Economy / Market Snapshot – May, 2021

General News

• Assembly Elections: Mamata Banerjee, M K Stalin, Pinarayi Vijayan take oath as Chief Ministers of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala respectively.
• BJP-led NDA retains power with majority in Assam; Himanta Biswa Sarma takes oath as CM of Assam.
• N Rangasamy sworn in as Chief Minister of first NDA govt in Puducherry.
• India COVID tally crosses 28 million, 213 million vaccine doses administered; recovery rate at 92.07%.
• Global Coronavirus caseload tops 171 million; US leads the global tally with 34 million cases.
• Govt announces pension scheme, insurance cover to support COVID-19 victims’ dependents.
• Centre and States provide financial aid, education to children orphaned by COVID.
• Centre directs States to notify black fungus or mucormycosis as an epidemic.
• States imposes fresh restrictions to Curb COVID; essential services exempted.
• Plasma therapy dropped from India’s corona treatment protocol: ICMR.
• DRDO’s anti-COVID drug 2-DG launched; to be available at hospitals from June, price fixed at ₹990/sachet.
• Serum Institute to produce 10 crore doses by August, Bharat Biotech promises 7.8 crore jabs.
• SC constitutes 12-member National Task Force to facilitate public health response to COVID crisis.
• Many States declare journalists ‘frontline workers’, to vaccinate them on priority.
• S Jaishankar meets UN Chief Antonio Guterres; discuss ramping up global vaccine supply and production.
• S Jaishankar holds talks with US NSA Jake Sullivan on trade, Quad, vaccines, Indo-pacific.
• India, UK agree on co-production of military hardware; technology collaboration for combat aircraft.
• Jaishankar meets Canadian counterpart; discusses Indo-Pacific strategy at India-France-Australia meet.
• India, EU discuss COVID Health Care cooperation, strengthening of Indo-EU partnership.
• PM Modi discusses positive outcomes of India-EU Leaders’ meet with French President Macron on phone.
• India, New Zealand call for rules-based international order and free, open & inclusive Indo-Pacific region.
• India and Israel sign 3 year work program to train farmers and modernize agriculture.
• Calcutta HC orders house arrest of 4 leaders held in Narada sting case; grants interim bail.
• SC strikes down Maratha community reservation in education, jobs exceeding 50%.
• Engineering, other technical institutes to begin classes by September 15: AICTE.
• Tribal Affairs Ministry & Microsoft sign MoU for digital transformation of Tribal Schools.
• Centre grants one-year extension of tenure to chiefs of Intelligence Bureau, R&AW.
• Subodh Kumar Jaiswal, former Maharashtra DGP, appointed CBI director for 2 years.
• Telangana signs MoU with NHA for implementing Ayushman Bharat.
• Cyclone Tauktae, the biggest to hit the region in decades, makes landfall in Gujarat.
• Cyclone Yaas makes landfall in Balasore, triggers heavy damage
• WHO approves Moderna, Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use in all countries.
• WHO classifies B1617 COVID-19 variant, first identified in India, as variant of global concern.
• Nepal President announces mid-term polls in November as parties fail to stake claim to form govt.
• BRICS agrees to devise framework for social security agreement.
• Singapore shuts schools as new Coronavirus strain affects more children.
• US President Biden proposes $6 trillion budget to boost infrastructure, education and climate.
• Biden raises US refugee admissions cap to 62,500 after delay sparks anger.
• Pentagon cancels Trump’s Mexico wall projects using military funds.
• European Commission calls on EU member states to temporarily restrict travel from India.
• EU signs third contract with BioNTech-Pfizer for 1.8 billion vaccine doses.
• Xi and Putin jointly launch construction of new reactors in joint nuclear energy project.
• China builds key highway through Brahmaputra Canyon in Tibet close to Arunachal Pradesh border.
• Russia approves single-dose version of Sputnik V vaccine – Sputnik Light.
• Australia resumes repatriation flights from India for stranded citizens.
• Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi appears in court in person for first time since coup.
• Syria President Bashar Assad re-elected for fourth time with 95% of votes.
• Israel, Hamas agree to ceasefire to end 11 days of deadly fighting.
• Japan to extend Coronavirus emergency in Tokyo until month before Olympics.
• Pfzier and BioNTech to donate COVID-19 vaccines for Olympic athletes: International Olympic Committee.
• IPL 2021 suspended after players test positive for COVID; remainder to be held in UAE in Sep-Oct.
• India retain top spot in ICC Test team rankings, second place in the ICC T20, drops to 3rd in ODI chart .
• Indian Women’s tour of England: Mithali Raj will lead the side in the Test and ODIs.
• Ashes 2021-22 to start on December 9; Perth set to host final Test.
• Asian Boxing Championships: Pooja Rani bags gold; Mary Kom, Lalbuatsaihi and Anupama settle for Silver.
• Rafael Nadal beats Novak Djokovic to win 10th Italian Open title.

Business News

• GST Council exempts import duty on COVID-19 related supplies till Aug 31.
• IGST on import of COVID related medical supplies waived off; IGST on oxygen concentrators for personal use slashed to 12%.
• Centre to borrow additional ₹1.58 lakh crore to make up for GST compensation shortfall.
• Union Food Processing Ministry sets a target of 13,000 mini food parks in Assam.
• Pollution control body asks 30 industries to modify nitrogen plants for medical oxygen.
• State-run oil companies to set up 100 oxygen generation plants at hospitals.
• Govt makes vehicle location tracking devices mandatory for oxygen containers; exempts toll fee.
• Road ministry notifies changes in motor vehicle rules on vehicle ownership transfer.
• Centre releases first instalment of ₹8,873.6 crore under State Disaster Response Fund to states.
• Centre releases over ₹8,923 crore to 25 States for providing grants to Rural Local Bodies.
• Indian Railways crosses milestone of delivering over 20,000 MT oxygen.
• PM releases eighth instalment worth over ₹20,000 crore to 9.5 crore farmers under PM-KISAN scheme.
• Special Window for Affordable & Mid-Income Housing fund completes its first residential project,.
• Cabinet approves ₹18,000 crore PLI scheme for battery storage manufacturing.
• DGCA extends suspension of scheduled international passenger flights till 30th June.
• Civil Aviation Ministry cuts airline capacity to 50% from June 1.
• Govt hikes DAP fertiliser subsidy by 140%, to spend additional ₹14,775 crore.
• Govt extends deadline for mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery till June 15.
• Govt extends FY21 ITR filing deadline for individuals till September 30.
• RBI unveils liquidity support measures; allots ₹50,000 crore for COVID-related healthcare infrastructure
• RBI offers fresh loan moratorium to Individual, small borrowers having loans up to ₹25 crore.
• RBI approves transfer of ₹99,122 crore surplus to Centre for 9 months ended in March.
• RBI issues guidelines for amalgamation of district central co-op banks with state co-op banks.
• Govt garners ₹4,000 crore via 1.95% stake sale in Axis Bank.
• Bank of Baroda sanctions ₹500 crore to Serum Institute under RBI’s ₹50,000 crore liquidity facility.
• Axis Bank, Anchor investor Bay Tree India cur their stakes in Yes Bank.
• Govt notifies final rules for 74% foreign investment in insurance sector.
• Indiabulls Housing Fin sells MF business to Groww for ₹175 crore.
• IMF unveils $50 billion proposal to vaccinate 40% of entire population by 2021-end.
• Roche launches COVID-19 ‘Antibody Cocktail’ in India at ₹59,750 per dose; Cipla to market drug in country.
• Govt rejects Serum Institute of India’s request to export 50 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine to UK.
• Russian Direct Investment Fund, Panacea Biotec launch production of Sputnik V vaccine in India.
• Apollo Hospitals, Dr Reddy’s announce Covid-19 vaccination programme with Sputnik V.
• Shilpa Medicare arm inks pact with Dr Reddy’s to manufacture Sputnik V vaccine.
• Pfizer, Moderna, J&J pledge 1.3 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines to less wealthy nations.
• China’s Fosun Pharma signs deal for 1 billion vaccines with BioNTech.
• Moderna inks deal with UN’s GAVI to supply 500 million doses to low and middle-income countries.
• India, UK unveil 10-year road map to elevate bilateral trade partnership; to enhance vaccine partnership .
• US, Pakistan agree to continue Trade and Investment Framework (TIFA) agreement dialogue.China bans financial, payment institutions from cryptocurrency business.
• Cairn Energy sues Air India in U.S. court to enforce $1.2 billion arbitration award.
• Mehul Choksi arrested in Dominica; India sends private jet to Dominica carrying deportation documents.
• Vijay Mallya loses bankruptcy petition amendment High Court battle in UK.
• Hyundai, Kia shut down facilities in home base in the wake of the predicted semiconductor turmoil.
• Renault-Nissan, Hyundai face temporary closures in Chennai over workers’ COVID fears.
• Govt approves 13 5G trial applications with no Chinese Vendors.
• Rajasthan Govt approves Saint Gobain’s ₹1200 crore investment plan in State.
• Infosys partners with Majesco to accelerate digital experience for insurers.
• HCL Tech to expand investment in UK, hire 1,000 technology professionals.
• Google unveils new AI model LaMDA, to aid natural conversations with machines.
• HCL Tech enters into multi-year contract with Hitachi ABB Power Grids for business transformation.
• Zensar Technologies signs agreement to acquire US based data engineering firm M3bi.
• L&T Technology, Intel Corp develop AI-based outdoor parking solution.
• US removes Xiaomi from government blacklist, parties to resolve litigation.
• Amazon buys Hollywood studio MGM in $8.45 billion deal.
• Boeing wins approval for 737 Max electrical fix, notifies airlines.
• Ransomware attack shuts down network of top US fuel pipeline operator, Colonial Pipeline.
• Supreme Court defers hearing for July 6 on plea alleging IT Rules violation by Twitter.
• Twitter buys Scroll and its Ad-free news app with aim to bolster upcoming subscription service.
• Tata Digital buys majority stake of 64.3% worth $1.31 billion in online grocer BigBasket.
• Pharmeasy buys Medlife, creates India’s largest online pharmacy.
• NPCI partners Turkish firm PayCore to develop softPoS solutions for RuPay.
• KKR invests $95 million in Lenskart, TPG and TR Capital to partially exit.
• Edtech startup upGrad acquires Impartus, commits ₹150 crore for growth.
• India, China, South Africa fared ‘relatively better’ than other major economies in Q1 of 2021: UN data.
• Unemployment in urban areas surges to 10-month high of 11.72% amid lockdowns: CMIE.
• Govt names T Rabi Sankar as Deputy Governor of RBI; Jose Kattoor appointed as Executive Director.
• ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming to step down as CEO by end of 2021, HR Chief Liang Rubo to take over.

Q4 Results

• SBI net profit jumps 80% YoY to ₹6,451 crore, NII up by 19% to ₹27,067 crore; to pay ₹4/share as dividend.
• Kotak Mahindra Bank net profit rises 33% YoY to ₹1,682 crore, GNPA improves to 3.27%, NNPA at 1.21%.
• YES Bank Q4 Net loss widens to ₹3,788 crore, provisions rose 7.5% YoY to ₹5,240 crore.
• HDFC Q4 profit rises 8.7% QoQ to ₹3,180 crore, NII fell 0.1%; to pay ₹23 as dividend.
• M&M posts profit of ₹163 crore, revenue up 48% YoY to ₹13,338 crore; to pay dividend of ₹8.75 /share.
• RIL Q4 profit more than doubles to ₹13,227 crore, firm posts record annual profit of ₹53,739 crore.
• Jio registers 36.3% YoY increase in EBITDA to ₹8,573 crore; Average revenue per user drops to ₹138.2.
• Bharti Airtel reports Q4 net profit of ₹759.2 crore, revenue rises 12% to ₹25,747 crore.
• Sun Pharma Q4 net profit rises 123% YoY to ₹894 crore, revenue rose 4% YoY to ₹8,523 crore.
• Dr Reddy’s Labs profit falls 28% to ₹554 crore, revenue up by 7% YoY to ₹4,728 crore, to pay ₹25 dividend.
• Tata Motors loss narrows to ₹7,604 crore due to JLR write-offs, revenue up 42% YoY to ₹88,628 crore.