BUSINESS
Indian agriculture needs many more Verghese Kurien clones
Amul’s success hasn’t been the catalyst for similar movements across other agricultural commodities. With 50 percent of India’s population still dependent on income from agriculture, that’s a real tragedy.
BUSINESS
Diego Maradona's legacy will forever be tinged with regret
The reality of Diego Maradona's fall from grace can't be ignored amidst the clamour of obituaries praising his myriad skills
BUSINESS
Kellogg's upma offers the true flavour of glocalisation
After selling cornflakes to Indians for breakfast, Kellogg India is adding upma to its menu
TRENDS
Amidst the pandemic pets are our friends with all benefits
A recent survey by the University of York and the University of Lincoln stated that sharing a home with a pet appeared to act as a buffer against psychological stress during lockdown.
BUSINESS
Why can’t India’s start-up ecosystem produce a BioNtech or a Moderna?
The funding pattern in India's start-up ecosystem has been largely imitative and driven by quick returns. There has been little scope for impact investing which aims at the triple bottom line of people, planet and profits
WORLD
Will COVID-19 upend our notions of soft power?
India’s rich and powerful have in the past always rushed to the US for treatment of serious diseases. Now they will think twice.
BUSINESS
Can the cloud trigger the next boom for Indian IT firms?
For all its promise, the cloud business presents several challenges as well. The big one is the potential shrinking of the annuity that Indian IT majors have been used to in the past
BUSINESS
Ending the tyranny of online packaging
One of the major complaints customers have against online retailers is the kind of packaging they use.
BUSINESS
Indian healthcare needs innovative solutions not just consolidation
A wave of mergers and acquisitions has not led to creation of fresh capacity in healthcare infrastructure
AUTOMOBILE
Tata Motors and the active inertia of corporate leaders
A third successive quarterly loss for Tata Motors should have firmed the company's resolve to get rid of the passenger vehicles business that has soaked up cash with meagre returns.
BUSINESS
Can cinemas in India make a comeback after the pandemic?
Every time cinema has looked to be in danger of extinction, it has got a new lease of life, thanks to structural innovations in the ways halls are constructed or in the kind of movies that are made
BUSINESS
The importance of being Azim Premji
For a man with no tech background, unlike all his rivals such as NR Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani, Shiv Nadar and S Ramadorai, all of whom were trained engineers, Azim Premji stayed on top of developments in the rapidly-changing IT industry thanks to an acute sense of curiosity
BUSINESS
What Xerxes Desai would have made of Tanishq’s ekatvam advertisement
The ekatvam advertisement for Tanishq jewellery, which is now in the eye of the storm, carries forward one of the features that formed the outline for Titan’s advertising in the 1990s — that of capturing the moment of gifting with the attendant emotion of being gifted something so special
BUSINESS
IBM's belated search for focus is a warning to Indian conglomerates
Conglomerates thrive on using their cash cows to fund new growth areas but every strategy has its limits
BUSINESS
Back to office will mean re-engineering lunch
Milling around the counters of the office cafe while lazily exploring the menu is not happening any time soon.
TRENDS
Edtech startups may be booming, but education in India isn’t
The boom in Edtech startups gives an impression that education is getting the priority it deserves, but the ground reality tells a different story
TRENDS
Air travel woes: A time to reminisce about the lost romance of sea voyages
As COVID-19 continues to keep international flyers from taking to the skies, it is a good time to reminisce about the world of international travel before jets compressed time and made distance immaterial.
BUSINESS
Self-reliant economies need MNCs as much as local champions
A truly self-reliant economy is one in which home-grown companies compete with the best in the world and come out on top
BUSINESS
Sports and entertainment are holding back the surge of deglobalisation
The notion of a flat world in which goods and services move seamlessly faces daily assaults from potentially destructive conflicts. In the face of such gloom, it is heartening to see that sports and entertainment remains steadfastly global, and may even have extended their reach during this pandemic
BUSINESS
Tata Sons must have a clear objective for buying out Mistry’s stake
One good reason for Tata Sons to buy out the Mistry group stake could be to complete the process of institutional professionalization at the top of the group, a process that unfortunately suffered a setback in 2011 when Ratan Tata took the decision, through the committee appointed to do so, to bring in Mistry as his successor
BUSINESS
All is not well in India’s IT ecosystem notwithstanding stock market euphoria
We live today in an era where a startup or at least an idea is being conceived every moment. The frightening velocity of technological change means the danger to existing players is manifold
BUSINESS
Paytm versus Google is really about the frightening power of platforms
Paytm’s canny leader Vijay Shekhar Sharma turned the issue into one of Indian nationalism, but the fact is home-grown platforms will soon become equally powerful and exercise the same authority over companies like his
BUSINESS
Oracle’s TikTok deal doesn’t offer a template for India
A home-grown resolution keeping in view the various sensitivities involved would be an ideal solution
BUSINESS
We don’t need to be atmanirbhar in everything
The nation and industry must make smart choices based on a clear vision of the India of the future.
