Week 28

Traffic 🚗🚙🚕

January 16, 2021

Good Morning,

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

Another busy week on our constantly spinning planet. This week saw slumped market performances, the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, India's sporting battle against Australia, and new budget predictions! 

I hope you enjoy today's newsletter,

Now let’s get into the news.

Markets

Market News

slipped on Friday ending the week in the dreaded red! BSE Sensex dropped nearly 550 points, while Nifty 50 fell by a lower 162 points. Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, ONGC, Asian Paints, and Infosys were among the top losers at the end of the week with their stocks dropping approximately 3.92%. Market analysts blamed the drop in market performance due to early profit-booking by traders after recent surges in previous weeks. Banking, IT and Auto stocks witnessed the highest-selling pressure. Market confidence, however, is on the rise as India rolls out the COVID-19 vaccines, and with business slowly returning to pre-COVID levels. The price of gold rose 0.28% throughout the week, with crude oil slumping -1.18%. 

COVID-19 News

The vaccine is here! On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the

. The launch took place virtually with over 3000 vaccination sites across India tuning in. PM Modi reiterated that those at high risk and essential workers deserve and will get the vaccine first. Prior to the vaccine rollout, on Monday, the Serum Institute of India (SII) received a purchase order from the government for 11 million doses of the Covishield Vaccine developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca. Despite the criticism for poorly managing the country during the pandemic, the Indian Government's development on the vaccination front has been extremely efficient. With the recent purchase order, the vaccine will approximately cost

(including GST), making it extremely cost-friendly and accessible to every Indian citizen. 

According to an analysis of publicly available production deals, India is set to produce the most COVID-19 vaccine does after the USA in the year 2021. Data indicates that as of January 12th, Indian firms are manufacturing more than

of six different COVID-19 vaccines. 

In other news,

after receiving the Pfizer developed COVID-19 vaccine. The individuals were all over the age of 80 and unfortunately succumbed to the side-effects of the vaccine. The side-effects reported were high fever and extreme nausea. 

As a discussion, do you reckon companies should make it compulsory for their employees to take the vaccine? Or only vaccinated passengers can travel? What do you think? Let me know by replying to the email! 

New Year, New Budget!

Budget 2021-22

Another year, another

to discuss! While the budget for the new year has not been released by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman yet, there is a lot of speculation and expectations for the upcoming budget. The annual Union budget speech will take place on the 1st of February 2021. According to industry experts, the Indian government should provide additional funds and incentives to promote farmers, farming techniques, and organic food processing techniques to increase the overall growth of the agriculture sector. The use of the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme should be used to directly support farmers and removing any middle corruption. 

In addition, a number of individuals want the Government to increase investment into start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises. A greater portion spent on Indian start-ups will fit perfectly with Prime Minister Modi's "Make in India" vision. Multiple start-ups are heavily invested in the agri-technology and space sectors, two fields with a great future. 

Moreover, healthcare facilities, vaccination companies, and the workforce require greater development and monetary funding as well. The Government should prioritize funding human resources rather than infrastructure. Most important of all, the lower and middle class deserve to be supported the greatest, with greater subsidies, low-interest rates, and lower tax rates. 

These were my opinions coupled with professionals, what do you think should be the priority of the upcoming budget? Share it through your feedback! 

Headlines

The return...

Who remembers

? Probably India's finest aircraft carrier with exceptional service and food, and regular flights to London too! Well, a final decision on the revival of Jet Airways could come this month. On the 25th of January, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) will hear the application filed by Punjab National Bank challenging the decision of the resolution professional. The committee of creditors (CoC) has approved the revival plan for the grounded airline, however, the NCLT has the final approval. However, the revival of Jet Airways will be used to promote flights between tier 2/3 cities (cities with lower air traffic), and to promote the overall vision of Indian aviation. The airline will also be involved in the cargo business. 

Another game of Ludo?

Popular online mobile game

recently launched a new Quick Ludo mode for faster games with five to six players. The Quick Ludo game will allow users to finish games in a much shorter time frame. A classic Ludo King game takes around 15 to 40 minutes, whereas Quick Ludo will only take around 5 minutes. Ludo King surpassed 500 million downloads, making it India's most popular gaming application compared to other names in the mobile gaming world.

More traffic :(

On Monday, the Automobile dealers body FADA reported a 24% year-on-year increase in

in the month of December. Oof that holiday season must have been lovely for some, as in numbers, 2,71,249 units were sold! An addition of 2 million passenger vehicles is likely to result in increased traffic and increased pollution...but what is the solution? In addition, two-wheeler sales increased by 12% to 14,24,620 units. Considering each vehicle category, total sales increased by 11.01% to 18,44,143 units. As mentioned, more vehicles result in greater pollution and traffic. Remember, if you think you could walk it, you definitely can! 

Sports

Final test!

What an underdog fairytale for our debutant Indian bowler Thangarasu Natarajan at the

of India v Australia. With most of the Indian first team out injured, it allowed our young, budding talent to step up and deliver. A commendable effort from an inexperienced Indian bowling team reduced Australia to 274/5 despite a stylish century from Australian batsman Marnus Labuschagne. As I am writing this newsletter, India trails 307 runs after 26 overs at 62/2. 

Smith's cheating antics...

On Day 5 of the Sydney Test, Australian veteran

was caught on the stump camera rubbing Indian batsman Rishabh Pant's guard mark. As an Indian fan, that was a low-blow and completely unnecessary! As a benefit, however, the young Indians are learning against Australia's finest! 

Thailand Open

On Wednesday,

and HS Prannoy played their first-round matches at the Thailand Open. After successfully testing negative for COVID-19, both players competed and eased into the pre-quarterfinals of the tournament. 

Other News

1. On Friday, the Karnataka Police seized Bitcoins worth

from Srikrishna Shreeki, a 25-year old, Bengaluru-based hacker. 

2. Samsung released its flagship smartphone, the

. With cool new colours and some interesting features, the Samsung Galaxy S21 starts at INR 69,999, with the most expensive model costing INR 1,05,999. 

3.

posted a 43% decline in sales at 7,893 units for the year 2020. 

4. Carrying on from last week, the recent

has been confirmed in 10 states across India, with strict monitoring of water bodies, live bird markets, zoos, and poultry farms. 

5. On Wednesday, India's Cabinet Committee on Security cleared the procurement of

for INR 46,898 crore. 

Quiz

ooh, baby! It's quiz time, and this week is a tough one! 

My first suggests not easy to get to

Without my second, chaos may ensue

My whole tells your devices what to do

What am I?

Read it carefully, and think! 

See you next week!

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As always, please do share it with your friends and family so they can enjoy reading the news while sipping on their Subah Kee Chai.

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See you next week!

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Quiz Answer: remote control 

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