Unfolding global developments poses risks to Indian economy, says RBI

India’s macroeconomic fundamentals remain strong but the unfolding global developments pose downside risks in terms of spillover, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its monthly bulletin on Thursday. “The ongoing geopolitical crisis has heightened the uncertainty clouding the global macroeconomic and financial landscape even as the world economy struggles to recover from the … Read more

ICICI’s Sandeep Bakshi: Business Standard’s ‘Banker of the Year’

ICICI Bank’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Sandeep Bakhshi was chosen as the Business Standard Banker of the Year 2020-21 for turning around the private sector lender both in terms of performance and perception during his tenure of the past three and a half years. A jury of five members chaired by former RBI … Read more

Sri Lanka’s economy is being crushed by war in Ukraine

Russia’s war in Ukraine, which has caused a humanitarian crisis and convulsed global financial markets, is now threatening to crush an $81 billion economy more than 4,000 miles away in the Indian Ocean. Hit by soaring oil import costs and a dip in tourism revenue, Sri Lanka is racing to avert a default amid dwindling … Read more

Mukesh Ambani’s takeover of Future could be a B-School case study

Future Retail had been subleasing store space from the tycoon’s Reliance Industries Ltd. Indeed, it was kept operating only on Ambani’s forbearance because Future couldn’t come up with the rent. But with Amazon.com continuing to block Reliance’s $3.4 billion purchase of Future’s assets, Ambani decided to make the acquisition a fait accompli: He terminated the leases and is taking … Read more

Why Web3, the Blockchain and Crypto Internet, Is Doomed to Fail

“Fortune favors the brave,” Matt Damon declared in a recent ad. Walking through computer-generated scenes of explorers and adventurers, Damon then told viewers how they could join the ranks of these brave people: by trading cryptocurrency on Crypto.com. The message from the Crypto.com ad — echoed by a slew of other crypto companies that paid … Read more

Why It Could Take Years for Startup Valuations to Stop Plunging

The plunge in startup valuations could last years, say VCs at the firm Redpoint Ventures. The situation is similar to the dot-com bust after the 1999’s tech boom, they say. But one big difference from two decades ago is the record piles of cash VCs are sitting on now. Venture capitalists were partying like it … Read more

Russia seeks Indian investment in its oil and gas sector

Russia urged India to deepen its investments in the sanction-hit country’s oil and gas sector, and is keen on expanding the sales networks of Russian companies in Asia‘s third-largest economy. Russia’s economy faces its deepest crisis since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, as the West imposes severe sanctions over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. … Read more

Byju’s valuation tops $22 bn after $800-mn funding led by founder

Byju’s has raised $800 million from Sumeru Ventures, Vitruvian Partners, and BlackRock, as the world’s most valuable edtech company focuses on expanding its business in global markets and explores to do more acquisitions. Byju Raveendran, founder and CEO of Byju’s, which has 150 million learners globally, is also part of this fund-raise and has made … Read more