From the pandemic shocks to state polls to global trends, a raft of sentiment drivers are expected to steer the Indian stock market in 2022 after a historic year of massive investor returns and milestones. The Union Budget, which will be closely watched for further reform moves, and quarterly earnings of corporates will be among the developments on investors' radar amid global central banks moving towards tighter interest regime in the wake of inflationary pressures. The year 2021 was rewarding in a big way for equity investors.
While the US omitted China and Russia from the list of invitees, Beijing was furious over the invitation to the self-governing island Taiwan, which China said is a blatant violation of the 'One China' policy that considers Taipei as the integral part of the Chinese mainland.
A world record had been predicted but Norway's Karsten Warholm had to utterly destroy it to hold off American Rai Benjamin and take gold on Tuesday in the men's 400 metres hurdles, in what will go down as one of the all-time great Olympic races.
CEOs expect to finish the ongoing March quarter with positive growth as the corporates get back to work in full strength.
Many believe that the surge in the markets defy economic reality and is being fuelled by aggressive monetary easing by central banks across the world.
Those hardest hit by the second wave of the pandemic have been blue-collared workers, doctors and healthcare workers, law and order and municipal personnel, individuals eking out daily livelihood, and small businesses. And there should be more measures taken to alleviate their pain, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Monday. The report also indicated that the RBI's growth numbers might have to be revisited as the central bank's real GDP growth projection of 26.2 per cent given in the MPC's resolution of April 7 for the first quarter of 2021-22, were "made before the full fury of the resurgence." Nevertheless, the "resurgence of COVID-19 has dented but not debilitated economic activity in the first half of Q1: 2021-22.
Now, as before, India's vote at the UN was dictated by paramount national interests. Though the Indian vote was 'neutral', its explanation was explicit in its criticism of the Russian actions. India took back with the left hand what it had given with the right, explains Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'The day the power shifts, they will run across to the other side.'
Selemon Barega of Ethiopia won the men's 10,000 metres gold medal, the first of the Olympic athletics programme, on Friday, defeating world champion and world record holder Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda.
'I teach my students for one hour every day. At night, I teach science to students from other countries. I have got requests from more than 70 countries in the last three years and more than 80,000 students have benefited from my online classes.'
Foreign banks set the template in consumer banking in its infancy, but have almost vacated this booming space.
The concept of 'fairness by rulers' is deeply ingrained in Indians and any weakening of this dents the legitimacy of the ruler, warns military historian Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Cosmetic experts explain how liposuction, like any other surgery, has its share of risks and side effects.
The images were blurred, and the wifi decidedly dodgy, but darts stepped up to the oche on Friday to provide some rare live entertainment for sports-starved fans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Throwing from the comfort and security of living rooms and spare bedrooms, and even a landing, a cast of top players kicked off a novel 32 night Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournament in home isolation.
'Today, there is no easy money to be made after the run-up in equities.'
Saurav Ghosal and Dipika Pallikal settled for silver medal in the mixed doubles squash event of the Commonwealth Games, in Gold Coast, on Saturday, becoming the first Indian pair to achieve the feat in the sporting extravaganza.
The ministry has said the information is classified as 'top secret' and it cannot be disclosed.
In the test, a space rocket boosted a hypersonic glide vehicle, one capable of carrying a nuclear device, which circled the globe before impacting.
Available data obscures the true stress in bank books, and the pandemic will result in balance sheet impairments and capital shortfalls at lenders, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said on Monday. Balance sheet impairment and capital shortfalls will be more evident once the regulatory reliefs are rolled back, Das said in the bi-annual Financial Stability Report, asking lenders to augment capital.
A US court has asked Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation, to pay a compensation of USD 1.2 billion to a Bengaluru-based startup, Devas Multimedia, for cancelling a satellite deal in 2005.
Megha Rajagopalan's Xinjiang series won the Pulitzer Prize in the International Reporting category.
'One evening, my mother announced during dinner that we would open a Cumulative Time Deposit account in the post office. 'My father froze. 'The handful of curd rice that he had just put into his mouth remained there for a few extra seconds.' Colonel K Thammayya Udupa (retd) recalls an important decision that changed his family's life forever.
Moody's on Thursday raised India's GDP forecast for the calendar year 2020 upwards to -8.9 per cent contraction from -9.6 per cent contraction forecast earlier. Similarly, India's GDP forecast for the calendar year 2021 has been revised upwards to 8.6 per cent from 8.1 per cent projected earlier. The report released by Moody's Investors Service attributed the reason behind better growth to the falling of coronavirus cases in the country.
In mid-2020, when Kushal Pal Singh, the undisputed king of India's vast real estate market, relinquished the top post at the country's largest realtor, he left behind an empire that is best compared to the Greek myth of the Phoenix. Once the leader of Delhi's organised real estate market, DLF's steep decline in the 1970s and its majestic rise since has often been cited as a business resurrection story. Now, a year after his departure from the helm of affairs, history seems to be repeating itself at the real estate major. In the 1970s, it was the government prohibitions that had forced DLF to venture into uncharted territory; some five decades later, the Delhi-headquartered firm has set its eyes on another growth trajectory that holds immense potential.
Kunal Kapoor's bland portrayal cannot bring out Babur's fascinating persona or self-deprecating temperament, feels Sukanya Verma.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday expressed his shock and dismay over the poor growth of information technology under his predecessor Mayawati.
People familiar with the proceedings said independent cybersecurity experts from a private consulting firm, technology lawyers, government officials and WhatsApp representatives were asked questions about the Pegasus spyware and the larger issues surrounding surveillance, hacking and remedial measures.
'Instead of developing the capacity, capability and strength to fight our external enemies, we are turning our own people against each other.'
What Director Mahesh Narayanan captures perfectly in C U Soon is the texture of our online conversations, observes Sreehari Nair.
In an e-mailed interview with Business Standard, Mark Lynas says his opposition to GM was divorced from science.
Do India's laws governing the Internet need revolutionary change, asks Ajit Balakrishnan.
'My belief that I could protect the Himalayas was shattered.'
The OTT scene is bursting with action. Sukanya Verma gives her 10 exciting new recommendations for the week.
Record equity divestment by the Reliance Group in its telecom and retail businesses garnering around $23 billion revved up the deal street in 2020, which otherwise would have gone down as one of the dullest on record, and dealmakers are seeing sunnier days in 2021 given the large scope for consolidation in a slew of sectors ravaged by the pandemic. With Jio Platforms alone garnering over $16 billion (Rs 1,18,318 crore) by selling 25.24 per cent stake and Reliance Retail notching up $6.4 billion (Rs 47,265 crore) by divesting around 9 per cent shareholding, the deal street signed off with $85 billion in the deal kitty across 1,270 transactions. This is higher by about 10 per cent over 2019. What is significant is that over a third of the total deal value came from Reliance transactions, say investment bankers.
In all this, the political establishment -- and especially the finance ministry -- appears the weakest link, and worse still, the possible reason for the political backing to Narain and Ramkrishna that emboldened them to defy all the sentinels -- the independent board, the auditors, top management persons like the chief compliance officer, the company secretary, and unbelievably the super-regulator Sebi, observes V Ranganathan.
People spent a sleepless night as a series of aftershocks shook Assam after a strong 6.4 magnitude earthquake caused extensive damage to buildings.
'I saw an opportunity to provide people with employment, enabling them to sustain themselves and, in the process, help alleviate society's suffering.'
June indicates a change in trend from previous quarters in terms of how much companies are spending on employees. The worst hit sectors included steel, air transport service and automobile firms.
'The lessons learnt from the triple disaster have put Japan's energy future On the right path,' notes Dr Rajaram Panda.
