TMS Ep89: Chinese phones, India-China at Davos, markets, BoP

Fighting a losing battle, chief executives of Indian smartphone vendors like Intex, Micromax and Karbonn had in 2017 accused Chinese smartphone makers of dumping low-cost devices into the country, making it tougher for them to survive. In their joint appeal to the government, they had sought some help and suggested imposing anti-dumping duty on Chinese phones. Two years before this appeal, in 2015, Intex was the second largest mobile phone vendor in the country by volume. And this year, its share is close to zero%. With just 0.5 per cent market share, Micromax in effect is the last man standing. So, why and how the Chinese smartphones wiped out the Indian brands?

After the smartphones, let us move on to the World Economic Forum, where both the leading economies had divergent views on some issues, and almost similar on others. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi pitched India as a global destination for investment and told countries that it was the best time to invest, Chinese premier Xi Jinping asked the world to open their borders while condemning building “exclusive yards and high borders”. 

Back home in India, benchmark indices have fallen in two out of the last four trading sessions amid global headwinds. Both, the US bond yields and oil prices, are hitting their recent peaks, denting a rally in equities. However, technical set-up for the Sensex and Nifty point at a pre-Budget rally. Watch our next report to know key levels on the indices, and trading strategies ahead of the Budget presentation.

The Indian economy and equity markets have both grown exponentially since the 1991 liberalisation. Reforms steered by the then finance minister, Manmohan Singh, have catapulted the 30-share BSE Sensex from 1,400 points in July 1991 to over 60,000 now. But in 1991, the country was in the midst of its worst balance of payments crisis ever. Find out about balance of payments and more in this episode of the podcast.  
 

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