The stories of the week gone by – in charts
3 min read . Updated: 16 Sep 2022, 01:00 AM IST
PremiumHigh retail prices remained a concern in August as govt data released this week showed inflation had risen to 7% last month. The ILO released a report estimating that there were more than 50 million people engaged in modern slavery across the globe.
Every week, Plain Facts publishes a compilation of data-based insights, complete with easy-to-read charts, to help you delve deeper into the stories reported by Mint. High retail prices remained a concern in August as government data released this week showed inflation had risen to 7% last month. The International Labour Organization released a report estimating that there were more than 50 million people engaged in modern slavery across the globe.
Inflation Spike
Retail inflation surged to 7% in August from 6.71% in July, data released by the government showed. The consumer price index (CPI) inflation has remained above the Reserve Bank of India’s comfort zone of 2-6% for eight months. The inflation surge was primarily fuelled by a 7.62% rise in food prices. Rural inflation saw a sharper rise than urban inflation, from 6.8% in July to 7.15% in August. Wholesale inflation eased but remained in double digits for the 17th straight month.
Manufacturing Projects
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday questioned the inability of India Inc to actively invest in manufacturing. However, an analysis by Mint showed that a major share of the investment in the manufacturing sector was increasingly coming from the private sector. Of the capital expenditure projects worth ₹9.3 trillion announced in manufacturing space in 2021-22, 94.1% were by private firms. Nearly a third of these announcements came from five projects.
Twitter Deal
$44 billion: The price of the proposed buyout by Elon Musk. A majority of Twitter shareholders on Tuesday voted in favour of Musk’s earlier offer to acquire the social media network. However, despite the approval, consummation of the deal depends upon Musk. The Tesla owner had in July threatened to cancel the deal, claiming that Twitter has misled him about the size of the user-base and the number of bots and spam accounts.
Logistical Challenge
The government will announce the National Logistics Policy on Saturday to bring down logistics costs, which make up 14-15% of the country’s gross domestic product. In several developed countries it is 7-8%. Nearly 16% of agricultural production is wasted because of inefficient supply chains. The new policy aims to bring down the overall cost of logistics to 8% and wastage of perishable commodities during transport to 5%.
Slavery Scourge
As many as 50 million people were in modern slavery in 2021, said the latest Global Estimates report released by the International Labour Organization. They comprised 22 million in forced marriages and 28 million in forced labour. Women and girls made up 11.8 million of those in forced labour and children numbered over 3.3 million. The current surge is mainly a result of the covid-19 pandemic, armed conflicts, and climate change.
Big League
₹5 trillion: That is the market capitalization mark crossed by public lender State Bank of India on Wednesday, for the first time. The bank is placed seventh in the overall market cap ranking among Indian companies. After HDFC Bank ( ₹8.46 trillion) and ICICI Bank ( ₹6.39 trillion), SBI became the third bank with a market cap of more than ₹5 trillion. In the last three months, shares of the public sector bank have surged 26%.
Market Turbulence
US stock indices declined sharply on Tuesday to register their biggest one-day percentage drop since June 2020, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 3.9%. The steep fall came after the latest inflation data dashed hopes of relief any time soon in the world’s largest economy. The headline inflation rate in the US was 8.3% in August, higher than market estimates. Stocks remained volatile on Wednesday as well, but ended slightly higher.
Chart of the Week: Ray of Hope
The ₹410-croe movie Brahmāstra: Part One–Shiva netted over ₹138 crore at the box office till Wednesday. The film industry is pegging hopes on the multi-starrer, special-effects-laden film to break this year’s jinx of big-budget films flopping at cinemas.
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