A few days ago, there was a rather interesting article on Moneycontrol. It said — “The value of illegal cigarettes seized in the first 11 months of FY21 has spiked to Rs 1,772 crore from just Rs 187 crore in FY20, according to figures made available by the Central Board of Indirect taxes and Customs (CBIC).” And while the article does go on to explain why this might have been the case, we thought we could offer you more context by explaining why cigarette smuggling is so rampant in the first place.

In today's Finshots we talk about the new amendments in the mining sector

A couple of days ago, there was an interesting article on Bloomberg and it went like this — “Investors may not be clamouring to buy offices and hotels right now, but in virtual reality, property deals are surging and attracting millions of real-life dollars." Think of these as virtual worlds created by aspiring developers. If you want to create your own version of reality, you can do so by building it on a computer. It could have virtual trees, virtual apartments, virtual people and even virtual land. You could even invite other people to live and explore your world — perhaps even help you build it. And as more people flock into these digital realms, the value of virtual assets inside them will start appreciating in tandem. In fact, as the Bloomberg article notes — “Republic Real Estate, a firm that’s raising money to buy distressed condos in the physical world, is launching an invite-only fund next week aimed at investors seeking to buy virtual land. The venture plans to purchase parcels across several online “metaverses” and develop them into virtual hotels, stores and other uses, with the goal of increasing their value among cryptocurrency enthusiasts.” So in today’s episode, we will talk about the rise of decentralized virtual worlds and why people are paying top dollar to own assets inside them.

In today's episode, we talk about a report from ET elaborating how Indian manufacturers are looking to export cars overseas.

In this episode , we talk about steel pipes and how an interesting theme might have failed to play out as most people imagined.

In today's episode we talk about the new draft e-commerce policy and the kind of implication it might have on the likes of Amazon

In today's episode, we talk about how Wikipedia is planning to finally make money off of its content.

Big foreign investors and fund managers are complaining about leaks. They contest that information about massive transactions are getting out easy and they want SEBI to intervene. So in today’s episode we discuss this and more.

In today's Episode we talk about trouble brewing in the packaging industry.

Everybody’s worried about SEBI’s new perpetual bond norms. Unfortunately, if you aren’t intimately familiar with these complicated instruments, all this might sound like woo-woo. So in today’s episde, we provide an oversimplified account of the whole story. And to make sure we leave no stone unturned, we will take it from the absolute top.