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
The case for loosening is getting stronger
As inflation eases, central banks now find themselves at the most difficult point in the policymaking cycle
Marketing Musings: Small is beautiful in FMCG land, but for how long?
Smaller and niche brands are stealing a march over the market leaders but in the battle between value and valuation, which one will succeed?
Meet Flip, the startup snatching an opening in ecommerce left by Amazon and TikTok
Buy a product, make a video convincing your friends to buy it, make money, repeat – termed "social commerce" – analysts say this is ecommerce's future and a $100 billion market by 2025. Flip is entering this space amid Amazon missing a compelling social platform and TikTok's limited inroads into shopping
India and the UK are being too cautious in free-trade talks
A confident India should seize an opportunity for freer trade with one of the few rich countries still desperate for trade deals. The UK, genuinely convinced of its ability to chart a path independent of Europe, should make concessions on migration and rules of origin that fit with that self-image
Foxconn: The iPhone maker is now chasing EVs and satellites
Global tech companies are trying to figure out what’s to come after successive booms in desktop PCs, mobile phones, laptops and smartphones. The true moneymaker is inside, with all the cables, components and microcomputers and this is where Foxconn wants to cash in
South Korea: Lessons from an export hub’s lucky economic escape
South Korea's economy doesn't get the respect it deserves: Crucial exports are recovering, the labor market is resilient, and the expansion is still very much alive. Korea is a useful barometer, but should the US slip into recession and the world follows, the country won’t withstand the tide
Should retail traders be discouraged from trading in options?
Should retail traders be discouraged from trading in options?
Battery makers brace for transition to new energy solutions
Investors may see return ratios dip as capex in L-ion facilities and marketing strategies take time to fructify into sustainable revenue
Biden-Xi Summit: Challenge is to continue US-China engagements despite tensions
There are deep and fundamental differences and stressors between the US and China that preclude any major breakthroughs or a new detente or a grand bargain coming out of the Xi-Biden meeting. A commitment to continued engagement, as has been happening in the run-up to this meeting between both sides, and reviving military-to-military dialogue would be a good outcome
How OLX is reshaping CarTrade Tech’s growth outlook
After the closure of OLX car trading platform, CarTrade Tech is left with the classifieds business, the largest such platform in India
Chart of the Day: India - Outsourcing capital of the world
With the transfer of information over the internet from one corner of the world to the other becoming super-fast and cheap, countless business opportunities started arriving at Indian shores
Remembering PRS Oberoi: A visionary who focussed on being the best
PRS Oberoi was proud of the hotels he built. He never compromised on trying to sign up a hundred hotels, his focus was always on quality over quantity. He started Make In India, 30 years ago, when it was not in vogue and made the whole world look at Indian hospitality as the best in the world
Is the commodity bull run facing a threat?
A host of commodities are in bear territory, which raises a question of what should investors or traders do in this market
Is this the end of Higher-for-longer?
The fall in inflation in the US confirms the view of investors that both inflation and interest rates are headed lower next year, leading to a rally in the bond and equity markets
Smallcap cycles: Simultaneously brilliant and vicious
Within the small-cap realm, relatively smaller market capitalisation companies have experienced higher average returns, along with a greater proportion of companies providing returns exceeding 100 percent
Listing in the US may boost European cement majors stock valuations
Suppliers of cement are set to be huge beneficiaries of Joe Biden’s $2 trillion investment splurge. Winners include several European giants: CRH, Holcim and Heidelberg – yet their shares are valued at a fraction of US peers. Listing shares in the US, as CRH did recently, might encourage investors to give them a second look
Why the Mediation Act 2023 is a great leap forward
Given India’s huge pendency of cases, mediation accords an opportunity to solve disputes before they become tangled in courtroom procedures, backlogs and systemic overheads. The delays affect both the individual and the state. Making mediation compulsory in all civil and commercial cases is the way to go
$266 trillion to combat climate change is a no-brainer
An estimated $266 trillion has to be invested between now and 2050 to limit and adapt to climate change. But even such huge numbers are pennies compared with the damage that will accumulate if we don’t make these investments. That could amount to $2.3 quadrillion by the end of the century
Crispr offers hope for a one-time cholesterol drug
Initial data from a human clinical trial suggests an experimental drug from Verve Therapeutics that uses gene editing to permanently lower cholesterol raises hopes that people can one day trade daily lipid-lowering pills for a one-time treatment
India needs faster trains to compete with China on exports
What has local train travel got to do with exports? Analysis suggests a strong link. A one-standard-deviation increase in geographic integration leads to a 4% rise in a firm’s export revenue, driven by a 5% reduction in the unit price of exported products and a 9% increase in export volume
AI race between nations and the spectre of digital imperialism
Any concentration of power may result in the extraction of data, resources and influence from less developed nations, perpetuating a form of digital colonialism
Unity, not division, could help evolve climate, biodiversity finance roadmap
The proposed Loss and Damage Fund to be delivered by the World Bank is welcome, but it should not be considered the only source of climate finance
This rare UN peacekeeping success offers model for Gaza
The transition force for Gaza should have a clear mandate to use weapons, include trained police, and its composition should be chosen carefully to ensure locals trust the peacekeepers they meet, while Israel can trust its overall commanders. This is hard but it can be done by the UN, because it has been done before
India’s NBFC sector: Connecting the last mile
The RBI has released a new annual report, called India Finance Report. This year’s theme is NBFCs, and the IFR focuses on NBFCs’ role in financial inclusion, rapid digitisation and emerging stresses in the sector
