businessline podcasts

Pakistan’s Federal Cabinet on Thursday deferred a proposal of its Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) to import sugar, cotton, and yarn from India “until Article 370 is restored”.

TR Vivek and Subramani Ra Mancombu look at what this decision means for both countries and whether Pakistan sets to lose out more due to this move.

Edited & Produced by Siddharth Mathew Cherian

Read the full story here 

After announcing sharp cuts in interest rates on post–office schemes for the April –June 2021 quarter initially, the Centre reversed its decision and has retained the interest rates on these instruments at the same levels at which it was in the last quarter of FY21.

Tune in to the discussion between Keerthi Sanagasetti, Research Analyst, and Parvatha Vardhini, Head of Research, to know more about the attractiveness of small savings schemes today and where investors should park their money.

In this episode of 'The Mandate', we take a look at Assam, where the second phase of polling is underway in 39 constituencies across 13 districts.

In Assam, the BJP government is hoping that the various welfare measures it implemented will help the party win in the State. The Congress is relying on a new alliance formation to come back to power. If we take the vote share from 2016 into consideration, the Congress' alliance would have a higher vote share in 17 seats that the BJP won the last time. In this podcast, we also take a look at other important issues like the CAA, the NRC and how there is a leadership battle in both alliances.

Associate Editor Poornima Joshi help us understand the issues of the North-Eastern State.

The rating agency Crisil today presented the credit Round of India Inc for the second half of FY21. The credit ratio of companies has improved significantly since the onset of the pandemic and the broader economic forecast looks cautiously optimistic.

Somasekhar Vemuri, Senior Director at Crisil speaks to TR Vivek on India's road to recovery.

Pakistan's Finance Minister Hammad Azhar said that the Economic Coordination Committee allowed private sector firms to import five lakh tonnes of white sugar from India. He also said that Pakistan will import cotton from India starting June this year. He admitted that the ban on cotton import from India had a direct effect on Pakistani SMEs and that they have decided to resume cotton trade on the recommendation of the Ministry of Commerce.

Why is this important? Here's all you need to know.

From April 1, 2021 Auto-payments to debit, credit card and utility payments might fail. This comes after the Reserve Bank of India had given the March 31 deadline for banks to put in place a security measure called Additional Factor Authentication or AFA for recurring payments.

Here's all you need to know.

Ahead of the third phase of polling in west bengal, Buddhadeb release an audio clip seeking support. Listen to the podcast.

States like Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu expect their economies to grow in the current fiscal year.

Various states expect their Gross State Domestic Product to grow in the current fiscal year, an analysis of the State Budgets for 2021-22 by BusinessLine has revealed. However, states like Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Karnataka predict a contraction for 2020-21.

The Ever Given, a Panama-flagged ship that carries cargo between Asia and Europe, ran aground on Tuesday in the narrow, man-made canal dividing continental Africa from the Sinai Peninsula. 

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman brought in two key bills -- National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development Bill, 2021 and the Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2021 -- in the Lok Sabha. 

Listen in.

Union Minister for Environment and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar told Parliament earlier this week that  field trials of genetically modified (GM) crops, including Bt brinjal, will not be taken up for consideration in the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) without the recommendation of the concerned State/UT Government.

This has upset many agri biotech companies and probably could lead to a situation wherein no research and development on GM crops will take place.

The development comes at a time when neighbouring Bangladesh has successfully been growing Bt brinjal over the last three-four years. It has now begun field trials of Bt cotton.

Ironically, the technology and seeds for both have gone from India.

What is going wrong with Bt cotton development in India and why is it facing such a situation? What are the consequences? TR Vivek discusses it with Subramani Ra Mancombu.

Edited & Produced by Siddharth Mathew Cherian