1. India’s GDP Growth Slows to 7% in New Worry for Modi Government
The Indian economy grew at the slowest pace in the last six quarters – 7.1 percent in the April-June period of current the fiscal, mainly on subdued performance of mining, construction and farm sectors.
GDP had recorded 7.5 percent growth in the April-June quarter of last fiscal and 7.9 percent in January-March quarter. The previous low was 6.6 percent GDP growth in the October-December quarter of the 2014-15 fiscal.
According to the data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the Gross Value Added (GVA), which is estimated at the base price, showed a growth of 7.3 percent in the first quarter of 2016-17.
(Source: Economic Times)
2. Petrol Price Hiked by Rs 3.38 per Litre, Diesel by Rs 2.67
Petrol price was on Wednesday hiked by a steep Rs 3.38 per litre and diesel by Rs 2.67 a litre, reversing a two-month declining trend.
Petrol will cost Rs 63.47 a litre in Delhi from Wednesday midnight, up from Rs 60.09 a litre, said Indian Oil Corp, the nation’s largest fuel retailer. Similarly, a litre of diesel will cost Rs 52.94 a litre as against Rs 50.27.
The hike in fuel price, necessitated by a 13 percent rise in international oil rates in the last fortnight, comes on the back of four reductions. Rates were last cut by Rs 1 per litre in case of petrol and Rs 2 in diesel on 16 August.
(Source: Livemint)
3. Competition Regulator Imposes Rs 6316.59 Crore Fine Against Ten Cement Firms For Cartelisation
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has found 10 cement companies and their trade association i.e. Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA) guilty of cartelisation, it said in a press release. CCI said together the 10 cement companies have to pay Rs 6316.59 crore as penalty.
The CCI order was issued after a previous such order by the competition authority was challenged at the Competition Appellate Tribunal (COMPAT) and the COMPAT had remanded the matter back while setting aside the original original order.
In Wednesday’s order the CCI ruled that the cement companies used the platform provided by CMA and shared details relating to prices, capacity utilisation, production and dispatch and thereby restricted production and supplies in the market.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
4. Singur Case: CPM Govt’s Acquisition of Land for Tata Motors Illegal, Says SC
The Supreme Court on Wednesday quashed the acquisition of 997 acres of land by the CPM-led West Bengal government in 2006 for Tata Motors’ Nano car project.
A bench comprising Justices V Gopala Gowda and Arun Mishra said that the acquisition was illegal and void, and failed to meet the requirements under the Land Acquisition Act 1894.
“The case in which the judgement was delivered today, related to the acquisition of land by the state government, before it was leased to Tata Motors. Our case relating to Singur Act of 2011 is yet to be heard by the Supreme Court. We will study today’s judgement in detail before commenting further on the same,” said a Tata Motors spokesperson.
(Source: Livemint)
5. To Get All Approvals Before April 1, PM Modi Clears Early Budget
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday gave his go-ahead to advancing the introduction of the general budget to the first week of February so as to dovetail with Presidential approval a day before the new financial year starts on 1 April.
At a meeting with ministers and officials of the Finance Ministry, the PM fixed the Parliament approval date for 30 March and asked them to work backwards to arrive at the presentation date which, officials said, would be in the first week of February with a slight compression of the recess. “The Prime Minister approved 30 March as the date to avoid fiscal pendency in May and June,” a source said.
It would also end the uncertainty on various tax proposals presented in the Finance Bill as taxpayers would know the exact provisions before the fiscal year starts.
(Source: The Indian Express)
6. Zee Entertainment Sells Sports Broadcasting Business to Sony Pictures for $385 Million
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. (Zee) announced the sale of its sports broadcasting business, TEN Sports Network, to Sony Pictures Networks India Pvt Ltd. for $385 million (Rs 2,583 crore) in cash.
The completion of the acquisition will be subject to regulatory approvals, the company said in a press release. The TEN Sports channels being acquired include TEN 1, TEN 1 HD, TEN 2, TEN 3, TEN Golf HD, TEN Cricket, TEN Sports that operate in several countries including the Indian sub-continent, Maldives, Singapore, Hong Kong, Middle East, Caribbean.Zee Entertainment Enterprises Press Release
The sports broadcasting business delivered Rs 631 crore revenue in the financial year 2015-16, accounting for 10.79 percent of Zee’s overall topline. The business reported a net loss of Rs 37.2 crore in the same year.
The deal marks a “strategic portfolio shuffle,” Punit Goenka, the Managing Director of Zee Entertainment said in the press release.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
7. ONGC-Reliance Gas Dispute: Govt Sets One-Month Deadline
The government has set a one-month deadline to begin implementing steps to resolve a dispute over natural gas that migrated from Oil & Natural Corp.’s offshore block in the Bay of Bengal to the adjoining assets of Reliance Industries Ltd.
Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Wednesday that a government panel has endorsed findings by an outside consultant that studied how some gas produced from Reliance’s KG-D6 block had come from ONGC’s adjacent KG-DWN-98/2 block in the Krishna-Godavari basin off India’s east coast.
Reliance and ONGC didn’t respond to e-mails and phone calls seeking comment.
(Source: Livemint)
8. Fear No Longer a Factor for D-Street, VIX Volatility Index Drops to 13.02
Indian markets are at their most self-assured in a long while with fear having receded to its lowest in nearly two years. The India VIX volatility index, a measure of investor perception about risk of sharp swings based on option prices, dropped to 13.02 on Tuesday, the lowest since 11 December 2014.
This suggests equity investors are confident that the only way to go is up, at least in the near term, reflecting the conventional wisdom that when stocks rise, the VIX trends lower, analysts said.
“Index has shown a fresh breakout while VIX is in steady decline, which is confirming the uptrend in prices,” said Ashish Chaturmohta, head, technicals and derivatives, Sanctum Wealth Management.
(Source: Economic Times)
9. Old Indian Companies That Are Still Going Strong
The life expectancy of companies is shrinking rapidly the world over. According to leadership guru Steven Denning, the life expectancy rate of Fortune-500 companies has reduced from around 75 years in the 1950s to less than 15 years now. Defying this average, a list of Indian companies have been in existence for over 100 years – and several of them are still going strong.
Bombay Dyeing Company: New knots in business, 1879
Shalimar Paints: Coming soon, a fresh coat, 1902
The Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation: Good going, touch wood, 1863
Otis Elevator Company: Still riding high, 1892
Alembic Pharmaceuticals: Sweet pill to swallow, 1907
(Source: Economic Times)