Innholdsfortegnelse for 30 October 2022 i Business Today

India’s $150-billion-plus software exports industry—which is spearheaded by IT services giants like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, Wipro, HCL Tech and Tech Mahindra—is currently in the middle of a massive debate around the issue of “moonlighting”, a term popularly used for people taking jobs on the side mostly without informing their primary employer. Ever since Wipro Chairman Rishad Premji tweeted about the issue in August, calling it “cheating—plain and simple”, India Inc. has been on fire with opinion divided around not just about the ethicality of moonlighting, but also what constitutes it. Subsequently, Premji announced he had fired 300 employees who were found to be moonlighting. Even at Business Today’s mega India@100 Summit in end-August, tech sector leaders were ranged on both sides of the debate. While TCS’s COO N.…

Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC)—an ambitious initiative to bring about structural changes in the current platform-centric e-commerce model—was thrown open for public users in Bengaluru Urban district on September 30, 2022. At present, about 60 per cent of India’s e-commerce market is controlled by two US-based platforms—Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart. ONDC, an interoperable and open platform, has already onboarded over 200 merchants across grocery and food and beverage segments, and is in the process of onboarding more buyer and seller-side apps as it expands to more cities.…

MANY HANDS WERE at work, but Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw was the driving force behind the timely launch of 5G in India. Apart from actively interacting with the industry, issuing letters within days of the spectrum auction and ensuring that the 5G service is affordably priced, he also allocated ₹26,000 crore to instal 25,000 new towers in the next 500 days. No wonder he was constantly in action at the four-day India Mobile Congress held between October 1 and 4.…

▶ IT’S BUSINESS AS usual on a balmy Wednesday afternoon at a cricket academy in Chennai. The coach attends to parents dropping by for enquiries, even while keeping a sharp eye on a bunch of youngsters practising batting drills at the nets. On the side, he keeps his laptop open, ready for him to jump into an office call on Zoom or MS Teams whenever his US client needs him. Confused? What’s a cricket coach doing with a laptop for ‘office calls’? And we’re not talking about calls with cricket authorities here. Well, this particular ‘coach’ is actually a senior-level UX designer at a leading multinational IT company. The cricket part is his passion, something that he has been able to indulge in thanks to the flexibility of remote work…

1 SOFTWARE TESTING AUTOMATION TRAINER ▶ $21-$33/hour ▶ Project requirement: 1-3 months, less than 30 hours/week 2 DEVOPS MANAGER ▶ $25-$40/hour ▶ Project requirement: 3 months, less than 30 hours/week 3 SALESFORCE ARCHITECT ▶ $25-$30/hour ▶ Project requirement: 6 months, less than 30 hours/week 4 GRAPHIC/UI/UX DESIGNER ▶ $20-$50/hour ▶ Project requirement: 1-3 months, less than 30 hours/week 5 MARKETING MANAGER ▶ $20-$30/hour ▶ Project requirement: More than 6 months, less than 30 hours/week SOURCE FREELANCE JOB LISTING PLATFORMS…

1 Nearly 77 per cent (235.5 million) of Truecaller’s active users are from India—its biggest market 2 The company says that it’s a misconception that it uploads user’s information to the server and sells customer data 3 Rather than being just a background app, the company has aspirations of building an app with more “active engagement” 4 Legally, India is in a grey zone due to the absence of a data protection law 5 Once the law is put in place, experts say companies engaged in copying, sharing and monetising data will face a tough time in India…

WE HAVE COMPLETED 40 years in India, 40 years since Japan’s Suzuki [Motor Corporation] signed an agreement with Maruti Udyog for a joint venture (JV). I think, the thought behind us celebrating this is that in many ways, these 40 years and this partnership have resulted in things happening that were not at all foreseen 40 years ago. This has surprised most people who were around at that time. Not just in India, [people] in Japan were equally surprised by what happened in India. Mr [Osamu] Suzuki once told me that when they decided to partner with India, he was the only one in favour; everyone else thought… India, public sector, car making… what kind of a decision is that? That’s what most people felt here: carmaking in a socialist…

▶ Increase in non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is leading to a rise in consumption of more anti-diabetic, blood pressure and heart-related medicines ▶ Also, rising diagnosis of cancer is likely to drive sales of biosimilars ▶ Consumption of branded generics is another area of growth for pharma companies ▶ The sale of specialty drugs used in the treatment of complex or rare chronic conditions is expected to increase ▶ With Covid-19 receding, booster doses are also likely to contribute in a major way to the revenues of pharma companies…

AT THE PEAK of the Covid-19 pandemic, the one thing that had become ubiquitous was the RT-PCR test. Scenes of swabs being thrust into the nose and throat had practically become part of regular life. What that also did was provide a fillip to the financials of diagnostic companies that were doing the tests. The possibility of a new revenue and profit stream also encouraged a herd of other entities to jump into the diagnostics fray. But now, as the pandemic wanes and RT-PCR testing peters to a trickle, the past few quarters have seen profits dip for leading diagnostic players. For example, market leader Dr Lal PathLabs, headquartered in New Delhi, recorded a 26.5 per cent dip in consolidated net profit to ₹61.3 crore in Q4FY22 from ₹83.4 crore…

THERE WAS A TIME when it was not considered wrong to let your children know verbally what they would inherit once you were gone. The recent high-profile case of billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani appointing his successors, however, has put the spotlight back on succession planning. For the first time, at the annual general meeting of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), the Chairman detailed his succession plan, where his older son Akash and daughter Isha took over the reins of RIL’s telecom and retail businesses, respectively, while younger son Anant will lead the new energy business. Clearly, Ambani is wiser, having weathered the bitter break-up of the erstwhile Reliance empire since his father Dhirubhai Ambani had not outlined a clear succession plan. This had resulted in a bitter tussle between Mukesh and…

E-COMMERCE OPPORTUNITIES FOR SMEs are growing under the ‘new normal’. New research by FedEx Express has revealed that 83 per cent of Indian consumers have increased their purchases from e-commerce platforms in the past three years, and this is likely to continue. Per its research, 80 per cent of SMEs agree that consumer buying behaviour has fundamentally changed due to Covid-19, and most of them believe that e-commerce will continue to boom. Acknowledging the importance of marketplaces, 58 per cent of SMEs sell directly to customers through e-commerce platforms, the research has found.…

IN THE FIRST six months (April-September) of the current financial year, 14 firms raised ₹35,456 crore through mainboard IPOs, according to Prime Database. The amount raised is 32 per cent lower than the ₹51,979 crore raised through 25 IPOs in the corresponding period of 2021-22. As much as 58 per cent of the amount, or ₹20,557 crore, was raised by LIC alone earlier this year. It was followed by Delhivery (₹5,235 crore) and Rainbow Children’s (₹1,581 crore). Pranav Haldea, MD of Prime Database, believes that going ahead, IPO activity will be impacted by the volatility in the secondary market, mainly because of recessionary fears in the US and rising interest rates across the world.…

Dictionaries define it as working at an extra job, especially without telling your main employer But employers may differ. For some, it may only involve projects/employment done for a competitor, while others may look at even unrelated but income-generating passion projects, which take away from office hours, as moonlighting The trend, experts say, intensified during the pandemic because of remote working No law prohibits dual employment in India other than the Factories Act. In many cases, the IT sector is exempt from it…

TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES (TCS) ▶ “Either during the period of your traineeship or employment as a confirmed employee of TCSL, you are not permitted to undertake any other employment, business, assume any public or private office, honorary or remunerative, without the prior written permission of TCSL.” INFOSYS ▶ “You agree not to undertake employment, whether full-time or part-time, as the Director/Partner/Member/Employee of any other organisation/entity engaged in any form of business activity without the consent of Infosys. The consent may be given subject to any terms and conditions that the company may think fit and may be withdrawn at any time at the discretion of the company.” Infosys even has a non-compete clause for employees for six months after leaving the firm, which prohibits them from working with any competitor…

IN 2019, US banking major Bank of America (BofA), which has its India head office in Mumbai, decided to commence its investment banking practice in Bengaluru, India’s unicorn hub. Since then, BofA has doubled the strength of its investment banking team in Bengaluru as it eyes a bigger slice of the start-up space. This comes at a time when the volatile stock markets have played spoilsport in many a unicorn’s journey of going public and the ventures have been forced to go back to private equity or venture capital players. “We were the first bank to have an investment banking team in Bengaluru focussed on the unicorn space. We believe it is important to be present in an ecosystem that is enabling the rise of new-age companies,” says Kaku Nakhate,…

1 The Indian pharmaceutical market in August 2022 grew 12.1 per cent YoY, largely led by price hikes, volumes, and with some growth coming from product launches 2 Barring anti-malarials and anti-infectives, all other therapies witnessed double-digit growth—respiratory (19 per cent), Neuro/CNS (15 per cent) and Cardiac (15 per cent) 3 Both gastrointestinal and skin therapies grew over 13 per cent each. Chronic and sub-chronic therapies grew 13.9 per cent and 13.6 per cent, respectively SOURCE AWACS…

DIGITAL PLATFORMS • Netmeds• TATA 1mg• Meddo• Lybrae• Practo• PharmEasy (Thyrocare)• Credihealth• MediBuddy• DoctorC• Apollo 24/7• Healthians• Healthhub Q4• Mfine HOSPITAL CHAINS • MaxLabs• Apollo Diagnostics• Aster Labs• HealthMap• Triesta Sciences (HCG)• Adani Healthcare PHARMA COMPANIES AND PE-BACKED CHAINS • Lupin Diagnostics• Torrent Diagnostics• PathKind• MyLab• Medplus REGIONAL DIAGNOSTIC CHAINS • Orange Health• Atulaya• Redcliffe Diagnostics…

▶ It includes the details of all the assets—both movable and immovable—and you can prepare it offline as well as online ▶ A Will supersedes all nominations made in bank accounts, insurance policies and other financial assets ▶ A Will can be modified. In case of modification, an additional document ‘codicil’ is attached to the original, which then becomes part of the Will ▶ In the absence of a Will, your property will be divided on the basis of applicable personal law or religion…

LET’S GO OUTSIDE If you love adventure and outdoor sports, you might want to gift yourself this smartwatch. Boasting a premium finish, Samsung’s Galaxy Watch5 Pro has a durable titanium casing and features a 1.4-inch 450x450 Super AMOLED, full-colour, always-on display with Sapphire Crystal to survive the bumps and falls. The all-new D-buckle sports band looks stunning. Paired with Android devices, the smartwatch’s all-new Route Workout feature comes to life. And its Track Back feature helps you get back to right where you started after you’ve run for some distance. The Watch5 Pro can detect physical activity to track routines and it supports over 90 exercises. Available on: samsung.com/in BREATHE FREE The festive season is often marked by deterioration in air quality. Why not get yourself a good air purifier that…

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has enhanced the scope of insider trading regulations by bringing mutual fund (MF) units under the regulation’s ambit. Coming three months after the watchdog’s consultation paper on the issue, the move was triggered after instances of MF officials selling their units when they had inside information on issues at the fund house came to light. While there are restrictions on trading of shares based on unpublished price-sensitive information, there was no direct bar on selling mutual fund units till now.…

India’s current account deficit (CAD), a key indicator of its balance of payments, has widened to $23.9 billion in Q1FY23, which is 2.8 per cent of the GDP, from $13.4 billion in Q1FY22. The deficit is being driven by a rising trade deficit, which has widened to $124.5 billion in the first five months of FY23, from $54 billion in the corresponding period last year. The country’s trade deficit was pegged at $189.5 billion, or 1.2 per cent of GDP in FY22. However, experts say that CAD is expected to remain within 3 per of the GDP in FY23.…

As the flow of global capital into Indian venture capital funds dries up, the Fund of Funds for Start-ups (FFS) launched in 2016 is helping mobilise domestic capital for the Indian start-up ecosystem. FFS has committed ₹7,385 crore to 88 Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) as on September 24, 2022, the government said. These AIFs in turn have invested ₹11,206 crore in 720 start-ups. The amount committed under FFS is growing at a CAGR of 21 per cent since launch, and FFS-supported AIFs have a target corpus of ₹48,000 crore.…

SoftBank-backed OYO is reviving its plans for an IPO in early 2023, as a reduction in costs and a recovery in travel demand have helped the hospitality major trim its losses. The Ritesh Agarwal-led firm has cut down operations in the US and China, and is focussing on its core markets of India, Malaysia, Indonesia and Europe. It is hopeful that the festive season will drive more demand. Meanwhile, SoftBank has reduced the hospitality major’s valuation. Hopefully, OYO’s IPO plan will sail though this time.…

▶ Almost every knowledge- and services-based industry has it going on in some degree. Freelancing portals brim with listings for creative work such as design, writing and translation. Even non-creative service-based roles such as HR, finance, sales and marketing, and legal skills are on demand on these sites. The education sector is especially prone to it ▶ Roles that do not require the employee’s physical presence throughout the day—such as sales executives, retail employees, social media marketers and UI/UX/auto designers—are more likely to lend themselves to moonlighting…

EMPLOYER NAYS ▶ Working for a competitor▶ Information security, especially leak of sensitive data, loss of confidentiality▶ Violation of contracts IT services firms have with clients▶ Use of organisation resources, such as licensed software, for side gigs▶ Drop in employee productivity and performance▶ Employee disengagement and retention amid high attrition EMPLOYEE YAYS ▶ Types of gigs: Projects/assignments similar to their main job to use their current knowledge and experience or pursue passion projects▶ Motives: To earn extra money and, sometimes, to gain additional skills and experience▶ Where do they find the side jobs? Freelancing websites such as Upwork post software-related gigs such as web design, development and game design offering even $10,000 a month. Top employers such as Microsoft, Airbnb, GoDaddy and Nasdaq list gigs on these sites. Moonlighters also tap…

MY FIRST CONVERSATION with Alan Mamedi, the 38-year-old CEO and Co-founder of Stockholm-based caller ID and spam detection app Truecaller happened to be on the micro-blogging site Twitter in January 2020, when I had tweeted, “Life would be better if Truecaller starts telling us WHY the person is calling.” “Noted!” Mamedi had replied then. Merely nine months later, Truecaller was live with its new feature, Call Reason, a new way to tell people why you’re calling. User feedback like this is essential for Mamedi, who believes in an open and liberal feedback mechanism. Starting out as a Kurdish refugee in northern Sweden, he co-founded Truecaller with his friend Nami Zarringhalam in 2009, which now counts India as its biggest market with nearly 77 per cent of its user base, or…

IT’S A CLEAR Thursday morning in Mumbai. The occasion: IndiGo’s inaugural flight to its 100th destination—Ras Al-Khaimah, in the UAE. Some employees, dressed up in traditional Maharashtrian and Emirati attire, wait at the check-in counter. Soon, Pieter Elbers, IndiGo’s new CEO, bounces in and goes around greeting the staff members. “Now with Covid-19 behind us, we can start to rebuild, and that’s already happening. Our staff is doing a wonderful job and getting a lot of positive customer feedback,” an energetic Elbers tells BT during a late-night interaction in Ras Al-Khaimah. Before joining IndiGo, India’s largest airline, Elbers was the CEO of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, the world’s oldest passenger carrier. Notably, KLM is a full-service carrier (FSC), while IndiGo is a low-cost carrier (LCC). So, the choice of Elbers…

PIETER ELBERS, 52, comes to IndiGo after spending nearly three decades with the world’s oldest passenger carrier, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. Specially handpicked to consolidate the Gurugram-based low-cost carrier’s leadership position as well as drive its international expansion, Elbers says there is scope for multiple carriers in the Indian market. Edited excerpts from an interview: What are your first impressions of the Indian civil aviation market? Civil aviation in India is moving forward very fast. The fact that we have this growth, the fact that we have these plans, and the fact that the government in India is supporting air travel to all those smaller communities in Tier II and III cities… IndiGo is an important part of the execution of that vision. How do you propose to adjust to…

▶ Set up a detailed mechanism in the Trust deed to ensure objectives of the Trust are achieved ▶ A Trust should survive and achieve its objectives even without the intervention of the Settlor ▶ A Trust deed should address the appointment and removal of Trustees and have clear guidelines for the management and investment of the Trust’s property ▶ A Trust deed should also address mediation/dispute resolution/voting mechanism in the event of any disagreements over actions of the Trust…