Day by day notes on COVID-19 & economic impact

Specific to Indian economy

Filtered and Compiled news/articles from Economictimes, businesstoday,

cnbc, reuters, wall street journal, businessinsider, financialexpress, the
hindubusinessline , Livemint, Investing, Scroll, investopedia, Bloomberg,
economist, morningstar, seekingalpha, hindustantimes, the guardians, BBC
and many more sites to have a glance about whole COVID-19 and its impact
which could be used in coming future to remember how the statement, “This
Shall Too Pass” stood true.

Nikunj Agarwal
Nikunjagarwal0810@gmail.com

Linkedin.com/in/nikunjagarwal08

+91-74058-06522

4th June, Thursday

1
 Market check: - Coronavirus count: -
Region Live cases Decease Recovered
Days news wrap up: - d
World 67,09,875 3,92,604 32,50,132
Indicies/stock LTP Chg % chg India 2,26,714 6,363 1,15,984
Nifty 50 10,029 -32 -0.32%
Sensex 33,980 -200  -0.38%
Indian economy

1) Piyush Goyal asks property developers to cut prices to survive downturn

 asked them to reduce prices and sell their inventory rather than wait for the market to bounce back.
 Parekh said developers should be prepared for up to 20 per cent fall in housing prices and create liquidity
by selling their inventory at whatever prices they get.
 "You can be stuck with inventory and default or get rid of whatever you quoted at high prices. Consider it
a bad decision and move ahead," he said.

2) Employers not paying full salary must present balance sheet in court: Govt
 The affidavit filed by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said the direction was fully in conformity with
the provisions, scheme and objects of the Disaster Management Act and it is not ultra vires.
 The government said it would neither be in the interest of justice nor in public interest to adjudicate the
validity of notification which operated only for 54 days -- from March 25 to May 17 -- to mitigate the
financial hardships of crores of workers and employees.

3) Construction firms wooing migrant workers with air tickets, sops

 several construction firms here have started wooing them back, offering flight tickets and also extra
payments, shortage of workers is forcing companies to resort to poaching by luring them with lucrative
offers.
 one of their contractors has booked flight tickets to bring back 10 carpenters from Patna to Hyderabad.
The official said the workers had left even rejecting the offer of Rs 10,000 over and above their payment.

4) India’s poor may have lost Rs 4 lakh crore in the coronavirus lockdown
 Professor Amartya Sen argued it wasn’t food shortages that caused famines but the inability of the poor to
purchase food.
 Our analysis shows that the incomes lost by vulnerable sections of India’s workforce during the two
months of the lockdown would amount to as much as Rs 4 lakh crores, or nearly 2% of the country’s
annual gross domestic product

World Economy
5) Wealth of US billionaires jumps $500 bn during Covid-19 pandemic: Report
 The combined wealth of America's billionaires, including Amazon.com Inc founder Jeff
Bezos and Facebook Inc CEO Mark Zuckerberg, jumped over 19% or by half a trillion since the onset of
the coronavirus
 During the 11 weeks from March 18, when US lockdowns started, the wealth of America's richest people
surged by over $565 billion, while 42.6 million workers filed for unemployment

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 6) Coronavirus crisis could cause $25tn fossil fuel industry collapse
 A study has found that the value of the world’s fossil fuel reserves could fall by two-thirds, sooner than the
industry expects, because the Covid-19 crisis has hastened the peak for oil, gas and coal demand.
 The report predicts a 2% decline in demand for fossil fuels every year could cause the future profits of oil,
gas and coal companies to collapse from an estimated $39tn to just $14tn.
 The world’s demand for fossil fuels has plunged by almost 10% amid the coronavirus lockdown, and many
energy economists believe it may fail to recover from the crisis.

7) Germany unveils €130bn coronavirus recovery package

 Angela Merkel’s government said it would use the package of sweeping temporary tax cuts and increase
benefits to turbocharge its recovery.
 Measures included a cut in VAT until the end of this year and substantial payments for every child in the
country designed to help ordinary German families, alongside the launch of a €50bn fund to tackle global
heating and finance new technologies. A state financial incentive to buy an electric car has been doubled to
€6,000.
 A temporary VAT cut from 19% to 16%, from 1 July until 31 December
 A €300 one-off payment for every child in the country
 A €50bn fund to address climate change, innovation and digital technology›
 A €25bn loan support programme for small firms that have seen their sales drop by more than 60%
for June to August. This could be a particular boost
Indicies/stock LTP Chg % chg for bars, restaurants, hotels and other hospitality
businesses.
Nifty 50 Markets were closed 😊
 €10bn for municipalities struggling with lower tax
Sensex
receipts, with public spending on infrastructure and
housing.

5th June, Friday

Market check: - Region Live cases Decease Recovered
d
Coronavirus count: - World 68,04,446 3,97,674 33,37,648
India 2,36,184 6,649 1,19,882
Days news wrap up: -
Indian economy
1) Covid-19 pandemic eats into consumer confidence, shows RBI survey
 Consumer perception on the general economic situation, employment scenario and household income
plunged deeper into contraction zone
 Consumers, however, reported sharp cuts in discretionary spending and also do not expect much
improvement in the coming year
The households are now expecting increasing price pressure on food products; more households expect
general prices and inflation to rise over three months as compared to previous round

6th June, Saturday

Indicies/stock LTP Chg % chg Market check: -
Nifty 50 10,167 25 0.25%
Sensex 34,370 83  0.24% Coronavirus count: -
Region Live cases Deceased Recovered
World 69,69,546 4,01,698 34,18,112
India 1,00,734 3,303 1,25,935
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 7th June, Sunday
Market check: - Coronavirus count: -
Indicies/stock LTP Chg % chg Region Live cases Deceased Recovered
Nifty 50 10,142 113 1.13% World 70,82,149 4,05,654 34,62,542
Sensex 34,287 307  0.90% India 2,57,486 7,203 1,31,055

Days news wrap up: -

World Economy
1) Brazil govt stops publishing coronavirus numbers as experts doubt data
 Brazil's government has stopped publishing a running total of coronavirus deaths and infections in an
extraordinary move that critics call an attempt to hide the true toll of the disease in Latin America's largest
nation.
 at least some states providing figures to the Health Ministry had sent falsified data, implying that they were
exaggerating the toll.

Region Live cases Deceased Recovered

8th June, Monday World 71,90,148 4,08,240 35,37,814
Market check: - India 2,65,928 7,493 1,36,567

Coronavirus count: -
Indicies/stock LTP Chg % chg
Nifty 50 Markets were closed 😊 Days news wrap up: -
Sensex
Indian economy
1) Consumers may spend less, seek value for money, says report
 According to a BCG consumer sentiment report, buyers are likely to trade down (buying cheaper brands or
lower variants) in discretionary categories and trade up (expensive brands) for staples and household care.
 he frontline jobs are easier to get back in construction or retailing; the middle management jobs that will be
hard to recover. While 55% of overall consumption, led by food, grocery, rent and medical needs, will not
be impacted, travel, high-end purchases and fashion constituting 45% will be

2) Consumer pays 275% in taxes on petrol to Centre, states

 It was 107% in February. The base price of petrol is just about Rs 18. The taxes are close to Rs 50 and the
pump price is over Rs 72.
 On diesel, the cumulative taxes by Centre and states, makes a consumer pay over 255%. The base price of
diesel is about Rs 18.50 a litre. The pump price is over Rs 70 a litre.
 While the USA charges 19% in tax, Japan charges 47%, UK 62% and France 63%.

World Economy

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 3)Oil major BP to cut 15% of workforce
 Looney told employees in a global online call that the London-based company will cut 10,000 jobs from
the current 70,100.
 The affected roles will be mostly senior office-based
Indicies/stock LTP Chg % chg positions and not front-line operational staff
Nifty 50 10,046 -121 -1.19%  BP has flagged a 25% cut to $12 billion this year and
Sensex 33,956 -414  -1.20% said it would find $2.5 billion in cost savings by the
end of 2021 through the digitalisation and integration
of its businesses.

9th June, Tuesday Region Live cases Decease Recovered

Market check: - d
Coronavirus count: - World 73,11,146 4,12,972 36,04,175
India 2,74,780 7,719 1,41,309

Days news wrap up: -

Indian economy

1) Pre-owned cars strike chord with customers as lockdown eases: CARS24

 As the Covid-19 restrictions ease, more customers are looking to buy pre-owned cars with average selling
price going down as compared to that in the pre-lockdown period.
 The preferred top five models in pre-owned cars continue to be Maruti Suzuki Swift, Hyundai Santro Xing,
Hyundai Grand i10, Honda City and Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire.
 In that research what actually came out was in favour of the auto industry with 40-45 per cent customers
saying they would want to commute via their own cars after lockdown is over, primarily because of the
fact that they would feel safer and avoid infection
 We found that 23 per cent of respondents have changed their preference of buying a new car to a used car.
That was primarily driven by the fact that their budget has decreased, they have a crunch and they don't
want to spend that much money. There is a shift in car ownership in favour of used cars as well

2) 87% Indian adults believe online gaming affects well-being, says NortonLifeLock

survey
 About 73% of the parents said that their children prefer shooting and adventure games, while 21% said that
their children show a preference for casino and card games. 45% of respondents said they find it difficult to
control their children’s smartphone usage even as 81% said that they put a check but felt that they haven’t
been effective in controlling gaming time.
 Gaming takes a toll on their physical and mental well-being, said 87% of respondents in a survey that was
the basis for the NortonLifeLock India Digital Wellness Report, while 76% said action and adventure

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 games often lead to changed behaviour. Around 70% of respondents felt that children connecting with
strangers while playing games online can lead to cyber bullying, harassment, and violence.
 Further, 61% of female respondents are willing to skip meals, sleep and other activities for online games,
as opposed to 45% of male counterparts.

3) Cooking at home proves healthy for food companies, too

 Increased retail sales of several packaged food categories, such as milk, cheese, paneer, noodles, frozen
vegetables, pasta, olive oil and squashes, helped offset the loss of business to hotels and restaurants
 Amul, Del Monte, Adani Wilmar, Mala's and Metro Cash & Carry said that the packaged foods categories
expanded 5-15% through the lockdown despite zero or marginal contribution from institutional sales.

4) UK households face £6bn debts because of Covid-19, says charity

 the StepChange debt advice charity said 4.6m households risked building up dangerous levels of debt
because of the pandemic.
 In response to the looming national debt crisis, the Treasury said it was pumping an additional £38m of
funding into debt advice services to help manage a flood of new arrears cases.
 According to a study carried out by the organisation, each affected adult will have accumulated an
additional £1,076 of arrears and £997 of debt on average each because of the health crisis. StepChange said
4.6m households had been affected so far.

5) Nasdaq hits record high as U.S. recession becomes official

 On the same day that the Nasdaq marked a new bull market, the U.S. economy was officially declared to
be in a recession.
 Driven higher in recent months by surging technology and communications stocks, the Nasdaq closed up
0.8% on Monday at 9,924.75 points, exceeding its previous record high on Feb. 19, just before fears of the
coronavirus ended its 11-year bull market.
 The index's 44% climb from its March 23 low stands in contrast to sharp deteriorations in gross domestic
product and other economic indicators as a result of nationwide lockdowns, which are now easing.
 Since Feb. 19, the end of the previous Nasdaq bull market, Amazon's stock market value has increased by
over $170 billion

6) Lockdown Britain sees surge in demand for dogs

 a time when the Kennel Club group has seen a 180% rise on last year in inquiries from people wanting to
buy dogs.
 Many breeders are worried that some Britons may be wanting to buy a puppy to keep the children
entertained without realising the time, money and effort that goes into maintaining a dog over its lifetime.

7) World Bank says global economy to shrink 5.2%, worst recession since WWI
 The COVID-19 recession is the first since 1870 to be triggered solely by a pandemic, World Bank
President David Malpass said
 economic activity among advanced economies is anticipated to shrink by seven per cent in 2020
 Emerging Markets and Developing Economies (EMDEs) are expected to shrink by 2.5 per cent this year,
their first contraction as a group in at least 60 years
 The current projections suggest that the COVID-19 recession will involve a decline in global per capita
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 6.2 per cent, making it the deepest global recession since 1945-46

8) Latin America and Caribbean region stares at deepest economic recession

 It finds that in Latin America and Caribbean, COVID-19 has sharply worsened economic conditions. The
regional economy is projected to contract by 7.2 % this year

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 10th June, Wednesday
Market check: - Coronavirus count: -
Region Live cases Decease Recovered
Days news wrap up: - d
World 74,47,249 4,18,135 37,35,733
Indian economy India 2,87,155 8,710 1,49,086

1) Six PSU’s potential ‘fallen angels’ after India’s sovereign rating downgrade;
COVID-19 took toll: Moody’s
 After India’s sovereign credit rating fell to lowest investment grade ‘Baa3’ early in June, six Indian public-
sector undertakings (PSUs) have also taken a hit with them now becoming potential “fallen angels”. These
Indicies/stock LTP Chg % chg six companies in the non-financial sector viz
Nifty 50 10,116 70 0.69% — Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum
Sensex 34,247 261  0.86%
Corporation, Oil India, Petronet LNG, Bharat
Petroleum Corporation and Oil and Natural Gas
Corporation — are now just one step away from being considered junk
 The 21 Asian companies, which now risk becoming fallen angels, have over $12.3 billion of outstanding
bonds maturing in 2021. Of this $12.3 billion, about one-fourth at $3.3 billion are rated.

2) India's favourite biscuit Parle-G records highest sales during lockdown

 The company has gained a market share of around 5 per cent in the highly competitive biscuit segment,
helped by Parle-G biscuits, which was proffered by the people while stocking pantry during the pandemic.
 Parle-G biscuits also gained traction as it was preferred by government agencies and NGOs working to
distribute food relief packages to the people during the pandemic due to its economic proposition with
value package of Rs 2 besides being considered as a good source of glucose
 The company had also announced to donate three crore packs of Parle-G biscuits when the coronavirus
pandemic intensified in India.

3) Coimbatore-based firm launches anti-viral fabric, eyes global market

 HeiQ Viroblock is a special combination of our advanced silver and vesicle technology that has been
proven effective against the human coronavirus 229E with over 99.99 per cent reduction of virus.

World Economy
4) Zara owner to close up to 1,200 fashion stores around the world
 Inditex said it would “absorb” between 1,000 and 1,200 mainly smaller stores, with losses concentrated
among older shops from brands other than Zara.
 The total store count will fall from 7,412 to between 6,700 and 6,900 after the reorganisation, which will
also include the opening of 450 new shops.
 Inditex, one of the world’s largest clothing retailers, has been hit hard during the pandemic, with sales
down 44% to €3.3bn (£2.9bn) between 1 February and 30 April.
 Under Inditex’s new plan online sales will account for more than 25% of the total by 2022, compared with
14% in its 2019 financial year. Larger stores will act as distribution hubs for online sales.

5) Airlines heading for $84 billion loss this year - IATA

 revenue by half to mark the worst year in the sector's history
 With most of the world's airliners currently parked, IATA said revenue would likely fall to $419 billion
from $838 billion last year.

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  The average loss amounts to almost $38 per passenger flown.
 In 2021, IATA warned losses could hit $100 billion as traffic struggles to recover and airlines slash fares to
win business.
 Cargo, a relatively small share of the overall business, brought some relief as mass plane groundings drove
price increases expected to top 30%

11th June, Thursday

Market check: - Coronavirus count: -
Region Live cases Decease Recovered
Days news wrap up: - d
World 75,85,120 4,23,086 38,40,989
Indian economy India 2,98,283 8,501 1,55,473

1) S&P doesn't do a Moody's: Retains India's sovereign rating and outlook

 affirmed its rating on India's long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit at the lowest investment
grade with a stable outlook, saying the country's economy remains “a long-term outperformer versus peers
at a similar level of income
 The rating agency projected the economy to contract 5 per cent in the current financial year, but said it
would grow by 8.5 per cent in 2021-22. Similarly, the fiscal deficit of the Centre and states may shoot up
to 11 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in FY21, and come down to 8.5 per cent the
next financial year. It also expected the country’s current account deficit to stand at 1.1 per cent of GDP in
2020-21 and then fall to 0.5 per cent next year.

2) High chances of child labour increasing in aftermath of Covid-19: CRY

 Noting that many children are likely to be pushed into unskilled labour to compensate for the economic
loss and supplement dwindling family income
 Changes in labour laws will weaken enforcement mechanism which may further increase child labour amid
this crisis. The Child Labour legislation needsto be revised as many aspects of climate change and
hazardous industries are not yet incorporated. This revision must include revisiting the definition of what
constitutes as hazardous industries keeping the developing capacities of children in mind

World Economy
3) Pandemic-hit Lufthansa says 22,000 jobs to go
Indicies/stock LTP Chg % chg  It said the group would operate about 100 fewer
aircraft after the crisis.
Nifty 50 9,902 -214 -2.12%
Sensex 33,538 -709  -2.07%
4) Pandemic may change the way we gift:
Survey
 The research demonstrated that lockdown had made many consumers feel grateful for things they used to
take for granted, such as spending time with family, and that this would influence their purchasing and
gifting behaviour in future.
 When it came to gifting and in particular looking forward to the holiday season, 56 per cent of respondents
felt gifts should be meaningful, over and above being practical, functional or fun.
 more people chose diamonds as the top choice for a gift of this nature from a list of luxury items including
designer clothing and accessories, electronic devices, a piece of furniture, or other jewellery.

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 5) Lockdown lifting: US exercise equipment sales soar amid pandemic
 People across the US are now hoarding kettlebells, bikes and other home fitness gear. Stores that sell
exercise equipment are recording sales boosts of over 600%; in April, a Colorado fitness equipment
company made as much money in one day as they would normally make in a month.
 Brompton Bicycles confirmed on Wednesday that they are fully booked with orders for the next seven
months and will not be able to fulfil any future orders. These bikes – most of which cost over $1,000
 the whole world seems to be experiencing a great kettlebell drought. In Australia, people buying damaged
kettlebells for $400

6) $10 trn spent to combat coronavirus pandemic, far more needed: IMF
 New estimates suggested that up to 100 million people could fall into extreme poverty as a result of the
crisis
 The World Bank this week forecast the coronavirus would shrink global output by 5.2% in 2020, the
deepest contraction since World War Two.

7) British beer sales fall to 20-year low due to lockdown pub closures
 Beer sales slumped to their lowest level in 20 years in the first three months of the year, as
lockdown forced the UK’s 47,000 pubs to shut up shop.
 Pubs, bars, supermarkets and shops sold 1.5bn pints of beer between January and March, down 7.2% on
the same period of 2019 and the worst result since the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) began
publishing figures in 2000.
 If the required distance remains at two metres, only 12,500 – a third of England’s pubs – could reopen,
comparedwith 75%, or 28,000 of them, at one metre.

8) Lloyds fined £64m for unfair treatment of mortgage customers

 The problem started with how the bank gathered information about mortgage customers who had fallen
behind or were finding it difficult to make payments. It meant call handlers did not have adequate
information to assess customers’ circumstances.

12th June, Friday

Market check: -
Indicies/stock LTP Chg % chg
Nifty 50 9,972 -70  0.72% Region Live cases Decease Recovered
Sensex 33,780 -170  0.72% d
World 77,27,233 4,27,654 39,27,230
India 3,09,603 8,809 1,63,309
Coronavirus count: -

Days news wrap up: -

Indian economy
1) Supreme Court dilutes MHA order on full payment of salary; asks companies,
employees to negotiate
 The apex court has asked the government not to take any coercive steps against private employers who
have not paid salaries to their employees during the lockdown.

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  The court has said that the issue should be resolved through negotiations between the employers and their
employees.

2) Govt holds back full IIP data for April

 saying it is not appropriate to compare the IIP data with earlier months due to COVID-19 lockdown.

3) India's foreign exchange reserves cross $500 billion for the first time
 India's foreign exchange reserves crossed the $500 billion mark for the first time, reaching $501.7 billion
in the week ended June 5. The reserves increased by $8.2 billion during the week. India's current reserves
provide an import cover of over a year. Foreign currency assets, the biggest component, are at $463.63
billion while gold reserves stand at $32.35 billion.

World Economy
4) From beer to clothing : Budweiser diversifies into fashion apparel to beat pandemic
blues
 the world biggest brewer, has set up a new unit to enter fashion clothing segment, hoping to build brands in
a market where liquor advertising is banned.
 will make apparel and face masks and has partnered fashion marketplace Myntra to sell the brand
 Globally, as well as India, several spirits companies have extended their brands into lifestyle merchandise
mostly associated with gifting or sports wear. For instance, United Spirits property Royal Challengers has
been selling apparel and lifestyle merchandise

5) UK GDP falls by record 20.4% in April as lockdown paralyses economy

 The collapse of growth in the economy in April, compared with the previous month, was the biggest since
monthly records began in 1997, and was more than triple the previous record fall of 5.8% in March – when
the lockdown was first announced.
 The fall was almost 10 times greater than the pre-Covid record monthly decline of 2.2% in June 2002,
when an extra bank holiday for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee caused a sharp temporary loss in output that
was quickly reversed. It was also steeper than the 1% decline in September 2008 at the peak of the
financial crisis – an economic collapse that played out over a much longer timespan.
 A total of 8.9 million temporarily laid-off employees now have 80% of their wages paid for by the state
under the furlough scheme.
 Air transport shrank by 92.8%, in the biggest fall of any sector, as flights were grounded across Britain and
other countries. After the closure of hotels, pubs, bars and restaurants, the accommodation and food
services sector shrank by 88% on the month.
 With cranes and diggers across the country falling idle as the virus spread, construction output plunged by
40%

6) Virgin Atlantic tells customers refunds will take up to four months

 Those behind a Virgin Atlantic refund action group on Facebook, which has more 400 members, say they
are yet to find a single person who has received a voluntary refund from the airline.
 Hundreds of customers, frustrated at the delays, have instead asked their banks to process chargebacks, or
credit card claims.

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