Week 15

Grape 🍇

October 17, 2020

Good Morning,

Welcome! I hope you have your “Subah Kee Chai” ready and you're excited to read your weekly 10-minute digest. 

This week saw some crazy tech releases, interesting retail news and some heavy rainfall for Maharasthrans. The markets went on a rollercoaster as they ended a 10-day winning streak by a steep fall. Lastly, its been another exciting week of IPL, who do you think's going to win? 

I hope you enjoy today's newsletter,

Now let’s get into the news.

Markets

Markets

This week was truly a

in the equities markets. On Wednesday, the markets closed in the green extending a 10-day positive streak. However, Thursday saw the markets come crashing down as investors lost a whopping INR 3.25 lakh crore. The markets recovered on Friday with the banking, metal, and IT sectors leading the pack. Tata Steel, HDFC Bank, Ultratech Cement, and ONGC were among the prominent gainers. On the contrary, HCL Tech, Mahindra, Asian Paints, and Sun Pharma suffered losses. The sudden crash mid-week occurred due to weak global cues, sell-offs, and worries over re-surging COVID-19 cases. 

Lastly, the country's

hit an all-time high as it increased by USD 5.867 billion to cross USD 551.505 billion according to the Reserve Bank of India. 

Consumable 

Grape 

On Monday, the

in Pune announced that it has taken a number of steps to improve the quality and quantity of grapes for export and domestic consumption. In numbers, the land used to grow grapes has increased from 32.4 thousand hectares in 1991 to 139 thousand hectares in 2019. The center is also commenced projects to develop different variations of grapes that will have different purposes. An introduction of a new breeding system to increase resistance to diseases is in progress, and will soon be made accessible to grape farmers. Your grapes are going to get a lot sweeter! 

PepsiCo Crisps? 

announced an INR 814 crore greenfield project in Mathura to produce potato crisps starting in 2021. Since 1990, PepsiCo has been producing carbonated soft drinks and non-carbonated beverages. The production of potato crisps is definitely new, however, it is a step towards greater diversity and expansion of the PepsiCo franchise. The new project will open up a number of jobs for the locals in Mathura, Utter Pradesh. All the raw materials will be sourced from local formers boosting business in the region.  

Eye-opener:

PepsiCo is a dominant household name, with shares in a majority of retail industries. Do you think PepsiCo is becoming too dominant and monopolistic? 

Mercedes

The luxury market is making a comeback during the festive period as

, the country's largest carmaker, reported 2,058 sales in the July-September quarter. This was a four times increase from 563 units in the second quarter. With the festive season around the corner, the rise in demand highlights a positive return to pre-COVID numbers, and possibly a positive start to 2021. 

The Centre

IMF

The

released its global predictions for GDP, and projected that India's economy will contract by a massive 10.3% as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Senior TMC leader Abishek Banerjee said that the country's economy is in "tatters" and described the projected economic contraction as India's "colossal downfall". This projected shatters Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream of making India a USD 5 trillion economy. On a more positive note, India's growth projections are an impressive 8.8% for 2021. 

GST

On Wednesday, the ministry of finance confirmed that the Centre Government will

an estimated shortfall of INR 1.1 lakh crore on behalf of all the states, as part of a special window, to compensate for the GST revenue losses as a result of slowed economic activity. The decision comes after the GST Council failed to reach a consensus on the idea of states borrowing in future GST collections to make up for shortfalls. 

Thought:

Is the decision to borrow money to compensate the shortfall in tax revenue the right step? What precedent will it set on future shortfalls?

Nuclear

On Friday, India successfully conducted a night trial of the

, a nuclear-capable bomb, at the Army test range in Odisha. The state-of-the-art surface to surface missile has a strike range of 350 km and can carry warheads weighing 500-1000 kg. 

Technology 

Apple 

On Wednesday, Apple held a special online event, in which it released the long-awaited

. Apple is releasing the iPhone 12 Pro Max, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12, and iPhone 12 mini. All four new iPhones will support 5G and will be installed with a range of specs. The phones are available to pre-order and will officially be available to buy on the 30th of October. 

In addition, Apple also announced its new smart speaker called the

, which will compete against Amazon's Alexa and Google's Home. It is priced at an affordable INR 9,990 and will be available starting the 6th of November. 

OnePlus

Smartphone maker OnePlus launched its flagship smartphone

on Wednesday as well. The smartphone comes with a Fluid AMOLED display and is powered by an extremely quick processor. The phone comes in two variants, 128GB or 256GB, and will start at a price of INR 42,999. The OnePlus 8T is currently available on Amazon and OnePlus.in. 

Sports

Another exciting end to the week for IPL with the Mumbai Indians winning their 5th game in a row to swiftly move into first place past Delhi Capitals. Kings XI Punjab sits at the bottom with just 4 points of their 8 games. 

In other sports news, Portuguese International and football's greatest

tested positive for COVID-19 during the international break. The player is currently isolating for a 14-day period after which he will return to Juventus to continue playing. 

Other News

1. Over the last three days, the state of Maharasthra faced

and a series of floods. As a result, 47 individuals lost their lives. 

2. India's

increased by 5.99% to USD 27.58 billion in September 2020. In comparison, India's exports stood at USD 26.02 billion in September 2019. 

3. Under the air bubble formed

, Vistara will fly daily to London Heathrow from December 1st. In addition, Virgin Atlantic will fly to Manchester from Mumbai and Delhi. 

4. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is building a greenfield airport at

, Arunachal Pradesh, which will be completed by November 2022. 

5. The

increased by 40% between August 2020 and September 2020. September saw 39.4 lakh domestic flyers, an increase from 28.3 lakh in August.  

Quiz

Quiz time! 

Six letters have I, and many more; 

One word tells what the others are for; 

Conceal a thing is what I do; 

So what am I? Need a clue?

Think!

See you next week!

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Quiz Answer: a riddle! 

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Written by: Adnan Bahrainwala (Founder of Subah Kee Chai)