Top Headlines: Omicron 3x more transmissible; Rs 2 trn worth IPOs next year

Business Standard brings you the top headlines at this hour.

Private equity and venture capital investment may hit record $70 bn in 2021

Private equity and venture capital investment will hit a new high of $70 billion in the calendar year 2021, according to projections by Bain & Company which analyses trends in private equity investing. Out of this, about half has flowed into just two sectors: consumer technology (e-commerce, edtech, fintech) and IT services and SaaS (software as a service) which has become an attractive business for investment. Read more
 

Omicron variant three times more transmissible: Centre warns states

The Centre has told states that the Omicron variant of coronavirus, based on current scientific evidence, is at least three times more transmissible than the Delta strain, asking them to ensure prompt and focused action if there is any sign of a surge. Read more
 

IPO hard sell: LIC boasts Rs 37-trillion AUM before overseas investors

Ahead of its initial public offering (IPO), Life Insurance Corporation of India’s (LIC’s) top management is impressing upon potential global investors the scale and size of the insurance behemoth that trumps the size of many economies in the world. At a closed-door meeting with global investors, the largest asset manager in the country boasted of its nearly Rs 37 trillion assets under management (AUM). Read more
 

How India negotiated work-life as Covid kept hitting back-to-office plans

Another uneasy year gone in a heartbeat. A year when the goalpost kept shifting. When we swung from hope to despair many times over, and came to settle somewhere in between. As the January of 2021 dawned on us with the promise of a Covid vaccine, a partial return to office appeared a possibility. And “hybrid” became the dominant concept in any conversation around office life. Read more
 

IPO pipeline expected to swell by over Rs 2 trillion in 2022: Report

After the record-breaking IPO rally with as many as 65 issuers collecting a whopping Rs 1.35 trillion so far this year, the market frenzy is set to continue next year with new issues worth over Rs 2 trillion ($26 billion) in the pipeline, according to a report. Read more
 

Disinvestment's tough climate call: The hurdle in govt's fund-raising path

Among the many reasons for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with private equity and venture capital fund managers on Friday last week was to get a sense of how they read the government’s disinvestment plans. At this stage, the disinvestment of BPCL, the Mumbai-based oil and gas producer, is likely to take place only in financial year 2022-23, although it was originally slated to be complete by this financial year. Read more