• IDFC Bank gets the retail reach of Capital First while in turn CF gets the more solid balance sheet of IDFC Bank
• IDFC Bank had been desperate to expand its retail footprint especially after the deal with Shriram fell through

• The sharp rise in profits was largely the outcome of a US tax reversal post an advance tax agreement and is one-time
• The sales growth forecast is still around 6.5% through the street would have preferred a bigger number

• Globally, there seems to be a big bullishness on oil prices after the OPEC strategy of cutting output seems to be working
• Traders in crude oil are also betting in a very big way on the revival of growth in EU and Japan

• The lower WPI inflation was largely due to the impact of lower food prices during the month
• Ironically, the WPI inflation is falling at a time when the CPI inflation is on the rise

• The sharp rise in trade deficit was driven by higher oil prices and a sharp rise in gold imports
• The trade import bill for the year is likely to be closer to $500 billion and the forex reserves cover just 9 months imports

• The DDT is uniformly imposed on all dividends declared by Indian companies and leads to double taxation
• However, the government may choose to retain its 10% tax on dividends above Rs.1 million per year

• Korea and China were two of the largest markets for Bitcoin trading and that has pricked the speculative bubble
• That is bad news for Bitcoin which has corrected 50% in a month as more countries are likely to follow suit

• The core aviation business will be housed under one company while the real estate assets will be under another company
• Air India will also hive off its ground handling and engineering operation into a separate entity, facilitating the sale

• India already imports 85% of its daily crude oil needs and this sharp rise is due to a rise in refining capacity=
• The government also fears too much dependence on imported oil and has started auctioning oil blocks

• Most of these losses pertain to the huge risks that GE took during the peak of the sub-prime crisis
• GE, once an engineering behemoth of the world, has watched its sheen diminish sharply in the last few years

• This is largely likely to be driven by a pick-up in tech spending among the BFSI business, a mainstay of Indian IT
• The economic recovery in Europe is also making the EU business flows more robust

• This is an aggressive move by the government to capitalize on the rising oil prices
• The target is to increase its domestic crude supply from 1/3^rd of total demand to 2/3^rd of total demand

• The big thrust came from the consumer segment which grew at 11% against a overall top line growth of 4%
• Hindustan Unilever is also expected to benefit in a big way from the rural spending and rural demand

• This decision is part of the last meeting of the GST Council on 18^th January which also focused on technical issues
• The focus was on further reducing the rates of taxes on essential goods and services to curb inflation

• The profits for the quarter halved by 39% to Rs.306 crore, which was below the street estimates
• The big hit came from TRAI halving the interconnect fees, of which Bharti Airtel was a big beneficiary

• This has happened in the past too under various regimes and leads to cutting down on public services
• Public services, national parks and even the presidential office will see aggressive cost cutting till the funding bill is passed

• The 1212 KM long pipeline will evacuate white oil products from Paradip refinery in Odisha
• The Paradip-Hyderabad pipeline project will have a capacity to evacuate 4.5 million tonnes per annum

• The deal values the government’s 51.11% stake in HPCL at approximately Rs.473/share, a premium of 15%
• This will give a big boost to the government’s disinvestment program and comfortably exceed the Rs.72,500 crore target

• This will be the first time that an Indian PM represents India at Davos since Deve Gowda in 1997
• With Mr. Modi’s ratings at an all-time high internationally, this will be the right time for India to make a mark globally

• The turnaround in 15 months was driven by an 82% rise in operating profits to Rs.2628 crore
• Even as Bharti’s average ARPU slipped to Rs.123, Jio maintained its ARPU at Rs.154

• This needs approval of the PMO but the government sees a lot of merit in the move considering the steel growth story

On issues like iron ore experts, the steel and mining ministries have been at loggerheads and can now be resolved