As Russia’s war on Ukraine enters another day, with reports of hundreds killed in less than a week, there are rising questions about what President Vladimir Putin is trying to achieve.
According to Cristian Nitoiu, lecturer in Diplomacy and International Governance at Loughborough University London, there should be no misunderstanding about Russia’s motives; Putin is concerned with nothing less than revisionist politics and great power fantasies, he told Al Jazeera. “The long-term goals of Russia following the end of the Cold War have been to recover the great power status of Soviet Union, to be seen as equal by the West and to be able to influence political developments in its smaller neighbours like Ukraine, Moldova or Kazakhstan,” he said. However, Ukraine has been incorporating itself into the Western orbit of influence, and thus going against Putin’s interests. Read More : https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/28/russia-ukraine-war-what-is-putins-endgame
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EbixCash Private Limited, a subsidiary of Ebix, Inc. a leading international supplier of On-Demand software and E-commerce services to the insurance, financial, healthcare and e-learning industries appointed S Ravi, the former chairman of BSE as a new independent director to the EbixCash Board.
Sethurathnam Ravi, popularly known as S Ravi pursued his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Commerce from Madhya Pradesh’s Durgavati University. His academics and talents led him to various job roles in the corporate world where he proved his worth. He was able to secure a place as a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountancy of India. He was a chartered accountant who was based in India along with being the managing and promoter partner of the Ravi Rajan & Co. He was also the honorable former BSE chairman. Ravi brings extensive experience across banks, financial institutions, insurance companies, the tourism industry, stock exchanges and asset management sectors – having held board positions at leading institutions across these sectors. S Ravi is presently serving as the Chairman and Director of Tourism Finance Corporation of India Ltd. – the premier government-owned financial Institution, set up to promote tourism in India. He also presently serves on the boards of Aditya Birla Health Insurance Company Ltd., Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd., Aditya Birla ARC Ltd., IIFL Asset Management Ltd. And SBI Payment Services Pvt. Ltd. He has served on the boards of over 40 leading institutions in India, including insurance companies, several public sector banks and public sector enterprises such as UCO Bank, Union Bank, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., BHEL and SBI – SG Global Securities Services Pvt Ltd. He was also appointed by the Government of India and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as Chairman of the Technical Experts Committee for Punjab & Sind Bank’s strategic turnaround. The former BSE chairman S Ravi was nominated as a member of the Takeover Panel of the Security & Exchange Board of India (SEBI), besides serving on its Mutual Fund Advisory Committee. Ravi has also served on India’s Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA) as a member of its Insurance Advisory Committee. He is a member of Business World’s Jury for Festival of FinTech 2021 and served as a jury member on the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India team, which selected the Award for Excellence in Financial Reporting for the year 2012-13. S Ravi the former BSE chairman said, “EbixCash has built a global presence today with clients in 44 countries and a leading presence in India in multiple financial technology segments. EbixCash has also become a bellwether in the remittance, foreign exchange and money transaction space. I am extremely glad to join the board of Ebixcash and to be a part of their journey in India.” MR Ravi is the Founder and Managing Partner of Ravi Rajan & Co. LLP, a chartered accountancy firm specializing in Forensic Audits, Audits & Assurance, Insolvency Assignments and Turn around Strategies, Valuations and Regulatory Compliance Advisory. NEW DELHI: As Russia and Ukraine have engaged in the war with a possibility of embroiling other Western nations, fortunes of Mukesh Ambani and Adani family have also taken a hit in the last seven sessions.
Indian benchmark indices are set to fall for the seventh consecutive day on Thursday, extending the selling that began on February 15. Rising inflation and war in Europe have been the biggest drags on the market. Overall, Adani Group stocks, which have been performing well du .. Read more at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/ambanis-ril-wipes-of-rs-81000-crore-m-cap-in-7-sessions-adani-group-rs-47000-crore/articleshow/89797882.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst All the sectoral indices ended with a loss of 3-8 percent, while BSE midcap and smallcap indices shed over 5 percent each.
Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities: Investors turned jittery and pressed the panic button after reports emerged that Russia has taken military action against Ukraine. As the mood was sombre across the global equity markets, traders back home also followed suit and pressed the sell button, resulting in across-the-board selling. Also, the F&O expiry pressure also gave investors the reason to cut their position further due to escalating geo-politicial tensions. Technically, after a long time, benchmark Nifty closed below the 200-day SMA and has also formed a long bearish candle on daily charts, which suggests further weakness from the current levels. Considering the uncertainties hovering around, the index may trade lower between the highs of 16800 and 16,000. The market is in corrective mode and it would complete its corrective pattern between 16200 and 16000. For the traders, 16400 and 16500 could act as intraday resistance while 16100-16000 could be the immediate support zone. Sahaj Agrawal, Head of Research- Derivatives at Kotak Securities: Nifty has broken significant support level 16600 and witnessed significant selling pressure in line with global markets. We believe volatility will remain elevated on account of an external shock and expect March series to witness further negative bias. Though the bias is negative, we await derivatives data to establish objective levels before taking a strong positional stance from here on. Investors can use further deep corrections to buy/average and traders to define risk in uncertain times. S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP securities: With Brent crude breaching the USD 100 mark for the first time in 7 years post the Russian military operation in Ukraine, both the benchmark Indices wilted with a 5% cut as the volatility index rose 30% today with all sectoral indices ending deeply in the red wiping out over Rs 10 lakh crores of investor wealth. A peep into the advance-decline ratio said it all as the carnage together with the volatility witnessed today was painful for both investors and traders. Read More : https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/markets/share-market-live-updates-stock-market-today-february-24-latest-news-bse-nse-sensex-nifty-covid-coronavirus-skf-india-vip-clothing-beardsell-lt-finance-holdings-sanofi-india-forbes-company-wipro-8156291.html Former BSE chairman S Ravi sheds light into the economic structure affected by corona virus. He says that the globe faces an economic upheaval potentially more severe than witnessed during the 2008 global financial crisis. The coronavirus pandemic is pushing the Globe to an unprecedented territory, where both the best- and worst-case scenarios spell a catastrophe. Never before have modern economies shut down at once. The global economy could shrink by up to 1 per cent in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, a reversal from the previous forecast of 2.5 per cent growth, the UN has said, warning that it may contract even further if restrictions on the economic activities are extended without adequate fiscal responses.
The former BSE chairman then moves to the economic situation in India. According to him, Growth in India subdued after the country suffered a sharp slowdown over the last 6 quarters and the global health emergency in the last quarter further puts the economy in the dark. Tourism, Hospitality and Aviation are among the worst affected sectors that are facing the maximum brunt of the present crisis. Consumption demand, the bedrock of Indian economy, has been affected severely as purchasing decisions of both essential and discretionary items are being delayed. Furthermore, India is among the top 15 countries that have been affected most as a result of manufacturing slowdown in China that is disrupting world trade. According to UNCTAD, India’s trade impact due to coronavirus outbreak could be about US$ 348 million. Moreover, China accounts for 27% of India’s automotive part imports, thereby putting auto Components and forging industries in a precarious situation as the Indian OEMs are finding It difficult to plan production beyond the available inventory. The toll on the pharmaceutical industry is of significant concern as well, mainly as 70% of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) are imported from China. These active pharmaceutical ingredients are essential to a large number of pharmaceutical manufacturing companies in the country the repercussion of Covid-19 have also made the financial market extremely volatile, leading to huge crashes and wealth erosion. Like the health experts, banks have been responding to a fast? Moving and extraordinary situation. In addition to these sectoral effects, worsening consumer and business sentiment can lead firms to expect lower demand, rise in business cost and reduce their spending and investment. The same will have an impact on all payments including to those for employees, interest, loan repayments and taxes. In turn, the same would exacerbate business closures and job losses. In S Ravi’ s views the severity of the economic impact will largely depend on two factors – the duration of restrictions on the movement of people and economic activities in major economies; and the actual size and efficacy of fiscal responses to the crisis. Following are some of the critically hit sectors –Aviation, Real estate and Construction, Automobiles, Poultry Sector and Other Sectors. According to S Ravi, the former BSE chairman, the other affected sectors include Shipping, power, consumer durables and electronics, banking and financial services, entertainment and many other sub sectors. The ongoing economic crisis further added by Covid 19 calls for policy measures and implementation in a swift manner. The Primary focus should be to avert further impact of Covid 19 by more screening, awareness and providing quick resolution of cases. This will lead to containing the outbreak and lifting the restrictions placed at the earliest, thus the start of economic activities. Post which easing of capital requirements, reduction of capital adequacy ratio and regulatory concessions for fuelling the economic activity. Uncertainty about the duration and depth of the crisis is challenging like never before hence major reforms, lenient regulations and tax holidays along with major sops should be made available. However, it is not all that gloomy for some sectors may continue at the same levels or even stand to benefit. In case of essential goods, supply may not be as restricted as other good, thereby leading the primary sector to continue to supply uninterruptedly. Further, there is an opportunity in crisis for few industries such as pharma, online entertainment, telecom and gaming. Health awareness and education regarding Covid 19 will cause an upward shift in the demand line of products such as sanitisers, wipes, masks, paracetamol etc, thereby benefiting the pharma sector. Additionally, the telecom sectors will experience an increased demand for data from consumers so will the entertainment-based apps and platforms. In terms of international trade, lower dependence on exports means less exposure to the decline in world trade. This and the low price of crude oil, our biggest import, may mean that India doesn’t suffer an external shock. Some measures have been taken which includes the RBI having cut the repo rate in exchange of Interest moratorium for 3-month period however the financial impact and spill over will make financial institutions more vulnerable. This will cause knock on effects to downstream firms as the reduction of credit could amplify the downturn. The IRDA has also issued directions in line with RBI for proving moratorium to borrowers of term loan which would assist with the short term cashflow issues, says the former chairman of BSE Government of India in order to support the industry and economy would have to come out with specific sectoral reforms rather than a blanket reform, as each of the sectors have their own challenges. The stimulus and packages should consider short term and long-term measures, as revival timelines will differ for each sector. The lockdown in India was initiated at a very early stage leading to health system to be better prepared for handling the increased cases and incorporate the continuous learnings from other nations. As along as awareness amongst the public is present and followed, we could expect a potentially V-shaped recovery by end of 2020. The digital giant also owns Instagram and WhatsApp
Meta, the company that owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, saw its stock plunge in after-hours trading after reporting a rare decline in its fourth quarter profit due to a sharp increase in expenses Newly renamed Meta is investing heavily in its futuristic “metaverse” project, but for now, relies on advertising revenue for nearly all its income. So when it posted sharply higher costs but gave a weak revenue forecast late Wednesday, investors got spooked — and knocked almost $200 billion off the valuation of the company formerly known as Facebook. Meta’s shares fell 22.9% to $249.05 in after-hours trading. If the drop holds until the market opens Thursday, the company’s overall value, known as its market capitalization, is on track to drop by a figure greater than the size of the entire Greek economy, based on data from the World Bank. The metaverse is sort of the internet brought to life, or at least rendered in 3D. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has described it as a “virtual environment” in which you can immerse yourself instead of just staring at a screen. Theoretically, the metaverse would be a place where people can meet, work and play using virtual reality headsets, augmented reality glasses, smartphone apps or other devices. But building it is not likely to be cheap. Meta invested more than $10 billion in its Reality Labs segment — which includes its virtual reality headsets and augmented reality technology — in 2021, contributing to the quarter’s profit decline. It expanded its workforce by 23%, ending the year with 71,970 employees, mostly in technical roles. The company also said revenue in the current quarter is likely to come in below market expectations, due in part to growing competition from TikTok and other rival platforms vying for people’s attention. Sheryl Sandberg, Meta’s chief operating officer, said in a conference call with analysts that global supply chain issues, labor shortages and earlier-than-usual holiday spending by advertisers put pressure on the company’s advertising sales. Another problem: Recent privacy changes by Apple make it harder for companies like Meta to track people for advertising purposes, which also puts pressure on the company’s revenue. For months now, Meta has been warning investors that its revenue can’t continue to grow at the breakneck pace they are accustomed to. “It is time for a reality check on Meta’s position for the metaverse,” said Raj Shah, an analyst at the digital consulting firm Publicis Sapient. “The metaverse is a long way from being profitable or filling the gap in ad revenue after Apple’s policy change.” People’s changing online behavior is also limiting Meta’s money-making abilities. More people are watching video, such as Instagram’s Reels (a TikTok clone), and this makes less money than more established features. The Menlo Park, California, based company said it earned $10.29 billion, or $3.67 per share, in the final three months of 2021. That’s down 8% from $11.22 billion, or $3.88 per share, in the same period a year earlier. Revenue rose to 20% to $33.67 billion. Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of $3.85 per share on revenue of $33.36 billion, according to a poll by FactSet. Meta Platforms Inc. took on its new name last fall to emphasize Zuckerberg’s new focus on the metaverse. Since then, the company has been shifting resources and hiring engineers — including from competitors like Apple and Google — who can help realize his vision. Zuckerberg is betting that the metaverse will be the next generation of the internet because he thinks it’s going to be a big part of the digital economy. He expects people to start seeing Meta as a “metaverse company” in the coming years, rather than a social media company. For now, though, the metaverse exists only as an amorphous idea envisioned — and named — by the science fiction author Neal Stephenson three decades ago. It’s not yet clear if it’ll be the next iteration of human-computer interaction the way Zuckerberg sees it, or just another playground for techies and gamers. This could be spooking investors, who tend to prefer immediate, or at least quick, results on investments. “There’s a lot of uncertainty about Meta’s investments in the metaverse and if or when they will have a positive impact on the company’s bottom line,” said Debra Aho Williamson, an analyst with Insider Intelligence. “While we expect Meta to ramp up testing ads and commerce within its metaverse offerings this year, those efforts will be highly experimental and not likely to drive much revenue in the near term,” she added. Meta said it expects revenue between $27 billion and $29 billion for the current quarter, below the $30.2 billion analysts are forecasting. |
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