The BL Context

The demand for returning to the old pension scheme is gaining momentum across several States, and leaders of various political parties are making promises about returning to the old scheme. What is the old pension scheme? Will it be possible to bring it back? Listen in.

The six-airbag norm for passenger cars, which was to be implemented from October 1, has been deferred by a year on account of supply chain issues faced by auto companies. In this backdrop, we look at the evolution of safety norms in the auto industry, the costs involved, and India’s road safety record.

Whether it is a small budget or a big budget movie, whether the actor is a superstar or a newcomer, whether the language is English or regional one, whether the movie is shot in an exotic foreign location or in rural India, one thing that binds all these is the silver screen. Many movie enthusiasts wonder why movies from South India often shine at the box office. But do we have adequate exhibition infrastructure in the country? Let us explore some of these points in this podcast.

2022 is the third consecutive year that La Nina, which has caused unseasonal rainfall in India in 2020 and 2021, is setting in. La Nina is coming at a time when many countries face the risk of recession amid the Ukraine War. This is pushing up costs, which is leading to inflation, as per analysts. MR Subramani, head, Commodities and Agri-Business, The Hindu BusinessLine, explains. 

In another move to curb cash flow into Russia, the G7 nations -- Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the US -- are working on a mechanism to cap the price of Russian oil. This move would build on the European Union’s sixth sanctions package, which will come into effect on December 5.

In the latest episode of the BL Context, Nivedita V talks to Richa Mishra, Chief of News Bureau, Hyderabad and Kolkata, to understand the reasoning behind the price cap, its mechanism and to know how the oil sector could react to the development.

As the sugarcane crushing season nears, the demand for agri workers increases. In Maharashtra, most of them are from the Beed District. When the parents move away for work during the season, which goes on till April, the children stay back. The daughters of these workers are now focusing on one task -- to earn a new identity for their district and for themselves.

Why are these girls want to change the identity of their district? Can they successfully help change their families’ economic situation?

Deputy editor Rasheshyam Jadhav brings you this special report.

On Tuesday, PM Narendra Modi met Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina and the two leaders talked about various issues, including fast-tracking an free trade agreement.

In this podcast, Senior Deputy Editor Amiti Sen talks about the significance of the meeting and why it could potentially help boost India’s trade with its eastern neighbour. Listen in to the latest episode of the BL Context.

The last couple of days has been tough on Bengaluru because of an unprecedented downpour in recent days with life coming to a standstill in India’s Silicon valley.

What does flooding mean for India’s IT capital? What are the issues that need to be sorted out both short-term and long-term?

BusinessLine’s Bengaluru’s Bureau chief Venkatesha Babu explains!

One of India’s leading broadcast media NDTV, may have to change its ownership with the Adani Group after the Adani group launched a hostile takeover bid on Tuesday. If it succeeds, Adani will own about 55 per cent stake in NDTV. This hostile takeover has raised questions among the investors and consumers. In this podcast, Palak shah explains hostile takeover. Listen in!

The ownership of NDTV, one of India’s oldest private media companies, is set to change as the Adani Group started a hostile takeover bid on Tuesday.

In this podcast, Chitra Narayanan talks to Vanita Kohli-Khandekar about the corporate takeover of the media industry and how the media can be manipulated thereafter. Khandekar has been tracking the media and entertainment business for over two decades and is the author of The Indian Media Business to understand.

Listen in!

You'll probably know someone who has a full-time job and is working another job on the side. This is called moonlighting and it has divided the IT industry. Rishad Premji, Wipro's Executive Chairman, tweeted that moonlighting is "cheating".  While others like not. Swiggy recently announced its moonlighiting policy -- which is an industry first. Cred, too, has a policy for this. Is moonlighting just a side hustle or is it something that has the potential to threaten firms -- both big and small?

In this podcast, V Nivedita talks to N Venkatesha Babu, Chief of Bureau, Bangaluru, to help understand why some IT companies are not happy with this new trend.

The RBI's recent consultation paper regarding the possible revision of charges on digital transactions -- including UPI -- has become controversial. Many users were unhappy and took to social media to express their disappointment. The Centre, too, isn't happy. The Finance Ministry tweeted that UPI is a digital public good and that "there is no consideration in Govt to levy any charges for UPI services."

But, why did the RBI want to review the charges in the first place? Also, can we now assume that the plan to levy a charge on UPI payments has been dropped? 

Hamsini Karthik helps understand the issue better. Listen in.

The freebies versus welfare scheme debate have sparked off a furious war of words. But exactly are freebies anyway? Here is all you need to know. 

In May this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that one of his dreams is to see a drone on every farm. Drones are being used extensively in the country for many purposes including spraying fertilisers and pesticides and surveying the farms. Is using the new technology always beneficial to the farmers?

In this episode of the BL Context, Subramani Ra Mancombu explains the pros and cons. Listen in!

In a bid to tackle climate change and reach the goals of sustainable development, for the PM Narendra Modi government, Energy Conservation has gained significant importance. This is the reason the Energy Conservation Amendment Bill 2022 was introduced in Parliament and on August 8, it was passed by the Lok Sabha. But what is the bill all about? Here is all you need to know.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman dismissed the fear of India slipping into stagflation in the Parliament. She cited Bloomberg’s report and highlighted that the country won’t fall into recession. What is a recession? Where does India stand? 

Listen in. 

US Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s unannounced trip to Taiwan, during her tour of Asia, has made China upset.

Ahead of her visit, China said that the US will “pay the price” if Pelosi visited Taiwan. “The US side will bear the responsibility and pay the price for undermining China’s sovereign security interests,” a Chines foreign ministry spokeswoman said.

Why is this visit so controversial? Could this visit put the US and China on a collision course? Listen in.

Recently, the Tamil Nadu Government proposed to increase the power tariff by 10 to 35%. In this podcast, we explain all you need to know about the power tariff increase in Tamil Nadu.

The 90s  were an era of change — the Berlin wall came crashing down, the USSR fell, new technologies brought in new opportunities and there was a wave of political liberalisation in various countries, including India.

In this podcast, Baskar B and Siddharth MC take a look at the 1991 economic reforms, which were introduced in the Parliament by the then Finance Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on the 24th of July.

What were the factors that led to this pivotal shift from a command economy? Who are the key reform makers and did these reforms hold up against the test of time?

Listen in!

Podcast producers: V Nivedita and Siddharth MC

Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) issued clarification on imposing Goods and Service Tax on pre-packed goods elimiating the differnce in charging tax on branded and unbranded commodities. Shishir Sinha explains us more about the new announcement.

The merger process of HDFC and HDFC Bank is well underway, with the BSE, NSE already giving clearance. The RBI too gave its no objection certificate for the merger on July 4th subject to certain conditions. What is the merger all about? How will this merger impact you? Here is all you need to know.

Hamsini Karthik and Surabhi explain.

June 30, 2022 will be remembered for its fast-paced political developments in Maharashtra. Political pundits expected the BJP's Devendra Fadnavis to be the next CM, but Eknath Shinde was given the responsibility. There are many questions that remain unanswered — what will be the dynamics of this new govt? What will happen to the Shiv Sena and the Thackereys ? 

Radheshyam Jadav explains.

Listen in!

Cotton prices have been falling, but this is almost the same with all commodities. Cotton prices have dropped by over 10 per cent across the country and over 20 per cent globally to a six-month low.

What is the cause behind the fall in cotton prices and how does the year look ahead for Cotton prices and production both domestically and internationally.

MR Subramani, head, Commodities and Agri-Business, The Hindu BusinessLine, explains. Listen in!

The Maha Vikas Agadhi government is in trouble with Rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde taking the support of close to 50 MLA and hinting towards supporting a BJP-led govt in Maharashtra.

This has put the tri-party alliance of the Shiv Sena, Congress, and NCP into the doldrums and also raised questions on the future of the Shiv Sena under Uddhav Thackeray.

Radheshyam Jadhav who has been covering the happenings helps give a snapshot of the political situation in Maharashtra and its likely play in national politics.

Listen in!

It is layoff season in India’s startup land

The last few years have been go-go season in India’s startup scene. India has the third largest startup eco-system after USA and China. At last count India had 100 unicorns – that is startups which are valued at more than a billion dollars. A lot of this has been made possible by investment from international venture and private equity funds which have helped companies not just with seed capital but provided growth funds and helped them scale to address a potential 1.4 billion domestic customers as well as tackle international opportunities.

However, there is a nuclear winter regarding funds approaching the Indian startup sector. Also, some Indian start-ups are taking longer to become viable businesses. 

Listen in.

The Supreme Court has put the application related to India's sedition law on hold. This comes a day after the Central Government had agreed to re-examine the law and some its colonial provisions. What led to this decision and what do legal professionals feel about the move? Listen in.

India's biggest IPO has begun today. After much debate, the LIC IPO is now open to all investors. Many have welcomed the move. Will this move motivate more insurance companies to be listed? What lies ahead for India's insurance sector? BusinessLine's Deputy Editor, Surabhi, tells us more in this episode of BL Context.

The Niti Aayog has come out with a draft on battery swapping policy. What is in the policy? Here’s all you need to know.

Listen in!

Credits

Producer: V Nivedita.

VO: Siddharth MC

Elon Musk plans to turn Twitter into a free-speech utopia, internet freedom experts and researchers believe that this is neither desirable, nor possible, given the influence of social media in today’s democracy and political narrative.

Debangana Ghosh tells us more.

Listen in!

A recent article in the New York Times said number of people who died due to covid around the world is far more than the official figures.

It said that the World Health Organization's year-long effort to  "calculate the global death toll from the coronavirus pandemic has found that vastly more people died than previously believed — a total of about 15 million by the end of 2021".

It claimed that a vast majority of these deaths goes "are estimated to have occurred in India...The WHO will show the country’s toll is at least four million, according to people familiar with the numbers".

Another report published in Devex made similar claims.

The Centre has disputed these claims and said that they are holding discussions with the WHO on the matter.

Deputy Editor Jyothi Datta talks to V Nivedita about what we can learn from the Covid mortality numbers.

On Tuesday, Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook spoke out against a set of new rules in the US that would force the company to permit sideloading. He said that the law could compromise users’ privacy. What is the controversy all about?

Here’s all you need to know.

The Ella family which runs Bharat Biotech was a key player in enabling India's fightback against the Covid pandemic by producing Covaxin. What is less known is that members of the Ella family also run a food business of providing healthy nutrition and simultaneously ensuring better value to farmers for their produce. This podcast talks about Ella Foods' journey into pickles to spice powders and how they are trying to differentiate themselves from the competition.

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has scaled down its projection for global trade growth (in volume) for 2022 to 3 per cent from 4.7 per cent predicted earlier following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict that has impacted commodity prices, disrupted supplies and intensified geopolitical and economic uncertainty.

Amiti Sen tells us more!

TRAI has come out with its recommendations regarding the spectrum auction. Amongst them-A lower reserve price for Telecom operators. What are TRAI’s recommendations and what does this mean for India’s rollout of 5G services.

BusinessLine’s Thomas K Thomas tells us more.

The recent report of the IPCC was the 6th Assessment Report by Working Group III and deals with mitigation. It, as the name suggests, is the sixth round of reports released by the IPCC. The previous ones were in 1990, 1995, 2001, 2007 and 2013. In 2018, the IPCC released a Special Report on the Impacts of Global Warming of 1.5°C.

M Ramesh tells us more.

The recent announcement by Zomato that it would provide 10-minute delivery has sparked off a lively debate on the quick commerce segment. While most of the attention and angst – rightly so – has been focussed on the safety of the riders or delivery personnel in India’s teeming traffic, there are various other aspects to the business.

Issues like the long-term viability of this model, basket size of orders, margins, size of the market they are trying to address, possible regulatory hurdles, whether such experiments have succeeded internationally all have to be looked into.

Several other players especially in the grocery delivery segment like Blinkit, Zepto and a few others have made such promises and are experimenting with those models. They were not even the pioneers. Even earlier both Ola and Swiggy tried similar quick service through their Dash and Insta programmes with varying degrees of success.

In this podcast, Deputy Editor Venkatesha Babu who heads the Bengaluru Bureau of Business Line decodes the clamour surrounding the growing 'Quick Commerce' market and the current controversies surrounding it.

What are oil shocks and how would such scenarios affect the Indian economy amidst the Russia-Ukraine crisis? BusinessLine's Richa Mishra tells us more.

Oil prices have been soaring and now the US says that they will ban oil imports from Russia. This development seem to be taking place at a time when the world is finally finding its footing after being immensely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Would the move obstruct the Indian economy's path to stability?

BusinessLine's Amiti Sen explains.

All of us have been closely monitoring and engrossed in the developments with regard to the clash happening at Bharatpe, a fintech that has raised nearly $700 million in funding and was at the last round valued at a little over $2.85 billion.The company’s co-founder Ashneer Grover had resigned recently due to corporate governance issues. Bharatpe’s case is not unique, and there have been similar instances in the past. In fact, several founders do not want to take in external investors, even though they bring money, skills and open new doors to entrepreneurs. So is venture capital a kind of vulture capital as some allege?

Venkatesha Babu N, Chief of Bureau, Bengaluru, talks to Krishnakumar Natarajan the former CEO and MD who was a co-founder MindTree.

Similar to NSE disposing of its former CEO Chitra Ramkrishna’s devices as e-waste, Multi Commodity Exchange of India Limited (MCX) is also likely to be questioned why it did not store laptops and data from personal computers of its former MD and CEO Mrugank Paranjape and the head of research V Shanmugam in the case related to alleged data leak in 2016.

Palak Shah tells us more about the story.

The ongoing corporate saga at BharatPe a four year old start-up holds several lessons for entrepreneurs, investors and Public at large.

BusinessLine's Chief of Bureau, Bengaluru -Venkatesha Babu explains.

Listen in!