TWIN - "30" Debt v/s GDP, LinkedIn cuts 960, Goodbye Queen, Kebab & Biryani, Investor-less Unicorn!

The Week In News ( TWIN ): we bring to you snippets of the major developments in the Indian Financial Sector and other notable mentions you need to know.

INDIA FINANCE New CSI: Hunt for the new chief statistician of India has started. Present chief statistician Pravin Srivastava was appointed as the 3rd person to ever hold the position in October 2018. His tenure is set to end on August 31. A search committee formed by the government will recommend a panel of names for filling the vacancy. A position much in demand to guide the country with economic indicator and macroeconomics data during today's time. Digital Payments Winning: The lock-down and fear of contracting the novel corona-virus have caused a change in Indian spending behaviour, something that demonetisation could not do in 2016. In the fourth quarter of FY19 card and mobile payments overtook ATM cash withdrawals to stand at Rs 10.57 lakh crore against Rs 9.12 lakh crore. A trend that has continued over in May and June 2020. India is adopting digital payments, led by UPI, faster than developed economies of USA, UK and Singapore. CDBT releases Rs 71,000 crore: The Central Board of Direct taxes has till the second week of July 20 issued Rs 71,000 crore of tax refunds against more than 21 lakh cases. This has been a government adoption to release stuck payments, started in April 2020 amidst the lock-down to provide liquidity in the economy. Fiscal Deficit at 2X: As the government gears up to spend more for a buoyant economy amidst the corona-virus crisis, spending is set to hit hard at Fiscal deficit with a fall in government revenues. the fiscal deficit is expected to be 2X of budget target. This effect is due to shortfall in revenue collection rather than the increased spending. Debt v/s GDP: A research finding by SBI Research expects the Debt to GDP ratio could rise to 87.6%. India's GDP is expected to contract at a time when major business is facing day-to-day issues and reduced consumer spending. It is estimated that 3.5% would external debt followed by 27% for state government debt and balance from the central government. On the brighter sight, falling yields for state and central government bonds will bring down the debt serving cost. WORLD FINANCE Coca-Cola starts recovery: The soda giant loss its fizz in Q1 of FY20 on the back of worldwide closures of theatres, restaurants and sports venues which are major revenue drivers for the company. According to a statement released by Coca-Cola a key demand indicator, unit case volume trend, has improved from a decline of 25% in April to 10% in June. major competitor Pepsi-Co has been able to beat quarterly revenue estimates with a boost from home consumption of snacks and sodas. LinkedIn cuts 960: As corona-virus has brought businesses to a halt and major corporate hiring is frozen, LinkedIn plans to slash its global workforce by 6% or 960 jobs. LinkedIn depends on corporate hiring and use of its website by job hunters for a major chunk of its revenue followed by the newly introduced Sales navigator platform that allows premium users to send sponsored and targeted messages directly to the inbox of business prospects. EU reaches deal: After a marathon meeting of 27 EU leaders in Brussels over 4 days, earlier today it was announced that the EU leaders have reached a deal for a budget of Rs 156 lakh crore. The budget is aimed to provide funds for reviving the EU economies and have been divided into 2 parts of loans and grants. This is the second-longest summit of EU leaders in history following the Nice summit in 2000. Goodbye Queen: After a long and illustrious career the corona-virus has sealed the fate of the Boeing 747 fleet of British Airways. The airline is the world's largest operator of the 747-400 variant had planned to ground the fleet by 2024, a plan expedited by fall in revenues and passenger bookings expected to remain low as countries are expected to take cautious steps before allowing worldwide passenger travel. A jumbo is commonly known as "Queen of the Skies" will be missed flying in red, white and blue. STARTUP OYO reduces Real Estate: OYO is the latest to join a string of startups reducing their lease commitments and leaving office spaces. OYO has followed the steps of PolicyBazaar, Swiggy, Uber and Zomato, all of whom have already reduced their office count. As a sizeable chunk of employees returned to their hometown during the lock-down and adoption of technology to aid the Work From Home culture OYO is 100% operational. Affected employees working out of corporate or other office locations can now access OYO's coworking places "OYO Workplaces" should they need to access office space. Kebab & Biryani: Actors and couple Genelia & Ritesh Deshmukh launched their startup Imagine Meats which is a plant-based meat-food company. The couple themselves turned vegetarian 3 years ago and hoping to cash on the latest plant-based meat trend. This is a global trend which aims to provide food with reduced health risks and benefit the environment as a reduction in meat consumption would reduce the CO2 footprint and Global Warming. Unicorn without Investors: The 10-year-old profitable startup Zerodha has been bootstrapped since its initial days and not raising funds from investors have helped it grow, said the founder and CEO who also recently featured in the Hurun rich list of billionaires in 2019. Zerodha recently bought-back shares from its employees at a self-assessed valuation of Rs 7000 crores. With a customer base of 2.8 million between the ages 25 to 35, Zerodha makes up for 15% of the Indian retail trade volume. 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