TRENDS
Punjab’s crippling debt is an insult to the Partition era refugees who drove its success
Punjab’s accumulated debt in the past year-and-a-half has crossed Rs 47,000 crore, and its outstanding debt is now nearly 50 percent of its GDP. This is a state whose GDP per capita rank was No. 1 till about 1981.
TRENDS
Year Ender 2023 | Book lists are so last century
Year end lists of books read has enshrined itself in our minds and socio-cultural spaces as the intellectual ornament to be flashed to show supremacy. Yet even the best editors can't agree on which books to read and why.
BUSINESS
As Sajjan Jindal battles sexual harassment charges, the ball is in the board’s court
Hopefully, the Singhania family dispute will soon get resolved and Jindal will be cleared of the charges. But what happens in the interim? Should the two step down till such time as their personal issues are sorted?
TRENDS
Paint the town peach fuzz, says Pantone
For the last two decades the Pantone Color Institute based in New Jersey, US, has provided annual colour prompts to industry to tweak merchandise colours in its bid to marry business and marketing in one fell swoop.
BUSINESS
Sony faces Hobson’s choice with Zee merger
Does it go ahead with the deal and wait for the legal challenges to play out, is the question
TRENDS
KBC contestant Alolika Guha’s joie de vivre is the only life hack we need
Kaun Banega Crorepati TV show contestant Alolika Bhattacharjee Guha’s infectious laughter and joyful banter with show host and actor Amitabh Bachchan prove that money can't buy you happiness.
BUSINESS
The woes of Indian airlines threaten more pain for fliers
Despite a healthy growth in passenger traffic, Indian airlines are expected to close FY24 with losses of Rs 7,000 crore according to rating agency ICRA
TECHNOLOGY
Rising debate around Artificial Intelligence is the surest sign that it is here to stay
A safe and equitable future, is that what we can hope from AI? Maybe, with careful bioethics, yes, indeed.
BUSINESS
EV push stalls in America, but gains momentum in India
India, it would seem, has got its strategy of pushing sales of 2- and 3-wheelers and increasingly public buses, right
CRICKET
Loss aversion: The psychological inevitability of India’s loss in the World Cup final
There is an asymmetric relationship between loss aversion and winning, with the pain of losing being twice that of gaining.
BUSINESS
The chaos at OpenAI is less about AI and more about the money
Commercializing AI remains the ultimate goal of all the parties concerned
BUSINESS
Why India Inc's boardrooms need to look younger
Indian companies need younger board members who are more in tune with their markets, in line with demographic changes
INDIA
Remembering Indira Gandhi, a feminist before her time
By grabbing power and then proceeding to secure her position, Indira Gandhi laid the way for women in India in a way that is difficult to imagine today when women still need the support of male MPs to reserve a place for them in Parliament.
BUSINESS
A sad end to Subrata Roy’s rags-to-riches-to-rags story
Subrata Roy made a promising start as a high flying business magnate only to lose his way, descending into irrational excesses and breaking the trust of small investors wooed by the promise of exponential returns. Once the garden variety scam was exposed, all his attempts to raise funds and salvage his ventures floundered
TRENDS
Diwali 2023: Magic of marigolds in our midst
The yellow orange spectrum strums happy tidings in the human heart. No wonder the marigold flower has gone down very well as an augury of auspiciousness.
BUSINESS
WeWork’s insolvency is a warning to Indian startups like Byju’s
Any hopes of a recovery by WeWork have been dashed by its latest results which show that the company’s core business continues to be deeply loss-making
TRENDS
Wokeism takes a hit as Malala and Greta Thunberg weigh in on Gaza conflict
Why wokes around the world have been put on notice.
BUSINESS
Shrinking IT jobs reflect the sector’s refusal to take risks
Had IT firms embraced disruptive new technologies such as generative artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, they would still need fewer people. The difference though is that margins would have remained unaffected
TRENDS
Dealing with the menace of spam calls
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s 'do not call' registry has been a complete washout. However, some relief may come from penalties imposed on culprits and the new Digital India Act 2023.
BUSINESS
Dabur faces every healthcare company’s worst nightmare
Three foreign subsidiaries of Dabur face lawsuits over allegations that their hair relaxer products contain chemicals that cause ovarian cancer, uterine cancer and other health issues
TRENDS
Remembering Arvind Mafatlal, an industrialist whose vision embraced societal well-being
In 1967, as Bihar suffered from a terrible famine, Arvind Mafatlal came to one small district, Ranka, in response to the call for help. What he saw there had a profound, life-altering impact on him.
BUSINESS
Fraud at Bank of Baroda rocks the very foundations of banking
The implicit trust that customers place in a bank, that too a government-owned bank, has been broken. The punishment seems mild in comparison
CRICKET
Transformation of cricket from sport to business is complete
Business of cricket, from free live streaming of World Cup matches to cricket ad spots and sponsors, and cricket academies.
BUSINESS
What's the connection between the UAW strike in the US and India's auto sector?
The strike is not just about wages but also protecting employment in the wake up of an inevitable shift to battery-powered electric vehicles from internal combustion engine vehicles
