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The Congress on Monday slammed Ghulam Nabi Azad for his latest attack on its top leadership, saying he has been tasked to "slander" the party and by doing so he diminishes himself further.

Launching a fresh attack on the Congress three days after he quit the party, Azad said the party needs medicines for treating it which are being provided by compounders instead of doctors. He also accused the Congress leadership of not having time for setting the organisation right.

Speaking to reporters at his residence here, Azad who quit the party on Friday last, alleged that the leaders being projected in the party in states are making party members leave instead of uniting them.

Hitting back at Azad, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "After such a long career, courtesy entirely the party he's been tasked to slander, by giving interviews indiscriminately, Mr. Azad diminishes himself further."

"What's he afraid of that he's justifying his treachery every minute? He can be easily exposed but why stoop to his level?" he said on Twitter. Azad on Friday had ended his five-decade association with the party, terming it "comprehensively destroyed" and lashing out at Rahul Gandhi for "demolishing" its entire consultative mechanism.

The rupee weakened to a new low against the US dollar on Monday as the greenback surged globally following Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s firm commitment to tackling high inflation even at the cost of economic growth.

The rupee weakened to a low of 80.14 per US dollar in the first few minutes of trade on Monday as the US dollar index strengthened well past the 109 mark.

The previous lifetime low for the rupee was 80.06 per dollar on July 19. The domestic currency, which had settled at 79.87 per dollar on Friday, regained some ground due to the Reserve Bank of India’s market interventions through dollar sales, dealers said. The local unit was at 80.02 per dollar at 9:30 am IST.

At the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium on Friday, Powell said that “restoring price stability will likely require maintaining a restrictive policy stance for some time. The historical record cautions strongly against prematurely loosening policy.”

The US dollar index, which measures the currency against six major rival currencies, was last at 109.33 as against 108.20 at the end of Indian market hours on Friday. The index has strengthened more than 14 per cent so far in 2022.

A stronger US dollar exerts pressure on emerging market currencies such as the rupee and weakens the appetite of overseas investors for Indian assets.

“The rupee has breached the recent lifetime low in line with the fall in other Asian currencies and is expected to now test 80.60 to 80.75 levels in the next one month,” Ritesh Bhansali, vice-president at Mecklai Financial Services, said.

The rupee has weakened a little more than 7 per cent in 2022.

Dealers said that the RBI had intervened in the market around the 80.05-80.10 per dollar mark and would prevent excessive volatility in the exchange rate.

“Now, it would be all about RBI’s tolerance or intolerance of these record levels. If they think to curb the same, then we could see easing up to 79.70-80 levels or else pressure will take the pair towards 80.30 levels,” CR Forex Advisors MD Amit Pabari said.

“For confirmation of the technical breakout, one should wait for initial hours and check whether the pair is holding 80.05 or not,” he said. He sees the rupee in a band of 79.70-80.30 per dollar for the day.

Petrol and diesel prices held steady on August 29, the latest price notification issued by fuel retailers showed. The prices have stayed unchanged for more than a month.

Petrol in Mumbai is being sold for Rs 106.31 per litre and diesel for Rs 94.27. Petrol and diesel in Delhi cost Rs 96.72 and Rs 89.62 a litre respectively. Petrol and diesel are priced at Rs 102.63 and Rs 94.24 in Chennai and at Rs 106.03 and Rs 92.76 in Kolkata respectively.

Oil marketing companies are reportedly incurring a loss of Rs 13.08 a litre on petrol and Rs 24.09 on diesel. India meets 80 percent of its fuel needs through imports.

The Meghalaya government on August 25 hiked the prices of petrol and diesel.

Oil mixed as OPEC supply cut prospect offsets demand fears

Oil prices were mixed on Monday as investors balanced expectations the OPEC will cut output to support prices against concerns sparked by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell saying the United States will face slow growth "for some time".

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 2 cents to $93.08 a barrel at 0003 GMT, adding to Friday's gain.

Brent crude futures were down 27 cents, or 0.3%, at $100.72 a barrel, trimming gains from the previous session.

In a speech on Friday, Powell said curbing inflation "is likely to require a sustained period of below-trend growth" and would "bring some pain to households and businesses", which rattled equity markets while boosting the dollar.

The dollar index continued to climb on Monday to 109.16, up 0.3% in early trade. A stronger dollar weighs on oil as it makes crude more costly for buyers holding other currencies.

Mukesh Ambani’s once-a-year speech to investors has over time evolved into an eagerly-awaited pronouncement on his $222 billion empire akin to Warren Buffett’s annual letters to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders.

This year, Reliance Industries Ltd.’s investors will be looking for insight on Monday around the company’s 5G rollout, how he plans to unlock the value of his telecom and retail units through separate listings, and when and how his children will take over the reins.

Anticipation is high as the 65-year-old billionaire, who built Reliance into India’s largest company by market value and a powerhouse conglomerate, has used the speech for a series of big announcements. These include the launch of his disruptive telecom service in 2016, Saudi Arabian Oil Co.’s proposed investment in Reliance’s energy business in 2019 and a strategic shift to green energy last year.

This year’s shareholder meeting comes as the refining-to-retail group faces the twin challenges of a global recession and the blistering rise of Gautam Adani, who eclipsed Ambani as Asia’s richest man earlier this year and is emerging as an alternative power center on the corporate landscape.

Reliance investors will have in mind how Adani’s conglomerate split its business into different listings years ago, unlocking value, and will expect “clarity and specific time lines for the next big things” from Ambani’s more-centralized holdings, Kranthi Bathini, equity strategist at WealthMills Securities Pvt Ltd. in Mumbai. Adani’s wealth has surged $58 billion this year riding the stocks rally compared to $3.3 billion rise in Ambani’s.

Here’s where investors are expecting news:

Succession

The patriarch signaled that succession planning atop Reliance will be expedited in last year’s shareholder meet and reiterated it explicitly in December. His three children -- daughter Isha and sons Akash and Anant -- are already holding various directorships in the group’s unlisted firms and are becoming more visible in their leadership.

Ambani stepped down as the chairman of Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. in June, making way for his elder son, Akash, who took over the helm at India’s largest wireless operator. As rumors keep swirling around Ambani’s health, investors will look for more concrete steps to be taken in leadership transition, with Isha, Anant and possibly his wife, Nita, taking on more responsibility.

5G Rollout

Reliance Jio Infocomm bought airwaves worth over $11 billion at a local spectrum auction as it sought to cement its edge over the smaller rivals -- Bharti Airtel Ltd. and Vodafone Idea Ltd. -- in the rollout of speedier 5G networks. That will be key to boosting revenues and luring high-value users.

Investors will be looking for proof of the pudding here. The technology is yet to return profits for Asian wireless operations despite investing billions of dollars, even for those in China which have been offering 5G service since 2019. Details like a nationwide rollout date, tariff plans for 5G services as well as where demand lies for the service will be crucial for Reliance Jio to reveal.

The Ambani children may demonstrate some of the key features of the 5G services at the meeting, just as they’ve showcased new telecoms products in the past.

Spinoffs, IPOs

The street has been waiting to get better clarity around the initial public offerings of Reliance Jio and Reliance Retail Ltd. especially after the two consumer businesses raked in $27 billion from marquee global investors in 2020.

Both companies are market leaders in their respective sector with a formidable lead over their rivals. Their listings -- or even spinoffs -- could propel Ambani’s net worth. “The timelines are crucial to get the mojo back for Reliance stock,” Bathini said. Reliance has gained just about 11% this year compared to the more than 40% rise by top performers in S&P BSE Sensex.

New Energy, Old Energy

The $76 billion pivot toward green energy is the biggest transformation that Ambani is helming currently. It’s also a difficult transition given the conglomerate’s roots in petrochemicals and crude oil refining and the continued out-sized contribution of the fossil fuel-led businesses in Reliance’s yearly revenue.

Investors will look for updates around last year’s announced plans to build four giga-factories to make solar modules, hydrogen electrolyzers, fuel cells and storage batteries. Ambani has also been on a tear acquiring small green energy firms globally for expertise and technology. There are also plans to become among the world’s top blue hydrogen makers.

Going Global

Ambani emphasized his vision for the “internationalization of Reliance” in his speech last year.

In the past year, Reliance has made overtures toward big overseas deals like a potential acquisition of the British drugstore chain Boots, which was never completed. Investors will want to see if the appetite for global acquisitions still exists amid a slowing worldwide economy.

Then there’s always the possibility of a curveball at the meeting, said Bathini. “Never underestimate the power of senior Ambani” to surprise the market, he said.

Zomato has started piloting grocery delivery on its app through an integration with the quick commerce company Blinkit, which the Gurugram-based food aggregator acquired recently

The option to order groceries on the Zomato app appeared for customers in the Delhi-NCR region but not for those in Bengaluru or Mumbai on August 27. While the minimum order value on the Blinkit app was Rs 150, the amount was Rs 49 only on the Zomato app.

The grocery category on the Zomato app also showed items from Colgate-Palmolive under a "sponsored" tag, indicating ad monetisation on the platform like other e-commerce companies.

Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal had earlier said that ad sales revenue in quick commerce would be higher than food delivery, given the much larger digital ad spend budgets of the consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands.

Moneycontrol has sent queries to Zomato and Blinkit about the integration and the roadmap for the pilot and the article will be updated when their  responses come in.

Zomato on June 24 said its board had approved the acquisition of Blinkit for Rs 4,447 crore. According to the terms of the agreement, Blinkit shareholders would get a cumulative stake of 6.88 percent in Zomato and the company’s leadership team, including co-founder and CEO Albinder Dhindsa, would stay on.

But questions still remain about how Zomato, a company that registered losses of Rs 1,223 crore in FY22, plans to derive value from acquiring another loss-making delivery startup.

Moneycontrol has reported that Blinkit launched a printout service in Gurugram, charging Rs 9 a page for black and white printing and Rs 19 for coloured printouts.

“Quick commerce will help us increase the customer wallet share spent on our platform and also drive higher frequency and engagement from our customers,” Goyal had said while explaining the rationale behind the deal.

The company believes that quick commerce naturally extends across multiple categories including beauty & personal care, electronics, OTC pharma, stationery, other gift items, etc. Also, categories other than grocery help the quick commerce business make higher margins, and attain higher average order value.

“Total commerce market in India is $1.3 trillion and in the long term, we see quick commerce emerging as a significant channel of demand for customers at least in the top cities,” Goyal had said.

In early August, Zomato said Blinkit delivered an estimated 8.3 million orders in July. This was a 63 percent increase from the 5.1 million orders it delivered in January, which was the first month of its operation after the pivot. During this period, its revenue rose around 239 percent to Rs 75 crore in July.

Blinkit’s annual turnover in FY22 was Rs 263 crore, Rs 200 crore in FY21 and Rs 165 crore in FY20.

The Centre on Friday submitted its updated ‘nationally determined contributions’ (NDCs) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC). This is in line with the commitment made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Conference of Parties (COP26) last year.

The NDCs cover a period up to 2030 and are a step towards the country’s long-term goal of reaching net zero by 2070, said the submission by the ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC).

The country has submitted eight key NDCs, of which two are updates on our existing targets. India had last submitted its NDC in 2016. The Union Cabinet — earlier during the month — approved the country’s official NDC submission.

The ministry — in its cover letter to the UNFCC — however, said, India’s NDCs “do not bind it to any sector-specific mitigation obligation and target.”

It said, India’s goal is to reduce overall emission intensity and improve energy efficiency of its economy over time. This would protect the vulnerable sectors of the economy and segments of the society.

India has updated its target to reduce emission intensity of its GDP by 45 per cent by 2030, from 2005. It was earlier 30 per cent. It has also updated the target of capacity addition from non-fossil fuel sources.

India said it will achieve about 50 per cent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030.

It said this target will be “with the help of transfer of technology and low-cost international finance, including from Green Climate Fund (GCF).”

During COP26, the PM had said India will build 500 Gw of renewable energy capacity, but that has not been a part of the official submission. It has also updated its NDC of propagating climate consciousness by including the submission made by the PM during his address at COP26.

“India will propagate a healthy and sustainable way of living based on traditions and values of conservation and moderation, including through a mass movement for ‘LIFE’— ‘Lifestyle for Environment’ — as a key to combating climate change,” said the NDC submission.

The country has added a new target of creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.

India also said it will need new and additional funds from developed countries to implement its mitigation and adaptation actions “in view of the resource required and the resource gap.” It also said adaptation policies would be built to support sectors vulnerable to climate change.

Since Sanna Marin became Finland's youngest prime minister in December 2019, the "child from a poor family" has risen to become the Nordic country's most popular leader of government in the 21st century.

But the 36-year-old's reputation as a firm crisis leader -- deftly navigating her small nation through the Covid pandemic and a historic NATO membership application -- has been challenged in the last few days.

Marin has become entangled in controversies over her partying, earning her the nickname "Party Sanna" in Finland's tabloid press.

A poll published by leading newspaper Helsingin Sanomat on Friday showed that 42 percent of Finns had a worse opinion of their prime minister due to the scandals.

A video leaked last week -- which made headlines around the world -- showed Marin dancing and partying with a group of friends and celebrities

That controversy was quickly followed by another, when Marin was forced to apologise for a photo taken at her official residence of two women lifting their tops to bare their torsos, as she hosted friends after attending a music festival.

In December 2021, Marin came under sustained criticism after it was revealed she stayed out dancing until the early hours despite having been exposed to Covid-19.

Humble origins

"Some of the general public consider that partying like that and appearing in such company does not fit the norm for a politician," professor Anu Koivunen told AFP.

Koivunen noted that while the leaks would likely have caused a stir with any prime minister, she believes that the fact that Marin is a young female politician played a role in the ensuing brouhaha.

"There's been a debate about her qualifications, whether she's up to the job," Koivunen said, suggesting that this probably would not have been the case with a male prime minister.

But for her, this "ignores Marin's history as a crisis leader and a competent actor."

"I am human. And I too sometimes long for joy, light and fun amidst these dark clouds", Marin said this week in an emotional speech where she appeared close to tears.

Battling controversies about her lifestyle or stereotypes is nothing new for Marin.

She was relatively unknown before she became prime minister, her rise to power a swift one.

The slender, dark-haired Marin grew up in the southern Finnish town of Pirkkala, in a "rainbow, low-income family, and lived in the municipality's rental housing", in her own words.

"My parents divorced because of my father's drinking problem when I was only a few years old," she wrote in her blog.

Although Marin's childhood with her mother and mother's female partner did not include "material abundance", it was full of "love and ordinary life," she described.

'Shop girl'

Marin was the first in her family to go to university, earning a Masters degree in Administrative Sciences.

She supported her studies by working as a cashier, something which her opponents have later used to discredit her.

When Marin became prime minister, Finnish daily newspaper Iltalehti called it "a remarkable rise from shop cashier to the top of Finland."

Even Estonia's then interior minister Mart Helme caused a row by labelling Finland's new prime minister a "shop girl".

The negative comments prompted many prominent Finns to reveal n social media their own "rise to the top" from humble beginnings as cashiers or cleaners.

The comments and frequent controversies about her lifestyle and looks are in stark contrast with how the young politician got noticed and how she is now perceived, analysts say.

"As a politician, she is well respected. She is both firm and also open to discussion," Emilia Palonen, a political scientist at Helsinki University, told AFP.

Her Social Democratic party, the SDP, "needed strong, responsible and charismatic people like her", she said.

Marin was first elected as an MP in 2015. But for many Finns, the first time she entered the spotlight was in 2016 when a Tampere city council debate she chaired went viral on social media.

On the video which has racked up nearly a million views, Marin keeps a marathon debate on Tampere's new tram lines on track, despite it dragging on for more than five hours as representatives came up with ever more hilarious and absurd arguments for and against the tram.

Many praised her professionalism in the face of bickering councilmen, earning her a reputation as "a fearless leader".

"Sanna Marin showed how to keep the hecklers in check", Helsingin Sanomat daily wrote.

Essar Group on Friday announced a USD 2.4 billion (Rs 19,000 crore) deal to sell its ports business to Arcelor Mittal Nippon Steel Ltd.

In a statement, Essar said it has signed definitive agreements with ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel for certain ports and power infrastructure assets which are primarily captive to Hazira steel plant operations.

"The deal also envisages a 50-50 Joint Venture partnership, for building a 4 MTPA LNG terminal at Hazira, Gujarat, between Essar and ArcelorMittal," it added.

Keeping with the rising momentum in economic activity, the bank credit expansion was broad-based, posting double-digit annual growth in June 2022 in metropolitan, urban, semi-urban and rural areas in the country, showed Reserve Bank of India data.

RBI data showed the metropolitan regions saw maximum acceleration with year-on-year (YoY) credit growth vaulting from 2.7 per cent in June 2021 to 13.2 per cent in June 2022. It should be kept in mind that the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic hit the economic activity in April-June 2021 (Q1FY22).

The urban region saw the growth rising to 18.4 per cent in June 2022 from 10 per cent a year ago. The semi-urban areas showed an increase from 12.3 per cent in June 2021 to 15.3 per cent. In contrast, the pace of credit offtake in rural areas moderated to 11.6 per cent YoY in June 2022 from 12.8 per cent a year ago.

Also Read: Listed private non-finance companies log 41% sales growth in Q1FY23: RBI

The similar growth trend (double-digit YoY) was evident across all the bank groups — (public sector banks, private banks, foreign banks, Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and Small Finance Banks (SFBs). The experience was no different for all the regions of the country (central, eastern, north-eastern, northern, southern and western), RBI said.

However, the story on fund raising by banks was different. The aggregate deposit growth (y-o-y) has remained in the range 9.5-10.2 per cent during the last five quarters.

The metropolitan branches continue to account for over half of the bank deposits and their share increased marginally over the last one year, RBI said.

The share of current account and savings account (CASA) deposits in total deposits has been increasing over the last three years. The share of CASA money which was 42 per cent in June 2020, rose to 43.8 per cent in June 2021 and further to 44.5 per cent in June 2022.

As credit growth is outpacing deposit growth in the recent period, credit-deposit (C-D) ratio has been on the rise in June 2022. The C-D ratio stood at 73.5 per cent at all-India level in June 2022 (70.5 per cent a year ago) and 86.2 per cent for metropolitan branches of banks (84.3 per cent a year ago), it added.