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.
Banks now ride on what is defined as a "banking outlet". This is a fixed-point service unit, manned by either the bank's staff or its business correspondent (BC), where all kinds of services - acceptance of deposits, encashment of cheques, cash withdrawal or lending of money - are provided for a minimum of four hours per day, for at least five days a week. Banks are now turning to reposition the manner in which they acquire customers, report Abhijit Lele and Raghu Mohan.
'The JF-17 is the aircraft of today and the Tejas is the aircraft of tomorrow.'
E-commerce companies have said they are well prepared and working closely with delivery partners to ensure smooth and safe delivery of packages in Maharashtra where the government has announced a slew of restrictions, including night curfews and weekend lockdown to control the spike in COVID-19 cases. However, there are concerns around the mandate for delivery staff to be either vaccinated or carry a negative RT-PCR report. According to the health ministry data, till 8 am on Tuesday Maharashtra's COVID-19 caseload was 452,777 with an addition of 20,881 from the previous day. In an order on Sunday, the Maharashtra government said all personnel belonging to home delivery services will have to be vaccinated and in case they are not vaccinated, they will have to carry a negative RT-PCR report.
What is driving the digital-first approach of traditional, legacy brands? Apart from the growing adoption of the internet in the country, brands are drawn to the agility of the medium.
'All these incidents go to show that the day of the anodyne, apolitical corporation is running out fast,' says Kanika Datta.
'We're seeing major Bollywood celebrities, fashion icons, and even movie studios all wanting to build Metaverse experiences'
'Our proactive detection rate for hate speech in India is close to 97 per cent -- which means that of the hate speech content we remove, we detect 97 per cent of it proactively, even before anyone reports it.'
Reliance reported record pre-tax profit from its retail and telecom businesses. The two now account for nearly 32 per cent of EBITDA, up from close to 25 per cent previously.
It is not the job of regulators to ensure that users make profits. It is not the job of regulators to prevent people from making losses. It is not the job of regulators to prevent people from doing stupid things, argues Ajay Shah.
The rally in the broader markets, a spate of new listings, and the influx of retail investors have resulted in a boom for research and this has spurred a surge in the number of entities providing such services. From 467 entities that provided research services as of March 2018, the number jumped 57 per cent to 733 as of March 2021. And, another 46 entities have been added to the list in the six months since, to take the total number of registered research analysts to 779 as on September 13. However, the total number of analysts could be a multiple of this number.
In the year-long crackdown on tax evasion, the GST authorities have unearthed over Rs 35,000 crore of tax fraud committed by misuse of input tax credit provision under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime. During the 2020-21 financial year, the CGST zones and the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) booked about 8,000 cases involving fake ITC of over Rs 35,000 crore, a statement from CBIC said. Under the GST regime, at the time of paying tax on output, entities can reduce the tax they have already paid on inputs.
The Supreme Court Wednesday sought a response from the Future group on Amazon's plea against the January 5 order of the Delhi high court staying the ongoing arbitration proceedings before an arbitral tribunal over Future Retail's Rs 24,500-crore merger deal with Reliance. A bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli issued notices to the Future group firms, Future Coupons Private Ltd (FCPL) and Future Retail Ltd (FRL) and said that it will hear the matter on February 23 "without any adjournment". The Delhi high court on January 5 had stayed the Amazon-Future arbitration which is going on before a three-member arbitral tribunal over the latter's Rs 24,500-crore deal with Reliance.
During a three-hour long virtual meeting with CEOs of large public and private sector banks along with heads of NBFCs, the prime minister assured them that the government is ready to take all steps to support the financial sector.
Rafael Nadal will have his work cut out when play begins next week, not on the Caja Magica's three red dust courts, but on gaming consoles.
In a letter to the states and union territories, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan advised implementing strategic interventions for containment like imposition of night curfew, strict regulation of large gatherings, curtailing numbers in marriages and funerals besides increasing testing and surveillance.
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.
Within the next 3 months, most brokers will enable you to intelligently invest via mobiles in MFs, FDs, and IPOs.
An impulsive decision to resign could eventually turn out to be a big career mistake, warns Srividya Kannan.
'As Indians, we should be claiming and celebrating 'Bhartiyata' rather than seeking commitment to beliefs which are divisive and exclusionary.'
After a long wait, the Shapoorji Pallonji Group has closed the sale process of its consumer durables business under the Eureka Forbes label by picking the American private equity fund Advent International's Rs 4,400-crore offer for a 72 per cent stake. The sale process, which began in November 2019, will help the over 156-year-old SP Group pair the debt pile and sharpen the focus on the flagship construction and engineering business under Afcons. The valuation of Rs 4,400 crore for a 72.56 per cent stake is is at an enterprise level and subject to closing adjustments and also includes an open offer for the remaining stake after the demerger and listing of Eureka Forbes, the SP group said in a statement on Sunday.
The need to use behavioral techniques for spotting terrorism acts was felt after such an exercise had helped customs officials recover cash and drugs.
In a major expansion into sportswear and lifestyle wear segment, the Kumar Mangalam Birla-led Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail has signed a long-term licensing agreement with Authentic Brand Group of New York, which has the marketing and branding rights of Reebok, to run the operations of the global sportswear, athletic and lifestyle major in the country and ASEAN markets. The new agreement between the largest domestic multi-brand fashion retailer and Authentic Brand is an extension of their existing relationship as ABFRL already markets and sells some ABG brands like Forever 21. The agreement follows the global transfer of ownership of the Reebok brand from Adidas to ABG, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022.
By framing the right question, Satya Nadella directed his team's attention to searching for the right answer, which opened up a treasure trove of new business opportunities, which would have remained undiscovered but for framing the right question.
ITC, Chaudhary Group are among companies launching variants and stepping up ad campaigns.
A large team led by Kumar Mangalam Birla has taken charge of the integration process.
Billionaire Jeff Bezos, who founded Amazon as an online bookseller nearly three decades ago, will step down as the CEO of the $1.7 trillion global retail giant in the third quarter of 2021 with Andy Jassy being named his successor.
There are 230 million vehicles on the road, and counting. Bulk of these are under seven years old and once they get older, the industry estimates the requirement for spare parts and aftersales service to shoot up sharply.
E-commerce firms like Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra and others witnessed successful festive season sales this year, Experts say e-commerce adoption in the country is accelerating by multiple years or what it would have looked like in 2025.
The online channel has only been successful in making inroads in metro cities.
Continuing with the same behaviour while things around you change is a sure recipe for failure. Successful leaders will demonstrate agility and adaptability.
In India, the company serves customers such as stock exchanges, brokers, non-banking financial companies, financial services and insurance, IT and IT-enabled services.
'67 per cent of our transactions happen digitally and about 93 per cent of transactions happen outside the branch.' 'Despite that, there is ample scope for promoting banking-related activities in branches.' 'So, for some time, we will have to, probably, live with the same structure.'
But there are challenges, observes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Private sector lenders have been communicating to their customers about their strong capital positions but it has not put depositors at ease.
For 2020, 13 brands are said to be on board already and advertising rates have been fixed at a premium of 10-15 per cent over 2019.
Not just e-commerce players, even spirits majors are banking on artificial intelligence and chatbots to offer newer, quicker, smarter services. Shivani Shinde Nadhe reports.
The company said the new policy will be rolled out but the platform will allow users to read it at "their own pace".
Brent crude oil price surged 4 per cent on Friday, following tension between Iran and the US. Airlines, however, have been unable to pass on the price increase to customers due to the soft demand.
FutureBrand, which is a global brand transformation company, said part of Reliance's success could be attributed to Mukesh Ambani's recasting of the firm as a one-stop-shop for Indians.