| India’s fiscal deficit for 2017-18 touches 112% of full year target by Nov 2017 |
- With 4 more months to go for the fiscal year, the government looks set to exceed the fiscal deficit target by 50 bps
- This will also compromise the 3% FRBM targets for 2018-19 raising questions over the rating upgrade by Moody’s
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| Government of India 10 year bond yields touch a high of 7.39% |
- This sharp rise in the recent past has been driven by rising inflation and a hawkish view by the Federal Reserve
- This means that the RBI may be constrained to consider a rate hike of 25-50 bps during the calendar year 2018
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| Core sector growth comes in at a healthy 6.8% for November 2017 |
- This was largely driven by a healthy growth in the steel and the cement sector giving hopes of a revival
- However, this could be due to the base effect as November 2016 was a weak month post demonetization
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| US government likely to clamp down on H1-B visa requirements of IT players |
- IT companies may have to now certify that any H1-B visa issued is not displacing US workers for the next 5 years
- This could be a big challenge for the Indian IT industry which corners nearly 70% of all US H1-B visas issued each year
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| US government likely to clamp down on H1-B visa requirements of IT players |
- IT companies may have to now certify that any H1-B visa issued is not displacing US workers for the next 5 years
- This could be a big challenge for the Indian IT industry which corners nearly 70% of all US H1-B visas issued each year
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| Salil Parekh has taken over as the new CEO of Infosys |
- His primary business challenge at Infosys will be to address the big shift to digital that is happening globally
- More importantly, he will also have to address the critical issue of engaging with the promoter group effectively
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| Oil prices crossed the $68/bbl in the global Brent crude market |
- This rise in prices is largely driven by rapidly falling US stockpiles of oil in the last few weeks
- OPEC and Russia have also agreed to continue their supply cut of 1.8 million bpd till the end of 2018
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| PMI Manufacturing and PMI Services flattered on the upside in December |
- PMI manufacturing at 54.7 was largely driven by better order flows and higher input costs post GST
- The PMI Services just about recovered above the 50 mark after touching 48.5 in the month of November
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| SEBI to draw a line between financial advisory and distribution |
- By April 2018 financial services companies will have to make a choice as a financial advisor or as a distributor
- This will largely remove the conflict of interest but also force the broking industry to change its distribution model
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| Indian government comes down hard on small savings rates |
- The government began by reducing PPF rate down to remove the tax related distortions in these PPF accounts
- The government has also replaced the 8% RBI bonds with a 7.75% taxable bond, giving a clear signal to markets
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| Government to put ports at par with highways for ease of operators |
- Like in case of highways, port operators will also have an exit after 2 years of completion of the project
- The method of royalty calculation is also being tweaked to make it more friendly to port operators
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| Economists warn of India’s full year GDP for 2018-19 at below 7% |
- This will mark a sharp fall from the 8% and 7.2% growth achieved in the previous two years
- The first 2 quarters have seen growth at 5.6% and 6.2% and growth could be tepid despite good 3rd and 4th quarters
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| Mutual funds have to shift to Total Returns Index from Feb 2018 |
- Currently MFs report outperformance over index by measuring index returns on a point-to-point basis
- By shifting to TRI basis, the outperformance will reduce as index returns will now also consider the dividend yield
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| Hindalco is likely to make a $2.5 billion bid for Aleris of the US |
- The bid will be made through Novellis, which Hindalco had acquired back in 2007
- This is in tune with the global trend wherein metals appeared to have gotten into an up-cycle
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| Government seeks parliamentary nod for its $12 billion bank bailout |
- This Rs.80,000 crore bailout will be effected through the issue of recapitalization bonds to banks
- Effectively, the surplus deposits of the banks will be moved towards its capital to shore up ahead of Basel IV
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| Dow Jones surges past the 25,000 level for the first time in history |
- The surge in the Dow is largely driven by higher growth and lower unemployment expectations for the year
- The Dow started celebrating the Trump trade from Jan 2017 and has gained more than 25% since then
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| Donald Trump has blocked the $1.1 billion security aid to Pakistan |
- The US has been unhappy with its traditional ally in the way it has dealt with terrorism in the past
- This is likely to push Pakistan closer to its new-found ally, China, and also possibly destabilize the area’s geopolitics
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| Idea Cellular plans to raise close to $1 billion ahead of Vodafone merger |
- Nearly 50% of the $1 billion will come in the form of fund infusion from the Aditya Birla group
- The balance will be raised through a variety of market options including a rights issue to shareholders
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| IOB to write off accumulated losses against share premium account |
- IOB has a share premium surplus of $1.2 billon which will be used to entirely write off its accumulated losses
- Post the clean up, the balance sheet of IOB will present a clearer picture and could become a template
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| Rupee touches a 30-month high of Rs.63.41/dollar |
- Capital flows into India, especially into debt, have been extremely healthy and that is holding up the INR
- While the strong rupee is keeping our import bill in check, it is coming at the cost of exports, which are badly hit by INR
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| Metal prices surge globally as factory output picks up across the world |
- From Europe to the US to Japan, there is a sharp revival in factory output as depicted by the PMI numbers
- This is only underscoring the view that the global metals cycle may be finally turning out to be favourable
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| India to consider 7.5% tariff on imported solar panels |
- India imports most of its solar panels from China and there are no import duties as of now
- It remains to be seen what it means for Mr. Modi’s target of 100 GW of solar power by the year 2022
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