Why we are obsessed with money

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

What a way to exist!

For most of us, practically the whole day all we are thinking is about money and more specifically how to have more money!

As if money was the only thing in life. Unfortunately for most of us, circumstances just do not permit any other thought!

We are running behind money most of the time which is almost akin to have become obsessed with money. Everything that we are doing in life is centred around money.

Unfortunately, this is because we need money for anything and everything that we do. There’s nothing wrong and what are you doing, however the problem is that over time, it becomes a compulsive habit to keep earning more.

That’s where the danger is. The problem is that there is a point where from we chase money as an addiction, we chase money because we like to do so. If we did not chase money we would not know what to chase now because we get out identity from money and the amount of money we have.

Another thing is that right from childhood we are always taught and our minds are conditioned that everything that we are doing is going to be for the sake of earning money.

There is no one who told you that money is just a means, and then there is something greater in life to achieve. Some examples are legacy; building something, charity; to giving something / helping someone, passion; pursuing something and living; simply to enjoy life and your money

We have got addicted to this and how!

There are three reasons for this:

First, we are what we do. It is the human behaviour. I know I should exercise and I don’t. I know I should eat healthy and I don’t. I know I should spend time with my kids and I don’t. I know that, yes, money isn’t going to make me happy and I still keep trying to make money.

We live by the laws of inertia, in a pattern which is hard to break. But we have to break it. For ourselves and for the sake of people and reasons for which we are chasing money.

Secondly, we need signals of progress. Money is a measure of how far you have progressed in life. The more the money you have the more you can make sure your progress. It’s simply the logic of evolution. People need validation of their success. Bigger house, bigger car, branded goods and list goes on.

Thirdly, it’s the easy way out. It’s only human to avoid difficult things. Important things are very difficult to measure.  Have I been a good father or husband? Have I groomed my child well?  Such things take years to measure and we still don’t have answers.

So, should we not be focused on creating money for ourselves?

I’m not saying that. Definitely create. Take care of yourself for sure!! Use it to the maximum to make yourself happy!!! You need a certain amount and beyond that is extra.

The definition of their certain amount is naturally different from one person to another. If that extra is going to happen easily, without stress and without your involvement, then its fine. Basically don’t kill yourself for that extra. Be Smart.

Kartik Jhaveri is an expert at planning money, life and aspirations. He is a certified financial planner, wealth manager and financial freedom coach.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

How the RBI actually helps you

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Most of us in Mumbai, see this huge structure called the Reserve Bank of India and wonder what it really does. It’s also a tourist attraction!! It has so many other offices and again one wonders why they need to have so many offices. I’m going to try and highlight a very interesting part of RBI’s work and how it helps us directly on a day-to-day basis.

The RBI does a review of the monetary policy of the country at frequent intervals during the year. So how does the monetary policy help us investors to take smart decisions?

Monetary policy is a tool by which the RBI decides to raise interest rates or reduce interest rates or keep them steady.

In our country, as we’re an oil importing nation, this decision is very closely linked to Oil. Oil to a large extent contributes to inflation. We all know what happens when inflation keeps rising. We in India unfortunately do not see too much of inflation falling and things becoming cheaper.

Oil is Not Well

So when oil prices rise i.e. we see a rise in crude oil prices almost instantly we can expect rising food prices. This is because there is going to be a rising cost pressure for manufacturing & services. This rise obviously gets passed onto the retail consumers.

When this happens RBI adopts a hawkish stance, tries to pull money out of the system by raising interest rates. Now when interest rates rise no one seems to be interested in borrowing. This immediately puts a brakes on money circulation.  Less money chasing goods decreases the demand for money. This way it controls inflation.

There is yet another tool that the RBI has and that is known as the CRR or the cash reserve ratio.  This ratio in simple words means the amount of cash that the bank must maintain with the RBI as the percentage of the total assets. So when this increases banks are forced to park more with the RBI and this is also a way to control inflation.

On the other hand when things look dull, when there is a recession of sorts, the RBI comes to the rescue and gets into action to kickstart growth in the country. It does this by lowering the interest rates. This we all will understand quite easily because we see a direct benefit of this happening. We see a fall of interest outgo in our EMI’s for the home loan that we are carrying. New loans become cheaper.

Individuals are motivated to go out and make purchases, whether it is for a washing machine or a piece of real estate. Businesses are motivated to go out and borrow to buy more machinery, to expand capacity, to hire more staff and manpower and basically do everything that will add to the growth of business.

Economic growth results as a result of all this. It is also during this time that stock market rises, we see a rally in stock prices and mutual fund NAV’s jumping higher and higher each day. There is prosperity all around.

Critical Role

As you can see that the central bank of the country has a very very important role to play.  If it makes a mistake, things can go really wrong.  Imagine like the USA or Japan if our interest rates were very low; everyone would run to borrow, they would borrow more than they require because it would be cheap and easy to borrow. And that is very individuals would run into what is known as the debt trap, because someday you’ll have to pay back.

Each day the central bank attempts to make sure that everything in our country remains stable and financially there’s nothing that goes wrong dramatically.

Kartik Jhaveri is an expert at planning money, life and aspirations. He is a Certified Financial Planner, Wealth Manager & Financial Freedom Coach.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

The year of the bond, once again!

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

We are not talking of James Bond, we are talking of investment bonds.

We are in a situation where the fixed deposit rates are at a general low and there is a lot of discontent among depositors of fixed deposits.

Whenever we see a situation like this, one way or the other, the bond markets come to the rescue. It comes to the rescue of smart depositors, who are agile to move their money from fixed deposits to bond funds.

Let’s understand what is happening and why.

What Exactly is Happening in the Bond Markets?

It is likely that in this year, investors of bond funds will make handsome gains. Bond prices may rise and there may be capital gains. Investors of bond funds not only earn the rate of interest, but also earn capital gains. So that way, they make more than the return they would make on fixed deposits. The returns could be a high single digit or sometimes as high as double digits.

Over three years, this will become practically tax free or the tax would be a very small amount. So, basically, I am thinking that a rally will happen in the bond market. There are three main reasons for this — reduction in government borrowing (which is favourable), recovery of trading losses (which is favourable) and no change in monetary policy (which is neutral).

A word of caution, however, that such bond market investments are also subject to bond-market volatility and should be considered ideally with the help of a financial expert.

Before proceeding further, let us, therefore, quickly explain a bond, bond fund and bond market. We need to do this because few people understand the bond markets and even fewer invest in the bond markets.

Bond is nothing, but a commercial transaction where the borrower is issuing a bond to the lender and the lender will earn a certain rate of interest. When interest rates fall, everyone becomes interested in owning that bond.

As a result, the demand for the bond increases, the price of the bond increases and the bondholder makes capital gains.

A bond fund is a fund where ordinary investors pool in their money and a fund manager buys them a portfolio of bonds.

Moving onto the Reasons For a Rally in Bond Funds…

Now, the fundamental reason for a rally is reduction in interest rates as it stimulates economy and growth.

Firstly, the government is a massive borrower of funds. So a reduction in government borrowing reduces the demand for money in the economy. As a result, prices of bonds rise and this contributes to capital gains for bond holders.

Secondly, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently announced that the commercial banks and RBI, which are the largest lenders to the government, will have another year to offset losses they have incurred on account of buying government bonds in the past. This action will lead to a rise in the price of bonds and this contributes to capital gains for bond holders.

Lastly, on one side due to the rise in oil prices, there is more inflation and thus more money is needed for circulation in the economy. On the other side, many government bonds are maturing, which will provide money supply. So, it is likely that we see a neutralising effect and thus RBI will take no action. This inaction here will support capital gains as explained above. Hence, this year might be a year of good gains for the bond investors.

Kartik Jhaveri is an expert at planning money, life and aspirations. He is a Certified Financial Planner, Wealth Manager & Financial Freedom Coach.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Five new financial goals for you this summer

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

I am going to try and explain to you why the summer holidays of April and May are great months to get a lot of things started, financially speaking.

This time period in a way resets the financial clock. You also have the option to hit the reset button on everything you have done so far; financially speaking of course and hope to do better things better than you did last year.

Let’s look at some of the new and unusual things to do in April.

• Make a learning budget

Learn something about money or anything you like. The best way to make money is to learn something about money. Just like if you wanted to learn cooking you will get into the cooking class. If you wanted to learn swimming you would enrol in the swimming class. If you find learning about money is too daunting task than learn something which is close at to your heart or related to your work. If you learn something new, there’s a possibility that you will use your new ideas to generate new income and in turn that will generate new wealth for you.  So make a budget, enrol somewhere and spend that budget. How about a % of your annual income? Spend it for sure!

• Plan a unique holiday 

When you’re by yourself and without your mobile phone you will have the opportunity to think! When you have time to think, suddenly good ideas will come to your mind.  You may think this is silly but you can be sure that you will be amazed if your drivers experiment just once. So it might be a good idea to go for a holiday just by yourself. If you find that too intimidating, join a group of strangers. You can combine that with the adventures experience if you like.  Be extra careful if you’re going with your special buddies. Do this only if they are going to be in a position to help you discuss your idea and make it bigger. They must play the role of complimenting your thoughts. So make a schedule to do this holiday and obviously make a budget to make it happen. Think & create new ways of making wealth.

• Make a prediction and make it happen

Be brave. Let’s aim to grow and multiply net worth by 50% by the time you come to the end of this financial year. This is not a joke and it is easier than you can imagine.  I’m speaking about NETWORTH and I’m not talking about return on investment. If your networth is Rs. 100 today, all I’m saying is that let’s aim to make this a 150 by the end of this year. This networth comprises of all your savings till date. This can be achieved by simply saving aggressively every month for the next twelve months. Just put this into a recurring deposit or liquid fund so you don’t spend it.  We just have to prove to ourselves that this is possible. Where and how we will invest this money will think about that later.

• Eliminate a negative belief 

I want to give you an exercise here. Write down all your negative beliefs you have about money and wealth. Most people are not able to achieve the desired level of wealth because they think about wealth negatively. So even if you are earning a good amount of income you will never see yourself becoming wealthy. Examples are money causes problems, money causes a fight, managing money is complicated etc. Then for each negative thought, you have written down the positives i.e. the opposite for a few months. Soon negatively biased feelings will evaporate.

• Make a new investment; something you have not done before

Again here you do not have to be a financial expert. The idea is to learn something new. There are hundreds of investment options. Our objective here is to learn something new. Talk to your advisor and seek his or her guidance. Just a word of caution here; don’t do anything which is speculative or is something that you just can’t understand. Do what do find easy you understand and do that then.

Kartik Jhaveri is an expert at planning money, life and aspirations. He is a Certified Financial Planner, Wealth Manager & Financial Freedom Coach.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Seeking financial freedom? The time is NOW!

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

John Lewis famously remarked, “If not now, then when? If not us, then who?” This is so appropriate in the current financial world that we live in.

That statement will leave to rest every other argument that is conservative and against the idea of wealth creation. We are often faced with the situation where there is no option but to create wealth. Read on to know why!

Interest rates are painfully low. For all those diehard fans of guaranteed investment returns, there’s hardly any place to go to. Thinking of fixed deposits? Feeling happy with 7%? And fully taxable? That period is over. Period.

That doctrine of investing into pure fixed deposits and similar instruments is unfortunately standing challenged. There is no option but to sprinkle it with a combination of a little something that will add to the returns earned from fixed income type of securities. In fact this category of investors are in a way, best placed in terms of the current tax laws.

They can earn about 9-10% with minimal or near zero tax over about five years and more. Starting to generate rate of return above the inflation level of 7% is starting to create wealth. So there it is; there is no option but to move in the direction of creating wealth.

For more evolved investors, who invest in equities and who and still sitting on the sidelines tend to run out of patience every now and then. They are sometimes waiting for the right time, sometimes waiting for correction, sometimes waiting for valuation and sometimes waiting for just nothing. Sometimes, just too busy to take action!

I totally understand not wanting to lose hard-earned money. But if the money does not move it will stagnate. That’s the problem with money.

Hit the Ground Running

Inaction and inactivity kills it. Makes it costly to hold. Makes us lose opportunities, sometimes small and sometimes significant. I know of many people including my dad, who just kept investing into equities and holding forever. No doubt they were hugely (big HUGELY) better off then the people in the same time zone. I think they could have done far better with some smart lessons on asset allocation. This is because if they compare the growth rate of their holding over a period of 20 or maybe 30 years the compounded rate of return earned is often not impressive.

It is just marginally better or a few percentage points above the fixed deposit rate. Hence the need for asset allocation, which simply put is not to have all eggs in one basket at any given point in time. These sections of investors anyways create wealth, and, asset allocation is the tool that ensures that the process of wealth creation continues uninterrupted. So again there it is; even for this section there is not option but to start enhancing their wealth creation activities, else returns will continue to remain forever mediocre.

Then there are skeptics and there is nothing much for skeptics of everything, except that they need a serious dose of financial education. Perhaps what if needed is a proof of concept and for that, which better country to live in other than India where financial transparency in investments is so high that I sometimes feel, it comes from another planet.

 Your Money Needs Action

Today, there is a whole lot of variety to choose from and we have never been more spoilt for choice. But the most important thing in all this is to understand that your money needs action. It needs activity and for that the time is now!

And furthermore, if you asked me this question 10 years ago; I would have said that, the Time is NOW. If you ask this question 10 years hence, I will still say the Time is NOW. Any time is the right time to start the process of creating wealth. All that is important is that you take your first step; then continue it all the way with zeal and determination… till you have the level of wealth that you desire. And if you accumulate more than you need, still do it and share it with the world.

If you want your financial freedom; then the Time is NOW!

Kartik Jhaveri is an expert at planning money, life and aspirations. He is a Certified Financial Planner, Wealth Manager and Financial Freedom Coach.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Young Turks: Here’s the success story of venture fund Aspada

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Venture fund Aspada was co-founded by Kartik Srivatsa and Thomas Hyland in 2012 and has made 17 investments so far across Fin-tech, agriculture, health and edu-tech startups.

Young Turks takes a look at their investment thesis, their differentiated VC model and meet three of their portfolio companies – Capital Float that underwrites unsecured loans to startups and SMEs; Dunzo, a hyper local concierge and delivery player that is also Google’s first direct startup investment in India; WayCool, a Chennai-based agriculture-tech startup.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Air India Express lays off employees for ‘pre-meditated’ sick leave

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Air India Express has started terminating crew members who did not report to duty, leading to cancellation of flights.

In a letter of termination sent to one of its employees on Wednesday, May 9, the airline stated that an overwhelming number of airline’s crew members reported to sick at the eleventh hour. “This clearly points to a pre-meditated and concerted abstention from work without any justifiable reason,” said Air India Express.

The action of crew members resulted in the cancellation of a large number of flights, affecting the airline’s schedule and caused inconvenience to passengers, the airline suggested. Hence, it terminated the contracts of concerned employees with immediate effect.

In the termination letter, the company further said, “Your act is not only subversive of public interest, but has also caused embarrassment, severe reputational damage, and serious monetary loss to the Company.”

Air India Express stated that the employees’ leaves at the last moment also violated the ‘Air India Express Limited Employees’ Service Rules’ in addition to violation of the applicable laws.

There was chaos at several airports as hundreds of passengers were left stranded. Air India Express has also apologised to passengers for the cancellations.

The airline’s employees union had alleged there is growing unrest and dissatisfaction among employees after the takeover by Tata Group.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Apple top designer Duncan Kerr exits, marking end of an era for Jony Ive’s team

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

The exodus is now nearly complete for the Apple Inc. design group that worked under Jony Ive, a legendary team that helped the company pioneer music players, smartphones, tablets and smartwatches. 

Duncan Kerr, one of Ive’s few remaining design colleagues at the company, has informed Apple that he’s leaving soon, according to people who asked not to be identified because the move isn’t public. Kerr joined the company in 1999 and was instrumental to developing several generations of the iPhone, iPad and Mac.

A spokeswoman for Cupertino, California-based Apple declined to comment. 

Also read: Apple M4 iPad Pro vs M2 iPad Pro: What’s improved?

With the departure, Ive’s team of about two dozen closely knit employees has been almost entirely dissolved. In the years following Ive’s own exit in 2019, top designers like Jody Akana, Joe Tan, Anthony Ashcroft, Andrea Williams, Jeremy Bataillou and Eugene Whang left. The outflow continued over the past year, with major players like Bart Andre, Colin Burns, Shota Aoyagi and Peter Russell-Clarke departing as well. 

Evans Hankey, Ive’s successor as Apple’s head of industrial design, left Apple last year. Alan Dye, the company’s chief of interface design, remains in place, but his team has also lost several members in recent months. The last remaining industrial designers from the Ive era are Richard Howarth, Molly Anderson and Ben Shaffer.

A large portion of the team at Apple has left for LoveFrom, Ive’s new design company. The firm is working on projects with Airbnb Inc., Ferrari NV, Moncler SpA and other brands. Ive has remained out of the Apple spotlight in recent years but participated in a joint interview with Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook and Laurene Powell Jobs in 2022. 

Over the past year and a half, Apple’s team of designers has reported directly to Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams. That has irked some of the artists and sculptors, who were used to working closely with a manager from the design world. The brain drain of Apple designers after Ive’s departure led to Apple being unable to replace Hankey directly, Bloomberg News reported at the time.

Also read: Inside Battersea Power Station where Apple hosted its first of a kind event for iPads

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Home First Finance Q4 net profit jumps 31% to ₹84 crore, NII up 22% to ₹137 crore

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Affordable housing financier Home First Finance Company India Ltd on Wednesday (May 8) reported a 30.5% year-on-year (YoY) jump in net profit at ₹83.5 crore for the fourth quarter that ended March 31, 2024.

In the corresponding quarter, Home First Finance Company posted a net profit of ₹64 crore, the company said in a regulatory filing. The company’s revenue from operations increased 37.9% to ₹3,127.6 crore as against ₹2,268.4 crore in the corresponding period of the preceding fiscal.

Net interest income (NII), which is the difference between the interest income a bank earns from its lending activities and the interest it pays to depositors, rose 22.4%, coming at ₹136.8 crore against ₹111.8 crore in the corresponding quarter of FY23.

Also Read: L&T declares final dividend of ₹28 per share with Q4 net profit beating estimates

For FY24, Home First Finance witnessed a surge in disbursements, recording a total of ₹3,963 crore for the fiscal year 2024, marking a year-on-year growth of 31.5%. The Asset under Management (AUM) for Home First Finance stood at ₹9,698 crore, reflecting a year-on-year growth of 34.7%.

Notably, housing loans continue to be the primary focus area for Home First Finance, contributing 86% to the total AUM. The Expected Credit Loss (ECL) provision as of March 2024 stood at ₹71 crore, resulting in a total provision to loans outstanding ratio of 0.9%.

Furthermore, the Gross Non-Performing Assets (GNPA) to Total Provision Coverage Ratio (PCR) improved to 50.9% in March 2024. Home First Finance’s total borrowings, including debt securities, amounted to ₹7,302 crore as of March 2024.

Also Read: Tata Power Q4 Results | Net profit jumps 15% to ₹895 crore, declares dividend of ₹2

Despite an increase in the cost of borrowings to 8.2%, representing an 80 basis points rise year-on-year, the company maintains a healthy liquidity position, with ₹2,055 crore in liquidity reserves as of March 2024.

Furthermore, Home First Finance demonstrates robust capital adequacy, with a Total Capital to Risk-weighted Assets Ratio (CRAR) of 39.5% and Tier I capital at 39.1% as of March 2024. The company’s net worth stood at ₹2,121 crore.

The results came after the close of the market hours. Shares of Home First Finance Company India ended at ₹895.05, up by ₹16.30, or 1.85% on the BSE.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Navneet Education to sell 5.12% stake in K12 Techno for ₹225 crore

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Navneet Education Ltd on Wednesday (May 8) said it has signed a definitive agreement with Venturi Partners, marking the divestment of a partial stake in K12 Techno Services Private Ltd for ₹225.2 crore.

“We have been informed by our subsidiary, Navneet Learning LLP, that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Venturi Partners on May 8, 2024, for divestment of its partial stake of 5.12% (on a fully diluted basis) in K12 Techno Services Private Limited for a consideration of ₹225.18 crore,” according to a stock exchange filing.

The agreement, finalised on May 8, 2024, sees Navneet Education’s subsidiary, Navneet Learning LLP, parting ways with 5.12% of its stake in K12 Techno Services.

Also Read: RBI tells NBFCs to ‘strictly adhere’ to cash disbursal limits as per IT rules

Navneet Learning LLP will retain a significant 14.35% stake in K12 Techno Services. Notably, Navneet Education continues to maintain a 93.0% stake in its subsidiary, Navneet Learning LLP.

Gnanesh (Sunil) D. Gala, Managing Director, Navneet Education, said, “Navneet Learning LLP has cumulatively invested ₹118.59 crore in K12 Techno, and today marks the 1st part exit of our stake which is in line with the thesis of value creation we had originally envisaged while investing in K12 Techno.”

EY acted as the exclusive financial advisor on this transaction, the company added. Shares of Navneet Education Ltd ended at ₹159.95, up by ₹2.55, or 1.62% on the BSE.

Also Read: Baba Kalyani expects defence vertical revenue to grow nearly 60% in FY25

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

L&T becomes the sixth private company to cross ₹2 lakh crore in revenue

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) on Wednesday, May 8, became the sixth private firm from the non-financial sector to report a full year revenue of at least ₹2 lakh crore. The company’s revenues for FY24 increased by 21% to ₹2.21 lakh crore, aided by execution of a large order book in the Projects & Manufacturing businesses.

With this milestone, the engineering giant also joined in the ultra-elite club which already include names like Reliance Industries, Tata Motors, TATA Steel, Tata Consultancy Services and Hindalco Industries.

While the largest company — Reliance Industries — clocked a revenue of Rs 9 lakh crore in FY24, the trailing 12-month revenue for Tata Motors and Tata Steel stand at ₹4.2 lakh crore, and ₹2.3 lakh crore, respectively. Bangalore-based gold retailer — Rajesh Exports is not included in the sample considering the nature of its business.

At ₹95,086 crore, revenues from international business constituted 43% to the L&T’s total revenues in FY24. The increased overseas revenue was largely driven by a ramp up in execution of multiple international projects.

The consolidated net profit of the company surged by 25% to ₹13,059 crore. However, the profit included an exceptional gain (net of tax) of ₹94 crore, attributed to the divestment of stake in L&T Infrastructure Development Projects Limited.

During the year, the company received orders worth ₹3.02 lakh crore at the group level, registering a robust year on year (Y-o-Y) growth of 31%. According to the company, orders were received from different segments like Onshore & Offshore verticals in Hydrocarbon, Metros, Urban Transit Systems, Airports, Roads & Bridges, Residential, Renewables, Transmission & Distribution and the Precision Engineering sectors.

Of the total orders, international orders stood at ₹1.63 lakh crore, which is 54% of the total order inflow.

However, the company expects a slowdown in order inflow during the current fiscal due to national election and global geopolitical tensions. The company garners a significant chunk of its revenue from government orders.

“We expect revenue growth to be at around 15% for fiscal year 2025,” Shankar Raman, CFO said post earnings call. He further added that orders momentum will resume in second half of FY25.

Shares of Larsen & Toubro have rallied as much as 47.2% over the last one year. In contrast, the benchmark Nifty50 has generated a return of 22.1% during the same period.

Also read: L&T declares final dividend of ₹28 per share with Q4 net profit beating estimates

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Google DeepMind unveils next generation of drug discovery AI model

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Google Deepmind has unveiled the third major version of its “AlphaFold” artificial intelligence model, designed to help scientists design drugs and target diseases more effectively.

In 2020, the company made a significant advance in molecular biology by using AI to successfully predict the behaviour of microscopic proteins.

With the latest incarnation of AlphaFold, researchers at DeepMind and sister company Isomorphic Labs — both overseen by cofounder Demis Hassabis — have mapped the behaviour of all of life’s molecules, including human DNA.

The interactions of proteins — from enzymes crucial to human metabolism to the antibodies that fight infectious diseases — with other molecules are key to drug discovery and development.

DeepMind said the findings, published in the research journal Nature on Wednesday, would reduce the time and money needed to develop potentially life-changing treatments.

“With these new capabilities, we can design a molecule that will bind to a specific place on a protein, and we can predict how strongly it will bind,” Hassabis said in a press briefing on Tuesday.

“It’s a critical step if you want to design drugs and compounds that will help with disease.”

The company also announced the release of the “AlphaFold server”, a free online tool that scientists can use to test their hypotheses before running real-world tests.

Since 2021, AlphaFold’s predictions have been freely accessible to non-commercial researchers, as part of a database containing more than 200 million protein structures, and have been cited thousands of times in others’ work.

DeepMind said the new server required less computing knowledge, allowing researchers to run tests with just a few clicks of a button.

John Jumper, a senior research scientist at DeepMind, said: “It’s going to be really important how much easier the AlphaFold server makes it for biologists — who are experts in biology, not computer science — to test larger, more complex cases.”

Dr Nicole Wheeler, an expert in microbiology at the University of Birmingham, said AlphaFold 3 could significantly speed up the drug discovery pipeline, as “physically producing and testing biological designs is a big bottleneck in biotechnology at the moment”.

Also Read: US researchers develop a framework to filter out AI nonsense

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

India vs Pakistan ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 — Check squad, date, time, where to watch live

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Asian rivals India and Pakistan will lock horns on June 9 during next month’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024. The high-profile match will be hosted at New York’s Nassau County International Cricket Stadium. India and Pakistan are pooled together in group A along with Ireland, Canada and co-hosts USA.

The June 9 fixture will be the eighth occasion when the two teams will be locking horns at the ICC T20 World Cup. India have won 5 of the 7 matches played between the two sides so far. Pakistan’s only victory against India in the tournament came during the 2021 T20 World Cup.

India will be led by Rohit Sharma while Babar Azam will be the captain of the Pakistani side.

Indian squad for the T20 World Cup:

Rohit Sharma (C), Hardik Pandya (VC), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sanju Samson (WK), Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah.

Pakistan squad for the T20 World Cup

Babar Azam (C), Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Rizwan (WK), Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Usman Khan.

Also read: All T20 World Cup 2024 squads: India, Afghanistan, Australia reveal teams

The last time India and Pakistan faced off at the ICC T20 World Cup was at the Melbourne Cricket Ground during the 2022 edition of the tournament. Batting first Pakistan scored 159/8. India chased down the target thanks to an unbeaten 82 by Virat Kohli.

Despite suffering a loss against India in the group stages, the Babar Azam-led side qualified for the final. In the final they were beaten by Jos Buttler’s England.

India and Pakistan were the winners of the first two editions of the ICC T20 World Cup which were previously known as ICC World T20. While India defeated Pakistan in the final of the 2007 ICC World T20, two years later Pakistan beat Sri Lanka to clinch their first ICC World T20 crown.

The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 will be streamed for free on mobile phones in India on the Disney+ Hotstar app. The first match of the T20 World Cup will take place between the US and Canada on June 2, 2024, at 6 am IST. The ninth edition will be played in the West Indies and US. The event will feature 20 teams competing across 55 games for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024.

Where to Watch India vs Pakistan ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 Live

The India vs Pakistan match will be telecast live at 8 pm IST on Sunday (June 9) on the Disney+ Hotstar app. Stay tuned to CNBCTV18.com for all the action from the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

RBI Governor discusses ways to scale up UPI ecosystem with stakeholders

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday discussed with banks and other stakeholders ways to scale up the UPI ecosystem, expand products and foster innovative payment solutions.

UPI (Unified Payments Interface) is an instant real-time payment system developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to facilitate inter-bank transactions through mobile phones.

Das held a meeting on Wednesday with major stakeholders in the UPI ecosystem — banks, NPCI, third-party application providers and technology service providers — to discuss potential strategies for further expanding the reach of UPI, RBI said in a statement.

“There were wide-ranging discussions on various aspects to widen and deepen the adoption and usage of UPI. The stakeholders shared their valuable inputs and suggestions,” it said.

The discussions broadly covered strategies for scaling up UPI infrastructure and expanding product portfolio, and challenges being encountered by the ecosystem and innovative solutions for addressing the same.

The deliberations focused on innovative ideas to integrate potential users into the digital payments ecosystem.

The various suggestions received will be examined and suitable action will be initiated in due course by the Reserve Bank, the central bank said.

The meeting was also attended by RBI Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar and other senior officials of the central bank.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow