Data recap: LIC’s gains, Twitter blues, RIL loan, and more
3 min read . Updated: 07 Apr 2023, 01:04 AM IST
PremiumTwo international agencies lowered their growth projections for India for 2023-24 this week. Twitter continued to hog the limelight over its new verification process
Every Friday, Plain Facts publishes a compilation of data-based insights, complete with easy-to-read charts, to help you delve deeper into the stories reported by Mint in the week gone by. Two international agencies lowered their growth projections for India for 2023-24 this week. Twitter continued to hog the limelight over its new verification process. Meanwhile, LIC gained from its investments in the top 10 publicly traded companies in FY23.
LIC Gains
Life Insurance Corp. of India (LIC) gained ₹65,500 crore from its investments in the top 10 publicly traded companies in FY23, Mint reported. These 10 companies accounted for almost 50% of LIC’s investment portfolio as of 31 March. The biggest gains were in ITC, RIL, SBI, HDFC Bank, and TCS, whereas LIC lost from its investment in HUL. The total value of the insurer’s holdings in these firms is estimated to be at least ₹4.65 trillion.
Legacy Blues
Verified marks on Twitter now require a monthly subscription of $8. The Twitter Blue badge was so far offered for free to select people based on an internal process. Twitter’s new policy is drawing flak from many sections as legacy verified accounts may start losing the verified ticks, like The New York Times did after it refused to pay the monthly fee. Less than 6,500 of 420,000 legacy verified accounts have opted to subscribe, as of last month, Mint reported, citing researcher Travis Brown.
Challenges Ahead
That’s the World Bank’s projection for India’s GDP growth in FY24. It had been 6.6% in the World Bank‘s December estimate. Challenging global conditions and projections for slower growth in consumption were cited as major reasons for the downgrade. The Asian Development Bank also slashed its projection for India. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India raised its GDP projection from 6.4% to 6.5%, at its April monetary policy meeting on Thursday.
Crude Tax
India has reduced windfall tax on crude oil, imposed from 1 July 2022 after the Ukraine war began, from ₹3,500 per tonne to zero. The government also halved export duty on diesel to 50 paise per litre from ₹1. The measures came in the wake of a fall in Brent crude prices on fears around the banking crisis in the West. It will be interesting to see if the windfall tax will return, given the decision of major oil producers on Sunday to further slash production, which led to a rebound in prices.
Spam Bots
Spam bots have become quite common across the internet. While some bots can be helpful in improving user experience, many are malicious and are used often to spread harmful or false content, including through phishing and click-fraud. India had nearly a million active spam bots as of March-end, Mint reported, citing data from the Spamhaus Project, an organization that tracks spam and related cyber threats. India is the second biggest source of spam bots after China.
Largest Fundraising
That’s the total value of a loan secured by the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), making it the largest fundraising via syndicated loans in India’s corporate history, Mint reported, quoting unidentified sources. RIL obtained funds worth $2 billion from 18 banks, besides a credit line of $3 billion it had secured from 55 banks last week. The additional credit of $2 billion was secured by RIL’s telecom arm, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd.
Services Rule
Though services sector activity softened in March, its pace of growth remained above that of the manufacturing sector. The purchasing managers’ index released by S&P Global showed services activity expanded for the 20th consecutive month, with the index coming in at 57.8. The manufacturing sector’s performance, too, scaled a three-month high on the back of an expansion in new orders and output, suggesting growth in demand.
Chart of the Week: Cam Capital
Telangana has the most CCTV surveillance cameras installed by the police, a report on Status of Policing in India 2023 showed. Maharashtra was a distant second on the list. These cameras are mainly used for managing traffic, investigations and for security purposes.
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