Economy / Market Snapshot – August, 2019

General News

• Centre scraps Article 370, bifurcates J&K into two Union Territories Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh.
• Top leadership of the state placed under house arrest; section 144 imposed.
• President declares abrogation of provisions of Article 370 after both Houses passed a resolution.
• Major countries in the world with the exception of Pakistan and China back India’s move
• Opposition leaders led by Rahul visits J & K but were sent back; SC lets Sitaram Yechury to visit.
• India will have Chief of Defence Staff: PM Modi at 73rd Independence Day 2019.
• Parliament session ends after getting extended by 10 days; 28 Bills were introduced and passed.
• President Ram Nath Kovind gives nod to Bill criminalising Triple Talaq.
• Chandrayaan 2 successfully leaves earth orbit, begins journey to the moon.
• CBI arrests P Chidambaram in connection with INX Media case; SC grants interim protection in ED case.
• PM Modi launches RuPay card in Bhutan, signs 9 MoUs
• PM Modi sign 3 MoUs in Bahrain and launches RuPay card in UAE; both countries honour PM with their high civilian award.
• PM Modi meets French President, British PM and UN Chief at G7 Summit.
• India Pakistan can sort issue out bilaterally says Trump after meeting with PM Modi.
• G 7 summit ends with little consensus amid Trump’s mixed messaging on the trade war and stalemate over Paris climate deal.
• ASEAN INDIA ministerial meet: EAM Jaishankar holds key bilateral meetings.
• Union Minister Piyush Goyal leads Chief Ministerial delegation to Russia.
• Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi K Palaniswami leaves on fortnight long foreign trip covering UK, US and Dubai.
• PM Modi launches a nation wide Fit India Movement on National Sports Day.
• Amit Shah meets CMs of Maoist hit states, reviews operations against Naxals, development activities.
• HRD ministry launches NISHTHA to train over 42 lakh teachers across the country.
• Former PM Manmohan Singh elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha.
• RN Ravi, ex IB officer and Centre’s interlocutor for Naga peace talks, sworn in as Governor of Nagaland.
• Sonia Gandhi appointed as interim Congress President.
• Bill to increase number of Supreme Court judges gets President’s assent.
• SC begins daily hearings in Ayodhya land title dispute case, rejects plea for live streaming proceedings.
• India test fires Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missile.
• Final Assam NRC list declared: over 3.11 crore included, more than 19.06 lakh excluded.
• Death toll nears 200 in 4 flood hit states of Gujarat, Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
• Karnataka CM Yediyurappa names 3 deputy CMs, 17 MLAs sworn in as ministers.
• Arvind Kejriwal led govt announces free electricity up to 200 units in Delhi.
• Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami launches exclusive education TV channel.
• J Jayalalithaa’s Veda Nilayam to be converted into memorial after Chennai District Magistrate’s approval.
• Survey of India signs MoU with Maharashtra govt to map 40,000 villages using drones.
• Pranab Mukherjee, Bhupen Hazarika, Nanaji Deshmukh (both posthumously) awarded Bharat Ratna
• Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman and five other IAF pilots who spearheaded the Balakot operation get gallantry awards.
• Deepa Malik and Bajrang Punia conferred with Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award.
• Mumbai’s Aarohi Pandit becomes the World’s first woman pilot to fly solo across Atlantic & Pacific Ocean.
• Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Former Bihar CM Jagannath Mishra passed away.
• Pakistan’s efforts to internationalise Kashmir snubbed as UNSC consultations end without outcome.
• Pakistan suspends Delhi Lahore bus service; bans sale of Indian film CDs and Indian Ads.
• Islamabad offers consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav with riders, India seeks unimpeded access.
• Queen approves PM Boris Johnson plan to suspend UK Parliament ahead of Brexit.
• Brazil softens its stance towards accepting foreign aid to combat the Amazon wildfires.
• Sri Lanka ends emergency four months after Easter attacks.
• Hong Kong protests crosses consecutive 12th weekend; at least 28 countries have issued travel advisories.
• North Korea conducts 7 weapon tests in a month.
• Iran’s Rouhani rules out US talks until sanctions are lifted.
• Indonesian President unveils site of new capital on Borneo island.
• 8th round of negotiations between US and Taliban ends, peace agreement expected to be finalised soon.
• 31 dead in 2 mass shootings in Ohio and El Paso in less than 24 hours.
• India vs West Indies: India lead 2 Test match series 1-0; clinches ODI and T20 series.
• Virat Kohli equals Dhoni’s mark as 27th win as captain.
• Virat Kohli Scores 42nd Century, becomes first player to score 20,000 international runs in a decade.
• Jasprit Bumrah becomes the fastest Indian to scalp 50 Test wickets.
• Steve Smith overtakes Virat Kohli as second fastest to 24 Test centuries.
• BCCI agrees to come under the ambit of National Anti Doping Agency.
• Women’s T20 Cricket to be included in 2022 Commonwealth Games.
• PV Sindhu creates history, becomes first Indian to win BWF World Championships Gold.
• S Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty become first Indian pair to win BWF Super
• Vinesh Phogat wins third successive Gold in 53kg in Poland Open.

Business News

• Govt amalgamates 10 PSU banks in to 4 entities; Punjab National Bank, OBC & United Bank to be merged to become the second largest PSB.
• Canara and Syndicate Bank; Union, Andhra and Corporation Bank; Indian and Allahabad Bank to merge.
• RBI approves surplus transfer of ₹1.76 lakh crore to govt as it accepts Bimal Jalan Committee report.
• RBI cuts repo rate by 35 bps to 5.4%, 4th reduction in a row, lowers GDP growth forecast to 6.9% for
  FY20.
• RBI Annual Report: Central bank’s income zooms 146.5% to ₹1.93 lakh crore in FY19.
• Govt withdraws super-rich surcharge on foreign, domestic equity investors, as announced in the Budget.
• Cabinet eases FDI norms in single-brand retail, allows 26% in digital media.
• 100% FDI for coal mining and contract manufacturing to be allowed under automatic route.
• GST collections rise 5.8% to ₹1.02 lakh crore in July, cess collection stands at ₹8,551 crore.
• India’s GDP Growth Drops to 5% for First Quarter of FY20, Slowest in Six Years.
• Government launches new GDP series to align with global method.
• Fiscal deficit crosses 77% of budgeted target in first 4 months of FY20.
• IT dept launches e-Filing Lite, a lighter version of e-Filing portal.
• RBI allows Bank of China to offer regular banking services in India.
• Govt announces infusion of ₹70,000-crore capital into public sector banks.
• Housing finance companies get ₹10,000-crore liquidity infusion.
• Banks’ Tier 1 exposure to single NBFC hiked to 20%.
• Jana Small Finance Bank receives Scheduled Bank status from RBI.
• NSE revises eligibility criteria for inclusion in Nifty indices.
• Affle India, Sterling and Wilson Solar and Spandana Sphoorty Financial make their market debut.
• Rupee hits new 2019 low against US Dollar; Gold prices surge to new life-time high.
• ED files first chargesheet in IL&FS case, attaches ₹570 crore assets.
• SC upholds amendments to IBC, gives status of financial creditors to homebuyers.
• ED arrests Kamal Nath’s nephew Ratul Puri in ₹354-crore bank fraud case.
• US Fed cuts key policy rate by 25 bps, the first reduction in more.
• China’s Yuan sinks to lowest in 11 Years amid global recession buzz, trade war.
• India, US agree on collaboration between Defence industry and start-ups.
• Trump adds tariffs to $550 billion of Chinese imports in trade war reprisal.
• Trump, Abe agree on principles of trade deal at G7; Japan agrees to buy excess US corn.
• South Korea and Japan remove each other from their preferred trade list.
• Government sanctions 5,595 electric buses for public transport in 64 cities under FAME II.
• Major players in auto and its ancillary sectors announce either temporary production shutdown or layoff.
• Kia Seltos mass production begins its manufacturing facility in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh.
• Mahindra inaugurates its first automotive assembly plant in Sri Lanka.
• Karnataka government gives approval to Goodrich Aerospace’s ₹480 crore investment in Bengaluru.
• Jet Airways lenders give third extension for EoI to August 31.
• Zomato, Swiggy, Uber Eats, Foodpanda receive letters from restaurant authority urging ban of discounts.
• Reliance Jio GigaFiber: Customers to get free HD, 4K LED TV, 4K set-top-box with annual plans.
• Rel Jio, Microsoft join hands to offer cloud infra for businesses.
• Reliance-BP ink new fuel retail JV; to set up 5,500 petrol pump outlets in 5 years.
• Govt launches programme for converting used cooking oil into biodiesel in 100 cities.
• Saudi oil giant to take 20% stake in Ambani’s Reliance refinery for ₹5 Lakh crore.
• Shell exits city gas business in India, sells its 10% stake in Mahanagar Gas Ltd.
• Aramco Trading sells first U.S. West Texas Light crude to South Korea’s Hyundai.
• Amazon opens its largest campus in the world in Hyderabad.
• Amazon India launches Amazon Fresh store with 2-hour delivery on Amazon.in.
• Amazon acquires 49% stake in Kishore Biyani’s Future Coupons.
• IKEA forays into ecommerce in India, launches online delivery system in Mumbai.
• Paytm retains BCCI title sponsorship rights till 2023 for ₹326.8 crore.
• Ola expands operations in Australia; launches service in Sunshine Coast.
• Tiffany partners with Mukesh Ambani’s RIL to open stores in India.
• Apple starts issuing its virtual credit card to iPhone users.
• Huawei unveils Android rival Harmony operating system.
• Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi team up to create cross-brand file transfer feature.
• Japanese automakers Toyota, Suzuki to form capital tie-up.
• Reliance Jio tops market with 31.7% revenue share in June quarter; Airtel in 2nd spot.
• Apple tops premium smartphone market in India during Q2 2019 led by iPhone XR.
• India sees record 36.9 million smartphone shipments in Q2.
• Delhi world’s 10th fastest growing prime residential market: Knight Frank’s Prime Global Cities Index.
• Rishad Premji takes over as Wipro Chairman; Azim Premji to continue to serve as Non-Executive Director.

Q1 Results

• SBI reports Q1 profit at ₹2,312 crore on lower provisioning, NII grew by 5.2% YoY to ₹22,938.8 crores.
• HDFC Q1 profit surges 46% YoY to ₹3,203 crore on one-time gain, NII up at ₹2,739 crores.
• HCL Tech’s Q1 profit dips 7.60% YoY to ₹2,220 crore, revenue up 18.40% to ₹16,425 crore.
• Ashok Leyland’s Q1 profit plunges 45% YoY to ₹230 crore, revenue fell 9% to ₹5684 crore.
• M&M Q1 adjusted profit falls 29% to ₹892.7 crore, passenger vehicle growth worst in 18 years.
• Airtel posts its Q1 loss of ₹2,866 crores in 14 years, consolidated revenue up 4.7% to ₹20,738 crores.
• RCom Q1 loss widens to ₹366 crore, total income declines to ₹866 crore.
• ITC Q1 net profit rises 12.69% YoY to ₹3,173.94 crores; revenue rises 5.8% YoY to ₹11,502.82 crore.
• Britannia Q1 profit falls 3% YoY to ₹251 crore, consolidated revenue rose 6% to ₹2,677 crore.
• SpiceJet posts highest ever Q1 profit at ₹262 crore, revenue surges 34% YoY to ₹29,217.9 crore.
• Sun Pharma Q1 profit surges 31% to ₹1,387 crore, revenue rose 15.69% YoY to ₹8,259.30 crore.