Wednesday, 8th July ’20
Good Morning, a wonderful Wednesday welcomes you. It’s been a lot of time staying indoors and we wish that you cheer up this morning to the sound of birds and the morning sunshine.
The output of core infra industries continues to shrink. US signals trouble for Indian students as VISAS for online courses to get canceled. Sequoia’s Limited commits $1.35 billion it India funds. Today, we also list the 10 most valuable car markets according to market cap.
MARKETS
- The contraction in the economy may not be as bad as estimated, says veteran banker KV Kamath. The ICICI Bank ex-CEO said that the rebound of the economy is faster than thought before and a shallow U-shaped recovery can be expected. He was especially optimistic about rural India and also suggested that the government may have to show leeway in fiscal deficit targets.
- IT shares zoom ahead of Q1 earnings, TCS at an all-time high. Nifty IT index was up 1% ahead of the Q1FY20 results announcement. Infosys was the top gainer while NIIT Technologies, Mindtree, Wipro, HCL Technologies, and Tech Mahindra gained up to 7%. Analysts suggest that IT companies with exposure to travel, hospitality & BPO may witness fall in revenues but see sector revival in the second half of FY21.
- Output of eight core infrastructure industries shrinks by 23.4% in May’20. Barring fertilizer, all seven sectors — coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, steel, cement, and electricity — had recorded negative growth in May’20 due to nationwide lockdown. This is in contrast to the 3.9% expansion in May’19. These eight industries account for 40.27% in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION
- The United States is looking to ban Chinese social media apps including Tik-Tok, according to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, suggesting that they shared information with the Chinese government. Chinese law requires domestic companies to support and cooperate with intelligence work.
- Pokemon Go, an augmented reality game has garnered a total of $3.6 billion since its launch in 2016. The game has gained more popularity in the COVID times and has generated $445 million in the first half of 2020. Other augmented reality games like Square Enix and Jurassic World Alive have also received a lot of popularity.
- Major tech companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Telegram will deny user-data requests in Hong Kong as they assess the news National Security Law. This will include due diligence and consultation with international human rights experts. The news law erodes Hong Kong as a semi-autonomous city.
PRODUCTS & STARTUPS
- Sequoia and Facebook-backed education technology startup Unacademy has acquired PrepLadder, a platform for postgraduate medical entrance exam preparation, for $50 million in a cash-and-stock deal. Unacademy, which is valued at $510 million, claims it has grown its paid subscriber base to 200,000 users from 100,000 users in the last three months.
- Sequoia’s Limited Partners, who have collectively committed $1.35B to two new Sequoia India funds: a $525M venture fund and an $825M growth fund. The three Sequoia India funds will continue to invest across India and SEA. Focus on more unique and innovative startups, pursuing original ideas in addition to “X of Y” business models.
- Zolo stays raises $56 Million in series C round led by Investcorp, Nexus ventures partners, and existing investor Trifecta capital among others. This is at the back of a supply-side disruption that Zolo has benefited from as other unorganized operators have struggled to maintain service levels in the tough $20 Billion managed living spaces market.
WHAT ELSE IS COOKING
- US announces home-returning of foreign students whose classes moved online: The US State Department will not issue visas to students enrolled in schools/programs that are fully online for the fall semester (like Harvard) nor the customs will permit them to enter the US. Active students, apart from leaving the country have also been told to switch to offline programs or schools to remain in lawful status. The largest number of international students are from China, followed by India, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia.
- Income Tax Department lays down new TDS Rules: So far, you were supposed to pay a TDS (tax deducted at source) of 2% on cash withdrawals exceeding ₹1 crore in a year. With effect from 1 July 2020, the TDS net has been widened further. There will be no TDS for cash withdrawals till ₹20 lakhs, but for higher value transactions, the TDS rate will directly depend upon whether you have filed your income tax returns for the last three years or not.
- Bombardier bags ₹2,051 cr contract for Agra-Kanpur metro project: Under the contract, the global rail technology company will build and deliver 201 metro cars and an advanced signaling solution for the metro projects. Trains will be manufactured at the company’s Savli and Maneja sites near Vadodara. The rolling stock will be designed at GETC, Hyderabad. The project, being executed as per Make In India guidelines aims to benefit 1.4 million daily riders.
MORNING TEA BREAK
Recently Tesla dethroned Toyota as the most valuable automaker globally. Today, we present the ten most valuable car makers along with their Market Cap.
- Tesla – $180 billion
- Toyota – $173 billion
- Volkswagen – $79 billion
- Honda – $45 billion
- Daimler – $43 billion
- Ferrari – $41 billion
- BMW – $41 billion
- General Motors – $38 billion
- SAIC – $29 billion
- Ford – $24 billion
MORNING TEA CHALLENGES
We normally take time to figure out a speech on ourselves. Well, why not take it up as a challenge to create our own profitable personal branding which will come handy while self-introduction anytime in future. For that, create your own persona based on your authentic core values, beliefs, skills and credentials, passions, and interests. Note them down and relate them to your vision and mission. For a more dedicated effort, you can get some cues from the link here.
Written by Kumar Sourav Mohanty, Akansh Bhatt, Piyush Vijayan and Shashank Dobhal.