Suzuki’s Gujarat plant to drive out fewer cars

• Carmaker not likely to double capacity at the plant to 1.5 million vehicles
• The move by parent Suzuki comes on the heels of Maruti’s local sales falling 19% in the June quarter

IMF lowers India’s growth outlook for FY20 on weaker demand

• The Indian economy is now expected to expand 30 bps slower in FY20
• IMF said multilateral and national policy actions are vital to place global growth on a stronger footing

Congress-JD(S) coalition government loses trust vote in Karnataka

• The BJP Karnataka leadership is expected to meet its top brass in Delhi and decide the next move
• The confidence motion, called by Kumaraswamy in a desperate attempt to stem the leaching of legislators, brought an end to the 425-day-old government

L&T’s order flows surprise even as infra business copes with macro challenges

• Barring the power segment, infra, defence, heavy engineering and hydrocarbons clocked good revenue growth
• L&T’s robust project execution skills played out in its favour despite challenging macroeconomic times

Deadline for filing income tax returns extended to 31 August

• CBDT says taxpayers were facing difficulties in filing returns due to extension of deadline for issuing Form 16
• The extension is applicable to all assessees other than corporate taxpayers and a few non-corporate entities

Britain’s new leader Boris Johnson vows to get Brexit done by 31 October

• Johnson won the votes of 92,153 members of the Conservative Party, almost twice the number of votes Hunt got
• May will leave office on Wednesday after going to Buckingham Palace to see Queen Elizabeth II, who will formally appoint Johnson before he enters Downing Street

HUL does well on profit margins, but demand outlook remains dull

• HUL’s volume growth moderated to 5%, suggesting that slowdown is the new normal
• Company’s Ebitda margin was better than the Street’s expectations, but sustainability is key

SC revokes licence of Amrapali Group in huge relief for stranded homebuyers

• The apex court ordered a probe into money laundering at Amrapali
• The court cancelled Amrapali’s registration under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016

Snapdeal in talks for fresh capital, raises funds from Piramal

• The talks to raise a fresh round of funding are at a fairly early stage and investor names have not been finalized yet
• 'Since 2017, Snapdeal’s revenues have grown rapidly with profitable unit economics,' said Piramal

Trump’s offer to mediate in Kashmir row triggers uproar

• US clarifies that Kashmir is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan after New Delhi rejects the offer
• US President Trump said that PM Modi had asked him to mediate in the Kashmir issue

Chandrayaan-2 is in good health and moving in right direction: ISRO

• If successful, it will make India the fourth country after Russia, the US and China to pull off a soft landing on the moon
• An ISRO official said no updates on the mission have been made because there is no need for it at this juncture

Yes Bank’s Rana Kapoor pledges entire promoter stake as stock nosedives

• Kapoor and family owned MCPL have been forced to pledge entire 7.34% stake with Reliance Nippon Life
• Rana Kapoor and MCPL hold 4.31% and 3.03% stake, respectively, in Yes Bank

Super failure: Horrors of IIT dream

• There is something deeply wrong in the IIT ecosystem, which should worry us as a society
• What the media doesn’t report is that the median salary of a fresh IIT graduate is ₹8-10 lakh a year, and that even in the top IITs, 15-20% don’t get jobs on campus

HUL Q1 volume growth at 7-quarter low on weak demand

• HUL saw net profit, driven by higher revenue and a fall in raw material cost, jump 15% to ₹1,755 crore
• The company’s revenue from operations rose 6.6% year-on-year to ₹10,114 crore

Saudi Aramco's talks to buy minority stake in RIL's refining assets stall

• Aramco is concerned about Reliance’s proposal to shift some debt of the wider group to its refinery business ahead of the transaction
• Reliance’s debt increased 20% over the past year as it spent $36 billion to disrupt India’s wireless market with cheap data and free calls

IndusInd Bank to raise up to ₹20,000 crore

• The bank said it will put up the proposal before the shareholders in its forthcoming annual general meeting
• The bank said it board of directors it will seek consent of members for borrowing/raising of funds in Indian/foreign currency by way of issue of securities

Opinion | Global collaboration will improve India’s mitigation initiatives

CDRI could be the next major foreign policy innovation in the Modi Doctrine

Aditya Birla Sun Life MF’s debt investors face cliff edge risk

• Investors of 3 Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC schemes see their risk rise sharply as exposure to Essel grows
• Aditya Birla Sun Life’s Medium Term, Credit Risk and Dynamic Bond funds have large exposure to the Essel Group

Govt introduces in Lok Sabha two labour reform bills merging 17 existing laws

• The wage code will subsume four existing laws, while the occupational health code will merge 13 related laws
• The Central government may, before fixing the floor wage, obtain the opinion of an advisory board or state governments

ISI had tipped off US on Osama bin Laden’s location, says Imran

• This is the first time a Pakistani PM has admitted that country had knowledge of the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden
• Pakistan has until now officially denied it had any knowledge of the whereabouts of bin Laden until he was shot dead in a raid by US special forces on 2 May 2011

Govt plans to extend ongoing Parliament session by 10 more days

• There is no official proposal from the govt yet considering the Opposition is against the proposed extension
• Pending controversial bills, which the NDA wants to get passed in the ongoing session, include the one to ban the practice of triple talaq and the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019, which is expected to be taken up in the Rajya Sabha

Govt initiates new process to identify essential medicines

• Committee to meet stakeholders tomorrow to shortlist drugs that should be available in assured quality
• Stakeholders have been asked for their feedback on cardiology and cancer drugs

Coke’s coffee, zero-sugar sodas lift 2019 goals

• A 4% volume rise in traditional Coca-Cola and its zero-sugar version helped revenue grow 6.1% to $10 bn in Q2
• The world’s biggest beverage makers, Coca-Cola and rival PepsiCo, have been responding to changing consumer tastes

Supreme Court extends NRC deadline to 31 August

• The extension has been allowed on the request of NRC coordinator Prateek Haleja to perform some quality checks on the NRC list
• The case will be next heard on 7 August at 3:00 pm and all stakeholders have to be present

Discuss salary issue with lenders: NCLT to Jet’s RP

• The tribunal will hear the airline’s insolvency case again on 8 August
• Jet has held back salaries of a section of its staff, including pilots and engineers, since January

Will India’s idea on disaster management gain global support?

• Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infra to be discussed at G7 meet in August
• PM Modi feels that there is space for major nations, particularly the G20 members, to have some kind of an informal arrangement where capacity building and technical know-how can be shared

High govt borrowing can squeeze private sector, says Viral Acharya

• The government is expected to borrow over ₹7 tn from the markets to finance fiscal deficit of 3.3% of GDP in FY20
• An increase in government borrowing could lead to flooding the debt market, making it expensive for companies to borrow, said Acharya

Opinion | The country’s new DNA law raises privacy concerns

The law goes well beyond criminal matters and regulates civilian and medical use of DNA

Viral Acharya’s crowd management lessons involve showing true fiscal deficit

• In his last published speech, the outgoing deputy governor of RBI highlighted yet again the problem of crowding out by govt’s rising market borrowing
• Implications of crowding out are more serious now because household savings, main source of funding for both public and private sectors, are shrinking

HZL volumes may shift gears, but zinc prices need to play their part

• The benefits of higher volume growth, operating leverage may be limited if zinc prices are under pressure
• Despite lower inventories, weak global growth may keep zinc prices subdued

Lok Sabha passes Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill

• The Centre will develop a system for cashless treatment of road accident victims in the so-called golden hour—the period up to an hour after a traumatic injury
• All laws under the transport policy will be framed only after consulting states

RBI names Kanungo to run monetary policy portfolio after Viral Acharya quits

• Kanungo will also retain his currency management portfolio
• He would become the sixth member of the RBI's Monetary Policy Committee, which will next convene on 5-7 August

L&T posts 21% rise in Q1 profit to ₹1,473 cr, misses street estimates

• The company reported consolidated revenue of ₹29,636 crore, rising 10% year-on-year from ₹27,005 crore in the year-ago period
• L&T won new orders of ₹38,700 crore during the quarter, registering a growth of 11% year-on-year

Apple in talks to buy Intel smartphone chip unit

• Apple has been investing in its own mobile chips to ramp up performance and features in its devices and reduce its dependence on Qualcomm
• Intel earlier this year announced it was abandoning efforts to compete with modem chips for smartphones synched to new-generation “5G” networks

Riding on anti-govt protests, Congress sees a boost in Kerala

• Taking up a series of anti-government agitations recently, the party has received a boost in the public eye in Kerala
• Kerala is the only southern state where the party won significantly in parliamentary polls, no less than 19 out of 20 seats

‘Value investing hasn’t worked in past 8-9 years, but then cycles change’

Value investing focuses on the price at which a stock is bought; growth focuses more on returns and cash flows, says Vetri Subramaniam, group president and head of equity, UTI Asset Management

Opinion | The end of an unseemly drama in Karnataka

The Kumaraswamy government in the state has fallen after a prolonged power tussle that’s best described as an embarrassment to the electoral democracy we are so proud of

Gold rallies as global, local factors align in its favour

• Gold prices in India too soared to over ₹36,000/10gms recently, touching its life-time high
• With equity valuations remaining expensive, gold seems to be regaining its safe haven status

Piramal’s real estate fund seeks extension

• Launched in 2013, the fund has a tenure of six years which is extendable by another two years
• The group firm said cash flow in a residential project in Pune was hit due to liquidity issues and inability to carry out sales and development activities

Move over Elon Musk. Satya Nadella-Microsoft to invest $1 billion in OpenAI

• OpenAI will use Microsoft’s Azure cloud services to train and run the group’s AI software
• Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the goal is to 'democratise AI – while always keeping AI safety front and center'

Double-decker buses running on alternative fuel to be reality soon

• The proposed double-decker bus will have economy and executive class seats
• These buses will run on alternative fuel or electricity, which will save cost and make ticket prices cheaper

RTI stands at the brink of extinction: Sonia Gandhi

• Her strong remarks come a day after the Lok Sabha passed the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019
• The bill seeks to empower the central government on deciding the terms of chief information commissioners and information commissioners

What are India’s challenges as its fertility rate falls?

• The government’s Sample Registration System in 22 states shows that TFR for India declined to 2.2 in 2017 after being stable at 2.3 between 2013 and 2016
• The total fertility rate has more than halved in both urban and rural areas

No new changes in online ITR forms, says CBDT

• Online ITR forms were changed and updated on 1 April itself, while utility forms meant for partial online filing were updated with the changes in May
• Updating of utility does not hamper filing of ITR as taxpayers can use utility available at any given point, said CBDT

PF withdrawal is tax-exempt once you complete 5 years of continuous service

• There should not be any gap in contribution to PF to avail of the continuous service clause
• If an employee finds another job and the total PF balance is transferred to the new PF account, the PF is considered to be continuous service

Greenko raises $950 mn in mega green bond sale

• Deal is among the largest overseas green bond sales by an Indian clean energy firm
• Greenko Energy is backed by GIC Holdings and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority

Government  to proceed with caution on policy to improve audit quality

• MCA will examine problems in corporate governance before imposing fresh restrictions on audit practice
• Improving audit quality is part of a larger plan to improve corporate governance