Business Today 23-Sep-2018

THERE ARE numerous studies which show that having more women in the workplaces is good for business – not because it is the politically correct thing to do in today’s era, but because it is better for the bottom line. Two years ago, a study by eY and Peterson Institute of the US, looking at 21,000 companies in 91 countries, showed that companies with more women in their leadership teams had better bottom lines. Two McKinsey reports – one in 2015 “Why Diversity Matters” and another in 2018 “Delivering Through Diversity” – came to similar conclusions. Companies with a higher number of women in top management ranks were more likely to outperform those with lower gender diversity in top rungs. and these are not the only ones – there have…

STAY CONNECTED WITH US ON www.facebook.com/BusinessToday@BT_India PERSPECTIVES A Loss-making Unit for Almost a Decade, AI Has No Reason to Exist For an airline surviving on ₹4,600-crore annual bailout package, the reasons for its existence have to be extremely convincing businesstoday.in/ai-bailout Google Turns 'desi' in a Bid to Tap New Users in India Most updates by Google are aimed at tapping the vernacular user-base in India, which is growing at a rapid pace businesstoday.in/google-language Why Telecom Players Will Offer Aadhaar-based Face Authentication UIDAI has to work with all biometric device providers to integrate face modality into certified registered devices businesstoday.in/aadhaar-face.authentication In Defence of Mutual Fund AMCs Why SEBI Chief Ajay Tyagi is not right in harping on the need for more competition in the mutual fund business businesstoday.in/sebi-mutualfunds NEWS Panel Suggests…

THE RESERVE BANK of India annual report says that 99.3 per cent of the high value notes that were demonetised have come back. It also says that people have started keeping their savings in cash again. Meanwhile, the introduction of new currency notes, with the much touted security features, has not stopped the production and circulation of fake currency. Other reports on the RBI website show that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) were hit pretty hard because of demonetisation when it came to getting credit. (A Mint Street Memo on the RBI site says that demonetisation hit an already decelerating credit growth to MSMEs). The other stated objectives of demonetisation -- from reducing corruption to becoming a less cash economy – have only been partial successes. And whether the government…

THERE IS NO RESPITE for the Rupee as it breaches the 70 mark against the US dollar. There are estimates of the Rupee remaining at the 69 to 70 level because of weaker external parameters; the trade deficit is a big worry because of oil imports. The current account deficit (CAD) is expected to touch 2.8 per cent GDP in 2018/19, which was less than 1 per cent two years ago. The rising interest rates in US and later in the Euro zone will bring more trouble for rupee. With inflation above the comfort zone, there are expectations of an interest rate hike to provide some cushion. The RBI is already following a calibrated approach by intervening in the forex market to reduce high volatility. The longterm outlook for the…

RELIANCE COMMUNICATION is racing against time to conclude the deal with Reliance Jio to sell its wireless business, towers, fibre and media nodes, for about ₹18,000 crore. Jio is expected to take on over ₹7,000 crore of RCom’s deferred spectrum liability debt. After the Jio deal, RCom will sell its remaining 66 units of spectrum (valued at around ₹3,700 crore), and is likely to make another ₹10,000 crore by selling real estate. Effectively RCom will reduce its current ₹46,000 crore debt to ₹7,300 crore of debt on paper; The estimated net worth of RCom’s remaining business is close to ₹7,000 crore. Last year RCom’s debt-structuring deal with lenders involved banks converting ₹7,000 crore worth of debt into 51 per cent equity in RCom. Though this would have left RCom’s books…

THIRTY-FOUR STRESSED power sector accounts that defaulted on ₹1.5 lakh crore worth of dues are now before the National Company Law Tribunal – yet again. They were given a 180-day deadline to settle their debts but failed. Lender banks are expected to take a haircut and write-off these ‘bad loans’ – 18 of which had already been referred to the NCLT earlier. The remaining, including Ind-Barath Energy (Utkal), Lanco Anpara, Jindal India Thermal Power and others will be at the bankruptcy tribunal within two weeks. RBI has refused any relief on the deadline to avoid setting a precedent even as SBI – the lead lender to nearly eight power plants is hoping for resolution, and has been given a fortnight to appoint a legal team for the NCLT proceedings.…