SEBI has passed five different orders against various entities involved with the dark fibre and co-location case involving NSE. This issue was also mentioned in the risk factors of the DRHP filed by National Stock Exchange in its proposed public offer. This issue was also responsible for claiming the sudden resignation of its then Managing Director and CEO Chitra Ramakrishna, immediately after the DRHP was filed.


SEBI passes five orders in NSE co-location case (Column: Market Watch)


IANS Automatic

The ISIS, or the Islamic State, has eventually claimed responsibility for the multiple terror bombings in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday targeting churches and hotels, killing 359 and injuring about 600 people. The sites hit in the attacks were all frequented by tourists, and at least 42 foreign nationals died in the explosions.


Sri Lanka's Easter carnage: Colombo needs to be wary of Pakistan-ISIS links (Comments)


The phenomenon of film actors joining forces with politicians is not a new thing. In the South, it happened much earlier while the Hindi film actors took the cue a bit late. One of the reasons the Hindi film industry kept away from politics for long was that the rulers and, as such, politicians were seen as enemies of film folk. Not one, there were many Swords of Damocles hung over the film industry by the rulers and usually used as tools.


Films and politics (Column: B Town)


Given the size of the Indian economy and expectations of future growth, infrastructure remains a crucial area of focus for both financial and strategic investors alike. As capital flow gradually picks up in the sector over the last five years and operational assets are bought out, the obvious question is: What next in terms of infrastructure projects?


Moving beyond brownfield assets for infrastructure investors


Markets were on a roll last week and gained on two of the three trading days. The benchmark indices also hit new highs on Tuesday and Thursday and saw profit taking on Thursday before a long-extended weekend holiday set in. The undercurrent remains strong and the tussle between the bulls and bears is deeply set in. Nothing is going to end in a jiffy for sure.


Markets continue gains but cautious strategy advisable (IANS Insight - Market Watch)


There was a famous saying in the film industry, which was a filmmakers answer to all criticism and that was: Let the figures speak. Not at all strange that both, the one who criticised a film as well as the one who defended it, used the same phrase! One of them got the satisfaction of being proved right albeit, at the others discomfort. Films of a maker like Manmohan Desai, for instance, were always panned by critics but the collection figures spoke for his films.


Box office: Fudging the figures (Column: B Town)


Recent news about an increase in Indian corporates and state entities issuing dollar bonds is welcome news, especially since it clearly shows investor appetite for lending to credible Indian business models. However, relatively easy liquidity and high investor appetite for lending in the international markets must be tempered by the fact that borrowing in foreign currencies is beneficial for businesses with certain specific balance sheet structures.


Balanced approach essential on foreign currency debt (Column: Behind Infra Lines)


The debate on Kashmir has produced a crop of 'experts' whose analysis is in many cases tinted by their political alignment. In the run-up to the 2019 General Election, the issue of handling of Kashmir by the Centre and the connected question of India's Pakistan policy figure prominently in the opposition's attack on the government. In essence, the stand of the Modi regime was that the prime challenge in Kashmir was to counter the cross-border terrorism instigated by Pakistani agencies from across the LOC and prevent the latter from converting some vulnerable young minds in the Valley to the path of the gun in support of the infiltrated terrorists - all in the name of faith. The narrative on Kashmir whipped up by the opposition is silent on three important aspects of the issue - these have to be explained so that the distortion these gaps produced in the Kashmir story is understood.


The flawed narrative on Kashmir (Column: Spy's Eye)


Films, when released, are sensitive to any and everything that may affect its potential. The box office is sensitive to just about everything that happens outside of a film auditorium. Say, a strike, an unrest, cricket, festivals and so on. Not to forget the television, video, CD, DVD and, now, OTT, the small screen content streaming.


IPL versus Box Office (Column: B Town)


The unexpected clamping-down on the much-debated biopic on Prime Minister Narendra Modi would affect Vivek Oberoi much more than anyone else associated with the film. And not only because Vivek is/was (lets face it, the EC verdict has killed the film) a producer on the project. Not even because it is said that Vivek Oberois politically-connected in-laws have a big hand in concretising the project.


Vivek Oberoi's Modi act loses steam & esteem (Bollywood Spotlight)


The Indian elections that kicked off on Thursday are a democratic exercise the likes of which the world has never seen. In the worlds largest democratic practice, around 900 million voters - more than the combined population of all the European countries, across 543 constituencies will cast their votes to decide the fate of political parties.


Political parties need to focus on issue-based election campaigning (Column: Active Voice)


It is crucial for the government to keep pushing towards more effective growth-oriented policy framing and implementation in India.


Focus needs to be on creatng hard and soft infra (Column: Behind Infr Lines)


The importance of the flow of capital into the power and housing sectors in India cannot be overemphasised. Recent developments in both sectors once again bring to the fore the critical issues of effective payment mechanisms and price transparency as vital factors to boost the economy.


Mission 2019: Ensuring payments and price transparency (Column: Behind Infra Lines)


The idea of launching Nyuntam Aay Yojana, a cash transfer scheme that intends to provide Rs 72,000 per year to the poorest 20 per cent Indian families, by the Congress Party if it comes to power, has stirred a debate among the policymakers about whether the move is economically viable or is just a tactic by the Congress Party to garner votes in the upcoming general elections.


Rather than NYAY, strengthen public services landscape (Column: Active Voice)


Pakistan unsurprisingly occupies a predominant place on our foreign policy turf for the reason that our approach to this hostile neighbour is impacted not only by India's strategic partnership with the US but also by the state of our bilateral relations with Russia and China and the consistent stand India had taken against terror in spite of the uncertainties that had lately cropped up around the 'war on terror'. In the context of the political narrative that the opposition in India has generated in the aftermath of India's recent air strike on the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) camp at Balakot in Pakistan -- wherein the virtues of talking to a 'neighbour' are invoked -- our policy makers need to make it clear that India's problem is with the deep state of Pakistan, not with the people of that country.


India's Pakistan policy has global support (Comment: Spy's Eye)


Unlike 2014, the economy is no longer the focal point of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) campaign.


It's nationalism, stupid! (Column: Political Circus)


The slowdown in real estate over the last few years and the constraints that India's infrastructure sector have faced due to non-performing assets (NPAs) have had a significant impact on allied industries, none more than on the cement sector itself.


Aggregating small cement businesses can push India's growth (Column: Behind Infra Lines)


The benefits of diversity in the workforce are known to give companies a competitive edge and this, in turn, enables higher growth. A 2018 McKinsey & Company Report, "Delivering through Diversity", found out that companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on their executive teams were 21 per cent more likely to experience financial returns above their national industry means than the companies in the fourth quartile.


Reducing gender inequalities in education Better outcomes for businesses and society


Whenever I think of Urmila Matondkar, I think of a lot of warm food and conversation. Urmila talks a lot. If you know her, you'd know what 'nineteen to the dozen' means. She is a one-woman entertainment industry in the living room if she warms up to you. Or else, she freezes you out of her life.


Urmila Matondkar the politician


Film processing lab. That was the heart and soul of filmmaking not too long ago. You shot a film, sent the negatives to the lab and they processed and printed the film positives for you. It took days to watch the outcome of your efforts. Today, you shoot a scene and are immediately able to see what you have shot. In fact, you are even able to watch on a small monitor attached to the camera what you are shooting or thereafter as it is all played back on your smart phone, digital camera or your monitor! Not so in those days.


The era of film processing labs (Comment: B Town)


The signalling at the Federal Reserve of the US meeting last week that no more interest rate hikes should be expected during 2019 has ramifications across the globe given the scale of the US economy and the importance of Federal Reserve policy to global investments. From the perspective of the Indian investment community, there are some crucial takeaways and the reiteration of a few existing trends.

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