Innholdsfortegnelse for 7-Mar-21 i Business Today

A common characteristic of some of the world’s oldest organisations is their uncanny ability to adapt & adopt, destruct & rebuild, terminate and transform — constantly. Take Finland’s 156-year-old Nokia which began as a paper mill in 1865, dabbled in power, rubber and cable manufacturing until it hit upon the success of mobile communication in 1984, eventually becoming the world’s biggest handset maker with over 40 per cent global share by 2007. Then came the decline which resulted in sale of its handset business to Microsoft for $7.2 billion in 2013. But by 2015, it had already acquired Alcatel-Lucent and taken charge of JV with Siemens to emerge as a huge network infrastructure provider. At the other end of the spectrum is 132-year-old Kyoto-based video gaming firm Nintendo, known the…

↘ Production of refinery/petro products fell 13.5 per cent in first nine months of FY21 as refineries processed 4.3 mb/d crude oil compared with 5.1 mb/d in first nine months of FY20 ↘ Cumulative capacity utilisation was around 85.6 per cent compared with 101.6 per cent in same period of previous year ↘ Consumption of petroleum products fell 12.6 per cent; it was 87.2 per cent of level seen during the same period last year…

Cayman Islands is situated in Caribbean Sea, 480 miles southwest of Miami, USA. The three islands are spread over 101 square miles, have a population of 65,000 and gross domestic product (GDP) of $5.5 billion, slightly more than that of the Union Territory of Puducherry. Still, it was the third-largest contributor of equity foreign direct investment (FDI) in India in the first six months of FY21 ($2 billion). Only Singapore ($8.3 billion) and the US ($7.13 billion) were ahead. The tiny British Overseas Territory even bettered Mauritius, traditionally the biggest source of FDI into India. The emergence of Cayman Islands as India’s biggest FDI source is not a one-off event triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic. The trend had been taking shape for the last two-three years, but became more visible…

Even as India is ramping up its Covid-19 vaccination drive and every citizen above 50 years of age is expected to be eligible for vaccine administration in the coming months, overcoming supply chain hurdles remain the key to successful implementation of the ambitious programme. Leading experts representing the entire spectrum of healthcare and vaccines came together in a Business Today webinar on 'Supply Chain Dynamics in India's Mega Vaccination' to highlight challenges and suggest the way forward. India plans to innoculate 300-million people with coronavirus vaccines by July. Dr Rana Mehta, Partner and Leader, Healthcare, PwC, initiated the discussion by stating that the discovery of Covid-19 vaccine and its effective inoculation pose entirely different challenges. The effective procurement, digitalisaiton and supplies are key to successful administration, which remains a work…

When Reliance Jio started building its 4G LTE wireless network, it had the option of using a standard map to decide things such as the customers it will reach out to and places where it will set up its towers. This manual process would have taken several quarters before it could have been streamlined. In order to get going as fast and with as much precision as possible, it built maps based on a geographic information system. While Jio Maps helped find the best sites to set up towers for optimum coverage, Jio used the tool to coordinate materials for just-in-time deliveries and dispatch teams for network construction. Marketing executives, too, used the maps to understand demographics and zero in on areas where their efforts would yield the best results.…

News of the government’s proposed ban on cryptocurrencies, in favour of a digital rupee, is doing the rounds. Your thoughts. I cannot comment directly on government policy, but based on our experience globally, a better way to address the issue would be to start a constructive dialogue with all the players, with an aim to create sustainable regulations. It would promote the growth of the sector, while addressing the government’s concerns. What if the proposed ban comes through? The current market conditions in the digital asset space have brought renewed interest in the sector in India, both from a retail and institutional perspective. Universities, including IITs, have embraced the sector’s underlying technology, blockchain, which is set to lead the way globally. Indian exchanges have recorded all-time high trading volumes and…

₹80,000 CRORE THE AMOUNT TATA SONS HAS INVESTED IN GROUP COMPANIES IN LAST FOUR YEARS Natarajan Chandrasekaran’s first major decision as Chairman, Tata Group, was rather symbolic of the changes in store. Three months after taking over on May 30, 2017, he asked architects to refurbish Bombay House, the iconic headquarters of the 152-year-old conglomerate. The heritage building on Homi Mody Street in Mumbai’s Fort area had never been altered since it was built in 1924, based on design of Scottish architect George Wittet, who also designed the Gateway of India. The building had cracks in the roof, limited natural light and was vulnerable to termites. Chandrasekaran, who started his career with TCS and contributed hugely to its growth over three decades, wanted to make Bombay House vibrant, incorporating his…

Eighty four years ago, the patriarch of Mumbai-headquartered Shapoorji Pallonji family and grandfather of 52-year-old Cyrus Mistry got a golden opportunity to buy 12.5 per cent stake in Tata Sons from F E Dinshaw Estate, a finance firm owned by F E Dinshaw which had provided the Tatas growth capital in their formative years. After Dinshaw died, his legal heirs sold the stake to construction magnate Shapoorji Mistry. Later, Mistry senior increased the stake to 16.5 per cent by buying from JRD Tata’s siblings. Over the years, the Mistry family held on to the shares through thick and thin. In fact, Cyrus’s father, Pallonji Mistry, had to cough up a large sum in mid-90s to participate in Tata Sons’ rights issue, which increased the family’s stake to 18.4 per cent.…

REAL ESTATE I am a married woman and a single child. My father is no more. My mother is a homemaker and I need to provide for her. As of now, I give her cash for monthly expenses, which I will continue. I want to explore the reverse mortgage option so that she can get extra regular income. Will it be a viable option?–Ashika Tagore, Indore A reverse mortgage is an unconventional loan. You pledge your property to a lending institution. The loan amount is determined on the basis of property value and interest rate. The financial institution will pay your mother a monthly amount against the property. But you may not be able to inherit this property. You can, of course, repay the loan later to claim the property.…

1. Tapping digital experts from group companies to build India’s first Super App 2. Tata Power to invest only in renewable energy or consumer facing businesses 3. Engineering capabilities pave way for Tata Electronics, Tata Medical and Diagnostics 4. Integrating supply chains of all Tata companies 5. Leveraging group expertise in financial services, launch of Tata Payments 6. Combining consumer businesses; making Tata Consumer Products an FMCG giant 7. Combining expertise of different companies to create an EV ecosystem 8. Combining consumer connect of Trent, Infinity Retail, Tata Consumer Products, Titan, Tata Chemicals and Voltas 9. Tata Steel to cash in on the lucrative Indian market 10. Aerospace, defence subsidiaries to tap government business “There are several key trends that are going to be important as we go into the…

Tata Group seems to be on the cusp of a transformation. What is it all about? When I started in 2017, I had said that brand, trust, standard and heritage are the biggest strengths of the group. And whenever you have a group which has such a large presence and strong history of more than 150 years, you should expect that there will be complexity. So, I had proposed a strategy of simplification, synergy and scale. We evaluated the number of entities and their businesses. Besides, we focused on balance sheet fitness and financial returns. Simplification resulted in the creation of 10 clusters. Then we started taking the cluster-specific approach and brought in synergy. We looked at how coming together of group companies can create significant capabilities in products and…

Leading the way in 1960, the US Congress signed a legislation introducing Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) to bring the benefits of commercial estate to the common American, which were largely available to financial institutions and wealthy individuals. REITs are securities linked to real estate that can be traded on stock exchanges once they get listed. They invest in income-generating real estate. This income gets distributed among unit holders, including sponsors, trustees, fund managers and unit holders. Bradley Real Estate Investors, Continental Mortgage Investors, First Mortgage Investors and First Union Real Estate were among the first ones to create REITs in the US. In 1965, Continental Mortgage Investors listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Back home, though the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) introduced the draft REIT…

Gaming apps are not new to run-in with the legal system. Take the latest Kerala High Court notice to some celebrities for endorsing these apps, or a November 2020 Madras High Court notice to BCCI chief Saurav Ganguly and Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli for endorsing fantasy apps. The Madras High Court notice was in response to a plea filed by an advocate after a youth killed himself as a result of losing money on these applications. While law in India distinguishes between games based on skill and those based on chance, and prohibits the latter for stakes, in December 2020, government think-tank Niti Aayog released a draft discussion paper seeking comments on guiding principles The aim is to bring regulatory clarity to a segment that has the potential…

If Suresh Narayanan, Chairman and MD, Nestle India, is asked about his most luxurious possession, his instant response will be books. His library at home has some of the finest books on leadership, purpose and technology, some of which have, in fact, cost him a fortune. “I am the hard cover variety,” he says proudly. Reading is his way of not just unwinding after a hard day at work, but also help him reflect on his actions and strategies. “It important for a CEO to reflect from time-to-time, especially during a pandemic,” he says. Covid-19 has compelled him to be home-bound, but his favourite way to unwind has always been to immerse himself in a book, right in the middle of nature. Having spent a significant part of his growing-up…