1. India@70: What a Comparison With Five Nations Reveals
In the 70 years since Independence, India has made the most progress in improving life expectancy and literacy, but has been slower in improving the level of income, and reducing infant mortality rates when compared to five other nations.
On the eve of Independence day, we compared the progress India has made in improving income, health, education, and in preserving its forests, to five countries –China, Pakistan, Malaysia, South Korea and Brazil.
Why We Chose These Countries
We chose China because it had roughly the same per capita income in 1960 as India did. Our analysis showed that even though China and India are constantly compared, until now, China has outperformed India across most wealth and health indicators.
We looked at South Korea to get a sense of how India performed compared to a country that has gone from being a developing to a developed country after 1947.
We used Pakistan to compare progress in a country that shares the same history and culture, and was formed at the same time as India.
Brazil, one of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries, serves as a comparison with another emerging economy that is estimated to become one of the largest in the world over the next 30 years.
We picked Malaysia because it is, like India, multicultural and, although it was more prosperous than India when independence came, it has weathered significant ethnic tension and conflict. It represents the unique dynamism of a region, southeast Asia, in close proximity to India.
Source: BloombergQuint
2. Aamby Valley Auction Process Begins at Rs 37,000 Crore Reserve Price
A Supreme Court ordered auction process began on Monday for Aamby Valley resort town of embattled Sahara group at a reserve price of Rs 37,392 crore.
The official liquidator of the Bombay High Court published an auction notice inviting prospective bidders for the integrated hill city township near Lonavala, located between Mumbai and Pune.
A Mauritius-based investor, Royale Partners Investment Fund, last week said it has offered to invest $1.67 billion (over Rs 10,700 crore) in Sahara group’s Aamby Valley project. Sahara group pegs the market valuation of this project at over Rs 1 lakh crore.
Source: PTI
3. Why Reliance Jio Wants Interconnect Charges to Be Zero
Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd.’s demand to make interconnect usage charges zero will benefit the country’s youngest telecom company, according to most brokerages.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India may cut IUC charges from the existing 14 paise per minute to under 10 paise soon, according to a recent report by the Times of India.
Lower IUC would benefit Reliance Jio the most, while it will hurt the top three telecom companies, broking firm IDFC Securities said in a research note. The Mukesh Ambani-controlled telecom company, which offers free voice calls, will save close to Rs 900-1,000 crore annually if IUC comes down to 10 paise a minute, it said.
Source: BloombergQuint
4. Inflation Surge in July Reduces Likelihood of Near-Term RBI Rate Cut
India’s retail inflation quickened to 2.36 percent in July, reversing its downward trend, as vegetables prices shot up, reducing the probability of any near-term interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation was at 1.46 percent a month ago.
The pace of decline in vegetable prices slowed to 3.57 percent in July from a 16.53 percent contraction in the previous month, data released by the Central Statistics Office on Monday showed.
Source: Livemint
5. In IPO Investments, Selling on Listing Day Gives the Best Returns
It may have been prudent to sell most initial public offering (IPO) shares on the listing day rather than holding on to them for longer, a Mint analysis of the top 200 initial share sales by issue size since 1999 shows.
Data sourced from primary market tracker Prime Database shows 177 of the top 200 IPOs have completed at least a year since their listing. Of these, 99 stocks had one-year returns that lagged behind listing day gains. The year-end price of 84 stocks dropped below the IPO issue price.
Source: Livemint
6. IDBI Bank Still a Prisoner of Bad Loans as Malaise Deepens
Fifty-three years after being set up as a development finance institution and 13 years after its rebirth as a bank, IDBI Bank Ltd today is a shadow of the important institution it once was. Bereft of capital to lend and facing a fast decaying loan book, the public sector lender is making losses hand over fist.
In its first quarter after having pulled into prompt corrective action by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), IDBI Bank’s loan book showed no signs of healing. In fact, it only got worse.
Source: Livemint
7. India’s Trade Deficit Widens as Gold Imports Continue to Offset Export Growth
India's trade deficit continued to widen as higher gold imports offset an 11th straight month of export growth.
Trade deficit, the difference between imports and exports, stood at $11.9 billion in July compared to $7.7 billion in the same month last year, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce. The gap was lower than $12.9 billion in June.
Imports in July rose 15.4 percent over last year to $33.9 billion as inbound shipments of gold, silver and oil increased. Gold imports have been on the rise since February, after a slowdown during demonetisation.
Source: BloombergQuint
8. Reliance Capital to List Reliance General Insurance; Eyes Up to Rs 2,000 Crore
Reliance Capital has filed an application with insurance regulator IRDAI for selling up to 25 percent stake in its general insurance arm RGIC to raise about Rs 1,500-2,000 crore, people familiar with the development said.
Reliance General Insurance (RGIC) is the fourth general insurance company to have announced its intentions to list in the stock exchanges.
Reliance Capital currently owns 100 percent of RGIC, and the company is seeking approval to sell up to 25 percent in the initial public offering, the people said.
Source: PTI
9. SEBI Ban on 331 Shell Companies: Here Is How Regulator Monitors Restricted Stocks
Last week, India’s capital markets regulator SEBI shocked investors with its order to suspend trading in 331 suspected shell companies’ shares, putting them on a strict watch under its Graded Surveillance Measure (GSM) framework.
The regulator asked the stock exchanges to place all the 331 companies in the stage VI (six) of Graded Surveillance Measure, restricting the trade in these securities to once in a month with additional deposit.
The regulator’s directive came after the corporate affairs ministry shared a list of 331 listed companies that are suspected to be shell entities.
Out of 331 firms identified by Sebi for action, 162 were actively traded on BSE; 48 were traded on the NSE. The rest have already been suspended by the bourses on account of irregularities.
Source: The Financial Express
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