Weekly News Roundup at 10:00 am on 16th December 2023

Let’s begin with the news that made headlines this week. After staying in the deflationary zone for seven straight months, the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) turned to positive territory in November at 0.26%, as food prices picked up sharply during the month. The WPI food inflation rose to a three-month high of 4.69% in November from 1.07% in October, driven by a surge in prices of key vegetables, mainly onions. The wholesale inflation rate in onions spiked to a 44-month high of 101.24% in November, which pushed vegetables inflation to a three-month high of 10.44%. Vegetables had played a crucial role in pushing CPI inflation to a three-month high of 5.55% in November as well.

Meanwhile, Earlier this week, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that more than 12,000 train coaches have been fitted with digital display boards that display various kinds of information to the passengers. These include the next station, the destination, the train running status, and other safety messages. The digital display boards have been installed in coaches of trains such as Vande Bharat, Push-Pull, TEJAS, Humsafar, and EMU and MEMU trains. They are also provided in AC economy coaches and VISTADOME coaches, with glass roofs and large windows for panoramic views. The digital display boards are part of the Integrated Passenger Information System (IPIS), a computer-based system that provides audio and visual information to passengers through a central data controller and platform data controllers.

Moving on, Power distribution companies like Adani Energy and Tata Power will expedite deployment of smart meters to bring greater operational efficiency by aligning power purchase with real time demand. Adani Energy Solutions for instance is working on delivering over 20 million smart meters in eight distribution licensee areas, Anil Sardana, managing director of Adani Energy Solutions told FE earlier this week. These will come at a contract value of about Rs 23,000 crore and revenue recovery will be spread over a 10-year period, Sardana said. Through smart meters, the company can monitor and predict power consumption patterns over micro geographies and hence manage retail distribution better. Tata Power has installed over 125,000 smart meters for its customers in Mumbai.

Next up, Earlier, economists said that the retail inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), in November 2023 increased to 5.55 per cent, far from the RBI’s medium-term target level of 4 per cent, driven by a surge in food and beverage inflation to 8.0 per cent in November. Experts said that while the Reserve Bank of India will closely monitor inflation as it remains above the MPC’s long-term target of 4 per cent, the central bank will hold the interest rate steady for the next couple of meetings. India’s CPI based inflation rose to 5.55 per cent from 4.87 per cent in October which was the lowest level in five months.

Over to market. The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies surged to an all-time high of Rs 355 lakh crore this week, with investors becoming richer by Rs 3.83 lakh crore as the benchmark Sensex hit its all-time high level driven by a rally in global equities. Global markets rallied after the US Federal Reserve kept its key interest rate unchanged and signalled that they expect to make three quarter-point cuts to their benchmark interest rate next year.The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 929.60 points or 1.34 per cent to settle at its all-time closing high of 70,514.20 points on December 14. During the day, it zoomed 1,018.29 points or 1.46 per cent to hit its record intra-day peak of 70,602.89 points.

Now, aviation. Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport reportedly set very much welcomed records in the month of November this year, achieving significant milestones. The airport set new records for the highest-ever monthly passenger traffic, single-day traffic, and single-day Air Traffic Movements. It saw its highest-ever monthly traffic of around 4.46 million passengers in November 2023. This marked a 13% jump from the figure recorded in November 2022. It also recorded a noteworthy 109% recovery in passenger traffic compared to the pre-pandemic levels of November 2018. On November 11, CSMIA set a record for its highest single-day ATMs, totalling 1,032 movements. Furthermore, November 25 witnessed the highest single-day traffic with 167,132 passengers.

Lastly, Mitsubishi Electric India announced the launch of its state-of-the-art smart manufacturing facility for advanced Factory Automation Systems in Talegaon Industrial area, Maharashtra. The overall manufacturing facility measures 40,000 sq.m, initially built up to 15,400 sq.m, backed by a Greenfield Investment of Rs 2.2 billion. In a statement the firm said, quote, “This investment reinforces Mitsubishi Electric‘s commitment to strengthen its business in India and address the growing demand for advanced automation and smart manufacturing solutions across the globe,” unquote. The new manufacturing plant will help create avenues to expand the local manufacturing of its global product range.