Current Affairs August 2019 - Economic

---

---

1 - Indian IT companies contributed 57.2 billion dollars to US' GDP in 2017

Indian IT companies contributed 57.2 billion dollars to the GDP of the US in 2017. The US with US$ 45 billion total investment is the 6^th source of foreign investment in India and its two-way investments between the two countries have reached about 60 billion dollars.

Indian IT companies’ initiatives have helped such as TCS educative initiative "My Future in School" and WIPRO distributed over 200,000 books in union with Trinity College. India-based global IT services companies employ more than 175,000 workers in the US accounting for 8.4 per cent of employment in the computer systems design.

2 - Crisil cuts India's GDP growth forecast to 6.9% for FY 2019-20

Rating agency Crisil Ltd has cut down India’s growth estimate for 2019-20 by 20 basis points to 6.9%, citing weak monsoon, slow global growth and poor high-frequency data for the first quarter of the financial year. Crisil also expects corporate sector growth to slow to 8% in 2019-20.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Economic Survey of the Finance Ministry, and the Asian Development Bank as well as International Monetary Fund have cut their growth outlook for India to 7%.

3 - World Bank’s Global GDP rankings 2018 placed India at 7^th rank

World Bank’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rankings in 2018 reported India as seventh-largest economy in the world with $2.72 trillion economy as compared to $2.65 trillion economy in 2017.

World’s top six economies in the 2018 list were the United States ($20.5 trillion), followed by China ($13.6 trillion), Japan ($4.9 trillion), Germany ($3.9 trillion), U.K. ($2.82 trillion) and France ($2.77 trillion). India has set the target of becoming a $5 trillion economy in GDP terms by 2024 and a $3 trillion economy by 2020.

4 - Microsoft acquired data privacy & governance startup BlueTalon

Microsoft has acquired BlueTalon, that builds data governance and compliance software for Fortune 100 companies. BlueTalon team will become part of the Azure Data Governance group, where the team will work on enhancing Microsoft’s capabilities around data privacy and governance.

BlueTalon lists less than 30 employees on LinkedIn. The company started after founder Pratik Verma launched the startup in 2013 using technology he created with his father. This is Microsoft’s fifth acquisition of 2019. The company’s cloud services generated as much revenue as all its other businesses combined.

5 - AustralianSuper, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan to invest $2 billion in NIIF

AustralianSuper, Australia’s largest superannuation and pension fund, and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (Ontario Teachers’), one of Canada’s largest single-profession pension plans have each signed agreements for investments of up to $1 billion with National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) of India.

The agreements include commitments of $250 million each in the Master Fund and co-investment rights of up to $750 million each in future opportunities alongside the Fund. NIIF invests in equity capital in core infrastructure sectors in India with a focus on transportation, energy and urban infrastructure.

6 - Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for June 2019 (Base 2011-12=100)

According to the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data released by the government, India’s industrial output grew 2% in June 2019 as compared to June 2018. The cumulative growth for the period April-June 2019 over the corresponding period of the previous year stands at 3.6%.

The quick estimates of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) with base 2011-12 for the month of June 2019 stood at 130.2. The Indices of Industrial Production for the Mining, Manufacturing and Electricity sectors for the month of June 2019 stand at 106.6, 130.1 and 173.0 respectively, with the corresponding growth rates of 1.6%, 1.2% and 8.2% as compared to June 2018.

7 - H1 2019 net income of Saudi Aramco slips to $46.9 billion

The first half net income for 2019 of Saudi state-owned energy giant Aramco had slipped to $46.9 billion as compared to $53.0 billion for the same period in 2018. It was the first time the company has published half-year financial results. The fall in income was mainly due to lower oil prices.

Aramco is planning to launch its IPO in late 2020 or early 2021, dubbed as potentially the world’s biggest stock sale. Saudi Arabia plans to sell up to 5% of the world’s largest energy firm and hopes to raise up to $100 billion.

8 - GST revenue collection stands at Rs 1,02,083 crore in July

The total gross revenue collected under Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the month of July 2019 was Rs 1,02,083 crore. It consisted of Central GST component of Rs 17,912 crore and State GST Rs 25,008 crore along with the Integrated GST revenue which was Rs 50,612 crore and Cess collection was Rs 8,551 crore.

The revenue collection in July 2018 was Rs 96,483 crore and the revenue in July’19 registered a growth of 5.8% over the revenue in the same month last year.

9 - Eight core sectors growth drops to 0.2% in June

Growth of eight core industries dropped to 0.2% in June’19 mainly due to a contraction in oil-related sectors as well as in cement production. The eight-core sector industries - coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertiliser, steel, cement and electricity - had expanded by 7.8% in June 2018.

The crude oil output contracted by 6.8% while the refinery segment de-grew by 9.3%. The cement output declined by 1.5% but the production of fertilisers grew by 1.5%. Steel and electricity production increased by 6.9% and 7.3% respectively.

10 - Bengaluru based startup Grexter Living acquired i2Stay

Grexter Living, a co-living platform owned by Bengaluru-based Grexter Housing Solutions, has acquired i2Stay, a budget accommodation service provider. Following the acquisition, Grexter’s beds capacity in Bengaluru will increase to 5,000. The details of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Grexter Living offers fully-furnished studio apartments aimed primarily at young, salaried professionals and fresh graduates. Pratul Gupta, a IIT Madras alumnus, founded the startup in 2016 with Nikhil Dosi.

11 - Government relaxed norms for shares with differential voting rights

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has amended the provisions relating to the issue of shares with Differential Voting Rights (DVRs) provisions under the Companies Act. The key change brings in increase of existing cap of 26% of the total post-issue paid-up equity share capital to a revised cap of 74% of the total voting power and removal of the earlier requirement of distributable profits for 3 years for a company to be eligible to issue shares with Differential Voting Rights.

The objective is to enable promoters of Indian companies to retain control of their companies in their pursuit for growth of long-term value for shareholders.

12 - Retail inflation eased marginally to 3.15% in July

Consumer price index-based retail inflation eased marginally to 3.15% in July on the back of softening fuel prices. Retail inflation was 3.18% in June 2019, while it stood at 4.17% in June 2018.

The overall food inflation, measured on Consumer Food Price Index moved up to 2.36% during July 2019 which was 2.25% in June 2019. In fuel and light category, it remained at 0.36% as against a rise of 2.32% in June.

13 - Wholesale inflation in July falls to multi-year low of 1.08%

Wholesale price-based inflation in July fell to a multi-year low of 1.08% mainly on account of cheaper fuel and food items. Inflation in food articles was 6.15% in July as against 6.98 % in the previous month.

Similarly, wholesale inflation in fuel and power segment contracted further to (-) 3.64% as against (-) 2.2% in June. The retail inflation eased to 3.15% over June when it was 3.18%. Inflation based on Wholesale Price Index, WPI was at 2.02 % in June 2019 and 5.27% in July 2018.

14 - Four New Products get GI Tag

The Geographical Indication (GI) under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade registered 4 new GIs. Palani Panchamirtham from Tamil Nadu State, Tawlhlohpuan and Mizo Puanchei from the state of Mizoram and Tirur Betel leaf from Kerala are the latest additions to the list of registered GIs.

GI is an indication used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin. Such a name conveys an assurance of quality and distinctiveness which is essentially attributable to its origin in that defined geographical locality.

15 - Ola acqui-hired AI start-up Pikup.ai

Cab aggregator Ola acqui-hired Pikup.ai, an artificial intelligence (AI) startup based in Bengaluru. Under acquihiring process, staff of Pikup.ai will join Ola company to improve AI-powered solutions for businesses in Ola. Pikup.ai uses autonomous technologies like AI, computer vision and sensor fusion to improve artificial intelligence in business.

Ola will benefit from AI in having improved mobility outcomes such as developing next-generation technologies in mobility like Electric, Connected and Autonomous Vehicles and improve safety and transform customer experience. Ola announced to set up an Advanced Technology Centre in the San Francisco Bay area.

16 - India's forex reserves reached life-time high of $430.57 bn

India’s foreign exchange reserves surged new life-time high of $430.57 bn due to rise in foreign currency assets such as effect of appreciation/depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in the reserves. RBI reported increase of USD 1.620 billion in August beginning.

It was observed that gold reserves surged by $1.591 billion to $26.754 billion and overall reserves, increased by $15.2 million to $398.739 billion. International Monetary Fund Special drawing rights increased by $6.7 million to $1.441 billion.

17 - Microsoft and ISB joined hands to advance AI skilling in India

The Indian School of Business and Microsoft India will collaborate in research to create AI Digital lab which will use Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to study issues that are relevant for business and public policy. The rapid development of AI will help business leaders to creatively use AI and enhance productivity.

In addition, the collaboration will also introduce a new executive program titled “Leading Business Transformation in the Age of AI” in October 2019 which will equip business leaders with tools to transform their respective organizations to AI-driven organizations.

18 - Department of Agriculture released Third Advanced Estimate (2018-19)

Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare released the Third Advanced Estimate (2018-19) of area and production of various Horticulture Crops. The total horticulture production of India is estimated to be over 313 million tonnes which is 0.69% higher than the production in 2017-18. Onion Production is estimated to be around 23.48mn tonnes, which is 0.95% higher than the production of 2018.

The overall increase is observed in the production of fruits, vegetables, spices, flowers and honey whereas decrease is observed in the production of plantation and aromatics and medicinal crops.

19 - Ind-Ra lowered GDP growth forecast in FY20 to 6.7%

India Ratings and Research lowered its projection of India’s GDP growth in F.Y. 2019-20 from 7.3% to 6.7%. The lowered projection is mainly on account of weak consumption demand, uneven monsoon, sluggish private corporate investment, slowdown in manufacturing growth, global trade tensions effect on exports and inability of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code to resolve cases on early basis.

Ind-Ra has projected GDP growth to recover to 7.4% in the second half of FY20 due to recent announcements made in few sectors that can increase consumption demand.