Naresh Goyal may quit Jet board for ‘right price’, millennials’ hefty food bills, and more top news

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Jet Airways promoter Naresh Goyal has agreed to step down from the airline’s board provided partner Etihad pays the “right price” for raising its stake, Times of India reports. “Goyal is not adamant… He is holding on till the right valuation is arrived at,” a person in the know told the daily. Last week, Goyal reportedly rejected Etihad’s proposal to buy an additional 25% in Jet Airways at ?150 per share. Etihad currently has a 24% stake in the full-service airline, which is grappling with the worst financial crisis in its 25-year existence.

Millennials are ordering in and eating out like nobody’s business, thanks to a proliferation of food delivery apps and higher disposable incomes. A FICCI-Technopak report says food and beverage bills accounted for 17% of urbanites’ discretionary spend in 2017, higher than housing, utilities and transport. The number is likely to touch 19% by next year. This trend isn’t without financial implications – outside food can be twice as expensive, with monthly bills easily adding up to more than ?20,000. Earlier, Nielsen said middle-income millennials spend three times as much on restaurant visits than on any other form of entertainment.

India’s plastic waste problem is worsening. The country generates 25,940 tonnes of plastic waste every day, Times of India reports, citing data from a central government directive. Further, 40% of the waste remains uncollected, choking drainage systems and polluting soil and water, besides creating the risk of ingestion by animals. A study by the Central Pollution Control Board said the top 60 cities account for a sixth of the country’s plastic waste, and half of that comes from just five cities – Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai and Bengaluru. In response, the government is phasing out all single-use plastics by 2022.

The government plans to levy a 'green cess' of ?800-1,000 on conventional two-wheelers to subsidise electric bikes, Economic Times reports. “Today, the price differential between a petrol and an electric two-wheeler stands at ?55,000-60,000. The idea is to reduce this gap as much as possible by levying a small cess on vehicles which are polluting,” the publication quotes an unidentified official as saying. India is the world’s largest two-wheeler market, with sales exceeding 20 million units a year. The country plans to have 30% electric vehicles by 2030. 

India is likely to remain the world’s fastest-growing major economy for the next two years. The International Monetary Fund expects GDP growth to accelerate to 7.5% in FY20 and 7.7% in FY21 on account of “lower oil prices and a slower pace of monetary tightening than previously expected,” even as China slows to 6.2% (for both years). The IMF also cut its global growth forecast to 3.5% for 2019 and 3.6% for 2020. The downside risks: escalation of trade tensions and a worsening of financial conditions, according to IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath.

Idea of the Day: Work-life balance is not an either-or situation. You don’t have to make a trade-off, says Nathan SV, partner and chief talent officer at Deloitte India.

“If it’s peak season at work, you've to hunker down and put a shoulder to the wheel. But if it becomes a routine, be upfront about your personal requirements.” 

— Abhigyan Chand and Mandar M Bakre/Share this using #DailyRundown

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