1. Growing Economic Worries Leave Markets in a Bear Hug; Sensex Slips 2%
Indian stocks fell the most in nearly 11 months and the rupee weakened to the lowest level in more than nine months on Tuesday, 3 September amid concerns that the nation’s economic slump will be deeper and more prolonged than earlier thought.
The benchmark BSE Sensex plunged 2.06 percent, the most since 11 October, to 36,562.91 points while the National Stock Exchange’s Nifty plunged 2.04 percent to 10,797.90 points. Metal, consumer durable, bank and telecom stocks were the worst hit.
(Source: Livemint)
2. GST Council May Cut Tax on Hybrid Vehicles as Auto Sector Battles Slowdown
Amid the auto industry’s clamour for a cut in the goods and services tax (GST) rate, the GST Council may give a breather to the hybrid vehicles segment in its upcoming meeting. The government is examining a rate cut for such vehicles by doing away with the cess, which will bring down the tax incidence from 43 percent to 28 percent.
Hybrid vehicles use both a small internal combustion engine (ICE) and an electric motor for minimising emission. The auto sector is facing the worst slump in 20 years, with sales of passenger vehicles plummeting by 30.98 percent in July.
(Source: Business Standard)
3. Neutrality of E-Commerce Marketplace Important to Sellers, Says Survey
Neutrality of e-commerce marketplaces is important to sellers, and a large section believes that private labels offered by marketplaces create a “conflict of interest”, according to a survey by The E-Commerce Council of India (TECI).
According to the survey, 89 percent of the respondents said neutrality of the marketplace was important as a core principle and that marketplaces should not have any of its own/related party sellers on the platform.
(Source: PTI)
4. Cabinet Lends a Hand to IDBI Bank, Clears Rs 9,300 Crore Infusion
IDBI Bank Ltd, the country’s weakest bank, will get a Rs 9,300 crore infusion from its parent, Life Insurance Corp of India, and the government to help narrow the ailing lender’s losses and boost its lending capacity.
As part of the recapitalisation plan approved by the Union Cabinet on Tuesday, IDBI Bank will get Rs 4,557 crore from the government, and state-owned LIC will pump in an additional Rs 4,743 crore to improve the bank’s capital buffers. The government, the erstwhile owner of the bank, held a 46.46 percent stake in the lender as of June.
(Source: Livemint)
5. Vision 2019: Chip Industry Leads in AI Adoption, Says Accenture
The semiconductor industry is the most bullish about adopting Artificial Intelligence (AI) and understanding the significant impact the latter will have on it, says Accenture Semiconductor Technology Vision 2019, the annual report from Accenture that predicts key technology trends likely to redefine business over the next three years.
Three-quarters of semiconductor executives surveyed for the report (77 perccent) said they have adopted AI within their business or are piloting the technology.
(Source: Financial Express)
6. Truck Sales Crash 60 Percent; Ashok Leyland Sees Decline of 70 Percent in August
Sales of medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles (M&HCVs), excluding buses, considered a barometer of economic activity, more than halved in August, as transporters — struggling with excess capacity owing to a slowing economy and consumption slowdown — deferred purchases, the monthly sales data released by truck makers shows.
India’s economy grew by 5 percent in the June quarter, the slowest in over six years.
(Source: Business Standard)
7. Start-ups Look Beyond SoftBank to Pension Funds for Big Cheques
Bulge-bracket venture capital funds such as SoftBank used to lord over the funding landscape for late-stage start-ups in India. Now, pension and sovereign wealth funds are moving in, loaded with money, risk appetite and willingness to wait for long.
Pension fund Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority joined education firm Byju’s USD 300-million fund-raising across two rounds in December 2018, and are in talks for another USD 300 million investment.
(Source: Livemint)
8. Relief Measure: CCEA Hikes Ethanol Prices, Purchase by MNC Will Rise 30 Pct
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Tuesday announced increases in the price of sugarcane-extracted ethanol, used for blending in petrol, in keeping with its stated, but under-implemented policy of encouraging ethanol-blended fuel to cut the country’s burdensome oil import bill and aiding the sugar industry and farmers.
For the year starting December, price of ethanol derived from C heavy molasses has been increased from Rs 43.46 a litre to Rs 43.75 per litre, and for B heavy molasses to Rs 54.27 per litre from Rs 52.43 earlier. Also, the price of ethanol from sugarcane juice, sugar, sugar syrup route has been fixed at Rs 59.48 per litre.
(Source: Financial Express)
9. Now, Sidbi Survey Shows Deepening MSME Crisis; Outlook Down in
Indicating deepening crisis in the economy, a quarterly survey of small business by the state-run Sidbi has found that their sentiment has been impacted by the broader trends in the economy.
The report comes days after the disappointing GDP growth prints which showed that the economy has lost its steam clipping at a low 5 percent in the three months period to June, which is a 25-quarter low. The quarterly survey conducted with rating agency Crisil and released Tuesday, however, finds that small businesses, which are the largest job creators, are sanguine on employment
(Source: PTI)
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