The total foreign direct investment (FDI) during the second quarter of financial year 2020-21 stood at $28.10 billion, out of which FDI equity inflows were $23.44 billion.
“This takes the FDI equity inflows during the financial year 2020-21 up to September 2020 to $30,004 million, which is 15 per cent more than the corresponding period of 2019-20,” said an official statement.
In rupee terms, the FDI equity inflows of Rs 2,24,613 crore are 23 per cent more than the last year.
August 2020 was a significant month when FDI equity inflow of $17.48 billion was reported in the country.
According to data from the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Mauritius and Singapore were the biggest sources of FDI in India with 29 per cent and 21 per cent contribution respectively.
The US, Netherlands and Japan followed with 7 per cent contribution each.
Among the sectors, services sector continued to lead with the highest share in FDI inflow. The sector, which includes financial, banking, insurance, outsourcing, R&D among others, received 17 per cent of the FDI equity inflow during the period under review.
Computer software and hardware segment got 12 per cent FDI share while the telecom sector received 7 per cent.
Among the states, Gujarat attracted the highest FDI equity inflow — 35 per cent of the overall funds coming in during April-September — followed by Maharashtra (20 per cent), Karnataka (15 per cent), and Delhi (12 per cent).
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted: “Despite COVID, Foreign Direct Investment doubles year-on-year. Indicating global investors’ preference for India’s enabling environment under PM Narendra Modi, FDI increased from $14.06 billion to $28.1 billion in the July-September quarter.”
Inflow of foreign investments has been on the rise after the governments around the world, including in India, announced liquidity measures in the wake of the pandemic.
The Centre has also announced liberalising measures for FDI in several sectors, including contract manufacturing, coal mining, and defence that are likely to fetch in more investments.
The UK government has appointed Nadhim Zahawi, an MP for Stratford-on-Avon, as a new health minister to oversee rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine in England, Downing Street announced.
“The Queen has been pleased to approve the appointment of Nadhim Zahawi MP as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health and Social Care,” Xinhua news agency quoted Downing Street as saying in a statement on Saturday.
In a tweet, Zahawi welcomed his new post, saying: “Delighted to have been asked by (Prime Minister) Boris Johnson to become the Minister for Covid vaccine deployment.
“A big responsibility and a big operational challenge but absolutely committed to making sure we can roll out vaccines quickly-saving lives and livelihoods and helping us build back better.”
Under the interim arrangement, Zahawi will serve as a joint minister between the health department and the business department, where he currently works, reports the BBC.
His primary focus will be on delivering the vaccine, with most areas of his business portfolio put aside.
Zahawi will look after deployment of the vaccine in England only, but will work with the devolved administrations on their chosen approach.
Administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will be responsible for the vaccine’s distribution in their relevant nations.
Zahawi’s appointment comes as a further 479 deaths were reported in the UK on Saturday, bringing the total to 58,030.
There were also a further 15,871 positive cases registered in the past 24 hours, which increased the overall infection tally to 1,609,141.
Currently, the UK government has placed orders for 100 million doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, 40 million doses of the vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech and five million doses from US firm Moderna.
Biden Appeals Americans To Avoid Big Thanksgiving; TikTok gets a week time to find new owner; India Renews Call To Extradite Rana From US – all in Asian Lite Daily Digital US – please click here to read the edition.
Rarely can a sportsperson legitimately be described by as wide an array of adjectives that have been used for Maradona. His skills on the pitch made him captivating, talismanic, charismatic, and went on to establish him as a legend of the game and at the same time, his behaviour off it, and at times on it, have led to people calling him reckless, obnoxious, disgraceful, clownish, and so on…writes Rohit Mundayur
Widely rated as the greatest footballer of all time, there was no stopping Diego Maradona’s aura from reaching levels of divinity wherever he went, with or without the ball on his feet. His murals, most of which show him with a halo behind or over his head or in the garb of Jesus Christ himself, adorn the streets of Buenos Aires, Argentina and Naples, Italy.
It was evident when Maradona arrived in Kolkata in 2008 and 2017 to cheering crowds. He had been retired from the game for well over a decade by then and his health was making more headlines than any football related activities. None of that mattered for the more than 1,00,000 people who flocked the Salt Lake Stadium on December 6, 2008.
It was also evident by the flood of tributes that came from all walks of life as news of his death spread around the world on November 25, 2020.
Rarely can a sportsperson legitimately be described by as wide an array of adjectives that have been used for Maradona. His skills on the pitch made him captivating, talismanic, charismatic, and went on to establish him as a legend of the game and at the same time, his behaviour off it, and at times on it, have led to people calling him reckless, obnoxious, disgraceful, clownish, and so on.
The dichotomy that came with loving Maradona was best captured by former England and Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand after Argentina’s group stage match against Nigeria in the 2018 World Cup. Maradona was in the stands and was at his absurd best, making obscene gestures and overdoing his celebrations as Lionel Messi and company got a crucial win.
“That guy was my idol. He is my idol. What that man did on a football pitch — he is the governor. He is the main man. He made me believe that football was achievable from an estate in Peckham. I have the most love for this guy, the way that he was on a football pitch. I don’t condone what he did last night. The pictures that we have seen. The finger gesturing. But I don’t condone people laughing at him either. I just hope he’s alright. The pictures that we saw weren’t great but I hope he’s going to be OK,” said Ferdinand in a video he tweeted later.
Born in a slum area in the southern outskirts of Buenos Aires on October 30, 1960, Maradona made his senior debut for Buenos Aires-based Argentinos Juniors in 1976. He went on to a play for Argentine giants Boca Juniors in the 1981-82 season. He then shifted to Europe where he spent two tumultuous seasons with Spanish giants Barcelona. His tenure with the Catalan club ended with a nasty brawl that triggered crowd trouble in the 1984 Copa del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao.
Maradona then went to Italian club Napoli, where he had arguably the most productive period of his career. He won two Serie A titles, a Coppa Italia and one UEFA Cup in his seven seasons with the club, leaving as their all-time highest goalscorer, a record that stood until Marek Hamsik overtook his tally in 2017. He went on to spend a season each at Spanish club Sevilla and Argentina’s Newell’s Old Boys before ending his career at Boca.
He played at a time when global broadcast deals were not even in the sphere of relevances for most European football leagues which meant that most of the world got a glimpse of Maradona only when he turned out for the Albiceleste of Argentina at the World Cup. He was immortalised in his country and beyond by his performance in the 1986 World Cup, particularly, the quarter-final against England in which he scored two of the most famous goals in the hallowed history of the tournament.
Diego Maradona
The first goal was scored with his hand and his explanation in the immediate aftermath that he had made contact with the ball “a little with his head, and a little with the hand of God”, led to the goal being known as “The Hand of God”.
Four minutes later, Maradona went on a 60-yard run with the ball from midfield, dribbling past six English players, and ended the move with a feint that left goalkeeper Peter Shilton on the ground, and scored what has since been called “The Goal of the Century”.
The extremes of his life is best summarised by the fact that his 17-year-long international career, which perhaps did more to forge an identity for Argentine football than anything else, ended when he was sent home from the 1994 World Cup after a failed drug test. He played only two matches in the tournament.
It may have been an ignominious end but hardly a surprising one. Fans had long accepted that Maradona’s devils were part of the package — a package that was too good to hate.
Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das (Photo: IANS)
Indian economy has exhibited stronger pick up in momentum of recovery than expected, said Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das on Thursday.
Addressing the 4th Annual Day of Foreign Exchange Dealers’ Association of India (FEDAI), he cited that a multi-speed normalisation of activity in Q2FY21, after the country witnessed a sharp contraction in GDP by 23.9 per cent in Q1FY21.
“Even as the growth outlook has improved, downside risks to growth continue due to recent surge in infections in advanced economies and parts of India.
“We need to be watchful about the sustainability of demand after festivals and a possible reassessment of market expectations surrounding the vaccine.”
Besides, he said that monetary policy guidance in October emphasised the need to see through temporary inflation pressures and also maintain the accommodative stance at least during the current financial year and into the next financial year.
“A key source of resilience in recent months has been the comfortable external balance position of India supported by surplus current account balances over two consecutive quarters, resumption of portfolio capital inflows on the back of robust FDI inflows, and sustained build-up of foreign exchange reserves,” he said.
“The Government’s recent policy focus to enhance India’s participation in global value chains, including through production linked incentives for targeted sectors, can leverage on the strong external balance position of India.”
With over Rs 55,000 crore net purchase of equities, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have turned net buyers for the year 2020.
So far in November, FIIs have made net purchase worth Rs 55,576.84 crore including Rs 24.20 crore on Wednesday, the highest ever in a month.
Buoyed by the fund flow, both Sensex and Nifty have off late been on a record run and hit fresh highs. On Wednesday, the BSE Sensex touched an all-time high of 44,825.37, and the Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange hit a fresh high of 13,145.85 points.
During January-April, FIIs pulled out a net amount of Rs 89,069.01 crore, with nearly Rs 66,000 crore being pulled out in March due to the initial fears and uncertainties over the pandemic.
However, post the announcement of measures to boost liquidity and provide stimulus globally, including in India, FIIs started coming back in May. Except a blip in September, FIIs have been net buyers since May.
This trend is the likely to continue at least in the near term, according to analysts.
A report by Kotak Institutional Equities showed that the September 2020 quarter witnessed Rs 46,900 crore of buying by foreign portfolio investors (FPI) and FPI holding, including ADR and GDR in the BSE-200 Index increased to $415 billion in the September 2020 quarter from $360 billion at the end of the June 2020 quarter.
“FPI ownership in the BSE-200 Index stood at 23.3 per cent in September 2020. FPIs were net buyers in banks, diversified financials, IT services and oil, gas and consumable fuels’ sectors. DIIs holding in the BSE-200 Index declined to 13.6 per cent in the September quarter from 14 per cent at the end of the June 2020 quarter,” it said.
DIIs, however, sold IT services, oil, gas and consumable fuels and pharmaceuticals sectors.
Currently too, DIIs have been on a selling spree and have been net seller off late, contrary to the investments by foreign investors.
So far in November, DIIs have made a net selling of Rs 39,950.17 crore of equities.
The Donald Trump administration has granted China’s ByteDance further seven-day extension to sell its short video-sharing platform TikTok’s American business.
The US Department of Treasury on Wednesday said that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) allowed the one week extension, from November 27 to December 4, in order to review revised submission that the committee recently received, according to a report in Variety.
Citing national security concerns, the Trump administration had earlier ordered ByteDance to sell TikTok’s US operations by November 12. That deadline extended to November 27 when the company received a 15-day extension to reach a deal with American buyers. The latest extension pushes the deadline to December 4.
If the revised proposal submitted by ByteDance is rejected by the Trump administration, TikTok could be effectively banned in the US.
The company is also engaged in a legal battle to block such a potential ban.
TikTok had earlier disclosed that it reached a deal with Oracle and Walmart to address security concerns raised by the Trump administration which had alleged that Chinese government could have access to data of the platform’s American users.
Both TikTok and China rejected the allegations.
On August 6, Trump had issued an executive order banning US transactions with TikTok and ByteDance after 45 days, citing national security concerns.
On August 14, Trump signed another executive order that forces ByteDance to sell or spin off its US TikTok business within 90 days, setting the deadline of November 12.
In September, Trump gave a preliminary approval for ByteDance to sell the app to US buyers, and then a potential deal among ByteDance, Oracle and Walmart emerged.
However, the US administration had offered no feedback in nearly two months.
This festive season has seen 30-40 per cent growth in e-commerce volumes with overall growth similar to that witnessed last year.
A report by financial services major, Bernstein, said: “While not a negative surprise, we had anticipated a much higher growth for online sales this season given the Covid impact.”
This festive season has seen 30-40 per cent growth in e-commerce volumes with overall growth similar to that witnessed last year, the report said.
“This, in our view, either reflects unlocking ensuring a better than expected offline momentum or the impact of weak economy on overall festive demand. Our offline checks suggest a mixed read on festive trends with some categories seeing strength and some others still down year on year,” the report said.
Another interesting read was that there were no major supply constraints this season suggesting adequate channel re-stocking.
The just-concluded festive season in India was expected to have an increased dependence on e-commerce channels given the impact of Covid.
“Our analysis of consumer income and demand patterns over the past few months had suggested a better situation for Tier 3/4 geographies and e-commerce trends suggest a similar pattern,” the report said. While growth for e-commerce channel emerged from all geographies, Tier 3/4 outpaced Metro and Tier 1/2 with booking from these markets increasing to 60 per cent of mix vs 55 per cent last year.
Tier 1 and 2 mainly comprised existing shoppers who are buying more, while Tier 3 and 4 reflect new online shoppers.
Apparel (including footwear and sportswear) continues to be the largest category in e-commerce with consumer electronics (mobiles, laptops etc) being the No 2 category.
Categories which are gaining scale are grocery, home personal care and household goods. The widening of category choices from consumers also reflects the willingness of consumers to experiment, reflecting their trust on online platforms. Consumer durables have seen 165 per cent growth in volumes this festive season with almost all products (TV, AC, washing machine), witnessing a spike in growth.
Comfort on online shopping is increasing. Sharp reduction in return orders which declined by over 25 per cent, and is a good indicator of increased consumer engagement with the online platform and also reflects the quality of growth. Increasing trust on online payments as indicated by lower share of COD (cash on delivery) orders (55 per cent now vs 65 per cent pre-Covid). While COD as a mode of payment may remain relevant due to ease of use (Quicker checkout, consumer comfort on delivery timelines etc.) online payments should continue to gain ground, the report said.
The analysts interacted with the top management of Delhivery, India’s largest independent private e-commerce logistics company, to understand the consumption trends this season.
The Reserve Bank should let rupee appreciate to reduce imported inflation, a SBI Ecowrap report said on Wednesday.
According to the report, the US dollar is expected to remain weak due to fragile US economic conditions.
“It would do no harm for the RBI to lean with the wind and let the rupee appreciate which would reduce imported inflation when metal prices are rising, and clear the liquidity overhang to some extent,” it said.
“In fact, the large supply of dollars will ensure that rupee will not appreciate significantly from the current levels and this could potentially play to the advantage of the RBI even if it takes a hands off approach to rupee appreciation for the time being.”
As per the report, data from 1968 shows that dollar index has performed well under the Republican regime vis-a-vis Democratic regime and thus US election results have led to significantly improved capital inflows in emerging markets, including India.
In fact, India has already witnessed record inflows of $18 billion so far this fiscal.
Reserve Bank Of India
“Interestingly, in the merchant market (in both spot and forward segment) there was an excess supply of $40 billion during Apr’20- Sep’20 (till 18th),” the report said.
“However in the interbank market, the trend is quite opposite and there has been excess demand of $27 billion in the same period and this must have increased significantly by now.”
Besides, the report pointed out that overall, merchant dollar supply is far higher than demand as they anticipate a stronger rupee and hence may be holding to long position in dollars, without even adequate hedging.
“This is being balanced by excess dollar demand in interbank market, but the net effect is a large supply of dollars,” the report said.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai on Thursday ordered the release of 472 prisoners of Dubai’s punitive and correctional institutions on the occasion of the UAE’s 49th National Day.
Dubai Attorney General Issam Al Humaidan said that Sheikh Mohammed’s decision to pardon prisoners on national occasions reflects his keenness to offer the pardoned inmates a chance to reintegrate into society.
Al Humaidan added that the Dubai Public Prosecution has started coordinating with Dubai Police to implement the order.
