Posts

Can India boycott Chinese products completely ?

Image
Last month, When PM Narendra Modi in his address to the nation, gave a clear call for an 'Atmanirbhar Bharat', a message seemed to have developed amongst the masses against the products that we import. This expression was more specifically targeted towards our immediate neighbor, China- a country that has been declared guilty of spreading and even manufacturing the novel coronavirus. Not too far from the LAC (Line of Actual Control) in Ladakh, Sonam Wangchuk, engineer, innovator, and the inspiration behind popular Hindi film 3 idiots, took to social media platform to promote the boycott of all products made in China. Wangchuck's video crossed 20L views in two days but he went on to assert that these should be converted into something concrete that would bite the Chinese government. With all this in the air, the billion-dollar question that needs an immediate answer is how feasible is it to talk about insulating ourselves from the flooding of material from this global

India-China | Escalate, Deescalate, Escalate

Image
The Indian Army has notified that 20 of its personnel, including a Colonel-rank officer, were killed by Chinese soldiers along the LAC (Line of Actual Control) in a "violent face-off" in which the Chinese side also faced heavy casualties, though no bullet was fired. The escalation, as The Indian Army said, happened as a result of an attempt by the Chinese part to "unilaterally change the status quo" along the LAC in Galwan Valley of Ladakh. The massive toll - biggest since border clash of 1967 at the Indo-china border at Sikkim and the first combat casualties since 1975 - arising out of this violence, officials notified, strikes at the heart pf every bilateral agreement and understanding to maintain tranquility and peace along the indo-china border since 1993.  what happened precisely remains unclear. The Chinese govt didn't comment on casualties for any side, only confirming that a clash took place after the Indian soldiers crossed into the area it

Elon Musk calls for breakup of Amazon

Image
In the past week, Twitter addict and Billionaire Entrepreneur Elon Musk said that he is going to be "off Twitter" for a while. That while lasted a full 3 days. Musk has come back in full force and now, dominating the news headlines with his latest posts calling to break up Jeffs' Amazon , because 'Monopolies are bad' he proclaimed. Others - including merchants, activists, and Democratic politicians - have also called for the breakup of Amazon, pointing to its growing excess control over the e-commerce industry. But in Musk's case, the tipping point was a book that amazon refused to sell on its portal.  Musk's tweets came in response to a series of posts by former New York Times reporter, Alex Berenson, in which he complained that amazons self-publishing platform, KINDLE had rejected his submission for a book title "Unreported truth about COVID-19 and Lockdown" In the first week of June, Alex took to the Kindle platform to publi

Are Online Streaming Platform the New Normal ?

Image
Good News for Movie Buffs  While the work standstill because of the corona pandemic, The Indian film industry has for the past 3 months, witnessed close cinemas, abandoned film sets, and movie stars with empty diaries. But as far as cinema lovers are concerned, their wait is soon going to be over. Thanks to the online streaming or OTT (over the top) platforms that have stepped forward to bring cinema online.   Now let us discuss some important points in this regard : With the film industry shut down due to the imposed and extended lockdown, quite a few producers have now decided to go digital on direct to home platforms. Many movies including Ayushmann Khurana and Amitabh Bachan Starrer "Gulabo Sitabo" and Vidya's "Shakuntala Devi" will drop the traditional way of theatrical opening.  Apart from the above mentioned Hindi releases, the direct to home platform menu features the "Sufiyum Sujatayum" (Malayalam) starring Aditi Rao Hydari, T

Why supporting MSMEs is important and the accountability of the package

Image
WHY SUPPORT MSMEs The primary focus of the economic package announced by PM Modi was to alleviate the distress in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sector that lies in the very core of the Indian economy and is an employer of around 11 crores (110 million) individuals, including huge migrant forces of the country. 6.11% of manufacturing GDP and 24.6% of service GDP is contributed by MSMEs. They nearly account for 16% of bank lending. There exist an estimated 63 million small businesses across the nation. Many of these were adversely impacted by the demonetization policy of 2016 and the rollout of The Goods and Services Tax in the very net year. The virus can cause them great trouble unless the govt. offers some support.  The 16 particular announcements in the first tranche cut across sectors that range from NBFCs and MSMEs to power distribution and Real Estate and the Salaried, the overarching theme was Liquidity Infusion. This world hopefully puts

Focus of India's Latest Rescue Package

Image
Indian Government has announced plans to assist Small and Medium Enterprises as a part of their Rs. 20 lakh crore ($266 Billion) economic package. This economic package is nearly 10% equivalent to 10% of India's GDP. Nirmala SItharaman, Finance Minister quoted certain measures which are announced in these few days with reference to the use and allocation of the package . Let's discuss them:- FM Sitharaman quoted "The measures will boost growth and build a self-reliant India. She further added that "The intention is to invest in local brands and make them world-class. It's about being isolationist or looking inwards, it's about a confident and powerful India that contribute to the world. This includes an emergency credit line of collateral-free loans worth $40 billion to safeguard jobs and reuse business activities in the wake of India's lockdown 4.0 to contain coronavirus. To infuse the much-needed liquidity into India's power dis

Neo Banks

Image
Gradually, Neobanking is becoming a buzzword in the financial tech, often called, Fintech Community. This term has gained its momentum since it is been taking the headline on the media and news. But, do we have insights on what it is all about. On a global level, the fintech industry is taken on a storm by Neobanks. We have been witnessing news players in the market every day whose primary aim is to simplify finance and services to a great extent. Now let us have a look on neobank in detail. What are Neo Banks ? A neobank is a tpe of digital bank that does not have any branches. Rather than being on a physical location, it is present entirely online. We can imagine it as a wide umbrella of financial service providers who serve todays tech savvy customers. Neobanks can also be termed as fintech firms that provide mobile friendly and digital solutions payments and money lending. Money transfers and more. These banks don't posses their own bank license but count on ban