PEOPLE NEWS: October 2020

Saturday, October 31, 2020

Josh Philippe and my dismissals the turning point: AB de Villiers

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IN PICS: How SRH beat RCB to open up playoffs race

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Yuvraj Singh plans investment in tech startups in health, sports, food sectors

Singh, through his firm YouWeCan (YWC) Ventures, has invested in some of the startups which include Healthians, Holosuit, JetSetGo, EasyDiner, Wellversed etc.

from Tech-Economic Times https://ift.tt/34Mqduy

Employees getting a new job… at their old job

Kushal Kolthe, a senior revenue manager at holiday home rental company Vista Rooms, was put on leave without pay in late March. “Initially some of us were asked to take a sabbatical but as the Covid situation worsened, we were told to go on LWP. They were very upfront and transparent about it,” says the Mumbai resident. “Of course I wasn’t really happy about it but I understood it’s a difficult decision.” In the intervening months, Kolthe tried to start a brand with his friends which kept him occupied for a while. Then, in August he got a new job… his old one.Rehiring has become a bit of a trend of late, says Munira Loliwala, Business Head, Permanent and Specialised staffing, Team-Lease, a staffing company. “Across industries, 40% of our client base is considering or looking at rehiring laid off workers. This is happening the most in the financial services industry, then in manufacturing, followed by hospitality and healthcare,” she says. For the most part, however, these are not permanent positions. “The rehiring is usually for some project work, or as freelancers to add certain skills or improve sales productivity. Of the 40% looking to rehire, only 5-10% would be as permanent positions,” adds Loliwala.Amit Damani, founder of Vista Rooms, says they had to put half their 200-people workforce on leave when the hospitality industry was badly hit by the pandemic. “We had hired a lot of people from January onwards because we were looking to expand quite aggressively, but when this happened, we had to, as all businesses did, reconfigure our plans,” he says. So 100-odd people were sent on leave and told that they were the company’s first priority when the situation improved.In July, as the interest in private homes and villas grew, they began to make good on their promise. They have brought about 50 people back. “Ninety per cent of the people were let go not because of performance but circumstances. This was a way of showing we value their experience,” says Damani. He also pointed out one big advantage of rehiring — those employees have already been part of the system and familiar with processes and culture.Loliwala says the definition of rehiring is different in these cases. “The typical example of it was someone who voluntarily resigns and rejoins two years later at a different level. Here, we’re talking about laid off workers.”Sahil Sharma, global head of Human Resources at travel and hotel software company RateGain, says they had to put 250 people across the globe on furlough. “Of the 130 people in India put on furlough, only 40 are still on it,” he says. “The rest have either come back or moved on to other opportunities. We kept our communication transparent about why we’re putting them on furlough, how soon they can come back, will they come back, all of that.” Their workers have returned on the same salaries, and any bonuses or promotions due were followed through on.As the HR head, though, Sharma had to have many conversations with employees who were let go. “March and April went into questions like ‘Why me? Why not her?’. But I explained that we didn’t look at performance but the role they have. The sales team, for instance, was reduced because no one was buying our product. But we needed our engineering team to address concerns of our existing clients.”Nisha Rawat, who works in client servicing at RateGain and was recently brought back, says despite the uncertainty, the furlough did give her some free time. “I appreciated their gesture to keep my medical cover throughout the furlough period.”

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/3jJtwH1

Ant Group’s IPO shows hot consumer tech is the new FMCG

Mumbai: This unproven Wall Street legend has endured nine long decades. It purportedly concerns a precocious shoe-shine boy, the father of JFK, and the catastrophic 1929 October crash that heralded the arrival of the Great Depression. The story is rather simple: When a shoe-shine boy gave stock tips to Joseph Patrick ‘Joe’ Kennedy in the summer of 1929, the wise investor equated his unsolicited advice to a grave warning sign. He cashed out – just days before the fatal crash.Nine decades later, in another October rendered more dreary and dull than usual by the protracted lockdowns, the initial share sale of a fintech company is reminding the faint hearted of the 1929 frenzy. Retail bidding for the Ant Group in mainland China and Hong Kong has lined up confirmed offers amounting to $3 trillion at last count – roughly equivalent to 80% of the 2020 nominal GDP of Germany, the world’s fourth-biggest economy.Of course, such staggering demand for the biggest IPO on record has meant unprecedented retail participation – about 800 times the stock earmarked for them in the Chinese leg of the listing. It has spawned stories of everybody and their aunt seeking a piece of Ant – at any cost. A Financial Times report published Friday, before the closure of the Hong Kong leg of the listing, cited a retiree who was unaware of Ant’s business model but willing to leverage and bid for the shares. The same report also quoted an executive at a brokerage where clients asked their kin to bid – to maximize the likelihood of allotment.So, does this evident democratization of equities as the chosen investment option point to another impending crash? Or, is this a reflection of maturing equity cultures across large economies where stock markets now have far greater depth and information symmetry than was available to the shoe-shine boy in the Wall Street legend?To be sure, the recent exuberance is bound to have its fair share of the irrational, and valuations will be frothy. Consumer technology stocks had pushed the S&P 500, the broadest US stock gauge, to highs from which the benchmark retreated more than 7% in just a couple of weeks in October. That follows a 4% decline in September.Yet, the reasons for such retail frenzy can’t be ascribed to exuberance alone – or the allure of little-understood tech.Yield Curve Drives Stock PushThe first reason is existential. Savers from Tokyo to Toronto are aware of low debt yields, with bonds roughly equivalent to the entire Euro zone’s combined economy trading in the negative. Even in relatively capital-starved but large economies, such as India, savers are getting very little from traditional deposits that are insufficient to even cover nominal inflation.So, the blockbuster retail response to Ant’s IPO is not an isolated event. In Mumbai, the response was also robust to two technology IPOs recently, although the companies involved were much smaller in scale and size. They came close on the heels of the Snowflake share sale, where the Oracle of Omaha broke with tradition to buy into an IPO that marked twin departures from his storied investment philosophy – no IPOs or complex technology.This begs the next question: Why such frenzy for technology IPOs? The definition of technology has changed. Successful technology is no longer a notoriously complex engineering concept understood only by the IIT nine pointers. Rather, the adoption of technology has been truly democratic and literacy agnostic – much more so than even the spread of the so-called equity culture. Technology has shrunk global borders, made location irrelevant and physical presence redundant, and - regardless of the periodically raging debates on the widening digital divide – drastically reduced information asymmetry.Technology Is the New FMCGWhere’s that reflected? Consumer-facing technologies have already replaced traditional consumer plays at the top of the valuation leader-boards in the US, enjoying premiums meant for the recession-proof cookies or toothpaste makers in another era. Seven out of the top ten US stocks by market capitalization - – Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Facebook, Visa, and Tesla - are now top-draw consumer companies underpinned by immensely complex and interactive technologies, but don’t demand a Stanford PhD from their consumers.What’s more important, the valuations of the top five - Apple to Facebook - are a combined $6.76 trillion as of October 30, equivalent to about half of China’s GDP. Each of these companies is at the cutting edge of technology, but with mass following across borders.The US market-cap leader-board isn’t alone in highlighting the primacy of consumer technology as multi-bagger investment options – for both the pro and the novice. Blockbuster IPOs over the past decade - Facebook, Visa, Alibaba or Softbank – have gone on to show that technology might be born in the garages of Silicon Valley’s smartest minds, but its adoption has been spectacularly universal - regardless of IQ, income levels, or geography. That has whetted the appetite among their users to own the businesses that rule their daily lives – digitally.Had the shoe-shine boy advised his client to buy into Ant today, he might not have taken the stock tip as a transgression of his brief.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/3kPCVhC

Zee Entertainment Q2 preview: Pressure on ad rates likely to remain a drag on bottom line

MUMBAI: Broadcaster Zee Entertainment Enterprises may post around 50 per cent decline in net profit in the quarter ended September, while net revenues may have dropped up to 28 per cent as advertising rates continue to reel under pressure due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, and subscriptions revenues may be flat on a high base.While industry-wide advertising revenues have been improving gradually, they still remain under pressure as corporate spending has not yet picked up fully amid the current economic slowdown.Analysts also hope for better cash generation, sustained balance sheet improvement and update on funds recovery on sale of overseas investments earlier this year.Kotak Institutional Equities expects Zee Entertainment to report a decline of 53.3 per cent in the net profit from a year ago, while it believes net sales may have shrunk 17.4 per cent.Kotak analysts expect 25 per cent decline in ad revenues (down 65 per cent YoY in 1Q) and modest 2 per cent YoY growth in domestic subscription revenues.They foresee a decline in EBITDA margin by 900 basis points (bps) to 23.6 per cent, largely due to revenue decline and partly due to higher inventory amortization.Anand Rathi expects Zee’s revenue to drop 18.8 per cent YoY due to a 30 per cent YoY fall in domestic advertising revenues and flat YoY growth in domestic subscription revenues. It also expects the EBITDA margin to contract 1,070 bps YoY to 22 per cent, though it may rise 520 bps on a QoQ basis.Edelweiss expects Zee to report a 49.9 per cent drop in adjusted profits, while revenues may have dropped 17.6 per cent.“With the economic activity gradually picking up across the country, we expect Q2FY21 to be a much better quarter for ZEE owing to: i) improvement in the advertising environment; ii) resumption of fresh programming on GEC channels; and iii) reasonable recovery in viewership share across key markets (Hindi, Tamil, Marathi).,” Edelweiss analysts said in a note.“However, given that full economic recovery is yet to transpire, ad rates are likely to remain under pressure,” they added.The brokerage expects advertising revenue to dip around 28 per cent YoY (65 per cent dip in Q1FY21) in Q2FY21 for Zee, while subscription revenue growth is likely to be flattish at 2.5 per cent owing to a high base (27 per cent domestic subscription growth in Q2FY20). That said, content cost and marketing expenses are likely to inch up.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/3eis6m2

Some employees are getting a new job… at their old job

Getting Virat Kohli's wicket was special, says Sandeep Sharma

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IPL 2020: All playoff possibilities in 11 points

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Mueller equals Kahn's record as Bayern Munich go top

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IN PICS: How Delhi Capitals crashed to their fourth successive defeat

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Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals fight for survival

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Gourmet food takes home delivery route

Nachiket Shetye and Bansi Kotecha have a lot on their plate since the pandemic began. Six months ago, they co-founded Kytchens, a “kitchen as a service” tech platform, out of Mumbai. Almost instantly, restaurants from across the country inundated them with requests to create models to take food to clients’ doorsteps, while retaining the packaging, presentation and taste patrons would have experienced if they had come in to eat. Many of these requests that turned into business for Shetye and Kotecha — who get into strategic partnerships with food and beverage brands to help them grow and expand — were from restaurants that seldom or never delivered before. It showed how even the fanciest of restaurants were adapting to the new reality. In a pandemic-struck world, where going to a restaurant has become anxiety-ridden or bothersome, restaurateurs have decided to take gourmet food and great experiences to the customers. Hundreds of high-end restaurants have suddenly popped up on the delivery map for the first time and a bunch of firms have gotten on to the gourmet cloud-delivery bandwagon.The pandemic was reason enough for hospitality industry veterans Anirudh Singhal, Prasanjit Singh and Abhijit Mukherjee to set up a new gourmet cloud kitchen, Shackhood, in Gurgaon. They didn’t want to sell step-down affordable food like other cloud kitchen brands. Ripped bags, crumpled packaging or soggy boxes were just not acceptable. “It isn’t just that the food has to have topend restaurant quality taste, it also has to come in good packaging,” says Singhal, who was keen on catering to their target audience in upscale residences even during the pandemic. Two months into the business, Shackhood has enough business to look at expanding. Food has never looked more attractive, Singhal says. “Inconsistencies were not an option for us. We have made YouTube style tutorial videos for our chefs on how to make and pack food to retain the gourmet experience.” Everything is boxed in the finest quality cardboard with glazed butter paper. This is not the usual cloudkitchen product, he clarifies. The average order for their gourmet delivery business is about Rs 1,500 for two — 3.5-4x more than the usual. 78972203Gourmet deliveries are especially characterised by customised service offering, better trained riders and food handlers as well as a dedicated call centre for patrons.Since the in-home dining experience has to be different albeit more attractive, Shetye says, it also must come with correct-sized service portions. “Some of these restaurants are not designed for delivery orders and are delivering large-sized sharing portions. It has to be more personalised than that. Customers wouldn’t mind paying restaurant-style prices but only as long as they get customised experience,” he says.As the pandemic shut down restaurants for good for a short period, Amit Ahuja, who runs Asian restaurant chain Misu in Bengaluru, realised that people’s cravings for good food would remain unfulfilled. Deliveries were never a big money spinner for Misu as their in-restaurant dining experience was the star attraction. So Ahuja decided to adapt to the new reality at warp speed. “With restaurants shut, we quickly switched from being a dine-in space to a delivery platform. We noticed there was so much demand for good-quality restaurant food at home that we even opened another cloud kitchen space to service a different part of the city.” Misu’s restaurants are now open but it will continue to operate its cloud kitchen to cater to the additional demand, Ahuja adds.If that does not indicate the potential of this segment, check out these numbers: Before the Covid-19 outbreak, Misu made only 10% of its revenue from deliveries. Now, it delivers 60-70% of its food; in-dining business is yet to take off like earlier. “It helped that we already had a brand. We only had to set up extra kitchens and make newer delivery friendly recipes,” he adds. 78972210While restaurant promoters are gung-ho about the revenue potential of the new model, gourmet chefs are happy to go beyond their kitchens to reach patrons.So when Sorrentina in Mumbai decided to send its exotic dishes to customers’ homes, it added a chef to the package. That way, its tajarin tartufo and burrata caponata can have the restaurant’s signature flavour till the end.Executive chef Aabhas Mehrotra says the restaurant has done about 10 such experiences since they launched this service a couple of months ago and has another 13 events lined up for next month. “This is not exactly a restaurant experience but we’re able to at least bring the gourmet experience to homes. We’ve been getting a lot of queries for preDiwali parties,” he says. The average at home experience from Sorrentina is Rs 2,500 per person. In Mumbai, Chef Prateek Sadhu, the coowner of Masque, says businesses will have to adapt to keep business going. The fine-dining restaurant delivered everything from brisket burgers to thukpas during the pandemic with surprise elements like balloons with the baskets of food. They also hosted tailgate events in their parking lot — customers could come and eat in their cars while maintaining social distance. “Customers don’t mind paying a little extra for personalised menus and qualitative food. Kitchens are restructuring their business models,” says Sadhu.In Delhi, Rishiv Khattar has taken the concept a step ahead by targeting the home chefs. His company, Makery, delivers do-it-yourself kits to customers who want ingredients — fresh and cleaned — so that they can make gourmet food at home easily. 78972230It has signed up with some of the most eclectic restaurant companies to cater to patrons. Makery puts the kits together, with an instruction card, while the restaurants collaborate at the recipe stage. The packages are hand-delivered by the company staff — sometimes in a car to ensure the packaging is intact.As fine-dining restaurants join the delivery bandwagon, pure cloud-kitchen players are getting into the gourmet space.Zomato sees a big potential in the segment, says Mohit Sardana, COO-food deliveries. The restaurant aggregator set up a gourmet delivery service this month with 350 partner restaurants in five cities. “Consumer behaviour has changed a lot since the pandemic. It has created this opportunity for us and the restaurants. And as we’ve noticed before, once a behaviour gets instilled, it is less likely to go away. People are likely to continue to order gourmet food at home even after the pandemic,” adds Sardana. 78972238Zomato didn’t have a gourmet category before. Next year, the company expects 15-20% of its business from this segment. “That is close to double of what it is right now. We will also soon have a dedicated fleet of riders for gourmet deliveries. They will be specially groomed and trained,” he adds. The company will also help create more rider-friendly packaging solutions.Restaurateurs say aggregators charge 20-30% of the order value as commission. The bigger the order, the larger the commission. Swiggy, the other major food aggregator in the country, has partnered with hotels such as ITC Hotels, Marriott, Hyatt and the Hilton across major cities. Some of these chains even tailored their offerings with a deliveryspecific menu to ensure the experience is best suited for home delivery. 78972254The aggregator has noticed that one in seven customers now order from gourmet restaurants. When compared with its preCovid levels, there has been a five-fold increase every month in signing up fine-dining restaurants for online deliveries. Its order value has grown 3X from pre-Covid days.Swiggy even has a curated gourmet selection for its sub-platform, Scootsy, in Mumbai. A Swiggy spokesperson says it has on boarded top-notch restaurants like Yauatcha and Hakkasan, The Table, Masque and Royal China, among others. “The delivery partners for Scootsy undergo a specialised training programme which covers grooming, food handling, restaurant etiquette and customer interaction. In fact, Scootsy on Swiggy has a list of special items for which we provide detailed training on right handling,” the spokesperson adds. 78972268As malls and restaurants shut down, LiteBite Foods, which usually positions its brands in food courts, was quick to realise that innovation was required to stay afloat. So it improved its packaging to enter the gourmet delivery space. Sushi is delivered on ice packs so it remains cold and fresh, airlock packaging keeps food hot, the company changed its menus five times in the last seven months to incorporate local, seasonal products. It also added more “food that travels better”.Rohit Aggarwal, director at Lite Bite, is confident of this business doing well. “Eating out has reduced but celebrations will continue,” he adds.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/320mNCu

Long and wrong? The election wild cards that may stump investors

By Kriti GuptaJust days before the U.S. election investors are largely positioned for a surge in risk sentiment under a Blue Wave scenario. For a handful of assets, there’s a chance that they’re completely wrong.Will a Joe Biden victory trigger an equities rally if the Senate remains Republican? Can Big Tech repeat its 273% ascent under President Donald Trump? Does the Democrats’ plan to shift to renewable energy mean oil’s dead? Bloomberg’s Markets Live team debated these topics and more in a live discussion and came up with alternative views beyond the consensus.Senate RiskConsensus view: A Biden victory helps risk assetsNon-consensus view: A Trump win helps risk assets -- but only with a Democratic SenateThe Senate race is key for fiscal stimulus. The gap between aid proposals from the Trump administration and House Democrats is narrow, so a flipped Senate could unlock more than $2 trillion of assistance. That could send the S&P 500 toward 3,650, a two standard deviation move from the index’s 12-month average closing price of 3,137. Beyond that, the next level to watch is 3900, the third standard deviation.78978108Alternatively, a Trump victory without a GOP Congress could be similar to a Biden victory without a Blue Wave, meaning more delays for federal aid. That would be troubling for equities and commodities. A split government could also influence how the White House deals with China, the European Union and other trading partners -- all of which could introduce risk to markets.JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Chief Equity Strategist Dubravko Lakos-Bujas is eyeing the S&P 500 at ~3,900 in an “orderly Trump victory as the most favorable outcome for equities.”Tech ThreatConsensus view: A Blue Wave will hurt technology stocks, while a Trump win will help themNon-consensus view: Big Tech’s dominance is over, regardless of who’s in the Oval OfficeWhile a Blue Wave is considered pro-risk, potential antitrust action alongside rising corporate taxes would weigh on tech makers and suppliers in the U.S. and Europe. Asian tech could be an alternative given the lower valuations, earnings momentum and strong balance sheets, according to Societe Generale strategists.Among the companies that could entice investors are Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Tencent Holdings Ltd., Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., the biggest tech names on the MSCI Emerging Markets index. The MSCI Asia Pacific Information Technology Index gained 1.5% in October compared with a roughly 1.5% decline in the Nasdaq 100.78978113Meanwhile, a Trump win would likely bring less regulation and lower corporate taxes from about 21% to 15%. While that could keep Big Tech humming, a Trump second term also presents a double-edged sword. He’s openly attacked Amazon.com Inc. and Facebook Inc. for anticompetitive behavior and could step up his critique.Oil WhimsConsensus view: A Blue Wave hurts oil, while a Trump victory is crude-positiveNon-consensus view: The only sure thing for oil is more volatilityIn the short term, oil could rally on a Blue Wave, which the market is positioning for (as shown in the chart below). JPMorgan strategists estimate that a Biden win and Democrat Senate could add as much as 15% to crude prices on a combination of dollar weakness and fiscal stimulus. Eventually, however, the market will have to confront Biden’s plan to transition to renewable energy. And most Blue Wave policies could raise U.S. production costs, limiting the growth of shale supply, according to Goldman Sachs.78978118But these risks will play out over years and decades. Immediately after the election, oil’s more likely to follow broader risk assets.Trump has been a strong advocate for American oil and has brokered the biggest-ever voluntary output cuts by OPEC members. A second term could boost crude benchmarks, but also introduce more volatility. OPEC members facing their own domestic pressures are less likely to comply with further output cuts. And tough talk on trade and diplomacy -- like Trump’s dealings with China -- could hamper crude’s gains.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/3mIR3do

Market’s collected wisdom on Presidents is often dead wrong

By Sarah PonczekThere’s been a narrative in trader circles for some time now that they’re fine with, maybe even a little excited about, the prospect of a Joe Biden presidency. Many a rally has been ascribed to growing chatter about the possibility of a blue wave on Election Day.And yet, for some investing veterans, there’s a nagging concern that this view is a little optimistic, that some of the things that have made Biden an attractive candidate for voters craving change could make for a rougher ride in markets.For one thing, they note, there’s his pledge to roll back the huge tax cuts that President Donald Trump handed corporate America back in 2017, a move that, irrespective of the public-policy merits it may have, at least has the potential to create stress for equities. There’s also the fact that Biden repeatedly says he cares little about what happens to the market. Even if that’s sloganeering and not quite true, it’s hard to believe he cares about it as much as Trump, who at times has seemed maniacally focused on goosing shares higher.Higher it did go, of course. So high that stock valuations are richer on the eve of next week’s election than they have been in any previous campaign cycle in history. That is perhaps the single biggest thing that worries the pessimists out there, that so much euphoria is baked into prices already -- about an end to the pandemic, about the economy’s ability to recover, about a rebound in earnings -- that almost any president taking over from Trump would wind up doing something to shatter the balance. 78978036“Biden has been clear his focus is not the stock market, it’s the economy,” said David Bianco, CIO of the Americas at DWS Group. “Inheriting the equity market at these levels is a big challenge to drive it substantially higher.”Biden’s old boss, Barack Obama, it should be noted, inherited the opposite situation a decade ago: a market rendered dirt cheap by the financial crisis. It’s perhaps little surprise then that, despite all the misgivings of his naysayers, he presided over one of the greatest bull markets of all time. Conventional wisdom on the sitting president was also wrong. Trump the candidate was panned as a loose cannon that markets would deplore, then went on to preside over the fourth best return for any first-term president.History shows that presidents matter little for equity prices, or at least their party affiliation: S&P 500 returns look alike regardless of who’s in power, and usually they’re positive. The bigger influence has tended to be what’s going on in the economy and markets themselves. And right now, not only are a pandemic and recession raging, but stocks, particularly tech stocks, are trading at prices that even hardened bulls struggle to justify.While valuations are a poor tool for timing, they’re a consideration in expected returns, meaning Biden could face an uphill battle keeping equities aloft no matter what he does. At the end of September, the S&P 500 fetched 36 times profits under standard accounting, more than double the usual at this point heading into elections. When multiples were near this high, stocks averaged 5 per cent annual gains in the ensuing decade, according to S&P 500 Dow Jones data compiled by Bloomberg since 1936. That’s half the gain coming off the lowest ones. 78978039Into that mix would walk Biden, whose platform, while never framed as anti-business, seeks to roll back at least a few of the policies that have given cover to anyone parking money in high-priced stocks. His campaign rhetoric may be just that, rhetoric, but its contrast with Trump is self-evident. “Where I come from,” he said in the last debate, “people don’t live off of the stock market.”Should the polls bear out and Biden prevail, “the market will likely celebrate, because it will be relieved that you’ll get that necessary fiscal support,” said Evan Brown, head of multi-asset strategy at UBS Asset Management. “But investors in U.S. equities may become a little bit more concerned about the less market-friendly ideas coming from his administration.”A Biden spokesman said the Democrat’s agenda would lift the economy in a more equitable way than Trump’s.“Joe Biden sees this race as Scranton versus Park Avenue because he is determined to ensure that our economy rewards work -- not just wealth,” said Andrew Bates. “Independent economists have demonstrated that Joe Biden’s agenda would create 7 million more jobs than Donald Trump, while growing our economy by more than Donald Trump, faster than Donald Trump.”Still, one question that has given investors pause is Biden’s approach to Covid-19 and whether his administration would be more willing to sacrifice the economy to control its spread. The former vice president has been hard to pin down on the question, pledging to rely on science and saying it’s possible to “walk and chew gum at the same time.” With coronavirus case counts surging anew, however, and stocks having their worst week since March, the issue is gaining urgency.“Whether you like Trump or you don’t like Trump, at least you know where he stands on Covid. You know he’s not going to shut down the economy,” said Vance Howard, chief executive officer at Howard Capital Management. “We don’t know where Biden stands. We don’t know if he would shut down the economy. That’s really got people over the past week with a lot of heartburn.”Bates, the Biden spokesman, said the goals aren’t mutually exclusive. “Joe Biden will shut down the virus -- not our economy -- by listening to medical experts, rather than undermining our response by disregarding and attacking them,” he said. 78978043Another worry for bulls is the Democrat’s pledge to roll back the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the Trump administration’s most explicit gift to investors. The year after it was enacted, profits for S&P 500 companies surged more than 20 per cent in three consecutive quarters, a rate not seen since the financial crisis ended, as earnings in aggregate for large public companies rose to a record.For his part, Biden has expressed desire for a higher minimum wage. His tax plan also includes raising long-term capital gains tax rates for high earners. And he’s pledged to roll back President Trump’s corporate tax cut, raising the rate to 28 per cent from 21 per cent, a move that could directly eat into the earnings component of stock valuations.“The emphasis of a Biden administration is more likely to be on consumers versus companies,” said Lori Heinel, deputy global chief investment officer at State Street Global Advisors. “It’s more likely to be on regulating certain industries like energy or financial services than not regulating or deregulating them. It’s likely to be an environment where the infrastructure spend is more geared toward areas like education versus potentially other kinds of infrastructure.”Trump’s other big economic policy initiative, his trade war with China, bore less obvious fruit for investors, and is viewed by many negatively, though it mainly played out in a year when the S&P 500 managed a 29 per cent gain, one of the best of the new century. While tit-for-tat threats frequently led to selloffs in the Dow, one feature of the fight was Trump’s seeming willingness to tone down rhetoric or return to the negotiating table when faced with a market in free fall.That divergence -- Trump as president most likely to kowtow to investor whims, Biden as the candidate who says his policies will be aimed at boosting everything but the 10 per cent of American families who own 84 per cent of all stocks -- is a difference that might matter, if all you care about is share prices.“They say the stock market will boom if I’m elected. If he’s elected, the stock market will crash,” Trump said in the last debate. To that, Biden responded: “That the stock market is booming is his only measure of what’s happening.” 78978044

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Kings XI Punjab bank on Chris Gayle to stay alive

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Kylian Mbappe on target as PSG win without injured Neymar

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Barcelona draw with 10-man Alaves after Neto howler

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We were not brave enough with the bat, says Virat Kohli

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EPL: Diogo Jota strikes again as Liverpool go top

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Wasn't surprising to see so much dew in Sharjah: David Warner

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Rare Mats Hummels double helps Dortmund beat Bielefeld

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Delhi Capitals lose to Mumbai Indians to sink to fourth consecutive loss

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Friday, October 30, 2020

IN PICS: How Rajasthan ended Punjab's unbeaten run to stay afloat

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We have found the right combination, says Robin Uthappa

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Google Faces November Deadline for Initial Response to US Antitrust Case

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Russian Hackers Said to Have Targeted California, Indiana Democratic Parties

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Twitter Unfreezes New York Post Account Days After Backlash From Republican Lawmakers

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Covid vaccination drive may span over a year

NEW DELHI: In an advisory to states on setting up coordination committees for distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine, the health ministry has said introduction of the shots will span over a year with multiple groups being included sequentially, starting from health care workers, while also asking governments to be vigilant about disinformation on social media.“In all likelihood, the Covid-19 vaccine introduction will span over a year with multiple groups being included sequentially starting from healthcare workers (HCWs). Therefore, it is important to create strong advisory and coordination mechanism at state and district levels to guide the process of Covid-19 vaccine introduction while ensuring minimal disruption of other routine health care services including immunisation,” the Centre has said.The government has also stressed early tracking of social media to dispel rumours which could impact community acceptance of coronavirus inoculation. “It is anticipated that initially the supply of vaccine will be limited in view of huge demand hence, prioritisation of socio-demographic groups will be done for vaccination and subsequently other groups will be included for vaccination,” the ministry said. In the letter, health secretary Rajesh Bhushan has suggested setting up of a state steering committee (SSC) chaired by the chief secretary, a state task force (STF) led by additional chief secretary or principal secretary (health), and a district task force (DTF) to be headed by the district magistrate.This committee will also review the state’s preparatory activities in terms of cold chain preparedness, operational and communication planning, strategies for anticipated state-specific challenges in terms of geographical terrain and network connectivity in ‘hard to reach’ areas.

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Voda Idea’s Rs 25,000 cr fund-raise set to be done in 2-3 months

Mumbai/Kolkata: Vodafone Idea (Vi) said its plans to raise as much as 25,000 crore are getting a positive response and are set to conclude in two to three months.“We are in discussions with several interested parties to raise funds through the debt and equity routes. The interest levels have been very good and the ongoing discussions are progressing well… we hope to conclude the fund-raise in two to three months at most… We are very optimistic on this score,” managing director Ravinder Takkar said on a post-earnings call with analysts on Friday.ET had reported that Vi has reached out to credit funds such as Oak Hill Advisors, Marathon Asset Management, Spectrum Asset Management, Anchorage Capital and Providence Investment Management as well as private equity firms such as Blackstone and asset reconstruction companies for raising the funds that will be used to expand networks and pay adjusted gross revenue dues.Takkar said Vi won’t shy away from increasing the currently “unsustainable” mobile tariffs.“We’ve taken the lead on hiking tariffs before (in December 2019) and won’t shy away from doing it again and are confident others will follow us as the current rates are unsustainable and pricing needs to improve quickly,” he said.Bharti Airtel chief executive Gopal Vittal said earlier this week that tariffs need to go up, although he maintained that the Sunil Mittal-led telco wouldn’t want to take the lead.Shares of Vi climbed 4.4% to Rs 8.75 on the BSE on Friday, a day after the telco said its net loss in the second quarter narrowed to Rs 7,203.4 crore from Rs 25,467 crore in the first, helped by cost reduction and lower impairment charges.Takkar estimated the government would soon take a favourable view on setting floor prices, which, along with tariff increases, would boost the health of the sector and bring average revenue per user (ARPU) back to the Rs 300 level.Vi’s ARPU was Rs 119 in the quarter ended September while rival Airtel clocked in Rs 162.The regulator is consulting telcos and other stakeholders on the merits of bringing in a floor price for the debt-laden sector.“Ongoing consultations around floor price (for data rates) don’t stop anyone from hiking tariffs, but the timing has to be right… we can assure you that the tariff hike decision is not far away,” Takkar added.Vi has over Rs 50,000 crore of adjusted gross revenue dues payable over 10 annual instalments through March 31, 2031. While the telco’s parent companies — Aditya Birla Group and Vodafone Group Plc — won’t invest any fresh equity, the UK-based Vodafone has to put in some money towards AGR dues.

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Royal Challengers Bangalore aiming to seal playoff spot

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TikTok Ban: US Judge Blocks Commerce Department Order to Bar App

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India needs to continue working with America

India and the US began a journey in 1998, with the first conversation between Jaswant Singh and Strobe Talbott. This week, the two countries signed off on Book 1 of that journey, when India signed the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA), the last of the ‘foundational agreements’ which seals defence interoperability between the two sides, and brings us all out of the closet.The fact that India managed to close this deal with the US a week before they elect another president is significant in and of itself. For those hyperventilating about doing it in the dying days of the Trump administration, they fail to read the moment. India has had a good run with President Donald Trump and it was important to rack up this foreign policy achievement for both sides. At a time of a tense standoff with China, a well-oiled India-US interoperability is critical.In an interview to this paper, foreign minister S Jaishankar had warned China should not view India through the US lens. In a sense, India has also freed itself from an unspoken Chinese veto. The new and improved Quad, Malabar exercises with Australia in it, an obviously closer military embrace and this visible show at 2+2 is India exercising choices and going through with them.In a different age, Indian officials would have held back on the deal until a new administration took charge in Washington. Reasons would have mostly centred around the belief that such a deal is akin to India bestowing favours, and let’s do it with the new guys. From all accounts, many in this government tried their best – it tells you how far we have to travel when an aggressive China, chewing up Indian territory, invites less suspicion among our babus than America!Trump may or may not be history next week. Through his chaotic four years, the one thing which stood out was the remarkable consistency of his China policy, that saw China for exactly what it is and what it aims to be. Trump also picked up on the Indo-Pacific as a premier geo-strategic policy to pursue, both of which has had strong convergence with Indian interests. In fact, he undertook the sharpest course correction on China in recent US history.Joe Biden, whose chances look increasingly bright, has been encouraging on India, and refreshingly realistic on China. Bill Burns, senior adviser to Biden, reflected their current policy in recent remarks. “Preventing China’s rise is beyond America’s capacity, and our economies are too entangled to decouple. The US can, however, shape the environment into which China rises, taking advantage of the web of allies and partners across the Indo-Pacific – from Japan and South Korea to a rising India – and engaging the Chinese leadership directly…” We’ll see how that goes when the rubber hits the road.Biden will be facing a very different China from where he left it four years ago. As is India. This is a China unafraid to bare its teeth – it has been in a hyper-aggressive mode certainly since the beginning of 2020. All the criticism raining down on China from the coronavirus to 5G is apparently bouncing off.A Biden administration could, like previous Democrat ones, give India a hard time on things like human rights and minority rights. India will probably take a few bullets there, just as it bears the scars of Trump’s trade craziness over the past four years. Hopefully New Delhi will build its own means to deal with an activist US – if the Congress is heavily Democrat-led, you could worry about the “progressives” pushing the bilateral agenda. Otherwise Biden is as centrist as they come.He has stacked up an impressive foreign policy team, led by the likes of Anthony Blinken, Jake Sullivan, and including Kurt Campbell, Ely Ratner and a host of Washington’s foreign policy elite. Blinken said recently, “Strengthening and deepening the relationship with India is going to be a very high priority. It’s hugely important to the future of the Indo-Pacific and the kind of order we all want; it’s fair, stable and hopefully increasingly democratic and it’s vital to being able to tackle some of these big global challenges.”Walking with a superpower has not been easy for anyone, and won’t be for us either. At every new level, there will be more hoops to jump through. It will be for India to stay ahead of the game.You might think the interoperability debate is behind us – until the US Congress sits down in 2021 to decide whether to impose CAATSA sanctions on India when we take delivery of S-400 from Russia. On the other hand President Vladimir Putin’s remarks last week about a possible military alliance with China last week will give India pause – “It’s certainly imaginable. I’m not only talking about sale and purchase of military products, but the sharing of technologies, which is more important.”If we look a little deeper though, Russia and the US are in the process of negotiating a new 21st century arms control agreement that aims to bring China into the tent, and has implications for India. India won’t play this game by staying at the margins.However, India has walked that extra mile on this relationship and that’s important. Behind an obvious shift in mindset, there is an acknowledgment of another, more sobering, reality – that India’s global stardom is not pre-destined. That India needs to work hardest to ensure its own rise. In other words, India’s best foreign policy is within. BECA shows that lesson may be sinking into South and North Blocks.

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RIL’s retail power draws wholesale money to its stock

ET Intelligence Group: Reliance Industries (RIL) is not only India’s most valuable company or the biggest by standard financial metrics, but it also has the largest weighting on the index and has led the stock market’s rebound since March. September just reinforced those leadership credentials.So, earnings growth projections at the telecoms-to-retail conglomerate will likely be raised after a quicker-than-expected sequential recovery across revenue streams — both consumer-facing and B2B.Consumer-facing businesses now make up about half of RIL’s operating profit, surging from about a third a year ago. This explains the stock’s re-rating – and premium valuations for an energy giant in transformation.To be sure, the near-term performance of RIL will be supported by earnings upgrade in the consumer business, but wide outperformance will hinge on earnings recovery at its traditional oil-to-chemicals businesses. Before the earnings, the Bloomberg consensus target price on RIL implied 7% upside in the next year.78963938Business Expands, Debt ShrinksA rising share of the high-growth consumer business and a deleveraged balance sheet have helped RIL expand its valuation multiples, drawing the biggest names in the global investment industry. Foreign portfolio investors raised their stake in RIL to 25.20% at the end of September, compared with 24.72% in the preceding quarter.More could be waiting in the queue, but the regulatory ceiling on ownership has remained at 10%, while RIL’s weight in the Nifty touched 14.9% at September end, translating into a gain of 514 bps since the beginning of 2020.The telecom business, which contributes nearly a third to RIL’s total fair value, added 7.3 million subscribers. The average revenue per user (ARPU) rose 3.3% to Rs 145, resulting in an operating profit of Rs 7,701 crore, a sequential growth of 6%. It needs to add 26.4 million subscribers in the next two quarters to meet Street expectations of 432-435 million subscribers, while the ARPU estimate is between Rs 145 and Rs 150. It had 406 million subscribers in Q2.The sequential improvement in the retail business — RIL is India’s biggest offline retailer — is gradually gaining traction online, evident from the pace of increase in the number of downloads of its app. Retail revenue climbed 24% sequentially to 39,199 crore, with a margin of 5.13% in Q2,up 170 bps.Refinery GRM and ProfitsRefining, which contributes 38% to the total revenue, was under pressure due to lower demand for petroleum products in a largely locked down industrial world. The Singapore region refining margin averaged $0.05 per barrel in the September quar ter. Because of the full ramp-up of the pet-coke gasification plant and higher complexity of its refinery that allows switching product slate effectively, RIL has been able to maintain a premium of $5.6 per barrel over the regional benchmark. RIL’s gross refinery margin (GRM) stood at $5.7 per barrel in September, compared with $7.2 in the previous quarter.Lower throughput of refinery and flat gross refining margin resulted in the refinery division’s operating profit dropping to Rs 2,000 crore, a multi-quarter low. Petrochemicals did better, with prices firming up due to higher demand from e-commerce companies. Operating profit of the petrochemical segment rose 44% sequentially to Rs 4,895 crore, while the volume increased 9% QoQ to 9.7 MT. Operating profit margins of petrochemicals improved to 16.5% — highest in four quarters.The stock is trading at 24.5 times its one-year forward earnings, a premium of 84% over the long-term average.Every $1/barrel increase in GRM and $25 per ton rise in petrochemicals Ebitda margins could potentially increase EPS by 5%.There are few select companies in the Nifty 50 where FY21 EPS is slightly higher than the previous year, according to Bloomberg consensus.

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WATCH: Chris Gayle loses cool after falling on 99

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Shaky Delhi Capitals desperate for a win against Mumbai Indians

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We need to bowl better with wet ball, says KL Rahul

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Djokovic suffers heaviest loss to lucky loser Sonego in Vienna

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Johnson & Johnson plans to test its COVID-19 vaccine in ages 12-18 soon

NEW YORK: Johnson & Johnson plans to start testing its experimental COVID-19 vaccine in youths aged 12 to 18 as soon as possible, and the company's previous experience with the same technology in a vaccine successfully used in children could give it a leg up with regulators."We plan to go into children as soon as we possibly can, but very carefully in terms of safety," J&J's Dr. Jerry Sadoff told a virtual meeting of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on Friday.Depending on safety and other factors, the company plans to test in even younger children afterwards, said Sadoff, a vaccine research scientist at J&J's Janssen unit, without giving a timeline.J&J said in a statement that it is currently in discussions with regulators and partners regarding the inclusion of the pediatric population in its trials.The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said it is important for drugmakers to test their vaccines in children. Some doctors have raised concerns that the vaccines themselves could trigger a rare, life-threatening condition called Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in some children.Rival drugmaker Pfizer Inc has already begun testing the COVID-19 vaccine it is developing with Germany's BioNTech in children as young as 12. Their vaccine uses messenger RNA (mRNA), a new technology that has yet to produce an approved vaccine. J&J's uses a cold virus to deliver coronavirus genetic material in order to spur an immune response. The platform - called AdVac - is used in a vaccine for Ebola that was approved in Europe earlier this year and used on more than 100,000 people, including infants, children, and pregnant women.The technology's history of safety should be important to regulators, said Dr. Paul Spearman, director of the infectious diseases division of Cincinnati Children's Hospital."Most of the toxicities are going to come from the platform and not from putting a different insert into the platform, Spearman said. So replacing the Ebola genetic material with that of the novel coronavirus "is unlikely to give you major issues," he added.J&J started testing the vaccine in adults in a 60,000-volunteer Phase III study in late September. It had to pause the trial earlier this month because of a serious medical event in one participant. The study resumed last week.

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Disney+ Hotstar November 2020: Laxmii, IPL Final, Lego Star Wars, and More

Laxmmi Bomb / Laxmii, The Mandalorian season 2, IPL 2020 final, Lego Star Wars Holiday Special, The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse, Marvel’s 616, Inside Pixar, Grey’s Anatomy season 17, His Dark Materials season 2, A Teacher, Big Sky, Industry HBO — the biggest movies, TV series, and sporting events on Disney+ Hotstar in November 2020.

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There could be no cricket in four months' time: Jos Buttler

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Ben Stokes is a class player, says RR captain Steve Smith

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Cristiano Ronaldo recovers from coronavirus after 19 days

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Disney+ Hotstar November 2020: Laxmii, IPL Final, Lego Star Wars, and More

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Indian consumer recovery grabs eyeballs

KOLKATA|MUMBAI: India’s strong recovery has found mention in the quarterly earnings calls and statements of global chiefs of nearly half a dozen consumer multinational corporations (MNCs), including Apple, Amazon, Samsung, Unilever, Whirlpool and Kimberly-Clark.Most companies indicated that the market has bounced back sharply in the July-September quarter.On Friday, Apple chief executive Tim Cook said the iPhone maker had set a September quarter sales record in India, while Amazon chief financial officer Brian Olsavsky said it had a strong Prime Day in August and that Diwali season sales were off to a good start.“Geographically, we set September quarter records in the Americas, Europe and the rest of Asia Pacific,” Cook said in Apple’s earnings call. “We also set a September quarter record in India, thanks in part to a very strong reception to… launch of our online store in the country.”Demand for smartphone and consumer electronics has surged in India, with consumers buying the latest mobile phones, laptops, television sets and appliances to adapt to work and study from home, besides automating household chores.In its earnings release on Thursday, Samsung Electronics said overall market demand increased in the September quarter as stimulus measures helped many economies recover after the lockdown.The South Korean giant said smartphone sales rose sharply from the previous quarter, with the launch of flagship models and “stronger sales of mass-market models in key regions, including India.”78962558Outlook optimistic nowWhirlpool Corp chief financial officer Jim Peters said it saw a rebound in India business and expects regional results to gradually improve as the impact of the pandemic declines through the year.The optimism comes months after sales were hit as India implemented one of the world's biggest lockdowns to curb the spread of Covid-19. Restrictions were eased in phases from May. However, in July, states implemented intermittent lockdowns that led to disruptions in supply chains and business cycles.Also, most companies were concerned about the increasing Covid-19 cases in India, making the outlook highly uncertain.They have veered round to a more optimistic view now. For instance, Unilever chief financial officer Graeme Pitkethly last week said it’s “over the hump in India,” citing a pickup in economic activity and the marketplace. Kimberly Clark CEO Mike Hsu said its India business had seen strong double-digit growth.To be sure, not all consumer companies have exceeded pre-Covid sales growth numbers as some discretionary categories, especially liquor, are still struggling to expand.Carlsberg on Thursday said recovery in the country had been robust due to a large young population, but life and businesses are only slowly returning to normal and the impact on the economy is severe.“In India, the infections are very high — 95% of off-trade outlets are open but the number of customers remains subdued as they fear contracting the virus with crowds gathering,” Carlsberg global chief executive Cees ’t Hart told investors. India’s environment is highly uncertain and volatile, as the market is struggling socially and economically, he said.

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Singapore order won't impact assessment of Future-RIL deal: CCI official

NEW DELHI: The interim judgement of a Singapore arbitration court barring the Future Group from going ahead with the deal with Reliance Retail will not have a bearing on the Competition Commission of India’s regulatory assessment, an official said.The competition watchdog’s limited concern is towards the two parties involved and the deal’s impact on competition, said a CCI official.“I don’t think the arbitration in the Singapore court would have any bearing on CCI’s progress. For CCI, the picture is just the two parties involved in the deal and its impact on competition,” the official said.On September 23, RIL had sought CCI’s approval for its Rs 24,713 crore acquisition of the online and offline businesses of the Future Group in August.In an interim order on October 25, the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) restrained the two concerned parties from going ahead with the deal.The order was based on a plea filed by Amazon claiming the deal violates the terms of its agreement with the Future Group when it acquired a 49% stake in Future Coupons for about Rs 1,500 crore in 2019.“The firm filing the combination notice with the CCI should disclose if any other firms have a first right to refusal on the stakes involved but it doesn't matter as far as the proceedings before the commission is concerned,” the official said.

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Thursday, October 29, 2020

In Pics: Jadeja cameo stuns Kolkata Knight Riders

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Climax of the game went in our favour against KKR: Dhoni

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Ibrahimovic misses another penalty as AC Milan down Prague

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Tinder Expands Its In-App Face-to-Face Video Chat Feature Globally [Update]

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Amazon, Alphabet, Facebook Post Strong Profits Amid Pandemic; Apple Sees Dip Due to Weak iPhone Sales

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Indian Army Launches Indigenous Messaging App SAI, Similar to WhatsApp

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Amazon says its Diwali sale in India is off to a good start

The comments came on the back of Amazon posting a 37% year-on-year growth in international sales to $25.2 billion in the quarter that ended September.

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Apple sees record quarter sales in India

Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook on Friday said the iPhone maker has set a new September quarter sales record in India due to strong response of its company-owned online store in the country.In its July-September earnings call, Cook said: “Geographically, we set September quarter records in the Americas, Europe and Rest of Asia Pacific. We also set a September quarter record in India, thanks in part to a very strong reception to this quarter’s launch of our online store in the country.”While Cook did not elaborate further, industry executives said strong sales of iPhones especially of the iPhone SE and 11 series, iPads and Mac computers further fueled sales in India as consumers preferred to buy Apple devices as India continues work and education from home due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Apple rolled out the Apple online store in India late September where it has been selling and fulfilling all its products to consumers, although often at higher prices than what they are available in e-commerce marketplaces Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart. Analysts had called out that Apple needs to maintain pricing parity with other e-commerce platforms to gain share with its online store.The Covid-19 pandemic has boosted sales of electronics products, including smartphones, in online platforms in India. As per marker researcher and sales tracker GfK India, e-commerce contribution for smartphones is up from 29% to 32% in June-August this year over last, whereas for premium smartphones priced above Rs 30,000 the contribution is up from 38% to 43%.Apple’s new iPhones – iPhone 12 and 12 Pro – will go on sale in India from today and the company has already received the highest ever pre-orders on the two models in the country, industry executives said.As per Hong Kong-based smartphone shipment tracker Counterpoint Research, Apple has overtaken China’s OnePlus as the leader in the premium smartphone segment or those priced above Rs 30,000 even before its flagship iPhone 12 series launch. This is driven by strong demand for its iPhone SE 2020 and the iPhone 11. The researcher said the upcoming flagship iPhone 12 will further strengthen Apple’s position in the October-December quarter.

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IPL: Kolkata Knight Riders' hopes hang by a thread

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IPL 2020: Punjab target Rajasthan for sixth win in a row

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Nagarkoti didn't have enough runs to defend in last over: Eoin Morgan

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Amazon sees pandemic boosting holiday sales and investment in delivery

Since the start of the virus outbreak in the United States eight months ago, consumers have turned increasingly to Amazon for delivery of groceries, home goods and medical supplies.

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Gold sales in India’s festival quarter seen weakest since 2008

Still, demand will fare better than the first nine months of the year, when it suffered after India imposed one of the world’s strictest lockdowns in March to contain the virus.

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Central banks sell gold for first time in a decade

While inflows into exchange-traded funds have driven gold’s advance in 2020, buying by central banks has helped underpin bullion in recent years. Citigroup Inc. last month predicted that central bank demand would rebound in 2021, after slowing this year from near-record purchases in both 2018 and 2019.

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Gold muted on firmer dollar, heads for worst week in over a month

U.S. gold futures were down 0.1% at $1,866.20.

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Mumbai Indians first team to quality for IPL play-offs

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Gaikwad is one of the most talented players going around: Dhoni

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Desi Americans Trump Biden in Meme War

Earlier this month, Jill Biden, wife of the Democratic US presidential candidate Joe Biden, posted a tweet in the “how it started vs how it’s going” meme format that has gained popularity on Twitter over the last few weeks.Underneath ‘how it started’ was a picture of the Biden couple from their younger days, while ‘how it’s going’ showed a picture of the two wearing masks and waving at an audience in what seems like a campaign trail.Among 5,000-plus comments on her post was a reply from a user @HinduForTrump. Captioned “And how it will end”, the tweet carried an image of Donald Trump smirking at the camera, taken on the day he had won the last presidential elections in 2016.Memes are playing a big part in US election campaign and Indian Americans, particularly those of rightwing persuasion, are especially active.More than a million Indian Americans are on voter rolls this time. A survey by the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) shows approximately 28% of them are planning to vote for Trump — a marked increase compared with 16% in 2016. That possible jump in support for Trump, who’s trailing in polls, is fuelling a rush of memes. Among favourite themes for rightwing Indian Americans is critiquing Democratic vice president nominee Kamala Harris. On Twitter, several accounts of Indian Americans with phrases like “Hindus for Trump” or “Chump for Trump” in their usernames and handles, have responded to anti-Trump posts with a GIF of Kamala Harris saying “Your Voice Matters” as part of an interview with international magazine Marie Claire from earlier this year, except it is edited to include “Vote for Trump” on top of her original message.“There are no particular hashtags in the public realm to help you track the scale of pro-Trump memefest led by Hindu nationalists,” said a meme-marketing specialist from Bengaluru in India on the condition of anonymity.“This entire operation is being carried out through Facebook and WhatsApp groups while the coordination happens via Telegram. At a stipulated time every evening, five-eight select users are told what type of content to propagate.”The meme-marketing of pro-Trump Indian Americans is far more strategised than that of the anti-Trump desis, this person noted.Last week, Harris’ niece Meena tweeted a painting of the Hindu goddess Durga riding a lion and about to kill the demon Mahishasura. This was to mark the beginning of the two Indian festivals associated with the deity, namely Durga Puja and Navratri.However, the image she posted was photoshopped with her aunt Kamala’s face on Durga’s, along with Biden’s face in place of the lion’s, and Trump’s visibility agitated face superimposed on Mahishasura’s.The tweet triggered a volley of messages from people saying they are Hindu nationalists. Meena had to eventually delete the tweet.In this political fight of American desis where memes are being used as the artillery, pro-Trump posts far outnumber the anti-Trump ones.“From what I have observed, Biden supporters from the Indian-American community are a class of intellectuals — a lot of whom are either not very active on social media or who still employ old-school methods for election campaigning,” said Saloni Gaur, an Indian comic who addresses social and political issues through her satirical videos across social media platforms.Recently, Gaur uploaded a video on her social accounts taking a dig at Trump for calling India and its air “filthy” during his second and final presidential debate. “Biden ka button dabao, popcorn khao, Bella Ciao,” she said toward the end of her video, urging her viewers to vote for Biden.“Twitter chatter around Trump’s comment prompted me to make the video,” said Gaur. “While Trump portrays himself as India’s best friend, he never leaves a chance to ditch us. He is like that friend we all had back in school who borrowed Rs 20 and never returned the money,” she quipped.Like Gaur, several other Indians have called Trump out on his comment. Most of the US-based Indian-American rightwingers were noticeably quiet after Trump’s remark. And there’s some discussion whether Trump may lose some Indian-American votes.Meanwhile, the memes continue popping up.

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Margins, premium product mix to set course for Maruti

ET Intelligence Group: Maruti Suzuki is still the favourite mile muncher in India’s post-lockdown drive — but not in the most swish set of wheels in its garage.The Maruti dashboard displayed good sales volumes in the September quarter, although the proportion of entry-level cars increased, crimping margin expansion at the carmaker that sells one of every two cars running on Indian roads. So, margins and a more premium product mix in its sales will determine directional trends for the Maruti stock.Sales volume of the maker of Alto and Swift rose 16 per cent to 3.93 lakh units, but operating margins at 10.3 per cent fell short of expectations. Typically, margins shrink when discounts are high. But with discounts actually reducing, the decline is explained by a sales mix dominated by entry-level vehicles.Product mix is changing due to the higher share of the mini cars in total volumes and the absence of diesel variants, which are about Rs 1 lakh more expensive than petrol cars. The share of the mini cars rose to 24 per cent in the September quarter, a gain of almost 500 basis points compared with last year. Consequently, the average realisation per vehicle dropped by 5.1 per cent to Rs 4.76 lakh, the lowest in six quarters. The decline in realisations depressed revenue growth at 10 per cent despite 16 per cent volume expansion. A lot of first-time buyers are choosing personal mobility over shared or public transportation, thus increasing the proportion of smaller cars in total volumes. In addition, more rural sales than urban are pushing demand for lower-priced models. The share of rural rose 41 per cent in the September quarter, a gain of around 300 basis points from the last fiscal year. That might limit the company’s ability to boost prices to offset higher commodity costs. The management said pressure on margins may continue over the next couple of quarters due to higher commodity prices.78939980Projected operating profit margins for the current and next fiscal year were in the range of 10-12.5 per cent.Therefore, volume growth is key. Retail sales growth in the Navratri is 30 per cent compared with the previous year season, and plants are running at more than 90 per cent of capacity utilisation. The Street has pencilled in volume of 13-13.5 lakh units for the current fiscal, which implied volume decline of 13 per cent compared with FY20.However, the current momentum suggests the projections could be revised upward to 13.7-14.25 lakh units. The stock is trading at 34 times one-year forward earnings, a 68 per cent premium to the long-term average. Premium valuations suggest the market has already priced in a volume upcycle.

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Traders roll over fewer positions to November F&O series

Mumbai: Jittery traders carried forward fewer futures positions to the November series on expiry of the October contracts on Thursday amid uncertainty over the outcome of the US Presidential election next week and concerns over the second wave of coronavirus-led restrictions in Europe. Derivative analysts said the bullish bias is intact as the index has gained 8 per cent in the October series but some positions were liquidated ahead of expiry as wild market swings are expected around the US elections on November 3.Nifty rollovers to the November series stood at 72 per cent on provisional basis, lower than the three-month average of 76 per cent. The Bank Nifty gained 18 per cent in the October series. The bank index has seen rollover of around 80 per cent on provisional basis, slightly higher than the three-month average of 77.3 per cent. “Outlook is cautious because of US elections and the second wave of Covid in some countries. Writing among puts has shifted lower to 11,200 strike against 11,500 strike earlier,” said Rajesh Palviya, head of technical and derivatives at ICICI Securities. “Many of the stocks are seeing profit booking immediately after the results... they are not able to sustain their rallies after posting good numbers.” Analysts have also predicted a wide range for the index between 11,200 and 12,200. Options data in the new series is also scattered across various strikes, with maximum open interest among puts at 11,000 followed by 11,500 strike. Among call options, maximum call OI is at 12,000 followed by 12,500 strike. Some in the market believe that re-election of Donald Trump as US President would mean continuity in policies and he is considered to be more market-friendly. There are others who believed that it will not matter who is elected and that post election market direction hinges on the stimulus announcement in the US. “Nifty has to cross and hold above 11,750-11,777 zone for a bounce towards 12,020 then 12,200 zones ahead of festive season while on the downside major support exists at 11,500 then 11,333 zones,” said Chandan Taparia, derivatives analyst at Motilal Oswal.

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Swiggy expects food orders to return to pre-pandemic levels by year-end

Swiggy's food delivery has recovered to around 80-85% of pre-Covid-19 levels in terms of order value.

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