| News Announcement |
Impact Analysis |
| India becomes a net steel importer for the fiscal year 2018-19 |
- Indian steel exports fell by nearly 34% during the last fiscal year on the back of penal duties from the US and EU
- This has led to India becoming a net importer of steel putting further pressure on the trade deficit and the currency
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| LVB Board approves merger terms with Indiabulls Housing Finance |
- Under the terms of the deal, LVB shareholders will get 14 shares of Indiabulls Housing for 100 shares held
- The merger will give Indiabulls Housing a bigger balance sheet as well as the footprint in South India
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| Russia and OPEC may get back to fighting for market share |
- With Russia not willing to extend supply cuts beyond September, the supply cuts may stop after that
- With higher prices, both Russia and OPEC will be keen to ensure that the US does not take away the cream of price rise
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| SFIO has arrested the former CEO of IL&FS Financial, Ramesh Bawa |
- Bawa had come under fire after IL&FS Financial ended up showing nearly 90% of the loans as NPAs
- The SFIO is also investigating the angle of money laundering by the senior managers of the IL&FS group
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| TCS and Infosys announce better than street expectations |
- Fourth quarter results showed better growth and margins than what the street had anticipated
- The only challenge for Infosys is the attrition, which at over 18%, remains far above that of TCS
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| CPI inflation for March comes in sharply higher at 2.8% |
- The food inflation has now rallied by nearly 120 basis points in the last couple of months and is getting close to 3%
- The bounce was quite sharp in food inflation but the worrying aspect was the sharp rise in core inflation for March
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| IIP for February grows at a paltry rate of just 0.1%, a recent low |
- The weak IIP was driven by negative growth in manufacturing, which has a 74% weighting in the IIP
- Combined with higher inflation, the low IIP makes another growth case for the RBI to cut rates
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| Several FMPs of mutual funds express intent to delay payments |
- This has been necessitated due to their exposure to the Zee group bonds, which is in the midst of a liquidity crunch
- Zee chairman had met fund managers and asked time till September to clear all the dues to the funds
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| IMF cuts global growth forecast for 2019 by 20 bps to 3.3% |
- According to IMF, the lower growth would be triggered by the ongoing trade war and BREXIT uncertainty
- In fact, IMF has also called for fiscal stimulus for weak economies like China, Japan, Germany, and Australia
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| Naresh Goyal may end up being one of the bidders for Jet Airways |
- With the dates for bids for Jet Airways extended by SBI, Goyal may also bid to re-enter his airline company
- Jet has not been referred to the NCLT and those rules will not apply but it is not clear if lenders will allow that
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| Brent Crude got closer to $72/bbl on supply shortfall concerns |
- With the strife in Libya, sanctions on Iran and a 33% cut in production in Venezuela, oil prices are shooting up
- Even the US has seen drawdowns of its inventory and anything above $70/bbl is not good news for India
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| Supreme Court stays Arcelor Mittal payment for Essar Steel |
- The Supreme Court has sought greater clarity on the break up between financial creditors and operational creditors
- Since the $6 billion from Arcelor will not be coming now, the rupee weakened sharply on Friday
|
| Star hedge fund manager, David Einhorn calls Tesla a bankruptcy case |
- Einhorn has been unhappy with the absence of positive cash flows at Tesla, despite promises made by Elon Musk
- According to Einhorn, the layoffs, product delays, and elusive cash flows point to a failing company
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| The first phase of Indian elections kicks off on 11th April |
- The first phase of the elections concluded on 11th April where voting for 91 out of 543 seats was sealed
- However, the voter turnout in terms of vote percentage was lower than in previous years in most districts
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| Sugar mills owe $4.38 billion to sugar farmers in terms of farm dues |
- The dues to sugarcane farmers have been rising as a supply glut is forcing producers to sell at below cost
- The government had promised to settle all dues within one month but there has been no progress on the same
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| Indian banks close FY2019-20 with credit growth of 13.2% |
- India got back to double-digit credit and deposit growth after a long time with deposits growing at nearly 11%
- The year 2017 saw credit growth at a 50-year low of 4.6%, which happened in the immediate aftermath of note ban
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| The India VIX spurted higher to above the 21 levels showing high fear |
- This kind of rise in volatility is normal when it comes ahead of general elections, but has been elevated for long
- Normally, an elevated VIX level of above 20 puts an upside limit on stock market appreciation
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| UK gets 6 months breather to finalize approval for BREXIT |
- The EU has decided to give UK time till 30th September for obtaining Parliament approval for BREXIT deal
- In the absence of a deal, the UK will be ejected out of the EU and the BOE expects GDP growth to compress by nearly 7%
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| BJP manifesto made some generous promises for infra and farm incomes |
- The BJP manifesto has promised to infuse an unprecedented $1.44 trillion into infrastructure in the next 5 years
- The manifesto is also allocating a whopping Rs.25 trillion for doubling farm incomes by the target date of FY22
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| Indian government met its fiscal deficit target of 3.4% for fiscal 2018-19 |
- The revised target of 3.4% was achieved as divestments partially compensated for lower tax revenues
- The government has also cut the allocations to welfare expenditure to meet the target
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| DGCA calls upon aviation companies to increase flights to cut fares |
- The sharp drop in flight supply has resulted in a sharp rise in airfares in the last few weeks
- This is due to the combination of problems at Jet, Pratt & Whitney engine problems and the Boeing 737 Max updates
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