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Festive car sales face supply crunch

Mumbai | New Delhi: Low levels of stocks at dealerships could weigh on car sales this festive season, with the top five manufacturers that account for more than 85% of the market struggling to build inventory even as bookings remain strong.The second leg of the festive season, starting with Navratri on October 11 and through Diwali on November 10, is expected to be positive from a demand perspective, but companies may not be able to fully make use of that because of supply constraints, said industry executives. This one-month period is crucial for automakers, as it accounts for a third of their annual sales.Also Read: JLR begins talks with global banks for $1.3 billion five-year loanMarket leader Maruti Suzuki has pending bookings for more than 200,000 units, while its network inventory is currently enough to last only around 16 days of sales compared with the stock for roughly one month it typically carries during the festive period.134374804"At the beginning of this financial ye...

Bengal's industry push needs clear intent

Under BJP, West Bengal is once again debating how to put land together for industry. The debate has now acquired a distinctly technical vocabulary: acquisition, negotiated purchase and land pooling.The three mechanisms are not interchangeable. Acquisition involves compulsory purchase under a statutory framework. Negotiated purchase relies on agreement between landowner and purchaser. Land pooling allows owners to contribute land to a development scheme and receive a smaller, but serviced, and potentially more valuable plot in return. The choice, as recent policy discussions suggest, should depend on the nature of the project.Also Read: Picasso, Omega, Prithvi and Cats: A Mumbai journey through books, unexpected encounters and theatreFor Bengal, the question of land has always been inseparable from the question of industrialisation. So, the new discussion raises a more fundamental question: even if Bengal succeeds in solving the problem of industrial land, will it succeed in attracting ...

IIM-B jumps in Bloomberg MBA rankings

Stanford Graduate School of Business has retained the top position in Bloomberg Businessweek’s 2026–27 ranking of US business schools, while IIM Bangalore’s Executive Post Graduate Programme climbed to second place in the Asia-Pacific region.Stanford has now ranked No. 1 in the US for eight consecutive years. The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School came second, followed by Harvard Business School and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.The University of Virginia’s Darden School recorded the biggest rise among the top US schools, moving from 10th place last year to fifth.Also Read| St Gallen tops FT Masters in Management ranking; IIM Ahmedabad leads Indian schoolsDartmouth’s Tuck School ranked sixth and the University of Chicago’s Booth School seventh. UC Berkeley’s Haas School dropped from third to eighth.Cornell’s Johnson School and MIT’s Sloan School tied at ninth. Columbia Business School fell two places to 11th.Top 10 US business schoolsRankBusiness schoo...

Pass UPI costs to RBI, banks, not consumers

Last Tuesday, RBI supported NCPI's introduction of MDR of 0.4% on person-to-merchant (P2M) UPI transactions above ₹2,000 that will kick in from October 15. Much opinion has flowed since, many arguing that fiscal sense dictates that the fintech expense be charged.What it, however, chooses to ignore is the larger fiscal and financial discipline embodied in encouraging a majority price-sensitive society to keep moving towards digital payments and a less-cash society. Such an argument doesn't account for the huge savings made by RBI and banks in reducing printing of currency, and logistics of transfer and maintenance of cash.Also Read: UPI's free lunch is over: Why the 0.4% MDR charge is fair, needed and overdueThe end consumer is price-sensitive. After the latest MDR notice reached vendors, many removed the QR code display from their shops fearing harassment by tax authorities. Many petrol pumps have reportedly already started to insist on cash-only payment. Many are even goin...

Sebi bars Kore Digital promoters over alleged Rs 541 crore revenue misstatement

Capital markets regulator Sebi has passed an interim order against SME-listed Kore Digital and three of its key managerial personnel after a probe found prima facie evidence of manipulated financial statements, allegedly non-genuine subsidiaries, suspicious accounting entries and diversion of preferential issue proceeds.Sebi has restrained managing director Ravindra Doshi, chief executive officer Chaitanya Doshi and chief financial officer Kashmira Doshi from buying, selling or otherwise dealing in Kore Digital shares until further orders. The regulator has also barred the company and the three individuals from accessing the securities market to raise money from the public.Sebi also directed NSE not to allow Kore Digital to migrate from the NSE Emerge SME platform to the main board until it receives regulatory clearance. A forensic auditor will be appointed to examine the company's books from the date of its listing in June 2023 until March 31, 2026.At the centre of Sebi findings a...

US Fed chair Kevin Warsh explains why the Federal Reserve raised interest rates

The strengthening of US economy and geopolitics pushing inflation higher were key reasons for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates, its chair Kevin Warsh said on Wednesday. Reiterating his commitment not to give forward guidance on the rate path, he pointed to trends in the economic data to deliver the Fed's stated objective of price stability.The American economy appears to be strengthening. New hirings, private sector earnings and business capital investment have improved in recent months. Credit flows have been robust, he said at a press conference, adding, "I would be hard pressed to describe broad financial conditions as restrictive. So we removed the dose of accommodation, so that financial and credit conditions would be more consistent with our ultimate objectives.”The Federal Reserve raised the interest rate range by 0.25% to 3.75%-4%. "Economic activity is expanding at a solid pace. While uncertainty remains elevated owing, in part, to geopolitical develop...

Taxman's JAARing move opens big new debate

Mumbai: In an unsettling decision, the Indian tax office has invoked the Judicial Anti Avoidance Rule (JAAR) to deny treaty benefits to a few Mauritius funds on sale of 'grandfathered shares'.Under the India-Mauritius amended treaty, there is no capital gains tax on profits from sale of grandfathered shares which refer to securities bought before April 1, 2017.Tax officials have typically used General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR) to quash treaty benefits whenever they suspected that a foreign investor's outfit in jurisdictions like Mauritius and Singapore lacked 'commercial substance'. Such offshore investors having a paper office or shell company, with few or no employees, and alleged to have been established primarily to obtain tax benefits.However, in end-March this year, the apex body Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) issued a notification to clarify that earnings from transfer of stocks acquired before April 1, 2017 would not be impacted by GAAR. This came as...