Business Today September 13, 2015

The consensus among businessmen and economists is that while some improvements have taken place, acche din are definitely quite some time away. Businessmen are still cautious about putting money in big, Greenfield projects – they would rather buy existing businesses and plants looking to sell. The real estate sector is still stagnant. Exports have been falling steadily despite the rupee falling vis-a-vis the dollar and, therefore, making some of our products and services more competitive. Hiring might be up in a few sectors, but not in any large numbers, and ditto for salaries. The past two quarters have seen profits getting squeezed, though revenue may be picking up. Though the data has not come out yet, many retailers say that the urban middle class is still postponing big-ticket purchases. Meanwhile,…

Rental Cab Market Growing at Fast Pace This refers to your cover story on cab aggregators (Taxi Wars, August 30). The author has well analysed how companies such as Ola, TaxiForSure, Uber and Meru are in demand for their cab services in India where the transport infrastructure is still in a bad shape. It indicates that Indian rental cab market is evolving at a fast pace. These tech-savvy companies’ on-demand services and low fares have fuelled the boom in the taxi market. As intense competition among these companies has brought fares down, it is surely beneficial for consumers. But how long can such prices be sustained, only time will tell. Abhinav P., New Delhi Invest in Stocks with Care This refers to your article on the recent trend in…

“The Congress party does not want the economy to grow” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, while moving the GST Bill in Parliament “It was the BJP which opposed the GST and leading the charge was the then Gujarat Chief Minister [Narendra] Modi. Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj also opposed it” Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma “[The article] claims that our intentional approach is to create a soulless, dystopian workplace where no fun is had and no laughter heard. I don’t recognise this Amazon and I very much hope you don’t, either... I strongly believe that anyone working in a company that really is like the one described in the NYT would be crazy to stay. I know I would leave such a company” Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, who is worth $49.5…

31 FOCUS ON FARM WHAT: NITI Aayog farm panel report WHEN: By August-end WHAT TO LOOK FOR: The national task force on agriculture under the NITI Aayog, headed by its Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya, is set to give policy recommendations on land, national common market, crop prices, fertiliser use, seeds and genetically modified technology and agrarian distress. The growth rate in agriculture is estimated at 0.2 per cent in 2014/15 as compared to3.7 per cent the previous year. 2 TOP LNG DEAL WHAT: Royal Dutch Shell-BG Group deal WHEN: By September 2 WHAT TO LOOK FOR: European Union’s antitrust regulators will decide by September 2 whether to approve Shell’s planned £47 billion ($73.25 billion) buy of BG Group to become the world’s top liquefied natural gas company. The deal, which…

12% Rise in the free cash reserves of 247 companies in the BSE 500 Index Cash is king” is an old saying in the corporate world. A company that just focuses on increasing revenues without enough cash generation can land in trouble. However, India Inc seems to be doing rather well on this front, notwithstanding the huge pressure on bottom lines. Cash can flow into a company in the form of debt, equity or retained profits. The most desirable is free cash reserves that are accumulated by retaining profits. The BSE 500 companies (excluding banks and financial services companies) were sitting on a cash pile of 16,15,480 crore as on March 2014, 11 per cent more than in the previous year. Though this growth rate was a five-year low, it…

As far as commitments to invest in India go, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appears to have persuaded each of the wealthier nations he has visited to promise investment of billions of dollars into India. In the past year, the US has committed $41 billion, Japan has laid out a $35-billion plan, China $20 billion, and now the biggest of all, $75 billion, has been promised by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as its investment target for India. While all these countries have strong reasons to participate in India’s growth story, thereby justifying their investment commitments, in reality only a fraction of the total commitment ever makes it to the country. Except in the case of Japan, which spotted the India opportunity three decades ago, well ahead of any other country.…