Week 22

Protests! 📣

December 05, 2020

Good Morning,

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

December is here! What a year it has been, a year in which Subah Kee Chai was born. It has been a rollercoaster, however, we have a month left! Spend time with your family this December and reflect on the pandemic-affected 2020. This week saw positive market performances, protesting farmers, and some sweeeeeet honey! 

I hope you enjoy today's newsletter,

Now let’s get into the news.

Markets

Market News

Both equity markets finished in the green this week after the Reserve Bank of India highlighted that

was faster than expected. BSE Sensex crossed the 45,000 mark for the first time ever led by gains in banking and financial stocks. The top gainers for the week were ICICI Bank, Ultra Cemco, Sun Pharma, and Bharti Airtel. On the contrary, Reliance, HDFC, and HCL Tech were among the top losers. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das announced its policy decisions for December, which highlighted India's positive prospects due to potential COVID-19 vaccines and greater consumer confidence. 

With the holiday season on-going, the price of gold increased by 2.5% in the week, supported by a rising crude oil price as well. Lastly, the

crossed the INR 83 per litre mark on Saturday rising to a two-year high. 

COVID-19

The Indian Government, on Tuesday, announced that the COVID-19 vaccine was never intended to reach the entire Indian population, and it will purely be used to

in virus transmission. If the Government is able to vaccinate the elderly and healthcare workers it will break the chain of transmission, and as a result, the entire population will not need to be vaccinated. An important factor for this process to work is for individuals to wear masks to break the chain of transmission. 

Farmers Protest

The Farmers Union, alongside thousands of farmers across India, have been protesting over the new agriculture laws (farm laws) that the Indian Government introduced earlier in September, but

? 

What?

Earlier in September, the Government enacted

that are aimed at removing middlemen and allowing farmers to directly sell anywhere across India. However, the farmers are unimpressed as they have expressed their concerns over the new laws through raging protests. The farmers believe that the new laws will eliminate the safety cushion of the Minimum Support Price (MSP) and scrap the Mandis (Mandis are local market places) exposing them to big corporations.  

When?

Until now, five rounds of talks have been held between the farmers union and the Government with nothing substantial being concluded. However, the constant pressure from protesting farmers has forced the Government to reconsider the new propositions and as a result, the Government has sought more time to present a concrete reproposal of the farm laws. The next scheduled round of talks between both parties is on the 9th of December. 

Where? 

With rising tensions, farmers across India demanded a Bharat Bandh on the 8th of December, and they threatened to block toll plazas coming into Delhi if the new laws are not scrapped. 

Who?

Surprisingly, India's protesting farmers gained global recognition as

, voiced their opinions on the new farm laws introduced, and demanded the UK Foreign Secretary to question India's decisions. 

In addition, despite India's warnings, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shared his concerns and stated that he will always stand up for the right of peaceful protests.  

The King 

That IPO was a whopper! 

Burger King's INR 810 crore IPO closed with

making it the second-most subscribed offering this year behind the Mazagon Dock IPO that was subscribed 157.4 times. The offering opened on December 2nd and held a price band of INR 59-60 per share. 

American-multinational fast-food chain,

currently operated 268 stores across India, of which eight franchises are located at airports. After such a success, it is only right to treat yourself to some delicious Burger King! What is your usual order? The chili-cheese bites are supposed to be really good! 

Honey! 

The Centre for Science and Environment recently released its report on adulteration (ruining something by adding another substance) in honey, and found some interesting facts! The study found that almost all the brands of

being sold in India are adulterated with sugar syrup. Honey is a widely consumed product due to its antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory advantages. However, your daily spoon of honey is overly concentrated with sugar that it can actually prove to be detrimental to your daily diet and sugar intake. Excessive sugar intake can result in serious health conditions such as obesity, diabetes, and even cardiac arrests! 

What is the solution?

While it may be expensive, organic honey products may be worth checking out. It is also important to always read the ingredients when purchasing shelf products, to avoid consuming processed foods. Lastly, reducing your honey intake to control your sugar intake is a good solution too! 

Too sweet! 

For the October-November period, India's

increased two times at 42.9 lakh tonnes as sugar mills recommenced early. Sugar markets are usually active from October to September across the year. In comparison, India's sugar mills produced 20.72 lakh tonnes in the same period a year ago. 

Offices as houses? 

Sleepover at my ho...office? 

With COVID-19 forcing employees to work from home, can the

be the solution to the housing shortages in India? This idea comes after South Korea announced that it will add 114,000 homes for the public within the next two years by buying empty hotels and offices and converting them into residences. Similarly, Singapore is pushing to redevelop offices and excess car parking spaces into residences, shops, restaurants, and indoor farms. Would the same idea work in India? The costs of converting offices into houses are expensive, however, it is an investment that would prove extremely beneficial in the long-run. While on a surface level, it seems like a good idea allowing the efficient use of excess space and resources, however, in reality, it is a lot more complex. What do you think? 

I need more space! 

The push to work from home has forced

to create a personal "office environment". Vaishnavi Group, based in Bengaluru, stated that it is planning to increase the number of 3 BHK's to 75% from 60% over the next year. Similarly, Brigade Group's residential business reported an increase from 5 property (worth 1.5 crores each) sales to 8 property sales in a month. Maybe turning offices into residential properties could be the solution...?  

Sports

This week in sports has been dull, following on from last week's loss of football legend Diego Maradona. 

However, the Indian Cricket team brought some positive news as they narrowly beat Australia in the

avoiding an embarrassing whitewash. India lost the series 2-1. Hardik Pandya was nominated man of the match for scoring 92 runs in 76 balls. 

In other worldwide sports news, on Saturday, Mike Tyson and Roy Jones JR's exhibition fight ended in a draw, as the world witnessed boxing's greatest battle over 6 rounds. 

Other News

1. On Thursday, the Government announced that Indian carriers can

of their pre-COVID level scheduled flights, up from 70%. 

2. India voted in favour of a motion by the UN to

from Schedule IV to a less strict classification. 

3. Edtech platform

raised INR 5 crore in seed funding from Unitus Ventures and Whiteboard Capital. 

4. The USA approved India's request to

and services. 

5.

hit the eastern coast once again affecting crop areas and houses in Tamil Nadu. 

Quiz

Quiz!!

What colour is depicted below?

BRLEUDE

Can you guess it? 

See you next week!

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See you next week!

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Quiz Answer: Purple (Red mixed with Blue gives you Purple!) 

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