Month: October 2019

CNBC-TV18 Market Highlights: Sensex ends 362 points lower, Nifty holds 11,350 as banks drag; Yes Bank tanks 22%

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Indian shares settled lower on Tuesday dragged mainly by heavy selloffs in shares of banking stocks as investors fretted about the exposure of major banks to the troubled real estate sector, compounding worries about a slowdown in economic growth.  The Sensex ended 362 points lower at 38,305, while the broader Nifty50 index lost 115 points to end the day at 11,360.  Intraday, the Sensex plunged as much as 737 points to 37,929.89 and the Nifty 50 slumped 226.55 points to a low of 11,247.90.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Highest monsoon rains in 25 years to boost winter crops

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Monsoon rains in India were 10 percent above average in 2019 and the highest in 25 years as seasonal rainfall continued longer than expected, the weather department said on Monday.

Extra June-September monsoon rainfall will help farmers expand areas under winter-sown crops such as wheat, rice rapeseed and chick peas, improving their earning potential and helping revive tepid rural demand that has stung Indian economic growth.

The longer monsoon could also restock reservoirs and help replenish ground water, helping assuage water shortages in pockets of the country of 1.3 billion people.

But heavy rainfall in some areas has damaged summer-sown crops like cotton, soybean and pulses that are close to harvest.

The monsoon delivers about 70 percent of India‘s annual rainfall and determines the yield of rice, wheat, sugarcane and oilseeds, such as soybeans.

Farming accounts for about 15 percent of India‘s $2.5 trillion economy but employs more than half of its people.

“Even in the first half of October, above average rainfall is expected due to a delay in the withdrawal of the monsoon,” said an official with the India Meteorological Department (IMD), declining to be named as he was not authorized to speak with media.

The monsoon generally begins in June and starts to retreat by September 1, but rains have lasted longer this year, triggering fatal floods and killing hundreds of people.

Rains are unlikely to start receding before early October, more than a month later than usual, the head of the weather office said on Friday.

“Excessive rainfall wasn’t of much benefit to summer crops due to erratic weather patterns, but it will help winter crops. Reservoirs are holding more water than normal,” said Harish Galipelli, head of commodities and currencies at Inditrade Derivatives & Commodities in Mumbai.

The 2019 monsoon season got off to a bleak start with the driest June in five years and below-average precipitation in July, suggesting an initial prediction for lower than normal rainfall from the country’s only private forecaster, Skymet, could come to pass.

The weather department had also said in May that rains this year would amount to 96 percent of the long-term average.

But August saw heavy rains and flooding in some states and the strong monsoon has stretched into this month.

Water levels in India‘s main reservoirs were at 89 percent of their storage capacity as on September 27 against 74 percent a year earlier, government data shows. The average for the past 10 years is 72 percent.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Pakistan summons Indian diplomat over deadly cross-border shelling in Kashmir

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Pakistan’s government on Monday summoned India‘s top diplomat in the country over accusations of deadly shelling by India in Kashmir, as tensions run high between the nuclear-armed rival nations.

A 60-year old woman and 13-year old boy were killed and three wounded in shelling over the Line of Control (LOC), near the informal border with India, on Saturday and Sunday, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said.

“The ceasefire violations by India are a threat to regional peace and security and may lead to a strategic miscalculation,” said Pakistan’s foreign ministry statement, adding that its spokesman had summoned Indian deputy high commissioner Gaurav Ahluwalia to condemn the incident.

A spokesman for India‘s foreign ministry said it had no immediate comment on the matter.

India and Pakistan both accuse each other of breaching a 2003 ceasefire agreement by shelling and firing over the LOC, killing dozens this year.

India has also accused Pakistan of providing support for militants on its territory, a claim Pakistan denies.

The latest incident comes amid tension between the neighbours that escalated sharply following New Delhi’s move to revoke the autonomy of Kashmir in August.

Pakistan expelled India‘s ambassador and suspended bilateral trade soon after and launched an international diplomacy campaign in an attempt to draw global condemnation of India‘s treatment of Kashmiris.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan made an impassioned address at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Friday, saying there would be a bloodbath once India lifts a curfew and that any all-out conflict between the nations would reverberate far beyond their borders.

Both India and Pakistan claim Kashmir in full. India says its revocation of autonomy is an internal matter that will allow Kashmir to develop economically.

A spokesman for a Kashmiri separatist group said on Monday that it was planning a large march in Kashmir on October 4, followed by an attempt to cross the LOC, in which tens of thousands were expected to take part.

“If law enforcement agencies stopped us…we will stage a sit-in there because we are peaceful and unarmed people,” said Rafiq Dar, spokesman for the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).

Pakistan’s military has said it will not allow anyone to cross the LOC.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow