Inflationary Impact

Indian tractor maker Escorts Kubota Ltd reported a 7.5% fall in quarterly profit on Wednesday, as margins were pressured from persistently high raw material costs

The country's Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry witnessed a consumption slowdown in the December quarter, with an overall "negative" volume growth, as consumers continue to reel under inflationary pressure, says a report. According to the report released by data analytics firm NielsenIQ on Thursday, in October-December, the FMCG industry grew 7.6 per cent in terms of value but its volume growth was (-) 0.3 per cent. "... Overall FMCG volume growth is negative, the absolute values, as well as volumes, continue to be above pre-Covid levels across markets," it said. The rural markets declined 2.8 per cent registering the sixth consecutive quarter with negative volume growth, while the urban market maintained stable positive growth of 1.6 per cent. In the retail space, Modern Trade channels maintained a double-digit value growth of 23.3 per cent and volume growth of 12.6 per cent on a year-on-year basis. While the FMCG sales from traditional trade channels such as Kirana stor

India's DB Corp reported a 44.2% fall in quarterly profit as the owner of India's largest Hindi daily was hit by high newsprint prices, sending shares down as much as 9.5%

The Bank of England is expected to raise interest rates by as much as half a percentage point Thursday as it seeks to tame the double-digit inflation fuelling a cost-of-living crisis, public-sector strikes and fears of recession. The move would push the UK's key rate to 4 per cent. Economists suggest this may be the last big rate increase for Britain's central bank, which has approved 10 consecutive hikes since a post-pandemic surge in the world economy and Russia's war in Ukraine drove inflation to 40-year highs. The US Federal Reserve has already begun tapering its response, boosting its key rate by just a quarter-point on Wednesday. The European Central Bank, meanwhile, is expected to go big again, with a half-point hike on Thursday. Optimism grew that rate increases may begin to tail off after UK inflation eased for a second straight month to 10.5 per cent in December, down from a peak of 11.1 per cent in October. That's still far higher than in the US and the 20-country eurozon

The Indian rupee rose against the dollar on Friday following another fall in the U.S. inflation rate, while forward premiums rose to their highest level in two months

Egypt continues to battle surging inflation amid a dramatic slide of its currency as many Egyptians struggle with price hikes, the country's statistics bureau said on Tuesday. The state-run Central Agency for Mobilisation and Statistics released figures showing that the annual inflation was at 21.9 per cent last month, up from 19.2 per cent in November. That's compared to 6.5 per cent in December 2021, before inflation ballooned in 2022, following the outbreak of Russia's war on Ukraine that rattled the world economy. Prices in Egypt rose across many sectors, from food items and medical services to housing and furniture. Food prices increased by 4 per cent on the average in December, with fruits and dairy products leading the list with 7.6 per cent and 6.4 per cent spikes, respectively. The higher inflation has inflicted heavy burdens on consumers, especially lower-income households. Nearly 30 per cent of Egyptians live in poverty, according to official figures. Most of Egypt's mo

Calling these the "people's priorities", Sunak vowed to "work night and day" to deliver for the British people

The CPI in December also witnessed a year-on-year rise from November as it went through an increase of 23.8 per cent in the previous month, Xinhua news agency quoted the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics

Operating profit margins likely to contract by 320-380 basis points to 16.3-16.8 per cent in FY23, says CareEdge Ratings, as input cost pressures remain

Until the S&P BSE Sensex and Nifty50 do not break 57,000 and 17,000 levels, there are higher changes of touching 64,000 and 19,000 levels.

India's government is in no hurry to push inflation, now hovering near 7% and eight-year highs, back to the central bank's 4% medium-term target for fear that aggressive rate hikes could hurt growth

Peaking of inflation, analysts believe, could put a cap on bond yields and a floor on equity valuations

Despite several attempts, the indices have succumbed to global and domestic cues. Should you use the current market fall to buy for long term? Are the markets discounting the rate hikes by the RBI?

The bounce rate is always higher by volume than value as lower ticket sizes generally tend to bounce more

The ongoing power outages are proving critical for small industries, which are already reeling under high input costs and tepid demand. Find out how industries are bearing the brunt of power cuts.

Consumers may have to pay more for daily essential items with FMCG companies mulling another round of price hike to ease inflationary pressure on commodity prices of items such as wheat, palm oil

Energy and commodity prices including wheat and other grains have surged due to the Ukraine war, adding to inflationary pressures from supply chain disruptions and the rebound from the Covid, IMF said

Marico shares dropped 3% following a tepid Q3 update. High inflation and poor demand led to its muted growth. And this could be a sector-wide phenomenon. Should investors turn away from FMCG players?

Economics, to be meaningful, has to be about micro markets and it must go back to microeconomics. So must governments.

The S&P 500 gained 0.5 per cent and Nasdaq 100 added 0.6 per cent as the headline CPI rate came in at 6.8 per cent