BackFederer’s Wimbledon triumph, stormy Parliament sessions and India’s new President-elect
Roger Federer wins record eighth Wimbledon title; Parliament's monsoon session begins; Ram Nath Kovind is new Indian president-elect
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1. Government’s giant oil mergers
The union cabinet approved a proposal to merge the Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) with Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd (HPCL). Both are government companies. Wednesday’s decision is a move towards the making of a public sector petroleum giant. Finance minister Arun Jaitley had proposed it in the 2017 union budget.
2. Parliament session begins
The Parliament’s monsoon session began on Monday. The opposition is looking to bring up issues of deadly cow vigilantism and farmer agitations. The government is hoping to pass key legislation including on children’s education and whistleblower protection. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati resigned from the Rajya Sabha during the week. She said that she was not allowed to complete a statement against Dalit atrocities. The current disruptions have been a continuing trend in recent years.
3. SBI’s billion dollar IPO
Mumbai-based SBI Life Insurance Co. Ltd on Monday filed documents for selling shares to the public for the first time. This initial public offering (IPO) is reportedly set to raise more than Rs6,500 crore or $1 billion. State Bank of India and BNP Paribas Cardiff founded it as a joint venture in March 2001.
4. Roger Federer wins at Wimbledon
Roger Federer notched up his 19th Grand Slam win on Sunday. His record eighth Wimbledon win also helped him climb to third place in the rankings. Britain’s Andy Murray and Spain’s Rafael Nadal are first and second, respectively. Federer will turn 36 in less than a month. He is the oldest man to win Wimbledon.
5. HUL results surprise on profits
Hindustan Unilever Ltd on Tuesday reported improved profitability although volume growth was flat. However, it is facing problems with wholesalers and major buyers halting purchases as they adjust to the goods and services tax (GST). The demand outlook remains a question mark, especially in urban areas. Lower costs and promotional spending helped improve profits.
6. Ram Nath Kovind to be India’s 14th president
National Democratic Alliance presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind garnered around two-thirds of the votes to become India’s 14th President. Meira Kumar was the opposition candidate, fielded by the Congress and others. The 71-year-old winner was serving as the governor of Bihar until recently. Kovind is the second Dalit president after K.R. Narayanan. Results were declared on Thursday.
7. Air India’s numbers improve
Air India’s results show the national carrier improved its performance over the previous year. This comes even as other airlines have shown a performance decline. The company’s net loss declined Rs194 crore for FY17, to Rs3,643 crore. This comes even as listed airlines all reported a decline in net profits for the same year, noted a Mint analysis on Thursday.
8. Court rules in RBI’s favour on bad loan efforts
The Gujarat high court on Monday allowed the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to go ahead with its bad loan resolution process. It dismissed an Essar Steel Ltd petition opposing the move. The court’s decision will help the central bank move against 11 other companies. The dozen companies together account for more than a quarter of the banking system’s bad loans. Banks are likely to take losses in excess of Rs2 trillion on the loans they have given out, according to a Crisil analysis of the top 50 indebted companies.
9. Increased cess on cigarettes
Tobacco major ITC Ltd saw a Rs50,000 crore fall in investor wealth on Tuesday. The decline came after the government increased cess on cigarettes to meet tax targets. Six major brokerages, both foreign and domestic, reduced target prices for the stock after the move, citing lower expected earnings for the company.
10. Reliance results surprise
Petroleum giant Reliance Industries Ltd recorded a 28% increase in its June quarter profit compared to the same period last year. Higher-than-expected refining margins helped buoy gains, according to Thursday’s results. Refining margin is what the company earns from refining each barrel of crude oil. This came in at $11.9 per barrel, higher than analyst expectations of $10.5 to $11.2 per barrel Net profit came in at Rs9,079 crore. Reliance announced a bonus for shareholders at its annual general meeting on Friday. The company announced that it would be giving users low-cost feature phones. It also announced customers wouldn’t have to pay voice charges, and promised unlimited data to users at Rs153 a month. The moves are expected to further disrupt India’s highly competitive telecom market.Telecom stocks declined on Friday after the announcements.
Graphics by Prajakta Patil/Mint.
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