions, analysts said. Moreover, macroeconomic data announcements, Q4 earnings, trading activity of foreign investors and global market trends are also likely to influence sentiments, traders said.
Indian information technology (IT) service providers are expected to deliver low single-digit sequential growth in the first quarter (April-June) of 2025-26 (FY26), even as macroeconomic uncertainties continue to persist due to the volatile geopolitical environment.
With the interest rate cut cycle nearing its end, several debt fund managers are shifting their focus towards interest income rather than betting on duration in anticipation of capital gains.
The US Fed interest rate decision, global trends, tariff-related developments and trading activity of foreign investors will drive the equity market movement this week, analysts said. Among macroeconomic data announcement, WPI inflation for February is scheduled to be announced on Monday.
'It flows through families, caste groups, and local WhatsApp communities where trust is personal.' 'Children are taught to defer to elders, so if a parent or uncle forwards something, you don't question it.'
The Indian pharmaceutical industry is likely to benefit from a major wave of patent expiries in the US, as small-molecule drugs worth $63.7 billion are expected to go off-patent between 2025-29, a 65 per cent rise over the previous five years, according to a report by Antique stock broking limited.
The Reserve Bank of India on Friday permitted banks to increase charges on ATM cash withdrawals beyond the mandatory free monthly usage by Rs 2 to Rs 23 per transaction from May 1.
From the Sensex pack, Zomato, IndusInd Bank, NTPC, Infosys, HCL Technologies, Titan, Power Grid, Hindustan Unilever, Tech Mahindra and ITC were among the gainers. On the other hand, Reliance Industries, Nestle India, Tata Motors, Adani Ports, Tata Steel, UltraTech Cement and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the laggards.
The liquidity deficit in the banking system crossed Rs 2 trillion again on Monday, despite the second instalment of cash reserve ratio (CRR) reduction coming into effect from December 28.
Algorithmic management (AM) in India has led to a decline in job quality, with "clear" evidence of increased monitoring, surveillance and work intensity, noted International Labour Organisation (ILO) in its latest report.
Rediff.com's Uttam Ghosh offers his quirky take on the face-off between the AAP and the BJP.
Narendra Modi, in his first interview of this election season to a television channel, denied that he was a control freak or authoritarian and called himself a team player who likes to build consensus and then use his authority to implement decisions. Rediff.com's Uttam Ghosh offers his perspective of Modi's self-assessment.
'We may see this momentum going into 2025 and may keep up with the demand, given the strong pipeline.'
'It must become faceless, just as the entire direct tax assessment system has already become fully online, without any human intervention in the normal course,' recommends A K Bhattacharya.
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on the arrests and Professor Guha's assertion of what the greatest Indian of our times would unquestionably have done had he been alive.
From the 30-share Sensex pack, Adani Ports surged 6 per cent. NTPC, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, Maruti and Axis Bank were among the other gainers. In contrast, Titan, State Bank of India, Asian Paints, Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Tech, Sun Pharma, IndusInd Bank and ICICI Bank were among the laggards.
Payments banks have urged the Union finance ministry to increase their deposit limit for each account to Rs 5 lakh, according to a source who participated in a meeting, chaired by the Department of Financial Services Secretary M Nagaraju, in New Delhi. At present, they can accept deposits of up to Rs 2 lakh.
Venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) funds had, in 2024, taken bets on traditional businesses rather than tech-first domains like consumer tech, software as a service (SaaS) and software. According to data from Bain & Co, Pitchbook, Venture Intelligence, VCC Edge and AVCJ, prominent VC funds like PeakXV saw their share in this traditional space go up sharply from 14 per cent in 2023 to 23 per cent in 2024.
