Good morning and happy Friday to you!
This is the daily morning update from NDTV Profit and I'm Alex Mathew. Here's everything you need to know at the start of the day.
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One of the major events today in India will be the Reserve Bank of India Monetary Policy Committee's meeting. While the larger expectation earlier was that there would be some easing of the key repo rate, there is now the chance that it could be kept unchanged after weak GDP growth in the second quarter.
On to news from beyond our shores—the Organisation of Oil Exporting Countries and its allies, also known as the OPEC+, delayed the revival of its oil production by three months in a virtual meeting yesterday. This was widely anticipated and does not surprise market watchers in any way. In fact, it's the third time that the production increase has been pushed down the road. And that's because demand, particularly from China, has been sluggish.
What's more, the OPEC+ has the most optimistic outlook for oil demand and has been forced to reduce it on numerous occasions this year. The production increase, which was supposed to take place in January, will now be undertaken in April. Also the pace of the unwinding of production cuts will be slower than the earlier plan.
The United Arab Emirates also won't make any production increases until April. The nation had previously won the right—separate from the group's production cuts—to gradually add an extra 300,000 barrels a day in monthly stages starting January, in recognition of its recent investments in production capacity. That's according to a Reuters report.
As of this morning, Brent crude prices were hovering at just above $72 to the barrel.
In other news, jobless claims in the US rose marginally last week. And lower hiring means that the claims are being made for longer periods. That could keep the jobless rate above 4%. Economists anticipate that this will give the Federal Reserve enough room to cut rates again this month, despite the higher-than-anticipated inflation numbers recently.
Devendra Fadnavis' Sworn In As Maharashtra CM
In other news back home, Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as chief minister of Maharashtra for the third time at a grand ceremony in Mumbai's Azad Maidan, attended by PM Narendra Modi and senior BJP and NDA leaders. Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde and NCP leader Ajit Pawar took oath of office of deputy CM.
The Mahayuti alliance, remember, secured a two-thirds majority in the Maharashtra assembly election last month. Other ministers of the Maharashtra government are expected to be inducted in the coming days, as hectic negotiations between the three parties continue.
Delhi's Air Quality Improves
Moving on, the Centre's air quality panel for the Delhi-NCR has revoked pollution control measures under stages 3 and 4 of the Graded Response Action Plan for winters, according to an official order. The restrictions have been reduced to Stage 2, which involves less stringent curbs, such as a ban on the use of coal and firewood in industries and commercial establishments, including eateries.
The decision was taken after the court observed that the air quality index in the National Capital Region did not cross 300 in the last four days.
Regulatory Action
The Securities and Exchange Board of India has issued a warning to the public about unregistered online platforms offering unlisted debt securities to investors. These platforms, which are not under any regulatory supervision, pose major risks to investors due to the absence of basic investor protection and grievance redressal mechanisms.
In the automotive space, the Central Consumer Protection Authority has sought more information from Ola Electric Mobility amid alleged whitewashing of over 10,000 service-related complaints, according to an exchange filing on Thursday. The CCPA has given Ola Electric 15 days to submit its response. This is the second time the CCPA has sought information about customer complaints stemming from after-sales and service issues.
Corporate Updates
In more corporate news, Canara Bank has received approval from the Reserve Bank of India for divesting its shareholding in Canara Robeco Asset Management and Canara HSBC Life Insurance through initial public offerings. The state-owned lender has been allowed to sell a 13% stake in Canara Robeco AMC and 14.5% in Canara HSBC Life Insurance.
The action in the quick commerce space continues to heat up—online fashion portal Myntra has introduced 30-minute delivery with M-Now, bringing the quick commerce race to the fashion segment. The quick delivery option is already applicable across a collection of 10,000 styles across fashion, beauty, accessories and home. The delivery feature is slated to be scaled to over 1 lakh styles in the next three–four months.
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