TMS Ep189: Laptop production, Apple Inc, LIC stocks, RBI & inflation

India had launched the Production-Linked Scheme to give fillip to manufacturing in the country. A year on, we assessed its progress in laptop manufacturing and found that just four of 14 companies declared eligible under the scheme were able to achieve their production target. And imports of laptops and tablets have shot up sharply by 53% to $8.0 billion in FY22. So why is domestic production of laptops still weak despite the government incentives? Is the PLI scheme not attractive enough to draw investments?

iPhones worth ₹47,000 crore are expected to be rolled out from the plants of Apple’s contract manufacturers in India during this financial year. Meanwhile -- in a departure from the past-- Apple on Monday lifted the curtain on its latest processor, the M2, and its upgraded laptops at its worldwide developer conference where it used to unveil software only. And free software upgrades-- including iOS 16, iPad OS 16, WatchOS 9 and MacOS Ventura -- were also unveiled and will be available in September. 

From the US giant Apple, let us turn to India’s insurance behemoth LIC. Rising interest rates usually leave a positive impact on insurance stocks. However, it also depends on the rate of return fixed by the insurance companies. Dalal Street’s latest debutant, LIC, however, has been on a negative slope even in rate hike scenarios. So, is there any more downside to the stock after a 21% fall from its issue price? Or will the stock stage bounce back? 

One of the triggers which roiled the Indian markets was the decision of the US federal bank to nudge up its interest rates, as inflation had leapt to 8.5% for the first time in four decades. Worldwide, central banks resort to rate hikes to reduce inflation. But does it always work? This episode of the podcast explains this and more.

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