Govt bowls a googly in corporate tax cut bill, implications of low labour force participation rate; read this and more on Moneycontrol Pro

Finally, some great news! India’s fastest-growing financial subscriptions service, Moneycontrol Pro, is available both on the website and mobile apps. Moneycontrol Pro offers curated markets data, independent equity analysis, insights into investment styles and exclusive trading recommendations. In sum, all the information you need for wealth creation. The government bowls a googly in the corporate tax cut bill The government has introduced a bill in Parliament to implement the new corporate tax rates and replace the ordinance promulgated in September 2019. The new bill has changes compared to the ordinance that have been attributed to ‘representations received from various Stakeholders to provide certainty’. While they may be well-intentioned, some of these changes actually introduce uncertainty for companies and may undermine what was a very bold reform. Read more. [caption id=“attachment_6847201” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image[/caption] The implications of India’s low labour force participation rate The latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), for the January-March 2019 quarter, says that the Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) for persons aged 15 and above in urban India was 46.5 percent. LFPR is defined in the survey as, ‘the part of the population which supplies or offers to supply labour for pursuing economic activities for the production of goods and services and, therefore, includes both ‘employed’ and ‘unemployed’ persons.’ What does a low LFPR this mean? Read more. Midcap Cement: Which stocks to pick? Strong demand from the infrastructure and housing industries drove cement volume growth in financial year 2018-19. However, FY20 started on a sombre note. Demand was subdued during the first quarter because of the general elections and water shortage. The July-September quarter is a seasonally weak quarter anyway. Not only did sluggish demand continue, prices also fell in some regions because of weather conditions and floods, which delayed various projects. Given this context, how should investors pick smaller cement stocks? Read more. Has the risk-reward turned favourable for Edelweiss? Until September last year, Edelweiss was one of the fastest-growing NBFCs in the country. But the liquidity crisis that followed the debt default by IL&FS in September last year significantly pulled down Edelweiss’s business growth. That’s not all. Edelweiss faced funding challenges due to the confidence deficit amid concerns over asset quality in the wholesale lending book (including real estate financing, structured credit and promoter financing), hurting growth. What should investors do? Read more. Tactical Pick: Jyothy Laboratories In this edition of Tactical Pick, our independent research team is recommending Jyothy Laboratories. It has a strong presence in South India, particularly in dishwashing and fabric care segments, with a sizeable retail reach of 8 lakh outlets. Read more for the stock pick rationale. GuruSpeak | The curious case of the JSPL 150 put Seasoned trader Subhadip Nandy explains how to analyse options using a real-life example. Read more. Primer | Market anomalies — Bringing it all together In the last of our nine-part series on market anomalies, we argue how it is not advisable to base investment decisions solely on anomalies. They tend to be cyclical, and thus, diversification across anomalies, and across stocks within anomalies is the key. Read more. Picks from our technical analysts (Please click on security name to access recos) Bank of Baroda BHEL SAIL Bajaj Auto