Taking the view that the official practice of clubbing medium, small, and microenterprises in one category is not sound, this study points out that these categories are substantially different from each other in terms of size, structure, resources, and business perspectives. Microenterprises, in particular, represent a different ecosystem whose nuances must be understood carefully so as to provide suitable inputs for an effective policy on them.
The law pertaining to direct-selling businesses prevailing in India is in dire need of transformation. A critical examination of the definitions (related to direct-selling), the primary cause of concern, followed by the inept Direct Selling Guidelines issued in 2016 by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs is undertaken here. Focusing on the regulatory aspect of this business model, a case is made for a specialised regulator for direct-selling entities.
The 2014 and 2019 general elections in India were referred to as “WhatsApp elections,” which had IT cells, bots, and political consultants strategically using data mining tools to build resonant narratives to tell voters what they wanted to hear. By the 2014 national election, the industry was reported to be worth $40–$47 million. Between 2014 and 2018, industry specialists approximated that the number of firms in this market had at least doubled. These unprecedented tools of technological campaigning come with new forms of identifying, targeting, and defining issues of political importance. This article suggests that such developments are turning electoral politics into a thriving business being data-driven, technologically oriented, and having far-reaching implications for democratic processes.
This article explores the efficacies of the kirana—alliance with the organised retail sector in both brick and mortar and online formats. Kiranas present a sea of opportunities in terms of reach and revenues, but there is a need to exercise caution.
Bombay Before Mumbai: Essays in Honour of Jim Masselos edited by Prashant Kidambi, Manjiri Kamat and Rachel Dwyer, Penguin Random House India, 2019; pp 428, ₹999 (hardbound).
Although agricultural start-ups in India took a hit due to the COVID-19-induced lockdown, they have enormous potential in aiding economic recovery. A survey of 162 start-ups from 29 states, located in 98 cities, reveals that many start-ups have tailored their products, modified their technologies and invested in their long-term growth potential, even as they suffered from liquidity crunch, lack of investor funds and poor demand. The government should provide capital access, market access support and end-to-end solutions for innovation and marketing towards harnessing the power of these start-ups.
A brief look at critical turning-points that have marked qualitative transformations in the nexus between the polity and business. What is most noticeable is the pendulum-like movement of the status and influence of business from the periphery to the centre in the power structure. Each swing of the pendulum originates in the dysfunction of whatever organisational thrust happened to be dominant at the beginning of the swing. Surely, the present swing towards global business will generate some countervailing tendencies which will change the momentum of the process, as also its specific nature. In the process the opportunities for expansion available to the developing nations will diminish in one area, and increase perhaps in others.
