Innholdsfortegnelse for 25-Jul-21 i Business Today

It’s been three years since you took over as Chairman and md of ITC. how has the journey been so far? The overarching objective has always been to ensure sustained value creation for all stakeholders. The journey in the last three-four years has been about archi-tecting the structural drivers for the next horizon of growth and value creation. The strategy reset that I have focused on is to ensure that the organisation remains contemporary, future-ready and one that is extremely consumer-centric and nimble. New vectors of growth have been established across segments and investments are being stepped up to structurally drive competitiveness. There has been a substantial scale-up of digital investments and enabling of agile and purposeful innovation. We have crafted a bold Sustainability 2.0 agenda to build-back better and…

The Thiruvananthapuram-based Muthoot Pappachan Group, which has operations spanning financial services, alternative energy, IT services and precious metals, was looking to digitise its offerings by connecting its corporate offices and 4,700 branches. While it was fine with a third party managing the IT infrastructure, it wanted to keep some key functions in-house. It opted for a hybrid cloud — a solution that combines a private cloud with one or more public cloud services, with proprietary software enabling communication between each service, giving businesses greater control over data. “The cloud-based virtual desktop interface will be deployed for 26,000 employees across branches, resulting in net savings of `25 crore and over 30 per cent reduction in time to market new digital capabilities,” says Eugene Koshy, Chief Purpose Officer, Muthoot Pappachan Group. The…

“CANNOT BE DRIVEN BY RANKS OR HIERARCHY IN CRISIS” What was the problem you were grappling with? A deluge called Covid-19 — the “problem” that brought the whole world down to its knees. Who did you approach and why? Unfortunately, there was no time for seeking advice from anyone. What helped me was the experience that comes with having worked in the services industry for close to 30 years. While our focus on ‘client centricity’ taught me the value of having a ‘focused’ approach, ‘firefighting’ during volatile situations taught me the value of always being ‘ready’. Most importantly, tough situations taught me the value of ‘empathy’ — which was the need of the hour. What was the best advice you ever received? In a crisis, ‘action’ is more important than…

Sliding Confidence BCI Has Been Below 50 For Several Quarters BCI by Sector BCI by Size Macro Details Inflation rises CPI Inflation (Y-o-Y %) Industrial production a mixed bag But exports up month-on-month * NSO has stated that it would not be appropriate to compare the IIP of April and May 2020 with indices of earlier months. The growth rates in the tabulation are calculated by CMIE from the index numbers. Covid-19 has hit the country’s economy hard. Ac-cording to provisional data released by the National Statistical Office, India’s gross domes-tic product (GDP) contracted 7.3 per cent in FY21, the biggest dip since 1947. The second wave of the pandemic has affected all segments of the economy. As a result, corporate sentiment took a beating in the June quarter. On…

Tapan Singhel, CEO and Managing Director, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, is a people’s person. He loves to strike conversations with those around him, learn from them and document his experiences, ultimately to share them with people. “I love to learn from every individual. When I learn something fascinating, I jot it down and put it on LinkedIn as a blog,” says Singhel. He gives the example of kids playing. “Kids look abundantly happy. You find genuine happiness in their eyes. Compare your childhood picture with the current one, you’d notice you have lost innocence in your eyes. We all are searching for happiness. Ironically we were born in abundance with it, but we systemically destroyed it. I wrote about preserving genuine happiness.” In another blog, Singhel talks about how people…

↘ The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has announced minimum support price (MSP) for kharif crops for 2021-22. The steepest increase has been in pulses, coarse cereals and oilseeds. Paddy has seen a moderate 3.9 per cent rise. This is aimed at encouraging crop diversification away from paddy and wheat ↘ The highest absolute increase has been in sesamum (til) at ₹452 per quintal. This was followed by tur (arhar) and urad (black gram) at ₹300 per quintal each ↘ MSP of ragi has more than tripled between 2011 and 2021. MSP of other millets such as jowar and bajra has also risen significantly…

When Sanjiv Puri took over as Chairman and MD of ITC from Y.C. Deveshwar, his mandate was clear — carry forward the vision of transforming the cigarette com-pany into a diversified consumer-centric conglomerate. ITC’s dependence on cigarettes had begun to dent its stock market performance even during Deveshwar’s tenure. In his 21-year stint as Chairman and CEO, ITC entered many consumer categories, including staples, snacks, bis-cuits and personal care. By the time he hung up his boots, the FMCG business was a sizeable ₹10,500 crore. Under Puri, the FMCG business is now almost ₹15,000 crore. FY21 has been one of the best years for the non-cigarette FMCG business with EBITDA margins at 9 per cent, up 180 basis points over FY20. “Our segment EBITDA margins have improved by 640 basis…

Gurgaon-based Harjas Sethi became an online sensation in February when she posted a video on her Instagram account about how her “rooh kaanp gayi” (soul was shaken to the core) when her employer sent out a survey to check what employees felt about returning to office. The video ends with Sethi clarifying it was for “entertainment purposes only.” She even addresses her boss, Zoya, saying she was ready to work anywhere given how bad the job market is. The video, retweeted by RPG Group Chairman Harsh Goenka and Paytm Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, blew up on the internet. Its popularity echoes the pulse of a large section of India’s white-collar workforce which is no mood to return to office just yet. If pressed, many are prepared to resign after finding…

Heading a big tech giant is no easy task and for Kulmeet Bawa, President and MD, SAP, Indian Subcontinent, hiking is what helps him keep the balance. Ex-Army officer Bawa is no stranger to outdoor life, after having served in picturesque Jammu and Kashmir for nearly six years. Hiking for a good view is something that motivates him to a great extent. He has hiked in some of the most breathtaking trails at the Canada Whistler (one of the largest ski resorts in North America). Bawa also likes to travel within the country, especially on short breaks. Travel, he says, helps him unwind and recharge his batteries…

Ameera Shah, Promoter and Managing Director of pathology and diagnostics services chain Metropolis Healthcare, is also a financial investor and a business mentor. Passionate about women leadership and empowerment, she supports budding women entrepreneurs through 'Empoweress'. It is a not-for-profit platform for women-led businesses to find advice, mentorship and microfunding. Launched in 2017, the platform has incubated more than 50 women-led businesses already. The term empoweress is a mix of the words empower and empress that signifies women of worth, power and status, says Shah. Empoweress has a panel of experts who mentor selected women entrepreneurs through peer-to-peer network, executive coaching, leadership communication, goal setting and different ways to achieve the desired results. They also guide women entrepreneurs through their experiences and direct them to the right resources to help…

Across the world, countries are working towards moving to a net-zero emission of greenhouse gases over the next 30 years. With China, the world’s-largest carbonemitter announcing that it will work to offset emissions by 2060, the focus has shifted to India, the third-largest emitter. The goals set out by India in the Paris Agreement are just one small step for the environment. Experts from across industries participated in a Business Today webinar on ‘Carbon Costs vs Longer Term Gains’ to highlight the challenges today, as well as the way forward. Ravichandran Purushothaman, President, Danfoss Industries, set the discussion rolling by stating that India does not yet have a roadmap for carbon neutrality. Purushothaman suggested a carbon tax for companies. “The carbon tax will be a vehicle to motivate consumers, producers…