Economy / Market Snapshot – October, 2019

General News

• Jammu and Kashmir bifurcated: India gets two new Union Territories in J&K, Ladakh.
• RK Mathur sworn-in as the first LG of Ladakh, G C Murmu as first LG of J&K.
• Assembly Elections: BJP wins Maharashtra with Shiv Sena, Devendra Fadnavis set to be CM for 2nd term.
• Manohar Lal Khattar takes oath as Haryana CM for second term, Dushyant Chautala as deputy CM.
• Election Commission fixes November 25 for West Bengal, Uttarakhand assembly bypolls.
• Winter session of Parliament to commence from November 18 and continue till December 13.
• Chinese President Xi Jinping and PM Modi hold 2nd Indo-China informal meet in Mamallapuram.
• President Ram Nath Kovind embarks on 7-day visit to Philippines & Japan.
• Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina visits India; sign 7 pacts, launch 3 projects on LPG .
• Vice President Venkaiah Naidu visits Comoros, Sierra Leone.
• India, Saudi Arabia establish Strategic Partnership Council in areas ranging from trade to energy security.
• PM Modi embarks on two-day Saudi Arabia visit; investments, strategic relations in focus.
• Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary: PM Modi releases commemorative ₹150 coins.
• PM Modi meets bollywood celebrities to mark 150 years of Mahatma Gandhi, release special video.
• Parliamentary panel to review functioning of UIDAI, examine citizens’ data security and privacy.
• Kartarpur Corridor: India, Pakistan sign historic pact; PM Modi to inaugurate Indian side on Nov. 8.
• Rajnath Singh receives IAF’s first Rafale fighter jet from a series of 36 aircraft purchased from France.
• Government approves procurement of indigenously developed military hardware worth ₹3,300 crore.
• Mexico flies 300 Indian migrants to New Delhi in ‘unprecedented’ mass deportation.
• J&K administration orders abolition of Legislative Council; postpaid mobile phone services restored.
• Thirty members of the European Parliament panel visit J&K and meet civil groups amid criticism.
• Government approves ₹5.5 lakh package for left out PoK migrants.
• Free bus ride scheme for women begins in Delhi.
• Siddaramaiah named leader of opposition in Karnataka; Doordarshan to cover Assembly proceedings.
• Telangana transport strike enters 27th day, talks between transport workers, management fail.
• Former Maharashtra CM Narayan Rane joins BJP with his outfit Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha.
• Ayodhya Case: Supreme Court finishes hearing arguments by all parties, reserves judgment.
• Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde appointed as 47th Chief Justice of India.
• INX Media case: ED arrests Chidambaram after 55 days of CBI and judicial custody.
• Chidambaram gets bail from Supreme Court in CBI’s INX Media case, stays in ED custody.
• Delhi HC grants bail to DK Shivakumar in money laundering case.
• SC orders transfer of Assam NRC Coordinator Prateek Hajela to MP on deputation.
• Saradha scam: Rajeev Kumar surrenders before city court, granted bail.
• Aarey forest: SC stays further felling of trees for Mumbai Metro construction.
• Kochi Maradu flats: Eviction process begins; SC orders ₹25 lakh interim compensation to all flat owners.
• India’s highest altitude all-weather permanent Bridge inaugurated by Rajnath Singh in Eastern Ladakh.
• Delhi’s Odd-Even rule: ₹4,000 fine for violation, two-wheelers, vehicles with school children exempted.
• UP CM Yogi Adityanath flags off India’s first corporatized train Lucknow-Delhi Tejas Express.
• Govt launches Surakshit Matritva Aashwasan, SUMAN, an initiative for quality health care at no cost.
• Heaviest monsoon rains in 25 years kill 1,600 people since June in India.
• Chandrayaan-2: Latest Moon flyby finds no trace of Vikram lander says NASA.
• NASA’s Christina Koch and Jessica Meir creates history by completing the first ever all-female spacewalk.
• Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali.
• Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer jointly won the 2019 Nobel Economics Prize.
• EU and UK agree to new deal in key Brexit breakthrough; UK set for election on December 12.
• American troops withdraw from Syria, Trump lifts sanctions on Turkey; House approves sanctions.
• Trump confirms Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi blew himself up as US troops closed in.
• Nancy Pelosi announces formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.
• FATF’s Grey List: Sri Lanka removed, Pakistan to remain till February 2020.
• Tibetan government passes resolution on ‘reincarnation of Dalai Lama’.
• Hong Kong govt formally withdraws extradition bill; region enters recession as protests enter 5 months.
• Justin Trudeau wins 2nd term but loses majority, will return to power as a minority government.
• Russia’s Putin meets with Turkey’s Erdogan, Russia agrees to help Turkey expand buffer zone in Syria.
• ICC scraps boundary count rule that cost New Zealand World Cup 2019.
• Sourav Ganguly takes over as 39th BCCI President.
• India v South Africa: Hosts wrap up series whitewash with dominant third Test win.
• India vs South Africa 1st match records most sixes(36) in a test match ever.
• Kohli becomes first Indian to score 40 international hundreds as captain.
• ICC Test Championship Points Table: India remain No. 1 with 240 points.
• Kohli rested, Rohit Sharma to lead India’s 15-member T20I squad for 3-match series against Bangladesh.
• Sarfaraz Ahmed sacked as Pakistan’s Test and T20 captain; Azhar Ali, Babar Azam to take over.
• T20 World Cup Qualifier: Papua New Guinea book maiden T20 World Cup place.
• Badminton: 17-year-old Priyanshu, mixed doubles pair Juhi-Venkat win Bahrain International Series title.
• Satwik-Chirag lose French Open final, settle for silver.
• Avinash Sable seals Olympics berth, sets new national record at IAAF World Athletics Championships.
• Mithali Raj becomes the only female cricketer in the world to have played ODIs for 20 years.
• World Boxing Championships: Mary Kom settles for bronze in 51kg, Manju Rani bags silver in 48kg

Business News

• RBI cuts repo rate from 5.40% to 5.15%; GDP outlook for 2019-20 revised to 6.1% from 6.9%.
• Cabinet hikes dearness allowance for govt employees by 5% to 17%.
• Govt approves BSNL-MTNL merger, clears ₹70,000-crore relief package.
• IRCTC makes blockbuster stock market debut; lists at ₹644, 101.25% premium over its issue price.
• PMC Bank crisis: PMC, HDIL directors arrested; RBI raises withdrawal limit to raised to ₹40,000.
• RBI rejects proposed merger of Lakshmi Vilas Bank, Indiabulls Housing Finance.
• Kerala Bank set to be formed as RBI approves merger of state cooperative banks.
• ICICI Bank sells entire stake in GST Network to 13 state governments.
• Yes Bank gets a binding offer from a global investor for an investment of $1.2 billion in the bank.
• Fintech start-up Subh Loans gets NBFC licence from RBI.
• Reliance Nippon Life AMC rechristened Nippon India Mutual Fund.
• Sundaram BNP Paribas Registrar and Transfer Agent (RTA) business merges with Karvy.
• SEBI notifies exit load on redemptions from liquid funds within 7 days of investment.
• Warburg Pincus, Premji Invest buys Insurance Australia Group’s stake in SBI General for $432 million.
• India gets first tranche of Swiss account details under automatic exchange framework.
• India Post launches mobile banking facility for savings accounts.
• India signs deal with Saudi Arabia to launch RuPay card in the Kingdom.
• IMF slashes India’s GDP growth forecast to 6.1% in 2019; World Bank cuts FY20 growth projection to 6%.
• Trade ministers of 16 RCEP countries meet in Bangkok; RCEP group, India fail to reach a common ground.
• US Fed cuts key rate by 25 bps, but signals pause in its easing cycle.
• China’s third-quarter GDP growth grinds to near 30-year low of 6% as tariffs hit production.
• China offers to buy $10-billion US goods to ease trade war.
• Whistleblowers accuses Infosys CEO, CFO of unethical practices; SEC, SEBI initiate investigation.
• SAP strikes three-year cloud computing deal with Microsoft.
• Microsoft beats Amazon for Pentagon’s $10 billion cloud computing contract.
• BS-VI fuel available across NCR, 6 months ahead of country-wide deadline.
• M&M forms JV with Ford; announces 51% stake in new entity, plans to launch 3 utility vehicles.
• Tesla gets approval to start manufacturing in China.
• Ford partners with Volkswagen, Amazon to build charging network for cars.
• MG Motor India partners eChargeBays for setting up home charging infrastructure for EVs.
• Air India subsidiary Alliance Air gets nod for foreign flights.
• Etihad Airways, Air Arabia partner to set up Abu Dhabi’s first low-cost airline, Air Arabia Abu Dhabi.
• UP CM flags off India’s first private train Lucknow-New Delhi Tejas Express.
• Oil & Gas: Total buys 37% stake in Adani Gas for ₹5,662 crore; Exxon Mobil, ONGC sign MoU.
• SC rejects telecom companies’ definition of AGR, companies to pay ₹92,000 crore as licence fee dues.
• Jio charges 6 paise per minute IUC charge to its customers for calls to other networks.
• Facebook officially launches Libra, announces 21 founding members, including Uber, Lyft and Spotify.
• Samsung ends mobile phone production in China.
• Apple begins manufacturing of iPhone XR in India, iPhone 11 next in line.
• Telangana goes for drone-driven healthcare, ties up with Apollo Hospitals unit.
• Ola launches self-drive platform Ola Drive in India, aims to host 20,000 cars by 2020.
• Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi launches its public transport feature in Delhi, its first for Asia.
• Oyo opens 100 hotels in partnership with Softbank in Japan.
• WeWork seals multi-billion-dollar rescue deal with SoftBank, founder to exit with $1.7 billion.
• Flipkart forays into original video content, takes on Amazon and Netflix.
• India moves up 14 spots to 63 on World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business, New Zealand tops the list.
• Global Competitiveness Index 2019: India slips to 68th rank from 58th, Singapore replaces US at top.
• India ranked third in 2019 Hurun Global Unicorn List; China pips US to top ranking.
• Forbes India Rich List 2019: Mukesh Ambani tops for 12th year; Gautam Adani jumps to No 2.
• Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra ranked top 3 states in Niti Aayog’s India Innovation Index 2019.
• Economic Affairs Secretary Atanu Chakraborty gets additional charge of Expenditure department.
• Neelkanth Mishra, Nilesh Shah, Anantha Nageswaran inducted into PM Economic Advisory Council.
• Infosys deputy CFO Jayesh Sanghrajka resigns; exit comes after 14-year stint in IT major.
• Former IMF chief Christine Lagarde appointed head of European Central Bank.
• Indian Banks Association elects Rajnish Kumar as chairman.

Q2 Results

• HDFC Bank Q2 net jumps 26.8% to ₹6,345 crore, NII grew by 14.89% YoY to ₹13,515.04 crore.
• ICICI Bank Q2 profit falls 27.90% YoY to ₹654.96 crore, NII increased 25.53% YoY to ₹8,057 crore.
• Kotak Mahindra Bank Q2 profit jumps 51% YoY to ₹1,724 crore, NII grows 25% to ₹3,350 crores.
• SBI Q2 profit zooms 3-fold to ₹3,012 crore on one-time gain, NII up at 17.67%.
• Axis Bank logs net loss of ₹112 crore in Q2, NII grew 17% YoY to ₹6,102 crore.
• Bajaj Finance Q2 profit rises 63% YoY to ₹1,506 crore, revenue rises 47.95% YoY to ₹6,322.55 crores.
• Maruti Suzuki posts Q2 profit dips 39% YoY to ₹1,359 crore; Net sales down 22.50% at ₹16,120.40 crore.
• Tata Motors reports consolidated loss of ₹216.56 crore in Q2; revenue fell 9% to ₹65,432 crore.
• TCS Q2 net rises 1.8% YoY at ₹8,042 crore, revenue up 6% at ₹38,977 crore, announces special dividend.
• Infosys posts 6% rise in Q2 net profit at ₹4,019 crore (QoQ); declares dividend at ₹8 per share.
• Wipro Q2 profit climbs 36% YoY to ₹2,561 crores, revenue rose 4% YoY to ₹15,130 crores
• Mindtree posts 35% YoY fall in Q2 profit at ₹135 crore, revenue grew 9% to ₹1,914 crore.
• HUL Q2 profit jumps 21% YoY to ₹1,848 crore; announces ₹11 per share dividend.
• Reliance Jio net profit rises 45% to ₹990 crore in Q2 FY20; subscriber base crosses 350 million.