Corporate Ecosystem – Dutch Uncles

10 Most Patriotic Brands Of India

Aakash Sharma — Sun, 15 Aug 2021 08:30:09 +0000

What makes a patriotic brand? Is it their origin story, the products they offer, or the revenue they earn in a financial year? Well, it is all these things and many more, along with the story of a business in the way it has impacted a country’s formation and its economic cause, that can testify to the patriotic nature of a brand.

On the auspicious event of the 75th anniversary of Indian Independence, let us look at some of India’s oldest and most influential brands with long roots in the country and have certainly stood the test of time in demonstrating their patriotism.

Patriotic Brands Of India

Tata Group

In India, Tata is synonymous with belief, trust and a genuinely Indian brand. In its over 150 years of history, Tata has won over the hearts of Indians of all walks of life, spearheading the making of modern India. It is no wonder that an entire generation of Indians has grown up with the well-accepted notion of “Tata Namak, Desh ka Namak“.

As an Indian multinational conglomerate, the Tata Group has a presence everywhere, from manufacturing automobiles, aeroplanes and other products to technology, food and entertainment. The Tata Group was founded in 1868 by Jamshedji Tata. It has gained international recognition after purchasing several global companies.

Godrej Group

The Godrej Group is a Mumbai-based Indian multinational corporation owned and operated primarily by the Godrej family. It was founded in 1897 by Pirojsha Burjorji Godrej and Ardeshir Godrej. The company deals in real estate, consumer goods, industrial engineering, materials, furniture, safety and agricultural products.

This legacy conglomerate has many firsts to its name and thus has significantly contributed to the Indian patriotic sentiment at multiple levels. In 1897, Godrej introduced the first lock with lever technology in India. Godrej produced the first authentic typewriter in India in 1955. It became the first Indian company to introduce PUF (polyurethane foam) in 1989. In 2014, Godrej kick-started Masterbrand 2.0 – bigger and brighter and launched FreeG, India’s first non-web-based mobile browsing experience.

Infosys

Infosys Limited is an Indian multinational IT company that provides business consulting services, IT and outsourcing. According to Forbes Global 2000, in terms of revenue in 2020, it was the second-largest Indian IT company after Tata Consulting Services and the 602nd largest listed company globally.

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Infosys is a tech giant in its own right. The company has helped shape India's high-tech economy through foreign exchange earnings, especially U.S. dollars, which helps maintain the U.S. dollar-rupee ratio. Many SMEs in the Indian IT industry rely on Infosys' affordable technology.

As an international company, it represents India on the global map of technical giants. The company is the biggest hope for computer science students fresh out of college in India. While India does not have its own Alibaba (China) and Google, Facebook, and Twitter (USA), Infosys is a jewel in India’s tech crown.

Wipro

Wipro Limited is an Indian multinational provider of information technology, consulting services and business processes. In terms of total revenue, it ranks 29th among Indian companies as per Fortune 500 India. It is the ninth-largest employer in India, with approximately 195,000 employees.

Mohamed Premji founded Wipro in 1945 in Amalner, Maharashtra, as “Western India Products” and was later changed to “Wipro”. It was initially established as a producer of refined vegetable oils in Maharashtra under the brand names Kisan, Sunflower, and Camel.

In February 2002, Wipro became India’s first technology and software services company to achieve ISO 14001 certification. In 2008, the group entered the clean energy industry with Wipro Eco-Energy.

Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing Co – Hindustan Unilever

The era of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) marketing began much sooner in India than in many other Asian nations. Today’s famous household names like Lifebuoy (launched in 1895), Pears, Lux and Vim, and Vanaspati Dalda ((1937) have a long history.

In 1931, Unilever, a British multinational consumer goods company, established its first subsidiary in India – Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing Company, followed by Lever Brothers India Limited (1933) and United Traders Limited (1935). The three companies merged into Hindustan Unilever (HUL) in November 1956.

Today, HUL is the market leader in consumer goods in India and covers more than 20 consumer categories such as soaps, teas, detergents and shampoos. More than 700 million Indian consumers use its products.

State Bank of India (SBI)

The State Bank of India (SBI) is an Indian bank and financial and legal services organisation based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. SBI is the 43rd largest bank globally and ranked 221st on the Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest companies in 2020. It is the only Indian bank on the list.

SBI has a rich legacy of over 200 years and has been recognised as a trusted bank for generations by Indians. With around 250,000 employees, it is also the fifth-largest employer in India. SBI has earned the trust of its customers by developing highly relevant products and services, maintaining transparency in dealing with customers, and providing them with easy access to these products and services.

Aditya Birla Group

The Aditya Birla Group is an MNC based in Maharashtra, India. It operates in 34 countries and employs more than 120,000 people. The group was formed in 1857 by Seth Shiv Narayan Birla focused on pinned fibres in viscose, metals, cement (mainly in India). Today, it has operations in the financial services and telecommunications sectors as well.

During the British Raj in the 1850s, Birla’s businesses proliferated. At the starting of the 20th century, the group’s founder, Mr Ghanshyam Das Berla, developed the group’s roots in essential industries such as textiles and fibres, aluminium, cement and chemicals.

As a close ally of Mahatma Gandhi, he played an active role in India’s Independence. Together with Mahatma Gandhi, he represented India at the first and second round tables in London. The revolutionaries of the Indian struggle for Independence often met at the Birla House in Delhi to end British rule.

ITC

ITC Limited is an Indian company based out of Kolkata, West Bengal. ITC has diversified its activities in sectors such as cigarettes, basic necessities, hotels, packaging, cardboard and speciality paper and agri-food products.

The company was founded in 1910 as the Imperial Tobacco Company of India Limited and later renamed India Tobacco Company Limited in 1970. It became ITC in 1974 and is no longer an acronym for its initialised names.

The group completed 100 years in 2010 and, as of 2019-20, had a yearly turnover of $10.74 billion and a market cap of US$35 billion. It has over 36,500 employees at more than 60 locations across India and is part of the Forbes 2000 list.

Bajaj Group

Bajaj Group is an Indian MNC set up by Jamnalal Bajaj in 1926. Bajaj Group is one of the most prominent and oldest groups in Maharashtra. The group includes 34 companies and is Bajaj Auto’s parent company, which is the world’s fourth-largest manufacturer of two-wheeler and three-wheeler vehicles.

Bajaj Group’s well-known companies include Bajaj Auto Ltd, Bajaj Electricals, Hercules Hoists Ltd, Mukand Ltd, Bajaj Hindusthan Ltd, Bajaj Finserv Ltd, and Bajaj Holding & Investment Ltd. The group operates in various industries, including automotive, home appliances, lighting, steel, insurance, tourism and finance.

Amul

Amul is an Indian milk and dairy cooperative based in Gujarat, India. Founded in 1946, it is a cooperative brand managed by the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF). It is cooperatively owned by 36 lakh (3.6 million) milk producers Gujarat and the apex body of 13 District Milk Unions. Through the efforts of Tribhuvandas Patel, Kaira District Milk Union Limited (later renamed Amul – Anand Milk Union Limited) was established in 1946. Amul started the ‘White Revolution’ in India, making India the largest producer of milk and dairy products globally.

With the inspiring stories of these brands and their efforts to establish themselves, it is easy to recognise them as the most patriotic brands of India. Learning from them and embracing new age methods and technologies, it is time for new and budding entrepreneurs to make space for themselves. They have the chance to write their stories in the entrepreneurial books of Indian history so that coming generations can write about their contribution to the economy, and their legacy can testify to their patriotism.

The post 10 Most Patriotic Brands Of India appeared first on Dutch Uncles.

How often you need to analyse financial statements and what should you look for?

Joseph Varughese — Fri, 28 May 2021 13:35:04 +0000

What does it mean by Financial Statements?

When we hear the term ‘financial statements’ what comes to mind are three financial reports viz. Profit and Loss or Income statement, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow statement. These three statements hold a prominent position in the management of an organisation as they are statutory and hence mandatory reports that are to be prepared, get audited, filed with statutory and tax authorities, placed before shareholders in general meetings. These reports are required to be prepared annually and every quarterly in the case of listed or publicly held companies.

Financial statement analysis as a process uses analytical procedures to evaluate the financial health, risks, performance and future potential of a business. Even the smallest business should do financial statement analysis and can benefit from the results as a guide for the business owner. What level and type of analysis are required to be performed depends on certain factors; the form of the business, if publicly held, or if the business is for sale, for external parties like investors or for making their investing decisions.

Financial statements communicate the financial position and performance of a business for the consumption of the board of directors, senior management and external parties. The three most important financial statements that are generally used for financial statement analysis are:

Profit and Loss Statement: This report shows an organisation’s financial performance over a period showing the revenue and expenses. It is called an Income statement in the US.
Balance Sheet: The balance sheet shows an organisation’s financial position at a point in time. It shows the assets, liabilities, owner’s equity, as well as the company’s net worth.
Statement of Cash Flows: The statement of cash flows shows the organisation’s cash inflows and outflows during any given period.

These reports are mandatory and at the same time very crucial for internal and external stakeholders. These are the reports that are reviewed and considered by investors while planning investment, lenders when evaluating credit applications, markets while considering portfolio investments, tax authorities for assessment of income tax returns among many other such uses.

Businesses, small and big, must be well informed of internal and external factors that affect their business to survive in a competitive and volatile environment, and one of the vital competencies they must develop is to read and understand important financial statements. Running a business without understanding these financial reports is like driving a car without a dashboard.

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Running a business without understanding the financial reports is like driving a car without a dashboard.

Users of Financial Statement Analysis

The various users of financial statement analysis include:

Management of the company: The topmost priority of the board of directors and senior management is in the financial performance of their organisation. For the board and management, the finance department of the company does an ongoing analysis of the company’s financial statements, particularly operational metrics that aren’t seen by external entities.
Investors: The prospective investors scrutinize the health of the organization by performing due diligence using analysis of the financial statements to understand the company’s ability to continue as a going concern, issue dividends, generate cash flows and ensure that the company continues to grow at least at the historical or current rate.
Creditors: A creditor or anyone for that matter, who has provided funds to the company will be interested to know the ability of the company to pay back the debt and obligation, and their cash management measures.
Regulatory authorities: In cases of publicly held or listed companies, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) examines their financial statements to see if the statements conform to accounting standards as well as the SEBI rules and guidelines. In addition, financial statements are to be filed with ROC and Tax authorities.
Shareholders or members: Audited financial statements are to be placed before shareholders in annual meetings and have to be adopted or approved by the shareholder members.

Performing analysis of financial statements

Investigating the health of the business, finding logical explanations for the variances and performing changes based on the positive or negative trends are the ultimate goals of the financial statement analysis. The most common methods and techniques used to perform Financial Statement Analysis are:

Horizontal Analysis

The horizontal analysis, also referred to as trend analysis, is a two-year or multi-year comparison of the financial statements and their elements. This comparison provides the stakeholders with insight into the aspects that could contribute significantly to the financial position or profitability of the organisation. For instance, a company earned Rs. 4 lakhs more than its previous year. This increase in turnover appears to be a positive development at the first glance. However, when it is learnt that the costs of goods and services sold increased by Rs. 5 lakhs resulting in a negative impact of Rs.1 lakh, the positive picture of this additional turnover of Rs. 4 lakhs is changed to a less positive or negative picture.

Horizontal analysis can be performed mainly in two different ways:

- - Direct comparison: This type of horizontal analysis compares the profit and loss statement and balance sheet on a line-by-line basis. For example, it compares each line of the financial statements for two or more years to determine the absolute amount by which each line item increases or decreases. This helps you determine which line items need to be investigated further.
  - Percentage method: It is generally easier to interpret percentages than absolute amounts under the direct comparison method. You use two periods of financial data and compare the accounts or items by dividing the first year by the second year and converting them into percentages. You will see how much the change was in the second period on a percentage basis.

Horizontal analysis allows you to spot trends or variances in your company’s financial position between years. It shows you where your company is doing well and where you need to give more attention. It is not only helpful to management but also investors and creditors.

Vertical Analysis

Vertical analysis is a financial statement analysis technique in which every line item of the financial statements is listed as percentages, based on a figure within the financial statement. By doing this analysis, insight would be created about the changes in the allocation and distribution of the total assets or the percentage of each expense item to earn one unit of revenue. By representing the different items as a percentage of the total turnover, it’s easy to get insight into the whole company’s or every division’s costs, expenses and profit.

A profit and loss statement vertical analysis provides you with insight into the cost of goods sold, gross margin, operating expenses, operating profit, EBITDA etc. as a percentage of sales for the period. A balance sheet vertical analysis can be used to show the line item percentages of your total assets. For instance, if you have reported sales at Rs. 50,00,000 and cost goods sold at Rs.30,00.000 leaving Rs.20,00,000 as gross profit, it means your gross profit is 40% and cost of goods sold is 60%. Likewise, if you have total assets of Rs. 2,000,000 and Rs.200,000 in cash, your cash is 10% of your total assets. Likewise, if your current liabilities is Rs.500,000, then your current liabilities are 25% of your total assets.

Ratio Analysis

A ratio between two items is used for representing the relationships between different figures on the profit and loss account, balance sheet, cash flow statement or other financial reports. Ratio analysis is used for obtaining a quick insight into the organisation’s financial performance in various key areas and comparing companies that differ in size as well as with the industry averages. Additionally, ratios could be used in the form of trend analysis for identifying the areas within an organization where performance has deteriorated or improved over time. Some of the key ratios include:

- - Profitability Ratios: Profitability ratios measure the efficiency and performance of the management. Some of the commonly used profitability ratios include gross profit ratio, net profit ratio, return on equity capital, return on capital employed, operating ratio, earnings per share and dividends yield ratio.
  - Liquidity Ratios: These are calculated to ascertain whether a company can meet all of its existing business obligations. The most important liquidity ratios are:
    Current ratio: shows the ability to pay off current liabilities (current assets vs current liabilities)
    Quick ratio: from the above, subtracts inventory from current assets to express a more strict indicator of the ability to pay current liabilities
    Cash ratio: percentage of cash you have for short-term debts
  - Solvency Ratios: Solvency ratios evaluate the organisation’s ability to meet its long-term interest expenses and also repayment obligations. Common solvency ratios are:
    Debt to equity: the amount of equity that can cover debts
    Debt to Asset: indicates the percentage of assets that are funded by debt
    Interest Coverage: measures the ability of the business to meet its interest charges on debt. Derived by dividing Earnings before Interest and Taxes (EBIT) by Interest expenses
  - Efficiency / Activity Ratios: These ratios let you know how well your business uses its assets. Common efficiency ratios are:
    Inventory turnover: shows how often your inventory is sold and restocked in a period
    Accounts receivable turnover: how often your accounts receivable are collected
    Accounts payable turnover: measures how fast you pay off your creditors
    Total asset turnover: shows how well you use your total assets to generate revenue
    Working Capital Turnover Ratio: how effective a business is at generating sales for every rupee of working capital. This is calculated by dividing Sales by Working Capital (Current Assets – Current Liabilities)

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Industry analysis is valuable because you can get at least a rough idea if the company is on the right track compared to your peers and competitors in the same industry.

If you don’t measure, you cannot improve

Which financial reports should be analysed?

Businesses need constant information on a variety of parameters and trends such as market demand, market share, price, competitive activity and opportunity, cost of production, investment, fund needs, cost of capital, and taxes. Of these, the most vital ones are the financial information such as revenues, costs, profits, capital, salaries, loans and investments.

As explained above, these financial reports commonly and statutorily known as financial statements are to be prepared mandatorily. By learning to read these essential financial statements a lot of valuable and critical information can be gathered by different stakeholders of the company which may include owners, investors, lenders, creditors, the lay public, authorities, financial analysts and other interested parties.

In addition to the three reports discussed above, many organisations prepare, review and analyse various other reports internally. They are better known as management reports and normally not shared with any external stakeholders unless decided to by the management. These reports vary in form and content depending on the industry, size and form of the organisation. The nature of such management reports for a manufacturing organisation is naturally different from that of a company in the service industry.

The management reports are normally customised to the requirements of the management of a company and have no standard norms for it. However, they normally include analysis of working capital, accounts receivable ageing, contribution (sales – variable cost), budgets, budget vs actual variance, standard costing and variance, cost structure, product cost, break-even, life cycle costing, optimal product mix etc depending on the industry, size, type of business and form of the organisation.

The above-mentioned management reports along with the financial statements need to be analysed by companies, small and big, to ensure that the financial foundation and health of the organisation are sound and intact, and deficiencies are identified for taking measures to solve them. Though not exhaustive at all, here are some of the metrics and measurements an entrepreneur must have a grip on.

Be aware that your company owns enough to pay off what your company owes meaning you have sufficient assets to pay off your liabilities.
Understand the difference between long term and short term assets and liabilities and hence the urgent and non-urgent liabilities and how they can be taken care of at the required time.
Be sure that you can meet the expenses and generate enough profits to service capital, debt and equity.
Importance to be in the know of how much money is blocked with your customers i.e, accounts receivable, and inventory and if it is normal or abnormal as per accepted standards and benchmarks
Evaluate if your capital or investment is generating the required return
To have a plan as to when and how much funds you will require to sustain and grow your business in the short-run and long-run
Know how to price or bid for your products or services or projects
Get an idea of optimal product mix that will generate profits optimally
Be sure that the company complies with taxes and other statutory obligations

In addition to the above, you can perform industry analysis to look at a company by comparing the financial ratios to those of an entire industry to see how the company performs in comparison. Periods are matched and industry average ratios are used for purposes of comparison. Industry analysis is valuable because you can get at least a rough idea if the company is on the right track compared to your peers and competitors in the same industry.

How often to analyse?

Financial statements are prepared, reviewed and analysed annually and in certain cases every quarter. For outsiders and external stakeholders, mostly financial statements are the only sources of financial information. Management reports are internal and it is not mandatory to give external stakeholders access to them.

Mandatory or not, all companies must prepare financial statements and management reports every month for proper review and analysis to help you with decision making and devise corrective measures where needed. This is all the more relevant and crucial for small and startup companies because small companies in the early stages cannot withstand even minute disruptions in the market and therefore intensive scrutiny of each item in its financial reports is a must. Annual reports and their review are important but not at all sufficient for conducting the operations successfully particularly of start-ups and small enterprises; it is more of a post mortem.

You can still decide to prepare a balance sheet and cash flow quarterly if your resources don’t allow it to be monthly. However, it is important that at least profit and loss statements, receivable ageing, working capital are generated, reviewed and analysed every month. This is because monthly reviews give you inputs on how your topline and bottom-line are performing vis-a-vis previous year or budget or industry standards, how fast to collect receivables so that you can pay off liabilities on account of supplies and operating expenses without which a business will struggle to survive.

Expert Connect

Chinmay Ananda
Business Storyteller, Financial Educator Finance Academy
Connect with our expert to analyse your financial statements and evaluate the risks and potential of your business

The post How often you need to analyse financial statements and what should you look for? appeared first on Dutch Uncles.

Finance for Non-Finance Entrepreneurs is not a choice but is the need of the hour!

Joseph Varughese — Fri, 21 May 2021 08:05:04 +0000

A common tendency among entrepreneurs, particularly of startups, is to accord the least priority to finance and accounting; whether to know about it or get help on it. This is one mistake most non-finance entrepreneurs commit that can turn out to be very costly to their business.

Neglect Finance at your peril

Start-up entrepreneurs need to know a certain amount of finance for two reasons:

To get a feel of what is happening in their business in terms of its performance and outlook
Their cash flow will not permit them to onboard senior finance professionals in the early stages.

If startup founders don’t have the budget to hire an accountant, they will need to be their own. Even if the company does have an accountant, entrepreneurs should understand enough about the subject to have meaningful conversations with their potential partners, investors, auditors, authorities, employees, customers, suppliers, and other internal and external stakeholders.

That said, having reasonable knowledge of finance and accountancy is important not only for startup entrepreneurs but for anyone running or managing a business. Even when you have qualified finance professionals at senior levels in your organisation, it is of utmost importance that you understand finance.

Managing costs, cash flow, invoices, vendors, collection, taxes and payroll probably isn’t what a start-up entrepreneur imagined would do when he decided to launch his own business. But they are critical components of running any successful company, especially in the early stages when they are both steering the ship and running the show.

For almost all organisations, accounting and finance influence nearly every facet of their business. Whether you’re applying for a business loan or grant, managing payroll and employee benefits, paying expenses like rent and utilities, invoicing vendors, pricing your products or services, seeking investors, projecting growth, invoicing customers and collecting money, the accounting will form the basis of everything you do in business. In other words, each and everything you do in business has a financial impact one way or another.

An entrepreneur having a stronghold on finance stands to gain the following advantages for the business:

A strong understanding of assets and liabilities, what business owns and what business owes
Strategic decision making based on data from Profit and Loss Statement (Income statement in the US), Balance Sheet and Cash Flow statement
It makes the business ready for fundraising
It prepares the business to manage costs, working capital and risks

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The ability to sustain the business during the crisis and scale in a profitable way calls for a reasonable understanding of finance and accounting.

While business is getting established

Most founders – particularly in the early days of their business – are focused on acquiring and retaining their first clients and customers. While you are busy with generating revenue, who is going to maintain the books and manage the business’s finances and compliances?

Without a full-time accountant on board, it can be hard for the entrepreneur to do anything more than just the bare minimum in terms of financial analysis. You may outsource the bare minimum accounting work to accounting service providers but you should still have some basic knowledge of accounting and finance to manage the service provider to avoid ending up in a mess.

You need to be in control

A financially literate business owner is more likely to be fully in control of his/her business. Gaining an understanding of what financial statements viz. balance sheets, profit and loss statements and cash flow mean provides a clear view of the financial performance and state of your enterprise and subsequently facilitates good business decisions.

As a business owner you don’t have to run all of the financial functions, but gaining some degree of financial acumen gives you the best chance of building a business that can thrive with a solid foundation, and can prepare you for a number of the challenges that you will inevitably encounter on your journey.

While your business scale-up

All entrepreneurs need adequate financing to launch and subsequently grow their businesses. Access to loans or credit lines or funding is a key factor in the process of expansion and growth for startup enterprises. Finance helps the entrepreneurs decide when to go for IPO or other funding sources.

When the time comes to talk to private equity firms, banks or investors the ability to be able to talk the talk will undoubtedly prove to be invaluable and it calls for financial literacy on the part of non-finance entrepreneurs. Understanding the fundamentals of the financial tools that enable businesses to operate successfully helps entrepreneurs not only with formulating their overall strategy but also with staying on top of nitty-gritty details like customers who haven’t paid up, suppliers who have billed too much or are not paid in time or delay supplies, current liabilities that need to be settled immediately or numbers that used to be black slipping to the red in your Profit and Loss statement.

All startup businesses need to grow profitably to succeed. The ability to sustain the business during the crisis and scale in a profitable way calls for a reasonable understanding of finance and accounting. The knowledge of finance will also make you better equipped to deal with the finance professionals whose job is to assure the integrity of your business’s accounts and finance.

The health of your business to a great extent depends on how much understanding you have of finance as a non-finance entrepreneur. Every entrepreneur must know the below financial tools and techniques if you want to enter the world of entrepreneurship and run a business successfully.

Entrepreneurs must understand crucial financial tools

Managing Cash Flow

‘Cash is king’ is a time-tested saying and it is true. This is true for all businesses whether established companies or startups in their early stages. For many businesses, especially the new ones, where credit lines are limited and financing is difficult, internally generated cash proves to be one of the most critical assets. It serves as the fuel to your company’s growth engine. Without it, you can’t pay suppliers and employees and you will find it difficult to maintain inventory, reach customers, and grow the business.

Paying due attention to cash inflows and outflows enables entrepreneurs to plan accordingly, prevent any unnecessary cash shortages, and reinvest or use excess cash judiciously to grow the business.

The reasons why you don’t have the luxury to neglect cash flow are the following:

- - Many start-ups fail because of poor cash flow management resulting in a cash crunch.
  - Entrepreneurs must perform cash flow analysis regularly. This will help you identify the risky situation and alert you to take measures to come out of such difficult situations.
  - Reviewing the amount of cash collected and used by a company in a set period and how much cash is available to perform other functions is one of the most difficult and critical aspects of financially understanding your business.
  - You will be putting your business in a very dangerous position if you don’t stay on top of your cash flow. However good your idea does not help you when you run out of money.

Maintaining a strong Balance Sheet

The balance sheet provides a snapshot of a company’s financial health and position at a particular point in time. It allows those running the business to quickly see what resources are available and how those resources were financed and show both the assets and liabilities. On another note, what you have right now and what you owe others.

Entrepreneurs can use the balance sheet to keep their business in control. While sales may be increasing exponentially, keeping an eye on the liabilities side of the balance sheet is important to the long-term success of the business. Even though investors care about growth potential, they also care about how much the company owns versus how much it owes. The balance sheet gives investors, and potential buyers, a solid understanding of where the company stands. Why should you know how to read a balance sheet? Here are the reasons:

- - A balance sheet is a report card that shows the financial position and health of the business.
  - A balance sheet helps you calculate the value of your company. Having an idea of the value can give you an insight into your plans.
  - A balance sheet also works as an early warning system. If your business is not producing growth equity, looking at the assets and liabilities on your balance sheet can help you find out why. For example, if your inventory is a part of your assets, if the inventory doesn’t sell quickly it can become your liability.

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Having sufficient knowledge of finance and accountancy can help non-finance entrepreneurs in steering their companies towards a growth path.

Identifying the Path to Profitability

Profitability is defined as how much money is left from the sales after all expenses have been subtracted. This may seem obvious for those interested in starting a business, but it can sometimes fade into lower priority during the early stages of a company.

It’s often necessary to take a loss early to reach a target market, acquire and retain customers, increase visibility, or launch products successfully, but this cannot be a long-term strategy. The Profit and Loss statement and other financial analysis dashboards give insight into the profitability and outlook of your business.

You must have total control over expenses and limit your fixed expenses at the beginning. A piece of sound knowledge and understanding of finance and accounting is a must to control cost through analysing what expenses the avoidance of which can affect the business and what expenses should be avoided.

Calculate your costs and margins, and decide on pricing

An entrepreneur particularly in the early stage must know how much he should charge for their products or services and how that impacts the profitability. If the business has competition, the market decides the price but the entrepreneur should be aware that price takes care of his costs and margin. If it is a new product or service, he should know what could be the ideal price at which he can make a profit and what the customers will be willing to pay for his /her products or services.

Non-finance entrepreneurs should have a reasonable grip on cost accounting techniques and applications to ensure the following:

- - There is data available about the cost to produce a good or deliver a service that is dynamic and constantly shifting due to internal factors or external factors like economic conditions.
  - Prompt and accurate decision making to make necessary adjustments to the pricing structures.
  - Have sound understanding of fixed and variable costs and contribution margin analysis.

Compliance

If you don’t give due importance to compliance with various laws and regulations, you may end up in trouble. You must have basic knowledge and update on various tax laws like income tax, GST, etc. and corporate laws like company laws, labour laws, etc. You should know when and how to pay taxes and file returns, when to deduct and pay TDS, what, when and how to comply with company laws, PF, ESIC, Gratuity, Shop and Establishment, etc.

In addition, an entrepreneur should keep updated on various incentives, tax benefits that central and state governments declare from time to time and through finance bills (budgets) for businesses particularly startups or you will stand to lose or forfeit such benefits.

Communicating about Money

Solid communication skills are essential to nearly every aspect of running a business, but they’re particularly important when dealing with finance and accounting. As an entrepreneur, you must be comfortable and able to discuss the hard numbers of your business – with employees, vendors, and investors, authorities, auditors or other stakeholders.

Forecasting the future of your business

For most entrepreneurs, growth is a key motivation. To grow successfully, an entrepreneur must be capable of forecasting the future outlook of their business. Accurate predictions about future revenues, future operating costs, future resource needs, and future profit levels are necessary to attract investors, secure funding, hire employees, allocate funds for marketing and capital expenditure, and onboard new clients or customers.

Capital Expenditure Vs Revenue or Operating Expenses

Non-finance entrepreneurs must be able to differentiate between capital expenditure and revenue expenditure (the expenses that are period expenses and are written off in the P&L in the financial year). Understanding the difference gives you an insight into whether each expense affects your profit or balance sheet reporting. This means if the expense is short-term or long-term. It also throws light into how an expense impacts future cash flows.

Valuation

This is one most important thing that keeps playing in the minds of start-up founders. Valuation helps business attract funding and financing at a lower cost or on favorable terms. An entrepreneur must have sufficient knowledge of valuation techniques to make sure that his business is valued at the value that her/his business is worth. Valuation is mostly done when the company is looking to sell a business or acquire or merge with other companies or dilute equity by acquiring funding or go for IPO.

A business valuation might include an analysis of the company’s management, its capital structure, its future earnings prospects or the market value of its assets. Common approaches to business valuation include a review of financial statements, discounting cash flow models and similar company comparisons. In the case of a listed company, the value of a business is its market cap.

Yes, knowledge of finance is a must for entrepreneurs

Whether you are considering starting your own business or have already taken the leap, strengthening your finance and accounting skills can enable you to reach your entrepreneurial goals.

Having sufficient knowledge of finance and accountancy can help non-finance entrepreneurs in steering their companies towards a growth path. The lack of financial literacy and the non-existence of the finance team can be detrimental to the survival and growth of your business.

Expert Connect

Chinmay Ananda
Business Storyteller, Financial Educator Finance Academy
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Ten Great Entrepreneurial Lessons from Steve Jobs

Tanisha Achrekar — Mon, 10 May 2021 06:10:03 +0000

Steve Jobs has achieved more in his lifetime than most people can comprehend. Whenever we hear about the world technology giants or most successful entrepreneurs, his name is bound to pop in our minds. Starting his humble journey to creating one of the biggest and wealthiest companies in the world, entrepreneurs can learn a lot from him.

Lessons from Steve Jobs every entrepreneur must learn

Always keep learning

Jobs explored the world and always was open to new experiences. He travelled to India and connected to his spiritual side. Travelling often changes the way we perceive the world. As an entrepreneur, Jobs was always open to new experiences and learning. Never be a know-it-all, instead be open to new findings.

Perseverance, perseverance, and perseverance!

An entrepreneur’s journey is full of roses and thorns. Without perseverance, it will be hard for any entrepreneur to last through tough times. Jobs knew well beforehand that the setbacks in innovation are a part of his journey. In his old interview, he once talked about how perseverance separates successful entrepreneurs from unsuccessful ones.

The best performance comes from the best team

When it comes to hiring, Jobs ensured that he had the best of the best talent around him. He ensured that his team was as passionate and as dedicated to their work as he was. He had faith in his exceptional team and always supported them.

Keep it as simple as possible

Whether it comes to the layouts of the Apple products or his own lifestyle, Jobs always preferred to keep things simple. The iconic designs of his products are an attribute to his simplistic and elegant thinking.

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When you get an idea and you create it, ups and downs are a part of the grind. Believing in yourself and your products will help you keep your eye on the prize while ignoring the naysayers.

Don’t be afraid to take risks

Jobs was always a risk-taker by heart and self-doubt was never his thing. Many entrepreneurs have world reforming ideas but hesitate to take the leap. However, without implementing an idea is nothing but a mere thought. Jobs never hesitated in manifesting his ideas and that too with absolute perfection.

Pay attention to detail

Jobs always had an eye for the detail even for things that may or may not be noticed by most people. As sleek and exquisite as the exterior of an iPhone was, so was the interior. He said he gets his knack for attention to detail from his father.

Keep innovating constantly

It is quite often when people are talking about innovation and Steve Jobs in the same breath. The reason being he was never satisfied until he got what he wanted. He was never afraid of innovating and experimenting with the technology.

Don’t try to fit in

One thing clearly with Apple was that Jobs did not create it to fit in with every consumer. He was focused on selling dreams instead of products. He never tried to fit in the market, but rather created his own market. As an entrepreneur, he was not afraid to stand out from the crowd and that reflected in his creations too.

It’s never too early

Yes, you heard it right. We always talk about how people turned entrepreneurs after retirement and how it is never too late to follow your passion. In the same way, Jobs taught us that you are never too young to pursue your dreams. Jobs co-founded Apple Computers in 1976 when he was only 21.

Believe in yourself and your business

As an entrepreneur, you are the face of your company. Your leadership directly impacts those who are working for you, those who are investing in your business and those who are buying your products. When you get an idea and you create it, ups and downs are a part of the grind. Believing in yourself and your products will help you keep your eye on the prize while ignoring the naysayers.

An entrepreneur has a lot to learn from Steve Jobs and the way he lived his life. His vision and passion were both of absolute brilliance. He revolutionized technology and gave entrepreneurs a new unconventional icon to look up to and learn from. To achieve his charismatic leadership and off-beat thought process, has been the goal of many, in and out of the business ecosystem.

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Why Are Acquisitions And Mergers Taking the Cash Channel?

Anju Nambiar — Tue, 27 Apr 2021 05:30:08 +0000

The Indian start-up and small business space is seeing increased Mergers and Acquisitions occurring. This has undoubtedly been triggered by the disruption caused due to the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. But an interesting development that is occurring is that corporate M&A’s (Mergers & Acquisitions) have undergone immense transformation as more deals are finalising through cash transactions.

What’s the secret?

M&As are thriving due to the Indian Government’s support and their renewed perspective towards the success of such deals. Other factors that are boosting more M&A deals include the buyout occurring in the stock market as well as the stability currently seen in the banking system.

There is availability of rescue capital for credible inorganic expansions as well as confidence capital for organic exigencies, another factor that has bolstered M&As within the country. Corporates are doing promotion of ledgers, divestments, and supplementary asset disposals. This will help them get better liquidity, and stronger balance sheets. It’s also empowering them to take careful risks that will pay off on a grand scale.

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Most corporate acquirers see all-cash deals as highly attractive mainly because it enables them to easily cancel out other acquirers from the competition.

Recent noteworthy M&As

Numerous cash M&As have taken place recently in the start-up and small business scene. For instance, Pine Labs, a Bengaluru-based start-up recently acquired Singapore-based start-up ‘Fave’ for a $45 M cash+stock deal. Pine Labs is a PoS (Point-of-Sales) Service provider start-up and Fave is a digital merchant start-up.

Another noteworthy acquisition has been Byju’s paying $1B for ‘Aakash’ which was a part-cash, part-equity deal. The cash transaction amounted to $600M and the rest was paid in stock.

A third acquisition of significance has been Bengaluru-based telecom start-up iBus Networks acquiring Ubico Networks in a 100% stake, all-cash deal.

Reasons for taking the cash channel

Most corporate acquirers see all-cash deals as highly attractive because it enables them to easily cancel out other acquirers from the competition.

Such offers may be preferred during an M&A transaction because may not affect the future performance of the company. Cash give-and take may also occur when shareholders are sceptical about the viability of the deal and so a premium price is offered by the acquirer.

A strong reason why cash may be swapped in exchange for stakes in a company may be because of global currency fluctuations. Currency considerations may prove to be profitable for the enquirer.

The most obvious reason may be that the company getting acquired or being merged into the acquirer may specifically request for a cash infusion.

What’s in it for me?

It is the era of start-ups, as well as a new age of cash rich companies and M&A activity is high currently. These Indian players have their eye on numerous outbound investment opportunities. These companies are mostly seasoned business houses who lack novel business opportunities.

If your start-up is struggling from the pandemic, it’s a golden opportunity for you to swap your ideas for cash deals.

Cash-rich companies are eager to buy over these ideas since they are looking to achieve quick, inorganic growth and are aggressively getting into M&A deals.

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What are the Key Industry Trends and Forecasts in Corporate Training?

Aakash Sharma — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 12:35:04 +0000

Corporate training, also known as on-the-job learning, is an activity system devised for employee training. While it benefits employers, it also helps employees because it provides them with the knowledge and skills necessary for professional and personal development.

In the COVID era, corporate training and learning fundamentally transformed into new digital models, such as virtual skills training, non-technical skills training, high-quality training and life skills training- all this being done digitally. Companies worldwide are formulating adaptive work policies, including action plans, telecommunications, and working from home to brace the changes and the challenges that accompany them.

But how have the work-from-home and remote working policies affected the entire industry? And what does the future of this sector look like? Let’s delve into the answers to these questions.

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The massive usage of the Internet and mobile devices is a significant trend in today's collaborative training market.

Corporate Training and e-learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic

To keep the show going, training and development professionals improved the corporate training scene in 2020. They leveraged the industry’s capabilities and functions to provide corporate training through online programs without the need for face-to-face communication.

The Advantages

In addition to social and physical restrictions, closures and quarantines to avoid the pandemic forced many companies to direct employees to work from home or remotely. E-modes of training and learning came in handy in this situation for in-house training, allowing employees to rely entirely on online lessons and ideas. Current learning and development strategies address the critical use of technology to maximize e-learning platforms’ use and enable accessible learning and communication methods.

The Challenges

In addition to strategic adjustments, 2020 was also a year that disrupted the traditional corporate training industry. As organizations did not have employees coming into the offices, the physical teacher-directed training became impossible for employers. In the LinkedIn Learning 2020 report on LinkedIn Workplace Learning, 49% of respondents said they did not have time to get the training while being remotely at work, and 94% said they benefited from it, yet they could not take it.

The main problem with remote work is that there is a lot of digital work and presence. Many companies have failed to adjust the new schedule to consider the actual additional screen time, the number of calls. The physical and psychological side effects of employee frustration with the pandemic and drastic changes are also majorly unaddressed. The pandemic has exhausted many companies’ resources, meaning that people are working longer and are naturally resistant to take on anything outside of their regular job projects.

However, many good learning and development professionals in the industry have taken advantage of this environment by implementing strict online part-time strategies. It has propelled some of the new trends and predictions that can be important for future corporate learning.

The top players in the market, including Adobe Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., City & Guilds Group, D2L Corp., Franklin Covey Co., GP Strategies Corp., John Wiley & Sons Inc., NIIT Ltd., Skillsoft Ltd., and Wilson Learning Worldwide Inc., are increasingly adopting and promoting new training models for the corporate world for a balanced workflow and boosted work ethic in the time of a pandemic.

Corporate Training Market Environment and Scale – Incentives and Key Trends

The advent of low-cost e-learning modules has been recognized as a critical driver of growth in the corporate training market. The e-learning application reduces employees’ working hours and facilitates the processing, updating, and storage of information. It also reduces the cost of training and encourages low-budget companies to implement e-learning solutions. Market analysts estimate that the market will grow at an annual growth rate of approximately 8% for rapid market growth.

The massive usage of the Internet and mobile devices is a significant trend in today’s collaborative training market. The rapid adoption of digital solutions for e-learning has led to the development of the Internet (IoT) and other devices. Powerful mobile devices or software provide a quick and easy solution for better monitoring participants and their performance. The new balance combines educational technologies with augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) to reproduce, create, and develop development goals accurately.

What’s in it for Training Businesses to Learn and Act Upon?

Despite the risks, as long as COVID-19 is present, it is best to use the online method of training and teaching to keep employees motivated and equipped. Digital learning can also create creative workers and processes. Granting access to e-training can create exciting opportunities such as online collaboration, additional courses, and learning concepts. Online learning also benefits employees who want to study independently or learn to use social media platforms, regular programs, websites, and educators or with online classrooms.

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Global Gender Pay Gap: Where Does India Stand?

Tanisha Achrekar — Wed, 10 Mar 2021 12:35:04 +0000

We live in a world where opportunities for women have unleashed more than ever. Women are realizing their true potential, grabbing opportunities and opening doors of financial independence themselves. The situation may not be the best and there is definitely room for improvement. The current times being way better compared to when Indra Nooyi started her career or when Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister. A key component of being independent is handling your finances. The gender pay gap measures the overall earnings of men and women. It shows an organization, or the country, or the world on where they truly stand. It is different from unequal pay as it takes the earnings of all men and women into consideration irrespective of their designation and specialization.

The Global Gender Gap Report 2020

According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2020 of the World Economic Forum, there is still a 31.4% average gender gap that remains to be closed globally. On a slightly positive note, globally the gender pay gap is lower than before. Compared to last year, 101 out of the 149 countries that are a part of both the report have shown a lesser gender gap.

We are improving globally but is this pace good enough? According to the same report, the slow speed at which the gender pay gap is reducing over the period 2006–2020, it will take 257 years to close this gap.

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According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2020 of the World Economic Forum, there is still a 31.4% average gender gap that remains to be closed globally.

Where does India stand?

According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2020, out of the 153 countries studied, India ranks 112 for the overall gender pay gap. Unfortunately, the gender gap has gotten deep and is running significantly wider.

When it comes to the gender pay gap, India faces complex challenges and hurdles. Most of them being associated with socio-economic conditions. It starts from when girl children are dropped out of school early or kept out completely. Many women who manage to complete their education are not allowed to work by their families. Many women also are unable to join the workforce back after maternity leave. Many females opt-out of jobs that require long working hours or night shifts due to pressure from their families or safety concerns. These factors hold women back to perform to their fullest, causing the overall gender pay gap to widen.

What can we do about gender pay?

India’s stigma against women working is what is holding it back. Below are some practices that may help your organization to eliminate the gender pay gap –

Conduct analysis within your organization to ensure wage parity amongst all employees.
Keep a check on your unconscious biases that are associated with women.
Have a diversified workforce from the top level of management to the bottom one. Ensuring there is an adequate representation of women in every tier of your organization.

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Are Men and Women Treated Differently at Work?

Tanisha Achrekar — Wed, 10 Mar 2021 06:35:05 +0000

Women are in a position of power everywhere around the world. Be it running a country, flying a jet, or running a business, we are doing it all! As much as we adore financial independence and having our own identity, some struggles seem inevitable. Often a topic discussed among co-workers is the difference between men and women at work. While definitely, not all workplaces are the same, in most, women are treated differently than men intentionally or unintentionally.

Gender bias: What experts say about men and women at work?

A study was conducted in 2017 on a multinational firm to find out whether men and women are treated differently at work. The first thing that came to notice while collecting the data was that fewer women are employed in upper management. In the entry levels, there were 30% to 40% of women employed, the upper two-tier of the company had only 20% of women employed.

During the investigation, the research experts gave all employees sociometric badges so they could track in-person behaviour. Along with that they also collected the email communication and meeting schedules of the employees. After analyzing the data, they found that men and women portrayed the same behaviour in the office. Still, the difference in lack of senior-level opportunities and difference between the promotion rate between men and women existed.

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Gender inequality prevails because of bias.

If both genders behaved in the same manner, why the difference? The difference was observed in the way men and women were treated. Gender inequality prevails because of bias. Bias is when two people are behaving in the same manner yet being treated differently. The problem is not in the action, but how those actions are perceived. There are several reasons why this gender bias exists. In the company, where the research was conducted, women tended to leave the company in the middle of their seniority, between four to ten years. The reasons are presumed to start a family or raise a kid. Michelle J. Budig, a professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, in his paper on ‘The Fatherhood Bonus and The Motherhood Penalty,’ concluded how men are perceived as responsible after becoming fathers, while women are deemed as being less committed to work.

What can we do?

While several companies run leadership programmes to uplift women and encourage them, the problem remains unsolved. Instead, companies should pay more attention to consciously reducing the gender bias amongst employees. A company should conduct research and treat gender bias as any other business problem. They should collect the data to uncover gender bias in their organization. After getting the data, they need to work on where exactly the women are facing bias and brainstorm steps to overcome it. Just how a woman’s marriage and pregnancy are celebrated, let’s celebrate their promotions and graduations too.

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Gender Diversity Percentage: Women at Entry Level Vs Higher up the Ladder

Aakash Sharma — Wed, 10 Mar 2021 02:35:03 +0000

Indian corporate ecosystem needs diversity in a multitude of experiences, skills, nationality, but above all, it requires gender-specific diversity. Diversity in all its aspects should be a fundamental goal for an organisation to work effectively. It helps expand the approach to decision making, avoids biased policies, and helps companies better understand and connect with their stakeholders. The equality of the sexes and a workplace’s different design with equal representation of women is one of the “essential” elements of almost all business strategies today. And it is good that the corporate sector has a clear intention of working to create a business world with gender equality.

The proportion of women in entry level posts is at par.

In India’s open economy and market space, many multinationals have large numbers of women in their workforce. These companies have adopted various policies for a gender-balanced workforce. However, most management positions in Indian companies continue to be dominated by men. Although multiple laws have narrowed the education gap between men and women, and there are many qualified women in India, they are still rare to be found in conference halls and executive positions in the Indian corporate world.

What is holding women back?

One of the reasons for women’s absence in senior leadership positions is that gender stereotypes act as a significant hindrance to granting authority to women. While research has shown that companies with women in top leadership positions tend to appoint more women on the board, globally, women hold just 4.4% of CEO positions and only 12.7% of CFO roles.

Why is there only 9-10 per cent representation of women in senior management roles in India?

As a first high-level problem, it is not very difficult to answer this question. In India, many women between the ages of 25 and 32 quit their jobs due to engagements, like marriage and motherhood. This is mainly due to society’s gender-specific expectations, which tend to force women into marriage and maternity, and ultimately impact their career goals. This issue needs to be addressed and tactfully redefined.

After getting involved in the typical roles expected of a woman, female professionals often cannot rejoin the workforce and executive positions. There are very few cases where programmes like ‘Back to Work’ are thriving in helping female employees rejuvenate their careers after a matrimonial or motherhood engagement.

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The concept of paternity leave instead of just maternity leave can reduce discrimination against women when hiring as everyone in the organisation will need to take a break during their childbirth.

Lack of initiative on companies’ part

Due to this sullen record, companies become hesitant in taking the valuable time and resources to take the initiative, with failure rates exceeding 80% (i.e., 80% of working women cannot return to work once they are engaged in personal affairs). At this point, we need to look into the reasons for such a high failure rate.

At the organisational level, initiatives such as “Back to Work” are part of a commitment to human resources diversity. If such activity is to be built based on an annual business strategy, it is a more critical initiative. But, most leaders and managers do not invest the time, effort, and resources to identify the right resources for the right task. This makes the attempts at equalisation go in vain, and companies end up not playing a critical role in this “experiment”.

Workplaces need to remodel for engaging more women in the corporate hierarchy

The economics of most workers in the workplace can be read in any McKinsey & Company report published in Women Matter over the past ten years. These reports indicate that highly skilled and highly experienced women in specific verticals of their fields face immense difficulty in entering the professional realm again.

Organisations often miss out on essential opportunities to retain and develop these women professionals’ talents, which leads to their shrinking share in the workforce. At an individual level, women who wish to return to work are often not prepared adequately to have an effortless restart of their careers.

A sound support system is necessary

Socio-economic pressures force women to drop out at all the stages of their careers. There is little that organisations are doing to enable employees – both females and males – to equally manage their personal and family responsibilities. But mostly, due to the societal formation based on gender bias, working women face the brunt of the lack of a sound support system in 95 per cent of cases.

But, to reduce, if not eradicate, this problem, good policies like paternity leave can be implemented on a large scale. These policies can have government interference as well for ensuring compliance. Many European and Scandinavian countries already have a work policy that balances the work regulations to ensure that both, the female and male, workforce have equal opportunities and even similar challenges. In fact, Germany introduced a mandatory reservation for women executives on all major German companies’ boards last year.

The concept of paternity leave instead of just maternity leave can reduce discrimination against women when hiring as everyone in the organisation will need to take a break during their childbirth. Moreover, crèche facilities should not be initiated only thinking about women at the workplace, but organisations should build such facilities for the use of working fathers as well.

Nevertheless, despite increased publicity and discussions surrounding the inequalities women face in the workplace, there remains a tremendous amount of work to close the gender gap.

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Why Are Women Paid Less By Corporate India?

Naina Sood — Tue, 09 Mar 2021 12:35:04 +0000

For every dollar a man earns, a woman is paid 81 cents on an average. Though this gap is getting closed every year, it still does exist, way stronger in some sectors. There are many factors behind this wage disparity between men and women in the corporate sector. We tried to list a few:

Motherhood Penalty

One of the major reasons for the pay gap is that women are more likely to take a break during their careers to have children or to seek lower paid positions that offer more flexibility to make it easier to manage a family. This predominant gender norm that women are meant to have children and will eventually become mothers and homemakers (whether or not they actually do or want to) result in assumptions about their proficiency, productivity levels, or commitment to their careers, which in turn can impact compensation. If they return to work full-time, they are often forced to accept a lower wage compared to the wage they would have earned had they stayed in their original job. This is the motherhood penalty or the childbearing penalty.

Part-Time Roles

Women often choose to move to part-time employment or to step out of a career promotion pathway in order to have more time for motherhood and childcare when their children are young. And part-time work, even for the same kind of job in the same occupation and sector, has a lower wage with fewer benefits than full-time work.

Does Marital Status Affect Gender Pay Gap?

According to an online survey conducted by Paycheck India (from 2006 to 2011), marital status is also one of the factors for gender pay gap. For women who were single, the gender pay gap is the lowest at 27%. It increases for married women and divorced women at a little above 40%. It is highest for widowed women at more than 60%.

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This predominant gender norm that women will eventually become mothers and homemakers result in assumptions about their productivity levels or commitment to careers, which impacts compensation.

Slow Career Progression: Opportunity Gap

Mentorship has also been a long-term issue, especially in male-dominated areas, or areas where the senior people are men who tend to be more supportive, encouraging and helpful to young men than to women. This could be one of the reasons for the opportunity gap which leads to lower pays.

Discrimination & Stereotyping Still Play a Role

No matter what, there is enough data to show that discrimination, stereotyping and implicit biases in earnings and promotion opportunities for women still exist.

What’s In It For Me?

The Indian government has passed various Acts to ensure equal pay and equal treatment at the workplace. If you think you aren’t being treated fairly, you can talk, or write, to your employer/HR to try to resolve the issue informally first. If not satisfied, you can always file a complaint with a local or regional labor officer or commissioner with simply a letter detailing your problem. Please ensure to take a receipt of the same from his office on a duplicate copy of the same.

Also, one can directly approach the Civil Court by filing a civil suit against the employer. There are plenty of online consumer complaints forums which can help with the process.

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