Big cities are losing their lure, Major Asian trade pact delayed, and more news

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Two in three professionals want to move out of metros to tier 2/3 cities, an Economic Times survey of 3,270 respondents finds. Three in 10 want to shift within five years while another 26% are waiting for the right opportunity to come along. Why? Big cities come with high pollution levels and a steep cost of living. In fact, the urgency to leave the metros is so high that 72% of professionals are even willing to take a pay cut. Tier 2/3 cities like Kochi and Indore offer decent job opportunities and a cleaner environment at a much lower cost of living. Join the conversation.

The signing of the world’s biggest trade deal — envisioned to reduce tariffs on thousands of goods and set standards for labour and environmental protections for much of Asia — will be delayed till next year. Leaders of 16 countries hoped the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) could be concluded at this weekend's ASEAN summit, but India has held out on fears it could cause Chinese goods to flood the market and harm its small businesses. Covering Southeast Asia and trading partners like Japan and Australia, the RCEP impacts a third of global GDP and half the world's people. Join the conversation.

India’s youngsters are eating unhealthy and its showing on their bodies. About 63 million girls and 81 million boys aged 10 to 19 – half the country’s adolescents – are short, thin, overweight or obese, says a NITI Aayog-UNICEF study. Fewer than one in 10 teenagers consume fruits and eggs daily while over 25% don’t eat any green leafy vegetables. Little wonder, then, 80% of them are deficient in one or more micronutrients. At the same time, rising consumption of junk food and a lack of exercise is predisposing them to diabetes and heart disease. Join the conversation.

Indian IT majors are hiring more at their onsite offices to cut subcontracting costs and reduce their dependence on H-1B visas, Economic Times reports. Infosys has recruited over 10,000 people in the US in the last couple of years while rival TCS is upping strategic hiring across geographies. (India’s biggest IT firm paid “external consultants” ?11,330 crore in FY19, up from ?8,992 crore in FY18.) Wipro has already achieved 68% localisation in the US. But building employee pyramids in key client geographies is still way costlier than sending desi engineers there, which, experts say, will eat into IT companies’ margins. Join the conversation.

For every ?100 in net sales, India Inc spent just 11 paise on research and development in 2018-19, Business Standard reports, citing an analysis of 440 companies in BSE 500. Tata Motors alone made up almost half of the total ?8,721 crore spent, driven largely by its foreign subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover. Pharma firms accounted for nearly a fifth of the total while metal companies were also big spenders. R&D expenditure in India is almost entirely borne by the government, but public investment has remained stagnant at 0.6-0.7% of the GDP – much below emerging market peers like Brazil and China. Join the conversation.

Idea of the day: Instead of going into social autopilot, writer Bruce Kasanoff argues that we should treat our interactions with others as unique opportunities to bring deliberate, intentional feelings to the conversation — the kind that will leave everyone feeling better for the experience.

“When it comes to the energy you bring others, never wing it. Make a conscious decision regarding whether you want to bring urgency, levity, compassion or some other mental state into the room.”

What's your take on today’s stories? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Nirajita Banerjee, Dipti Jain and Mandar M Bakre