HUL cuts prices, raises grammage of detergents.

                                                          One of the leading FMCG in the country, Hindustan Unilever Ltd has cut prices of their products like detergents and soaps and increased the grammage. The price drop ranges from 10-15% and the grammage increase is between 17-25%. The price reduction comes as a relief for its consumers as it is occurring after continuous price hikes by the FMCG, amid high inflation and increased raw material costs. The inflation  affected the demand also. The price cut will possibly be able to recover the demand from the customer. The impact of price cut will be volume growth in the current fiscal year, volume push, market share gains, margin cut etc.

                                                       The HUL products that now be sold under reduced price include;      Surf Excel liquid, Rin detergent powder, Vim bar, Vim liquid, Lifebuoy soap, Dove soap etc.  Among stock keeping units for which the effective price cut is applied through the change in grammage include; Wheel green bar and Lux soap. All price cuts haven't arrived at the market yet.

                                                      Before HUL, Godrej Consumer products (GCPL), had introduced price cuts on it's selected stock keeping units last month. The Managing Director and CEO of Godrej Consumer, Sudhir Sitapati pointed that the reason for the recent price cuts as the deflation in the price of raw materials like palm oil. 

                                                    The CEO and MD of HUL said that , During the next two years, the price growth would become lower. He added that there is a need of trigger for the commodity prices to start deflating. One of the big triggers would be if the Ukraine-Russia Crisis gets solved, the commodity prices would go down.  If the commodity prices come down, the FMCGs would be able to start passing on the benefit to the consumers. This price cuts from the part of the big FMCGs can be seen as a proactive move of the businesses to maintain market share in a time of declining raw material prices.  

                                                         

 

        Exemption of Customs duty on Imported Drugs

                                            Sashi Tharoor, MP from Trivandrum mentioned about a young couple who approached him to save the life of their daughter who was suffering from cancer. The parents imported a drug for their child which was stuck at Mumbai airport due to the failure in GST payment of about Rs.7 lakh, which they could not afford. They had already scrounged, saved, borrowed and crowdfunded money to raise the fund for the medicine, and the additional payment was too heavy for them. The medicine was urgent that they could not delay the process since it was perishable and condition of the child becoming worse. So, they contacted him for the removal of customs duty. Tharoor directly connected to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharam mentioning about the seriousness of the issue and finally the Chairman of the Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, Vivek Johri granted the exemption for the Medicines or special medical purposes (FSMP) instead of ‘drugs or medicines’.

                                               This appreciable move benefited several patients and they are expected to save spending's on duty to import life-saving drugs. As per estimations child weighing 10Kg, the annual cost of some rare diseases will be 10 lakh or may be more than 1 crore per year, especially when the treatment was for the lifetime and the increase in price over the time and age. In this case, an exemption in cost results in substantial cost savings.

                                                “The drugs or food for special purposes” are to treat rare diseases and these diseases must be mentioned in the National Policy for Rare Diseases 2021.Certain exemptions have already applied to specified  drugs for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy or Duchenne muscular dystrophy.   In addition to that the government fully exempted Pembrolizumab (Keytruda), a Merck cancer drug from the basic custom duty. Life-saving drugs such as Zolgensma and Viltepso.

                                                Earlier, medicines had  a basic customs duty of 10% and some lifesaving drugs or vaccines has a rate of 5% and now these are completely Exempt from Customs duty enabling cost savings and relief to the patients and their beloved ones.

 

99.9% UPI transactions remain free , says NPCI

                                   Before somedays people were panicked that they need to pay aa fee of 1.1% for the UPI payments which exceeds over 2000 RS . Now the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) which operates India’s flagship payments platform, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) on Wednesday clarified that about 99.9% of total transactions on UPI are  done through linking any bank account by any UPI related applications.These account to account related transactions will be completely for customers and merchants.On March 24, NPCI introduced a circular which says that interchange fees applicable to merchant transactions through prepaid payments instruments (PPI) on the UPI platform. This came on effect because of RBI made it mandatory for PPI’s to be a part of interoperable UPI ecosystem.So from April 1, wallet holders will be able to use their payments to merchants through any QR code.These transactions will have a charge of 1.1% if the amount exceeds 2000 RS .The interchange fee will be charged from the merchant bank to the issuer of the wallet.Also the wallet or the PPI issuer, will have to pay 15 basis points as wallet loading charge to the remitter bank if the transaction amount is above 2000 RS .The interchange amount is not to be paid to transaction related to person to person and for small merchants.This gives the opportunity to the customer to choose his mode of payments.

                      According to Mihir Gandhi, partner and leader-payments is"The interoperability among PPIs via UPI will make the prepaid instruments more attractive for various use cases and ultimately increase the number of digital payment transactions," he said.

                     Paytm payments bank which have 60% of wallet transactions said that all its full KYC customers will now be able to make payments on every UPI QR codes and online merchants where UPI payments is acceptable. So the bank will earn 1.1% interchange revenue when Paytm customers make payments on merchants.Since the wallet loading charges will be paid by issuers like Paytm payments bank to remitter bank, these changes impose regulator defined interchange commercials.The pricing structure will be reviewed on or before September of this year.

        

                            

5 states, Delhi account for over 55% of 5G BTS tower

 

5G means 5th generation in telecommunication. It is the technology standard for broadband cellular networks. It was developed by 3GPP (Third Generation partnership project) and was introduced in India on October 1,2022. It is the successor of the 4G network which provide connectivity to most cellular cell phones. Out of 34 states in the country, 6 states and union territories reckon for over 55 percent of the total 5G base transceiver station (BTS). It is an equipment used to connect wireless communication between user device and network and also receives radio signals to the user equipment’s such as mobile phones, wireless phones, computers with wireless internet. It sends and receives radio signals to mobile device which got converts to digital signals.

Over 55 percent of towers were installed by Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, which points towards that they are the key marketers of this area and consumers are expected to upgrade to the new service. The 6 states include Maharashtra (including Mumbai), Uttar Pradesh (east and west), Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka and Delhi. If West Bengal were added to these 6 states, the overall contribution would go up to about 62 per cent. This data was based on weekly submission given by both company to the telecommunication department on 19 March. In simple words, BTS connects mobile device to the network which sends and receives radio signals from user equipment’s and transmits it into digital signals. Usually there will be more than one BTS on a tower which uses number of spectrum bands. A ball figure which is the precise range of BTS is required for every spectrum band. Most revenue for telecommunication department comes from the six states which was about 50 percent of total Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) across all states. Both Bharati Airtel and Reliance Jio shares the most dominant share of revenue, about 87 percent in Karnataka ,82 percent in Delhi and sub-80 percent in Tamil Nadu. Based on Reports, Reliance Jio has rolled out around 99,870 base stations and over 300,000 radios deploying on two spectrum bands and Airtel is rolling only one band and has deployed almost 44,000 BTS towers. Even-though they have huge market shares, the country’s 5G BTS towers are still in 7 percent. After Vodafone Idea has launched its service, it will increase the number of BTS further.

After the completing launch of 5G, it will increase the network speed for the transmission which will reduce latency and greater capacity for remote execution and the number of connectors will also increase. By using 5G, users can experience fast downloading and easy upload.

                                                         GOOGLE ANDROID CASE

                        Google, the search engine developed in 1998 by Sergey Brin and Larry Page at Stanford University is  now one of the most powerful company in the world and the most valuable brands. It is now into a controversy in India since October 2022. The Competition Commission of India(CCI) has filed a case against Google on the basis of a report by Director General(DG) stating that Google was abusing its dominant position in the android mobile device markets and was fined Rs 1337.76 crore. On March 29, 2023 , the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal(NCLAT) gave its judgement regarding the case stating that CCI's finding of anti competitive conduct of Google was correct but at the same time gave relief to Google to a small extent when four out of ten directives were cancelled by the tribunal on March 29 . The antitrust directives were to be followed by Google as part of the allegation , in order to bring a change in its business model.

                    As per the previous order by CCI, Google had to host a third party app store inside play store. But as per recent judgement it was removed. Earlier, as per the order from the supreme court , Google made changes by allowing the smart phone maker to license the pre installation  applications and the users were given option to choose a default search engine of their choice. Now, as per the tribunal's judgement , Google need not allow users to remove the pre installed apps such as Google , Gmail and YouTube. Also Google is now allowed to impose restrictions on downloading apps without using an app store, which was earlier objected by CCI.

                The case originally started in 2019 by Umar Javeed, Sukarma Thapar and Aaqib Javeed. Then by October 2022, a case was filed against Google by CCI stating that many Google apps were pre installed in the smartphones by default. The users were unable to remove the Google apps and not able to change the search engine of their desire. This was an anti competitive conduct by Google. As per the OEM(Original Equipment Manufacturers) of Android's agreement with Google, all Google applications and Google services were pre installed in android devices before shipping or distributing to the market. For OEM to get a Google mobile service license from Google, they needed to pre install all the Google apps and services such as Google play, Google search , Google maps , Google drive etc. They were not allowed to choose from this bundle of Google apps and services. This was an anti competitive move where other mobile application's development and services were hindered.

                 Thus the latest decision by NCLAT has brought partial relief to Google because in January the supreme court refused to suspend any of the antitrust directives .But now when the four out of ten antitrust directives were quashed , it has provided Google some relaxation to review the order and evaluate the legal options.

Recommendations to voting : Blue tick shake-up at Twitter

Elon Musk tweeted that Twitter will no longer recommend content on the for you page that isn't from verified accounts. Users who pay an $8 monthly fee or who are associated with a verified organization are said to be verified account holders. The announced change will take effect on April 15. Also, the voting features will require verification.

Elon Musk initiated Twitter's acquisition on April 14, 2022. He became the largest shareholder by April with a 9.1 percent ownership stake. After acquiring Twitter, he fired several top executives, including previous CEO Parag Agarwal, and has laid off half of the company's workforce. Elon Musk was heavily criticized for his actions after he took over the company.

The introduction of new measures will result in a two-tier system. A two-tier system is one that is not the same for all groups of people and gives more advantages to one group than to the other. This system will hinder the use of many features that were previously available to unpaid users. Twitter will now start removing legacy verification marks from any users that are not paying the $8 fee, starting from the first April. 

The "For You" feed is the default view for users of Twitter. "For You" pages mainly focus on delivering popular and engaging content. The content that are in the For you page may not be in the order of time in which the content has been uploaded.

Commencement of these measures may affect independent journalists as well as unpaid subscribers, allowing their content to reach its ultimate target. But at the same time, verified users could have advantages like being at the top of replies, mentions, and searches. The move may deal a negative blow to the company, as most of the users might leave their accounts due to these changes. 

Previously, the blue-tick verification was given to ensure the genuineness of the account. But the $8 policy will enable any type of user to have a verified account, no matter what the content that they upload. For instance, Twitter is known for its advertisement medium, but the $8 bill has resulted in an increase in fake accounts with the verified mark of Twitter. Major brands like Coca-Cola, Eli Lilly, and Co. had their imitators. It doesn't end with brands; the verified users took advantage by creating fake accounts to impersonate celebrities'. So the chances of spreading fake news on the platform are very high. About 39 percent of the Twitter users use the app to learn more about the lives of celebrities. But after the $8 bill was announced by Twitter, most of the famous celebrities voluntarily deleted their verified Twitter accounts. This might trigger a reduction in the number of Twitter users who use Twitter to get updates on their icons or role models. The measure has both sides; the feature may allow all the users to exercise their freedom of speech. At the same time, it may also result in increased spam on the network.

The company might face various accusations from its users regarding the credibility and reliability of the data that has been published on the medium. Twitter has to take different measures to protect various brands and celebrities from its impersonators. And make sure that these verified account holders don't take advantage of their features to vandalize another person's company or profile.

 

 

A SUMMARY ON WOMEN'S CRICKET

Indians have always shown love and regard towards cricket as it is deeply rooted in the culture, films, books, etc...but what about women's cricket. It is shown that the viewers for the WPL have increased which wasn't the case earlier. DY Patil stadium and Brabourne stadium have now got a lot of attendees, the range starting from 9000 to 13000. This is a big thing as earlier this was not the case. The main problem that they had to face was not getting media coverage. Because of being overshadowed or suppressed by men's cricket, we can see surprising changes nowadays. The Board Of Control For Cricket in India has made an official decision on giving free entry to female spectators.  This will more popularity to women's cricket and also will lead newly interested attendees to the world of cricket as a game and as well as a feeling of belongingness in the minds of women.

                            It wasn't that easy for the growth of women's cricket as mentioned earlier. not just getting the reach but investing in women's cricket was also something that was crucial. Earlier due to lack of proper funding, the quality was low, and also because of the mindset. Even when women's cricket got chances in the year 2017 and 2020 World Cup Finals, due to not much initiative and support from BCCI, India lost. The vice-captain of the Australian Women's team said that being with international players is very important and it was an extremely great feeling for the young players. This must be noted that earlier, due to a lack of initiative, Indian women players did face nervousness to perform with the others and also seeing a large audience was not something that they were accustomed to.

 Bridging that gap is important for the future of women's cricket. Of course, it will take some more time for the readiness of women's cricket in India and all we can do is wait and support.

Ad revenue game:Disney star and Viacom18

 India's biggest event, Indian Premier League is going to start soon, within a few days. As the big event is going to happen there is a competition between the television channel Disney Stars and Viacom18 to broadcast the show. Viacom18 has owned a target share of rupees ₹4500 crores, and flowing through the same level as the previous year. Disney stopped major sponsorship with a lot of advertisers including Coca-Cola,  Pepsico,  TATA group, Asian paints, Dream11, mobile device maker VIVO and so on. And they are expecting to get sponsorship worth 2000 to 2400 crore. On the other hand, Viacom18 mops up over ₹2000 crores in advertising revenues. It has used 700-750 advertisers all over the country. They are planning to advertise across the country and have tied up with Google Ads and US-based tech startup Moloco to source advertisements based on focusing on small and medium businesses.

            Media planners say that the ad market is under pressure, so pie is not expected as much of the previous year's IPL. But Viacom18 can leverage 100-150 crores, which the Reliance group will be spending to promote its 5G services and launch FMCG products in the country. And many big advertisers like TATAs, Pepsi and Coke are buying inventory in both digital TV and digital. Many big advertisement inventories like Byjus are not investing this time in IPL. Hence media planners expect Viacom18 to mop up to 2000 crores in advertising revenue.

FINANCIAL FRAUDS IN THE CURRENT TIMES

India is powerful in banking. How India has shaped herself is interesting as it wasn't the case earlier. Now that people have more access to the internet, getting information is not much of a problem, not just that we have to think about economic growth which has a key factor as well. People have become more money hungry and have this need to make themselves in a higher position.  

                     Many reports have come across regarding the condition of the banking sector in India. What we can understand from them is that as the years pass banking fraud is getting higher. the newest version of fraud is through apps. Recently Block Inc company ( which is a fintech company that gives access to mobile payment solutions) came into the light, the problems that it has caused. After the execution of Hindenburg's report which gave a lot of interest in block inc's cash app( the users can send, receive and invest money in it as it works as a mobile payment application). The report said that the app used fake accounts and duplicate accounts and didn't show how many users were using the cash app. the report also said that the app became a source for sex trafficking especially the minors and other criminal activities. It was also said that these types of users were just blacklisted but not banned or reported for what they have done. 

                      We know that India has many lending apps and among them, many are actually under supervision. the Governor of RBI Shakthi Kanta Das has said that some new money-lending apps do not intend to go by the rules saying that they will have additional expenses if they undergo an upgradation on their system. It is important to upgrade systems frequently because the customers need efficiency and trust. if that is broken then they will move on to other apps. 

What we must understand is that, any fraud, doesn't matter whoever it is executed by, will be brought out one way or the other because these days things are getting looked after quickly and effectively.

Adani's Group engaged in stock manipulation and financial fraud over decades: Hindenburg Report

 Hindenburg Research LLC, an American company published a report claiming a significant accusation against the richest man in India, Mr.Gautam Adani.As per the reports Adani has to endure huge losses 3of $65 billion. 

About Hindenburg: 

Hindenburg is a research firm that was established by Nathan Nate Anderson, in 2017. Nathan Nate Anderson is a professional Chartered Financial Analyst and a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst. Hindenburg Research analyzes and does research on the financial aspects of the suspected business firm. This company deals with research on things that are not easily traceable. Anderson compares the stock market failures with the disaster from 1937 saying that all the failures and disasters are manmade disasters. The purpose of the company is to prevent disasters from happening in the stock markets so that massive manipulations can be avoided.

About Adani's Stock Manipulation:

Adani Group has got 7 major stock-listed companies, which are spread over a huge number of sectors. Adani's Green Energy generated renewable energy, Adani Enterprises is engaged in coal mining or trading, Adani Transmission is engaged in Power Transmission, Adani Total Gas for gas distribution, Adani Power for coal-based power generation, Adani ports for ports, Adani Wilmar for a joint venture with Singapore's Wilmar International. Adani's business was consolidated within Gujarat, but an exponential boom happened over a previous couple of years. Adani's net worth changed to $120 billion. Out of this $120 Billion $100 billion have been generated over the last 3 years.

Ever since Hindenburg Report was published Adani slipped to 4th position and then to 8th position. In total, the shares of the Adani group lost $65 billion in market value.

Hindenburg's report consisted of 106 pages. The title of the report is Adani Group: How the world's 3rd Richest Man Is Pulling The Largest Con In Corporate History. Hindenburg Research has invested more than 2 years in this research. They have levied a large number of allegations against the Adani Group and allegations that are been claimed against Adani are as follows- Money Laundering, Stock Manipulation,  Accounting fraud, Corruption, Theft of taxpayers' funds, and Creating off-shore-shell companies.

Hindenburg claims that they had filed many RTI applications with SEBI, in order to find out whether the offshore funds were a part of the investigation or not. They have also raised a claim that there is a Cyprus-based company, called New Leaina Investment one point, 95% of the portfolio was the shares of Adani Green Energy. This company has invested $420 million in the shares of Adani Green Energy and this company was operated by Amicorp incorporation services. This turned out to be a suspecting part as, Amicorp was part of a global fraud scandal. Adani-listed companies are 85% overvalued.

Impact after the report was released:

Adani Group companies are now facing a huge downfall after a report from Hindenburg Research was released.

Forbes accused Adani of buying his own shares, to inflate his stock price.

Credit Suisse investment bank of Switzerland, stated that it will put a stop to accepting Adani's bonds as collateral.

The Adani group canceled their FPO.

TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES AND ITS CHANGE IN LEADERSHIP

 About Tata Consultancy Services:

TCS is an Indian multinational information technology offerings and consulting business enterprise with headquarters in Mumbai. Tata Consultancy Service Limited was established in 1968 by, J.R.D.Tata and Faquir Chand Kohli. In 1968, the company commenced as tata computer systems, and in 1975, the company brought electronic depository and trading systems. In 2004, TCS became the first Indian IT service provider company.

Tata Consultancy Service Industries:

TCS had got a massive portfolio 

a.Financial segments: accounting, banking, capital market, and insurance

b.Management segments: HR, payroll, retail management, and portfolio management.

c.Business Intelligence area: enterprise resource planning, analytics, internet of things machine learning, and commercial enterprise automation.

d.Medical area: pharmaceuticals and clinical trials management

e.IT area: networking, managed offerings, development, and outsourced IT with TCS Business Process Services.

Change In Leadership:

After a stellar career of over a period of 22 years with Tata Consultancy Services and a successful stint as a Managing Director and CEO during the last 6 years, TCS announced that Mr.Rajesh Gopinath is stepping down from the company to pursue his different interests. Mr.Rajesh Gopinath became the Chief Executive in 2017.

Rajesh Gopinath has played an enormous role in helping TCS become a USD 22 billion global company. With over 446,000 consultants, TCS is one of the largest and most important private sector employers globally.

The Board has nominated K.Krithivasan as the CEO designate with effect from 16th march 2023. Krithivasan will undergo a transition with Rajesh Gopinathan, who will give K.Krithivasan all sorts of guidance to have a  and will be appointed as the Managing Director and CEO in the next financial year. K.Krithivasan is currently the President and Global Head of the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) Business Group at Tata Consultancy Services.

CAMPA COLA : RELIANCE EXPANDS FMCG PLAY.

 With the relaunch of Campa Cola, Reliance Consumer Products Limited (RCPL)- the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) arm and wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Retail Venture is expanding its portfolio to packaged consumer goods.

Campa Cola was an iconic, carbonated soft drink brand in India. It was first introduced in 1977 by the Pure Drinks Group, based in Mumbai. The brand becomes so popular in the Indian market due to its unique taste and marketing strategies. At first, the brand had only one flavor "Campa Cola" which was marketed as a refreshing and energizing drink. Over time, the brand expands its product line and introduced new flavors such as lemon and orange.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Campa cola becomes so popular that it challenges the dominance of international brands like Pepsi and Coca-Cola. The brand becomes a success due to its strong distribution network and innovative marketing campaigns, which include celebrity endorsements and catchy slogans.

However, in 2006 the Indian government ordered the closure of the Campa Cola due to its violation of pollution norms. The brand discontinues, and despite its discontinuation, Campa Cola remains a nostalgic brand in the minds of many Indians who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s. It is remembered for its unique taste and catchy slogans which have become part of Indian pop culture.

       The Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance is expanding its FMCG play. The reliance would be offering products at a 30 to 35 percent lesser price to its competitors. Some expert says that Reliance is capable of attracting customers to try its product and compare performance with the same products from established brands. Now the products of RCPL are available only in selected markets but the company is expanding its dealer network on a pan -India basis and the availability will be scaled up across modern and traditional distribution channels. The reliance is creating a dedicated distribution network. The network comprises traditional dealers and modern trade b2b channels. The reliance is all set to become a relevant player in the USD 110-billion FMCG segment, which is largely dominated by companies like HUL P&G and Nestle. The RCPL has a wide range of products - soaps, detergents, dishwashers, etc which are priced very low than its competitors. Campa-Cola is aiming at the Indian soft drinks segment which is estimated at USD 8.85 billion. The reliance's soaps and detergent is competing with lux and surf of HUL, which are the market leaders in their respective categories. The selling price of these products is low as compared to lux and surf, it is a substantial incentive for the customers to try it once, if they find it better, then the reliance will build a market.

Accenture cut 19000 jobs

 ACCENTURE CUTS 19,000 JOBS AS IT SPENDING SLOWS

                            Layoffs, being very common today  and huge technology-product firms like Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon are on the verge of dismissing their employees. Now one of the major information technology and consulting is about to fire their 19000 employees or 2.5 % of its headcount  all on a sudden. This is in account of the wage inflation and cost streamlining. It expects a severance cost of $1.2 Billion.

                                A similar movement was taken by Google which laid off of 12,000 employees, and  almost 1400 people among those employees have signed a petition by demanding better treatment to the employees and they also come up with writing an open letter to the Chief Executive officer  Sundar Pichai.

                                    In January 2023, also they fired thousands of employees as per records for using fake documents and experience certificates to acquire the job.  And as if now the wage inflation became a big problem that the increase in the wage results to higher pay and it inturn increases the price of the product or service, thus the consumer price also increases. Which results in the decision of this temporary termination of the people. And the cost streamlining  is the expense caused due to eliminating  the human intervention as a whole make accounting comprehend and for  the hectic paperless counting which saves time and improves the audit trail.

                                    India is one of the largest talent bases of the company and in the previous year (2022) they had revealed that 40% of their workforce that is about 3,00,000 people are in India .Therefore due to this change, it is beyond the limit of expectation what will be the impact of their decision happening to India.

 * More than 50% of the jobs was dismissed from the non-billable corporate functions

 * 800 of the over the 10,000 leaders across the service and markets

                                    Now they are expecting an annual growth of revenue by 8 to 10 % in the financial year 2023 when comparing with the annual growth percentage of 8 to 11%.

                                    The chair and chief executive officer of Accenture, Julie Sweet, mentioned that the company is going after structure costs through the organizational framework in different structures like the purchasing,marketing,research ,administration ,logistics etc. and she also added the  about the wage inflation and also with pricing. She also added that ,they are looking forward for better opportunities to go after more structural cost to create resilience and room in the P&L on moving ahead.

Adani lost 3000cr rupees every week;wealth down 60%

 Gautam Adani was the worlds 2nd richest person till january 23.On january 23 hindenburg , an investment  research firm with a focus on activist short-selling founded by Nathan Anderson in 2017 which is based on Newyork published a report which alleged that Adani group has engaged in brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud , Improperly used offshore tax havens , and flagged concern about group's high debt. Due to this allegation the stock price of adani's every comapany faced a huge dip and which made a loss of $28 billion in wealth or 3000 cr rs in 2022-23.

                                                                  Due to this allegation Adani and family lost the second richest Asian title to Zhong Shanshan of YST .The allegation mainly frames that Adani Group has grown about 80%within the last 3 years even the world was affected with the pandemic .It is because Adani Group is collecting Debt-Fueled fund which means that buying huge amount as debt from others and raising the price of their shares to fake the stock market .And also the Adani family's wealth has increased heavily with this short span of time .This was the main allegation put forward by Hindenburg Agency .From the worlds second largest richest person almost 60% wealth has dipped. The combined market capitalization of all listed Adani group firms plunged nearly 7.1 trillion since January 24 when the Hindenburg report was published.

                                                                 The report published by Hindenburg agency shares a 32000 words report and it contains 88 questions to Adani group. Adani Group has given answers to the Hindenburg with a 413 pages report and Adani states that this the attack against the growing nature of India and Hindenburg have not researched much about Adani group. Hindenburg has raised 88 questions to Adani group and Adani group have given answers for 65 questions and the remaining questions are irrelevant says Adani group .Adani enterprises share value was 3443 rs and now it dippd down to 1824 rs. Like this way every stock of Adani Group was heavily affected due to this allegations.

                                                                 Also Mukesh Ambani's RIL(Reliance Industries Limited)too saw a dip on its wealth of 20%to $82 billion during thus period. This fall in the market, analysts observation is that it is overall dip in the markets and a risk-off sentiment which impacted large-caps including RIL.Even though Adani is facing this huge dip but Adani group is placed 7th in the Biggest losers in 2023 list.It means that Adani is slowly raising in the market. Meanwhile the fall in the Billionare wealth is not restricted to India ,at global level number of billionares dropped to 3112 in 2023.

Ukraine, IMF agree on $15.6 bn loan package.

 

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine had major ramification for the global economy. According to many reports, it was known that the reason for the present condition was the Ukraine’s exit from the Soviet Union who tie with the west. The first blow to the Russia-Ukraine was the Orange Revolution which took place in winter 2004.As of the separation the dissolution of Soviet Union occurs, which led to the creation of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). As a result, Ukraine showed interest to join in NATO, which Russian President perceives as a threat to Russia’s power in the east. This led to the current scenario.

In order to increase the government finances that were strained by Russian Invasion the IMF agreed on a $15.6 bn loan package to support Ukraine’s vision of pursuing strong economic policies and fighting corruption. The Russian-Ukraine war took off on 24 February 2022 as a means to stop Ukrainian attacks on the two breakaway regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, which Moscow recognized as Sovereign states.

The package helps to mobilize financing from Ukraine’s international partners and provide a path for the reconstruction of Ukraine after the victory in war. the total programme is planned for four years in which the first 12-18 months focuses on closing Ukraine’s massive budget deficit and to ease printing of money. the main focus will be on supporting Ukraine’s bid for EU membership. The reason behind the contribution made by IMF goes back to the history of Ukraine’s substantial contribution to the EU and the group of seven major democracies. This agreement may possess the chance to help Ukraine in mobilizing large scale concessional financing from international donors. IMF says that Ukraine demonstrates a high commitment to healthy economic policies and met all the agreed upon goals during a preliminary consultation. The help provided by IMF would be a great help for the Ukraine in the aspects of finance as well as infrastructure. Easing up of printing money would help to fund people’s, state salaries and basic services may make things worse by fueling inflation and destabilizing the currency.

The second phase focuses on more expansive reform to entrench macroeconomic stability, stability, support recovery and early reconstruction, and enhance resilience and higher long-term growth, including in the context of Ukraine’s EU accession goals. They also look forward to stabilizing their exchange rate and inflation targeting regime. This IMF fund will help them to recover from the severe damages that had caused by the war to their critical infrastructure.

                                              THE SRILANKAN ECONOMIC CRISIS

                  Sri Lanka, the island country of South Asia  has been going through their biggest economic crisis for the past one year until the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a nearly $3 billion financial assistance to Sri Lanka on March 20, 2023.This has brought a great relief to the country which could help it to revive from its present economic crisis . The decision will allow an immediate disbursement of about $333million which will help the country to overcome the current situation. It all started from March 31,2022 when the demonstrators  marched to  Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa's residence to protest over the economic crisis. The situation worsened and a state of emergency was declared when Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka in July,2022.The people have been struggling with daily power cuts and shortage of basics such as fuel, food and medicines. the country was facing inflation at more than 50%. The country was running out of fuel for essential services like buses, train and medical emergencies. Also they couldn't import fuel due to lack of foreign currency. When the shortage of fuel became intense the price also gradually increased and also led to the closure of schools as transportation became difficult. Also the interest payment of their foreign debts piled up and were unable to pay. This completely shattered the reputation of the country among its investors and this made them more difficult to borrow money from other countries at this time of crisis.

                            According to the Sri Lankan government, the main cause for this crisis was covid , where the tourism industry was affected very badly as tourism was their major source of earning foreign currency. But  according to the experts ,this crisis was due to the poor economic mismanagement of President Rajapaksa. It was noticed that the country after 2009 civil war concentrated on selling goods to the domestic market  and the exports was less than the imports. The  has led to the imbalance of trade and by the end of 2019 the foreign currency reserves dropped from $7.6 billion to $250million. Another major reason was the tax cuts introduced by president Rajapaksa which led to the crisis as for any country tax is one of the major source of income generation. Also the shortage of foreign currency led to the ban of chemical fertilisers by the Sri Lankan government. This made the farmers to use organic fertilisers which led to crop failure and thus had to get food stocks from abroad which later became difficult as import became impossible due to financial crisis.

                      The new president Ranil Wickremesinghe successfully negotiated economic support from top lenders and finally managed to get financial assistance from IMF which will help in restructuring the $58 billion of debt to some extent .The new policies and strategies is gradually leading Sri Lanka to the right track.

                               

Rs8000 crore Foxconn plant gets Karnataka Govt nod.

Foxconn Hon Hai Technology Ltd. has received approval from the Karnataka government for an investment of Rs. 8,000 crore. Foxconn is a Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturer established in 1974. Before the initiation, there was confusion regarding the investment plan in India, as both the Telangana and Karnataka governments claimed that the Taiwanese company was planning to invest in their states. In order to address the situation, the company sent letters to the chief ministers of both states, assuring them of its commitment to both states.
During the 61st meeting of the State High Level Clearance Committee (SHLCC), 18 projects with an investment of Rs 75393.57 crore were approved. An investment of 8,000 crores would be allocated for employment opportunities for around 50,000 people. The 18 projects that were approved have 10 new projects, 5 expansion projects, and 3 additional projects. Along with this approval, various proposals for green hydrogen, ethanol production, lithium batteries, electric vehicles, and so on have been approved in the meeting, which contributes towards the manufacturing sector.
At present, 65% of Foxconn's total production base is in China, and the company is trying to expand its production base to India as part of its strategy of diversification. Based on various reports, the supplier has won an order to make Airpods and is planning to build a facility in India to manufacture wireless earphones.
Foxconn's decision to invest in India would be a great opportunity for the manufacturing sector, which will in turn increase employment opportunities for the Indian economy. Along with increased job opportunities, Foxconn is trying to change the existing labour policy of India, which might create a chance of exploiting the Indian workforce. In order to attract the company, the government may nod to the labour requirements made by them. Currently, the suggestions that were put forward include increased overtime and permission for factories to operate two shifts of 12 hours each instead of the previous three shifts. The setting up of a manufacturing unit in the country would help in the reduction of the prices of apple products, which might be affordable to the citizens of the country. If the smooth functioning of the company prevails in the country, it will be tremendously beneficial for India in terms of employment and development.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

IPCC'S 'final' warning: Current goals not enough to limit global warming

The IPCC known as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was formed by the UN to provide policymakers with regular scientific assessments of the current state of climate change.

The Synthesis report has been released and Antonio Guterres says that the report has become a survival guide for humanity. the report says that the global surface temperature was 1.09 degrees celsius higher in 2011-2020 than in 1850-1900, with larger increases over land than over the ocean. the global surface temperature has also increased faster since 1970.  The report also says that it has become extremely hard for the world to overcome natural disasters. 

It is worth mentioning India's position in IPCC. India is among the countries that face the highest risk from climate change's impact. it is understood that India has taken a lot of climate investment but if they are not equally distributed, then being a part of the IPCC is not worth it. India has a history of more than a century of burning fossil fuels as well as unequal and unsustainable energy and land use which led to the destruction of the climate and ecology and increased global warming above pre-industrial levels.  Climate impacts on people and ecosystems are more widespread and severe than expected, and future risks will escalate rapidly with every fraction of a degree of warming. to create some control adaptation measures can be implemented but the problem is about finance. If more funds are available then a lot of problems can be at least controlled. 

Bisleri will be a biz 'run by professionals'.

Bisleri International will not be taken by Tata Consumer Products Limited (TCPL), the operations and further handling of Bisleri will be done by Jayanti Chauhan, say's founder and chairman Ramesh Chauhan. He also mentioned that the business will not be sold anymore. Jayanti Chauhan is an Indian business women who is the Vice Chairperson of Bisleri International. She is also the founder of growing luxury brand Vedica. She is popularly known as "JRC". She began her journey in the company when she was 24,under the guidance and leadership of her father.Now, Bisleri International is also expanded to Vedica natural mineral water from the Himalayas, Fizzy fruit drinks and Bisleri Hand Purifier. She is also heading sales and marketing team of Bisleri.

THE FALL OF SILICON VALLEY BANK

On 10th March 2023, Silicon Valley Bank, one of the largest banks in the US shutdown.  The collapse of the Silicon valley bank created shock waves on the entire business world . It is the second largest bank collapse in the US history and the largest bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis. The SVB( Silicon Valley bank) can be considered as an epicenter of tech startups and venture capitals. SVB had invested in around 21 Indian startups and collapse of  SVB might impact Indian startups as well.

SVB is a commercial bank that fund startups inside and outside silicon valley.  Founded in 1983, it became the largest bank in Silicon Valley based on local deposits. More importantly  SVB was a leading banker to most of the successful startups in the world . The energy crisis sparked by Russia -Ukraine war caused inflation all across the world and US also get affected .According to a source the US saw its highest inflation in the last decade whereby the inflation shot upto  9.1%.  To address the inflation, the Federal Reserve (FED) of the US increases the interest rates. When the interest rates are high the demand for the product goes on decreasing , the businesses in the US have to decrease their prices to survive and make the products affordable to the customers.  When the prices of the products decrease, the FED effectively controls it by increasing the interest rates ,  as was done for the short period of time , between 2020-2022 when the interest rate in the US was just 0.08% . The banks gave very low interest loans and americans started to borrow  more money from banks at very low interest rates. 

In case of SVB, 2020-2022 are the best years because they are able to borrow money at 0.08%. By borrowing huge sums of money at a lower rate of interest helped SVB make huge profits.  SVB wanted to compete with the top 5 banks in the US and to attract customers from these banks, they offered them higher interest rates than other banks. SVB offered an insane interest rate of 2.33% to its investors and many big companies deposited money in SVB and this is where the real problem began. .In order to pay interest to their customers, SVB invested 91 Billion USD in long dated mortgage bonds.  The investment in  long term Mortgage Securities which had more than 10 years of maturity and led to an asset liability mismatch. Out of the 91 billion USD , 80 billion USD they invested in MORTGAGE BACKED SECURITIES (MBS),  with 97% of the MBS having 10 years of maturity and giving only an average yield of 1.56%. SVB had promised to pay its investors 2.33% and here the average yield was just 1.56%  which meant that if the same yield continued SVB will face losses. To make things worse, the FED stop buying MBS  and suddenly the value of MBS decreased .FED increased the interest rates by 425 basic points, causing the demand for the loans to fall, and the demand for MBS also decreased . The bond value started dropping as a result of which the security value of SVB security drop from 91 billion to 76 billion USD ,which made a difference of 15 billion USD. 

The third reason is THE STARTUP WINTER the value of bonds keeps on fluctuating with markets. The startups started to withdraw their deposits from the banks. SVB deposits dropped 20Million USD in just three  quarters.  To meet the customer demands they needed cash, and with most of the SVB money stuck in MBS, to counter such a situation the SVB  started selling their MBS, which incurred them a huge loss. To cover up these huge losses,  they raised USD 2.25 billion in the form of debt and equity. SVB stock plunged by 60% in one day and led to the ultimate demise of the bank.

Introduction

 Hii my name is Sameer A.I have done my bachelors in bcom from karyavattom campus. I am coming from Vizhinjam Trivandrum.My father is working in saudi arabia and my mother is a homemaker.Till now i haven’t found out my hobbies but i like to play football and basketball.My favourite footballer is GOAT MESSI and favourite baller is LEBRON JAMES.My family totally consist of 9 members and my strength and supporters are both my brother in laws.I’m doing MBA because i want to make my parents happy and proud by seeing my best future,best future in the sense getting placed in an MNC with a good managerial role.Thank you 

Introduction

 I am Afshana Aliya.I had completed my graduation in BCA(Bachelor of Computer Application).Coming to my family I am a single child, and my mother is a school teacher.My strength are that I am quick learner and self motivated.My weakness is not able to get social, I enjoy my own space.I spend my leisure time in drawing.

That's all about me.

Thankyou.

Introduction

  I am Fathiman Nizana. I come from Karunagappally, Kollam. I  have a nuclear family consisting of my father,mother,and a younger brother. I have done my graduation in BA English Language & Literature from TKM College of Arts and Science. During my school days I had this inclination towards teaching and also the language English,that’s why I took English literature as my graduation degree. But later I discovered my interest towards business and management, and realized that I should mould my skills towards the same . So I am currently pursuing my MBA .

ME,MYSELF & I

     Myself  Nooha Shameer from Alleppey. My tiny - big family consists of my Vappi, Ummi and two little sisters . After pursuing my graduation in English Language and Literature, I wish to take a Mix and Match of qualitative and quantitative subjects, and took MBA that I was not interested in literature anymore. I love doing art and crafts. And I wish to initiate my own venture. I was engaged in small business during my UG period . I used to sell Multipurpose Canvas Bags which is handmade, ecofriendly and is 100% customized and I promote it through my YouTube channel. So I  hope the platform  ASB provides me will enhance my Knowledge, Skills and bring better opportunities.

                                                                        Thank You

SELF INTRODUCTION

I am Varsha L and from Kollam. I did my graduation in BA English Language and Literature . My Hobbies are playing Badminton , listening to music and baking etc. My strength is that I would like to learn new things and for that I will work my best and my weakness is that I will become nervous whenever I am in public , now it’s getting improved. My goal is to become a business analyst in an organization.

Self Introduction

Hello everyone....  I am Safwa Shaji coming from Kallambalam. I am a book lover and a family person. Being a family person, I always had my fair share of fights with my three elder siblings. Personal matters apart, I did my bachelor's in BCom Computer Application from Govt College Attingal. I completed my schooling at MGM Model School, Ayiroor Varkala.

SELF INTRODUCTION

 Hi, my name is Aiyswaria Rajendran. I am from Thonnakkal, Thiruvanathapuram. My family consists of father, mother, husband and daughter. I did my graduation in B.Com from Our International, Abu Dhabi(college affiliated with MG University Kottayam) and then pursued M.Com(Distant education) from Annamalai University. After completing M.com I got an opportunity to work in a movie production company as an accountant, along with my job I joined CMA(India) and cleared 2nd group of intermediate.

SELF INTRODUCTION

 If anyone asks me SAY YOUR NAME , my answer would be Sabarilal.

I am LS Sabarilal ( son to a loving father and mother and brother to a cute sister.). I am from kaimanam. I completed my graduation ( BBA) from UIT College neyyantinkara. I am a person who loves to watch movies and play games. My favorite movie is Gladiator ( if you haven't watched the movie you can give it a try).

Welcome to the News Blog!

 Welcome to the blog to post the News articles!

Two of you need to post one news summary daily from Monday to Friday. These summaries should be 400 words long and should provide key aspects of the topic - the background, key issues / features, impact and significance etc.  Please stick to business related stories only.

While posting please maintain the following guidelines:

• The posts should be original. No copy paste from websites / other sources
• Avoid sensitive topics that cover politics / race / anything that is disrespectful to other
• The blog should have an introduction to cover the background/a short history, definition of the topic, why the topic is important for a business school students etc.    
• It should have data. Data could be qualitative or quantitative. 
• The analysis – all blogs should have an analysis. This portion is the most vital and is your opinion or comment. It should be analytical and critical in nature.  One of the ways to write this is to speak in terms of how the news/event could affect business from a political, economic, social, cultural and technological perspective.  This will help you develop original views on the topic.
• Use Labels that are meaningful to help in retrieving the articles of interest at a later date.
• While the use of images / pictures is optional, feel free to do it, if it adds value.
  

The blog should be posted by 11.00PM at the latest on the day it is due.  If some one is unable to post due to exception circumstances, the same need to be intimated to me over a message / mail.

You are most welcome to add comments on the blogs posted by others.  Such comments should be constructive in nature and should cover any aspect that was missed out in the original blog / factual errors etc.  Kindly avoid messages like 'Excellent', 'Good Job' etc.

Looking forward to a fruitful and engaging experience!

Madhav