UpFront
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Paytm Payments Bank pinch: Can Vijay Shekhar Sharma get the house back in order?
The company's payment aggregator licence is still pending approval while most of peers have received it. The new regulatory overhang may make things more difficult
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Is the interim Budget no 'big deal' for stock markets in India?
Precedent shows that interim Budget will be largely a budget of 'intent', where the government outlines fiscal strategy if voted back into power, without announcing new spending or revenue commitments
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Budget 2024: Indian pharma industry expects tax breaks and funding for innovation
There is need to improve local value addition capabilities, upskilling people, and streamline regulatory frameworks, say experts
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Govt's divestment plans likely to flop in FY24, once again
As the government is likely to miss its divestment target for the fifth consecutive year in FY24 by a wide margin, expectations for the new fiscal in the interim budget is not high as previous stake sale plans are yet to materialise
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Budget 2024: What India's tech startups want
Apart from the perennial ask for lower taxes and customs duties, deep-tech startups want more R&D spend, greater public-private collaboration
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Give and Tech: India's IT entrepreneurs lead the way
Just as in the bustling US tech sector, India's IT entrepreneurs — from the IT services bellwethers to the more recent digital native billionaires—have carved a niche for themselves by not just donating millions but also by immersing themselves in relatively newer causes like climate change and gender inequality
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Budget 2024: Expect moderation in pace of government capex growth
The government has done the heavy lifting of spending on infrastructure projects in recent years. It could well moderate the pace of growth for capex in this budget, while focusing on social infrastructure and welfare projects in the election year
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Gretchen Morgenson and Josh Rosner on how private equity can plunder the economy
In this episode, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner, managing director of Graham Fisher and Co., talk about their book These are the Plunderers: How PE runs and wrecks America. The book is a well-researched critique of how private equity firms in the US that specialise in buying companies, load them with debt and completely squeeze them for profits. The authors talk to Divya Shekhar about the insurance takeover by PE, the lack of transparency in their dealings, and the responsibility of the media while covering PE billionaires.
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Budget 2024: The long road to fiscal consolidation
The government is likely to walk the fiscal tightrope as it aims to achieve its commitment of lowering the fiscal deficit to 4.5 percent of GDP in FY26
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Paytm moderates Buy Now, Pay Later lending, but overall impact marginal
The demand for big-ticket lending, onboarding of new lending partners will be watched closely. Analysts forecast a path towards profitability by FY26
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Electric vehicles are taking off steadily. How can the Budget help?
The government will need to do some more handholding before the EV sector finds a firm footing. With the upcoming Budget, the industry hopes for an equitable landscape with subsidies and incentives, across states and the Centre, and a focus on long-term policy measures