'Why should my vaccine certificate, which I got paying my own money, have the picture of the prime minister?'
Rapid strides in digital payments notwithstanding, the Indian economy will likely remain cash-dependent for many years to come, at least that's what the automated teller machine makers and cash logistics companies are betting on. After growing at over 20 per cent for most of 2020, currency in circulation growth fell to 8.5 per cent as of October 29 this year, shows data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The reason for the steep rise in currency last year was the uncertainties related to the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, where people preferred to hoard cash to meet exigencies.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Friday launch two schemes of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that may go a long way in changing how the household sector invests, and complains if anything goes wrong with their savings. These schemes - retail direct and an integrated ombudsman - will be launched by the Prime Minister virtually, in the presence of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. With the introduction of retail direct, a common man can directly take a position in government securities (G-Sec), considered to be the safest asset class a sovereign can offer.
The pre-budget Economic Survey, which is tabled in Parliament ahead of the Union Budget to present the state of the economy and suggest policy prescriptions, quite often misses on the GDP forecast, sometimes by a significant margin. This time, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will table the Economic Survey for 2021-22 in the Lok Sabha on Monday soon after the President's address to both Houses of Parliament. She will present the Union Budget for the next financial year beginning April 1, 2022, on Tuesday.
'This was Indian land the PLA advanced on and occupied.' 'The Chinese then 'negotiated' a pullback of their troops a small distance on Indian territory even as Indian jawans draw back further into India from the forward position.' 'An apparently satisfied Indian government says this is a great move for peace! How great is that for China!'
The inaugural Sangamam turned out to be a political Hindutva function than a gathering on the Hindu religion, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Axis Bank was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, shedding over 3 per cent, followed by SBI, ICICI Bank, ONGC, HDFC and Kotak Bank.
Prasad, who became chief minister of Bihar in 1990, had anointed his wife on the CM chair after he was sent to jail in 1997 over multi-crore fodder scam cases.
International Finance Corporation, the private equity arm of the World Bank, will invest $22.5 million (Rs 91.71 crore) in a subsidiary of Moser Baer, a manufacturer of optical storage discs.
PowerGrid was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying over 6 per cent, followed by Maruti, ICICI Bank, HDFC, Kotak Bank, Axis Bank, and Reliance Industries.
Global markets trends, inflation, release of industrial output data and quarterly earnings will dictate movement of the equity benchmarks this week, analysts said, adding that volatility might continue amid slew of announcements of macroeconomic data at the global level too. Moreover, foreign fund movement, crude oil prices and trend in rupee would also act as major drivers for the equity market, they added. "The direction of global equity markets along with movement in dollar index and crude oil prices will continue to dominate while inflation numbers of the USA on May 11 and inflation and IIP numbers of India on May 12 will also cause volatility in the market," said Santosh Meena, head of research, Swastika Investmart Ltd.
Here are some of the best photographs clicked across the globe in the month of October.
A consortium of Indian banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) on Tuesday moved a step closer in their attempt to recover debt from loans paid out to Vijay Mallya's now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines after the high court in London upheld an application to amend their bankruptcy petition, in favour of waiving their security over the embattled businessman's assets in India. Chief Insolvencies and Companies Court (ICC) Judge Michael Briggs handed down his judgment in favour of the banks to declare there is no public policy that prevents a waiver of security rights, as argued by Mallya's lawyers. At a virtual hearing, July 26 was set as the date for final arguments for and against granting a bankruptcy order against the 65-year-old Mallya after the banks accused him of trying to "kick matters into the long grass" and called on the "bankruptcy petition to be brought to its inevitable end".
Here are 10 photographs that prove that it's a mad, mad, mad, mad world out there!
The strengths and weaknesses of leading contenders in the 2011 Tour de France which starts on Saturday.
Situated at a height of 15,200 feet above sea level, the pass sits on the top of a craggily formed Himalayan range that separates the Tibetan plateau from the Indian sub-continent.
The self-made billionaire took to Instagram to share pics from her latest steamy photo shoot for Paper magazine.
The ultimate consequences of Rahul Gandhi's yatra may be known only in 2024, points out Dr Sudhir Bisht.
With its political colour dominated by less than democratic trends, BRICS currently leaves some of us wondering -- where in this grouping is there an assurance that human freedom will be respected unconditionally? It would be nice to see the new members of BRICS drawn from the ranks of countries wedded to preserving and guarding human freedom, observes Shyam G Menon.
The Covid-19 pandemic has forced a whopping 8.7 lakh expatriates from Kerala to return home, most of them from the Gulf, since last May, with a majority of 5.67 lakh citing job loss as the reason for it, according to official data.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani on Friday backed the proposed data privacy and cryptocurrency bills, saying India is putting in place the most forward-looking policies and regulations. Ambani, who has been a votary of Indians owning and controlling their own data and the nation drafting strict rules around how digital information is stored and shared, said nations have the right to build and protect strategic digital infrastructure. Stating that data is the 'new oil', he said every citizen's right to privacy has to be safeguarded. "India is putting in place the most forward-looking policies and regulations," he said at the Infinity Forum, hosted by International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA).
"India has become the fastest growing major economy in the world. Despite the global slowdown, we have registered excellent growth. Today, India is a bright spot in the global economy. We are seen as the engine of global growth," he said.
'Given the possibility that our unstable northern and western borders may become 'live' at short notice, any major systemic change which impacts combat effectiveness should be brought about in a cautious and progressive manner.'
'The top 11 billionaires in India added so much to their wealth during the pandemic that it would have sustained MNREGA for 10 years or the ministry of health for 10 years.'
Why are investors gung-ho about State Bank? asks Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The ruling BJP is confident of bettering its 2017 performance, especially with the new UP party chief, Bhupendra Chaudhary, at the helm of affairs, reports Virendra Singh Rawat.
With the threat of COVID-19 pandemic continuing to loom over the world, the Ministry of Ayush has come out with a comprehensive document putting forth the concept of 'holistic health'.
Seen as one-of-its-kind event, the festival offers a platform for spiritual and religious leaders, politicians, business leaders, peacemakers and artists to spread the message of global peace and harmony in diversity.
If it doesn't do that, what Uddhav Thackeray postpones addressing today will be there on the table to confront, for whoever anchors the Sena in the years ahead, observes Shyam G Menon.
The national capital is expected to continue receiving moderate rainfall with some isolated intense spells for the next 24 hours, the India Meteorological Department said on Monday.
A spinning wheel which former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri got as "dowry", Chaudhary Charan Singh's diaries and P V Narasimha Rao's spectacles are among the articles that their families have offered for display at the Pradhan Mantri Sangrahalaya, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday.
It may well be possible to defeat Modi. But nobody seems to know how, points out Vir Sanghvi.
The latest round of funding values the company at $10.7 billion, almost doubling it from the $5.5 billion valuation during the $1.25 billion fund raise in July 2021 when investors including SoftBank, Prosus and Accel pumped in capital in what was the company's biggest funding since its inception. The other new investors in the latest round of funding include Baron Capital Group, Sumeru Venture, IIFL AMC Late Stage Tech Fund, Kotak, Axis Growth Avenues AIF- I, Sixteenth Street Capital, Ghisallo, Smile Group and Segantii Capital, Swiggy said in a statement.
Asserting that the country has made it a priority to rescue all Indians stuck in Ukraine, Modi said, "It is due to India's rising strength that we are are able to bring back stranded Indians from Ukraine. Operation Ganga has been launched and I have sent four ministers to oversee the evacuation."
10 high dividend paying stocks across sectors that are expected to maintain or even increase their pay-outs in FY23 thanks to faster earnings growth in the last four quarters.
Rediff.com presents a selection of the year's most enduring moments year from around the world
'To simply let the rupee depreciate to any level according to market forces will not be in the country's interests.'
About 3.2 million people could have died from Covid in India by September last year, six-seven times higher than reported officially, according to a study based on one independent and two government data sources.
'There are some high-frequency indicators where uptick is visible and some where it is not'
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