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  • Bit by Bit 24th Sept || India's forex reserves hit 2-year low || New telecom rules & more

Bit by Bit 24th Sept || India's forex reserves hit 2-year low || New telecom rules & more

Author

BGS Committee
September 24, 2022

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Good Morning! Nothing influences people more than a recommendation from a trusted friend; that’s it, that’s the intro.

So, here are:

"5 amazing stories in 5 minutes to make you future ready"

Happy reading!

MARKET DATA

  • BSE SENSEX : ₹58,098.92 (-1.73%)

  • NIFTY 50 : ₹17,327.35 (-1.72%)

  • NIFTY BANK : ₹39,546.25 (-2.67%)

  • USD/INR : ₹81.25 (+0.23%)

  • BRENTOIL : $86.65 (-4.21%)

  • MCXGOLD : ₹49,399.00 (-1.20%)

  • FII Net Cashflow : - ₹2899 crores

  • DII Net Cashflow : + ₹299 crores

(market data as of 11:00 PM on 23/09/2022)

ECONOMY

India's foreign exchange reserves fell for a seventh straight week, dropping to $545.652 billion on September 16, Reserve Bank of India's weekly statistical supplement showed on Friday. This is the lowest level since 2 October 2020.

The foreign exchange reserves stood at $550.871 billion at the end of the previous week. In the week ending September 9, 2022, the reserves dropped by $2.2 billion. On September 16, the foreign currency assets stood at $484.901 billion, gold reserves at $38.186 billion and special drawing rights at $17.686 billion.

Though the fall in reserves is partly due to valuation changes, analysts believe a large part has been due to the Reserve Bank of India's intervention in the currency market to prevent the rupee from depreciating sharply against the dollar.RBI’s intervention in the spot market could make the case worst for the banking system liquidity amid short-term interest rates going higher. It will be interesting to watch RBI monetary policy next week as it comes up with some tools to smoothen the liquidity and talks about the current run in the currency and falling reserves.

The Indian Rupee today fell 41 paise to an all-time low of 81.20 against the US dollar in early trade on the back of US Treasury yields climbing to fresh multi-year highs and dollar demand from importers.

Historically, whenever a significant figure in rupee has been taken out, a move of 2.5 rupees an average has been seen within one month of breakout. Overall, with RBI’s absence, the rupee is going to test new lows in the short term, and we expect the currency to weaken up to 81.80 and 82.00 levels in the near term.

RETAIL

Key Facts:

  • Nestle India presently operates 9 factories employing roughly 6,000 people

  • Nestle India's revenue in 2021 stood at Rs 14,709.41 crore

  • It had last invested around Rs 700 crore to open its plant at Sanand in Gujarat to manufacture a range of popular instant noodles Maggi

The Story:

Global food & beverage conglomerate Nestle SA plans to invest Rs 5,000 crore in India in the next three-and-a-half years by 2025, its CEO Mark Schneider said on Friday. The move will help the company to accelerate its core business in the country and leverage new opportunities for growth.

The investment would be on Capex (capital expenditure), setting up new plants, acquisitions, and expansion of the company's product portfolio. Nestle, which operates nine plants across India, is also looking at new locations to set up manufacturing capacity. The investment, subject to clearances and approvals, will also help create more job opportunities in the domestic market.

INDUSTRY

Key Facts:

The Story:

Exide Industries, an automotive and industrial battery maker, is eyeing to invest Rs 6,000 crore in the next 8-10 years to set up a 12 gigawatt-hour lithium-ion cell manufacturing unit in Karnataka. The first phase with a capacity of 6 gigawatt-hour is expected to be completed in 27-30 months, a report by BusinessLine (BL) stated.

One of Exide's subsidiaries, Nexcharge, makes lithium-ion battery packs and modules. It is one of the largest such units in India.

The company expects an annual revenue of Rs 10,000 crore- Rs 12,000 crore in the next 8-10 years from the lithium-ion cell business.

"It is difficult to say what percentage of the business lithium ion can comprise (in the future) as the lead acid business will also be growing," Subir Chakraborty, MD and CEO, Exide.

TECH

Key Facts:

The Story:

If the Telecom Bill is approved, over-the-top players like Whatsapp, Zoom, and Google Duo which provide calling and messaging services may require licenses to operate in the country.

Ott will also come under regulation according to this bill. They have to take a license from the govt to function and has to share part of the revenue with govt as well.

According to IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw the govt is thinking of implementing the new telecom law which will replace the 137-year-old bill made by the British “Indian Telegraph Act -1885” As well as The Telegraph Wires (Unlawful Possession) Act of 1950 and the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act of 1933 are both to be repealed under the proposed legislation.

Millions of mobile phone users who receive spam calls or messages every day would be much relieved by the new Telecom bill's provision for a legal framework to prevent harassment of users from unsolicited calls and messages.

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Mental health break for Employees

To give priority to mental health in times when mental stress is most talked about and is a major concern across age groups, an Indian e-commerce platform has announced an 11-day companywide “Reset and Research break” for the second year in a row.

An update posted on their website revealed that this initiative is aimed at allowing employees “to completely unplug from work and prioritize their mental well-being after the busy festive sale period”.

Founder and CTO Sanjeev Barnwal made the announcement on twitter, highlighting that a work life balance was paramount to good mental health.