1. Indian Industry Braces for Flood of Chinese Steel Following US Tariff Hike
US President Donald Trump's continuing rhetoric over hiking import duties on steel and aluminium products has had Indian industry worried. Steel makers in the country are gearing up to meet a possible fallout of Trump's impending decision – the flooding of the Indian market with Chinese steel.
Indian exports of steel and aluminium to the US remain low within the bouquet of total merchandise exports. While India’s steel exports to the US stood at only $330 million, a fraction of total exports to the US, export of finished steel products were $1.23 billion in 2016-17. Total exports of aluminium and aluminium products stood at $350 million. However, senior Commerce Department officials warned that as a result of any US action on steel, the possibility of Chinese steel being dumped in Indian will rise manifold.
(Source: Business Standard)
2. Reliance Industries’ Rs 1.3 Trillion Non-Core Spending Seen Diluting Return on Capital
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has committed Rs 1.3 trillion worth of investments across five states in its non-energy businesses over the past two months. Though analysts worry that these investments may dilute its return on capital employed, RIL executives say it underlines the seriousness with which the company is pursuing opportunities in telecom and retail.
“The consumer-facing segment is important to RIL and these investments show how serious we are about it. It’s a huge opportunity for us,” a Reliance executive said on condition of anonymity. RIL did not respond to an email sent on 27 February.
(Source: LiveMint)
3. Trade War: US Metal Tariffs’ Impact On India
India ranks ninth on the list of trading partners that run a trade surplus with the US – it exports more to the US than what it imports. China, Mexico and Japan lead the list and even Vietnam runs a higher surplus against the US than India does, according to US government data.
US-India Trade In 2017:
- India ranked nine
- Exports: $25.7 billion
- Imports: $48.6 billion
- Total Trade: $74.3 billion
- Percent of total trade: 1.9 percent
(Source: BloombergQuint)
4. MedGenome Raises Funds from HDFC Group Firms
MedGenome Labs, a genomics research and diagnostics start-up, on Monday said it had raised funds from HDFC Ltd, HDFC Standard Life Insurance Co Ltd and HDFC Asset Management Co Ltd to complete a series C funding round of $40 million.
In October 2017, MedGenome said it had raised $30 million in its series C funding round and that it would raise another $10 million to conclude the round.
(Source: LiveMint)
5. Offshore India Funds, ETFs Register $1.1 Billion Inflow in January
India-focused offshore funds, as well as Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), witnessed a net inflow of $1.1 billion (over Rs 7,100 crore) in January, making it the highest inflow in 10 months, according to a report by Morningstar.
This comes following an inflow of $ 6.5 billion in these funds in 2017.
Offshore India funds not domiciled in India receive flow from overseas investors and in turn, invest the money in Indian markets. India-focused offshore funds and ETFs are a subset of the overall foreign portfolio investor (FPI) flows.
(Source: Business Standard)
6. Crude Prices Fall as US Shale Output Growth Gathers pace
Oil prices edged lower towards $64 per barrel on Monday on predictions of a major spike in US oil output in the next five years.
International benchmark Brent crude was down 21 cents, having shelved morning gains of around 0.6 percent, at $64.16 a barrel by 13:19 GMT.
The contract was well below 2018's highs of over $71 per barrel that it hit in January.
(Source: Business Standard)
7. 359 Infrastructure Projects Show Cost Overrun Of Rs 2.05 Lakh Crore
As many as 359 infrastructure projects, each worth Rs 150 crore and above, have shown cost overrun to the tune of Rs 2.05 lakh crore owing to delays and other reasons, a government report revealed.
The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation monitors infrastructure projects worth Rs 150 crore and above.
“Total original cost of implementation of the 1,289 projects was Rs 16.05 lakh crore and their anticipated completion cost is likely to be Rs 18.10 lakh crore, which reflects overall cost overruns of Rs 2.05 lakh crore (12.8 percent of original cost),” the ministry’s latest flash report for November 2017 has stated.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
8. SBI Appoints PK Gupta as Nominee Director on SBI Life Board
SBI Life Insurance Company Ltd today said PK Gupta, SBI MD - Retail and Digital Banking, has been appointed by the parent firm as nominee director on its board.
"...pursuant to the approval received from Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance...SBI has decided to nominate PK Gupta, MD (Retail & Digital Banking) as SBI Nominee Director in the board of directors of our company," SBI Life Insurance Company Ltd said in a filing to BSE.
SBI is the promoter of SBI Life Insurance Company Ltd.
"The nomination remains subject to ratification by the Nomination and Remuneration committee of the board of directors of our company and the board of directors of our company," the filing said.
(Source: PTI)
9. Tata Motors Aims to Hike Women Employees' Hiring Rate to 25 Percent
Country's largest auto-maker Tata Motors is turning more women-friendly, and hopes to increase hiring rate of women employees to 25 percent over the next four to five years.
It can be noted that Tata Motors's Pune plant was the first manufacturing plant in the country to have a female engineer on its assembly line way back in April 1974 when the late JRD Tata had personally hired Sudha Murthy, the wife of Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy.
(Source: PTI)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)