Top civil servants meet to discuss the government’s revenues and the Congress government in Rajasthan faces dissent. Here are top headlines on Monday morning.

PMO, FinMin to discuss revenue position and ways to augment receipts

Senior officials of the finance ministry are expected to brief their counterparts in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Monday regarding the Centre’s stressed revenue position and ways to augment receipts at a time when the Indian economy is on track for a contraction due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Read More

25/25 staff model will become a reality quicker than expected, says TCS CEO

As the world was bracing to fight Covid-19 pandemic, IT services major Tata Consultancy Services made a bold announcement – managing the firm with just 25 per cent working from office while the rest will work from anywhere. More than three months into the pandemic, Rajesh Gopinathan, CEO & MD of the Mumbai-headquartered firm says that the model has been well-accepted by all stakeholders including clients and employees, and the vision can be achieved even much faster than initially planned. Read More

Equity seems to be losing its charm as long-term returns disappoint

Equity seems to be losing its charm as a preferred asset class, as investors raise questions on returns not compensating for the additional risk. Even as the Nifty50 Total Returns Index, which considers dividend payouts, earned 9.35 per cent a year returns over the past 10 years, the post office fixed deposit or Public Provident Fund has given returns of 8-8.7 per cent with almost no risk. Read More

Respite for pandemic-bruised automakers: Tractor, two-wheeler sales rebound

A quick year-on-year recovery in sales for tractors and a month-on-month rebound for two-wheelers are offering a much-needed respite to pandemic-bruised automakers. A pent-up demand, coupled with these segments’ high dependence on rural markets, where the spread of the infection is relatively low, have aided recovery. Also, a good agricultural harvest and a timely arrival of monsoon, besides a slew of government schemes, have also come as a bounty. Read More

Sachin Pilot rebels, claims 30 Congress MLAs in Rajasthan back him

Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot on Sunday declared open rebellion, claiming that the Ashok Gehlot government is in minority now as over 30 Congress MLAs are supporting him. In a statement, the state Congress chief also said he will not attend the Congress Legislature Party meeting scheduled to be held Monday. Read More

Making India a hub of global financial services: So close, yet so far

The recent appointment of former Corporate Affairs Secretary Injeti Srinivas as the first chairman of the newly established regulator, International Financial Services Centres Authority, and the political slugfest in Hong Kong — an established financial centre in Asia — have put the spotlight on India’s aspirations to be a hub of international financial services (IFS). The regulatory landscape to govern such financial centres, however, is still in the making, and the efforts, so far, have generated mixed results, say experts. Read More

Gangster Vikas Dubey, his fiefdom and crime trajectory of Kanpur Dehat

Thanks to the drive by the National Crime Records Bureau to collect district-wise data on crime, India has some idea of the pattern of crime at the level of districts, though the data is available only for cognizable offences — an offence in which a police officer has the authority to make an arrest without a warrant and to start an investigation with or without the permission of a court. Read More

India’s share in world market capitalisation slips amid Covid-19 crisis

India’s prominence in global equity markets has slipped. Currently, its share in world market capitalisation is 2.2 per cent — 30 basis points (bps) below the long-term average of 2.5 per cent, and 110 bps less than the peak of 3.3 per cent a decade ago. India’s peak market cap stood was at $2.2 trillion a year ago. Currently, the m-cap is down to $1.82 trillion. Meanwhile, the world m-cap is at $81 trillion currently, down $6.3 trillion on a year-to-date (YTD) basis. Read More