Take a glance at the financial and economic weather of India in the 2018-’19 fiscal year. We decorate this article with that news which generates a huge impression on the Indian economy.
Airtel Net Income Drops 72% to Rs 86 Crore; Its Payments Bank Brings Profit of Rs 1,017 Crore
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel Thursday reported a 72 percent drop in consolidated net income for the three months ended December 2018 at about Rs 86 crore, amid market turbulence triggered by cut-throat competition in India business. Change in accounting structure with respect to Airtel Payments Bank brought an exceptional gain of Rs 1,017 crore for Bharti Airtel and bolstered the company’s financials.
While rival Reliance Jio posted a 22 per cent rise in profit at Rs 831 crore on a year-on-year basis in the home turf, Airtel’s losses from India operations (before exceptional items) stood at Rs 971.9 crore, compared to a net income of Rs 373.5 crore in the year-ago period. Among telecom service business arm, only Airtel Africa recorded an increase in profit. Bharti Airtel along with Vodafone Idea have approached the government in India for relief in absence of margin due to low tariff being offered by Jio in market and need for higher investments in the network.
Amazon Withdraws Numerous Products From India Website As New E-commerce Rules Bite
E-commerce rules that went into effect in India on 1 February 2019 caused widespread disruption for Amazon.com, forcing it to take down an array of items from its India website including Echo speakers, batteries and floor cleaners.
Two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said the products began to disappear from the Amazon India website late on 31 January 2019 as it began complying with the revised norms before a midnight deadline. “The company has no choice, they are fulfilling a compliance requirement customers will suffer,” said one of the sources.
In December, India modified foreign direct investment (FDI) rules for its burgeoning e-commerce sector, which has drawn major bets from not only Amazon.com but also the likes of Walmart Inc., which last year bought a majority stake in homegrown e-commerce player Flipkart. India’s new e-commerce investment rules bar online retailers from selling products via vendors in which they have an equity interest, and also from making deals with sellers to sell exclusively on their platforms.
India’s IT Sector Will Create 250,000 New Jobs In 2019
After tepid job creation in 2017 and 2018, India’s IT industry may be back in the market hunting for talent next year.
As IT companies in India begin to see large deals coming their way after a few subdued years, the sector is geared up to add around 250,000 new jobs in 2019, according to HR and staffing solutions provider TeamLease Services.
In 2017, the IT sector added over 100,000 jobs, according to Nasscom. But the industry, one of India’s top employment generators until a few years ago, laid off over 56,000 people between 2017 and 2018. In the past two years, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys, two of the country’s largest IT companies, reduced their headcounts for the first time ever.
Now, the adoption of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and robotics for automation is driving the industry’s growth. Besides hiring afresh, Indian IT companies will continue to spend on upskilling employees. In 2019, this is estimated to increase by around 20%, TeamLease said.
“The overall job landscape in the IT sector will undergo radical changes over the next few years and certain job roles will continue to see increased demand. Some of the areas wherein positive growth in hiring is expected are mathematics-, architecture-, and engineering-related fields,” said Alka Dhingra, general manager at TeamLease Services.
Salaries are also expected to grow in 2019 – TeamLease expects a 13% average rise, at par with 2018.
Indian Govt. Aims To Raise Rs 90,000 Crore From 2019-20 Divestments
The government has set a target of raising Rs 90,000 crore from disinvestment in state-run companies in 2019-2020, slightly higher than the target of Rs 80,000 crore set in the current financial year, which ends in March. “We have pursued the public enterprises’ asset management agenda to make these enterprises accountable to the people. As many as 57 CPSEs are now listed with the total market capitalization of over Rs 13 lakh crore” Goyal said in his interim budget speech.
“The government received over Rs 1 lakh crore from disinvestment proceeds during 2017-18. We are confident of crossing the target of Rs 80,000 crore this year” he said. Officials said 36 transactions are expected to be completed in the current financial year. The government also expects to complete the strategic sale of Air India, one of the big-ticket disinvestments, which can fetch a substantial amount. As on January 29, the government has raised Rs 35,533 crore as disinvestment proceeds against the budget estimate of Rs 80,000 crore during the current financial year.
With less than two months left for the financial year to end, the government runs the risk of falling short of the target by Rs 10,000-15,000 crore. Choppy stock markets have stopped the government to go in for follow-on public offers. The government also hopes to complete at least three strategic sales. These may not yield much in terms of revenues but will help send a signal about the commitment to strategic disinvestment.
Most Young Indian Employees Aspire To Be Entrepreneurs: Survey
The ‘Future of Work’ survey was conducted globally by GoDaddy to get insight into entrepreneurial intent, attitudes, and outlook when considering starting or running a small business.
Majority of young Indians currently working in small or mid-sized organizations plan to be entrepreneurs over the next ten years, says a recent survey by technology provider GoDaddy. Out of 1,200 respondents in India for this survey, 60 percent said that they plan to start their own venture in some years, which is significantly higher than Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Turkey, Singapore, the United States, and the United Kingdom, the survey said. Some 85 percent of aspiring and current entrepreneurs in India said that they are undeterred at the prospect of failure and are relentless in the pursuit of entrepreneurial success.
The ‘Future of Work’ survey was conducted globally by GoDaddy to get insight on entrepreneurial intent, attitudes, and outlook when considering starting or running a small business.
“The emerging and newer generations of India’s entrepreneurs are embracing technology like never before. 67 percent of budding entrepreneurs say that recent technologies have created newer business opportunities and 72 percent of respondents believe that online channels are important to be attractive to their customers,” said Andrew Low Ah Kee, Executive Vice President, GoDaddy International.
About 70 percent of respondents in India mentioned that they were either employed or working when they decided to start their own business as compared to the developed economies where respondents chose entrepreneurship by choice or while they were in college.
Also, some 45 percent of respondents in the country said that work experience is most valuable, while only 12 percent believe that education gets them ready to become an entrepreneur. However, 79 percent of the Indians surveyed believe that technology has made it easier to become an entrepreneur today.
