Foreign portfolio flows in 2020 turn positive after Covid-19 jitters
Foreign portfolio investment (FPI) in domestic equities has turned positive for the year. Sustained flows over the past four months have helped erase the deficit caused by record selling in March and April. Currently, FPI flows into equities on a year-to-date basis stand at $230 million. Overseas flows into the debt segment, however, are still negative at $14.6 billion. Read More
GoM to take up proposal on gold e-way bills to check tax evasion, smuggling
The proposal to introduce e-way bills on movement of gold has gathered momentum, on the back of subdued GST collections and rising prices of the yellow metal. A Group of Ministers (GoM) led by Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac will take up the proposal — aimed at checking tax evasion and smuggling — on Friday. Given the security concerns over movement of gold, an encrypted version of the e-way bill is being considered. Read More
Covid-19 impact: Edtech firm Byju's nears $1-billion revenue milestone
After earning the Decacorn status (start-ups that are valued at more than $10 billion) in late June, home-grown edtech firm Byju’s is now inching towards the $1-billion revenue milestone. Though that milestone may not be reached in FY21, Byju’s is certainly within kissing distance of it. According to founder and CEO Byju Raveendran, the Bengaluru-based company has already hit a revenue run rate of Rs 6,000 crore ($802 million) on the basis of its revenues in July. Read More
Blessing in disguise: Pandemic gives a leg up to Edtech major upGrad
It was finally towards the end of 2013 that Mayank Kumar hit the final nail on the head. In late 2013, he found himself in a faceless and nameless engineering college in Greater Noida area, one of the innumerable institutions that dot the North Indian landscape, while working on a project for German media company Bertelsman. For all practical purposes, the college didn’t appear to be functional. Read More
Unlock BFSI 2.0: Rural India revival difficult to sustain, say economists
Some of the top economists of the country have cautioned against euphoria over Bharat sustaining India, and said it may not last as structural problems still afflict rural areas. They were speaking at the first of a series of webinars being organised by Business Standard under “Unlock BFSI 2.0”. The discussions were moderated by Tamal Bandopadhyay, consulting editor, Business Standard. Read More
Hindustan Aeronautics' light combat chopper cutting its teeth in Ladakh
A day after the Ministry of Defence (MoD) cleared the acquisition of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd’s (HAL’s) HTT-40 basic trainer aircraft, HAL announced that its light combat helicopter (LCH) is also ready for combat deployment. “In light of the prevailing situation on the (Ladakh) border, two HAL-produced LCHs have been deployed for operations at high altitude in the Leh sector,” the company announced on Wednesday. Read More
Covid-19: Britain enters recession as GDP tumbles 20.4%, worst in Europe
Britain’s economy shrank by a record 20.4 per cent between April and June when the coronavirus lockdown was tightest, the largest contraction reported by any major economy so far, with a wave of job losses set to hit later in 2020. Official figures published on Wednesday also showed the world’s sixth-biggest economy entered a recession as it shrank for a second quarter in a row. Read More
Don't follow the herd: Make buy-sell decisions based on asset allocation
The Association of Mutual Funds in India’s monthly data on mutual fund (MF) flows held an element of surprise. Equity MFs witnessed outflows worth Rs 2,480 crore in July — the highest in seven years. Shorter-duration funds, on the other hand, received money. Investors also gravitated towards fund-of-funds of international schemes and gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Read More
PM Modi to unveil friendly measures for honest taxpayers ahead of I-Day
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to unveil new measures to promote tax-friendliness and transparency, during a video conference with officers and taxpayers scheduled for Thursday. These measures may include the unveiling of a taxpayer charter to empower assessees by outlining their rights to get time-bound services, and expansion of the scope of faceless assessment to prevent harassment. Read More