Innholdsfortegnelse for 28 September 2025 i Business Today

CONSUMERS, ESPECIALLY THE middle class and salaried, have rarely had it so good. For long, they have complained of rising inflation and high taxes and equated monthly instalments (EMIs) eating into their disposable incomes and sought relief from the government. This was mirrored in sluggish growth in consumption demand, the biggest driver of India’s gross domestic product (GDP), over the last few years. Over the past six months, the government has made a concerted effort to turn things around. It began with the FY26 Union Budget, which announced income tax cuts for individuals, followed by 100 basis points of repo rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) Monetary Policy Committee, making loans cheaper. It cut rates by 25 basis points each on February 7 and April 9 this year,…

SANAND, 40 KMS from Ahmedabad airport, is home to India’s semiconductor ambitions. Barely 16 months after the government approved the Murugappa Group’s plan to set up a chip-packaging plant, its subsidiary, CG Semi, is on the cusp of rolling out the first commercial ‘India packaged’ chip under the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM). “The pilot line is important. Once the chips are qualified, it becomes easy for commercial plants to start production. This is a major milestone in our country’s semiconductor journey,” Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology, said at the inauguration of CG Semi’s facility. A few kms away, work on Micron’s assembly, testing, marking, and packaging (ATMP) facility, and Kaynes Technology’s outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) plant, is advancing at a fast pace. ATMP and…

THE GOVERNMENT SAVED over ₹1.4 lakh crore in foreign exchange on account of the Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said in the Lok Sabha recently. However, behind the national success story lies a more complicated reality for consumers as they complain about reduced mileage and claim rejection by insurance companies. According to the government, the EBP Programme has also played a key role in improving farmer incomes by enabling better crop prices and more timely payments, particularly in sugarcane, where payment delays by mills have been endemic. Puri said that from ethanol supply year (ESY) 2014–15 up to June 2025, the programme has facilitated payment of over ₹1.21 lakh crore to farmers and replaced more than 238 lakh metric tonnes of…

WHAT DO HOTEL-room aggregator OYO, educational platform PhysicsWallah, quick-commercedelivery firm Zepto and payments company Razorpay have in common? For one thing, they all operate in internet businesses they have disrupted in more ways than one, and for another, they share a common backer in Venture Capital (VC) firm Lightspeed India, which has funded them all and is now looking forward to a key milestone: the first initial share sale by a portfolio firm. An initial public offering (IPO) by a protégé is the one milestone that has eluded Lightspeed India Partners, the local unit of Silicon Valley-based Lightspeed Venture Partners. Of course, its parent shepherded the 2017 IPO of Indian Energy Exchange (IEX). Lightspeed India may fill that gap in its otherwise impressive resume in 2026, when a string…

INDIA WAS FALLING in the pecking order of investment destinations because of the complexities in the goods and services tax (GST) laws, says Sanjay Kumar Agarwal, Chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC). He tells BT the GST reforms will reduce litigation and provide a stable and transparent tax regime. Edited excerpts: How will the government ensure that the GST rate cuts are passed on to consumers? We are keeping a watch on price trends, and if we find that industry is not passing on the benefits, we will take it up with the industry bodies. Several industry bodies are also raising the issue of inverted duty structure, which still continues… Wherever there is inverted duty structure or there is accumulation of credit due to that,…

2020 ► The government launches the Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronic Components and Semiconductors, with a 25% incentive on capital expenditure for semiconductors, ATMP (assembly, testing, marketing, packaging), and other critical components ► Swadeshi Microprocessor Challenge to encourage homegrown microprocessor development, resulting in prototypes such as SHAKTI (IIT Madras) and VEGA (C-DAC) being taken up by start-ups and academia for IoT, automotive, and defence applications 2021 ► ₹76,000 crore Semicon India Mission launched. Popularly called Semicon 1.0 2022 ► ISMC (Next Orbit + Tower Semiconductor) proposes a fab in Karnataka, but the deal is stalled after Intel announces plans to acquire Tower ► IGSS Ventures (Singapore-based) proposes a fab in Tamil Nadu but later withdraws ► Vedanta–Foxconn JV announces a $20 billion fab and display project in Gujarat.…

IN THE 20TH century, oil emerged as the most critical commodity, reshaping geopolitics. Nations with vast oil reserves gained unprecedented economic and political influence. In the 21st century, rare earths are set to replace oil, driving the next wave of economic and geopolitical shifts. The reason: these 17 elements are indispensable to modern technologies such as smartphones, wind turbines, defence systems, and satellites. They are also the heart of the automotive industry as it moves towards electrification (they are used in high-performance magnets in EV motors and are crucial for its torque and energy efficiency). However, as shortage of rare earth magnets due to China’s export restrictions turns into a full-blown crisis, the global automotive industry, including domestic players, is looking at options. One of the things it has zeroed…

THE HOUSING FINANCE industry is undergoing a churn. CEOs of PNB Housing Finance, IIFL Home Finance, and TPG-backed Grihum Housing Finance have quit over the past one year. The challenge, though, is not limited to top exits. Housing finance companies (HFCs), facing the heat from banks, are being forced to pivot to the affordable housing segment to stay relevant. Banks can access funds at a lower cost than HFCs. There is a good reason for the shift. India’s housing finance market, with outstanding loans of ₹33 lakh crore, is projected to grow at a 15% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the next decade on the back of housing shortage and the government’s Housing for All target, up from 13% CAGR between 2019 and 2024. Within this, the affordable segment…

SAY “BEER” AND watch faces brighten. Pour a glass and smiles get bigger. No wonder this often pale, bubbly drink is the third most consumed beverage worldwide after water and tea. Familiar, friendly, and endlessly tweakable, beer is a crowd-pleaser with room for every palate—from crisp and clean to dark and dessertlike. Some of the most popular varieties include lagers which ferment cold and clean—one reason they dominate India’s mass market. Pilsners, a Czech-born subset, are golden and hop-forward with a snappy, bitter finish. Wheat beers soften that edge with a cushion of protein and haze. The better ones carry notes of banana, clove, or orange peel, a pleasant fit for long summers. Pale ales are amber, balanced, and moderate in bitterness. Then there are Indian pale ales, or IPAs,…

What was the problem you were grappling with? As a youngster, I was torn between two worlds—my passion for cricket and my strength in academics. I dreamt of representing India, but with limited opportunities in sports at that time, I knew only the very best could make it. At the same time, I wanted to build a strong corporate career. The dilemma was tough: passion or pragmatism? Whom did you approach for advice and why? My coach advised me to seek guidance from my father, who had represented India in football. He had lived the challenges of sports firsthand and could guide me with the right perspective. What was the advice you received? I was playing a first-division cricket match. My coach advised my father to come and watch me…