Business Today 20 July 2025

As Hyundai Motor steps on the gas to reclaim lost ground in an increasingly competitive Indian automobile landscape, its journey mirrors the broader evolution of India Inc. in the post-pandemic era. Once firmly India’s second-largest carmaker, Hyundai is now playing catch-up with agile rivals like Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra. Sliding market share and soft sales of key models such as the Venue and Verna have triggered the need for a reset. Since its October 2024 listing, Hyundai Motor India’s stock has rebounded from a weak debut to a July 2025 peak, briefly rising more than 15% above its IPO price of ₹1,960. Yet, with industry-wide momentum softening, Hyundai faces fresh pressure. In the latest April–June quarter, its passenger vehicle sales dropped by 12%, a sharper fall than sector…

THE RARE RESERVES: WHO HOLDS WHAT CHINA, BRAZIL AND INDIA HAVE THE HIGHEST RESERVES OF RARE EARTH ELEMENTS SOURCE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY THE DRAGON’S GRIP CHINA ACCOUNTS FOR MORE THAN TWO-THIRDS OF GLOBAL REE MINE PRODUCTION SOURCE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY THE MAJOR SUPPLIERS CHINA ACCOUNTS FOR MOST OF INDIA’S IMPORTS OF RARE EARTH ELEMENTS, FOLLOWED BY JAPAN AND HONG KONG SOURCE PIB INDIA’S IMPORT SURGE REE IMPORTS GAIN MOMENTUM WITH RISING DEMAND FOR EVs, MODERN DEVICES SOURCE PIB THE DEMAND DRIVER INDIA’S RAPIDLY EXPANDING EV MARKET MAY COME UNDER PRESSURE DUE TO CHINA’S EXPORT BAN NOTE BOV IS BATTERY-OPERATED VEHICLE SOURCE VAHAN DASHBOARD $62.9 MILLION INDIA’S PROJECTED RARE EARTH ELEMENTS MARKET BY 2030, UP FROM $40.7 MILLION IN 2024, WITH A CAGR OF 8.1%, ACCORDING TO GRAND VIEW RESEARCH 23,000…

THERE’S BEEN MUCH excitement among the country’s auditing and accounting community after a meeting in the Prime Minister’s office about scaling up domestic firms on the lines of the Global Big Four. Chaired by Shaktikanta Das, Principal Secretary to the PM, the meeting is understood to have discussed regulatory hurdles and gaps and the possible need to set up a taskforce. The ministry of corporate affairs and the ICAI have also held discussions on this in the past. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had, in 2017, noted that there are no big global Indian accounting firms and had called for setting up four big Indian CA firms to take on the global biggies like PwC, Deloitte, EY, and KPMG. India is the fastest-growing major economy in the world. Experts reason that…

NAGESH KUMAR, external member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Reserve Bank of India and Director and Chief Executive of the Institute for Studies in Industrial Development (ISID), says India remains a bright spot in the global economy because of its lower dependence on global trade, strong macro fundamentals and a diversified crude oil basket. In an interview to Business Today, he explains why 6.5% GDP growth in FY26 remains achievable, despite elevated global crude oil prices. Edited excerpts: “THE CORPORATE SECTOR HAS BEEN REPORTING GOOD PROFITS, BUT IS USING IT TO DELEVERAGE THEIR BALANCE SHEETS RATHER THAN INVESTING” The monetary policy committee has cut rates thrice in 2025, including a 50-basispoint cut in the last policy review. Is there space for further rate cuts, as is being factored in…

WITH THE DEMERGER and separate listing of Raymond Lifestyle in 2024 and Raymond Realty on July 1, 2025, Chairman and Managing Director Gautam Hari Singhania is scripting a growth story anchored in focused verticals. In an exclusive conversation with Business Today, he shares his vision for building long-term shareholder value through distinct plays in lifestyle, engineering, and real estate, while staying true to the brand’s core pillars of trust, quality, and speed. Edited excerpts: The Raymond group has completed 100 years. What lies ahead for the group, and what is your vision? Nobody has a free run all through life. In personal and business life, you always have ups and downs, but it’s only the tough that survive. I'm very proud that Raymond is one of the few companies that have…

EIGHT YEARS AGO, the Goods and Services Tax (GST)was implemented across India. The tax, which came into force after years of negotiations between the Centre and states, subsumed a number of levies across the Union and states and brought considerable ease of doing business. Its impact is clearly visible with businesses gaining more confidence in the levy, which has also boosted compliance and widened the tax base and revenue. The numbers say it all: The mop-up from GST has steadily risen to about ₹2 lakh crore per month from just ₹92,283 crore in the first month of its implementation in July 2017. The number of registered taxpayers had increased to 15.2 million at last count, triple the nearly six million when it was launched. Over 16.2 million returns have been…