Flipkart wants a piece of Future, eating out could get cheaper, and more trending news

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Flipkart is looking to buy a 10% stake in its brick-and-mortar rival Future Lifestyle Fashions for about ?650 crore, Economic Times reports. Flipkart would create in-store centres at FLF’s Central and Brand Factory outlets and use their footprint to manage returned products. FLF is looking to pare debt and fund its expansion plans. E-tailers and traditional retailers seem to be burying their rivalry and talking partnership to expand their market share. FLF had explored a similar arrangement with Amazon, but the latter picked up a 5% stake in Shoppers Stop instead.

Eating out at air-conditioned restaurants could soon get cheaper. The GST Council wants to cut the tax burden on such restaurants to 12% from the present 18% to bring it on par with non-AC ones. It would in exchange also withdraw the input tax credit many restaurants have been accused of not passing on to customers. Bottom line: a cheaper bill at the end of the meal. Eventually, there will be two GST slabs: 5% on restaurants with annual turnover of up to ?1 crore and 12% on others. However, meals at five-star hotels will still attract 18% GST.

Delhi air quality has reached the “very poor and severe” category.  The government has shut down the Badarpur power plant, outlawed diesel generators, ordered all brick furnaces to halt production and banned the burning of rubbish. These measures will stay in place until March. Even parking fees could be hiked four-fold to reduce car usage. There’s also talk of bringing back last year’s ‘odd-even’ plan for traffic management and shutting schools, if need be. That’s all in addition to the firecracker ban for Diwali.

The Centre is aiming to have an Ayurveda hospital in every district. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who inaugurated the first All India Institute of Ayurveda in New Delhi yesterday, wants corporates to include Ayurveda and yoga promotion under their CSR efforts. About 65 hospitals focused on the Indian medicine system have come up in the last three years, Modi said, adding that private sector participation could lead to a three-fold increase over five years. India now has outposts in 29 countries to promote Ayurveda, yoga, naturopathy and other indigenous medical systems

Amazon Studios chief Roy Price has resigned after sexual harassment allegations against him came to light last week. The resignation comes amid a reckoning in Hollywood and beyond, following allegations of assault and harassment spanning decades against mega-producer Harvey Weinstein. People have come forward on social media to tell their own stories after actress Alyssa Milano posted a call to arms asking people who'd been assaulted or harassed to write "me too" as a status to "give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem." Indians comedians such as Mallika Dua and Vir Das have taken up the call.

Idea of the Day:  Bosses can learn from Disney’s Jungle Cruise ride, says Laszlo Bock, CEO at humu and former SVP of People Operations at Google. Disney encouraged creativity and autonomy from the ride’s guides — even adding some of the staff’s best one-liners to official guide scripts, Bock writes. “As a result, employees felt more like owners of the adventure.”

"Empowerment can be fostered in any employee, of any role or rank, by giving employees even small amounts of personal freedom or — like Disney — a way in which they can express themselves in their work.”

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Nirajita Banerjee / Share this using #DailyRundown