India-US trade deal l ‘Hope to have an agreement soon’: Nirmala Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that she hopes a trade deal between India and the US is finalized soon. She said that talks have been intensified and differences have been narrowed down. Sitharaman is in Washington to attend the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The issue had also come up for discussion when Prime Minister Modi met US President Donald Trump at the UNGA summit earlier.

Rural FMCG consumption at seven-year low: Nielsen

In its quarterly report, Nielsen claimed a steep fall in rural FMCG consumption. Consumption of branded packaged goods fell to a 7-year low in rural India, as per Nielsen. FMCG growth hit 7.3% in July-September 2019 across both urban and rural markets. The FMCG market had experienced a growth of 16.2% in July-September 2018. Historically, FMCG growth in rural India has been 3-5% faster than urban areas.

Why Not Mint Money | How to use a DigiLocker account

Carrying physical copies of all your documents everywhere you go is a real task. And then there's the fear of losing or misplacing them as well. But what if you had a digital solution to this problem? Yes, that's right. Mint's Disha Sanghvi explains how you can use a DigiLocker account.

Mint Explainer: Key estimates of RIL Q2 results

RIL will announce its September quarter results on Friday. It is expected that RIL's refining to offset weakness in petrochemicals and a lower tax rate benefit for the retail and telecom businesses. Mint's Nasrin Sultana takes through analysts estimates for Q2.

Mark to Market | What should investors expect from oil companies in Q2FY20?

Reliance Industries will announce its Q2FY20 results on 18 October. The company’s refining business is expected to get a boost from improved refining margins on a sequential basis. State-run oil marketing companies, HPCL, BPCL and IOCL, are expected to deliver a strong quarter as well

What does Trump’s apparent admission of US nuclear weapons in Turkey imply?

President Trump appears to have inadvertently confirmed the presence of US nuclear weapons in Turkey, making this possibly the first time the country has publicly acknowledged what has been considered an open secret for years. This may revive concerns about the safety of these weapons in the wake of Turkey’s offensive in Syria. But was Trump’s accidental admission indeed accidental? Could not have Trump’s statement been deliberate to signal the US’s dominance in the region, particularly to China with whom it has been experiencing increasing geo-strategic conflicts? That is a point worth pondering.

All Things Markets: Where’s the money in mid & smallcap stocks?

Midcap and smallcap stocks are reeling under pressure even though benchmark indices have rebound from deep falls in July. Mint’s Nasrin Sultana speaks to Sunil Subramaniam, Managing Director, Sundaram Mutual on his outlook of mid and smallcap stocks?   

Why Not Mint Money | How to book cheap flight tickets online

Are expensive flight tickets stopping you from going for that fancy abroad holiday? Well, what if there were some hacks that could help you book cheaper flight tickets online? Yes, you read that right. Watch this video by Disha Sanghvi from Mint's personal finance team for some quick tips.

Why Not Mint Money | How to pick the right credit cards

If you're planning on getting a credit card, the wide variety of options could overwhelm you, pushing you to go for a card that isn't really the one that best suits your needs and spending pattern. Watch this episode of Why Not Mint Money to understand how you should go about picking the right credit card.

Mark to Market | Hindustan Unilever shows resilience in Q2 performance

Given that the economic slowdown has taken a toll on demand, expectations from the results of consumer firms for the September 2019 quarter are not running too high. In that backdrop, Hindustan Unilever’s Q2 numbers don’t appear too bad. Volume growth is slightly better than analysts’ expectations. Plus, the company has improved its Ebitda margin on a year-on-year basis. Going ahead, rural demand slowdown remains a concern. Nonetheless, steep valuations suggest investors are capturing the brighter picture.

Mint Views | Banerjee-Duflo show demand is crucial for education

Nobel laureates Abhijeet Banerjee and Esther Duflo picked education as a critical social sector to examine whether people are in a poverty trap or not. Through a study, the economists found that it is critical for demand to exist that could spur the need for education. While governments often focus on the supply of education through providing incentives and infrastructure, demand generation still remains critical.

How Nobel winners Banerjee, Duflo, Kremer transformed economics to help poor

An Indian-American is among three economists awarded the 2019 Nobel prize in Economics. Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer won the prestigious Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economics in the Memory of Alfred Nobel. The trio was honoured for its 'experimental approach to alleviating global poverty'. The trio has revolutionised economics by studying actual poverty as a lived reality.

Pain for India Inc. Deepens as Revenues Fall to Record Lows

India Inc’s revenue likely fell to a 14-quarter low in Q2. Nine-quarter low for EBITDA growth, too; gains on input costs nullified by high fixed cost. The estimate is based on an analysis of 430 companies, which account for ~65% of the market capitalisation (excluding financial services and oil companies) of the National Stock Exchange.

Digital Gurus | 'OTT enabler' Apalya Technologies' COO on industry's future

With the over-the-top services industry quickly expanding in India, Chief Operating Officer of Apalya Technologies, Venugopal Iyengar, comments on the current trends, as well as the possible future, of the industry. Apalya Technologies describes itself as an 'OTT enabler'. The company started with mobile TV and says that it now serves every major telco in South Asia & Middle East.

‘The Sky Is Pink’ competes with ‘War’, ‘Joker’ | Business of Entertainment

The entertainment offerings this week include biographical family drama The Sky Is Pink that competes with older releases like War and Joker. In the latest episode of its show, 'Business of Entertainment', Mint's Lata Jha goes through the financial performance of what’s buzzing in the world of entertainment.

Why Not Mint Money | How to port health insurance policy

There are many reasons why you may not be happy with your health insurance plans, but the good news is you can always port your policy to a better plan. We tell you about portability and how it’s done.

Moglix founder Rahul Garg on nuts & bolts of building a B2B e-comm marketplace

There is a lot of buzz about India’s e-commerce battle between Walmart, which bought Flipkart for $17 billion, and Amazon. But over in the B2B space, Moglix — an e-commerce service for buying manufacturing products - now wants to revolutionize this and has huge expansion plans up on its anvil. The startup which last raised $23 million in funding counts Accel Partners, Jungle Ventures and World Bank-affiliated IFC as its investors. It's other backers include Venture Highway, ex-Twitter VP Shailesh Rao, InnoVen Capital and Ratan Tata. Mint's startup Diaries gets into a conversation with Rahul Garg, Founder, Moglix. Also, E-commerce major Flipkart’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kalyan Krishnamurthy has made a personal investment in B2B e-marketplace Moglix. His first individual backing of a company in the B2B e-commerce space.

Mint Views l Does IRCTC share price surge signal market sentiment upturn?

Shares of state-run IRCTC more than doubled on market debut on the BSE and NSE on Monday. The railway services provider’s IPO was subscribed more than 112 times. Though its early to say if market sentiment has turned a corner, the strong demand does suggest that New Delhi needs to work out its pricing strategy in future share sales better so that the issues aren’t underpriced, especially given the tall disinvestment target it has set out to achieve.

#MintExpertShorts: More Pain for India Inc. as credit profile worsens

Credit quality pressures intensified for India Inc in the first half of fiscal 2020 driven by an interplay of factors including global and domestic economic slowdown, sharp fall in consumption demand, and slower government spending. Constrained access to funding also affected the credit profiles of entities across sectors, especially non-banks and real estate. The value of debt downgraded more than trebled to ₹1.38 lakh crore in the first half of fiscal 2020 from ₹39,000 crore in the first half of fiscal 2019. That’s the highest for any half since fiscal 2016.

Why Not Mint Money | Decoding Mint Securenow Mediclaim Ratings

Mint Securenow Mediclaim Ratings handpicks important parameters to rate the universe of health insurance plans. Kapil Mehta, co-founder, Securenow.in talks to Deepti Bhaskaran of Mint Money about all the work that goes on behind these ratings and some of the changes that should be brought about to improve public disclosures.