China's Latest Crackdown
China's ed-tech industry has crumbled after the government forced them to register as non-profit organisations. The majority of Chinese ed-tech firms are built on foreign capital. And, this move is largely designed to reduce foreign intervention into their education system.
This move has wiped out many business models overnight in China. But, it could bring in great gains for India's private education sector. In the words of Byju Raveendran, Founder of Byju's, a great number of funds could now find chasing companies in India's ed-tech sector. That is even visible with Byju's being on an acquisition spree. The company has spent over $2 billion in acquisitions in the last six months.
Tesla Backtracking on India?
Tesla's CEO Elon Musk has flagged high import duties levied by India as a reason for the delay in setting up a factory in the country. According to him, India needs to differentiate between electric cars and traditional cars and design import duty structures accordingly. Tesla has also sought 40% import duty on fully assembled electric cars. The current applicable rate is 60% for vehicles priced below $40,000 and 100% on vehicles above that threshold.
While no official government word is out on this matter, it is clear that the government will need to reduce import duty if it is serious about creating a thriving EV market in the country. The country currently lacks EV-friendly infrastructure. And, to create that, the government needs to provide a conducive environment for all the players involved.
No Easy Way Out
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has declined the possibility of printing more currency to tide over the economic slowdown. The FM rejected the idea of printing more money and put it in the hands of people to spur up consumption.
Rejecting the possibility of printing more currency, the FM clearly stated that the pace of economic recovery has picked up with a good response to the Atmanirbhar Bharat scheme.
Printing new money is surely an easy way out to revive consumption. But, it creates massive ill effects in the form of inflation. The inflation is already above 6%, and the government wouldn't want to add more fuel to it by bringing new money into circulation.