Date: April 25, 2020 To, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, Hon’ble Minister of Finance, Ministry of Finance, Government of India Hon’ble Smt Nirmala Sitharaman ji, This is further to my letter dated March 24, where I had made certain suggestions. Post that date, the RBI has come out with a stimulus package of Rs.1 trillion. However, there […]
With the economy gasping for oxygen, in this column we provided an ‘August’ formula for kickstarting growth in the last issue! Fortunately, the FM has heard the cries of anguish and decided to act, with initiatives aimed at generating sales for the auto industry. The construction equipment industry, too, can heave a sigh of relief […]
The billion-dollar question is not what the budget holds for the country but what the voter holds between his heart and his mind. Will India continue to remain under MODI-fication or will a neutral and ‘harmless’ PM be chosen by a united opposition or will we remain ‘hung’? It is a given that PM Modi […]
Have you noticed that the size of project execution has grown manifold? New projects worth Rs 1.95 trillion were announced in the January to March quarter, up from Rs 1.20 trillion in the previous quarter. The capacity of companies in delivering larger projects has expanded. Earlier, we would rarely discuss a few mega projects concurrently […]
Oil, the single biggest factor that helped the government manage the fiscal deficit, has climbed from its advantageous position to well over $75. Even as GST is gaining stability, the E-way bill has caused feathers to be ruffled again. Not only are small companies having to contend with compliance changes a bit too often, there […]
‘Disruption’ was an oft-used word in 2017. Sometimes it was used when describing a phenomenon that turned an existing business model on its head, as Uber and Airbnb did. But more often than not, it was used when wishful thinking was allowed over logic, or when no clear solution was visible. In essence, disruption represents […]
GST rate reduction from 28 per cent to 18 per cent has provided a breather to the construction equipment industry. Although 15 per cent of items would still be at 28 per cent, the major grouse has been addressed. That said, as many as 42,710 units were sold between January and September this year, against […]
As the GDP figures of 5.7 per cent appeared in the press, the murmurs began. GST was already making lives difficult for the traders and businessmen, and the ghosts of demonetisation had not completely vanished yet. The evidence of the economy sputtering emboldened the critics and turned the loyalists into skeptics. The government too moved […]
The Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index for July was at its lowest in the past eight years and demand took a deep dive owing to GST adjustments. By the deadline of August 25, over 36 lakh businesses had filed their GST returns. The overall impact is indicated to be an upswing of 16.6 per […]
Earlier in May, when I had asked Sajjan Jindal, chief of JSW – the group with the best appetite for capital investment – when the private sector would begin investing, he had replied that we were poised for an imminent renewal in sentiment for private investment. Recently, Ajay Piramal, head of Piramal Group and Shriram […]