1. Cotton Crop affected by heavy rains

August 24, 2018

Cotton crop is hit by heavy rains in 11 districts in Telangana out of 31 districts. These districts cover 1.30 Lakh acres of cotton crop while 50,000 acres of paddy were also affected. The most affected districts are Adilabad and Warangal Districts.

Source: Business Line.

2. Sugar Exports get relief as deadline extended

August 24, 2018

The Central Government extended the deadline for exporting 2 million tonnes of sugar by three months to December. India produced record sugar this year of 32MT. Minimum Indicative Export Quotas (MIEQ) were allocated by the ministry in May and the date of export of MIEQ allocated to sugar mills is extended by three months up to December 31.

Source: Business Line

3. SEBI denied permission to launch Petrol and Diesel Futures

August 23, 2018

As per the news sources, SEBI returned back the applications for launch of petrol and diesel futures by commodity exchanges MCX and ICEX. SEBI informally raised concerns over the “sensitivity” of the commodities, given the steep rise in prices of the fuels and a high probability of government intervention in case the futures were launched and prices kept rising.

Source: Business Standard

4. Indian Crude import bill to rise in coming quarter

August 23, 2018

US sanctions against Iran will take effect from 4 November, but India may witness early effects. India is shifting it oil imports from Iran to other countries as crude oil imports from Iran fell in the first half of August while the US sanctions are expected to make it challenging for India to sustain oil imports from Iran. India’s import bill is set to rise as India was getting cheap oil on lucrative terms.

Source: Live Mint

5. India faces fresh anti dumping duty from US on metal pipes

August 23, 2018

U.S. imposes 50% preliminary anti-dumping duty on Indian metal pipes ; these are hefty preliminary anti-dumping duties on metal pipes imported from India, China and four other countries in an aggressive tactic by the Trump administration to protect the American industry and lower the trade deficit.

Source: Bloomberg

6. OPEC and other oil exporting producers are to monitor Crude production

August 23, 2018

A major Oil producer and OPEC member, Kuwait expects oil exporters to agree on a mechanism to monitor supply, A committee set up by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allied non-OPEC exporters would review their crude output at a meeting in Algeria next month.

Source: Reuters

7. Banks lending drops to steel firms

August 21, 2018

Loan disbursal from major banks have dropped by Rs. 20,800 crore to Rs. 3,00,500 crore for the year ended June 22, 2018, against Rs 3,21,300 crore disbursed to the sector in the preceding year. The steel sector has never seen negative loan growth in recent years. Annual loan growth for the steel companies fell 6.5% for the 12 months ended June 22, 2018.

Source: DNA

8. RBI is not worried about rupee fall as it was in 2013

August 21, 2018

The Indian rupee is losing against all major currencies including the Japanese Yen and US Dollar but on the day the rupee plunged to a new record low in five years, the RBI only sold dollars modestly, unwilling to support the local unit when emerging market currencies faced a collective rout. In the wake of the latest rupee depreciation, the RBI appears to be not as worried as it was in 2013.

Source: ET