Economy / Market Snapshot – March 2017

General News

• Assembly election 2017: BJP rides to power in UP, Uttarakhand, Goa, Manipur
• Yogi Adityanath takes oath as UP CM, Trivendra Singh Rawat as Uttarakhand CM, Biren Singh, a former
  Congressman who joined the BJP in October last year, as Manipur CM.
• Manohar Parrikar sworn in as Goa CM; Finance Minister Arun Jaitley given additional charge of
  defence.
• Amarinder Singh takes oath as CM as Congress regains in Punjab.
• Yogi Adityanath takes 50 decisions in 150 hours including closure of illegal slaughter house, anti-romeo
  squad, ban on pan gutka in government offices.
• Parliament passes Finance Bill 2017 even as Lok Sabha rejects Rajya Sabha amendments.
• Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill 2016, Admiralty (Jurisdiction and Settlement of Maritime Claims)
  Bill, 2016 were passed.
• Cabinet approves the National Health Policy, to raise public healthcare expenditure to 2.5% of GDP.
• Govt proposes a cap of ₹2 lakh on cash transactions, down from Rs 3 lakh as proposed in the Budget.
• Aadhaar to be mandatory to buy mobile connections; not mandatory for senior citizens to avail
  concessions in train tickets.
• Two Indian Sufi clerics, who went missing in Pakistan, returns home.
• Tamil Nadu: EC freezes AIADMK’s election symbol ahead of the major RK Nagar by-poll.
• Sasikala camp to be called as AIADMK Amma and to use the hat symbol.
• OPS faction to use the electric pole as its symbol and go by the name AIADMK Puratchi Thalaivi Amma.
• Court dismisses AIADMK deputy general secretary T.T.V. Dinakaran’s plea to adjourn hearing of 2 FERA
  violation cases.
• Govt won’t take up any project against Tamil Nadu’s interests: Centre on hydrocarbon project.
• Apollo hospitals and AIIMS reports clarifies that Jayalalithaa died on Dec 5 and there were no wrong
  medications and it was submitted to TN govt.
• Arvind Kejriwal to face trial in Arun Jaitley’s criminal defamation case.
• Jat agitation: Thousands protest at Jantar Mantar pressing for reservation in jobs and education.
• Shiv Sena’s Vishwanath Mahadeshwar elected as the new mayor of BMC as BJP extends support; BJP
  Corporator Mukta Tilak elected as Pune Mayor.
• Former Congress leader and Karnataka ex CM SM Krishna joins BJP.
• Some 4,000 doctors in Maharashtra went on strike to protest against assaults on resident doctors.
• After an ultimatum issued by the Bombay high court, the doctors returned to work.
• BJP to hold national conclave in Odisha after 20 years.
• India plans to seal international border with Pakistan, Bangladesh: Rajnath Singh.
• India successfully test-fires Brahmos supersonic cruise missile from Chandipur.
• SC to hear pleas challenging triple talaq on May 11.
• SC modifies order banning liquor vends along highways, reduces the distance to 220 metres in areas
  having a population of up to 20,000.
• Babri-Ram temple dispute: SC advises parties to settle issue outside court.
• Uttarakhand HC accords human status to the Ganga and the Yamuna.
• Supreme Court bans sale of BS-III vehicles from April 1.
• India’s tallest flag post (360 foot high) installed at the Indo-Pak Attari Border.
• India ranks 122nd in World Happiness Report, behind its neighbours Pakistan and China.
• India ranks 131 on Human Development Index, Norway No.1.
• Data suggests Congress under Rahul Gandhi not doing as badly as it seems.
• Shashi Tharoor rejects online campaign projecting him as PM candidate.
• Donald Trump concedes defeat on plan for Obamacare repeal.
• Trump to donate his annual presidential salary of $400,000 by year end.
• Ivanka Trump takes an official unpaid job in the White House as assistant to the President.
• Laptops, iPads banned on direct US-bound flights from 8 countries.
• Hawaii becomes first state to sue over Trump’s new travel ban.
• Brexit begins as PM Theresa May triggers Article 50.
• 5 dead, including Police officer and attacker as car ploughs through people on Westminster bridge.
• Ousted South Korean president Park Geun-hye arrested in corruption probe.
• Pakistan gives Chinese firm contracts for dam construction on the Indus river.
• Sri Lanka rejects UN’s fresh call for foreign judges in war probe.
• China slams India for inviting Dalai Lama to Buddhist seminar.
• Shashank Manohar to remain ICC chairman following Board resolution.
• India vs Australia: India clinched the Test series 2-1 to reclaim the Border Gavaskar Trophy.
• Steve Smith became the youngest Aussie cricket player to reach 5000 career runs in the Tests.
• R Ashwin breaks Dale Steyn’s record of most wickets in a Test season.
• New Zealand vs South Africa: South Africa won the ODI series 3-2, Test series by 1 – 0.
• Sachin Tendulkar launches his own app, 100 MB, to connect with fans.

Business News

• Lok Sabha passes the 4 GST bills – CGST, IGST, UGST and Compensation GST that were tabled in the
  Parliament by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
• Parliament passes Finance Bill 2017; Aadhar mandatory to file tax returns, Tax dept gets sweeping
  powers.
• New encryption key in Aadhaar authentication devices from June 1: UIDAI.
• Govt makes changes in the Trade Mark Rules; reduces the number of forms from 74 to 8, halves the efilling
  fee to ₹4,500.
• RBI gets approval to print ₹10 plastic notes.
• Interest rate on PPF, Kisan Vikas Patra, Sukanya Samriddhi lowered by 0.1%.
• US Fed Reserve raises interest rates by 25 bps, projects two more increases in 2017.
• People’s Bank of China raises borrowing costs in step with Fed.
• Bank of England leaves key rate unchanged at 0.25%.
• Govt collects ₹ 21,129 crores as Clean Environment Cess in Apr-Jan.
• Infrastructure output growth slows to 1% in February.
• RBI opposes Tata, DoCoMo’s plea for $1.2 billion settlement.
• Income Tax Tribunal upholds ₹ 10,000 crore capital gains tax on Cairn UK.
• NCLT rejects Cyrus Mistry’s plea against mismanagement at Tata Sons.
• India’s unemployment rate sees sharp decline, halves from 9.5% in August 2016 to 4.8% in February
  this year: Report.
• Air India, BSNL among 43 central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) making losses for 3 yrs.
• FPI inflows hit $6 billion in March on hopes of more reforms.
• ICICI Bank, SBI, StanChart topped the list of banks that witnessed most number of frauds: RBI.
• Companies raise over ₹51,000 crores via equity in FY17.
• D-Mart parent Avenue Supermarts’, Radio City’s parent Music Broadcast, CL educate list on stock
  market.
• SEBI bans Reliance Industries, 12 others from equity derivative market for 1 year.
• HDFC Bank, ICICI and Axis resume levy on cash transactions; to levy min ₹150 after 4 cash transactions.
• Private equity firm Oman India Joint Investment Fund exits Kotak Mahindra Bank.
• SBI to shut down 47% of associate banks’ offices post-merger.
• SBI report sees ₹27,420 crores hit on banks if UP government fulfils its farmer loan waiver promise.
• Ready to talk to banks for one-time settlement tweets Mallya; banks want Vijay Mallya to spell out
  the offer.
• HCL Tech board approves share buyback of up to 3.5 crore shares at ₹1,000 per share.
• Apple iPhones to be assembled in Bengaluru in less than a month: Karnataka IT minister Priyank
  Kharge.
• Google India signs MoU with Telangana to digitisation.
• Top tech entrepreneurs write to Rajnath Singh condemning Stayzilla co-founder Yogendra Vasupal’s
  arrest.
• Reliance Communications gets SEBI nod for merger with Aircel.
• Vodafone, Idea Cellular announce merger to create India’s largest telco; Kumar Mangalam Birla to be
  Chairman of Vodafone-Idea merged entity.
• Airtel hits back at Reliance Jio on speed ad with Ookla backing.
• Netflix announces strategic partnerships with Airtel, Videocon d2h and Vodafone.
• Peugeot maker PSA agrees to buy GM’s Opel in $2.3 billion deal.
• Tata Motors inks MoU with VW, Skoda; to launch products in 2019.
• Kawasaki and Bajaj to end their sales and after sales alliance in India from April 1; tech tie-up to
  remain in force.
• Dealers says 90% of more than 650,000 discounted BS III vehicles have been sold in 36 hours after the
  SC ban.
• Indian steel exports (6.62 million tonnes) overtake imports(6.59 million tonnes) after a gap of 3
  years.
• Govt awards 128 regional routes to Air India, Air Deccan, SpiceJet among others; to allot ₹2.05 billion
  to boost air travel between smaller cities.
• Qatar Airways plans first fully foreign-owned airline in India.
• Aurobindo Pharma gets USFDA nod for HIV treatment drug.
• India becomes net exporter of power for the first time: Government.
• Reliance Capital sells its 1% Paytm stake to Alibaba for ₹275 crores.
• Amazon India brings out A-Z GST Guide programme train over 5,000 sellers.
• Samsung’s new payment solution, Samsung Pay, launched in India.
• Amazon buys Middle East online retailer Souq.com.
• 101 Indian billionaires on Forbes’s list of world’s richest people; Anil Ambani tops the Indian
  billionaires, Acharya Balkrishna at 814th spot with $2.5 billion.
• Mutual funds see ₹30,000 crore inflow in Feb; ₹3.98 lakh crores in 11 months.
• Rupa and Co. to manufacture and sell products under America’s Fruit of the Loom brand.
• Textile exports slump 4.5% to $26 billion in April-December.
• Patanjali to foray into B2B space, explores options of large-scale distribution to hotels, caterers and
  restaurants.

Market News

• Indian markets at all time high! Up by 3% last month
• FMCG, Banks and Auto ends higher; IT neutral; Pharma down
• FII’s pump in Rs.30,000 crores in Indian Equity market
• Indian rupee at Rs.65.07 against 1 US Dollar
• Gold, Silver and Crude prices down; Petrol and Diesel cheaper in India.