BUSINESS
Anil Agarwal’s small bet on nickel is loaded with big possibilities
Vedanta’s appetite for buying distressed assets gives it an entry point into a sunrise sector
TRENDS
General Bipin Rawat’s tragic death should lead to higher safety standards for helicopters
Rajnath Singh told Parliament last year that the country had lost 25 aircraft and four helicopters from 2016 to 2019. Since then, seven more helicopters and nine aircraft have been lost in accidents.
BUSINESS
Can the courts clarify what the Companies Act left ambiguous?
Several high profile cases entail substantial questions of the law related to business. The decisions in each of these cases will set precedents for corporate actions in the future.
BUSINESS
Gaffes of the great: Some of the biggest failed predictions about everything from the internet to Bitcoin
From Irving Fisher's bullish view of the US stock market in 1929 to Paul Krugman's prediction that Internet growth will slow down by 2005, these are the big bad predictions that give us hope.
BUSINESS
India’s EV industry may be hitting inflection point
Competitively priced electric two-wheelers are rapidly tilting the balance in favour of electric vehicles
TRENDS
Travel in the time of Omicron: Old land routes for resolute tourists
There are many scenic routes out of India, including the 3,000 km drive down the India-Myanmar highway into Thailand, and an 8,000 km stretch to Italy.
BUSINESS
The Jack Dorsey dilemma for India’s new founder CEOs
The founder’s spirit is essential to conceive a product or service and then drive it to the market. Then comes the task of scaling the operations, setting up teams and putting in place the requisite technology and network. This is the stage when most startups have growth pangs and it is where experience and expertise come into play
BUSINESS
Corporate America’s pipeline of Indian techies may be drying up
Till the early 1990s, the number of non-white-male CEOs heading Fortune 500 corporations could be counted on the fingers of one hand. That changed at the turn of the century. Not just Indians, but Asian Americans in general as well as other minority groups
TRENDS
Chinese threat to Bollywood’s film factory
'The Battle at Lake Changjin', the highest grossing film of 2021 so far, is the most expensive Chinese movie ever made. It has been released to commemorate 100 years of the Chinese Communist Party.
TRENDS
Softened by private capital, startups are struggling with public market norms
Public markets operate under a different set of rules than private markets, some of them unwritten. Founders need to change their traditional approach to communication
TRENDS
The forgotten books that live on in our hearts
Some books are like that. The feelings they arouse, go on to mean much more than what the contents of the book did.
BUSINESS
GE is splitting, but conglomerates are not disappearing
It isn't just GE that is breaking itself up, Toshiba and Johnson & Johnson have also announced plans to split themselves
BUSINESS
Current crypto craze has the makings of another Tulip Mania
The cryptocurrency regulation bill is likely to come up before Parliament in the coming session. But any decision by the government will be hamstrung by the crores already in circulation.
BUSINESS
Ola’s credentials as a disruptor will be tested by its ability to deliver
Ola's failure to deliver a test ride or a dealer where a prospective customer can check out the product is rapidly becoming a trust deficit
CRICKET
T20 World Cup 2021 | Is the IPL hurting India’s limited-overs performance?
It is players from abroad who benefit from coming to play the IPL, but Indian cricketers don’t gain from sharpening their skills by playing cricket abroad.
BUSINESS
War for talent replaces capital as India Inc’s biggest concern
Gen Z, those between the ages of 18 and 25, that has been most impacted by the changes in work practices following the pandemic. According to the Microsoft survey quoted above, 60 percent of this cohort say they are merely surviving or flat-out struggling right now
TRENDS
Semiconductor shortage | Moore’s law leaves carmakers trailing
Moore’s Law says the number of transistors on microchips doubles every two years. Yet carmakers have been using tried-and-tested (and cheaper) technology that chip makers are no longer investing in.
TECHNOLOGY
Maruti's reluctance in electric vehicles: Does it hint at fear of losing market share?
Is Maruti’s reluctance to commit itself substantially to EVs a sign that it reads the future differently from others? Or does it represent the company’s reluctance to risk losing its dominance in cars based on internal combustion engines ?
BUSINESS
Supply constraints an opportunity for fundamental change at companies
Companies must utilise the global supply crunch to come up with innovative solutions, just as they did during the worst phase of the pandemic
TRENDS
Unending agony of the Indian football fan
India is a lowly 106 on FIFA’s ranking of countries. At a time when sports in India has been going through a purple patch, football has been the one sore spot.
BUSINESS
Indian regulators finally start to regulate
After years of being pilloried for being soft on the firms they have oversight over, the central bank and the markets regulator, it seems, have decided to intervene before another major scam causes systemic damage of the kind that we have seen in the past with IL&FS and DHFL.
TRENDS
Kolkata's Ho Chi Minh Sarani, Delhi's Janpath: why India renames its streets
The renaming bug has indeed spoilt many wonderful streets in the popular consciousness.
BUSINESS
Is Facebook too big to change?
Public outcry, critical review, regulatory censure, even steep fines, nothing seems to be able to turn the Facebook juggernaut from the path it has chosen
BUSINESS
In Zee saga, shareholders are reduced to bit players
This strange battle for control is increasingly taking on the curious narrative of pitting the company’s management against its own shareholders
