businessline podcasts

As India marks 75 years of Independence, the spotlight is on a sector that is strategic, and has contributed to making medicines relatively affordable, not just in the country, but also to people around the world - earning India the label of being “pharmacy to the world.”

Giving us a peep into the rough and tumble, and milestones in this journey, is Satish Reddy, Chairman - Dr Reddy's Laboratories and part of the leadership team at the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, where he's been president, twice. From the days of the Indian Patents Act (1970), early WTO negotiations to grappling with a pandemic, and war, and despite that planning for a big leap in innovation, Srinath Reddy looks back, and forward at the pharmaceutical industry.

Nitish Kumar has done it again -- he has walked out of the alliance with the BJP yet again and has joined hands with the RJD, Congress, and the Left parties to form the government in Bihar. He took the oath of office for the 8th time on Wednesday afternoon. What's next for Nitish Kumar? Listen in to know more.

Around the world, health authorities are going ahead with vaccinating children below 12 years, as well, against Covid-19. This week, Israel started vaccinating the 0-6 years age group; Australia has recommended vaccinating immunocompromised kids. The US and UK are vaccinating kids above 5 years. In India, children below 12 years have not been brought under the coverage of Covid-19 vaccination programmes.

At the same time, India is also reporting cases of monkeypox – with reports suggesting that children, when infected, could be affected severely.

Clearing the air on how to keep children safe in this fast-evolving scenario, is Dr. Kishore Kumar, neonatologist and Founder-Chairman with the CloudNine chain of hospitals, that looks after babies from the birthing moment to about 12 years.

Globally inflation has been persistent and central banks have been on a rate hiking spree. India is no different and we have had three rounds of increases in policy rates in three months. The central bank rate in India is now higher than what it was pre-covid. Are markets trading cheaper or more expensive versus pre-covid times? How will these rate increases impact corporate earnings and market valuations? 

Listen in to find out.

The Reserve Bank of India has hiked the repo rate by 50 basis points once again!

With this, the key policy rate is back at the pre-pandemic level at 5.4 per cent. Now, the repo rate has reached its highest point since August 2019.

RBI Governor Shaktikantha Das focused on four matters -- inflation, growth, performance of external sector and financial market conditions. Listen in to know them.

Karan Lamba, Head of Creator and Talent Partnerships, takes a deep dive into the creator economy and Snapchat's role in it.

In March 2020, when YES Bank went belly up and the pandemic hit the system, it accentuated the pain in banking space, especially for the mid-cap banks. 

Some of the private banks that were earlier market darlings till FY19 had their vulnerabilities exposed as asset quality issues came to light. What has happened in recent times? 

Have the companies recovered and are there investing opportunities? 

Listen in to find out.

India’s 5G Spectrum auction is taking place on July 26.

Newer frequencies with varied usage are up for grabs and this is likely to propel the country towards a truly wireless experience?

Who are the telecom players in the fray, what are the spectrum bands up for grabs and how well do India’s telecom players look going into the auction?

Ayushi Kar, who has been covering the happenings in the telecom sector from BusinessLine’s Mumbai bureau tells us more.

Today you can hardly imagine a world without lithium batteries. The man who gave them to the world, Prof John Bannister Goodenough, is celebrating his 100th birthday on July 25.

In this week's quantum podcast, M Ramesh introduces us to the life and works of Prof John Bannister Goodenough, and his ongoing quest for cutting-edge technology.

Listen in!

Since 2013, market regular SEBI mandated fund houses to provide investors with direct plans along with regular plans for all of their mutual fund schemes. Yet, the tilt is still more towards regular plans as only 22 per cent of mutual fund investments is currently under direct plans. Tune in to the podcast to get the key things you must know before choosing one from a direct or regular plan. 

Parv Shah and Vishal Balabhadruni discuss key differences between direct and regular mutual fund plans