He doesn’t look like a banker. He isn’t one. Not yet. Dressed in a blue shirt, which bears the logo of the company he founded, Paytm chief Vijay Shekhar Sharma carries none of the trappings of a banker. Yet he is someone many in the banking sector are watching closely. At the India Retail Forum…
Tag: India
China Coal Control Jolts World Markets From Steel to Freight
China’s efforts to overhaul its coal industry to reduce overcapacity after years of expansion and curb pollution are reverberating through global markets from steel to freight. What’s happening? Output has fallen more than 10 percent so far this year as the government of President Xi Jinping ordered miners to lower output to the equivalent of…
The Indian Knitwear Town Gunning to Displace China in Apparel
Indian clothes maker T.R. Vijaya Kumar thinks it’s time for his country to take on Bangladesh, Vietnam and even China for leadership in the global apparel industry. He’s a second-generation manufacturer, who’s transformed his small family undershirt business in southern India into an apparel exporter of 1,700 employees and aims to double its sales by…
China consortium buys ad-tech venture Media.net for $900 million
NEW DELHI/BENGALURU: A consortium of Chinese investors has acquired ad-tech venture Media.net for about $900 million in a rare reverse merger deal being touted as the largest in the sector and which propels its India-born founders into the coveted ‘three-comma club’. Founded by Mumbai-born serial entrepreneurs Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia, Media.net develops products for advertisers…
Akash Prakash: A turn in the economy
Investors have been calling for a turn in the economy for more than 18 months now, more or less within six months of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coming to power. Those hopes have been belied – partly due to lack of adequate concrete reform measures on the part of the government and partly due…
A steadying hand
The budget confirmed the fiscal deficit target of 3.9 per cent for the current financial year, and 3.5 per cent for 2016-17. The current account deficit (CAD) remained well-contained at 1.5 per cent of the GDP, and with oil prices at $30, few expect it to be under any imminent pressure. The GDP growth rate…
24×7 power by 2019, a distant reality or just a dream?
At a meeting prior to the Maharashtra assembly polls, I heard Piyush Goyal, minister of state for power, coal and new & renewable energy, say that his government will ensure that there is 24×7 power by 2019. My initial reaction was that of cynicism because I have heard so many tall claims from the government…
India finally updates 1950s company laws
India ratified its first major overhaul of company law in more than 50 years on Thursday, seeking to strengthen accounting standards and shareholder rights in a country where many businesses are family-controlled. Parliament approved the new bill, which has provisions that allow shareholder class action lawsuits and require companies with market capitalisation of more than…
Sri Lanka to seize part of IOC’s oil depot after UN vote
Sri Lanka today announced plans that it would partially take over a strategic oil storage depot in Trincomalee from the Indian Oil Company’s local arm after India voted in favour of a US-sponsored resolution against Colombo at the UNHRC. There had been unconfirmed reports in the local media that the government was eying the 99-tank…
May revise India’s outlook if government acts: S&P
Standard & Poor’s repeats its previous stance that it may revise India’s outlook to ‘stable’ from ‘negative’ if the government implements initiatives to reduce structural fiscal deficits, improve investment climate and increase growth prospects. The comments, made in a report on Asia-Pacific Sovereign Ratings dated Wednesday, reiterate its previously stated stance. Conversely, a downgrade is…