Business Today

ACCELERATING GROWTH Established in 1992, 'Guidance' is the Government of Tamil Nadu's nodal agency for investment promotion and single window facilitation. The aim is to promote Tamil Nadu as the most preferred investment destination by reaching out,

This is the highest level since at least 1991 Fiscal Deficit (%) 2020-21 - Revised Estimates; 2021-22 - Budget Estimates Projected to be 1.6% less than FY21 revised estimates Central Government Receipts (₹lakh cr) Just 0.98% up from FY21 revised numb

↘India’s merchandise trade deficit exceeded the pre-Covid level in December by rising to $15.7 billion from $9.9 billion in November ↘The rise was led by first YoY surge in imports since February of 7.6 per cent. Exports, on the other hand, fell 0.8

↘The government has projected 14.5 per cent contraction in gross fixed capital formation or GFCF (it had fallen 28.1 per cent in first half of the year) ↘The ratio of GFCF to GDP, at current prices, is expected to fall to 27.6 per cent, the lowest si

PFCE is private final consumption expenditure; GFCE is government final consumption expenditure; GFCF is gross fixed capital formation; GCF is gross capital formation; source: MOSPI, CMIE ↘ India’s real gross domestic product (GDP) will contract 7.7

↘ A total of 14.7 million jobs were lost between March and December. Urban India accounted for 32 per cent employment at the end of FY20 but accounted for 34 per cent jobs lost between then and December ↘ The highest number of job losses were in >=15

↘Freight traffic carried by Indian Railways rose 8.6 per cent in December to 118.3 million tonnes compared with 108.9 million tonnes in December 2019 ↘Freight earnings grew 7 per cent to ₹11,800 crore. Earnings per million tonnes fell 1.5 per cent to

↘ Automobile retail sales rose 11 per cent to 18,44,143 in December ↘ Tractors stole the show with 44 per cent rise, followed by passenger vehicles (24 per cent) rise and two-wheelers (11.9 per cent) ↘ The biggest fall was in three-wheelers ■

↘ The beer & alcohol industry is expected to add 193.1 thousand kilolitres capacity in FY21. This is substantially lower than the 524.6 thousand kilolitres added last year ↘ The reason is fall in demand. Beer production had slumped 98.5 per cent in A

↘ The index of consumer expectations rose in December after a sharp deterioration in the wake of the Covid-19 lockdown ↘ The index had a base of 100 in September-December 2015. Its performance was below 100 in FY17, FY18 and FY19 before it scaled up

Dr. Sudhir Kumar Mishra DG (BrahMos), DRDO and CEO & MD BrahMos It was a jubilant moment for your team when the world's fastest cruise missile BrahMos built in JV with Russia was test fired successfully. What does that mean to you as CEO & MD of the

The BSE Sensex, the 30-stock bellwether index of the Bombay Stock Exchange, zoomed 2,315 points — rising 5 per cent — on the day Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented Union Budget 2021/22. The buoyancy continued the next day too, indicating t

The highest-ever healthcare allocation in a budget will provide the much-needed boost to the ailing economy, and pave the way for a robust, holistic public healthcare infrastructure to tackle future pandemics, according to industry experts. The Budge

Fiscal deficit for FY21 estimated at 9.5% of GDP, sharp deviation from pre-lockdown estimate of 3.5% Disinvestment target of ₹1.75 lakh crore for FY22, plans to privatise two PSU banks, one insurance company Budget outlay for Health and Wellbeing at

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman read out proposals related to the infrastructure sector immediately after announcing the much-anticipated measures on healthcare. In her speech outlining the vision for Atma Nirbhar Bharat, which contained six pill

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman reiterated the Centre’s commitment to privatise most government-owned firms barring a few in four strategic sectors, in her Budget speech. She also announced a comprehensive asset monetisation plan by creating a Na

It has been discussed for over a decade now, but at long last, the government announced a scrappage policy for passenger vehicles older than 15 years and commercial vehicles older than 20 years in Budget 2021. Though voluntary in nature to begin with

A pragmatic approach or status quo on direct taxes, what worked in favour of the bulls? It’s probably a mix of both. Indian equities gave a big thumbs-up to Budget 2021, as indices broke a six-day losing streak and closed with a 5 per cent gain on Bu

Starting from Lucknow's Chandsarai village, it will pass through Barabanki, Amethi, Sultanpur, Faizabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Azamgarh, Mau to reach Haidarya village in Ghazipur. 340.24 km Total estimated cost-Rs23,349 crore (inclusive of land cost}, Cost

Nestled in the lap of Vindhya hills, the areas under the present districts of Sonbhadra and Mirzapur have been a major centre of faith, purity and holiness since ancient times. How highly regarded this revered place was is evident from this couplet o

The years 2021 will bring with it a new gift of development for Uttar Pradesh when the country's longest expressway called Purvanchal Expressway will open. Being built by Uttar Pradesh Industrial Expressways Development Authority under the direction

➚ Exactly one day (March 23) before Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced countrywide lockdown on March 24, just 72 coronavirus tests had been conducted in the KGMU lab, and Banaras Hindu University had only the screening facility. ➚Under the able g

The strategy of contact tracing to break the chain of corona infections in Uttar Pradesh, prepared and implemented under the direction of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, has now become an example for other countries of the world. Describing the exerc

Why did you propose a counter-cyclical fiscal policy? The idea is simple. Intrinsically, an economy always has its ups and downs. There are business cycles, peaks and troughs. If the fiscal policy is counter-cyclical what does that mean? When the eco

The outbreak of Covid and the resulting lockdown threatens to start a new non-performing asset (NPA) cycle that will further hit banks, especially public sector banks (PSBs), which have been finding it almost impossible to lend for long gestation pro

“What defines us is how well we rise after falling,” American author and motivational speaker Zig Ziglar had said famously. The Indian equity market seems to be re-establishing this with a remarkable upsurge from its March 20200 bottom. Benchmark ind

In one of the toughest years to present a Union Budget — when the Indian economy witnessed the sharpest GDP contraction in years due to the Coronavirus outbreak — Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman went all out to increase capital expenditure in inf

Budget 2021 has left personal income tax rates unchanged. Except for some procedural relief, no monetary comfort was announced for small taxpayers. Although the Covid cess did not make its way — feared the most in pre-Budget discussions — high-income

India’s biggest advantage, its demographic dividend -- where its working age population is more than its dependent population -- can become its biggest nightmare without sufficient employment avenues. The year 2020 will be known for business shutdown

After being on a downward trajectory since March 2020, bank credit growth is showing signs of uptick — it grew 3.2 per cent during April-December FY21, against 2.7 per cent in FY20 — primarily due to strong festive demand. Incremental disbursements (

11% Year-on-year decline in container traffic across major Indian ports in April-December 2020 Over the past four-five months, Patton International, a Kolkata-based electrical conduit fittings manufacturer, has been sending, on average, two container

It is important to take a look at the global stock market landscape from a distance. At least once in a while anyway! And if you step back and take a 30-year view, one thing towers above the rest — that American stock markets have delivered returns f

After an unprecedented year in 2020, India's manufacturing sector is already facing its first major challenge in 2021 — rising raw material prices. Since the economy started opening up in May last year, prices of key inputs such as steel, copper, alu

Tucked away neatly in the corner of the study in the ‘White House’, the residence of the Guptas of the ₹10,000-crore Havells India in the leafy neighbourhood of Civil Lines in North Delhi, is a professional microphone. One can mistake it as a tool to

It's been a year when almost every business has re-invented business models. And the change is continuing. In the same spirit, Business Today’s annual business conclave – the eighth edition of BT MindRush — was also re-imagined. The theme of the firs

It will be interesting to know what the pandemic has taught you … The pandemic has been a great learning experience. The first is the huge effort of the team to ensure that our stores are open and our supply chain fully functional despite working rem

At 40, Anuj Mathur, MD & CEO, Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance, realised he was not in the pink of health. “I was often tired. I was burning out. That’s when I got into proper routine and fitness became part of my life. Not a day

SANJEEV KRISHAN, Chairman, PwC India Q. What was the problem you were grappling with? A. At one time, I was involved in multiple things and was doing fine in five areas of the business I was involved in. Q. Who did you approach? A. I approached a glo