Uttam Ghosh is appalled by Bollywood performer Kangana Ranaut's inane remarks on India's struggle for freedom from British rule during which scores of Indians went to the gallow and millions went to prison.
India's corporate sector, including public sector enterprises (PSEs), continues to go slow on investments and capital expenditure (capex). According to data from Motilal Oswal Financial Services (MOFSL), corporate investments declined for the second consecutive quarter in the April-June period (first quarter, or Q1) of 2023-24 (FY24). After a contraction of 0.5 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) in the 2022-23 (FY23) January-March quarter, corporate investments likely fell 6.2 per cent Y-o-Y in Q1FY24, write Nikhil Gupta and Tanisha Ladhaa of MOFSL in their recent report on corporate investments.
Deteriorating ties between India and Canada could have a bearing on flows into the domestic capital markets. At present, Canada is the seventh largest country for foreign portfolio investor (FPI) flows into India. According to the National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL), the assets under custody (AUC) of FPIs domiciled in Canada stood at nearly Rs 1.8 trillion ($21 billion) at the end of August. Almost 85 per cent of these investments are in listed equity, while the remaining in debt and hybrid instruments.
"We have to stand in readiness to go beyond keeping Arjuna's eye to deploying policy instruments, if necessary" to contain inflation, said Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Thursday. Headline consumer price index-based inflation projection for the second quarter of 2023-24 has been revised up substantially, primarily due to the price shock from vegetables, at 6.2 per cent by the RBI form 5.2 per cent estimated in June. Unveiling the bi-monthly monetary policy, Governor Das said the moderation in headline inflation to 4.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2023-24 was in line with the projections set out in the June MPC meeting.
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on the events in Tripura, which led to several people being charged under the draconian UAPA, for questioning the state government's version on the recent violence in the state.
Uttam Ghosh will always remember August 7, 2021, the day an Indian athlete won an Olympic Gold Medal.
'Focus on 19,400/64,900 as the key resistance levels for the Nifty/Sensex.'
Private equity and venture capital funds' investment in the country continued to fall in May, with the overall values declining by nearly 44 per cent to $3.5 billion, a report said on Monday. The dedicated funds had invested $6.2 billion in May 2022 and $7.4 billion in the preceding month of April 2023, representing a dip of 44 per cent and 52 per cent, respectively, as per the report by industry lobby IVCA and consultancy firm EY. "Despite a recovery of sorts being seen in tech sector indices and some of the large global tech names, sentiment in India for tech sector investments has been lacklustre, and fundraising by Indian startups has been sluggish," the firm's partner Vivek Soni said.
GST collections rose 28 per cent to Rs 1.49 lakh crore on an annual basis in July on the back of economic recovery and measures taken to curb tax evasion, the government said on Monday. In July, 2021, Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections stood at Rs 116,393 crore. The collections in July this year is the second highest since the introduction of GST in July 2017, the ministry said in a statement.
offers his take on the constantly zooming fuel prices in the country.
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on India's Vaccine Crisis.
The move comes barely a week after fellow crypto unicorn CoinDCX laid off 12 per cent of its workforce - an estimated 80 employees - amid challenging macroeconomic conditions and regulatory uncertainty in the sector. CoinSwitch has 519 employees, according to its LinkedIn profile. This means around 8 per cent of its workforce were shown the door.
The banking system's liquidity slipped into deficit for the first time in the current financial year (2023-24) due to the imposition of the Incremental Cash Reserve Ratio (I-CRR) for banks and outflows from goods and services tax (GST) payments, according to dealers. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data shows it injected Rs 23,644 crore on August 21. The last time liquidity was in deficit was on March 27, when the RBI injected Rs 45,575 crore.
Fund houses are exploring ways to differentiate themselves in the hybrid space. A relatively unknown hybrid fund variant, Balanced Hybrid, is about to see its first launch since the introduction of mutual fund (MF) scheme categorisation norms in 2017. WhiteOak Capital MF has filed papers with the regulator for this scheme, which comes amid increasing interest in the hybrid space. MFs anticipate that hybrids will become the preferred category for investors with a lower risk appetite following changes in debt fund taxation.
Domestic quarterly earnings, global trends and foreign fund trading activity would dictate the movement in equity markets, which may face volatility amid the scheduled monthly derivatives expiry this week, analysts said. Equity markets took a breather last week. The BSE Sensex declined 298.22 points or 0.48 per cent and the Nifty dipped 111.4 points or 0.60 per cent.
The average cost of a data breach in India reached Rs 17.9 crore in 2023, according to the IBM Security report that classified it as an "all-time high" for the report and almost a 28 per cent increase since 2020. The most common attack type in India was phishing (almost 22 per cent), followed by stolen or compromised credentials (16 per cent). Social engineering was the costliest root cause of breaches at Rs 19.1 crore, followed by malicious insider threats, which amounted to nearly Rs 18.8 crore.
'We are calling companies to set up assembly plants for mobile phones while all the components are imported.' 'Only the last turn of the screwdriver is done here. And you call it self-reliance, Atmanirbharta, etc.' 'Unless you invest in research, you will not climb up the ladder. But this government is happy getting sub-contract work.'
'We are expected to grow at above 28 per cent this year, higher than the industry.'
Is it a good idea to give Rs 1 crore to someone who promises you a return of 24% per annum, wonders financial advisor P V Subramanyam.
After pulling out $17 billion in calendar year 2022, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have pumped $7.3 billion back into equity markets so far this year. The turnaround in foreign flows has helped domestic markets exceed the all-time highs chalked up in December 2022 and bounced back more than 10 per cent from this year's lows. However, a big nugget of FPI inflows seen this year could be off the back of two factors: exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and block deals.
'When manufacturing or even services cannot generate the kind of employment they are looking for, they prefer to be unemployed rather than under-employed.'
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on the government notice to Twitter to suspend Cartoonist Manjul's account.
Uttam Ghosh salutes Danish Siddiqui, the incomparable photojournalist who was murdered by the Taliban and whose images of our times will live on for eternity.
The central government's fiscal deficit touched 67.8 per cent of the full-year target at the end of January due to higher expenses and lower revenue realisations, according to official data released on Tuesday. In actual terms, the fiscal deficit or gap between the expenditure and revenue collection during April-January period stood at Rs 11.9 lakh crore, as per the data from the Controller General of Accounts (CGA). The fiscal deficit in the comparable period of 2021-22 was 58.9 per cent of that year's Revised Estimate (RE) in the Budget.
If you spread your investments and get exposure to many asset classes, then that is called diversification. Asset allocation is the process of allocating your money to different investments. And they offer tremendous advantages, says Rishi Piparaiya.
In a move that will benefit a significantly large number of Indian technology professionals, the US is set to begin a pilot programme for domestic renewal of certain categories of H-1B visas in December. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.
rediffGURU Ulhas Joshi recommends five factors you need to look at to evaluate the performance of two schemes.
Economic growth, which we are taking for granted, slows for a completely different set of local or global factors and the Modi premium vanishes, observes Debashis Basu.
Days after JP Morgan announced the inclusion of government bonds in its emerging market (EM) bond index, a host of banks and other financial institutions (FIs) are set to tap the debt market. They plan to raise Rs 18,000 crore by issuing non-convertible debentures (NCDs) and bonds. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) plans to raise up to Rs 3,000 crore via five-year social impact bonds on Tuesday, the first of its kind in India.
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Ajay Mohan Bisht's controversial statement where he proclaimed that before 2017 only those saying 'abba jaan' were getting rations in the state.
An FIR was lodged against accused Ajay alias Ram Naresh after the girl's mother filed a complaint alleging 'digital rape' (forced sex using any part of the body other than male genital) with her daughter.
While managing their finances, individuals can make it a rule to seek advice from an expert or feedback from a trusted colleague or friend.
When billionaire Warren Buffet started his first fund in 1956 with eleven investors, he invested a token amount of $100 of his own money as "skin in the game". Buffet denies it but he is credited with coming up with the term describing those running a fund risk some of their own money in it. The mutual fund (MF) industry has more than Rs 81,200 crore riding on its schemes, shows a Business Standard analysis of data on sponsor and associate contributions from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi).
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on Britain's controversial travel advisory wherein Indian travellers who received both doses of the Covishield vaccine will be considered unvaccinated and have to undergo self-isolation for 10 days.
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on the government's startling assertion that no Indian perished during the second COVID-19 wave because of a lack of oxygen supplies.
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on the COVID-19 devastation of India.
SEBI has published data showing that more than 90 per cent of investors lose money in futures and options, explains Harsh Roongta.
Corporate India is busy restructuring - through mergers, demergers and splits. That seems to be the new normal as CXOs and boards brainstorm on how to create assets and value. The pitch rose significantly during the third quarter of this financial year (FY24), translating into $32.9-billion worth of such deals - the highest quarterly total since the HDFC Bank-HDFC merger announced in FY22 Q2.
Fintech companies believe that the impact of Reserve Bank of India's order last week on unsecured loans will be visible in six to 12 months and prompt them to diversify and strengthen their secured portfolio. Fintechs which source funds through banks or non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) are looking at quickly building their secured portfolio options to at least 40 per cent of their total portfolio. "Over the medium to long term, as part of our product strategy, we are evaluating secured products which can be enabled over a digital platform" said Yogi Sadana, the founder of Zype, a lending-focussed fintech.
Mutual funds are loading up on information technology (IT) stocks on improved valuations and low downside risk after a double-digit correction in top companies like Infosys and Wipro. IT stocks were MFs' top sectoral buys in April when they invested a net of Rs 2,100 crore. In the first four months of 2023, the net investments in IT amounted to Rs 9,500 crore, shows an analysis by ICICI Securities.