China's daily mask output reaches 116 million units

China’s daily output of face masks has reached 116 million units, 12 times more than the figure reported on February 1, as production continued amid the coronavirus outbreak, official data revealed on Monday.

By the end of last month, the daily production capacity more than quintupled from February 1 to 110 million units that came in medical and non—medical calibers, Xinhua news agency quoted the National Development and Reform Commission as saying.

The consistent rise in both capacity and output further narrowed the supply deficit.

As of February 29, the daily output of N95—rated medical masks reached 1116 million units to ensure medical staff at the forefront of the battle against the novel coronavirus are well—equipped, the commission said.

China produces about half of the world’s masks with a daily output of 20 million units before the epidemic. IANS

India’s manufacturing activity eases marginally in Feb; coronavirus outbreak hits biz sentiment: PMI

The country’s manufacturing sector activity eased in February from a near eight-year high in the previous month and business sentiment took a hit amid impact of coronavirus outbreak on exports and supply chains, a monthly survey said on Monday.

At 54.5 in February, the headline seasonally adjusted IHS Markit India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) held close to January’s near eight-year high of 55.3, signalling improvement in operating conditions across the sector.

This is the 31st consecutive month that the manufacturing PMI has remained above the 50-point mark.

In PMI parlance, a print above 50 means expansion, while a score below that denotes contraction. PTI

Moneywise | Financial goals can’t be influenced by Sensex

‘What do you think of the market?’ is a question I most often face from viewers, readers and members of the audience, as a practicing financial planner. The reference here is to stock market and more specifically, to the Sensex and Nifty. Honestly, no one can, with accountability, can predict the future.

Let us assume because of some supernatural powers an individual knows the direction of the market. Still, is that really useful? “Son, Sensex is down 10% since beginning of the year, let us postpone your marriage plan till such time the Sensex comes back to its original level.” What are the chances a father will ever say this to his son?

Requirement of funds to fulfil our financial goals cannot be dependent on the level of Sensex. Also, while we have no control over or say in the movement of the Sensex, our financial responsibility and dreams still need to be fulfilled. Beyond a point, the level of Sensex doesn’t matter.

Sharp cut in petrol, diesel prices on Monday

Even though international crude oil prices rose marginally due to expected production cut, the fuel prices saw further decline across all major cities in India on Monday.

The price of petrol was cut by 22-23 paise per litre and that of diesel by 20-21 paise per litre.

Petrol now costs Rs 71.49 per litre in Delhi, Rs 77.18 per litre in Mumbai, Rs 74.16 a litre in Kolkata and Rs 74.28 per litre in Chennai after the price cut.

Similarly, diesel costs Rs 64.10 a litre in Delhi, Rs 67.13 a litre in Mumbai, Rs Rs 66.43 a litre in Kolkata and 67.65 per litre in Chennai, according to Indian Oil Corporation website.

Brent crude was at $51.41 a barrel, up 91 cents, or 1.80 per cent, by 9.40 a.m. after earlier dropping to $48.40, the lowest since July 2017. IANS

Passenger car sales continue downward trend

Wholesale sales of passenger vehicles in the country continued on a downward trend in February 2020, with major car makers posting a decline in sales as consumer sentiment remained subdued, in addition to component supply constraints due to global outbreak of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.

Market leader Maruti Suzuki on Sunday said its sales of passenger vehicles fell 2.3% last month to 1.33 lakh units in February 2020, as against sales of over 13.6 lakh units in the year-ago month.

While the sales of its mini segment cars (Alto and S-Presso) grew 11% to 27,499 units, that of utility vehicles (Vitara Brezza, S-Cross and Ertiga) rose 3.5% to 22,604 units. However, sales of the compact segment (such as Swift, Wagon R, Celerio, Ignis, Baleno and Dzire) declined 3.9% to 69,828 units, and sales of its mid-sized sedan Ciaz fell 17.5% to 2,544 units.

Rupee rises 20 paise to 74.04 against US dollar in early trade

The Indian rupee appreciated by 20 paise to 72.04 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday tracking positive opening in domestic equities and weakening of the American dollar in the overseas market.

At the interbank foreign exchange the rupee opened at 72.09, then gained further ground and touched a high of 72.04 against the US dollar, registering a rise of 20 paise over its previous close.

The domestic currency, however, could not hold on to the gains and was trading at 72.18 against the American unit at 0957 hrs.

On Friday, rupee had settled at 72.24 against the greenback. PTI

Monthly GST lottery offer for B2C invoices to start from April 1

The government is planning to launch monthly lottery offer under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from April 1 by conducting lucky draws for invoices of all business to customer (B2C) transactions. The offers would range between ₹10 lakh and ₹1 crore, said an official.

The lottery scheme is being envisaged by the revenue department to encourage customers to take bills for every purchase, which will in turn help the government in curbing GST evasion.

Under the scheme, the revenue department will conduct monthly lucky draws which will have one bumper prize, while there would be second and third prizes state wise, an official said.

“The lottery scheme is planned to be launched on April 1,” the official added.

Sensex rebounds over 500 points; Nifty tops 11,300

Ashish Rukhaiyar reports:

The Indian benchmark indices gained significant ground in the first hour of the trading session on Monday - the first such surge after six straight sessions of losses.

At 10am, The 30-share Sensex was trading at 38,844.14, up 546.85 points or 1.43%. The Nifty was at 11,360.35, up 158.60 points or 1.42%.

The rally was broad-based as over 1,300 stocks gained ground in the first hour of the session, as against less than 400 declines. Broader indices like BSE Smallcap and BSE Midcap gained between 1% and 2% each.

The gains in the Indian markets were in like with the other Asian markets where most equity benchmarks were trading in positive territory.

AirAsia India Oct-Dec loss narrows to ₹123.35 crore

Budget carrier AirAsia India narrowed its loss to ₹123.35 crore in three months to December from ₹166.15 crore in Q4FY18 owing to higher fuel and staff costs coupled with increased user charges and other related expenses, as per a company presentation.

The Bengaluru-based airline, which is a joint venture between Tata Sons and Malaysian airlines group AirAsia’s investment arm, AirAsia Investment Ltd., follows January-December financial year.

Total revenue during December quarter jumped 65% to ₹1,057.55 crore as compared with ₹641.17 crore in the same period of financial year 2018, aided by higher average fare and capacity, the airline said.

Revenue grew on the back of a 38% increase in capacity and 19% rise in average fare.

SGX Nifty up 1.40%, points at positive start

The Singapore-traded SGX Nifty, an early indicator of NSE Nifty 50 Index’s performance in India indicated a positive start for trading in Indian markets on Monday.

In a much needed relief after the worst week since the 2008 financial crisis, the index was trading higher by 1.40 per cent to 8.61.

Index futures of the US, Asian and European stock markets also traded higher. S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were up nearly 0.50 per cent while FTSE 100 and DAX Futures were up over one per cent.

Japan’s Nikkei was also up over one per cent. IANS

Govt aims at making India among top three world economies by 2025: Anurag Thakur

Asserting that the world has confidence in India and its economy, Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Sunday said the government aims at making India among the top three global economies by 2025.

We have become the world’s fifth largest economy and in the next five years, the target is to make India among the top three economies of the world, the Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs said.

The minister was addressing a press conference here after meeting stakeholders from various trades and industries during an interactive session organised by the Income Tax department in collaboration with CII.

Sensex's five worst single day trading declines

Indian stock markets witnessed the worst trading week in over a decade as the benchmark BSE Sensex plunged 1,448 points to close at 38,297.29 on Friday, second biggest single-day decline, over the concerns of coronavirus infection turning into a pandemic.

The weakness in the Indian market was in line with the global indices, and according to analysts, this nervousness among investors may continue in the coming week as the number of new cases keep rising outside China.

The Sensex had suffered its worst fall on August 24, 2015, when it plunged 1,624.51 points to close at 25,741.56. Analysts blamed it on the surge in global crude oil prices along with heavy selling in the Chinese stock markets.

The third biggest fall was witnessed on January 21, 2008, when the Sensex fell 1,408.35 points to close at 17,605.35, according to Ace Equity data.

In the same year, on October 24 —— another ‘black Friday’ for the global markets —— the Sensex slumped 1,070.63 points, the fourth biggest fall, to settle at 8,701.07. It was largely due to the global financial crisis.

The fifth worst fall was recorded on February 1 this year, when the Union Budget for 2020—21 was presented. Disappointment over the budget led the Sensex to decline 987.96 points to close at 39,735.53. IANS

GST collection in February up by 8% at ₹1.05 lakh crore

The government on Sunday said it has collected ₹1.05 lakh crore as Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue in February, up by 8% over the same month last year.

However, the collection in February was lower than the ₹1.10 lakh crore collected in January 2020.

“The gross GST revenue collected in the month of February, 2020 is ₹1,05,366 crore, of which CGST is ₹20,569 crore, SGST is ₹27,348 crore, IGST is ₹8,503 crore and Cess is ₹8,947 crore,” the Finance Ministry said in a statement. The total number of GSTR 3B returns filed for the month of January up to February 29 stood at 83 lakh, the same as last month.