Was demonetization worth the pangs? Indian IT scouts for contractors

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The Reserve Bank of India disclosed that about 99% of demonetized notes were returned to the banking system, raising questions on the efficacy of the drive to eradicate black money. However, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the note ban helped to expand both direct and indirect tax base, up digital transactions and sustain clean-up of black money. “The fact that money got deposited in banks doesn't make it legitimate money," he said. On the other hand, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram sarcastically asked if the real aim of demonetisation was to convert black money into white. Remember, demonetization ended up hurting the India growth story as the country lost the tag of the “fastest growing economy” to China. The big question then: Was demonetization really necessary?

India’s economy is still struggling to get back on track after the demonetization hit. The country’s Gross Domestic Product grew at a lower-than-expected 5.7% in the April-June quarter as against 6.1% in the previous sequential quarter. It seems India will not be able to win back the “fastest growing economy” tag anytime soon.

The IT industry wants to work with more contractors. Top IT services companies have doubled their contractor hiring to 1,000 in the past three months alone as they prepare for a massive transformation caused by new visa rules and automation. As employees account for a lion’s share of their costs, hiring freelancers allows companies to quickly cut headcount in the event of a downturn.

American fast food chain McDonald’s has ruled out any chances of a settlement with Vikram Bakshi – its estranged Indian partner for North and East India. McDonald’s India filed an appeal against National Company Law Tribunal’s July order to reinstate Bakshi as the managing director of Connaught Plaza Restaurant. Bakshi, who allegedly siphoned off money from the franchise arm in the last few weeks, has in his appeal requested a fair valuation of the burger chain’s outlets in northern and eastern India. If the two parties fail to settle the dispute, it would impact operations at 169 outlets across North and East India.

All eyes are now on the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, which will finalize recommendations on the contentious issue of net neutrality in a month. Remember, net neutrality requires service providers to treat all internet data as the same regardless of its kind, source or destination. Interestingly, Bharti Airtel, Telenor and Reliance Communications want a slice of the revenue that ad generating content creators get on their networks, a move that content creators say is against the principle of net neutrality. Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel and idea Cellular have accused Reliance Jio of violating the tenets of net neutrality as the latter's new 4G feature phone allows connectivity to certain apps. 

Idea of the day: Trekbin CEO Vinod Birla shares his two cents on how to build a good company culture. The key: maintain transparency.

“I found a behavior in many small or mid size offshore software service proving organizations. They use dummy resource names and have various justifications for same. Their action is not just wounding client trust but teaching culture of lying for own interest.”

Photo credit: AP Photo/Manish Swarup

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— Nirajita Banerjee / Share this using #DailyRundownIndia