Data recap: Women’s IPL auctions, ‘Pathaan’
3 min read . Updated: 26 Jan 2023, 11:57 PM IST
PremiumEvery Friday, 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 in the week gone by
Every Friday, 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 in the week gone by. A US investing company made allegations of corporate fraud against the Adani Group. Shah Rukh Khan is back with a new film that is all the rage in cinemas. The auctions for five franchises took place for the Women’s Indian Premier League.
Good Going
A total of 84.1 million e-waybills were generated in December 2022, an all-time high, data from Goods and Services Tax (GST) Network showed. The numbers suggest that the GST collections in January are likely to be strong. E-waybills are electronic permits needed for the shipment of goods within and across states, and are seen as reflective of economic activity. E-waybill generation dropped in October 2022 to 76.9 million, but has been rising since.
Rupee Deal
India’s push to use the rupee in international trade appears to be picking up. Reserve Bank of India governor Shaktikanta Das will visit the United Arab Emirates this month to thrash out a rupee-dirham trade settlement system, Mint reported. The UAE is one of the countries with which India runs a trade deficit, so rupee trade settlement can save India dollars. Such a system won’t be beneficial with partners with which India runs a surplus, such as Bangladesh (https://bit.ly/3H5Xu61).
Adani vs Hindenburg
₹85,000 crore: That’s the collective loss in market value for Adani Group companies on Wednesday after US investing company Hindenburg Research released a report accusing the group of “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades". Adani Group denied the allegations as “baseless " and questioned its timing. (The report’s release coincided with the opening of a follow-on public offer of Adani Enterprises.)
Bollywood’s Comeback
Pathaan, a Hindi spy thriller starring Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone, opened to packed cinemas on Wednesday, netting more than ₹50 crore on the first day itself. This made the film one of the top opening day grossers in Bollywood history. Khan is returning to the big screen after a gap of four years, and this comes at a time when Hindi films are losing their charm at the box office to regional-language cinema. Pathaan spells a remarkable revival of sorts.
Tax Rejig
The government may announce an overhaul of the exemption-free personal tax regime in the Union budget next week, Mint reported, citing unidentified officials. The finance ministry is considering making the tax slabs more acceptable while keeping it simple and revenue-neutral. The exemption-free (“new") regime gives taxpayers the flexibility to pay tax on their entire gross income at different slab rates. The older tax regime, which allows exemptions, continues to exist.
Facing the Axe
15,000+: That’s the number of jobs, likely going up to 20,000, that could be lost in India’s IT and startup sectors in the next six months, Mint reported, quoting recruitment consultants. The sectors are facing slowing demand and are unable to sustain the hiring sprees they undertook over the last two years. In 2022-23 so far, the two sectors have already laid off more than 20,000 employees, including 1,400 in the first two weeks of January.
Money Play
Auctions for five franchises of the Women’s Indian Premier League (WIPL) took place on Wednesday, earning the Board of Control for Cricket in India ₹4,670 crore in total. Adani Group, Reliance Industries, Diageo India, a JSW-GMR joint venture, and non-banking finance company Capri Global were the five successful bidders, winning the rights for Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Lucknow, respectively.
Chart of the Week: Jobs Plank
Jobs, or the lack of it, are again a talking point, with recent private data showing an uptick in the urban unemployment rate. Ahead of the 2024 general elections, jobs could heat up the political climate. A survey held before the 2019 polls showed unemployment was a key issue for Indian voters.
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