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| Good morning! |
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For many months, the assembly elections shielded us from any rise in the retail price of petrol and diesel. The elections are over and now, there is a war raging in Europe. You and I can therefore expect a revision in prices soon. That could pinch—fuel prices in India could jump as much as ₹20 per litre as global crude oil prices hover at record highs, a research report warned.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced that his administration will ban imports of Russian oil as the country does not want to “subsidise Putin’s war”. The move is expected to further weigh on the market and increase volatility.
Scroll down for our top stories. On Amazon and Future Group, Dish TV, and the sudden, bleak IPO picture. Also, don’t miss a ground report on prohibition in Bihar. It isn’t working.
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| Market Watch |
| What's up? |
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BSE Sensex
 53,424.09 (+1.10%)
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NIFTY
16,013.45 (+0.95%)
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Dollar/Rupee
 ₹76.90 (-0.07%)
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Gold
₹55,086 (+2.93%)
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Crude oil
₹9,922 (+6.87%)
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Bitcoin
₹30,66,415.45 (-0.53%)
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*As of 9 PM 8 March; MCX, CoinDCX
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| The main stuff |
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Amazon-Future-Reliance joint venture option on the table
The bitter legal battle between Amazon and Future Group may take an unexpected twist, if the two parties can reach a broad consensus during talks to resolve the dispute. On the table are proposals, including a tripartite joint venture with Reliance Industries, which proposed to buy troubled Future Group’s assets for ₹24,713 crore, two people aware of the settlement options said on condition of anonymity. However, any settlement between Amazon and Future may ultimately hinge on the decision of Future’s lenders to whom Kishore Biyani owes at least $3 billion, Anirudh Laskar writes. Read more.
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No confidence: Dish shareholders spurn all three resolutions
Shareholders of Dish TV India delivered a stinging rebuke to the company, with a majority of them rejecting all three resolutions tabled by the company, including the adoption of financial statements and reappointment of a director, prompting calls from proxy advisers for the resignation of directors on moral grounds. On Tuesday, Dish TV disclosed the voting results on the three resolutions tabled before shareholders on 30 December. The company was forced to disclose the results after the Securities and Exchange Board of India gave an ultimatum, reports Varun Sood. Read more.
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₹77,000 crore IPOs on hold as Ukraine crisis roils markets
Companies are mothballing initial public offering plans of at least ₹77,000 crore as the stock market turmoil triggered by the Russia-Ukraine war has soured investor sentiment. Experts said that the bleak IPO scenario will likely persist until the end of the fiscal first quarter as Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to be pushing ahead with his plans at all costs. As many as 51 companies were set to raise ₹77,000 crore through IPOs after receiving the markets regulator’s approval, according to capital markets researcher Prime Database. Priyanka Gawande has the details. Read more.
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Prohibition makes for a heady cocktail in Bihar (premium)
Honouring a poll promise made to women, the Nitish Kumar government introduced prohibition in Bihar on 2 October, 2016, forgoing thousands of crores of revenue in taxes and levies. The move immediately pushed the liquor business into the black market. Alcohol consumption continues unabated with bootleggers and smugglers ensuring a steady supply of genuine, fake and country liquor. Meanwhile, Bihar's revenues have taken a hit just when it needs funds for public welfare projects amid the covid pandemic. And deaths from consumption of spurious liquor have been rising steadily, writes Sarika Malhotra. Read more.
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Russia-Ukraine conflict and the impact on food, farming
The war in the Black Sea region, which is both a production and trade hub, has pushed prices of crude oil, wheat, corn, cooking oil, and fertilizers to new highs. As India is acutely dependent on imports of edible oil and fertilizers, consumers may see prices of these soaring to painful levels. Besides, an impending shortage of fertilizers in the country ahead of the Kharif planting season can lead to unrest in rural areas. Sayantan Bera explains. Read more.
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| Elsewhere… |
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Global business news
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As more than two million Ukrainians flee war in their homeland, a much smaller, quieter exodus is taking place from Russia. There are no statistics tracking foreigners fleeing Russia, and their journeys are for the most part far less harrowing than those faced by the historic wave of war refugees moving across and out of Ukraine. But since the war began, many non-Russians with the means have rushed to leave the country. Reasons include the financial, logistical and moral.
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Shell PLC said it is withdrawing from dealing in Russian oil and natural gas, saying it would immediately halt all spot purchase of crude from the country and will phase out its other trading and business dealings. The energy giant previously said it would pull out of a number of joint ventures in the country.
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Uber Technologies Inc., Lyft Inc. and other companies that use independent contractors as drivers are launching a campaign to head off Democratic efforts to classify their workers as employees, which would allow them to form unions. The companies, which also include DoorDash Inc., Grubhub Inc. and several others, plan to run TV and internet ads in the Washington area featuring workers who say they prefer the flexibility of the independent-contractor model over that of a company employee.
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China’s car sales snapped an eight-month streak of on-year declines as the world’s largest auto market started to recover from Covid-19 disruptions and supply chain headwinds. Retail sales of passenger cars in February rose 4.2% from a year earlier to 1.25 million vehicles, the China Passenger Car Association said Tuesday.
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| MINT SNAPVIEW |
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Why sanctions are not deterring Russia from its targets
How does the freezing of Russia’s foreign exchange reserves affect that country? Will it cripple Russia’s ability to pay its import bills or service foreign loans? It will not. Will it cripple Russia economically to an extent that it would abandon its invasion of Ukraine? Unlikely. Read more.
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| News in numbers |
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1.66 petaFLOPS
The computing power of a supercomputer installed at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee. Called PARAM Ganga, it has components manufactured and assembled in India.
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2,023
The average daily departures of domestic flights in February 2022, marginally lower than 2,032 in January, and significantly lower than 2,790 in December last year.
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18,000
The number of Indians brought back through special flights from Ukraine’s neighbouring countries, since the rescue operations began on 22 February.
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$100,000 a ton
The price at which nickel, used in stainless steel and electric-vehicle batteries, traded at the London Metal Exchange, up 111% during the day. This prompted the exchange to halt its trading.
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6
The number of days patients infected with the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 remain contagious, which is the same as patients infected with earlier variants, according to a new study.
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| howindialives.com |
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| Chart of the day |
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Regional governments have a large role to play in achieving the sustainable development goals (SDG) on climate action. The Indian government runs a data repository on SDG indicators across states. SDG 13, a consolidated score on climate actions, shows Odisha, Kerala and Gujarat ranking highest among the large states, mostly on account of their higher disaster preparedness scores. Bihar and Jharkhand are at the bottom.
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| LOUNGE RECOMMENDS |
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Anthology of New Writing
Stories of isolation, unrequited love, college romance, dystopian marriage, familial history, and more, find place in this selection of contemporary writing by women authors. The India-based digital magazine, which aims to chronicle arts, literature and culture, has always had a vibrant section of short stories and poetry, so it decided to test the waters for an anthology that blended new voices with established ones, reflected on the human condition and had the potential to surprise with its ingenuity and depth. Keep reading.
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| WHAT THE FACT |
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A slang from WW I
A painting at the Imperial War Museum shows a dogfight involving five aircraft during World War I. (Weirter, Louis, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons).
The first known use of the word was in 1656, when it meant a fight between dogs. ‘Dogfight’, as in an aerial combat, emerged during World War I as an air forces slang. The development of Basic Fighter Maneuvers or BFM—tactical movements performed by fighter planes during air combat maneuvering—began during the war.
Contributed by @Thebizdom
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