Press freedom index 2018

        Wholesale prices based inflation rose to 0.58 per cent in November, as against 0.16 per cent in October due to increase in prices of food articles. The annual inflation, based on monthly wholesale price index (WPI), was at 4.47 per cent during the same month a year ago (November 2018). The rate of price rise for food articles rose to 11 per cent during the month as against 9.80 a month earlier, while for non-food articles it eased 1.93 per cent from 2.35 per cent in October, showed the data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Monday. For manufactured products, the wholesale inflation remained static (-)0.84 per cent during the month under review. The consumer price index based retail inflation, as per data released last week, spiked to over a 3-year high of 5.54 per cent in November due to costlier food products like vegetables, pulses and protein-rich items. … [Read more...] about Wholesale Price Index-based inflation rises to 0.58 per cent in November

The year 2019 saw many new themes coming out of the mutual fund industry. Be it new thematic/sector funds or funds based on new processes or funds taking the passive investment route, the industry saw the emergence of a few new themes in 2019. In this article we take a look at a few new themes that have sprang up from mutual funds this year, and how they have played out so far for the fund houses. 1. Quant funds: Quant funds work on a mathematical model. The approach relies on a mix of quantifiable parameters to identify the right stocks at the right time. Quant investing aims to remove the fund manager bias from the process. Each quant fund follows its own set of rules to identify stocks. Different quant funds can have different set of rules to do so. Many fund houses, including DSP Mutual Fund, Nippon India Mutual Fund and Quant Mutual Fund, came up with different versions of this theme in their schemes. “We believe that the Indian market is ripe for such strategies as … [Read more...] about Quant, ESG, Index: mutual fund themes that came up in 2019

China's service sector expanded in November at the fastest pace since March as corporate confidence improved with a substantial increase of new orders, a private business survey showed on Wednesday. Analysts said the stronger performance of the service sector adds to the evidence that the Chinese economy is stabilizing and that the sector, which already accounts for more than half of China's GDP, will continue as a key growth driver in 2020. The Caixin China General Services Business Activity Index rose to a higher level than in each of the preceding seven months — 53.5 in November, up from 51.1 in October. The indicator for new export orders rose to a four-month high while overall new business also rebounded from the previous month with improved external and domestic demand, according to a survey jointly released by media group Caixin and information provider IHS Markit. Surveyed companies said they planned to expand their business with new projects in the pipelines, and the … [Read more...] about Service index shows signs of stabilizing economy

New Delhi: At least 250 journalists were imprisoned worldwide for their reporting during 2019, with two of them — both from J&K — imprisoned in India, according to a report by the Community to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent, non-profit organisation that promotes press freedom. Globally, the Xi Jinping-led communist government in China and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan regime remained the leading countries to jail the journalists, accounting for 38 per cent or 95 of the total jailed journalists as on December 1, 2019. The two were followed by Egypt and Saudi Arabia where at least 26 journalists each are behind the bars. CPJ's prison census accounts only for journalists in government custody and does not include those who have disappeared or are held captive by non-state actors. It includes only those who it has confirmed have been imprisoned in relation to their work. The latest list includes only those incarcerated as on December 1, 2019 and does not include … [Read more...] about 250 Journalists Remained Imprisoned Worldwide In 2019 For Their Reporting; 2 In India: Report

Seven words. That is all it took to throw one of the richest and most popular sports on the planet into an unprecedented public relations crisis. The NBA — that’s basketball, for the woefully uncultured among you — has spent the last week trying and quite miserably failing to contain the fallout from a single tweet. That struggle has huge implications, which reach far beyond the world of sport. It all started on Sunday, when the general manager of the Houston Rockets, Daryl Morey, published a tweet voicing his support for pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. The tweet included an image bearing the words: “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong.” Mr Morey’s fit of moral clarity quickly passed, and he deleted the post, but it was already too late. China was angry. RELATED: Chinese soldiers’ warning to Hong Kong protesters RELATED: Elderly woman unleashes on demonstrators Anti-government demonstrators have flooded the streets of Hong Kong … [Read more...] about NBA’s $4 billion nightmare: How one tweet sparked a controversy spanning two global superpowers