The benchmark indices opened this morning with moderate gains but soon lost ground to trade in the red.

All eyes are on the pace of economic recovery as the lockdown is lifted in phases by the government even as case counts rise.

Join us as we follow the top business news through the day.

Reliance Industries closes $7 billion rights issue, India's largest ever

The much-touted Reliance rights issue worth over $7 billion has come to a close.

PTI reports: "India's oil-to-telecoms giant Reliance Industries on Wednesday closed a $7 billion rights issue, India's largest ever, luring buyers in with a rare deferred payment offer.

Proceeds from the issue, also ranked as one of the world's biggest by a non-financial company based on Dealogic data, will aid Reliance's plan to slash net debt to zero this year.

The issue was subscribed about 1.6 times, in “a vote of confidence, by both domestic investors, foreign investors and small retail shareholders, in the intrinsic strength of the Indian economy”, billionaire owner Mukesh Ambani said a statement late on Wednesday.

Reliance launched the issue last month, offering existing shareholders one new share for 15 held at a discounted price of 1,257 rupees ($17) apiece.

Investors could pay only a quarter of the price upfront, and the rest in two instalments until November 2021.

Also, in a first, Reliance said the partly paid up shares could be traded on stock exchanges, giving investors a chance to buy more of the discounted issue than the entitlement and making it an attractive bet for arbitrage players.

The shares will be allotted on June 10 and listed on the exchanges on June 12, the conglomerate has said."

With a draconian but porous lockdown, India flattened GDP curve instead of COVID-19: Bajaj Auto MD

The contrarian business leader Rajiv Bajaj has once again voiced his displeasure with the government's stringent lockdown.

PTI reports: "India implemented a “draconian” lockdown that was porous and has ended up decimating its economy and flattening the GDP curve instead of that of the novel coronavirus infections, industrialist Rajiv Bajaj said on Thursday.

He said it is a herculean task to open up the economy and called for taking fear out of people’s minds through a “very clear, aligned narrative” from none other than the prime minister.

“We tried to implement a hard lockdown which was still porous. So I think we have ended up with the worst of both worlds,” he said.

The managing director of Bajaj Auto was in a dialogue with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, as part of a series on India’s COVID-19 response and the lockdown initiated by the Congress and aired on the party’s social media platforms.

The industrialist said, “We are not seeing a smooth, concerted, rhythmic movement towards unlocking.”

“On one hand a porous lockdown makes sure that the virus will still exist and as you said, it is still waiting to hit you when you will unlock. So you have not solved that problem.

“But you have definitely decimated the economy. You flattened the wrong curve. It is not the infection curve, it is the GDP curve. This is what we have ended (up) with, the worst of both worlds,” Bajaj said."

Recovery from COVID-19 to be painfully slow: survey

COVID-19 and its associated safety measures, including lockdown since March 24 have taken a heavy toll on the economy, and particularly on vulnerable, informal and migrant workers and their families.

After showing the mirror to Karnataka on the impact on livelihoods, Azim Premji University has now come out with the results of the survey for Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha. The survey has revealed great disruption in the economy and labour markets. “While livelihoods have been devastated at unprecedented levels during the lockdown, the recovery from this could be slow and very painful,” the researchers have said.

In response to the findings of this survey, the team which conducted the study suggests a few measures to ameliorate the conditions of those most affected by the crisis.

Survey shows large scale job losses, lower food intake amid lockdown

A survey sheds light on the pain experienced by people in the unorganized sector of the economy.

IANS reports: "A survey conducted by the Azim Premji University has shown heavy job losses for informal and migrant workers in the four states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh due to the lockdown.

The disruption in the economy and labour markets in these states is enormous. Livelihoods have been devastated at unprecedented levels during the lockdown and the recovery from this could be slow and very painful, the survey pointed out.

The sample for the survey was selected using the networks of civil society organisation collaborators.

“The findings pertain only to the sample and are not representative of the entire state. Findings should not be compared across states,” it said.

For the survey in Bihar (Rural) with 173 respondents, it said nearly half (46 per cent) of the respondents lost employment. Casual wage workers were more severely affected, with eight in 10 casual workers losing jobs.

More women (55 per cent) lost employment compared to men (35 per cent). More SC/ST workers (58 per cent) lost employment compared to OBC workers (35 per cent). Nearly seven in 10 households had to reduce their food intake during the lockdown.

The SC/ST households were the worst affected in terms of food intake as 85 per cent of them were consuming less food than before.

Nearly two in 10 vulnerable households did not receive rations. More than half (56 per cent) of the vulnerable households did not receive Jan Dhan cash transfer. Four in 10 vulnerable households did not receive any cash transfer, the survey said for Bihar."

S&P 500 records best 50-day rally in history

Rupee slips 15 paise to 75.62 against US dollar in early trade

The weakness in domestic equities on the rupee, which depreciated against the dollar this morning.

PTI reports: "The rupee depreciated 15 paise to 75.62 against the US dollar in opening trade on Thursday as strengthening US dollar and US-China trade tensions weighed on investor sentiments.

Forex traders said sustained foreign fund flows and the revival of business activities supported the local unit, but concerns about US-China trade tiff dragged the local unit down.

The rupee opened weak at 75.62 at the interbank forex market, down 15 paise over its last close.

It had settled at 75.47 against the US dollar on Wednesday.

“Strong local shares, supported by foreign fund inflows could keep depreciation limited,” Reliance Securities said in a research note, adding that investors will look ahead to cues from the European Central Bank’s meeting and US jobless claims data.

Investors are also concerned about rising number of coronavirus cases and its impact on the global as well as domestic economy."

FRBM framework will need to be updated, says former CEA Subramanian

It looks like tweaks to the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act may be necessary as the Centre's fiscal math goes for a toss this year.

PTI reports: "Former chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian on Wednesday said the FRBM Act will probably have to be revised by the end of the year as India will witness a sharp decline in GDP growth due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Addressing a webinar organised by EY India, Subramanian further said while labour reforms were necessary, the way they have been done by some states have undermined basic protections to workers, especially in light of the migrant crisis.

“It is going to be a very very difficult economic year. We should brace ourselves for a sharp decline in GDP growth.” he said.

Talking about India’s current macroeconomic situation amid the COVID-19 pandemic, he said the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act and terms of reference of the 15th Finance Commission will probably have to be revised and updated.

“Compared to the Budget 2020-21, I think the facts have changed. We will probably have to revise, and update Budget numbers, the FRBM framework and the terms of reference of the 15th Finance Commission at the end of the year,” Subramanian emphasised.

The FRBM Act of 2003 seeks to reduce the country’s fiscal deficit through financial discipline.

He also pointed out that due to the Rs 20 lakh crore economic package announced by the government to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, India’s debt-to-GDP will rise to 85 per cent.

The eminent economist also noted that the pandemic in India is not under control."

Job postings in India halved towards May end: Indeed India

Indeed India, an arm of the Texas-based job search engine, has reported a 50% decline in job postings in May, across all sectors, in the country.

Under certain segments, postings - jobs available on the site - have come down very significantly. For instance, as of May end, hospitality and tourism-related job postings, on the portal's India site, were down by 75.3%, compared to the corresponding month a year ago. Decline in postings under the segment was 69.2% as on May 15.

Indeed, that claims to be the world's largest job portal, also reported a 42% decline in retail-related job postings, as against the same time a year ago.

Sensex surges over 200 points in early trade; Nifty tests 10,100 level

The rally in benchmark stock indices continues as investors are enthused by the reopening of the economy.

PTI reports: "Equity benchmark Sensex surged over 200 points in early trade on Thursday, led by strong buying in HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, TCS and Reliance Industries amid persistent foreign fund inflow.

After hitting a high of 34,310.14, the 30-share index was trading 124.02 points or 0.36 per cent higher at 34,233.56.

Similarly, NSE Nifty rose 41.65 points or 0.41 per cent to 10,103.20.

Tech Mahindra was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising around 3 per cent, followed by Sun Pharma, TCS, PowerGrid, HDFC Bank, HCL Tech and ICICI Bank.

On the other hand, Titan, M&M, ONGC and HDFC were among the laggards.

In the previous session, the BSE barometer settled at 34,109.54, up 284.01 points or 0.84 per cent, while the broader Nifty rose 82.45 points or 0.83 per cent to end at 10,061.55.

On a net basis, foreign portfolio investors bought equities worth Rs 1,851.12 crore in the capital market on Wednesday, provisional exchange data showed.

Besides stock-specific action, sustained foreign fund inflow led to the positive sentiment in the market, traders said.

However, benchmarks may succumb to profit-booking and turn jittery amid weak cues from Asian peers, they added."