| News Announcement |
Impact Analysis |
| The US Federal Reserve maintains status quo on rates |
- Despite pressure from Trump, the Fed chose to maintain status quo on rates but hinted at cuts in the future
- This dovish outlook had a positive impact on the US markets as well as other EMs across the world
|
| Iran shoots down an American drone in the midst of a simmering Middle East |
- While the US claimed the drone was in international airspace, Iran has affirmed that it was above Southern Iran
- Trump had ordered retaliatory attacks on Iran but withdrew in the last minute considering the volatile situation
|
| Monetary Policy Committee minutes hint at inflation risk |
- The members of the MPC, despite voting unanimously, underlined that rate cut was only to push growth
- The MPC minutes specifically highlighted the inflation risk arising from higher food and oil prices
|
| GST Council Meet decides to extend anti-profiteering by another 2 years |
- The first GST meet chaired by Sitharaman focused more on the penalties under the anti profiteering clause
- The Council extended the last date for filing full year returns by 2 months to August 31st
|
| Brent Crude soars above $65/bbl in the midst of rising Middle East tensions |
- The spurt in oil prices was visible after Iran shot down the US drone and US threatened to retaliate
- Oil traders panicked that a war in the Middle East could seriously impact oil movement in the area
|
| Government may not to budge on its Electrical Vehicles deadline |
- The deadline for EV shift is 2023 for 3 wheelers and 2025 for two wheelers up to 150 CC
- While the Niti Aayog has spoken about 2030 deadline for cars, the government has been silent on the issue
|
| Jet Airways gets referred to NCLT with the plea by SBI being admitted |
- With no buyers forthcoming in the Jet Airways issue, there was little choice for SBI but refer to NCLT
- With its aircraft being repossessed and employees having left, it is unclear how much creditors can really recover
|
| Reliance Capital reduces its outstanding CPs by over 90% |
- The proceeds from sale of stake were used by Reliance Capital to reduce outstanding CPs from Rs.950 crore to Rs.75 crore
- The ADAG group has been on a spree monetizing its key assets and using the proceeds to repay group debt
|
| CCI approves merger of Indiabulls Housing Finance and LVB |
- This will be the first instance of a larger NBFC merging with a smaller bank
- While Indiabulls Housing Finance gets a banking license, LVB gets a strong franchise in the West and the North
|
| Deloitte and KPMG question the jurisdiction of NCLT in audit ban |
- NCLT had proposed a ban of 5 years on Deloitte on taking up fresh audit works for alleged collusion in IFIN
- Currently, audit activities in India are fully regulated by the ICAI, which is a statutory body by itself
|
| India Ratings downgrades Reliance Infra to Default Status |
- The downgrade was necessitated after the company got into severe cash flow problems in the recent past
- However, the company has not participated in the rating exercise despite repeated requests from the rating agency
|
| Facebook launches proprietary payment gateway |
- The payment gateway will start by facilitating payments via Facebook and WhatsApp
- Over time, this will also be integrated with Facebook’s proposed crypto currency, Libra
|
| Steel Ministry seeks higher import duties to deter cheap imports |
- With a slowdown in China, a lot of steel has been flooding India from Japan, Korea and China
- On behalf of local steel companies, the ministry has sought higher tariffs to deter the import of low cost steel
|
| The US affirms that there will be no cap on H1-B visas for now |
- The cap on H1-B visas was supposed to become a major impediment for software companies in India
- It was expected that the US would impose these limits as a retaliation to punitive tariffs and data localization norms
|
| China rules out inclusion of India in the elite Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) |
- China has reiterated that it will continue to block the admission of India into the NSG
- The inclusion of a country into the NSG is conditional on the signing of the NPT, which India has refused to do
|
| Canada based Manulife and M&M Finance form mutual fund JV |
- The proposed joint venture is likely to be 51% owned by Mahindra and 49% owned by Manulife
- Interestingly, M&M is making a big foray into the AMC business at a time when the likes of RCAP are exiting
|
| Falling bond yields hit India and the US bond markets |
- Indian bond markets saw 10-year yields falling below the 6.8% mark on the back of dovish outlook by the RBI
- US bond yields also fell below the 2% mark during the week on the back of Fed hinting at future rate cuts
|
| IBC recoveries at over 40% according to report by ICRA |
- The recovery has been 42% for operational creditors and 44% for the financial creditors in the IBC cases overall
- This is considered to be a very positive recovery rate, although the real challenge may be in the next round
|
| OPEC could see open rift between Iran and Saudi Arabia |
- The OPEC meeting scheduled in the first week of July could see Iran and Saudi clash over Middle East tensions
- Iran has also been unhappy as Saudi Arabia has been taking key decisions with Russia, without involving the OPEC
|
| Air passenger traffic rises once again after a brief lull in past few months |
- The airline industry appears to have gotten out of the temporary slowdown caused by the Jet shutdown
- While growth at 3% is way below the historical average, at least the supply shortfall has been managed pretty well
|
| Trump promises to restart trade negotiations with China |
- Trade teams will start discussions ahead of the G-20 meeting in Japan where Trump and Xi are expected to meet
- In the last 1 year, the biggest casualty of the trade war has been the global growth prospects
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