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[ad_1] China's January factory inflation falls to slowest pace since July [ad_2] Source link

[ad_1] IT services major Tech Mahindra’s average new order bookings rose to $700 million in Q3 from the earlier $400 million, a trend it expects to continue in the coming quarters. The firm is also planning to hire 15,000 freshers next fiscal as it intends to train and put them on right projects early. Further, TechM is also foraying into tier-II cities to garner talent and contain attrition, its chief financial officer (CFO) Milind Kulkarni tells Rajesh Kurup in an interview. Edited excerpts: Despite a slow period, Q3 was a good one for Tech Mahindra with annual revenue run rate crossing $6 billion. Will this be maintained in the coming quarters? Due to the furloughs, Q3 is a slow quarter. The communications, media and entertainment (CME) vertical has grown faster than the enterprise vertical, while we had good order booking in the enterprise vertical too. There are supply-side pressures, for which we have various offset actions, while we have also increased our presence in tier-II and tier-III cities. Over the next few months, all the actions will help us mitigate the supply side pressure and continue on the path that we had articulated in the past. Tech Mahindra’s attrition has increased to 24% during the quarter from 21% in the last quarter… Attrition has reduced by 300 basis points on the last 12 months basis. This shows the trend, which was increasing over the last few quarters, has reversed this time. Last time it had stagnated a bit. So, all the actions we have been taking are giving us better benefits. In Q3, Tech Mahindra recorded new deal wins worth $704 million. How is the deal pipeline looking? The new deals worth $704 million are an increase from our average new order booking of $400 million. The deal pipeline, over the last eight quarters, has almost gone up. Our deal closures are in the range of $700 million to $1 billion. We expect this to continue. On your hiring plans… We have hired 10,000 freshers this year and next year we would hire about 15,000. Our intention is to get freshers, train them, put them on the right project early and benefit from that structural change versus just doing lateral hires. We will continue to add people in the business process services segment, IT — as there is continuous demand for transformation projects — artificial intelligence and metaverse among others. Tech Mahindra is also planning to increase the number of delivery centres both in India and abroad. We are getting more into tier-II cities such as Coimbatore, Vijayawada, Nagpur, Indore, Bhubaneswar and Chandigarh to get access to talent and help in containing attrition. We will also expand our existing centres such as Pune, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. We are developing virtual centres in Mexico, Costa Rica, Romania and Latvia. Why did you split your banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) vertical into two separate revenue streams? Insurance is a prominent vertical that requires different skillsets. This follows our recent acquisition of European IT solutions provider Com Tec Co. We have another large insurance company as a customer, so we thought of making a separate vertical for insurance. You are also scouting to acquire companies. What are the capabilities you are looking to bring on board? So, our M&A strategy is to fill up niche capability gaps, and certain segments or verticals that we want to scale up, which are predominantly manufacturing, digital engineering and BFSI. Our focus would include areas such as Cloud capability, while we will also grow organically. What are your plans on the 5G front? On the 5G front, IT firms will be providing support to service providers and for us, it will boost our CME vertical. We would be playing a bigger role to boost demand for services and application in the telecom sector. [ad_2] Source link

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[ad_1] Stocks rebound, oil slips as Russia-Ukraine tensions ease [ad_2] Source link

[ad_1] By Bhaskar Dutta One of the more unpalatable facts associated with the pandemic is the huge increase in global inequalities in the last couple of years. In a recent report, Oxfam mentions that the total wealth of billionaires increased by roughly 60% during March 2020 to November 2021. This was a bigger increase than in the previous 14 years combined. At the other end of the spectrum, the World Bank estimates that 97 million people worldwide fell into extreme poverty in 2020 and are now living on less than $2 a day. The number of the world’s poorest also rose for the first time in over 20 years. Of course, the same pattern has been repeated in India. A common government response to the pandemic in many countries was to loosen the purse strings. Central banks injected enormous amounts of liquidity into financial markets. This additional liquidity has helped keep asset prices high. Stock markets have boomed all over the world although the economies that underpin them went into deep depression. These monetary policy interventions were well-intentioned, and they are likely to have helped prevent some bankruptcies and preserve jobs. Perhaps the more significant impact is that they have inflated the value of assets held primarily by rich people and have a lot to do with the growth of billionaire incomes. Not surprisingly, this has resulted in widespread demands both in India and abroad that taxes on the super-rich need to be stepped up significantly in order to finance both general economic recovery as well as provide succour to those particularly hard hit by the pandemic. At first sight, this seems a no-brainer, particularly because the actual taxes paid by the super-rich are a minuscule fraction of their wealth. The striking unfairness of this situation prompted even a group of more than 100 billionaires and millionaires, the so-called “Patriotic Billionaires”, to issue a plea at the recent World Economic Forum— “make us pay more tax”. Given the compelling ethical reasons for a steep hike in taxes on the super-rich, what has prevented its widespread implementation? One could, for instance, think of introducing a highly progressive income tax so that, say, the top 1% of income earners pay punitive taxes. Consider, for instance, the situation in India. The highest income tax rate is only 30%, and those with taxable incomes above Rs 5 crore pay an additional surcharge of 37% on income tax. This translates to an overall average tax of roughly 40%. However, even if the highest marginal tax rate was raised to 60% or 70%, this would still capture only an iota of the windfall pandemic-time gains made by India’s billionaires. This is because income tax is levied only on realised capital gains. So, to the extent that much of the wealth of billionaires is in the form of financial assets which have not been traded, increases in their values do not constitute taxable incomes and so escape the tax net. This leaves open the possibility of a tax levied directly on wealth. A wealth tax is associated with a different set of problems. What should be the base on which it is sought to be levied? If wealth is computed on the basis of the cost of acquisition of various assets in the possession of any individual, then actual wealth will be underestimated since unrealised capital gains will again not be taken into account. The other possibility is that wealth is computed on some notion of current “market” value. Most financial assets can then be priced quite accurately. However, the market for real estate is not really very active. Properties are also not homogeneous entities—even two neighbouring buildings may differ widely in value. So, estimates of wealth held in real estate will be highly subjective. There is also the apprehension that any attempt to introduce wealth tax in any individual country will induce flight of capital across international borders. Indeed, some estimates put the amount of capital flight from France soon after it imposed a wealth tax at several times the amount of revenue raised from the wealth tax. Perhaps, the only solution is to include unrealised capital gains in taxable income. If the purpose is to tax large windfall gains—such as the ones reaped by the ultra-rich during the pandemic, then the size of the gain attracting this “windfall gains tax” can be kept quite large. Since property prices do not fluctuate as much as financial assets, this would leave real estate outside the ambit of such a tax as well as the unrealised capital gains of an overwhelming majority of retail investors. So, tax administrators would only have to focus on a small number of taxpayers. Since windfall gains occur only infrequently, the danger of capital flight may not be as large as in the case of a wealth tax. After all, the transfer of large amounts of capital has some long-term adverse effects—for instance, in the form of affecting the size of business operations in the country of origin. This long-term adverse effect may be larger than the infrequent benefits reaped through saving the windfall gains tax, and hence reduce the outflow of capital. The writer is Professor at Ashoka University. [ad_2] Source link

[ad_1] Jesse bought me some doughnuts last week (one of my current pregnancy cravings!)… and someone else was very excited about them. We started working on learning how to color in the lines. She’s also been loving these Water Wow books. One of my goals for 2022 is to complete one craft project every month. I did an Annie’s Creative Girls’ Club Kit for this month. Yes, this is a super basic sort of craft, but it was my first time to make something like this and I was really happy with how it turned out! I posted this on Instagram this morning: “How do you get over your insecurities and feel like you have anything to offer or share with the world?” The question came into my inbox this morning and I resonated with it so much. I struggled a lot academically growing up. I could barely, barely pass high school math. I never took the ACT test in high school because I was sure I would bomb it so badly. I never went to college. In addition to that, I had social anxiety. My worst fear was public speaking and being rejected by others. I avoided anything that might make me the center of attention. And yet, here I am… teaching hundreds of thousands of people grocery math and showing up on video and writing posts that are seen/watched/read by millions of people (collectively). And yes, experiencing plenty of rejection and criticism in the process. Basically, I’m facing my worst childhood fears every single day. Why and how? Because God. There is no other legitimate explanation for it. He doesn’t look at whether you did well or struggled in school to decide if He can use you. He just needs you to show up… and He can show off. He doesn’t determine your worth or your usefulness based upon whether you graduated from college with honors or whether you never filled out a college entrance application. He just needs you to be willing… and He can use you to do great things for the Kingdom of God. He can use you, in spite of your insecurities, social anxieties, and fear of rejection. He can use you — even if you feel like you don’t have much (or anything!) to offer. Because He’s not looking for greatness; He’s looking for willingness and faithfulness. I’m a living testament to the fact that God is in the business of doing great things through the most unlikely people. So acknowledge your fears & insecurities, release them to God, and then step out and say, “yes, Lord! I want to be willing to be used. I’m scared. I don’t feel like I have anything to offer. But I want to be willing.” Then, keep looking to Him, keep showing up faithfully wherever He has called you to be, & keep handing over your fears and insecurities to Him & asking Him to use you. All He needs is willingness… He can do the rest! He’s starting to learn how to stand up!!! He’s even working on doing it one-handed! I bought Kierstyn this Sensory Bin on Amazon and it has provided hours of fun for her. (You could totally make your own, too, but I thought this was a pretty good deal to have it all made for you!) My 8 Goals for Last Week My big goal for last week was to finish my manuscript and turn it into my publisher. I’m thrilled to say that I was able to accomplish this goal!! I will now wait for the first round of edits from my publisher before I start working on the book again. It’s got a lot of work left and multiple rounds of edits, but I’m so excited to be to this place! Personal Goals Delete 1000 photos and videos from my phone. Do one extra house-cleaning project every day (follow along on Instagram for details!) Do a craft project. Reading Goals Finish reading Unoffendable and The Woman They Could Not Silence. Family Goals Watch the Olympics & Super Bowl together as a family. Business/Blogging Goals Write a post on surviving & thriving with two littles. Book Goals Read through each chapter of the book. Work on final edits before turning book in to my publisher. My 10 Goals for This Week Personal Goals Delete 1000 photos and videos from my phone. Do one extra house-cleaning project every day (follow along on Instagram for details!) Do a craft project. Reading Goals Finish reading Unoffendable and The Woman They Could Not Silence. Finish listening to The Four Winds. Family Goals Watch the Olympics together as a family. Go on a date with Jesse. Business/Blogging Goals Write a post sharing a recipe for Sheetpan Dinner. Make two reels. Write devotional for Proverbs31.org. [ad_2] Source link

[ad_1] COVID vaccination during pregnancy helps protect babies after birth -U.S. study [ad_2] Source link

[ad_1] The Union government and Vedanta have decided to end an ongoing arbitration concerning the second call option given to the latter to buy the Centre’s residual 29.5% stake in Hindustan Zinc (HZL), paving the way for the government to disinvest the stake, worth over Rs 39,000 crore, in the open market. Both the parties have filed applications separately for ending the arbitration. A senior official said the government would sell the balance stake in the company “at an opportune time”. The Supreme Court (SC) had on November 18, 2021 allowed the Centre to disinvest its residual stake in HZL in the open market, citing that HZL had long ceased to be a government company. In 2002, Vedanta (earlier known as Sesa Sterlite) had bought a 26% stake in HZL, India’s largest zinc/lead miner. It exercised the first call option in 2003 and acquired an 18.9% additional stake in HZL. Vedanta later acquired another 20% stake in the company through an open offer, increasing its shareholding to 64.92%. To acquire the government’s remaining 29.5% share in HZL, it had exercised the second call option in 2009, but this was rejected by the government. Following this, Vedanta initiated arbitration proceedings against the government in the same year. On Tuesday, the HZL stock closed at Rs 315.25, up 0.4% from the previous closing price, on the BSE. At current market prices, the Centre’s 29.54% stake in the company is worth Rs 39,348 crore. “We have to first get out of the arbitral tribunal. At an appropriate time, we will decide on when and how the disinvestment will be done in the company,” the official cited above said. While the previous UPA government had approved a stake sale in HZL in January 2014, the employee association approached the SC seeking a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in HZL’s stake sale to Vedanta in 2002. The controversy is not yet over. On February 7, the SC rejected the Centre’s plea for recall of its earlier direction that asked the CBI to register a regular case concerning 26% divestment in HZL in 2002. However, the apex court allowed the government to pursue legal remedy, including the filing of a review petition. The government has set a modest disinvestment target of Rs 65,000 crore for FY23, nearly 60% of which could be met from the sale of residual stake in HZL alone, if the government decides so. The government also has a strong pipeline of strategic disinvestment next year, including fuel refiner-cum-retailer BPCL and IDBI Bank. The government’s 52.98% stake in BPCL is worth about Rs 42,300 crore at current market prices, while its 45.48% stake in IDBI Bank is worth about Rs 23,000 crore. [ad_2] Source link

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