Economy / Market Snapshot – September, 2020

General News

• Global tally of Coronavirus cases stands at 34 million with over 1 million fatalities.
• India tally crosses 6.3 million mark with 98,708 deaths; 7,56,19,781 tests conducted so far.
• Health ministry issues guidelines for reopening schools from 9 to 12 classes on voluntary basis.
• Metro services resume across the country after a gap of over five months.
• Education Ministry releases new calendar for UG, PG 1st year, full refund on admission cancellation.
• Monsoon session commenced on September 14, ended 8 days ahead of schedule amid pandemic.
• 25 Bills passed by Parliament; productivity of Lok Sabha was 167% and Rajya Sabha was 100.47%.
• Parliament passes two key agricultural reforms bills amid opposition ruckus through a voice vote.
• Harsimrat Kaur Badal quits Cabinet over Centre’s new farm bills; Shiromani Akali Dal quits BJP-led alliance.
• President Kovind gives his nod to all 3 farm bills, government notifies them.
• PM Modi inaugurates Kosi Rail mega bridge and 12 railway projects in Bihar through video conferencing.
• PM Modi lays foundation of 9 highway projects, launches optical fibre internet services in Bihar.
• PM Modi hold virtual bilateral summits with Sri Lankan PM and Dutch PM.
• Rajnath Singh attends SCO Defence Ministers’ meet; meets Chinese counterpart amid border tension.
• S Jaishankar attends SCO Foreign Ministers meet; India, China reach consensus on easing border tensions.
• India, China agree to stop sending more troops to forward areas in Ladakh.
• IAF formally inducts first batch of 5 Rafale fighter jets at Ambala airbase.
• India deploys T-72, T-90 tanks in eastern Ladakh’s Chumar-Demchok area to counter China.
• In a first, two women officers to operate helicopters from warships.
• Jaishankar, G4 country’s foreign ministers call for decisive push for UN Security Council reforms.
• S Jaishankar proposes voluntary G-20 principles on cross border movement at the G-20 meet.
• Govt sets up expert committee to probe reports of China snooping on Indians.
• EC announces Bihar poll dates: Voting in 3 phases on Oct 28, Nov 3 and Nov 7; result on November 10.
• PM Modi inaugurates 1.75 lakh houses built under PM Awas Yojana in Madhya Pradesh.
• Punjab launches smart ration cards for 1.41 crore people, separate scheme announced for 9 lakh others.
• Govt refuses to extend 4G internet services outside Ganderbal and Udhampur districts in J&K.
• Assam govt appeals to Supreme Court for re-Verification of NRC.
• Congress overhauls CWC, Digvijay, Jairam, Khursheed enter CWC.
• Students appear for JEE Main, NEET across India amid COVID-19.
• Babri Masjid case: Not enough evidence to suggest demolition was pre-planned: Court acquits all accused.
• Ex-Finance secretary Rajiv Kumar assumes charge as new election commissioner of India.
• Former health Secretary Preeti Sudan appointed WHO panellist for pandemic preparedness.
• Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury appointed as president of West Bengal Congress.
• NDA candidate Harivansh Narayan Singh re-elected as Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman.
• Jaswant Singh – founding member of BJP, Union minister Suresh Angadi and legendary singer
• SP Balasubrahmanyam passed away.
• India votes in favour of UNGA resolution, calling for multilateral cooperation to combat Coronavirus.
• Landmark 75th session of UN General Assembly commences in largely virtual format amidst COVID-19.
• US elections 2020: Trump, Biden spar in first presidential debate.
• US reimposes UN sanctions on Iran amid increasing tensions in the region.
• US announces $150 million grant programme to invest in training for H-1B workforce.
• US vetoes United Nations anti-terrorism resolution.
• Israel, UAE, Bahrain ink historic Abraham Accord in White House ceremony.
• US backs out from global effort to develop, distribute COVID-19 vaccine.
• Trump signs new, expanded executive order to lower US drug prices.
• Donald Trump nominated for 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for brokering UAE-Israel peace deal.
• British PM sets out new Coronavirus curbs, curfews to last 6 months.
• Second wave of COVID-19 underway in parts of Canada: PM Justin Trudeau.
• Israel cabinet tightens Coronavirus lockdown as infections rise.
• Afghanistan frees nearly 200 Taliban prisoners to push peace talks.
• Iran and Russia to cooperate on joint production of COVID-19 vaccine.
• EU, China sign agreements on food protection and Geographical Indications(GIs).
• Pakistan Parliament extends ordinance allowing Kulbhushan Jadhav to file appeal for 4 months.
• UK government reaches deal with Conservative rebels on breaching Brexit deal.
• British PM Boris Johnson sets October 15 as deadline for Brexit negotiations with EU.
• Russia starts giving new Covid-19 vaccine to volunteers in Moscow.
• Japanese PM Shinzo Abe and his Cabinet officially resigns; Yoshihide Suga elected new Prime Minister.
• Germany joins Indo-Pacific club aimed at securing trade routes from aggressive China.
• Jamal Khashoggi killing: Saudi Arabia hands 20-year jail terms to five of eight convicts.
• Sri Lankan govt gazettes 20A Constitution Amendment draft, restores full legal impunity to President.
• The 13th edition of the IPL kicks off in UAE after a long wait due to an outbreak of coronavirus pandemic.
• US Open 2020: Dominic Thiem wins maiden Grand Slam, Naomi Osaka wins third career Grand Slam.
• Italian Open: Simona Halep wins first title in Rome; Novak Djokovic wins his fifth title.
• Lionel Messi to stay at Barcelona next season despite transfer row.

Business News

• Parliament passes bill to amend Companies law; various offences decriminalised.
• Parliament clears Banking Regulation bill to bring co-operative banks under RBI.
• Centre suspends operation of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code by another 3 months.
• Govt gives nod to 27 integrated cold chain development projects under PM Kisan SAMPADA Yojana.
• PM Modi launches Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana and e-Gopala app for farmers.
• Centre releases ₹6,195 crore to 14 states as 6th instalment of the Post Devolution Revenue Deficit Grant.
• 21 States and UTs opt for Centre’s ₹97,000-crore RBI window option to meet GST collection shortfall.
• Cabinet approves restructuring of Railway Board, VK Yadav becomes first CEO in rail history.
• Government constructs 3,181 km national highways in April-August, surpasses target of 2,771 km.
• Centre increases FDI limit in defence from 49% to 74% under automatic route.
• Government allows airlines to decide baggage limitations for domestic flights.
• MCA extends deadline for holding AGMs from Sep 30 to Dec 31.
• Govt forms three-member expert panel to assist in assessment of relief to bank borrowers.
• Government to infuse ₹20,000 crore in India’s state-run banks.
• RBI broadly accepts KV Kamath panel’s recommendations on loan restructuring.
• RBI issues new compliance norms for banks; expands priority sector lending categories; includes startups.
• Yes Bank repays entire ₹50,000 crore special liquidity facility dues to RBI.
• Banks free to restructure loans, but can’t penalise borrowers availing moratorium benefit: SC.
• Banks shouldn’t declare accounts as NPAs till further order: Supreme Court.
• FM Nirmala Sitharaman launches Doorstep Banking Services by PSBs.
• SBI introduces new voluntary retirement scheme.
• IRDAI allows general insurers to issue policy documents in electronic format.
• Happiest Minds, Route Mobile make their debut on exchanges.
• Reliance Industries crosses $200 billion market cap, TCS crosses ₹9 lakh crore market valuation mark.
• SEBI orders attachment of bank, demat accounts of Mehul Choksi, Gitanjali Gems.
• ICICI Bank-Videocon case: ED arrests Deepak Kochhar in money-laundering probe.
• Bank of Japan keeps monetary policy steady, sees economy improving slightly.
• Euro zone banks get €73 billion ECB relief to withstand pandemic.
• AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine reaches phase 3 clinical trials in US: Donald Trump.
• Sanofi and GSK launch trial for COVID-19 protein-based vaccine.
• Russia releases 1st batch of COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V into public.
• Dr. Reddy’s partners with Russia for clinical trial of Sputnik V in India.
• Bharat Biotech gets Centre’s nod to start Covaxin phase II trials.
• DCGI approves commercial launch of India’s first paper-strip Covid Test – FELUDA.
• Oxford and AstraZeneca resume Coronavirus vaccine trial after suspension over a participant’s illness.
• SC gives telecom firms 10 years to clear AGR dues of ₹1.6 lakh crore; 10% to be paid by March 31, 2021.
• Vodafone Idea unveils new integrated brand identity ‘Vi’.
• ₹20,000 crore retro tax case: Vodafone wins arbitration against India.
• Samsung bags $6.6-billion 5G deal from Verizon.
• HCL tech acquires Australian IT firm DWS for $115.8 million.
• Wipro enters into a multi-year global agreement with Marelli for automotive engineering services.
• Pentagon sticks with Microsoft for Cloud Computing contract.
• Microsoft acquires ZeniMax Media, owner of id Software, Bethesda and more studios.
• Intel gets U.S. licences to supply some products to Huawei.
• L&T sells its electrical and automation business to Schneider Electric for ₹14,000 crore.
• International Solar Alliance signs MoUs with NTPC, MNRE and World Bank; 5 Indian PSUs to join alliance.
• BP and Equinor form strategic partnership to develop offshore wind energy in US.
• Shapoorji Pallonji Group agrees to exit Tata Sons, calls for separation.
• TVS Motor invests additional ₹30 crore in electric vehicle startup Ultraviolette Automotive.
• Honda, GM sign deal to work on battery-powered and self-driving vehicles together.
• General Motors to make electric vehicle, supply batteries for Nikola Corp.
• Harley-Davidson exits India, books $75 million in fresh restructuring costs.
• Silver Lake buys 1.75% stake in Reliance Retail; KKR picks 1.28% stake and General Atlantic 0.84% stake.
• Amazon announces Luna, a cloud gaming service for Fire TV, desktop and mobile.
• Flipkart Group launches Flipkart Wholesale to connect local manufacturers with retailers.
• Government bans 118 Chinese apps and games including PUBG mobile, Apus launcher, Rules of Survival.
• PUBG Corp takes control of India Franchise from Tencent Games.
• Trump approves bid by Oracle and Walmart to take over TikTok’s US operations.
• US Judge temporarily blocks Trump administration ban on new TikTok downloads from app stores.
• YouTube enters short video space with YouTube Shorts.
• Facebook India chief appears before Parliamentary panel debating misuse of social media platforms.
• Byju’s raises $500 million in fresh funding round led by Silver Lake.
• Zomato raises $102 million from Tiger Global, valued at $3.4 billion.
• Unacademy enters unicorn club after raising $150 million in fresh round led by SoftBank.
• Times Network expands its global footprint; launches channels on ONEHUBTV.
• WeWork sells control of China business in $200 million deal.
• Tencent increases its stake in Flipkart with fresh infusion of $62.8 million.
• Apple Store Online launched in India with direct customer support, trade-ins, and more.
• Apple Unveils Apple Watch Series, iPad Air, Fitness Service, Bundled Subscription Options in global event.
• India jumps 4 places to rank 48 on Global Innovation Index 2020.
• Ease of doing business ranking 2019: Andhra Pradesh retains top position; UP, Telangana follow.
• India slips 26 spots to 105th position on Economic Freedom Index.
• Asian Development Bank appoints Takeo Konishi as Country Director for India.
• RBI appoints former Union Bank of India executive A K Dixit as the new administrator of PMC Bank.
• SIAM appoints Maruti Suzuki India CEO Kenichi Ayukawa as its new President.
• Citigroup’s Jane Fraser to succeed Michael Corbat as CEO, first woman to lead a major Wall Street bank.