TMS Ep256: Central Vista, Ravi Narain, markets, Antrix-Devas deal

A 3-km long revamped stretch, connecting Rashtrapati Bhawan to India Gate, was on Thursday evening opened to the public by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The road, popular as ‘Rajpath’ so far, will now be called ‘Kartavya Path’. Part of the larger Central Vista project, the stretch is a glimpse of the future, a peek into the larger design. 

After the revamped boulevard and soaring spirits, let us shift our focus to fallen heroes of financial markets. They were like shooting stars, who rose, burnt bright and disappeared, leaving behind a trail. And unlike the stars, this trail was that of destruction. People like Harshad Mehta, Ketan Parekh, Ravi Narain and Chitra Ramakrishna had one thing in common - greed. Markets may not forgive them, but lessons can be drawn. 

These fallen heroes have, time and again, tested the resilience of financial markets. But markets have a habit of moving on. Meanwhile, Indian markets may see intermittent corrections due to policies of global central banks and some other factors, analysts expect India’s relative outperformance to continue. It is now the world’s fifth biggest equity market. Get a sneak peek into what analysts are buying and selling as India looks to shine amid the global gloom and doom.

After the markets, let us shift our focus to a prolonged legal battle, on which curtains were recently drawn in India. In a big win for the Central government, the Delhi High Court has set aside an arbitral award that directed ISRO’s commercial arm Antrix Corporation to pay over $560 million to Bangalore-based start-up Devas Multimedia. We break down the entire controversy and more in this episode of the podcast.