Top headlines: Delhi, Mumbai slide in ARPU ranking; MSP raised amid protest

From Delhi, Mumbai sliding in ARPU ranking to govt raising MSP amid farmer protests, here are top headlines this morning

Delhi and Mumbai slide in ARPU ranking, Kerala remains No. 1: Trai data

The data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) last week shows that both Mumbai and Delhi have lost their prized slots in terms of ARPU value and tumbled down the pecking order of the top ARPU circles in the country in the March quarter of FY20, compared to the previous quarter. According to telecom companies, the key reason for this is the reverse migration of labour. Read More

Sensex falls 812 points, Nifty settles at 11,250 amid global sell-off

The benchmark indices slumped on Monday amid a global sell-off triggered by concerns about rising Covid-19 cases and news reports on suspicious transactions involving international banks. The Nifty50 fell 254 points, or 2.2 per cent, to end at 11,250 — the biggest fall in three weeks, and the Sensex closed at 38,034, dropping 812 points, or 2.1 per cent. Read More

Farm bills: Govt ups rabi MSP to placate farmers, nationwide stir called

The Central government, to calm the anger of farmers at three pieces of legislation on agriculture, on Monday increased the minimum support price (MSP) of key rabi crops for the 2021-22 marketing season by 2-6 per cent, but the hike was termed inadequate by their associations. Read More

Reliance Capital lenders appoint SBI Caps, JM Financial to sell assets

Lenders to Reliance Capital Ltd (RCL) have appointed SBI Caps and JM Financial to sell the assets of the company after the Anil Ambani-owned firm defaulted on its debt repayment to debenture holders and other creditors. The debenture holders account for 99 per cent of the borrowing of RCL and have formed the committee of debenture holders (CODH) for debt resolution. Read More

Packaged food firms may witness growth rebound soon, say analysts

Investor sentiment towards packaged food majors — Nestlé, Britannia Industries (Britannia), and ITC — has taken a hit, following reports and notes by brokerages on slowing sales growth of packaged/read-to-eat

In the 2019-20 marketing season, Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh contributed over 70 per cent of the wheat purchased for the Central pool.

products in August. The impact was relatively sharper on Britannia and Nestlé, given their pricey valuations. While ITC fell 2 per cent on Monday, Britannia and Nestlé shed over 4 per cent each. Read More

Is Indian streaming video market headed for a shakeout after Covid-boost?

Is the Indian streaming video market due for consolidation? In June this year, 60 over-the-top, or OTT, services were fighting for the attention of India’s 662 million broadband consumers. Just five years ago, their number stood at 15. Media Partners Asia (MPA) estimates that investment in programming by OTTs more than doubled from $260 million (Rs 1,690 crore) in 2017 to $600 million (Rs 4,320 crore) in 2019. Read More

TikTok ban effect: Made-in-India app Chingari crosses 30 mn downloads

Made-in-India short-video sharing platform, Chingari, has announced that it has crossed more than 30 million downloads. The social app said in a statement it achieved the feat in a matter of three months, with content creators making a beeline to join it. Chingari said it has also added AR (augmented reality) filters on its platform to give content creators more advanced front and rear camera tools. Read More

Committee looking to capture informal sector activities stuck on sample

The statistics office is planning to come out with an annual survey of unincorporated enterprises that will help capture informal sector activities in the gross domestic product (GDP). However, a panel looking into this is stuck over one crucial issue. The issue is whether the annual survey should change the sample every time as is done currently when this survey comes out after a gap of five years. Read More

Covid-19 impact: Fresh auction round likely for ONGC, Oil India blocks

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) is coming up with a fresh strategy to increase hydrocarbon production in the country. It is likely to open bidding for production enhancement contracts (PECs) of old oil blocks of Oil India (OIL) and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). Read More