Business Today 3-Jun-2018

THOUGH the country’s GDP growth remained firmly over 6 per cent – no mean achievement – in the past three years, times were not particularly good for corporate India, barring a handful of sectors. The twin shocks of demonetisation and rollout of GST showed up in anaemic revenue growth. In the past three years, the 8,948 companies – listed and unlisted – that form the universe of the ACE equity corporate database used for this study, showed that revenue grew at a CAGR of 3.9 per cent. Of the three years, 2016 was the worst year, with annual revenues for the group as a whole actually declining by 0.5 per cent. When research head Niti Kiran made a shortlist of companies (after excluding banks, finance and trading companies), only 647 companies…

STAY CONNECTED WITH US ON www.facebook.com/BusinessToday@BT_India PERSPECTIVES Why It’s Time for Management Education to Turn the Page Singapore Management University President, Arnoud De Meyer, has a four-point mantra on how management education needs to change to stay relevant businesstoday.in/management-mantra Will China’s Tariff Exemption Lead to Increase in India’s Pharma Exports? The Chinese government’s decision to remove import duties on key medicines is an attempt to bring down this health care cost businesstoday.in/china-healthcare NEWS Carmakers Off to a Solid Start in 2019 Homegrown carmakers, like Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, and Mahindra and Mahindra, have reported healthy set of numbers businesstoday.in/healthy.numbers-carmakers Indian Rupee Is One of the Three Worst-performing Emerging Market Currencies Domestic factors are the major players behind the collapse of emerging market currencies businesstoday.in/emerging.markets-currencies Domino’s Pizza Is on Growth Mode…

On May 8, the US announced a unilateral pull-out from a three-year-old nuclear deal with Iran. The fallout was instant - a sudden spurt in crude oil prices and the dollar appreciated against other currencies. Trump had a clear message for all that have strategic or trade relations with Iran: Ignore the US line at one’s own peril. It also has serious implications for India that goes much beyond the $12.5 billion bilateral trade engagement it has with that country. True, as the third largest crude oil source after the UAE and Saudi Arabia, Iran has an important role in keeping our import bill, and hence current account deficit, under check. But the relationship with Iran is not just about oil. India is the development partner of Iran’s only deep sea Chabahar…

WALMART ANNOUNCED it had signed agreements to become the largest shareholder in Flipkart. The world’s largest retailer would pay $16 billion for an initial stake of approximately 77 per cent in India’s largest e-commerce company with a current GMV of $7.5 billion and net sales of $4.6 billion in 2017/18. The sale, one of the biggest e-commerce deals in the world, places a spotlight on Indian start-ups. Thus far, the sector has struggled for lack of exits. There are three exit options – IPO, acquisition or a big secondary sale. IPOs have been rare (Make-MyTrip, JustDial, Infibeam and BharatMatrimony are some of them). Estimates of secondary sales vary. Indian traditional businesses failed to make big-ticket acquisitions. Now, a top multinational buying the lion’s share of Flipkart changes things again. One,…

THE DRAFT national telecom policy has stirred up debate on the overambitious targets of the government outlined in the policy document. The draft talks about a number of objectives with specific timelines. For instance, there is mention of providing wired broadband access to 50 per cent households in the next four years. The current broadband penetration stands at about 30 per cent, and a major chunk of it includes mobile broadband. Among other “exaggerated” targets, attracting investment of $100 billion over the next four years, has caught everyone’s attention. Over the past two years, some telcos have been forced to shut shop or quit the country. Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular are not in the best of health either. While the existing telcos will continue to invest to stay competitive…

RECORD PRODUCTION and subdued prices for purchase have traditionally been a problem that increased the payment burden on sugar mills. Already farmers’ arrears have hit ₹19,000 crore, necessitating government intervention. The government’s ‘help’, however, came in the form of providing a portion of the arrear (₹ 5.50 per quintal of cane, this year) directly to the farmers on behalf of the mills. While the decision will no doubt help struggling farmers, the proposal to fund the expenses by reintroducing the pre-GST practice of sugar cess has come under severe criticism. However, the final decision on levying a sugar cess will be taken by the GST Council. The government should come up with a permanent solution to this recurrent issue, and rapidly. Even if the solution is too late for the current…