In view of the skyrocketing prices of vegetables amid the ongoing floods and relentless monsoon rain across Pakistan, the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Tuesday demanded the government to give permission for vegetable import from India through Wagah border.

LCCI president Nauman Kabir urged the government to grant permission to import vegetables from India to control its prices.

“The recent floods have destroyed crops of tomato, onion, potato and other vegetables across the country,” he said, adding that the crisis is expected to prevail for the next three months. The vegetable crisis could further worsen in September, October and November, he added.

It will take a few days to transport vegetables from India to Pakistan via the Wagah border, Geo News reported. The grocery vendors are charging exorbitant prices from consumers amid the countrywide floods triggered by torrential rains.

The traders are making hefty profits at a time when the death toll from the relentless monsoon rains has exceeded the 1,100-mark and inflicting $10 billion loss on the country’s economy.

According to the details, tomato is being sold at 250 PKR per kg in the market while its official price is 190 PKR per kg.

Similarly, the vendors are selling onion at 300 PKR to 320 PKR per kg while the commodity’s rate was fixed at 290 PKR by the authorities, Geo News reported.

Potatoes are being sold at 120 PKR to 140 PKR per kg instead of its official rate of 100 PKR per kg.

Ginger’s official rate is 360 PKR per kg but it is available for 380 PKR per kg in the market.

Garlic is being sold at 250 PKR per kg while its official rate is 200 PKR per kg.

Flipkart Co-founder Binny Bansal has sold his stake worth $264 million (more than Rs 2,000 crore) in the homegrown e-commerce platform to Chinese Internet giant Tencent, at a time when the neighbouring country has once again hardened its positions along the Indian border. The news about Bansal selling Flipkart stock to Tencent came at a time when US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, said on Saturday that China is hardening its positions along the Indian border. Addressing the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Austin said that China is taking aggressive and illegal approaches to the territories it claims in the South China Sea. “Further to the West, we see Beijing continuing to harden the position along the borders it shares with India,” he noted. Tencent bought Bansal’s stake, via its European subsidiary called Tencent Cloud Europe BV, in October last year, and now holds 0.72 per stake in Walmartowned Flipkart, according to media reports, which was later confirmed by reliable sources. Bansal now holds nearly 1.84 per cent stake in Flipkart. A query sent to Flipkart went unanswered. India and China have been engaged in a border dispute for nearly two years. India also banned several Chinese apps and Internet platforms in the aftermath of the tense border standoff in eastern Ladakh in May 2020. Army Chief General Manoj Pande said last month that China seems to lack the intention to find a resolution to the border dispute at the Line of Actual Control, stressing that Indian troops continue to hold important positions along the LAC. During an interaction with media persons, General Pande said, “Our guidance to them (troops deployed at LAC) is to be firm and resolute and prevent any attempt to alter the status quo.” Sachin and Binny Bansal, who received their B.Tech degree in computer science & engineering from IIT-D in 2005, built one of the largest e-commerce marketplaces in India. Sachin led Flipkart as its CEO from its inception in 2007 till 2015, and took over as the Executive Chairman in 2016. He is currently leading and mentoring the startup and internet ecosystem in India and is an angel investor in several technology startups. Binny served as the Chief Operating Officer of Flipkart till January 2016 before being promoted as its Chief Executive Officer. He exited Flipkart in November 2018, and became a prolific angel investor. Flipkart, Amazon, Reliance’s JioMart, and Tatabacked BigBasket have fired up India’s online retail market that is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 19.8 per cent to reach $85.5 billion by 2025, according to a report by Forrester.

Union Minister of State for Science and Technology, Jitendra Singh on Monday said the ultimate objective and the litmus test of good governance is to bring the ease of living in the lives of common citizens. Talking about the essence of good governance, Singh said, “Sometimes it seems that effective administration is the good governance, but as I think, it looks that sometimes zero government is also good governance.” He was speaking at the launching event of the first edition of the annual report “Madhya Pradesh Sushashan and Development Report (MPSDR) 2022” on Monday evening. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan launched the report which has been prepared by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Good Governance and Policy Analysis. Speaking on the occasion, Singh said as soon as the BJP government came into power in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave us the mantra of “maximum governance and minimum government”. He added that working on the same mantra, we (Union government) have repealed around 1,500 irrelevant laws in last eight years. “Recently, we have started reaching out to the District Governance Index. Some states have implemented this. In Madhya Pradesh, the work is still going on and we will take help of this report to identify the index,” Singh said. Lauding the report, the Union Minister said Chouhan has made the state a role model from “Bimaru Rajya”. Launching the report, the Chief Minister said Madhya Pradesh is the fastest growing state of the country with a growth rate of 19.70 per cent. The state contribution in Indian economy has increased from 2.6 to 3.6 per cent, Chouhan added. “We are working under the guidance of the Prime Minister. We used to be called a Bimaru state, if we see the journey of 15 years, Madhya Pradesh has become a developing state out of Bimaru state,” the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister said addressing the gathering on Monday evening

Telecom major Bharti Airtel on Friday said that it will acquire a 4.7 per cent stake in Indus Towers from Vodafone Group for about Rs 2,388 crore, according to a company filing. The transaction will be executed at a price of Rs 187.88 per share, it added. ‘’…pursuant to the above referred agreement dated February 25, 2022 entered inter alia into between certain affiliates of Vodafone Group Plc (including Euro Pacific Securities), the company and Nettle, the transaction shall be executed at Rs 187.88 per share basis the agreed price formula in the agreement, aggregating to Rs 23,880.62 million,’’ Airtel said in a regulatory filing.

This will be upon fulfillment of all conditions precedents as agreed by the parties under the agreement, it added. Airtel said agreement pertained to acquisition of about 4.7 per cent equity in Indus Towers by the company and/or Nettle Infrastructure Investments, a wholly-owned subsidiary, from Vodafone Group affiliate, Euro Pacific Securities. On February 25, Bharti Airtel had said it has signed an agreement to buy Vodafone’s 4.7 per cent stake in Indus Towers on the condition that the proceeds will be used for investment in Vodafone Idea and clearing its dues towards the mobile tower company. Indus Towers, formerly Bharti Infratel, provides passive telecom infrastructure.

It deploys, owns and manages telecom towers and communication structures for various mobile operators. The company’s portfolio of over 1,84,748 telecom towers makes it one of the largest tower infrastructure providers in the country with presence in all 22 telecom circles. Indus Towers caters to all wireless telecommunication service providers in India. Shares of Bharti Airtel on Friday closed 0.69 per cent lower at Rs 711.25 apiece on BSE. Earlier today, Airtel had stated that it has prepaid Rs 8,815 crore to the Department of Telecom (DoT) to clear deferred liabilities towards spectrum acquired in auction in 2015. The company said that the prepayment is for instalments that were due in FY2027 and FY2028

Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani has stepped down as director of Reliance Power and Reliance Infrastructure, following the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) order restraining him from trading in securities or being associated with any listed companies. The development came a month after market regulator SEBI barred Reliance Home Finance, industrialist Anil Ambani, and three other individuals from the securities market for allegedly siphoning off funds from Reliance Home Finance Ltd (RHFL). In February 2022, the regulator had passed t h e o r d e r against Anil Ambani, the younger brother of billionaire Mukesh Ambani, and three other individuals — Amit Bapna, Ravindra Sudhakar and Pinkesh R Shah. “Anil D Ambani, non-executive director, steps down from the board of Reliance Power in compliance of SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) interim order,” Reliance Power said in a BSE filing after market hours on Friday. Similarly, Reliance Infrastructure also informed the exchange about the resignation of Anil Ambani. “Anil D. Ambani, non-executive director, steps down from the Board of Reliance Infrastructure in compliance of SEBI interim order,” it said in a filing to the BSE. “The board of directors of the company unanimously reposed full trust in Ambani’s leadership and invaluable contribution t o st e e r i n g the company through great financial challenges and towards being potentially debt free in the course of the coming financial year,” RPower and RInfra said in their releases. “The board looks forward to an early closure of the matter and inviting Ambani back to provide his vision and leadership to the company in the interest of all stakeholders,” they further added. Reliance Group companies also highlighted that Reliance Infrastructure has created immense value for its around 8 lakh shareholders in the last one year, with the stock price increasing from a low of ₹32 to a high of ₹150, registering a growth of 469%. Similarly, the share price of Reliance Power surged from a low of ₹4 to a high of ₹19, delivering 375% returns to its 36 lakh shareholders in the past one year

Gold has always been a favourite investment vehicle of Indian households as many people transfer the yellow metal from one generation to another. The biggest advantage of gold is that one can be flexible with investment size or the amount. Whether you have to put in Rs 1,000 or Rs 1 crore +, gold is accessible to everyone to buy. Also, gold is highly liquid. Real Estate also scores high for investment purposes but in comparison to gold, real estate requires bigger funds and the buyer needs to have long holding power. 

Well, real estate can be an attractive long-term investment option where the property value increases over time. So, if approached in the right way, real estate can deliver you incredible profits. The one thing that is common between gold and real estate is that both have a strong sentimental value for the Indian investors, with strong reliability and sustained nature. 

So how do you choose where to spend your money if you have a sizeable amount to invest? Well, I would recommend real estate any day as there are various reason because of which real estate scores over gold. Let’s have a look at them: PASSIVE INCOME Real-estate has the potential to create regular income with additional tax benefits. 

Whether residential or commercial, real estate has the potential to generate passive income for the investors in form of monthly rentals in cash, which gold investments cannot do. Rate of Return History suggests that real estate can give up to 15 per cent of annual return, thanks to rising rentals. The value of property improves with the market and economy. On the other hand, gold is used to hedge against inflation, which means that the return from gold is in line with the inflation, which is aimed low by all governments. Also, gold shines, when your paper currency is depreciated, making the return nominal. 

VOLATILITY AND RISK 

Real Estate is a highly stable investment option, which comes with low risk. Property brings mental satisfaction due to it securing your future. On the other hand, gold is a commodity, which is traded on the bourses. It comes with higher volatility and risks of being stolen. EXPENSES 

ADD TO THE VALUE 

One may argue the property incurs the cost of maintenance and renovations, unlike gold which is altered at will. However, this cost not only appreciates your asset, but also allows you to take taxation benefits. 

LONG-TERM VALUE CREATION 

It is a no brainer that the value of real estate increases, the longer you hold it. It is simply because you can not create land and with rising population, the demand increases, which ultimately leads to price rise. On the other hand, gold can be purchased into digital form as well. This might reduce the r i s k o f being sto len, but still is an intangible asset. 

AIDS THE ECONOMY 

Real estate might require large funds, but survival of a lot of sectors depend upon it. From debt servicing, cement, housing finance, building materials and various others depend upon real estate at large. It also creates a large number of informal and indirect employment opportunities, serving the economy at large. 

TAX BENEFITS 

The investment in real estate comes with numerous tax benefits such as tax deduction on mortgage interest, operating expenses and legal costs, property taxes and depreciation. The real estate investment is not only a safe investment but can generate better returns over a period of time while you are still earning a regular income if you are using it as a rental property.