Every Friday,PlainFacts publishes a compilation of data-based insights, complete with easy-to-read charts, to help you delve deeper into the stories reported by Mint in the week gone by. The Sensex surpassed the 67,000 mark this week. HDFC Bank reported a huge profit growth in the first quarter of the current financial year. The Reserve Bank of India has now weighed in on India’s prospects of becoming a developed nation.
Sensex soars
After crossing the 65,000 mark on 3 July, Sensex continued its winning streak and added 2,000 points more in two weeks to close above 67,000 on 19 July. The Indian stock market is seeing renewed interest from foreign investors, driven by strong economic activity in the country as well as fading fears of a global recession. Improvement in rainfall coverage, stable corporate results and gradual relief from global inflation pressures have also led to a bull run this month.
Poverty’s dimensions
Even as the country awaits new official poverty estimates, the Niti Aayog came out with an updated multidimensional poverty index, which estimated that135 million Indians had exited multidimensional poverty between 2015-16 and 2019-21. According to the index, which accounts for factors beyond money such as education, health, and living standards, Bihar, Jharkhand and Meghalaya are among the most deprived states, but all recorded sharp improvement.
Bumper banking
30%:That’s the year-on-year increase in net profit reported by India’s largest private sector lender HDFC Bank Ltd in the June-ended quarter. The bank’s net profit rose to ₹11,952 crore for the quarter ended 30 June from ₹9,196 crore a year ago. The rise in net profit came mainly on account of lowprovisions and contingencies, which fell to ₹2,860 crore from ₹3,188 crore in the year-ago period. However, there was a marginal rise in gross non-performing assets (NPA) to 1.17% of total assets as against 1.12% the previous quarter.
Surplus showers
After a slow start, the southwest monsoon picked up pace earlier this month, with the rainfall now 2% above the long-period average (LPA), according to India Meteorological Department. However, the rainfall has been uneven across regions, with some of the northern states receiving as much as 200% above the LPA. The region went from a deficit in mid-June to a surplus in the second half of June. Between 5 July and 10 July, that surplus shot up, before abating again, an analysis by howindialives.com showed.
Ban fears
ANTICIPATING further curbs on rice exports amid global shortage, low domestic production and rising prices, exporters had rushed to secure letter of credit (LCs) in the past few days. As expected, the government on 20 July banned exports of non-Basmati white rice. Exports of rice have risen sharply in July and so have prices. However, securing LCs in advance would allow exports even after the imposition of the ban.
Developed dreams
7.6%:That’s the annual growth rate the Reserve Bank of India says the economy must grow at over the next 25 years to become a developed nation. The estimate has come a year after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India should strive to become a developed economy by its 100th year of independence. According to the central bank’s report, India can become a high-income country by 2047-48 if its per capita GDP in nominal terms grows at a compounded annual growth rate of 10.6%.
Tomato torment
Over the past month, exorbitant increases in prices of tomatoes have sent shockwaves across the country, with the prices even crossing ₹200 mark in some parts of the country. However, the increase was more pronounced only in July and did not play a role in pushing retail inflation up in June. That’s because tomato prices in June, which were up 65% from the previous month, were still down 35% from the same month a year ago, a Mint analysis showed. This could change in July as prices are now nearly 135% higher than a year ago.
Chart of the week: Artwork auction
India’s art market has seen a significant boost during the pandemic, with the new online buyers taking interest through non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Christie’s, a British auction house, has sold artworks worth over ₹400 crore in previous actions.
Follow us on #MintCharts on our social media handles.
Download the Mint app and read premium stories
Log in to our website to save your bookmarks. It’ll just take a moment.
You are just one step away from creating your watchlist!
Oops! Looks like you have exceeded the limit to bookmark the image. Remove some to bookmark this image.
Your session has expired, please login again.
You are now subscribed to our newsletters. In case you can’t find any email from our side, please check the spam folder.
This is a subscriber only feature Subscribe Now to get daily updates on WhatsApp