TMSEp195: 5G auction, Agnipath scheme, markets, Udyam registration

The government on Wednesday morning set the rollout of 5G services in India in motion by giving a nod to conduct spectrum auction from July 26. And brushing aside the concerns of telcos, the Union cabinet -- led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi-- sanctioned direct allocation of airwaves to enterprises, giving them the right to operate private 5G networks. It also didn’t heed to another demand of telcos to slash the reserve price of airwaves by 90% from the 2018 levels. So how will all this impact the rollout of 5G, telcos and industry 4.0? 

The wind of change is not just blowing through the country’s airwaves. It is breezing past the Indian armed forces too. The government on Tuesday unveiled a new scheme to recruit soldiers across the three services. Under the ‘Agnipath’ scheme, around 45,000 soldiers will be recruited every year. Of them, only 25% will be retained after four years of service. The move is likely to bring down the pension budget of the army -- and the freed fund may be diverted for its modernisation. But the scheme is also drawing some criticism.

It is not just the Indian army, but countries all over the world are trying to cut the extra flab as inflation soars past comfort level. The US Federal Reserve announced its second consecutive rate hike last night, while the Reserve Bank of India pushed up the repo rate last week. Rising interest rates, along with elevated raw material cost, are hitting the building material sector hard. Our next report tells about the near-term sore points for related industries, and how should investors play the theme?

Away from the upmarket stock exchanges -- where negative sentiments are weighing heavy-- a sense of positivity is returning in lanes of towns dotted with small enterprises. According to a recent survey, loan demand from micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) was back to 99% of pre-pandemic levels in non-metro cities by March 2022. But how do one register to set up an MSME? For this the government had launched an online system called Udyam. Let us know more about it in this episode of the podcast.