Economy / Market Snapshot – March 2016

General

• Lok Sabha passes Aadhaar Bill, rejects 5 amendments suggested by Rajya Sabha. Close to 99 crore Indians registered under Aadhaar scheme: Government.
• Lok Sabha passes Railway Budget for 2016-17, Amendment to Enemy Property Act
• Government introduces Real Estate Bill in Rajya Sabha.
• Rajya Sabha passes Inland Waterways Bill.
• Air passengers to get higher compensation in case of death, injury, lost baggage or inordinate delay in flights: Carriage by Air (Amendment) Bill.
• Defence Expo in Goa from March 28-31, 46 countries to participate. Manohar Parrikar unveils Defence Procurement Policy.
• Haryana assembly unanimously passes Jat quota bill. Jats, five other castes granted reservation in Haryana.
• Government signals GST may be implemented from 1 April 2017.
• Mehbooba elected PDP legislature party leader in Jammu and Kashmir. Likely to be Sworn-In on April 4.
• President’s rule imposed in Uttarakhand after Governor’s report. High Court orders floor test in Uttarakhand Assembly on March 31; CM Harish Rawat welcomes verdict. Congress to move court if government issues ordinance on Uttarakhand.
• Sushma Swaraj Meets Nepal Prime Minister Ahead Of SAARC Summit; Pak to host next SAARC summit from November 9-10.
• India to host 8th BRICS Summit in Goa.
• Telangana municipal polls: TRS wins 3 civic bodies, drubs BJP, TDP.
• Delhi government presents Rs 46,600 crore budget; garments, shoes may be cheaper.
• President Pranab Mukherjee confers Padma awards, 56 personalities honoured.
• Mallya Probe: Mallya, promoter of long-grounded Kingfisher Airlines, had left India on March 2, presumably for London, days before Supreme Court heard a plea of clutch of state-owned banks seeking recovery of over Rs 9,000 crore from his group firms. Enforcement Directorate filed money laundering case against Vijay Mallya. He quits as chairman Sanofi India. CBI Investigating 6 lakh Financial Transactions. High Court adjourns hearing to April 11. Vijay Mallya offers to pay Rs 4000 crores.
• Modi arrives in Belgium to attend India European Union Summit. He pays tribute to Brussels attack victims, holds talks with Belgian PM. PM Modi to activate Asia’s largest optical telescope along with Belgian PM.
• Modi attends nuclear security summit in US.
• Jaitley meets Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, talks trade.
• JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya gets six-month interim bail in sedition case. Petitions against Kanhaiaya’s bail referred to Delhi High Court Chief Justice.
• India’s sixth navigation satellite placed in orbit.
• India test-fires n-capable Agni-I.
• Court asks for Congress, Associated Journals balance sheets.
• Call drops: Telecom companies move Supreme Court against call drop order, seeks stay; SC agrees to hear telecom companies plea against HC order. Trai to comply with Supreme Court’s order, says Chairman. SC asks telcos to assure call drops don’t exceed 2% limit.
• India to end Five-Year Plans, to opt for a three-year framework.
• 4 States, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry will vote on May 16.
• Haryana Global Investors Summit 2016 : Haryana inks 38 deals worth Rs 1.28 lakh crores.
• Gold traders and jewellers strike in protest against a proposed 1 % excise duty on non-silver jewellery.
• DA hiked by 6 per cent, to benefit 1 crore government staff, pensioners; to add Rs 6,795.5 cores burden on exchequer.
• Two Indians among 62 killed in Russian plane crash.
• 34 dead in Brussels after explosions at airport, metro station; two Jet Airways crew injured in Brussels blasts.
• EgyptAir flight MS181 hijacked to Cyprus most passengers freed; hijacker arrested and identified as Seif Eldin Mustafa.
• On 27 March 2016, at least 72 people were killed and over 340 injured in a suicide bombing that hit the main entrance of Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, one of the largest parks in Lahore, Pakistan.
• At least 23 killed, several trapped in Kolkata flyover collapse.
• Mother Teresa to be made Roman Catholic saint on September 4.
• Money laundering case: Enforcement Directorate seek Chhagan Bhujbal’s custody.
• Myanmar swears in Htin Kyaw as first civilian president in decadesPM Narendra
• Modi to join world leaders in wax at Madame Tussauds.
• US to start accepting H-1B petitions from April 1. Trump softens stance on H-1B visa policy.
• Arvind Kejriwal named among world’s 50 greatest leaders by Fortune.
• India to start testing for Zika virus from April.
• Former Lok Sabha speaker P.A. Sangma passes away.
• Clinton, Sanders divide 3 states; Trump, Cruz each win 2.
• Nancy Reagan, former US first lady, dies at 94.
• India, US launch Fulbright-Kalam Climate Fellowship.
• Asia Cup T20 2016 : India seal record title with eight-wicket win over Bangladesh.
• World Twenty20 championships 2016: Fans erupt into joy as India beat Australia.; However in the semi-finals, India lose to West Indies.
• It is West Indies vs England in the T20 2016 Finals.
• Virat Kohli zooms to top in ICC T20 rankings, India also No.1.

Business News

• Sensex, Nifty slump 9% in FY16, but post biggest monthly gains in March compared to the last 4 years.
• FPIs turn net buyers; pour in USD 2.5 billion in capital markets in March.
• Equity MF inflows hit 21 month low at Rs. 2,522 crores in February.
• IPOs raise Rs. 14,500 crores in 2016, 10-fold higher than 2015.
• Gold demand seen falling to 7-year low in March quarter.
• WPI inflation stays negative for 16th month, falls (-)0.91% in February.
• People’s Bank of China injects 202.02 billion yuan liquidity in February.
• China February factory activity shrinks more than expected, layoffs on the rise.
• China cuts its economic growth target to 6.5-7 percent.
• China got $126-billion FDI in 2015 despite slowdown.
• S&P cuts China sovereign credit outlook to negative.
• Services sector growth slows to 3-month low. FDI in services sector up 85.5% in April-December..
• Government not to coerce Vodafone, Cairn on retro tax case: Jaitley.
• Government to infuse Rs. 5,050 crores in PSU banks soon.
• Global M&A deals at $701.5 billion in Q1; down 25%.
• ITC becomes third most valued co; surpasses Infosys, HDFC Bank.
• Reliance brings premium lifestyle brand Kate Spade Newyork to India.
• Telecom firms penalised Rs 323 crores.
• Food processing sector gets $385.45 million FDI till December in FY16.
• Government announces third round of Gold Bond Scheme.
• Modi government gets Rs 25,000-crores windfall from gold import duty.
• TCS CEO N Chandrasekaran, M&M Financial Services Chairman Bharat Doshi on RBI board.
• Software as a service market in India to touch $50 billion by 2025.
• Iran central banker visiting India over $6-billion oil dues.
• Airbus ramps up Make in India, tops $500-million annual procurement.
• Banks disburse over Rs. 1.15 lakh crores under PM Mudra Yojana.
• South Korea’s central bank froze its benchmark interest rate at a record low of 1.5 percent.
• Ashok Leyland plans to wrap up 23 of 27 joint ventures.
• Nasdaq buys Deutsche Boerse options market for $1.1 billion.
• TCS named top employer in US for 2nd straight year.
• Kingfisher Airlines owes about Rs. 295 crores to Airport Authority of India(AAI).
• I-T dept. slaps Rs. 29000 crores tax demand notice on UK’s Cairn Energy.
• Sovereign, pension funds may invest $50 billion in India.
• Indian Oil, Oil India & Bharat Petroleum to buy Russian oil field for $1.3 billion.
• Bharti Airtel to acquire Videocon’s spectrum in 6 circles for Rs. 4,428 crores.
• Cisco Chairman John Chambers meets PM Narendra Modi. Cisco to invest $100 million in India’s digital push.
• Videocon deal: Bharti Airtel beats Reliance Jio to become the new 4G king.
• Retro tax settlement scheme to open from June 1.
• Anil Ambani set to exit media and entertainment business ; Reliance Group to mainly focus on financial services and defence sectors.
• CBDT panel proposes 6%-8% levy on 13 digital services.
• Reliance Communications, Aircel merger talk extended by 60 days .
• Reliance Jio 4G launch postponed due to technical challenges: Report.
• Microsoft meets with private equity over Yahoo deal; Yahoo is auctioning its core Internet business, which includes search, mail and news sites.
• Supreme Court allows SEBI to sell Sahara properties.
• Resolved various legacy issues, moving to 25% corp tax rate: FM.
• Reliance Jio is world’s largest startup with Rs. 150,000 crores investment: Mukesh Ambani.
• Jaitley launches ‘Make in India’ conference in Sydney.

Market News

• Indian markets moved up by 10% in March post the Budget presented by the Finance Minister.
• World Markets recovered and rallied due to positive sentiments.
• Except Pharma sector, all the sectors did very well with the Banking stocks moving up by 15%.
• Indian Rupee ended at Rs.66.38 after touching Rs. 68 against the US Dollar.
• After the predictions of Crude even touching $ 5 a barrel, Crude rallied and touched the $ 40 mark.
• Gold was down by 3% while Silver was marginally up.
• FII’s have pumped in 19,111 crores in March in the Equity market showing a positive momentum.
• However the Domestic Mutual Funds were sellers in the Equity market to the extent of Rs.6,900 crores.
• Investment in the Debt market zoomed to about Rs.85,000 crores in March.
• Forex reserves touched an all time high of US$ 355 billion.