Business Today February 28, 2016

In the first two Budgets he presented after the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley trod a cautious and conservative path. In the first one, he did not have many options perhaps – the government had been formed in the middle of the financial year, and the Budget had to be presented within a fairly short period of his taking charge. He largely stuck to the line of thinking that had been outlined in the Vote on Account earlier in the year by his predecessor P. Chidambaram of the UPA government. However, when he rose to make his second Budget speech on February 28, 2015, there were many expectations that the finance minister would present some truly pathbreaking proposals or unleash…

A Trendsetter This refers to your cover story package on India’s Best Banks (February 14 issue). To become big, you have to first dream big and then work big. Paradoxically enough, in today’s intensely-competitive milieu, even the best cannot afford to take their place for granted as we talk about the best of the best. HDFC Bank (Best in Class) has been a consistent player in the market right since its inception. It has never rushed into any new venture without fully understanding the ground realities. No business is without risk. The bank also has never been averse to taking risk as it’s always backed up by a sufficient cushion through prudent policy initiatives. The well-timed acquisitions of Times Bank in the initial stage of its existence and Centurion Bank…

INTERVIEW “India has to make dramatic changes to have same opportunities as China” John and Doris Naisbitt, authors of international bestseller Megatrends, talk about the rise of the Global Southern belt and its impact on the world in an interaction with BT’s Sarika Malhotra businesstoday.in/naisbitt-book PERSPECTIVES Why US-led Trade Deal Worries India The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, signed between the US and 11 other countries, may be a threat to India businesstoday.in/ustrade-india How to Play the Indian Financial Markets The strategy for different asset classes over the next few months businesstoday.in/india-financialmarkets Early Q3 Numbers Show Continuing Decline in Revenue Growth Analysts believe that this is definitely not an inflection point for India Inc businesstoday.in/q3-revenuegrowth NEWS Five Takeaways from Raghuram Rajan While reviewing the monetary policy, the RBI governor has made…

DIVIDED WE STAND “The enormous costs of becoming an unstable country far outweigh any small growth benefits that can be obtained through aggressive policies” RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan “What should be the fiscal deficit is the domain of the government and ultimately approved by Parliament” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley 300 Points At that level, the Baltic Dry Index—the measure of global movement of dry bulk shipment—is at its lowest since 2008 when it peaked to 11,000. Bottomline: Global economic activity has hit a trough. $5.84 billion Stunning Facebook revenue in Q4, 2015, up by $1.34 billion from Q3, indicating Facebook’s emerging market dollars are beginning to contribute to topline. A NOVEL PROTEST “Dear @ElonMusk: You Should Be Ashamed of Yourself” Tweet by Venture Capitalist Stewart Alsop (for a badly run…

9 BUILDING THE RIGHT SKILLS WHAT: Skills & HR Conclave 2016 WHEN: February 9, Jaipur WHAT TO LOOK FOR: The ninth edition is planned around the theme of ‘Linking Skills to Jobs’. It’s an pportunity for stakeholders to share ideas and discuss the challenges faced by the industry, and to promote best practices. 10 11 THRUST ON AGRIBUSINESS WHAT: India-Africa Agribusiness Forum WHEN: February 10-11, New Delhi WHAT TO LOOK FOR: Agriculture ministers, policy makers and industry leaders from Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Uganda, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, DRC, Mauritania and Swaziland are participating in the forum. Discussions will focus on identifying the hotspots for agri-investments; commercial farming; unlocking the land potential; logistical infrastructure development & management; role of mechanization and importance of processing zones & agri corridors. 10…

The tweet… err… writing is on the wall. The one-time darling of the social media world, Twitter, just cannot catch a break these days, and the last couple of weeks have been particularly rough. Wall Street repeatedly called open season on its stock, shaving off more than half its value last year to an all-time low right now. A slew of high-ranking executives left the company late January, casting further doubt on the future of the social network. Could the end be near for Twitter? How did what was arguably a near-essential information service, with its unedited, unfiltered view of the world as it happened, translate to one that looks like a second Yahoo – high profile departures, tanking stock prices and all? First, user growth has slumped or flat-lined…