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[ad_1] DaVita and its former CEO acquitted of antitrust charges [ad_2] Source link

[ad_1] In May 2020, finance minister Nirmala Sitharman raised the thresholds for the tags of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), acknowledging that the earlier definitions were creating an unintended incentive for units to remain ‘small’. She cited pan-India data of MSMEs scaling up, but for hundreds of units in South Delhi’s Okhla Industrial Area (OIA), the journey since then has been decidedly downhill. The pandemic and a relentless rise in labour and input costs have crippled most units here. So, one could find several units in this chaotic industrial town in the national capital, which in 2020 fit the criteria for a ‘medium’ enterprise announced by the minister, but have since been relegated to the ‘small firm’ category, as their turnovers slid steeply from over Rs 100 crore then to Rs 40-50 crore or less now. And many ‘micro’ units have since shut operations or come to have only a minimal, sombre existence. Large sections of the factories here – mostly manufacturers of garments, leather, pharmaceuticals and packaging materials – are also facing an acute labour shortage as not all of the migrant labourers who left the city during the pandemic have returned. While MSMEs in other parts of the country may also be facing similar problems, Okhla units also have the additional constraints of being housed in the national capital, where environmental norms are now being diligently enforced. Also, implementation of minimum wage norms have inflated labour costs. In his early 40s, Mahipal makes ready-made garments for kids in a small factory at Sanjay Colony in phase-II of OIA. From 10 people in the pre-pandemic days, his employee strength has now come down to just three and even they are not getting adequate work due to lack of demand from wholesalers. As a result, his monthly sales are down 70% now from the pre-pandemic levels. “If things go on like this, we will have to bring down the shutters in a not-so-distant future,” he says in exasperation. Operating from the same area among 250-odd other wholesale traders is Vishal Chowdhury, who deals in dupattas. His sales have more than halved compared with the pre-pandemic days. “The cost of the raw materials has gone up by around 50%. Only a portion of the extra cost can be passed on to the retailers,” Chowdhury says. The recent cotton shortage also hit his business, as his regular suppliers have cut operations. Not surprisingly, at the the garment hub in OIA, only a couple of trucks were waiting for uploading goods on Friday. Since the lockdown, only 3-4 trucks operate in the industrial area compared with 12-13 earlier, a labourer says. A ‘green tax’ – Rs 1,700-1,800 for a 14 ft diesel truck – has dented the margins of truckers. A couple of kilometres away, Deepak Gupta is finding it difficult to run his printing unit at full capacity. Gupta does not face any demand shortage, but the cost of his key raw material – art paper – has risen from Rs 60/kg a year ago to Rs 115/ kg now. Labour costs have gone up too. “Stringent pollution checks are making the business all the more difficult to run,” he says. Not surprisingly, many printing units are leaving Okhla to settle in nearby Noida, Gurgaon and Faridabad. OIA includes a cluster of 600 printing units with annual turnovers between Rs 5 crore to Rs 50 crore. More than 20 have closed down and around 40 units have shifted to Noida and Faridabad. Even among the operating units, most are using barely 50% of the capacity. Just a week ago, one firm sold a costly imported machine and it is now left with only one, Gupta informs. “The buyer of the machine will soon start operating from outside Delhi,” he says. “Labour is a big problem. While we pay a worker the minimum wage of around Rs 16,500 a month, he will work for just Rs 9,000-9,500 in Noida or Faridabad. Our margins are getting squeezed. Printing press business in Okhla will survive for a maximum of five more years,” Gupta predicts. Garment exporters from OIA had been doing relatively well till the pandemic hit in 2020 thanks to regular buyers in Europe. They are now busy finding new buyers in other shipments to Europe have become erratic after the pandemic. “In the absence of the Europe market, we are targeting the US market. Apart from leather garments that we used to deal with earlier, we have now added cotton garments to our basket,” says Lallan Kumar, who works as a manager in one of the many export firms in the area. Okhla Chamber of Industries president Arun Popli says OIA has now turned into a hub of micro enterprises. Higher electricity costs, costlier labour and exorbitant parking fees have led many factory owners to vacate their places and rent them out to new tenants who are turning them into offices, he adds. “All the big units of Okhla have fled to various parts of NCR primarily because of higher labour costs. Okhla started losing its charm from 2016-17 when the Delhi government increased minimum wages. The wages here are now double the level in neghouring areas,” Popli says. Not many Okhla units have benefitted from the government’s flagship guaranteed loan scheme, the coverage of which was widened by Rs 50,000 crore to Rs 5 trillion in the latest Budget, or the Credit Guarantee Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises. These schemes were extended by the Narendra Modi government, ackowledging the need for a protracted period of succour to start-ups and small businesses as they grappled with fallout of Covid-19. [ad_2] Source link

[ad_1] We’ve all been wondering what 5% plus mortgage rates would do to the hot housing market, and now we’ve got that and a bag of chips. This topic is something very near and dear to my heart because going back to the summer of 2020, I have said that one of the only factors that could cool down the housing market was the 10-year yield getting over 1.94%, which would result in higher mortgage rates. The home-price growth from 2020 through 2022 has been so unhealthy that I’ve labeled this a savagely unhealthy housing market as inventory has once again collapsed on a year-over-year basis in 2022. As a result, I’ve been rooting for mortgage rates to rise to create a balancing impact on this housing market. Have higher rates worked? It’s still early to see the full effects, but here’s what we can tell from current data. What higher rates should accomplish The goal of higher rates, in my view, is to cool down price growth and get more days on the market. A few key data lines can tell us if we are heading in that direction. We are still seeing numbers in the teens for days on market, which isn’t good. We would like to get this back to 30 days, but anything in the 20s is a victory. Inventory falling again in 2022 created more forced bidding wars, which frustrates buyers, keeps potential sellers from wanting to list, and creates stress for real estate agents doing a lot of work with nothing to show for it. In addition, the Federal Reserve isn’t comfortable with home prices going up every year. This is a first-world problem compared to a housing bubble, a credit boom, and a crash, but a problem nonetheless. Some data to consider: 1. In NAR‘s most recent existing-home sales report, as you can see below, the days on market is still at a teenager level. We need our housing market to go to college and find a room to rent in their 20s. 2. Inventory is still showing negative year-over-year data. Even this week, on tax day, it is still showing a decline. However, the year-over-year declines are getting less. We went from a 30% year-over-year decline at the end of 2021 to just a negative year-over-year decrease of 14.8%. I find this to be a very positive trend because the No. 1 goal for me is to see inventory have some positive prints, and we are at least heading in the right directionFrom Altos Research: Are higher rates working now? So how can we tell if higher rates are doing their job and we can achieve the goals above? Purchase application data has always been an excellent way to understand how the markets work. It’s also a bit of a funky data line if you don’t have experience reading it. Historically, this data line is instrumental in tracking the year-over-year data from the second week of January to the first week of May. Typically after May, volumes fall! COVID-19 has wrecked the comps for many economic data lines, so COVID-19 adjustments need to be made. Considering that, what do we know so far? I would say that we are seeing legit softness so far in 2022, but nothing too dramatic. The last time this data line was fragile was back in 2013-2014. Mortgage rates shot over 4% quickly, and it created a negative year-over-year trend in 2013-2014. The 2014 data showed a 20% year-over-year decline trend and sales fell that year. 2014 was the very last year total housing inventory grew in America. It wasn’t a lot of inventory, but still, weakness in demand created more homes on the market. My ultimate goal for housing inventory is to get back into a range between 1.52 – 1.93 million. Historically, that is considered low inventory, but that is a much more sane marketplace than what we have currently. 2018 was the last time mortgage rates got to 5%, and sales trended from 5.72 million at the end of 2017 to 4.98 million in January of 2019. Inventory didn’t grow that year and purchase application data only had three negative prints year over year, and they were mild too. That is a good reference to look at, so let’s move toward 2022 because it’s much different now. Sales are working from a higher level and price growth has been hotter, but inventory is much lower this year than any period in history, and demographics are solid in America. Three points to focus on 1. Week-to-week data the last three weeks have had two positive prints and one negative — so that’s not much either way. Three weeks ago, we had a positive 1% print, two weeks ago a negative 3% print, and this week 1% growth. I am not a big fan of reading week-to-week data unless we are considering them within some short-term event like COVID-19 or spiking mortgage rates. 2. COVID-19 created very high comps in this data, so it’s been negative year over year since June of 2021. Unless you make COVID-19 adjustments, you’ll get confused with this data line. I believe many people did this last year because the data showed negative data for the second half of 2021, but if you made those adjustments, you could have seen that the data was getting better toward the end of the year. Purchase application data showed meaningful increases from October to December, which was why existing home sales got to a high-level sales print of 6.5 million in January this year. I still believe that number had some December sales closed in January that made it look high. 3. Focus on the year-over-year data and remember that percent increases or decreases aren’t an exact science compared to sales. Look at this data line as a trend survey, and you need big moves to see a material change. If housing was doing great or crashing, we would need to see activities

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[ad_1] Twitter adopts 'poison pill' as challenger to Musk emerges [ad_2] Source link

[ad_1] The delay in the BharatNet project, aimed at connecting gram panchayats through broadband, has resulted in a cost escalation from Rs 20,100 crore to Rs 61,109 crore. This is partly due to the ineffectiveness of Bharat Broadband Network (BBNL), the entity set up to implement the project to connect 2.5 lakh gram panchayats with optic fibre, for high-speed broadband connectivity. With BBNL not delivering the desired results, the government now plans to merge BBNL with BSNL. The merger is expected to yield better synergies and coordination. The government will come out with a revised public-private partnership model for BharatNet. No company participated in the tender floated in July last year to provide optical fibre connectivity to cover 3.61 lakh villages in 16 states at a total cost of Rs 29,430 crore. The government had provided Rs 19,041 crore as viability gap funding. But prospective bidders found the terms and conditions too onerous and the revenue-sharing model unviable. BBNL was incorporated in February 2012 as a special purpose vehicle to implement the national optical fibre network (later renamed BharatNet). But it has failed to meet targets, ostensibly due to poor coordination between multiple agencies. The Union Cabinet had approved the project on October 25, 2011, and it was to be completed in three years. But even after 11 years, only 1.72 lakh gram panchayats have been made service-ready. In 2011, when the country did not have even 4G connectivity, plans to provide a 100 mega bit per second (Mbps) speed to rural areas were truly ambitious. But while the country moved from 3G to 4G and soon 5G, many rural areas are still waiting for high-speed broadband. The government has set a revised target to connect all six lakh villages in the country by 2025. According to an official in the Department of Telecommunications, BharatNet was delayed due to several reasons, including the unprecedented scale, scope and geographical spread of the project, poor coordination between multiple agencies, difficulties in obtaining right-of-way permissions, and delay in procurement of equipment. The end-to-end network starting from the core network to the gram panchayat and village level is managed in parts by different players. Due to the involvement of multiple agencies, restoration of faults often gets delayed, resulting in poor uptime. Further, officials said, BBNL has limited experience and manpower to ensure operations and maintenance of telecom networks or in marketing and commercial utilisation. BBNL has just 15-odd permanent employees on its rolls, while the remaining staff is on deputation; in all, it has around 250 people. To a large extent, it depends on BSNL to provide connectivity and bandwidth at block or village level. On many occasions BSNL has failed to deliver on commitments to BharatNet, officials said. A few years ago, BBNL started to cut down on giving BharatNet work to BSNL because the telecom firm was not utilising the funds and using some of them to pay salaries. Operations and maintenance of fibre for around 1.2 lakh gram panchayats was also taken away from BSNL and given to CSC SPV. BBNL was created as a project management entity and has no apparatus for marketing, which makes in unviable as a standalone entity, experts have said. The government now thinks BSNL has the capacity to take up all the responsibilities currently being managed by BBNL, including operations and maintenance of the already laid network and its utilisation. When the tender for the public-private partnership was floated, around 50 companies, including telecom operators, internet service providers, over-the-top players and original equipment manufacturers, engaged with the government during two rounds of bid interactions. The government issued clarifications for around 3,000 queries from the prospective bidders, but no bid was received. [ad_2] Source link

[ad_1] This week’s HW+ member spotlight features Nicollette Chapman, who serves as vice president of the mortgage division at Zonda. With more than 20 years of industry experience, Chapman has also held leadership roles at AmeriFirst Financial, Clear Title Agency of Arizona, and First American Financial Corporation. Below, Chapman answers questions about the housing industry: HousingWire: What were some of your biggest takeaways from last year’s HW Annual event? Why do you think people should attend HW Annual this year? Nicollette Chapman: Last year’s HousingWire event provided an outstanding opportunity to network and learn from some of the industry’s best leaders. I appreciate HousingWire’s diversity in approaching all sides of real estate, from technology to economics. There is always an opportunity to learn and grow. HousingWire: What is your current favorite HW+ article and why? Nicollette Chapman: “Some lenders won’t survive the purchase mortgage market of 2022” by Flavia Furlan Nunez. HousingWire: What has been one of the biggest learning opportunities in your career? Nicollette Chapman: One of my first jobs in the real estate industry was working as a business development representative for a title company. It was 2000, and the real estate market was fairly uneventful – rates were around 8% and house prices were affordably flat.  And then, in the blink of an eye, 9/11 happened.  Rates dropped to historic lows, and suddenly every title company in town was overwhelmed with both refinance and purchase business.     I was called into my boss’ office, where he said to me, “Nicollette, we don’t need sales people anymore.  We have more business than we can handle.  We need escrow officers.”  My response to him was, “Okay, then teach me how to be an escrow officer.”   Having learned the importance of being able to quickly pivot in order to meet the needs of the market so early in my career was an incredible opportunity. HousingWire: What is the best piece of advice you’ve received? Nicollette Chapman: Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.  This rings true in all aspects of life – planning allows you to make room for the most important parts of your day (and life!) to occur.  HousingWire: What do you think will be the big themes for the housing market in 2022? Nicollette Chapman: Affordability and rising interest rates. Rates have risen more than 2 full percentage points, yet housing prices continue to rise. As I have discussions with builders, lenders, and real estate agents, there is universal concern as to how much more the market can bear before prices begin to decline.  HousingWire: What’s one thing that people aren’t paying attention to that you think they should be paying attention to? Nicollette Chapman: I speak with lenders all the time on how critical it is for mortgage companies to work with builders. Why? With resale inventory shockingly low, 1 out of 3 single family homes for sale is new construction. Essentially, if lenders aren’t working with builders, they are actively turning away 33% of purchase deals. Lenders need to pivot and re-invest the fruits of 2021 into a sustainable source of referral business, and builders offer that opportunity. To learn more about HW Annual 2022, click here. To become an HW+ member, click here. For more information on HW+ benefits, click here. To view past issues of our HW+ exclusive HousingWire Magazine, go here. The post HW+ Member Spotlight: Nicollette Chapman appeared first on HousingWire. [ad_2] Source link

[ad_1] The post Yieldstreet Review: Invest in Alternative Assets appeared first on Millennial Money. Yieldstreet is a popular financial service that can help both generate passive income streams and diversify your investments. These are two initiatives that become increasingly important as you continue to invest and grow your portfolio.  Keep reading our Yieldstreet review to learn more about what the platform is, what it has to offer, and how Yieldstreet can help take your investing game to the next level. Overall Rating Pros Access to a wider pool of investments than a traditional brokerage Steady interest payout for recurring passive income Diversify your portfolio to reduce risk Cons Annual management fees can cost hundreds Investments have reduced liquidity Some products aren’t FDIC-insured What Is Yieldstreet? Yieldstreet is an alternative investing platform focused on generating passive income streams for its users. Opening a Yieldstreet account allows you to go beyond traditional asset classes like stocks and mutual funds and access alternative investment opportunities — like fine art, marine finance, and commercial and residential real estate.   Since launching in 2015, Yieldstreet has secured $278.5 million in total funding. Today, the company remains independent and operates out of its headquarters in New York City.  Yieldstreet has over $1.9 billion invested in its platform, with $1.2 billion in returned principal and interest payments, along with a net internal rate of return (IRR) of 10.75%. Get Started With Yieldstreet What investments does Yieldstreet offer? One of the nice aspects of Yieldstreet is the variety of investment opportunities you can access through the service. The platform gives you access to various investment products, depending on your current needs and the amount you want to invest. Multi-class fund (Yieldstreet Prism Fund) This multi-asset class fund gives you access to a fixed-income portfolio spread across multiple asset classes — including art, commercial, consumer, legal, real estate, and corporate. Yieldstreet selects the different assets so you don’t have to go through the trouble of picking each one.  This product is available through the Yieldstreet Prism Fund. It comes with a minimum investment of just $500, and you don’t need tons of money or to be an accredited investor to get involved.  Short-term notes Yieldstreet’s short-term notes are investment vehicles that come in three- to six-month offerings, with interest rates that usually exceed what you can find in CDs and money market accounts.  In order to take advantage of this product, you must put up a minimum investment of $1,000. Unfortunately, you also need to be an accredited investor to invest in short-term notes on Yieldstreet. Single asset class offerings  Single asset class offerings let you invest in a curated list of offerings spread across multiple alternative asset classes — like supply-chain financing, structure notes, multi-family apartments, and high-end art portfolios. Due to the diversity of these products, it comes as no surprise that each of them comes with varying terms and yields.  To buy single asset class offerings, you need accreditation and a minimum of $10,000 to invest. Structured notes  This product provides access to thematic notes, which provide recurring coupon payments and protection against equity downside. These products are hybrid securities issued as debt but are linked to underlying stock performance. This is also for accredited investors and requires a minimum investment of $15,000. Supply-chain investing  Yieldstreet’s supply-chain financing program allows you to profit from lending programs that provide working capital for global manufacturers and suppliers. Again, this is for accredited investors only.  At the time of writing, there are two offerings to select from. The Supply Chain Financing I option comes with an annual interest rate of 8.5%, a final term of six months, and an offering size of $14.75 million.  You can also select Supply Chain Financing Limited Term I, with an annual interest rate of 9.5%, a final term of 18 months, and an offering size of $10.1 million.  Real estate investing It’s possible to invest in real estate through Yieldstreet. This could help you generate passive income without having to deal with the hassles that come with owning or managing a property. Yieldstreet provides access to commercial, residential, and multi-family properties. The company offers returns through income-generating loans backed by either equity investments in real estate properties or real estate itself.  According to Yieldstreet, the company has more than $480 million in real estate investments to date, with $37 million total interest earned and a 9.46% historical net IRR.  Yieldstreet IRA Yieldstreet also offers an individual retirement account (IRA) option for long-term, tax-friendly growth. This can be a great way to diversify your retirement portfolio with alternative asset classes. While IRAs typically charge fees for making alternative investments, you won’t have to pay any transaction fees through Yieldstreet.  The company provides access to both a traditional and a Roth IRA. And if you already have checkbook control in another IRA or want to do a rollover, the company offers conversion support for that purpose.  A Yieldstreet IRA is technically a self-directed IRA, which enables you to hold assets that can’t be held in traditional and Roth IRAs. Signing Up and Getting Started While some financial services apps make you jump through hoops before you can invest, this isn’t the case with Yieldstreet. Registration is quick and painless, and you should be able to jump onboard and start investing relatively quickly. Here’s how. 1. Set up your account  The first step is to register with Yieldstreet. This involves providing your basic information — like your name and primary residence.  In addition, you must link your bank account or savings account. Click “sign up” at the bottom of the Yieldstreet home page and go through the registration process. This involves providing basic account information and logging into the platform. 2. Participate in an investment offering Once you’re up and running on the Yieldstreet app, the next step is to make an investment.  To do that, log in and visit the offerings marketplace. Browse the available offerings, see which you qualify for, and choose one you like. 

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