Innholdsfortegnelse for 3 December 2017 i Business Today

Commodity prices have risen sharply in the past year and a half. Global zinc prices have more than doubled. Aluminium prices have shot up, and so have copper prices. Crude oil, which had plunged to $26-27 a barrel in early 2016, has crossed $60 a barrel. With commodity prices on a roll, Anil Agarwal is raking it in. He is the world’s second-biggest producer of zinc, and has significant interests in aluminium, copper and oil (through Cairn). He is ramping up production and all his businesses are throwing up cash like never before. Call it the commodity cycle or call it luck, Anil Agarwal is ideally poised in the current market conditions. But a few years ago, things were going wrong for him. Global oil prices had started softening in…

Bowing to pressure from traders and perhaps with the sentiment in poll-bound Gujarat, the GST Council at its 23rd meeting in Guwahati, removed 178 items – including most consumer goods – from the 28 per cent peak bracket. Just 50 items are left in the list that includes luxury, sin goods and white goods. Since restaurants were not passing on benefits to customers, it lowered the rate on all restaurants from 18 per cent to 5 per cent, but without input tax credit benefits. The rate cut would mean a ₹20,000 crore hit on the exchequer in a fiscal. It’s the first major step to bring some clarity to the GST structure. Hopefully, this could well be the precursor to more such moves that make GST easier for traders and…

THE DECEMBER meeting of the WTO at Buenos Aires is likely to witness some heated debates between India and some of the developed nations on eliminating farm subsidies. India is under pressure from its farming community that wants Aggregate Measurement of Support (AMS) by developed nations, eliminated altogether. The Peace Clause in itself is quite complicated and does not allow farmers to trade MSP assured crops in the international markets. India supports 26 crops with an assured price of procurement, along with subsidy inputs. The developed nations on the other hand are pushing for a solution that limits and quantifies subsidies to 10 per cent of the GDP. And recently the situation came to a head between China and the US. At the meeting, India’s strategy will agree to a…

While the government is egging on multinational medical device manufacturers to make in India, domestic manufacturers say they are a neglected lot. Regulations, lack of government support, tax structure and price control are squeezing margins and growth, besides competition from MNCs. The ₹40,000 crore industry is 80 per controlled by MNCs. The remaining ₹8,000 crore is shared between thousands of unorganised Indian companies who make low-end products ranging from hospital beds to cotton buds. Only two Indian companies have a turnover above ₹500 crore – Chennaibased Trivitron and Transasia Biomedical. The largest player Trivitron is operating at less than 10 per cent capacity, says Chairman and MD G.S.K. Velu. Another 10 companies have a turnover ranging from ₹200-250 crore and another 25 companies have turnover of above ₹100 crore. In…

tion appears to have put the government in an overdrive. It recently moved to cancel registrations of over two lakh shell companies and disqualify three lakh people serving as directors in these companies. Government officials have been insinuating that many of these shell companies were used to deposit vast quantities of cash during demonetisation. To buttress this claim further, new data has been provided; 35,000 such companies deposited and withdrew cash to the tune of ₹17,000 crore via 58,000 accounts after demonetisation. But the government is yet to prove that the money is unaccounted for, thus justifying the deregistration of so many firms.…

20 ON THE FAST TRACK WHAT: Smart Mobility Conference WHEN: Nov 20, New Delhi WHAT TO LOOK FOR: The FICCI conference will focus on ‘smart mobility’ solutions that enable faster, greener and cheaper transportation of people and freight while reducing congestion. It will bring together Central and state government officials, policy makers, city planners, government institutions, financial institutions/ VCs, academia and industry. 20-21 SPACE MISSION WHAT:International Seminar on Indian Space Programme: Trends & Opportunities for Industry WHEN: Nov 20-21, New Delhi WHAT TO LOOK FOR: The objective of this two-day FICCI conference is to deliberate on best practices and pursue the ongoing discussion process for supporting India’s space mission. It aims to facilitate arriving at a coherent framework for India’s space sector so that it can make the most of…

1979 Anil Agarwal acquires Shamsher Sterling Corporation through a family firm 1988 Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd. makes an initial public offering of its shares and convertible debentures on Bombay Stock Exchange 1995 Sterlite Industries Ltd. acquires The Madras Aluminum Company Limited, which had India’s first Aluminum Smelter 1997 Sterlite Industries commissions first privately developed copper smelter in India at Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu 2001 Sterlite Industries acquires a 51% interest in BALCO, a profit making primary Aluminium producer, from the Government of India 2002 Sterlite Industries acquired 65% stake in Hindustan Zinc Ltd. from the Government of India and through an open market offer 2003 Vedanta Resources becomes the first Indian Company to be listed on London Stock Exchange 2004 Vedanta Resources announces $500 million global bond offering. Also acquires…

India used influence to block Chinese membership of the Missile Testing and Control Regime India is siding with Vietnam in the fight for dominance in South China sea. Despite international pressure, China continues to side with Pakistan to shield terrorist Hafiz Saeed from UN ban. India often accuses China of indulging in unfair trade practices India has decided to go slow on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership; is negotiating bilaterals with member countries. Eastern Initiatives India is already part of various groupings for greater integration with its eastern neighbours. There is the Bangladesh- Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) Motor Vehicles Agreement, signed in 2015 to enable movement of trucks and buses throughout the four countries. (This, however, has hit a snag with Bhutan’s Parliament unwilling to ratify it.) There is the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM)…

CHANGING POWERTRAIN COSTS 2017 Basic engine 30 Transmission 25 Control/Injection 20 Auxilliaries 10 Exhaust 15 2030 Battery pack 70 E-motor 20 Power electronics 5 Transmission 5 Figures in% Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, created a flutter earlier this year when he threatened the domestic automotive industry to start thinking about a future without the internal combustion engine. Speaking at the annual meeting of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers or SIAM, Gadkari was caustic. “We should move towards alternative fuel... I am going to do this, whether you like it or not. And I am not going to ask you. I will bulldoze it,” he said. “You may not like it, but I wish that your growth should be less. If this growth continues, I will…

COMPANIES worry about employee attrition in every department, but it’s especially costly in one function: sales. Estimates of annual turnover among the US salespeople run as high as 27 per cent – twice the rate in the overall labour force. In many industries, the average tenure is less than two years. While some attrition is desirable, such as when poor performers quit or are terminated, much of it isn’t – and every time a solid performer leaves, his or her company faces a number of direct and indirect costs. US firms spend $15 billion a year training salespeople and another $800 billion on incentives, and attrition reduces the return on those investments. Turnover also hurts sales: Positions may sit empty while companies recruit replacements, and the new employees must learn…

THE ONE THING EVERY young couple wants to do is save enough quickly and retire early. While that sounds easy, implementing it is quite tough. The first step is to closely track the money you spend – keep a check on how much you spend and on what, remove all unnecessary costs and invest sensibly. What’s most important is to not follow the herd. Just because your peer group is investing in huge houses, you need not follow suit. That could mean living frugally and investing in a small home when prices are low. After all, housing is the biggest expense for most people. By putting a cap on that, it is possible to save sensibly right from the beginning. Keeping a check on desires helps in the long run.…

Jewellery Rare Jewel Christie’s has partnered with Swiss jewellery brand De Grisogono for its auction on November 14 in Geneva. The highlight of The Art of de Grisogono, as it is called, is a unique asymmetrical necklace with a 163.41-carat, D colour, flawless, IIA type diamond suspended at the centre. On one side are 18 emerald-cut diamonds and two rows of pear-shaped emeralds, and on the right are cool white diamonds offering a striking contrast. Each gem is perfectly matched with its neighbour and the metal is darkened to create the chiaroscuro effect. On the eve of the 25th anniversary of De Grisogono, the founder’s vision is to expand his fine jewellery collection by working exclusively with a handful of the largest flawless diamonds of perfect polish and symmetry. Fragrance…

PPF NRI Woes If you are a non-resident Indian (NRI) or intend to be one, brace up for the latest hit. As per the latest rules, people will have to close their public provident fund (PPF) accounts and encash their national savings certificates (NSCs) when they become NRIs. If they fail to do so, both instruments will only earn interest on a par with the post office savings account rate (currently 4 per cent) from the date when the person becomes an NRI till the last day of the month following which the account will be closed. NRIs are not allowed to invest in small savings schemes such as PPF or NSC. But before this notification, they were allowed to contribute to existing PPF accounts and used to earn the…

Two big insurance initial public offers, or IPOs, hit the markets recently. Both left investors puzzled, as while Price to Earnings multiples and Profit After Tax are good indicators of a company's financial position, things are not so simple when it comes to a life insurance company in India. There are two reasons for this. One, before these two, there were no listed insurers in India, and so relative valuation was not possible. Two, the valuation of a life insurance business is not based on just the present value of the company but also on the future value of its business. Both quantitative and qualitative factors come into play while analysing a life insurer, right from persistency ratio (total business a company is able to retain in a year) to…

Crores of rupees in unclaimed money – right from old provident fund amounts when you left your earlier jobs to insurance payouts to share application money and more – is piling up but rightful owners are yet to get their hands on it. Businesses could owe you plenty of money, especially if you have been working for long or investing actively or saving regularly. But it is not uncommon to lose track of that money mostly because investments were made and policies were bought a long time ago, and you have forgotten all about it. As of now, about ₹1,56,539 crore is lying with various financial institutions as unclaimed money (see table Where Is The Money), with small savings plans, Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) and banks leading the list.…

Investment Sumanth Bhardwaj Mudigonda: I am a 26-year-old pilot from Mumbai and going to marry next year. My current take-home salary is ₹24 lakh a year. It will rise to ₹35 lakh (per annum) in the next 24 months and to ₹55 lakh in another two years. After that, there will be 2-4 per cent rise every year. The freebie I get for myself and my wife is free travel. My current expenses include a monthly house rent of ₹22,000 and a car EMI of ₹20,000 for another 58 months. Kindly tell me how much I should save so that I am secure. Ashish Shanker, Executive Vice President and Head, Investments, Motilal Oswal Private Wealth Management, replies: It is truly said that compounding is the eighth wonder of the world and…

Equities play a very significant role In generating wealth over the long term. However, investing in equity can be risky. One way to dissipate this risk and average out your returns over a period is through a brilliant method of investing called Systematic Investment Plan (SIP). SIP offers a perfect opportunity for you to invest regularly and in varying amounts across different funds. SIPs not only allow you to benefit from market volatility, it also offers a mathematically correct way of investing. When the markets are down, you get more units for the same amount of investment and vice versa. Most importantly, SIPs inculcate the much-needed investment discipline In Investors. A good way to plan for long term goals is through an SIP It helps break down your goals into…

A flawed telecom story is unfolding at the Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Communications. In the face of dire need to pare its ₹44,345 crore debt, the telco has repeatedly missed chances to clinch deals for its major key verticals – wireless telecom deal with Aircel, towers deal with Brookfield Infrastructure Group, and potential buyers for its real estate (in Delhi and Mumbai), undersea cable and optic fiber businesses. In the most recent proposal, RCom wants to pay ₹27,000 crore to lenders from the sale of its real estate and towers segments, and convert debt of ₹7,000 crore into 51 per cent of the company’s equity. This, however, would leave control with the lenders. Banks have long resisted the idea of taking control of RCom fearing they won’t be able to sell assets…

A TOTAL OF 649 companies that have declared results for the September quarter showed net sales growth of 5.8 per cent year on year as against 9.6 per cent in the previous quarter. Recovery, however, is seen in operating profits, which have grown around six percentage points in the last two quarters. Bottom line numbers turned around from a contraction of 1.9 per cent in the June quarter to 3.1 per cent growth in the September quarter. Raw material prices as a percentage of net sales inched up around one percentage points over the same period. The trend reverses if commodity companies are excluded. The sample of companies excluding the commodity sector saw deterioration in both top line and bottom line. Profit after tax declined by 2.7 per cent. The…

₹2.44 PER KWH Solar tariff levels in May 2017, the lowest ever 600% Rise in Chinese investments in renewable power between 2006 and 2017 $9.7 BILLION Amount India invested in renewable energy in 2016, compared to $5.4 billion in 2006 3,85,000 Number of people directly employed in the renewable energy sector in India 1.1 LAKH Vs 11,600 Solar pumps installed in 2014-17 vs 1991-2014 175 GW The target for renewable power capacity till 2020 RUNAWAY SUCCESS Renewable capacity growth (%) has been spectacular of late RISING CONTRIBUTION The share of renewable energy has risen 10 percentage points in the last decade STILL WAY BEHIND In spite of giant strides, India's installed capacity is low compared to the leaders 67% The share of thermal in the total power capacity, down from…

21ST CENTURY FOX IN TALKS FOR SALE 21st Century Fox is holding talks to sell most of the company to Walt Disney Co. What will be left behind is a company focussed on news and sports, say media reports. The willingness to sell comes from a belief among its senior management that scale is of immediate importance. BROADCOM MAKES $105 BN BID FOR QUALCOMM Broadcom has made a bid to buy Qualcomm for $105 billion in what would be the world’s biggest technology sector takeover. This shows how tech companies are gearing up for a world where chips will drive everything, right from phones to cars. Broadcom is the fourthlargest chipmaker in the world by value. ROBOTS TO TAKE OVER 6,000 JOBS Banking group Nordea plans to shed 6,000 jobs…

1) Founders Sonia Sharma quit her job with the Boston-based start-up Aveksha in March 2013 to start GoodWorkLabs. Her husband, Vishwas Mudagal, joined in as the co-founder in October 2014, by when the company had started growing rapidly. 2) Big idea An IT products firm that works with start-ups and Fortune 500 companies for their technology requirements – whether in design or product development – to help them build big data, mobile apps, web platforms or any other technology product. The start-up mainly serves businesses in the realms of e-commerce, education, telecom, big data, machine learning and AI. 3) Backers Bootstrapped. Sharma’s husband Mudagal initially put in ₹25 lakh as an angel investor. 4) Rivals IT outsourcing firms such as Robosoft and HappiestMinds. 5) What sets them apart “We are a…

Vedanta chief Anil Agarwal is on a roll with global prices of zinc and aluminium rising sharply over the past few months. Indeed, profits almost doubled in fiscal 2017. Vedanta may still not be in the league of Australian mining majors BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto but is on track to enter the big boys' club soon. Business Today’s Rajeev Dubey spoke to Anil Agarwal on the way forward. Excerpts. Q: How good is the commodity cycle for you? How long will it last? A: I tell my people that everybody is going to die but you must die last. Costs should be low and product quality good. We are moving with the determination of being the last man standing. I think it’s going to be long cycle. I don’t see…

Q: How much turnover do you experience in your sales force? A: It averages 28 per cent a year, but that number is a little deceptive. We sell a complex, intangible product, so there’s a steep learning curve. It takes 12 to 18 months before someone is really up to speed, and during that time, the turnover rate is unacceptably high. But after that, turnover among our “A” players is just 5 per cent. Our compensation plan ensures that we rarely lose our best salespeople. Q: If you suspect someone might leave, how effective are you at stopping that? A: If I know before they have an offer, that’s a big plus. You go in, sit down, and do an intervention. Usually they’ve had their feelings hurt somehow, so you…

The approach differs for those who have diabetes and those keen on preventing it. So, what can you do at home and at work? Those who are already coping with it have to ensure that regular treatment continues. It is important to monitor the HbA1C or glycated haemoglobin targets. It is medical jargon for a picture of the average (a three month average test) blood sugar level and should be kept ideally below 7 per cent to ensure one does not end up with complications. Along with this, ensure blood pressure and lipids are under control. Doing this, more or less, ensures gateway to a normal healthy life. For them and for all others, here is the key aspect: it is time to regulate lifestyle, which means eat healthy and…

IN JULY 1943, if Subhash Chandra Bose’s Azad Hind Fauj and the Japanese divisions had launched a combined attack on India’s Northeastern states, the British would have been hard-pressed to defend them. Reason: a massive flood in the Damodar River had disrupted coal supplies, apart from washing away the rail lines. The British pressed into action tens of thousands of labourers – men, women and children – to get the coal mines working again so that supply lines could be resumed. Luckily for the British, the attack did not come when they were most vulnerable. And thus, disaster was averted. That’s the story Subhomoy Bhattacharjee starts with in India’s Coal Story: From Damodar to Zambezi. The book could have easily ended up as an exhaustive but dull story of a…

On October 28, 2017, 94 golfers teed off on a bright Saturday afternoon at the picturesque Hyderabad Golf Course for the LLOYD Business Today Pro-Am of Champions 2018. Set alongside the heritage 400-year-old Golconda Fort complex, the Hyderabad Golf Association’s 18 hole - par 71 golf course with its significant changes in elevation, plenty of water hazards in play and slick greens, the course offers a unique golfing experience. Played on the Stableford format with Double Peoria handicap system, the windy afternoon witnessed some great golfing action with the players keenly contesting for Individual as well as Team prizes. The day’s action culminated with the prize distribution ceremony followed by dinner. The winning team comprising Madhav Kota, (Director, Brightlight Renewable Technologies Pvt. Ltd), Srinivas Suryadevera (Director, Peninsular Marketing Pvt. Ltd),…

23% The average annual returns of small-cap funds in past 3 years Prakhar Jain, 27, has been working for a few years. He usually invests in fixed deposits for saving tax. This year, encouraged by rising stock markets, he wants to put money in mutual funds. He admits he stayed away from mutual funds earlier as he did not know much about them. The main trigger now is the fall in rates offered by banks on fixed deposits. Nilesh Baddi, a Mumbai-based software engineer, used to invest intermittently in mutual funds and keep most of his savings in fixed deposits. He has now shifted completely to mutual funds and enrolled for a systematic investment plan, or SIP, in tax saving mutual funds. Nilesh, and other like him, are a happy bunch…

This year, India's largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki, is the second best performing stock among automobile companies in the world. In the last 12 months, its share price has risen nearly 52 per cent. After another stellar set of financials for the second quarter – revenues up 7.1 per cent, profits up 3.4 per cent – the stock hit an all-time high of ₹8,370.45. The company is on a high. Consumers are queuing up for its cars like never before. Yet, T. Suzuki, Chief Executive Officer of the parent company Suzuki Motor Corp, struck a note of caution by admitting that the results do not offer much comfort. Why? Suzuki thinks Maruti may end up being flat-footed should electric mobility suddenly take off in the country. The government is planning to…

₹ 140 CRORE The ITAT ruled that the payments to Google Ireland were royalties and, hence, ₹140 crore tax was due. Uncertainty over taxation of income from digital businesses of multinational companies is back in headlines. When the government announced an equalisation levy on what was earned from advertisements on websites of non-resident companies, it was assumed that the matter ended there. Recently, however, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) in Bangalore told Google India to pay tax on distribution fee paid to Google Ireland for booking ads for the latter’s Adword program. The ITAT ruled that the payments to Google Ireland were royalties and, hence, ₹140 crore tax was due. Though Google is certain to appeal in the High Court against the decision, the ITAT order has compounded existing ambiguities on…

BONDS worth ₹1.35 lakh crore are being issued to recapitalise public sector banks. The money will flow from banks, flush with funds after demonetisation, to the issuer and then pumped back as capital. These banks are struggling with high non-performing assets, and the money will help them absorb losses from higher provisioning. The government is looking at a longer maturity to ease the pressure on banks as they do not have enough avenues for lending yet. There may also be some easing of interest rate pressure via zero coupon bonds with bullet repayment on maturity. It remains to be seen who will be the final issuer of these bonds. If the government does so, the interest outgo will have implications for both the budget and the fiscal deficit.…

INDIA has jumped 30 positions to reach the 100th spot in the World Bank’s annual Ease of Doing Business ranking of 190 nations. India has also improved its distance to frontier (DTF), or distance to become the ideal investment and business-friendly state, on almost every parameter. While the ranking is relative to how other countries perform, DTF, as the measurement of absolute performance against an ideal, is a better tool to understand the nature of India’s reforms. India’s DTF upgrade came from improvement in three of the 10 parameters. Ease of paying taxes improved 18 per cent, ease of getting credit 10 per cent and ease of insolvency proceedings improved 8 per cent – resulting in increase in the overall percentage points by 4.71 per cent. To enter the top-50 list, however,…

We are always moving – from home to work, town to city, country to country; movement is so much a part of everyone’s life that no one gives much thought to it. Transport is a major consumer of energy, and an inefficient one; it converts 30 per cent of the energy it consumes into movement. As oil runs out and the environment worsens, it will get more of policymakers’ attention, but the time has not yet come. Research organised by World Bank on it is ahead of its times and has thrown up some interesting information. Its calculation is that in 2015, humans trotted up 53 trillion passenger-kilometres – almost two kilometres per human per day – while roughly four tonne-kilometres per human were transported per day. There is an…

$226 TRILLION Worldwide debt, three times more than the total economic output PAYMENTS PayPal to Start India Operations Global digital payments major PayPal has announced the launch of India operations, after offering cross-border payments services for a decade. It will compete with PayTM, which recently said it will invest ₹5,000 crore in its payments business over the next three years. PHARMA LUPIN GETS FDA NOTICE The US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) has issued a warning to Lupin for its Goa and Indore facilities for violation of good manufacturing practices. The company will not be able to secure USFDA approvals for products from these units. Lupin shares fell 17 per cent on the day of the announcement. PE/VCs INDIA SEES RECORD INFLOWS Private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) investments…

IN early 1000 metres deep in the womb of mother earth, some 80- odd kms from Udaipur in Rajasthan, a stream of monstrous 60 tonne trucks haul zinc ore over steep ramps. The deafening roar of their 760 HP engines inside Hindustan Zinc’s Sindesar-Khurd (SK) Mine is a cochlea-numbing experience. Mine chief Sanjay Kumar Sharma is hollering away on the wireless. He doesn’t have a choice as the wireless buzzes with a heady combination of Peruvian, Brazilian, Rajasthani, Punjabi, Hindi and heavily accented English from truck operators and their supervisors. Consequently, misunderstanding is not uncommon and nor is the scenario of this orderly movement of heavy duty trucks giving way to chaos. A wrong instruction could cause traffic jams lasting several hours on the one-way ramps. When they happen, Sharma…

Q: We are in an era of deglobalisation. How is Cognizant, and the IT industry, coping? A: It is much more critical to make sure that you balance two things. We work with governments around the world to balance our activities — on the one hand, it has to be good for local workers, and on the other hand, it has to be good for local businesses. What does that mean? It means you have to be committed to hiring, training and developing the local workforce as actively as you can. We have to be committed to training that expands the supply. The fact is that there is a shortage of talent in many parts of the world. The second part is that while this transition is taking place, governments…

NIKHIL GANJU, Country Manager, TripAdvisor India The taste of the Indian traveller has matured over the years. Not only are Indian travellers seeking experiences that are considered more unusual and offbeat, they are also becoming more self-reliant and drawn to the seamless and discreet travel planning process. Increasingly, travellers are explicitly demanding a deviation from the ‘template-driven’ attempts to package sell by airlines, hotels and other travel suppliers. They are also demanding more command over planning and consuming travel: Being able to check themselves in, get their baggage tags printed, purchasing extra baggage allowance, as well as other add-on services that they can decide on prior to leaving for their trip. This evolution to being more demanding and less patient means that travel businesses are often left with the challenge…

The 6th edition of Mail Today Education Conclave was an effort to bring together policy makers, institution heads, decision makers and other key education players under one roof, to explore the various synergies in the education space, draw attention to best practices and promote innovation to capture consumer interest. "The children of today should have four basic education ingredients: textbook knowledge, understanding of our country's culture and civilization, awareness about righteousness and good control of mind on their thought process." "Considering the emerging job opportunities in our knowledge-based economy, we need to prepare our students by giving them occupation oriented education so that they can be déployable on those jobs where they will be placed in future." The event was inaugurated by Dr. Satya pa I Singh, Minister of State for…

THERE’S UNDENIABLE thrill in packing a suitcase at the very last minute, there’s every chance that you may forget the essential stuff. Instead, if you pack with a formula in mind, based on tried and tested tricks, you could add immeasurably to your travel experience. ‘Roll not fold’ is what lot of people recommend. It actually makes clothes less prone to wrinkling and results in better use of precious space. Perhaps not every item of clothing lends itself to being rolled up, but most do, including trousers. Invest in some packing cubes and pouches that are available online in different sizes. Not only can you put in rolled items to stop them from getting displaced in your bag, but also quickly identify the contents of your suitcase using their different…

Why take costly drugs for fighting diabetes when there are cheaper versions available that serve the same purpose? The cost differential is huge: the cheapest cost a rupee or two and the costliest close to ₹50. Diabetes expert Dr V. Mohan argues that the focus should be on how to make the costlier ones more accessible to all as they do serve a purpose. But while prescribing them, also offer the alternative cheaper options to patients. Here are some of the benefits of the pricey drugs. For instance, the new class of Sodiumglucose Cotransporter-2 inhibitors work through the kidney but produce weight loss, as compared to some of the older drugs that increase body weight. Some of the other newer ones include the GLP-1 analogues, that also reduce weight. Those…

I Do What I Do By Raghuram G. Rajan HarperBusiness Price: ₹699 The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck By Mark Manson Harper Collins Price: ₹599 Hit Refresh By Satya Nadella Harper Business Price: ₹599 Eat That Frog! By Brian Tracy Berrett Koehler Publishers Price: ₹199 Sell: The Art, the Science, the Witchcraft By Subroto Bagchi Hachette India Price: ₹499 *Top books by sales for Oct 18 - Nov 1, 2017; Includes only books released after Jan 1, 2015; Information provided by amazon.in…

Q.The biggest challenge you faced in your career A.It was the transformation of Bajaj from a domestic manufacturer of cheap scooters to a global marketer of hi-tech bikes. That was the predicament that Bajaj was confronted with soon after liberalisation in 1991. Q. One management lesson A. Business is strategy, strategy is specialisation, specialisation is sacrifice. As you broaden the markets you seek to address, you must narrow the products/ services that you endeavour to offer. Q.Your best teacher in business A. From world renowned homoeopath Dr Rajan Sankaran I learned that just as the wellness of the material organs of a person resides in his immaterial immune system, the performance of the visible resources of an organisation is determined by its invisible strategy. From yogacharya Guruji BKS Iyengar I…

Innovative products, effective distribution models and wider use of technology are required for the growth of insurance in India. Pushan Mahapatra, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of SBI General Insurance, talks with Teena Jain Kaushal on how the industry is gearing up for changes. Q: Several new players are about to enter the general insurance space. Will it lead to aggressive pricing? A: The general insurance space has been fairly competitive in terms of pricing even before the emergence of the recent entrants. The competition meant insurers must focus on innovation in products and processes. For retail products, servicing, brand and reach of the insurer also play an important part. How are insurers integrating technology for effective claim settlements? A: Some key technologies which will impact claim settlements include…