Business Today 7 August 2022

When the full house at an upscale Mumbai multiplex gets up, applauds and whistles during a climactic action sequence in a Hindi-dubbed Telugu blockbuster, you know something is fundamentally changing. The S.S. Rajamouli directorial, RRR, the movie in question here, is one among a series of films from south India that have taken the box office by storm, changing the basic tenets of success in Indian moviemaking. The Hindi film industry, with its marquee production houses, megastars and marketing prowess, is proving to be a feeble competitor to the southern juggernaut. Sample this: a CII South Media & Entertainment report says 62 per cent of the all-India box office collections of movies in 2021 came from south Indian films. And this trend is getting stronger. According to estimates, KGF: Chapter…

SOURCE: CMIE ECONOMIC OUTLOOK, MEDIA REPORTS $5.8 BILLION India’s exports to Sri Lanka in FY22, up 67 per cent over a year 1.38 PER CENT Share of Sri Lanka in India’s total exports in 2021-22 $1 BILLION India’s imports from Sri Lanka in FY22; it was $0.64 billion in 2020-21 $3.8 BILLION The amount India committed to provide to Sri Lanka, as per Minister S. Jaishankar…

BLOODBATH The total market value of cryptocurrencies crashed nearly 70 per cent since November 2021 MARKET CAP ($ trillion) *Nov. 9, when m-cap hit an all-time high INDIA MIRRORS GLOBAL CRYPTO CRASH Investor sentiment took a further hit in India, with the application of 1% TDS on crypto from July 1, 2022 70% Dip in trade volumes on Giottus crypto platform, one of India’s leading crypto exchanges, since the introduction of TDS 83% of traders attribute the drop in trading frequency to the recent tax mandate, as per a WazirXZebpay survey 27% of the respondents sold over 50 per cent of their portfolio before April 1, according to the survey FALLING OFF A CLIFF… Popular cryptocurrency Bitcoin is trading at around $20,000, nearly $47,000 down from its Nov ’21 peak…

GST SINGES ESSENTIALS WITH THE GST COUNCIL revising rates to rationalise the structure and increase tax revenues, prices of several daily-use items will go up. The 5 per cent tax on packaged kitchen commodities is set to make wheat flour, pulses, cereals, puffed rice and curd dearer, while an increase in rate from 12 per cent to 18 per cent on LED lamps, lights & fixtures will lead to a price increase of 5-6 per cent. With a 12 per cent tax on hotel rooms that cost less than ₹1,000 per night, tourism is set to be hit, while a 5 per cent tax on non-ICU hospital rooms that cost ₹5,000 per day will make healthcare dearer. —ARNABDUTTA CHINESE CHECKERS The Delhi High Court has allowed Chinese smartphone maker vivo to…

The New Sherpa Former NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant will replace Piyush Goyal as India’s Sherpa at G20. The appointment of Kant, a retired 1980-batch IAS officer, came just ahead of India assuming the G20 presidency on December 1, 2022, which it will hold till November 30, 2023. A full-time Sherpa was therefore needed. Also, the G20 Leaders’ Summit will be held in India for the first time in 2023. —RAJAT MISHRA THE LONG ARM ACKNOWLEDGING SOCIAL MEDIA to be a powerful tool with significant impact on the lives of citizens, the government has in the past held these platforms accountable for content posted. After microblogging site Twitter filed a petition in the Karnataka High Court to overturn some orders issued by the government on content takedown, IT and Electronics…

INDIA’S LOW-COST CARRIER (LCC) segment seems to have hit an air pocket. This phase started with reports of large-scale cancellations of several IndiGo flights due to a large number of the company’s cabin crew taking leave to ostensibly appear for Air India interviews. While the reason may sound plausible, it is not accurate. It is believed that a sizeable chunk of the crew had called in sick as part of a go-slow action to demand a roll-back of pay cuts announced at the onset of the pandemic. Its impact was so profound that on July 2 and 3, 55 and 29 per cent of the carrier’s flights, respectively, were delayed. The airline had faced similar action by pilots earlier. The airline partially rolled back their pay cuts earlier this month.…