| Major News Item | Impact Analysis |
| Ø RBI policy maintains status quo on repo rates and holds them at 6% | Ø This was largely along expected lines after the inflation went up by 190 basis points in the last 2 months
Ø The RBI did cut the SLR to 19% but that is unlikely to make a difference with most banks overexposed to G-Secs
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| Ø RBI downgrades full year GDP growth to 6.7% from 7.3% | Ø The RBI has downgraded the full year growth after the 5.7% growth in GDP reported in the June quarter
Ø The lower growth in GDP has been the outcome of the demonetization exercise and GST teething troubles
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| Ø Euro region shows a sharp rebound in the PMI manufacturing for Sept-17 | Ø PMI Manufacturing in the Euro region came in at a 6-year high of 58.1 on the back of higher staffing and stocking
Ø The spurt in PMI was led by Germany at 60.6 with the Euro region benefiting from a weaker Euro
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| Ø RCOM lenders may be in a spot of bother on payment delays | Ø RCOM has called off its merger deal with Aircel and now wants a better deal for its towers sale from Brookfield
Ø RCOM has debt to the tune of Rs.47,000 crore and these 2 deals were expected to halve the debt of RCOM
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| Ø IPO market raises over $4 billion in the current fiscal year till date | Ø The IPO market is likely to overshoot its full year target of $5 billion with major insurance IPOs still in the pipeline
Ø The IPO market raised $2 billion in the whole of last year and solid post-listing performance has been the key
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| Ø Cut in excise on petrol and diesel may cost the government Rs.26,000 crore | Ø Increased levy of excise on petrol and diesel has been one of the major revenue sources for the government
Ø With crude prices rising and elections approaching, the government wants to tread cautiously on price issues
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| Ø CRISIL reported 817 rating upgrades versus 434 downgrades in H1 | Ø The quantum of funds raised by downgrades is much larger than the quantum of funds raised by upgrades
Ø ICRA has been a little more circumspect with just about 304 upgrades compared to 261 downgrades for H1
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| Ø August core sector output came in sharply higher at 4.9% | Ø This compares very favourably with July core sector output at 2.6%, despite weakness in cement and steel
Ø The big boost to core sector output came from the coal sector and logically the thermal electricity production too
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| Ø Focus Pharma of China acquired a 74% stake in Gland Pharma for $1.09 bn | Ø This represents the first major Chinese investment in Indian via the FDI route and had been in limbo for some time
Ø The delay in approvals had been due to the Doklam standoff which at least appears to be receding now
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| Ø Russia hints at extending oil supply cuts through the end of 2018 | Ø This is a clear indication that oil prices could remain stable to strong as the daily cut of $1.8 million bpd, could be hiked
Ø The demand / supply equation is already favouring the price which has now moved closer to the $60/bbl mark |
| Ø High powered Uday Kotak committee submits report on governance | Ø The committee has suggested increasing independent directors and the number of women directors
Ø The companies will also be required to quantify the impact of the auditor qualifications of the statement of accounts
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| Ø New SBI MD to continue the bank’s focus on NPA reduction | Ø Rajnish Kumar has promised to continue the effort started by Ms. Bhattacharya to reduce and also sell NPAs
Ø Apart from NPA focus, Ms. Bhattacharya had also focused on a digital push to the bank
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| Ø J P Morgan has cautioned the government against fiscal laxity | Ø The concern is over applying a demand-related strategy for a supply related problem
Ø The issue was not so much about demand but constraints on supply due to demonetization and GST launch
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| Ø KKR bets heavily on distressed assets of PSU banks and realty lending | Ø With SBI taking the lead, KKR expects a multi-billion dollar opportunity in bank distressed assets
Ø KKR has also been active in lending to realty projects in the post-RERA scenario which has drastically reduced risk
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| Ø India may be in the midst of a multi-year structural slowdown | Ø Economists are of the view that the weak GDP may not just be an outcome of GST and note ban but structural in nature
Ø The structural slowdown has been driven more by weak demand for consumer and capital goods
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| Ø GST Council makes some concessions for the export sector | Ø GST Council to ensure early disbursement of refunds and also allow exporters to use a notional e-wallet for credits
Ø However, all exports will attract a nominal GST of 0.1% effective from April 01, 2018
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| Ø GST Council also goes a little easy on SMEs and traders | Ø Threshold for applicability of Composition Scheme increased from Rs.75 lakhs to Rs.1 crore
Ø Businesses with annual turnover less than Rs.1.50 crore will be allowed to file quarterly returns
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| Ø SEBI restricts MF schemes to just five categories from now on | Ø Schemes to be grouped under equity, debt, hybrid, solution oriented schemes and others
Ø SEBI will allow each AMC to launch only one scheme under each category
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| Ø As the US stays tentative on its Middle East policy, Saudi leans towards Russia | Ø Saudi is likely to depend heavily on Russia for oil pricing deals and for weapons purchase from Russia
Ø US has been trying to balance Saudi interests with Iran leading to Saudi exploring alternate options
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| Ø Indian OMCs still undecided on taking a hit on profit margins | Ø The government had hoped that with the excise cut, the oil marketers will also chip in and take some of the losses
Ø Every since free pricing of oil was introduced, stocks like HPCL, BPCL and IOC have been outperformers on the bourses
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| Ø US payrolls down by 33,000 with jobless rate up at 4.2% | Ø The sharp fall in jobs was largely an outcome of the storms that stuck the US coast, leading to lower job creation
Ø In the US 5% unemployment is considered to be full employment and a fit case for rate hikes by the Fed |
