Economy / Market Snapshot – December, 2017

General News

• Vijay Rupani takes oath as Gujarat Chief Minister for second term; Nitin Patel as Deputy CM.
• Five-time BJP MLA Jairam Thakur sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh.
• Winter session of Parliament sees frequent adjournments.
• Uproar in both Houses of Parliament over PM Modi’s remarks on former PM Manmohan Singh.
• Congress agrees to move on as FM Arun Jaitley clarifies on PM Modi’s remarks.
• Lok Sabha passes Insolvency and Bankruptcy code amendments and triple talaq bill.
• Cabinet approves Rs 9,000 crore National Nutrition Mission.
• Rahul Gandhi elevated as Congress president; Party celebrates its 133rd foundation day.
• Rajinikanth announces entry into politics.
• 2G spectrum case: Former telecom minister A Raja, Kanimozhi and 15 others acquitted.
• CBI, ED to appeal against verdict; Subramanian Swamy urges govt to appeal in HC.
• Fodder Scam: RJD chief Lalu Prasad found guilty, quantum of punishment on January 3.
• Congress suspends Mani Shankar Aiyar for his remarks on PM Modi.
• Rebel JD(U) leaders Sharad Yadav, Ali Anwar disqualified from Rajya Sabha.
• Nitin Gadkari flags off first cargo vessels through National Waterways 2 on the river Brahmaputra.
• TN: Day before RK Nagar bypoll, TTV Dinakaran camp releases video of Jayalalithaa in hospital; TTV
  Dinakaran wins Jayalalithaa’s seat with a huge margin.
• Cyclone Ockhi batters Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Lakshadweep islands.
• Kulbhushan Jadhav meets wife, mother at Pakistan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry; MEA raises concerns
  over Jadhav’s health and well-being.
• Padmavati is now Padmavat: CBFC changes title of Bhansali’s film; grants U/A rating.
• Rajasthan govt approves 1% reservation for Gujjars and four other communities.
• INS Kalvari, India’s ‘deadliest’ submarine, commissioned into the Indian Navy.
• India begins project to build 6 nuclear-powered submarines.
• Indian Air Force initiates Rs 33,000 crore buy of 83 Tejas fighters.
• Centre releases Rs 167 crore to 9 states for border development.
• Pakistan violated ceasefire more than 720 times in 2017; highest in 7 years.
• Donald Trump formally recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital, orders US Embassy to move from
  Tel Aviv.
• UN votes 128-9 to reject US decision on Jerusalem, 35 abstentions.
• Will find common ground to work together with Pakistan in fight against terror: Jim Mattis.
• US Supreme Court allows full enforcement of Trump travel ban.
• Brexit: Theresa May agrees to pay £39 billion divorce bill to the EU.
• UK lawmakers give parliament veto power on the Brexit deal.
• U.S. threats make war unavoidable in Korean peninsula: North Korea.
• UN Security Council imposes new sanctions on North Korea; blocks fuel, ships and workers.
• Hafiz Saeed’s Jammat-ud-Dawah (JuD) to contest 2018 general elections in Pakistan.
• Nawaz Sharif nominates his brother Shehbaz Sharif as PM candidate for 2018 election.
• Iraq holds military parade celebrating victory over IS; Iraq PM warns IS might erupt again.
• UAE, Saudi Arabia form new group, separate from the Gulf Cooperation Council(GCC).
• Saudi king approves $19.

2 billion of economic stimulus steps.

• Detained Saudi princes, tycoons agree to cash settlements.
• Myanmar extends curfew in northern Rakhine for two more months.
• France passes law to ban all oil and gas production by 2040.
• Catalan pro-independence parties keep their majority in snap poll.
• Sri Lanka formally hands over Hambantota port to China on 99-year lease.
• SC extends Aadhaar linkage deadline for all schemes and services to March 31, 2018.
• SC adjourns hearing in Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case to February 8, 2018.
• Coal scam: Ex-Jharkhand CM Koda, former coal secretary gets 3 year jail.
• Jayanthi Natarajan forest land case: CBI hands over records to IT dept.
• Panama Papers: ED seizes assets linked to Former IPL Chairman Chirayu Amin.
• Ex-Calcutta HC Judge Karnan released from jail after 6-month term.
• NGT imposes a complete ban on plastic items in Haridwar, Rishikesh.
• FSSAI orders food safety audit in IITs, IIMs, AIIMS canteens after complaints.
• UNESCO honours India’s Kumbh Mela as an “intangible cultural heritage”.
• India vs Sri Lanka: India win the Test, ODI and T20 series.
• Virat Kohli becomes fourth fastest Indian to reach 5,000 test runs; breaks Lara’s record to become
  first captain to hit 6 double centuries in Tests.
• Rohit Sharma became first batsman to score 3 ODI double tons.
• Ekta Bisht, Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet in ICC’s ODI, T20 teams of the year.
• IPL franchises allowed to retain five players.
• Australia vs England: Australia lead the five-match series 3–0.
• Russia’s Olympic Committee to support its neutral athletes at Winter Games.
• Cristiano Ronaldo wins fifth Ballon d’Or award, equals Lionel Messi’s record.

Business News

• Markets soar to new highs; Sensex crosses 34,000 mark and Nifty 10,500 level.
• Govt, RBI dismiss rumours about closing down of public sector banks.
• Banks can take advantage of the IBC to clean up their balance sheets: RBI.
• Finance Ministry to issue recapitalisation bonds to PSBs in January.
• Govt introduces bill on GST compensation cess in Lok Sabha.
• GST Council nod for mandatory e-Way Bill for inter-state movement of goods.
• GSTN brings in option for monthly, quarterly filing of forms.
• November CPI comes at 4.88%, October IIP at 2.2%; WPI inflation touches 8-month high of 3.93%.
• India’s April-November fiscal deficit hits 112% of full-year target.
• RBI keeps repo rate unchanged at 6%, raises inflation forecast for next 2 quarters to 4.3- 4.7%.
• Govt unveils foreign trade policy; incentives for manufacturing, service exports increased by 2%.
• SEBI approves stock, commodity bourse convergence from October 2018.
• IT dept conducts surveys at all major Bitcoin exchanges across country.
• Direct tax collections rise 14% to Rs4.8 trillion in April-November.
• Govt approves 5.4 lakh more urban houses under central scheme.
• Govt raises customs duty on electronic items to boost domestic manufacturing.
• Govt allows companies to paste MRP stickers till March next year.
• NCLT get 4,300 insolvency petitions in 18 months.
• Centre pumps Rs 7,577 crore into 6 public sector banks.
• Indiabulls Housing sells 100% stake in Indiabulls Life.
• Edelweiss acquires Religare’s securities business.
• GIC acquires 33.34% stake in DLF rental arm for nearly Rs 9,000 crore.
• Infosys completes Rs 13,000-crore buyback.
• Infosys files settlement application with SEBI over former CFO’s severance pay.
• TCS faces US trial in case that alleges Anti-American bias.
• Karnataka government drops idea to set up IT labour unions.
• Apple agrees to repay Ireland $14.6 billion in unpaid taxes.
• Oppo gets green nod to set up mobile manufacturing unit in Noida.
• Nokia signs multi-year patent licence deal with Huawei.
• Alibaba announces cloud services for Indian enterprises, SMEs.
• WhatsApp asked to stop sharing user data with Facebook.
• Google blocks YouTube from Amazon devices.
• Google X signs MoU with Andhra govt; to set up research facility in Visakhapatnam.
• Telecom sector not ready for spectrum auction till 2019: COAI.
• Mukesh Ambani’s Jio takes over mobile infra assets of Anil Ambani’s troubled RCom.
• Airtel launches 4G services in Kargil, Dras and Leh in Ladakh region.
• UIDAI temporarily bars Airtel from conducting Aadhaar linked e-KYC verification.
• No BS-IV vehicle registrations beyond June 2020: Govt draft rules.
• SIAM proposes all new vehicle sales in India to be EVs by 2047.
• Maruti Suzuki, Delhi govt signs MoU to develop automated driving test tracks.
• Nissan sues India over outstanding state incentives from TN govt, seeks over $770 million.
• Tata Motor officially rolls out the first batch of the Tata Tigor EV from the Sanand plant.
• OPEC, Russia agree oil cut extension to end of 2018.
• Power Ministry issues norms to standardise the process of procuring wind energy by states.
• Adani cancels A$2.6 billion contract with Australia’s Downer over proposed Carmichael mine.
• Air India seeks Rs 1,100 crore loan to modify planes for VVIPs.
• General Electric and Tata join hands to make jet engine parts in Hyderabad.
• Godrej completes delivery of 100 airframe assemblies to Brahmos; bags order for another 100.
• Board of Tata Steel approves rights issue and phase II expansion of Kalinganagar Project in Odisha.
• 9 lakh seniors give up ticket subsidy in 3 months, Railways saves Rs 40 crore.
• Dept of Pharma sets up committee to assist on pricing, new drug launches.
• Biocon creates new subsidiary to unlock value of its biologics business.
• Torrent Pharma completes acquisition of Unichem’s branded businesses.
• SC stays NCLT order allowing Centre to takeover Unitech.
• Quikr acquires HDFC Developers Ltd and HDFC Realty ltd for Rs 357 crores.
• Paytm unveils its ATM, to invest Rs 3000 crore in offline distribution network.
• Ola acquires FoodPanda India business, to further invest $200 million.
• Infosys appoints Salil S Parekh as MD & CEO effective Jan 2, 2018.
• Apple appoints Michel Coulomb to lead India operations.
• Uber names Ex-Orbitz CEO Barney Harford as Uber COO.
• Bitcoin touches $19,000; Chicago Mercantile Exchange launches bitcoin futures.
• Pakistan to allow rupee depreciation after crucial talks with the IMF.
• Sterling hits 6-month high against the Euro as Brexit deal progresses.
• Brent hits 2-year high after UK pipeline outage.
• Japan and the European Union reach an agreement on a free trade pact.
• Saudi Arabia, UAE to roll out VAT in 2018.
• India’s trade deficit with China stands at $37 billion in Apr-Oct’17.
• RERA, GST pull home loan growth down 32.7% in Apr-Oct’17.
• Patanjali ranked India’s most trusted FMCG Brand: The Brand Trust Report India Study 2017.