Innholdsfortegnelse for 8-Aug-21 i Business Today

Kundapur Vaman Kamath, the former boss of ICICI Bank and the New Development Bank, has a simple explanation for why many of the erstwhile large business groups, led by well-known industrialists of the time, fell. The one big reason, the ace banker says, was that raising large amounts of debt to grow the businesses was seen to be the right thing to do at the time. Kamath, and many other bankers like him, have seen a number of these business groups set out a scorching growth pace backed by humongous amounts of debt, only to find themselves either at the wrong end of business cycles, or faced with withering demand. As these groups chased growth ambitions — often in unrelated areas — and borrowed to feed these plans, servicing these…

India’s external debt rose 2.1 per cent year-on-year to $570 billion in FY2021, with most of the increase coming from depreciation of the US dollar against the rupee and other major currencies The external debt-to-GDP ratio rose from 20.6 per cent to 21.1 per cent. long-term debt increased 3.8 per cent to $468.9 billion, while short-term debt slid 5.4 per cent to $101.1 billion In long-term debt, external commercial borrowings fell 2.9 per cent, while non-resident Indian deposits jumped 8.7 per cent EXTERNAL DEBT ($ billion) Source: RBI Total Debt FY20 $558.4 bn Total Debt FY21 $570 bn…

The last 15 months have been a non-stop downhill slide for Ananya Bahl, who runs a small unit manufacturing mobile chargers in Delhi’s Samaypur Badli industrial area. The second-generation entrepreneur’s woes started last March after the nationwide lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. That meant the 27-year-old couldn’t collect his dues from pre-Covid sales. His costs spiralled after the lockdown was lifted. Now, as the second wave ebbs with the possibility of a third looming, Bahl’s business has all but been run into the ground. “There is no demand, due to which manufacturing units have been impacted. Compared with March 2020, output has plummeted by almost 80-90 per cent,” says the second-generation entrepreneur. “Even if you set aside the generic cost of transport, specific raw materials related to my sector…

Studies have shown a direct correlation between employee engagement and their productivity at the workplace Humanising the virtual onboarding process remains a challenge, say HR heads New hires are taking time to adapt to the office culture in a virtual set-up, thanks to long spells of working in isolation Lack of informal, organic connections are forcing a number of them to quit soon after, say experts Establishing a connection with teammates and the organisation is turning out to be a key challenge for new employees…

The Covid-19 pandemic has made people realise the importance of building an emergency fund to deal with possible medical emergencies, salary cuts or job losses. Since the fund can be needed any time, it is usually invested in fixed rate instruments so that the returns can be known with certainty. However, sharp interest rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to combat economic slowdown have impacted returns of most fixed income investments. The widely popular liquid funds, too, have been hit. Some investment experts recommend arbitrage funds as an alternative to liquid funds. These funds buy shares in the cash market and sell an equal number of shares in the futures market, making money from the price difference between the two markets. Since the equity positions are fully…

Projects worth ₹51,000 crore were completed in the quarter ended June 2021, a near 54 per cent drop from the March quarter However, the total represents only 154 of the 245 completed projects in the quarter as Covid-19 affected both project implementation and data collection about ₹3.1 lakh crore worth of projects were completed in FY21, well below the ₹5.2 lakh crore in FY20 and less than half the ₹6.5 lakh crore in FY19 Data for June quarter not available; numbers rounded off; Source: CMIE…

The rags-to-riches story of Arokiaswamy Velumani, the founder of diagnostics chain Thyrocare, is well-known and a motivation for aspiring entrepreneurs. He was born in a poor family in a village on the outskirts of Coimbatore. His mother funded his education from whatever little she earned from her two buffalos. He graduated in science and after years of struggle got a job at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai. He worked there for 15 years before starting his own business, painfully building up a diagnostics chain with a one lakh square feet central laboratory in Navi Mumbai. He lived in a small portion of the lab and recruited mostly freshers whom he wanted to help considering his own early struggles. The 62-year-old hogged headlines recently when he sold his pan-India…

Infosys Interactions with managers via Launchpad; Q Café (small virtual communities) for new hires Marico Virtual listening tool ‘Amber’ for new employees to share their feedback Diageo India A 360-degree virtual walkthrough of its factory to see operations Tata Motors Empowering fresh hires with decision-making powers HCL Tech Scaling up the ‘Buddy’ programme to hand-hold new joiners L’Oreal India ‘Culture Decoding’ sessions; ‘FIT’ meetings to define responsibilities…

Hasmukh Adhia is not just another retired IAS officer. As someone who held key positions in the finance ministry at the time of the government’s most-debated economic decisions — introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and demonetisation — he was one of the most high-profile officers leading from the front. Three years since his retirement, Adhia has been pursuing his passion, yoga and meditation, which he has been practising even during his North Block days, and learning scriptures, including the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita. He did his PhD in yoga during 2007-10, in the midst of a busy career. Eight years later, post retirement, he has moved to Srirangapatna in Karnataka to be with his spiritual guru and learn more about Indian scriptures. Adhia takes up lecture…

Diageo India considers its factories the backbone of its operations, so much so that all new recruits are taken on a half-day tour of the alcohol maker’s plant to give them a sense of what the company does. It’s a part of their two-day assimilation process where newcomers are brought together under one roof at the company’s headoffice in Bengaluru. But that was before the pandemic hit. “When a new hire comes to one of our sites, a lot more than the conversation comes through. They see the factory and get to connect with the company, which is bigger than meeting just the interviewer on Zoom. How to get candidates excited about the company, the culture and opportunity without meeting the person now?” asks Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) Aarif…

Spend each day trying to be a little wise than you were when you wake up,” the quote by legendary investor Charlie Munger tells us the importance of knowledge and learning. While there is a need to seek professional expertise when it comes to investing, divorcing yourself from the process completely can be injurious for your money. You should be able to perform basic supportive tasks on your own. For instance, you need not call your financial advisor for an account statement of your mutual fund. Get more involved in the planning process itself. Do basic calculations such as the amount of insurance you will need. After all, it’s your money and nobody understands your financial situation better than you. Further, concealing your financial information from your spouse or other…