Economy / Market Snapshot – November, 2019

General News

• Parliament passes Bills on Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial, Chit Funds, Transgender Persons.
• Lok Sabha passes Bills on Special Protection Group, Prohibition of E- Cigarettes, Unauthorised Colonies.
• Ayodhya Verdict: Temple at disputed site, trust to monitor construction; alternate 5- acre land for Mosque.
• SC dismisses all review petitions on Rafale fighter jets issue; saying review petitions were without merit.
• Sabarimala Verdict: CJI Ranjan Gogoi-led bench refers case to larger bench in a split 3:2 verdict.
• SC directs Kerala govt to frame new law for administration of Sabarimala Temple, sets Jan 2020 deadline.
• Chief justice’s office falls under ambit of RTI Act, rules Supreme Court in a 3:2 verdict.
• Rahul Gandhi’s ‘chowkidar’ remark: SC closes contempt case, asks him to be careful in future.
• Justice Sharad Bobde takes oath as 47th Chief Justice of India, succeeds Justice Ranjan Gogoi.
• PM Modi attends 11th BRICS Summit in Brasilia; PM Modi held bilateral talks with Russia and China.
• PM Modi visits Thailand to attend ASEAN-India, East Asia, RCEP summits.
• RCEP Trade Agreement: India decides to opt out of RCEP, says key concerns not addressed.
• Rajnath Singh attends SCO meet, ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus and India-Russia Military meet.
• S Jaishankar discusses economic ties, Afghanistan with visiting Finland counterpart.
• Brazilian President Bolsonaro to be Chief guest at India’s Republic Day celebrations next year.
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits India, calls for ‘fresh attempt’ at EU-India trade deal
• Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa meets PM Modi, India announces $450 million line of credit.
• Prince Charles on a two-day visit to India, holds bilateral talks to deepen cooperation.
• Kartarpur Corridor: PMs Modi, Imran Khan held separate opening ceremonies on their respective sides.
• Uddhav Thackeray takes oath as Maharashtra CM, wins trust vote.
• Devendra Fadnavis quits as CM after Ajit Pawar resigned as the Deputy CM, after 3 days in power.
• Odd-Even scheme implemented from November 4 – 16 as Delhi’s air quality reached “severe” levels.
• Punjab, Haryana announce ₹2,500 an acre incentive to stop stubble burning.
• Office-of-profit case: President Kovind rejects plea to disqualify 11 AAP MLAs in Delhi.
• Delhi Police officers and lawyers went on strike after major clash broke out at Tis Hazari court premises.
• JNU high-level committee offers another partial rollback of fee hike after massive protests.
• SC allows Karnataka rebel MLAs to contest by-polls; 16 of 17 rebel MLAs join BJP.
• Telangana HC gives permission to privatise 5,100 RTC routes; TSRTC strike called off after 52 days.
• Chirag Paswan elected as Lok Janshakti Party’s new National President; to fight Jharkhand polls alone.
• India conduct first ever military exercise with Uzbekistan, sign three agreements to enhance military ties.
• India makes advance payment of $800 million for Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems.
• US clears sale of $1 billion worth of Naval guns to India for use against Warships, Anti-aircraft Warfare.
• ISRO launches advanced mapping satellite, Cartosat-3 and 13 US nano satellites.
• Tharoor-headed Parliamentary panel take up WhatsApp snooping case.
• TN Seshan, former CEC known for bringing wide-ranging electoral reforms, passes away.
• BJP declares receiving donations over ₹700 crores in 2018-19; Tata-controlled Trust highest contributor.
• US formally notifies UN about its withdrawal from Paris Climate Accord.
• Trump impeachment inquiry: U.S. House of Representatives opens first public hearings.
• Trump hosts Turkish President Erdogan for first meeting since clash over Syria.
• Trump approves legislation backing Hong Kong protesters.
• Taliban talks resume as Trump makes surprise visit to Afghanistan.
• Gotabaya Rajapaksa sworn in as the 7th Executive President of Sri Lanka; Mahinda Rajapaksa as new PM.
• Hong Kong voters deliver landslide victory for pro democracy campaigners in local elections.
• Islamic State confirms death of its founder Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, names new leader.
• China and France sign deals worth $15 billion during President Macron’s visit.
• Iran resumes Uranium enrichment at Fardow underground facility.
• Israel to face third election as coalition talks fail, PM Netanyahu charged with corruption in 3 cases.
• Kuwait’s govt resigns amid parliamentary scrutiny.
• NSW and Queensland fires: State of emergency declared over ‘catastrophic’ threat.
• Bhubaneswar, Rourkela to host 2023 Men’s Hockey World Cup.
• India vs Bangladesh: India wins T20 series 2-1 and Test series 2-0.
• Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee inaugurate India’s first Pink ball Test.
• Shafali Verma youngest Indian to score international fifty, surpasses Sachin Tendulkar’s 30-year-old record.
• Sri Lanka becomes first south Asian nation to criminalise match fixing & sports betting.
• Rafael Nadal secures No 1 spot for eighth time in his career in the ATP rankings.
• Spain beats Canada to win Davis Cup at home.
• India’s women & men Hockey teams qualify for 2020 Olympics.
• FIFA World Cup qualifiers: India virtually knocked out after losing 0-1 to Oman.
• Asian Shooting Championships: India finishes fourth in medal tally with 26 medals.
• ISSF World Cup: Indian shooting contingent tops medal tally, Olympics Quota at a record 15.
• World Para-Games: India finishes 24th with 9 medals, secures 13 qualifying spots for Tokyo Paralympics.
• Indian women clinch five gold medals in Asian Youth Boxing Championship in Mongolia.
• Vijender Singh beats former Commonwealth champion Charles Adamu to claim 12th successive win.

Business News

• April-Oct budget deficit at ₹7.20 lakh crores; budget deficit reaches 102.4% of FY target.
• Central GST collection till October in FY’20 at ₹3.26 lakh crore.
• Cabinet approves hike in FCI authorised capital to ₹10,000 crore; 15th Finance Commission term extended.
• Govt gives go-ahead to biggest privatisation drive; to sell stake in BPCL, SCI, CONCOR, NEEPCO & THDC.
• Govt clears ₹25,000 crore alternate investment fund (AIF) to complete stalled housing projects.
• AGR: Govt gives ₹42,000 crore relief to telcos, defers spectrum payments by 2 years.
• Govt notifies scrapping policy, mandates discounts on junking old cars.
• AP government ends tie-up with Singapore consortium, scraps Amaravati’s startup area project.
• CBDT amends over 100 forms & returns to provide for interchangeability between PAN & Aadhaar number.
• India’s 42 scheduled commercial banks collectively wrote off ₹2.

12 trillion worth of loans in 2018-19.

• RBI mandates all banks to make NEFT transactions free from January 2020.
• PNB, Union Bank get in-principal nod from govt for proposed merger.
• Rana Kapoor, other promoters pare stake in YES Bank to token 900 shares.
• PMC crisis: Mumbai Police arrest former PMC director Ranjeet Singh.
• Muthoot Finance to acquire IDBI’s mutual fund business for ₹215 crore.
• SEBI bans Karvy Stock Broking for ₹2,000 crore client defaults.
• RIL market cap hits ₹10 lakh crore; beats BP to break into elite club of 6 global energy giants.
• CSB Bank ₹410 crore IPO oversubscribed by 87 times.
• Saudi Arabia kick-starts IPO, to make stock market debut on December 11.
• Alibaba makes robust debut in Hong Kong market.
• China central bank cuts 7-day reverse repo rate to 2.50% from 2.55% for first time since 2015.
• US, China have agreed to cancel existing tariffs in different phases.
• Reliance to transfer health portfolio to General Insurance firm after IRDAI bans it from selling insurance.
• BSNL, MTNL rolls out VRS scheme, to remain open till December 3.
• Railways’ 1st ‘private’ train Tejas posts ₹70 lakh profit in its first month, average occupancy rate at 85%.
• Apollo Tyres, Global Automotive Research Centre team up for first tyre test track in India.
• Maruti Suzuki and Toyota announce setting up vehicle dismantling and recycling unit in Noida in 2020-21.
• Ford Motor unveils its new all-electric Mustang Mach-E SUV, to Challenge Tesla.
• Tesla unveils its first electric pickup, the Cybertruck, bags 146,000 orders within two days of unveil.
• Tata Communications joins hands with Microsoft to work for connected cars.
• Bridgestone to merge India operations with Europe, West Asia, Africa unit in FY20.
• DGCA asks IndiGo to replace old P&W engines by January 31.
• International Airlines Group (IAG) buys Spain’s Air Europa for €1 billion.
• SpiceJet, Gulf Air sign MoU to explore codeshare and coordinated engineering services.
• China officially launches 6G research and development.
• Daiichi Sankyo case: SC holds former Ranbaxy promoters Malvinder, Shivinder Singh guilty.
• ED arrests ex-Ranbaxy promoter Malvinder Singh, ex-CMD of Religare Sunil Godhwani in RFL fraud case.
• Essar Steel: Supreme Court sets aside NCLAT order, clears decks for takeover by ArcelorMittal.
• Essel Group to divest 16.5% stake in ZEE Limited; Subhash Chandra resigns as Chairman.
• Apple supplier Salcomp buys Nokia’s Chennai plant for ₹215 crore.
• TCS, Qualcomm launch innovation hub in Hyderabad to build AI, IoT, 5G solutions.
• Xerox exits Fujifilm venture with $2.3 billion stake sale to Japan partner.
• HP rejects Xerox bid after deadline to take the offer or face a hostile bid.
• Google’s game streaming platform Stadia launched with 22 games.
• IBM, Bank of America team up to launch financial services-specific cloud.
• Microsoft, Nokia collaborate to boost transformation & innovation across industries with Cloud, AI & IoT.
• Sun Pharma, Britain’s AstraZeneca join to distribute cancer drugs in China.
• Pfizer’s Upjohn and Mylan combine to be known as Viatris.
• Chinese conglomerate Fosun buys Thomas Cook brand for $14.2 million.
• BHIM UPI goes global: Demonstrated at Singapore FinTech Festival.
• Facebook Inc launches Facebook Pay, unites payment service across apps.
• E-retailers cannot influence prices of goods on platform: Commerce Ministry’s draft guidelines.
• Singapore-based e-commerce platform Qoo10 acquires ShopClues in all-stock deal.
• Amazon India partners with BookMyShow to sell movie tickets on its platform.
• Disney Plus launches its live streaming platform, 10 million sign up on day one.
• India’s first cloud kitchen fund and incubator Ghost Kitchens launches with $3 million corpus.
• Apple TV Plus launches in more than 100 countries, including India.
• WhatsApp revealed that Indian users were targets of surveillance using Israeli spyware Pegasus.
• Anil Ambani along with four Directors resign from Reliance Communications.
• IndusInd Bank names Sumant Kathpalia as the new MD and CEO of the bank.
• Google India appoints former Star and Disney head Sanjay Gupta as new Country Manager.
• World Talent ranking: India slips two places to 53rd position, Switzerland tops for fifth year in a row.
• Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella tops Fortune’s Business Person of the Year 2019.
• Bangalore, Delhi & Mumbai among 113 cities in world on new global prosperity index, topped by Zurich.

Q2 Results

• HDFC Q2 profit jumps 61% YoY to ₹3,962 crore; revenue rises 20% at ₹13,487 crore.
• Yes Bank reports Q2 loss of ₹600 crore, its second-biggest quarterly loss, on one-time tax adjustment.
• PNB reports ₹507.05 crore profit in Q2, NII rose 7.2% QoQ to ₹4,262 crores, GNPA rose to 16.76%.
• Bank of Baroda Q2 profit jumps 73% to ₹737 crores, GNPA falls to 10.25%, NNPA declines to 3.91%.
• IDBI Bank narrows Q2 loss to ₹3,459 crore; board approves entire stake sale in AMC, MF Trustee.
• Canara Bank Q2 profit jumps 21.8% to ₹365 crore; GNPA falls to 8.68%, NNPA declines to 5.15%.
• Airtel reports Q2 net loss at ₹23,044.90 crore, revenue grew by 5% QoQ to 21,131.30 crores.
• Vodafone Idea posts India’s biggest ever quarterly loss at ₹50,921 crore on AGR hit.
• RCom posts ₹30,142 crore loss, includes ₹23,327 crore licence fee & ₹4,987 crore spectrum usage charges.
• Tech Mahindra Q2 profit rises 6% YoY to ₹1,123.90 crores, revenue climbs 4.81% to ₹9,069.90 crores.
• Dr Reddy’s Laboratories doubled its Q2 profit to ₹1,093 crore, revenue grew by 26.4% to ₹4,801 crore.