The big stories of the week gone by – in charts

Rupee’s Tumble

Interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve have been a key reason for the weakening of the rupee. As the Fed delivered a hike of 75 basis points, the rupee depreciated further to close at its lowest ever level of 80.87 against the dollar. This year so far, the rupee has declined nearly 7%. The fall in the rupee is likely to be a challenge for Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which is expected to hike the repo rate by 35-50 basis points on 30 September.

Festive Boost?

India’s automobile sector, which has been grappling with low demand and raw material shortages, is expected to post its best-ever festive period growth in the coming season. The sales volumes are recovering and availability of semiconductor chips has improved. Operating profit margins of BSE Auto index companies fell to an eight-quarter low of 11% in Q1FY23, Mint analysis showed. But, easing commodity prices may lead to an improvement in profit margins in the coming months.

Adani’s Pledge

$6.5 billion: That’s the amount of the deal for which billionaire Gautam Adani has pledged his entire stake in Ambuja Cements Ltd and ACC Ltd to foreign banks. The Adani family has pledged 63.15% stake in Ambuja Cements and 56.69% in ACC, worth as much as $12.5 billion, to foreign banks to fund his family’s acquisition of the two cement makers. The acquisition, completed on 16 September, has made Adani group India’s second-largest cement maker.

Highway Roadblock

The progress in construction of highways has slowed over the past two years, after seeing an impressive progress in 2020-21, with 37 km being built per day. The pace fell to 29 km per day in 2021-22 and 19 km per day in the current financial year so far. The major reasons for the slowing are delays in land acquisition and rise in land prices. An extended monsoon in FY22 had also hit construction and is likely to have impacted the work this year as well.

Slowing Growth

The Asian Development Bank has become the latest organization to cut India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for the current financial year. The bank has reduced its growth projection to 7% from 7.2% earlier because of high inflation and monetary policy tightening. Earlier, Fitch Ratings, Citigroup Inc, Goldman Sachs, and Moody’s had also lowered their growth forecast, following the lower-than-expected GDP growth of 13.5% in April-June.

Raising Funds

₹10,000 crore: That’s the amount state-owned National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) plans to raise from the capital market through infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs), Mint reported this week. Of the total amount, NHAI is likely to raise ₹3,000 crore- ₹4,000 crore for the operation and maintenance of completed roads and highways. The remaining amount may be raised by the end of the year or next year.

Easing Deadline

The government extended the deadline for curbs on export of broken rice from 15 September to 30 September to ease tension at ports. India had on 8 September banned exports of broken rice and imposed a 20% duty on exports on non-basmati rice except for parboiled rice over food security concerns. Data shows growth in export of non-Basmati rice was already significantly lower at 9.19% in April-July compared to the same period in the past two years.

Chart Of The Week: Love Cases

Every tenth case of kidnapping has an elopement or love angle, shows data released recently by the National Crime Records Bureau. Experts say this underlines the patriarchal stigma and caste hierarchies that compel parents to file criminal charges in such cases.

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