Capital Ideas

The founder and chairman of IIFL Group believes that the government will focus on revival of economic growth and creation of jobs in the coming year. Jain thinks last year it had to take a one-time large hit on revenue expenditure due to the sudden second wave; it went up from 1.5% of GDP to 2.3% of GDP due to higher allocation towards subsidies. Jain says while the government will incur a shortfall when it comes to its ambitious divestment target of Rs 1.75 lakh crore, a lot of ground has been covered for assets to be sold in the coming financial year, which will provide money for expenditures. On inflation, which has been a cause of concern globally, and with the US Fed indicating a rate hike, Jain believes that the writing is on the wall and it will impact emerging markets and all risky assets across the globe. “We should prepare for a corrective phase in the stock markets.” In this podcast, he also cautions new age investors who have less appetite, to completely avoid startup companies which are still in the price discovery phase

The past two years have seen more first-time buyers than ever before. First-time buyers account for more than 80 percent of deals in the past two years (2020–2021), up from less than 70 percent in 2017–2019. More companies doing more deals also means average deal size is now smaller, with fewer $5 billion+ megadeals and more deals in the $500 million- $1 billion range—bringing democratisation in the mergers and acquisitions ecosystem. Bain & Co, in its report 'M&A: Acquiring to Transform,' highlights that companies are using M&A as a tool more than ever before to transform their businesses for a post-Covid world. Traditional companies are using it to acquire new-age companies and startups are undertaking acquisitions to bolt on to their existing capabilities and increase scale and expand to newer geographies. Karan Singh, managing partner of Bain & Company's India offices and also a leader in the Healthcare and Mergers & Acquisitions practices, talks to Forbes India on key insights from the report.

Founded in 2012 by Abrar Mir and Dr Amit Varma, Quadria Capital invests around 40 percent capital in the Indian market while the remaining is for the Southeast Asian market. The fund manages assets of nearly $2.1 billion. In June, it completed the acquisition of a 15 percent stake in global topical drugs manufacturer Encube Ethicals Private Limited, for a total consideration of $119 million and it has invested $70 million in a female hygiene company and India's first senior diaper maker Nobel Hygiene. Varma talks about the fund's investments, upcoming exits of its vintage fund and why the pandemic is an open lesson on need for public healthcare infrastructure

Founded in 2012 by Abrar Mir and Dr Amit Varma, Quadria Capital invests around 40 percent capital in the Indian market while the remaining is for the Southeast Asian market. The fund manages assets of nearly $2.1 billion. In June, it completed the acquisition of a 15 percent stake in global topical drugs manufacturer Encube Ethicals Private Limited, for a total consideration of $119 million and it has invested $70 million in a female hygiene company and India's first senior diaper maker Nobel Hygiene. Varma talks about the fund's investments, upcoming exits of its vintage fund and why the pandemic is an open lesson on need for public healthcare infrastructure

The Ather 450X has caught the imagination of consumers looking for a high-performance, connected two-wheeler in India's fast-changing electric vehicle market. With a new factory, the success of the new scooter, and expansion into several cities this year, Bengaluru's Ather Energy is ready to move into serious production mode. ‘Positive unit economics' have kicked in too, Ather's cofounders, CEO Tarun Mehta and CTO Swapnil Jain elaborate on everything going on at the EV maker

Paytm's 42-year old founder, billionaire Vijay Shekhar Sharma spoke to Forbes India recently about his plans to get to breakeven and make his company a one-stop-shop for every financial need of millions of consumers and merchants in India. He spoke about coping with the harsh reality of Covid, how his venture has changed over the last few years, the need for experienced people, the aspiration for a publicly listed global Indian company and how he stays motivated. Here are edited excerpts from the interview

Rajah Augustinraj, principal at BCG and lead author of the report, and Geeta Goel, country director at Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, discuss their report on gig economy workers in India on this episode of the Capital Ideas podcast. What are the dynamics, pain points and opportunities for action in the emerging sector—that has the potential to serve up to 90 million jobs, roughly 30 percent of India's non-farm workforce; add up to 1.25 percent to India's GDP in the long-run, and create millions of new jobs across all sectors of India's economy

Rashesh Shah, chairman and CEO of Edelweiss Group believes that the government needs to increase its spending through direct investments in projects and putting cash in the hands of people in the form of tax cuts or by reducing GST on products. Shah says that it is important to create a bigger four-year disinvestment target rather than yearly ones and create more avenues for asset sales. With nominal GDP expected to grow by 15-16 percent during FY22, Shah expects that it will provide the government with the window to increase its expenditures

Nirmal Jain, chairman and co founder at IIFL Ltd, believes that these are times for the government to think big and take risks in terms of announcing policy measures. In this edition of Capital Ideas, Jain points out that the government must focus on revival through creation of jobs and expects fiscal deficit for the year to come around 7-7.5 percent for FY21. Jain also thinks it would not be a great idea to bring in tax on long term capital gains which could deter investors from investing in the markets while a tax cut for the common man could bring some cheers.

Started in 1962, Borosil now has two listed firms: Borosil Ltd, which sells kitchen appliances and cookware, lab-wares and pharma packaging and the solar glass manufacturing renewables business. A fortnight back Borosil Renewables raised Rs 200 crore to double its capacity, and the group recently underwent restructuring earlier this year to chart independent growth for both the businesses. The company's managing director Shreevar Kheruka talks about the impact of Covid-19 on business, the ways the group is seeking to cut bad costs, how work from home is here to stay and what they did to make their balance sheet stronger this year.

Vineet Rai, chairman, Aavishkaar Group with an AUM of $1.1 billion talks about his journey with impact investing, creating businesses where people live in a bid to reduce migration to big cities, create jobs for them, improve livelihood, access to education and healthcare. He shares his insights on how Covid-19 has impacted the microfinance sector, fund raising and its portfolio companies across SE Asia and Africa. Rai believes capital activity will be back in 2021 with focus on climate change and agri-tech deals in India.

The senior partner at Khaitan & Co, a dealmaker, and institution builder talks about how leaders of corporate India never had to step out of their homes to do big deals, his journey from Kolkata to building Khaitan & Co into one of the largest law firms in India, the changes that the Covid-19 pandemic brought about to corporate India, the art of deal making, and the future of the legal industry

Anand Kripalu, the managing director and CEO of Diageo India, the makers of Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff and McDowell's, talks about how his middle-class values taught him to spend every penny carefully, never taking a loan in his life, why the Royal Challengers Bangalore team (RCB) is a fascinating part of Diageo's business, and the negative perception around the alcohol industry.

"Tiger" Tyagarajan explains why staying curious helps one become more humble and inclusive, in addition to driving diversity, building big teams, and a great career. The CEO of Genpact also talks about his unusual nickname, hiring people who don't know it all, cultivating leadership, building a culture of learning, the changing workplace and cognitive diversity

In this episode of Capital Ideas, Ronnie Screwvala, the chairman and co-founder of upGrad, and the former CEO and founder of UTV Group, talks about coming from a lower-middle-class family, failing in college, his unusual surname, and why an entrepreneur must never have a Plan B. Screwvala talks to Manu Balachandran about starting with low capital, his transition from a toothbrush business to building one of India's multimedia conglomerate, self-conviction, and breaking glass ceilings. Read Forbes India's 9th October cover story on Ronnie Screwvala here

Arokiaswamy Velumani, chairman and managing director of Thyrocare, talks about India's failure in handling Covid-19 and traces his journey and struggles along the way, in setting up one of India's largest diagnostic chains. Born to landless farmers, Velumani studied on subsidised education, before working with Bhabha Atomic Research Centre as a scientific assistant, and starting Thyrocare. The 61-year-old talks to Manu Balachandran about running a business without borrowing, and managing with low resources, in addition to preserving cash

On this week's episode, directors of the Netflix documentary 'Kiss the Ground', Josh Tickell and Rebecca Harrell Tickell, join us to turn the spotlight on soil regeneration, which may hold the key to solving the climate crisis

Popular investor pitch show Shark Tank's 'shark' Matthew or 'Matt' Higgins is an investor and the founder & CEO of of RSE Ventures. He talks about his journey from growing up in poverty and dropping out of school to being a successful investor. He also shares why he loves talking to Indians, impact of the lockdown on his diverse sports-to-media portfolio companies, bringing drone gaming to India, and the importance of pivot

A total of $13 billion was raised in 2019 by Indian startups, the highest ever. With the pandemic throwing everyone off guard, Kashyap Chanchani, managing partner of The RainMaker Group, explains how to navigate through these times, busting myths about early stage fund raising, and hard truths that the founders have to live with

Over the past two decades, Avendus Capital has branched out from being just an investment bank to a full stack financial services firm with wealth management, credit, hedge funds and other products offering their clients. Co-founder and Executive Vice Chairperson Ranu Vohra joins us on this episode to talk about the latest rejig of the firm's founders, scaling up businesses and the firm's future—and whether you should trust the capital markets currently

Shobana Kamineni, executive vice-chairperson of Apollo Hospitals, was in college when she was helping her father build the chain. Now, she is busy building the pharmacy and telemedicine business and finding new growth wheels for the company to herald into the future

For someone who never enjoyed math in his early days, Stephen A Schwarzman, who comes from a middle-class family that owned a small retail store, went on to co-create Blackstone Group with assets under management of $560 billion. On this first episode of Capital Ideas, Schwarzman talks about his early days, why he likes hiring IITians, life during Covid-19, Blackstone's India business and more Listen to our previous podcast with Schwarzman, discussing his book 'What it Takes' here: https://www.forbesindia.com/audio/from-the-bookshelves/podcast-the-stories-behind-blackstone039s-stephen-schwarzman039s-new-book-039what-it-takes039/58073