Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday admitted the Reserve Bank of India's move to hike short-term lending and borrowing rates will hurt growth in the near-term, but exuded confidence that economic expansion will gather pace later as a consequence.
Indian firms mop up a meagre Rs 63 cr against Rs 247 cr raised in May.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor M Rajeshwar Rao on Wednesday defended the central bank's decision of not allowing industrial houses to float banks, and said more deliberations are needed before RBI changes its stance on this issue agreed back in 2001. An internal working group (IWG) of the RBI had recommended allowing industrial groups into banking, but late last month the RBI said it kept on hold the two recommendations of allowing industrial houses and large non-banks to float banks. However, RBI had accepted 21 of the 33 recommendations of the group that submitted its report a year ago.
Tatas top the losers' list, wiping out more than Rs. 50,000 crore of investors' wealth.
Corporate India lags the rest of its Western and Asian peers by a wide margin when it comes to the presence of women on their boards, with just 17.3 per cent of the large companies having them on their key decision making bodies, an international report said on Tuesday. However, this is a near 6 percentage points improvement between 2015 -- when it was only 11.4 per cent -- and 2021, Swiss brokerage Credit Suisse said in the report, which covered over 33,000 executives from more than 3,000 companies across 46 countries, including over 1,440 firms across 12 Asia-Pacific markets. Female representation on boards of large Indian companies has increased by 5.9 percentage points from 11.4 per cent in 2015 to 17.3 per cent in 2021.
Indian companies had raised $2.39 billion from foreign markets in May 2015.
The study revealed that 83 per cent of Indian business leaders believe to have fair to good understanding on the issue of climate change. However, just under half of these respondents stated they have a clear strategy in place to respond to these issues. There is a significant gap between good intentions and action as only 21 per cent have measured their current carbon footprint, which is one of the first steps in defining a strategy to deal with the issue, the study noted.
In the first half of 2008, Indian companies accounted for a total of 34 US-bound acquisitions worth over $5.1 billion, US-based Virtus Global Partners said in its latest report on US bound acquisition by Indian companies. However, the volume of deals dropped 15 per cent to 34, from 40 in the H1 of 2007. Over 70 per cent of the transactions involved acquisition of 100 per cent stock for cash consideration.
India Inc and economic think-tanks want the Budget to tax the agriculture income of large farmers for equity in the system and widening the net.
Indian companies' market capitalization has grown at the fastest pace last year among major economies despite contraction in GDP, economists from SBI said, flagging the risks to financial stability it poses. Further, retail investors have shown higher interest in markets and their numbers have increased by 1.42 crore in FY21 and another 44 lakh in April and May, they said in a note, wondering if this will be a lasting behavioural change or is transitory. The economists at the country's largest lender attributed the growth in equity markets to lower returns on other financial instruments amid a low rates regime, increase in global liquidity, and even a tendency to spend more time at home because of mobility restrictions which led many to trade more.
Most of the Adani Group companies fell in the morning trade on Friday and flagship Adani Enterprises tumbled 10 per cent after index provider MSCI decided to reduce the weightage of four firms in its indices following a review. Amid volatile trading in the market, seven Adani Group firms were in the negative territory while three others were in the green. Adani Enterprises plunged 10 per cent to Rs 1,734.60 per share, its lower price band on the BSE, and the company's market valuation dropped to Rs 2.14 lakh crore.
A slowdown in the global economy and the rupee appreciation are expected to hit India Inc's job recruitment plans as the country's employment outlook dipped by six points to 74 points in the April-June 2008 quarter. The business outlook dropped by 9 per cent to 70 points, according to staffing agency TeamLease Services' quarterly Employment Outlook Report.
India Inc will find the cost of fighting a legal battle going up if a suggestion by a Parliamentary Standing Committee to impose higher court fee for the corporate sector is accepted.
Employees of some top Indian companies were in for a pleasant surprise when they received a mail from their HR team announcing a hike in salaries and bonuses. Led by IT firms and start-ups, HR managers say that while some have offered cash and stock options, others are in a wait-and-watch mode and add the trend will pick up in other sectors. For example, IT giant Cognizant - which had an attrition rate of 19 per cent in the December quarter - has established a $30-million employee retention fund in order to bring down the high attrition rate.
Analysts say that retail offers a big opportunity and acquisitions are a way to grow rapidly; there is also the need to deploy this money gainfully.
Google Inc announced a surprise overhaul of its operating structure on Monday, creating a holding company called Alphabet to pool its many subsidiaries and separate the core web advertising business from newer ventures like driverless cars.
CII suggested the policy measures required to ease the tight liquidity situation by cutting CRR by at least 50 basis points.
One of India Inc's top demands is the abolishing of the MAT.
The popular American magazine will be launched in India in 2008.
'Being financially independent is crucial.' 'This spares women a lot of grief if the marriage, especially in large business families, breaks down.'
Interrupting a two-month streak of decline, outward foreign direct investment (FDI) rose sequentially to $1.85 billion in July over $1.07 billion in June, an increase of 73 per cent. However, it was lower than the $2.18 billion in July last year, according to the Reserve Bank of India data. Outbound FDI, expressed as financial commitment, has three components - equity, loans, and guarantees.
Differing with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who feels the corporate sector has been harsh in blaming the government, leading players in India Inc say a policy paralysis in the government and its inability to push reforms have indeed led to an economic slowdown and Singh's criticism is not justified.
According to the Icra report, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation margin of its sample declined by 44 basis points on a YoY basis and 23 basis points on a quarter-on-quarter basis to 16.6 per cent.
USIBC is pulling together a similar advocacy team like what they did during the US-India civil nuclear initiative.
Some American lawmakers and organisations want to torpedo the H-1B visa program.
Ambani vs Ambani, Tata vs Birla, Ambani vs Mittal, the fights came in all permutations and combinations, making 2007 arguably the most happening as well as a tumultuous period for the Indian industry that stamped its authority overseas with about 250 acquisitions worth over $32 billion.
The Ladakh Scouts of the Army has sought financial assistance from India Inc for re-building the lone Army school in Leh which has been badly damaged by the cloudburst.The Army school, which caters to nearly 200 students, was hit by hundreds of boulders that rolled down the hill along with slush on the night of August 5. The classrooms are now filled with slush and boulders. The hostel too has been severely hit.
A spurt in the economic growth and the improved business confidence resulted in a 23 per cent growth in India Inc's hiring activity in the month of July, as against the same period a year ago.
Shareholders have given approval to the appointment of Ambani scions Akash, Isha and Anant on board of Reliance Industries, the company said in a stock exchange filing.
That's because India does not have a serious venture capital industry with an appetite for risk, observes T N Ninan.
