Indian equity benchmarks opened in the green on Monday and extended the rally until Wednesday. However, they were flat on Thursday. By Friday’s closing bell, benchmark indices clocked three-month closing highs earlier in the day, continuing to rise for the sixth session in a row, led by financial, oil & gas, FMCG and auto shares.
Market Movers
Some of the top gainers this week were Happiest Minds Technologies, Gujarat State Fertilizer & Chemicals Ltd., Karur Vysya Bank Ltd. and Great Eastern Shipping Company Ltd. On the other hand, some of the top losers were Hitachi Energy India Ltd., Gland Pharma Ltd., Network 18 Media & Investments Ltd., Syngene International Ltd., and Sumitomo Chemical India Ltd.
The Recap
In this week’s recap, we shall take a look at RBI’s take on cryptocurrencies, the ease of doing business in India, an update on the 5G spectrum auction and more.
RBI Seeks Cryptocurrency Ban, But India Needs Support
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recommended to the government that it should frame regulations for cryptocurrencies.
She added that the Indian government wants an international collaboration if such a ban has to be put into effect since cryptocurrencies are by definition borderless and require international collaboration to prevent regulatory arbitrage.
The central bank has pointed out problems with digital assets on several occasions. RBI governor Shaktikanta Das in RBI’s annual report said that anything that derives value based on make-believe, “without any underlying”, is just speculation under a sophisticated name.
The government stepped up the ease of doing business
“Government of India, along with states and UTs, has been working to reduce the compliance burden on businesses. The objective of the exercise is to improve ease of doing business by simplifying, rationalizing, digitizing and decriminalizing government-to-business interfaces,” said MoS Commerce Som Parkash.
Till September last year, 22,000 compliances were reduced, about 13,000 compliances were simplified while over 1,200 processes were digitized, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) noted.
India was ranked 63rd in 2020 from 142nd in 2015 under World Bank’s Doing Business rankings.
5G Spectrum Auction: DoT cleared Jio, Airtel, Vi and Adani as final bidders
Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on Wednesday approved Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Adani Data Networks as the final participants in the first ever auction of 5G spectrum in India that is scheduled to start on July 26.
Jio has already submitted an earnest money deposit (EMD) of ₹ 14,000 crores, the highest among all the companies bidding for 5G airwaves, signalling its aggressive intent in the upcoming sale.
Bharti Airtel has submitted ₹ 5,500 crores, Vodafone India deposited ₹ 2,200 crores and Adani Data Networks deposited ₹ 100 crores.
NCLT allowed the initiation of insolvency proceedings against Future Retail
The Mumbai bench of the NCLT has allowed the initiation of insolvency proceedings against Future Retail Ltd (FRL), a Kishore Biyani Group company.
In April this year, the Bank of India moved the tribunal seeking to initiate insolvency resolution proceedings against the company, since it had defaulted on loan repayments.
Earlier the NCLT had rejected the intervention plea filed by Amazon. The giant had argued that FRL did not honour the Singapore Emergency Arbitrator’s award of October 2020 and that the lenders could not have entered into a framework agreement with FRL in breach of the award.
Digital lenders should stick to the business they are licensed to do: RBI Governor
RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said on Friday said that digital lenders should operate within the guardrails of regulatory guidelines and adhere to the specific licences granted to them.
He added that the RBI cannot allow risk to build up in the system and added that within the next few weeks, it will release the much-awaited digital lending norms.
The regulations have been delayed because of the complexity of the situation. RBI has to support innovation while maintaining financial stability.
Written By – Simran Bafna
