Week 49

That's Gold! đźŹ†

August 08, 2021

Good Morning,

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

It has been a while, and for that, I apologize! Subah Kee Chai is an independent project to make the news enjoyable and concise for my readers. Being an independent project, sometimes 'life commitments' such as moving houses, travelling, graduating from university etc! take up a lot of my time to research and write a good quality newsletter for my readers. Having said that, all I can ask for is to bear with me, and forgive me for the Sunday's you've woken up to without a fresh Subah Kee Chai newsletter in your inbox! 

This week, I covered PM Modi's newly introduced e-RUPI digital payment system, Vodafone Idea's crumbling business structure, and our Indian heroes competing at the Tokyo Olympic Games 2020. As always, I hope you enjoy your Sunday wherever you may be on this spinning planet! :) 

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Markets

Markets

At the end of the week,

finished in the green, despite suffering a slight slump on Friday, as both equity benchmarks dipped approximately 100 points due to losses in Reliance Industries, HDFC, and SBI. Reliance Industries was the top loser on Friday with shares dropping 2%, followed by UltraTech Cement, SBI, Tata Steel, HDFC, and Axis Bank. On the positive side, Induslnd Bank, Bharti Airtel, Tech Mahindra, Maruti, NTPC, and Bajaj Auto were among the top gainers. 

Market experts held that the slight correction in market performance on Friday was due to the outcome of the Reserve Bank of India's policy meeting in which RBI kept interest rates unchanged and maintained its accommodative stance to bolster greater economic recovery. 

Foreign markets were trading in the green as well, with positive cues from Shangai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Europe. 

Lastly, the price of gold dipped by 1.41% while the price of crude oil increased by 1.37%. 

e-RUPI

New Digital Payment System 

On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched India's new digital payment system

! What is this new payment system and how do we use it? 

The payment system is developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) on its Unified Payments Interface (UPI)(basically an instant payment system!), in collaboration with the department of financial services, ministry of health & family welfare and the national health authority. 

e-RUPI is a cashless and contactless instrument for digital payment, just like popular payment service PayPal! It is a QR code or SMS string-based e-voucher, which is delivered to your mobile. Essentially, it is a pre-paid voucher that can be redeemed without a debit or a credit card, digital payments app, or internet banking services. 

You, as a consumer, can then give the e-RUPI voucher instead of cash at the counters of merchants that are accepting e-RUPI. 

The pilot avenue of the e-RUPI payment system is the healthcare sector, where payments via electronic vouchers will be accepted. COVID-19 vaccine jabs can also be received via these newly launched vouchers. Other sectors will slowly shift towards this digital payment system, and eventually turning India into a cashless economy. 

Currently, 11 banks are in sync with the e-RUPI product, in particular, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, etc. Despite being developed on a UPI, e-RUPI is different as it does not require the presence of a bank account or a digital payments app to create a direct transfer. Under UPI payments, there is no way of tracking the money paid, however, e-RUPI facilitates payment tracking for the issuer. 

While in theory, this is an exciting prospect, I am intrigued to see how this digital payment system will work in such a cash-driven economy! 

Up for sale! 

Government 

! One of India's largest telecom companies is struggling, and has been for a while now, but what really is going on?

Company chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla has offered his group's stake in Vodafone Idea up for sale to the Government or any other entity that it deems fit, saying that the measure is required in 'national interest' as the company's operations are on course to a point of complete collapse. The company is due to face a number of defaults on statutory payments and bank dues due to poor market performance, and fierce competition from other telecom rivals such as Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel.

In numbers, Vodafone Idea's debt is worth INR 1.8 lakh crore, and their 4th quarter loss in FY21 was INR 7022 crore. In addition, Vodafone Idea faces an outstanding Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) of INR 50,400 crore. Last year, the Supreme Court gave telecom companies 10 years to clear huge dues owed to the government, called AGR, amounting to about INR 1.6 lakh crore, in staggered payments. A three-judge panel stated that the companies must pay 10% of the dues by the 31st of March 2021, and Vodafone Idea failed to do so. 

In recent times, Vodafone Idea has failed to encourage investors to raise INR 25,000 crore in funding to reignite the company's operations and relieve some debt. In a letter, Kumar Mangalam Birla urged the Indian Government to immediately step in to provide active support before India's third-largest telecom company comes crumbling down affecting almost 27 crore Indians. 

Is there light at the end of the tunnel for India's telecom giant? 

Olympics

#JaiHind! 

A huge congratulations to all the Indian athletes participating in the Tokyo Olympic Games (2020)! It takes a lot of courage, dedication, hard work, sacrifices, and years of training to compete at such an intense and fiercely competitive level. Irrespective of whether our athletes secured a medal or not, each participating Indian athlete should be immensely proud of themselves for being able to compete at such a level! They are doing us Indians proud! 

India competed in 18 different sports at the Tokyo Olympics and secured a medal in 7 such events. Here is a list of the winners at the Tokyo Olympic Games: 

GOLD: 

1. Neeraj Chopra - Men's Javelin Throw 

*Important to note that Neeraj Chopra won India's first-ever track & field gold medal! A truly historic and emotional moment, and the first time our beautiful national anthem has ever been played inside the Olympic Stadium for Athletics! 

SILVER: 

1. Mirabai Chanu Saikhom - Weightlifting Women's 49kg 

2. Ravi Kumar - Wrestling Men's Freestyle 57kg 

BRONZE: 

1. Bajrang Bajrang - Wrestling Men's Freestyle 65kg 

2. Lovlina Borgohain - Boxing Women's Welter (64-69kg) 

3. Sindhu V Pusarla - Badminton Women's Singles 

4. Indian Men's Hockey Team - Hockey 

A once in a lifetime Olympic games without any fans in the stadiums had a lot to offer, with a number of World and Olympic records broken at these games. In addition, an introduction of a few new sports, such as BMX Cycling, Sports Climbing, surfing, etc. incentivized a large audience, as individuals across the globe sat glued to their TV screens watching this year's Olympic games, cheering their national athletes. 

As Indians, once again, we are proud of every Indian athlete that participated in the Olympics, especially our winners! Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to invite the Indian team cohort to celebrate their participation and victories on the 15th of August. 

Come on India! 

Other News

1. From the 7th of August, Abu-Dhabi-based

will recommence flights between Indian and the UAE. Travellers from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will need to quarantine for 10 days on Arrival in Abu Dhabi. 

2. Passengers from India can finally travel to the

from next week, as India moved from UK's 'red list' to 'amber list'. Flyers from India will have to undergo a 10 day home quarantine on arrival in the UK. 

3. In July, India's monthly

hit a high of USD 35.2 billion as higher oil prices and improved demand for gems and jewellery boosted shipments from the country. 

4. Shares of India's

tumbled as much as 24% on Thursday as Kumar Mangalam Birla stepped down as the non-executive chairman. 

5.

has filed for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) worth INR 6017 crore. 

Quiz

Quiz Quiz Quiz!  

What 5 letter English word does not change in pronunciation even when you take away 4 of its letters?

Get thinking! 

See you next week!

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Quiz Answer: Queue 

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