1. Flipkart Set to Take on Amazon With Free Video Streaming Service
Walmart’s Flipkart unit is set to introduce a free video streaming service to draw new users from small towns and cities in India and take on rival Amazon’s Prime Video service.
Flipkart is eyeing the next 200 million consumers who are coming online. The company believes that most consumers are introduced to the internet through online videos. Hence, video content and entertainment could play a big role in getting consumers to come and buy online.
(Source: LiveMint)
2. Indian Markets Tumble 1% on Weakening Yuan, Trade War
Indian benchmark indices shed more than 1% on Monday as adverse local and global factors—including the scrapping of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, weakening of China’s yuan, and escalating global trade tensions—left investors on edge.
BSE’s benchmark Sensex fell 418.38 points, or 1.13%, to 36,699.84, while the National Stock Exchange’s 50-share Nifty index declined 1.23% to 10,862.60.
(Source: LiveMint)
3. Super-Rich Surcharge: FM Says She is Ready to Hear FPIs’ Views
The government appears to be softening its stand on the higher super rich surcharge on Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs). A hint of this came when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that she has sought their views.
“I am quite open to hear out what they have to say,” Sitharaman said here while briefing the media on her meeting with bankers on Monday. Further, she said that Economic Affairs Secretary Atanu Chakraborty would hold a meeting with FPIs soon.
(Source: The Hindu Business Line)
4. Dow Plunges 850 Points as US-China Trade War Flares
Stocks are plunging on Wall Street after China let its currency sink to the lowest level in more than a decade, escalating its trade war with the US.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 800 points Monday, or 3%, its worst drop of the year.
Technology companies and banks fell the most. Apple and Bank of America each fell 5%.
Bond prices soared, sending yields sharply lower, as investors sought safety.
(Source: AP)
5. Slowdown Shows in LIC Housing Finance Q1, Asset Quality Weakens
For LIC Housing Finance, first quarter was all about keeping its balance sheet from getting hurt. In that, it succeeded on some parameters, but failed in others.
The housing finance company managed to grow its core income by 18% and maintain its margins in an environment vitiated by liquidity crunch and a deepening real estate slowdown.
But it couldn’t escape the impact of the slowdown on asset quality and growth metrics.
(Source: LiveMint)
6. Services Sector Activity Returns to Growth on Surging Orders in July: PMI
The country’s services sector activity in July returned to growth territory driven by new business orders that rose at fastest pace since October 2016, following which job creation picked up, a monthly survey showed on Monday.
The IHS Markit India Services Business Activity Index rose to 53.8 in July from 49.6 in June, pointed to the quickest increase in output in one year.
In PMI parlance, a print above 50 means expansion, while a score below that denotes contraction.
(Source: PTI)
7. Indian Bank Q1 Net Profit Jumps 74.55 Percent
Indian Bank on Monday posted a 74.55 per cent jump in its net profits for the April-June quarter. According to a top official, it recorded a net profit of Rs 365.37 crore.
The city-based bank recorded net profits at Rs 209.31 crore during the corresponding quarter the previous year.
For the year ending March 31, 2019 the net profits were at Rs 321.95 crore.
(Source: PTI)
8. Equities in Middle of Bear Phase, Believe Experts
The equity markets on Monday ended the day with sharp losses and closed at a fresh five-month low, following fresh escalation of trade tensions between the US and China and continued FPI outflows. While the Nifty ended the day at 10,862.60, a fall of 134.75 points or 1.23%, the Sensex fell by 418.38 points or 1.13% to close at 36,699.84. Experts now believe that equities are in the midst of a bear phase.
With Monday’s fall, the Nifty is just 0.05 points away from erase the entire gains for 2019. Pramod Gubbi, founder at Marcellus Investment Managers, said, “Mid and small caps are technically in a bear phase even as only a handful of stocks have gone up. Equity markets have been weak for a while now and only a handful of stocks have been able to deliver positive returns. Otherwise, the broader markets have been weak which is reflection of lack of earnings.
(Source: Financial Express)
9. Released Salary Payment for July: BSNL CMD PK Purwar
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) on Monday said that it has released salaries of employees for payment for the month of July.
The salary payments are being funded out of internal accruals, BSNL Chairman and Managing Director P K Purwar told PTI.
A BSNL employee union had last week claimed that the salaries of employees for July had not been paid on the due date and they had not been informed by the management about when the payments would be cleared.
(Source: PTI)
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