1. Finance Ministry to Exempt Relief Goods for Kerala from Customs Duty/IGST
The central government is exempting basic customs duty and Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) for the goods imported or supplied for flood relief operations in Kerala, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday, 20 August.
A notification to this effect is likely to be issued tomorrow, according to sources. “India stands with Kerala in this hour of need. Central Government is exempting basic customs duty and IGST for the consignments of aid and relief materials being despatched or imported from abroad for the affected people,” Goyal said in a tweet.
(Source: The Financial Express)
2. Alibaba in Talks with Reliance Retail for Joint Venture
China’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has initiated talks with Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Retail Ltd to form a mega Indian retail joint venture (JV), with an investment of at least $5 billion to challenge the dominance of Flipkart and Amazon in the world’s fastest-growing economy, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said.
Alibaba Group has proposed to acquire a large stake in Reliance Retail to create a behemoth in the digital marketplace and also expand Alibaba’s physical retail businesses in India, the people said, requesting anonymity.
(Source: Livemint)
3. BSE to Delist 17 Companies From Tuesday
The Bombay Stock Exchange will delist as many as 17 companies from tomorrow as trading in their shares has remained suspended for over six months.
The exchange has been for the past few months delisting companies where the trading has remained suspended for a long period.
BSE said in a circular, “17 companies that have remained suspended for more than six months would be delisted from the platform of the exchange, with effect from 21 August, 2018 pursuant to order of the delisting committee.’’
(Source: The Hindu Business Line)
4. Payroll Data: 47 Lakh Jobs Created in 10 Months till June
Retirement fund body EPFO's payroll data suggests that as many as 47.13 lakh jobs were created during September 2017 to June this year.
However, the retirement body lowered earlier estimate of new members enrolment by 12.38 percent, from 44.74 lakh to 39.20 lakh member for September 2017-May 2018 period.
(Source: The Economic Times)
5. Larsen & Toubro Shares Rally 6%; M-Cap Improves by Rs 117.59 Bn
Shares of Larsen & Toubro on Monday settled with gains of over 6 percent on the bourses, following which the market capitalisation of the company improved by Rs 117.59 billion.
During the day the stock of the company opened at Rs 1,300, then gained further ground and touched an intra-day high of Rs 1,331.00, up 7.31 percent over its previous closing price on BSE.
At the end of Monday's trading session, the stock was at Rs 1,323.95, up 6.74 percent. Following the uptick in the counter, market capitalisation of the company improved by Rs 117.59 billion to Rs 1,85,6.16 billion at the end of Monday's trading on BSE.
(Source: Business Standard)
6. Gold Investors Lose Hope as Biggest Short in History Builds
Gold is hitting new milestones of misery.
Exchange-traded funds tracking the metal have bled assets for 13 consecutive weeks, the longest run in five years, investors have placed the biggest gold short on record, and bullion’s chief foe – a strong dollar – is extending its market grip.
Gold’s 9 percent tumble this year belies the turmoil in emerging markets and jitters over technology companies, the anchor of the US equity bull market.
(Source: The Economic Times)
7. HCL Technologies Shareholders Approve Rs 40-Bn Share Buyback Offer
IT services major HCL Technologies on Monday said its shareholders have approved a proposal to buyback shares worth Rs 40 billion (Rs 4,000 crore).
In a BSE filing, HCL Technologies said 99.59 percent shareholders had voted in favour of the proposal.
In July, HCL Technologies had announced a Rs 40 billion (Rs 4,000 crore) buyback programme for FY19 at a price of Rs 1,100 per equity share.
(Source: Business Standard)
8. Trade Setup: Nifty May Extend Rally, but Is Vulnerable at Higher Levels
Indian stock market continued to rally, as both Nifty and Sensex climbed to their record highs on Monday. The session was stable with virtually no volatility, and this kept the upmove across the board. The upsurge remained secular, except for the IT pack.
The NSE benchmark Nifty ended logging a decent gain of 81 points or 0.71 percent.
The stock market is in firm bullish grip and in equally firm uptrend. The Nifty is likely to inch higher given the present setup, but as pointed earlier, the trades are visibly overextended on the higher time-frame charts.
(Source: The Economic Times)
9. SBI Announces Late Fee Waiver on Loan EMIs in Kerala
From late payment fee waiver on loan EMIs to zero charges for issuing ATM cards and cheque books, India’s biggest bank, State Bank of India or SBI has announced many initiatives to help account holders in the flood-ravaged state of Kerala. SBI has announced temporary waiver of various charges and fee on banking transactions in Kerala for a “period of time”.
(Source: Livemint)
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