The Paper - India Business News

Sticking to one of their pet theories, Karthik & Suprio take a look at some of the things Indian companies and consumers are doing in different ways due to the pandemic

The same things, done differently Sticking to one of our pet theories, we take a look at some of the things Indian companies and consumers are doing in different ways due to the pandemic

National Ed Policy: Part II

Karthik & Suprio

Not just another brick in the wall: Education Policy II We continue where we left off on Monday to analyse India's new National Education Policy

What's the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 got to do with football?

Karthik Shashidhar & Suprio Guha Thakurta explain.

Inverting the Pyramid The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 was released on July 30, 2020, replacing the earlier one after 34 years. We look at the changes and the opportunities that they present.

Will the help businesses max out the “fifth quarter”?

Karthik Shashidhar and Suprio Guha Thakurta have a view,

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Will the IPL do a “Dhoni” for Indian brands? The IPL is scheduled to be held in the UAE between September to November. With Indian brands having been largely struggling this year, it gives them a massive opportunity to push sales

Who moved my (TV) bundle? TRAI has ordered broadcasters to comply with the newest tariff order by August. This is likely to reduce their revenues, and increase customers' mental costs, so nobody is happy.

Is bundling good or bad for the consumer? How does bundling work?

TRAI has ordered broadcasters in India to comply with the newest tariff order by August. This is likely to reduce their revenues, and increase customers' mental costs, so nobody is happy.

Read. Subscribe :)

Who moved my (TV) bundle? TRAI has ordered broadcasters to comply with the newest tariff order by August. This is likely to reduce their revenues, and increase customers' mental costs, so nobody is happy.

The Paper has a simple hypothesis, a lens, to look at changing consumer behaviour in times of the pandemic.

Have a read, share if you like :)

Karthik Shashidhar Suprio Guha Thakurta

Consumer spending in the time of covid-19 Overall the Indian Economy might be struggling on account of the pandemic. However, there are interesting changes in consumer behaviour and some sectors are doing well

What’s the Joseph effect and what has it got to do with the economy?

Well, the best bit in today’s newsletter is at the end.

Read. Subscribe if you still haven’t!

Karthik

Made In India, with Incentives If we were the sort that gave boring titles to newsletters, we would have called this "Production Linked Incentives"

India's known covid-19 case count crossed a million. And the green shoots seen in June don't seem to be really growing.

Karthik and Suprio investigate.

A million cases. A million worries India's known covid-19 case count crossed a million. And the green shoots seen in June don't seem to be really growing

The great India media sackings.

With advertising revenues down thanks to the Covid-19 crisis, Indian media organisations have resorted to deep cuts in manpower.

Karthik & Suprio take a look.

The great India media sackings With advertising revenues down thanks to the Covid-19 crisis, Indian media organisations have resorted to deep cuts in manpower.

How is the Indian economy doing?

There is strong expectation that agricultural output in India this year will be much higher than last year. The signal from the rest of the economy is rather mixed.

Karthik Shashidhar & I try to separate the noise.

Leaves that are green (may turn to brown) There is strong expectation that agricultural output in India this year will be much higher than last year. The signal from the rest of the economy is rather mixed

Facebook seems to have a little bit of competition from their latest investment in India: Reliance Jio.
Karthik Shashidhar and I investigate the art of copying in business.

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Copy cat, copy cat, where had you been Facebook seems to have a little bit of competition from their latest investment

With the US cracking down on immigrant visas, Indian IT is likely to have it tough. Or are they already hedged?

Karthik Shashidhar & I look at the issue through the lens of 'law of unintended consequences'.

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Visa power. Now you can't go get it With the US cracking down on immigrant visas, Indian IT is likely to have it tough. Or are they already hedged?

A story that brings together Softbank, Brexit, and the Indian telecom sector.

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OneWeb To Rule Them All When we started The Paper, we hadn't imagined we would write a story that brought together Softbank, Brexit, the Narendra Modi cabinet and the Indian telecom sector

For those of you who missed one or more of our stories during the week, here is a round up on everything we wrote about this week.

The Week That Was: 29 June to 3 July A roundup of the week's stories

3-in-1

1. Sanjiv Goenka is buying rights to publish Fortune in India
2. Unliver's Fair & Lovely is now Glow and Lovely
3. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a case against GVK, operator of the Mumbai airport.

Success, glow and siphons This newsletter is not profitable, but that doesn't mean we are not doing well

"That, however, isn’t how it usually works in India. It is rather common for promoters here to pledge a large portion of equity in the firm. When the value of the shares falls, banks threaten to seize the collateral, and then a legal battle ensues. For a long time, the lengthy legal battles have allowed Indian promoters to get away with excessive leverage. The recent Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) has proved to be a fly in the ointment."

Future is for sale The value of a firm’s equity can be thought of as the difference between the value of its assets and the value of its debt. There is no rocket science in this definition - this is an accounting identity. However, when the value of the firm’s debt exceeds the value of its assets, the value of the...

India bans 59 made-in-China apps. China is not happy. Neither are some Indians.

Crouching Tiger, ...

A look at how the covid-19 associated lockdown has been handled in India, and how different industries have been affected

A shut and open case

The cloud kitchen market is warming up in India. Here is a taster. Dig in.

Pies in the sky

"Indians are obsessed with fairness. We are talking about skin colour here. Light skin is good, dark is bad. Matrimonial advertisements routinely seek “fair skinned brides and grooms”. Pregnant women eat stones in the belief that it will help them deliver fairer babies."

It was a dark & lovely night Unilever is dropping "fair" from the name of a "fairness cream". Yes, that's right.

"It is not just Chinese brands that are getting held up at customs - all containers coming from China are. This means that Apple, Cisco and Dell, all of which have substantial manufacturing setups in China, are getting affected as well."

India raises the wall We saw last week that Indian and Chinese soldiers clashed along the border in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh. Predictably, this has led to backlash against China and Chinese products (of which there are many) in India. There are calls to boycott Chinese made goods, and for labelling products on e-comme...

The Indian union government is talking about the economy recovering post the pandemic. Is it really?

Are the shoots really green? The union government is talking about the economy recovering post the pandemic

Vodafone's troubles in India don't look like they're ending soon.

Vod an Idea! Vodafone's troubles in India don't look like they're ending soon

Reliance Industries has declared itself to be debt-free. Are they?

India's largest company doesn't want to owe money Last week we spoke about how Jio Platforms, the holding company of India’s largest mobile telephone operator, has become a “platform to bring together global private equity firms”. In the space of less than a month, the privately held firm had announced 10 new rounds of investment, raising ₹...

As India and China clash at their border, Chinese investments into Indian startups might be a casualty.

War by other means As India and China clash at their border, Chinese investments into Indian startups might be a casualty

Covid-19 has led to a rapid growth in EdTech in India, but challenges remain. Read.

Teach your children well Covid-19 has led to a rapid growth in EdTech, but challenges remain

The pandemic has revived the fortunes of mass-market biscuit brands in India. Discover how.

This cookie didn't crumble The pandemic has revived the fortunes of mass-market biscuit brands in India

"The Tata Group, India’s much-storied and highly-respected conglomerate, was one of these “otherwise conservative corporates” who used the credit boom to do not one, but two massive LBOs."

JLR says Tata to profits, yet again From time to time, it makes sense to remember the story of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. While the current pandemic-led crisis is nothing like the 2008 one, effects of the latter keep popping up in “daily business” from time to time. The story approximately went like this - interest rates we...

What is Jio Platforms, and why does everyone want to invest in it?

A platform for private equity firms What is Jio Platforms, and why does everyone want to invest in it? It all started with a rumour that Facebook wanted to buy a 10% stake in Jio Platforms, the holding company of Jio, now India’s largest telecom network. In late March, Business Insider had reported

Standard Chartered Bank (StanChart) and the Indian Depository Receipts (IDR) story.

The only person at a party The end of an era in Indian equity markets I suppose none of you would ever want to be at the party where you are the only guest. Not only is the party not going to be fun, but there is also the risk that the party might shut down because nobody else is at the party.

This is the story of Nestle in India, and its popular Maggi brand of instant noodles, whose market share went down from 80% in mid 2015 to zero at the end of the year. So what happened?

The Gifts of Maggi When a brand shows close to zero growth in sales over five years, and it gets reported as positive news, you know that something went very wrong somewhere. And this is the story of Nestle in India, and its popular Maggi brand of instant noodles, whose market share went down from 80% in mid 2015 to z...

Welcome to The Paper!

Telecom-Cloud Wars Welcome to The Paper, your daily dispatch of all things India. Goes out at 6pm IST (1:30 pm BST, 8:30 am EST) every weekday. Amazon joins in the Indian Telecom Party First it was Facebook that invested nearly 10% in Jio Platforms, the company that runs Jio, India’s largest telecom network. Then, r...