BUSINESS
What ease of doing business? Siddhartha’s suicide highlights the difficulties of being an entrepreneur in India
If businesses don’t find the regulatory environment conducive, no amount of cutting interest rates will kick start private investment and an economic recovery.
BUSINESS
Payment guarantees for power purchases will boost revival chances of the power sector
About Rs 30,000 crore of bank guarantees will have to be readied by August 1.
BUSINESS
Realty Bites | SC's Amrapali judgement: When homebuyers are failed by builders, banks and local authorities
Improper due diligence has not only led to a pile of up of non-performing loans but now, also puts in danger banks’ status as secured creditors. If this happens in case after case, the recent IBC amendment which reinforces their supremacy in case of recoveries will be a hollow victory.
BUSINESS
Policy | 50 yrs of bank nationalisation: Is it time to privatise all banks?
Governance practices can be revamped only if PSU banks cut their umbilical cord to the government. All proposals in this directions – and umpteen committees have suggested this too – have just remained talk.
BUSINESS
Policy | A shot in the arm for the insolvency code
The government's proposed amendments to the IBC could go a long way in ensuring that the insolvency code's objectives are achieved, and in a timely manner
BUSINESS
Chart of the day | Business confidence in India lower than in the times of policy paralysis
The reasons for plummeting optimism are all too familiar. Companies are worried about a slowing economy, public policies, weak sales, rupee depreciation, lack of skilled labour and even water shortages.
BUSINESS
Asking passengers to give up subsidies won’t solve Railways’ financial problem
Cutting costs, leveraging assets such as land and infrastructure, and a judicious increase in fares would go a long way in addressing the financial problems.
BUSINESS
RBI inspection reports confirm our worst fears
If India wants to avoid a repeat of the NPA cycle every decade or so, stricter penalties should be introduced.
BUSINESS
Markets | How to kill foreign investor interest in equities 101
India is not divorced from global macro conditions and the growth prognosis at home is as grim (relative its own historical rates) as the rest of the world.
BUSINESS
Budget paves way for debt-fuelled spending binge on investments and consumption
This push to increase credit offtake may take some time to bear fruit.
BUSINESS
‘Where’s the money going to come from’, Economic Survey asks Budget
A slowdown in consumption will just add to the economic squeeze and also upset the government’s plans to earn more resources
BUSINESS
Union Budget | The one number that shows why Nirmala Sitharaman should focus on reviving capex
New project announcements fell 87 percent from a year ago
BUSINESS
Financial Stability | NPA cycle over, but where are banks going to get growth capital?
Under RBI’s baseline scenario (without taking into account any capital infusion from the government), system level capital adequacy ratio is projected to come down to 12.9 percent in March 2020 from 14 percent in March 2019. As many as five banks will have a capital adequacy ratio below the regulatory minimum of 9 percent by March 2020.
BUSINESS
Financial Stability | RBI report underlines shaky business model of NBFCs
Risk aversion among financial market participants is here to stay for some time owing to frequent credit rating downgrades and higher risk of developer defaults.
BUSINESS
Policy Pulse | MSMEs need to scale up and be more productive
India needs to ensure that incentives for MSMEs are not skewed towards their remaining small forever. MSME policy should go beyond access to credit and address ease of doing business in a more effective manner.
BUSINESS
US billionaires are saying, “levy a tax on our wealth.” Should India follow suit?
A high wealth-to-income ratio is not a good thing from a financial stability point of view. Concentration of wealth in the hands of a few is a recipe for increasing social unrest especially when India is facing a crunch in even basic resources like clean drinking water.
BUSINESS
HDFC-Apollo Munich pact underlines deals trend in health insurance, but risks abound
Continuing losses, and regulatory risks abound in health insurance. Investors will have to be patient.
BUSINESS
Trump withdrawing trade benefits for India is just the starting point
Retaliatory tariffs are no solution. India needs to continue globalising to meet strategic, economic and development goals.
BUSINESS
Markets | Buying the myth of a magic wand
With more earnings downgrades likely and the economy in a jam, all hopes are resting on the slender assumption that a decisive second mandate for Modi will strengthen his confidence and political will to take tough steps – such as privatisation of public sector enterprises, or land reforms.
INDIA
Corporate Corridor | If IndiGo's chief pilots are busy squabbling, who's at the controls?
These differences could not have cropped up at a worse time. As Jet Airways’ fate rests on a wing and a prayer, and opens up space and infrastructure in the Indian aviation market, Indigo has to decide where it wants to go.
MARKETS
Policy Pulse | How EPFO continues to pay returns higher than market rates
EPFO has to be transparent and make more disclosures about its investments. That will settle rumours on the actual available surplus and link returns to the market.
BUSINESS
Policy Pulse | Government takeover of Unitech will set bad precedent
Asking PSUs to finish construction of flats for a private developer is akin to privatising profits and socialising losses
BUSINESS
Corporate Matters | Is Yes Bank the canary in the coal mine for the Indian banking system?
Yes Bank watchlist also highlights the failure of credit rating agencies and analysts to spot anomalies and catch red flags on defaults and stress early on.
BUSINESS
Policy | SC ruling on RBI disclosures a victory for shareholders
Making inspection reports public will keep both lenders and the firms that borrow from them on their toes and will go a long way in cleaning up governance and perhaps, even preventing bad loans from piling up.
