Top headlines: Govt staff to get more pay, Tata chases e-commerce deals

From Tata eyeing stake in e-commerce firms to bolster retail segment to World Bank declaring Covid as a catastrophe, Business Standard Brings you top news of the evening

New inflation index to impact DA, 30 mn govt staff to get more pay

The Union government is set to change the base year for the consumer price index–industrial workers (CPI-IW), paving the way for a possible increase in minimum wage of private sector workers and dearness allowance of government employees. Union Labour and Employment Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar is scheduled to release the new CPI-IW index, keeping 2016 as the base year, on October 21, a top labour ministry official said. The CPI-IW hasn’t been revised since 2001 — an exercise which should usually take place every five years. Read More...

From IndiaMart to Big Basket, Tata eyeing stakes in e-commerce companies

Tata Group, India’s conglomerate that sells almost everything from cars to apparel and steel, is seeking to buy Indian online retailers to beef up its presence in e-commerce, people familiar with the matter said. The group has reached out to IndiaMart InterMesh Ltd., a business-to-business marketplace, for a potential stake purchase, the people said, asking not to be identified as the plans are confidential. IndiaMart’s shares have surged 142% in Mumbai this year, giving it a market value of about $2 billion. Supermarket Grocery Supplies Pvt., commonly known as BigBasket, is also among Tata’s potential investment targets, one of the people said. Read More...

BARC suspends ratings of TV news channels for 3 months amid TRP controversy

Amid a controversy surrounding its viewership data for TV news channels, the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) has decided to suspend its weekly ratings of TV news channels for a period of three months. In an announcement, BARC said that it would continue to review and augment the current standards of measuring and reporting of data. Read More...

World experiencing worst recessions since Great Depression due to Covid: WB

The world is experiencing one of the deepest recessions since the Great Depression in the 1930s owing to the novel coronavirus, World Bank President David Malpass has said, terming the COVID-19 pandemic a "catastrophic event" for many developing and the poorest countries. He told reporters that given the extent of the economic contraction, there was a rising risk of disruptive debt crises in countries. Read More...

Govt won't mandate secondary listing for firms joining foreign mkts: Report

India has decided not to mandate secondary listings for domestic firms that float their shares on a foreign stock exchange as the government prepares a new policy, two senior government sources and two industry executives told Reuters on Thursday. India is close to drawing up rules for companies to float overseas without having to first list shares at home, as a way to help startups attain higher valuations and access capital more easily. Read More...