Beyond Financial News

Shashi Tharoor has offered an innovative perspective on the recent comments by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Infosys founder Narayana Murthy regarding the ideal work week. Murthy had stirred the social media pot by suggesting that India's youth should commit to a gruelling 70-hour work week to enhance the country's productivity.

PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) is launching its policy forum initiative, led by president Sanjeev Agrawal and Dr. Manoj Pant, Advisor –PHDCCI and former VC, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), along with Dr Ranjeet Mehta, executive director, PHDCCI. The industry body said the move, emphasizing collaboration with the government and top research entities, aims to ‘revolutionize’ India's policy approach. In an interview to ET, PHDCCI president Sanjeev Agrawal discussed the goals of the initiative, potential challenges, and its potential to ‘revolutionize’ policy-making in India and beyond, besides PHDCCI's broader vision. Edited excerpts:

tobacco products in the Union Budget 2024–25 in order to raise additional funds. It is believed that raising the excise tax is one of the most cost-effective public policy tools available to regulate tobacco consumption. In addition, they also requested an increase in health taxes on cigarettes, bidis, and smokeless tobacco in their appeals to the Finance Ministry.

Over the past five years, Hero MotoCorp, the world's largest manufacturers of motorcycles and scooters, has increased women’s participation in the workforce from 2 per cent to 10 per cent. Going forward, the automotive giant looks to increase its women workforce to 30 per cent by 2030, and boost its leadership diversity to 25 per cent from 8 per cent over the next two years by adopting a pragmatic approach to attracting, retaining and nurturing female talent within the organisation.

Gurpurab, is the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the founder of Sikhism. This day is celebrated with great devotion and enthusiasm by Sikhs all over the world. As we celebrate his 554th birth anniversary today, let us reflect on the invaluable lessons that Guru Nanak Ji has taught us, particularly when it comes to finances.

Independent market expert Mahantesh Sabarad says “this could probably be the good time to lock in your home buying activity because you will potentially see interest rates falling as you go ahead because most of the home loans are variable interest rate structured, you will tend to find that benefit coming in. I do not believe that this is the time to get into the cement companies as a play on the real estate sector. ” Do you think cement and building materials is a better way to play the real estate theme right now because the real estate developers themselves have run up quite substantially? Yes, sometimes it does make sense to play in the real estate segment through the cement companies but not always.

brain does not have the ability to rewire itself to compensate for the loss of sight, an amputation or stroke, for example, neuroscientists say. They argue that the notion that the brain, in response to injury or deficit, can reorganise itself and repurpose particular regions for new functions, is fundamentally flawed, despite being commonly cited in scientific textbooks. Instead, what is occurring in such scenarios is merely that one's brain is being trained to utilise already existing but latent abilities, the researchers write in an article in the journal eLife.

Israeli hostages were released on November 24, followed by 13 more on November 25. Tel Aviv has also released 78 Palestinian prisoners so far. A fourth exchange is expected on Monday - the last day of the four-day cease-fire between the enemies.

Pradhan on Sunday said that the Centre has advised IITs and IIMs to become multi-disciplinary to venture beyond their respective areas of specialisation. Pradhan, while speaking at the inauguration of Odisha Research Centre, said priority has been given to imparting multi-disciplinary education through the National Education Policy, 2020 and IITs and IIMs will also move in this direction.

By James Mackenzie

Here are the biggest analyst moves in the area of artificial intelligence (AI) for this week.

SIS) said in a statement on Sunday that Egypt has received lists of 13 Israelis and 39 Palestinians scheduled for release on Sunday. This will be the third batch in the four-day truce deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar. "The truce is proceeding without roadblocks," the SIS was quoted by Reuters as saying in a statement.

Forbes' annual billionaire list always draws attention, and this year, the spotlight is on 19-year-old Clemente Del Vecchio, the youngest billionaire on the prestigious list. Clemente inherited a substantial fortune from his father, the late Italian billionaire Leonardo Del Vecchio, former chairman of EssilorLuxottica, the world's leading eyeglasses firm.

While strategic planning is not new, the added uncertainty caused by technology shifts and changing macroeconomic situations has made it more difficult. What should leaders keep in mind while building strategic plans for 2024?

Uttarkashi in Uttarakhand, faced yet another setback on November 25. The drilling machine broke down, leaving rescuers with no choice but to manually remove rubble, stones and metal debris. International expert Arnold Dix, heading the rescue team in Uttarakhand, shared the news that the drilling machine is beyond repair, adding, "The mountain has once again resisted the auger (machine)." The timeline for restarting the drilling remains uncertain as the entire machine must be removed and replaced.

AI model has been in the news in recent days, but surprisingly not for her looks, but for the fact that she doesn't actually exist. Aitana, the first Spanish AI model, was created by designer Rubén Cruz and his agency The Clueless.

compliance and strengthen investor protection in Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs), Sebi on Saturday said all the fresh investments made by an AIF after September 2024 should be held in demat form. Approving amendment to AIF rules, Sebi said that some exceptions have been provided.

Los Angeles Lakers will take on the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday. The Cleveland also suffered a humiliating 129-96 defeat against Miami on Wednesday. The loss to Dallas came as a rude shock to the Lakers, who had won three consecutive games. The game against the Cavaliers will be the beginning of a four-game road trip for the team, with their next game scheduled in Philadelphia on Monday.

Cautious investors piling into cash may want to consider other options.

compliance and strengthen investor protection in Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs), Sebi on Saturday said all the fresh investments made by an AIF after September 2024 should be held in demat form. Approving amendment to AIF rules, Sebi said that some exceptions have been provided.

Social Stock Exchange, markets regulator Sebi on Saturday announced that it has reduced the minimum issue size to Rs 50 lakh from Rs 1 crore in case of public issuance of Zero Coupon Zero Principal Instruments (ZCZP). It has also cut the minimum application size in case of public issuance of ZCZP by NPOs on SSE from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 10,000, thereby enabling wider participation of subscribers including retail. At the end of a board meeting, Sebi said it has also permitted NPOs to disclose past social impact report in the fundraising document as per their existing practice subject to disclosure of key parameters such as number of beneficiaries, cost per beneficiary and administrative overhead. «More entities (NPOs) to be made eligible for registration and fundraising through issuance and listing of ZCZP on SSE by permitting entities registered under section 10(23C) and 10(46) of the Income Tax Act, 1961,» Sebi said. The regulator has also approved creation of a regulatory framework for the facilitation of Small & Medium REITs, with an asset value of at least Rs 50 crore vis-à-vis minimum asset value of Rs 500 crore for existing REITs. «SM REITs shall have the ability to create separate scheme(s) for owning real estate assets through special purpose vehicle(s) constituted as companies,» it said, while also approving a regulatory framework, in accordance with IOSCO Principles for Financial Benchmarks, for Index Providers which license ‘Significant Indices’. To facilitate ease of compliance and strengthen protection of interest of investors in Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs), Sebi said any fresh investment made by an AIF, beyond September 2024, shall be held in dematerialised form.