Mamata Banerjee faces her biggest challenge yet

Top of the Morning

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Thursday, September 5, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started.

Indian equity markets fell on Wednesday. The benchmark Nifty50 index was down by 0.32 percent, while the Sensex dropped 0.25 percent.

Just a few years ago, dining out was a special occasion—something you did to celebrate or treat yourself. Then the pandemic hit, and if you didn’t feel like cooking, ordering in became the only option. This shift fundamentally changed consumer behaviour, particularly for fast-food diners. Suneera Tandon and Varuni Khosla report that quick-service restaurants like Domino’s, McDonald’s, and Pizza Hut are now struggling to draw customers back to their outlets. Dine-in sales remain under pressure, while competition in the delivery space has intensified. To entice customers off their couches, these chains are offering discounts and promotions to boost in-store demand.

Tata Motors launched its popular EV, the Nexon, in 2020. Early buyers may now be considering selling their first-generation green cars. Alisha Sachdev brings encouraging news: the resale value of Indian EVs is outperforming their global counterparts. However, EVs still depreciate faster than petrol and diesel vehicles. Despite this, Alisha notes that as the EV market continues to mature and the availability of used electric vehicles grows, this depreciation gap is likely to shrink, potentially making electric mobility more accessible and appealing to a wider range of consumers.

India’s festival season, kicking off in early September and culminating with Diwali sometime in November, is a critical period for e-commerce players. It's traditionally marked by a surge in offers as consumers' buying appetite increases. This year, India’s quick commerce sector is taking on e-commerce head-on during this busy time. Zomato is expanding its "dark stores" and introducing more consumer electronics categories to meet festive demand, while Tata-owned Big Basket has ventured into selling large appliances. Sowmya Ramasubramanian and Suneera Tandon report on the trend.

Pharmaceutical companies have long been criticized for their aggressive marketing tactics aimed at doctors. A prime example is Dolo-650, which became the most prescribed drug during the pandemic in 2020. By 2022, however, Dolo’s manufacturer, Micro Labs, was facing scrutiny from the tax department for allegedly offering ₹1,000 crore in freebies to doctors to promote the pain and fever reliever. Now, the government is tightening its focus on such ethically questionable practices, writes Priyanka Sharma. The Department of Pharmaceuticals, under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, has mandated that companies disclose details of their spending on free samples, conferences, workshops, and other promotional activities, including specifics on sample distribution, event expenses, and recipient information.

The brutal rape and murder of a junior doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College on 9 August shocked the entire nation. The capital of West Bengal—currently the only state led by a woman chief minister—has since been gripped by protests and unrest following the horrific crime. Mamata Banerjee, who has led the West Bengal government for 13 years and been an active politician for over four decades, now faces perhaps the toughest test of her career. Despite a history of leading protests against the state’s previous Left regime, this tragedy has emerged as her most significant challenge yet. Mint's Romita Datta delves into how the Kolkata rape and murder has become a defining moment in Mamata Banerjee’s political journey.

Eating at a fast-food outlet may be a better bargain than ordering in

EV resale value improving in India—but still less attractive than ICE siblings

It’s e-commerce versus quick commerce this festive season

Govt targets drugmakers offering freebies to doctors to promote their medicines

Bengal: Mamata Banerjee, who wrote the book on protests, faces her biggest test