🪠 Drainage woes

Good morning. If you haven’t watched Swiggy Instamart’s latest advert featuring “Rakhi (Sawant) wishing Happy Rakhi before Rakhi” then please do yourself a favour and watch it.

Well done to whoever came up with this ad - it made us smile 🫶 😄 

- Ruchirr Sharma & Shatakshi Sharmaa

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• 🪠 Drainage woes

• 📉 Retail inflation is down bad (in a good way)

• 🗞️ Bite-sized summaries

  • ☕️ Starbucks new CEO

  • 🤯 Water on Mars?

  • 🗣️ Trump chats with Musk

• 🧑‍🍳 What else is cookin’?

• 🍿 Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment

MARKETS

🇮🇳 India

• Equity indices Sensex and Nifty50 closed lower on Tuesday, with Sensex dropping 692.89 points and Nifty50 falling 208.03 points. Most Nifty50 constituents declined, led by HDFC Bank and BPCL. Broader indices also fell, with small-caps hit hardest. Banking, Financial Services, Metal, OMC, and Realty sectors were top laggards, while Healthcare, IT, and consumer durables ended positively.

🌍️ International

• Stocks surged and bond yields fell, after producer prices rose less than expected in July. The soft inflation data reinforced expectations of cooling inflation and bolstered hopes for imminent Federal Reserve interest rate cuts. Treasury yields declined, reflecting market optimism about potential policy easing.

INFRASTRUCTURE

🪠 Drainage woes

If you live in Gurugram, you are all too familiar with a frustrating reality: the lightest drizzle can lead to widespread waterlogging and traffic chaos. 

What's more alarming is that despite an investment of ₹429 Cr. over eight years to enhance the city's drainage system, Gurugram continues to struggle with severe flooding during monsoons.

The recent Sunday downpour highlighted this ongoing issue, paralyzing large parts of the city and turning colonies into virtual islands. 

Since the notorious "Gurujam" of 2016, when traffic was gridlocked for 20 hours, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) has poured significant resources into cleaning and constructing drains. 

However, residents argue that this taxpayer money has yielded little tangible improvement.

Several factors contribute to this persistent problem:

1. Lack of transparency in drain maintenance

2. Minimal oversight of private contractors hired for desilting

3. New drains often fail to meet proper standards or lack connection to stormwater channels

4. Inadequate infrastructure to handle intense rainfall, despite substantial investments

MCG data reveals that since 2016, ₹227.9 Cr. was spent on sewer line maintenance, ₹178.4 Cr. on new drains, and ₹22.4 Cr. on stormwater drain upkeep. Yet, the city's flooding woes persist.

Experts point to Gurugram's geography, surrounded by the Aravali Hills, as a contributing factor to its waterlogging susceptibility. Rapid urbanization and loss of green spaces have further exacerbated the issue.

Looking ahead, residents and experts alike call for a comprehensive overhaul of the city's drainage system. Proposed solutions include:

• Bringing in outside expertise

• Forming resident advisory panels

• Developing a sustainable long-term plan that combines infrastructure improvements with tactical interventions like debris clearing and creating green spaces

As erratic weather patterns become the new norm, Gurugram must swiftly address its persistent flooding issues - i.e. substantial investments made that translate into tangible improvements for its residents, ensuring a more resilient and livable city for all.

Read more: Times of India

INFLATION

📉 Retail inflation is down bad (in a good way)

Noticing a drop in onion and milk prices at your local kissan mandi? Well, there's a reason for that. 

In a welcome development for the Indian economy, retail inflation has plummeted to a near 5-year low of 3.5% in July 2024. This significant decrease from June's 5.1% brings much-needed relief from persistent price pressures and sparks hope for potential interest rate cuts in the latter half of the fiscal year.

What’s going on?

1. The National Statistical Office (NSO) attributes this moderation to easing prices in vegetables, fruits, and spices, coupled with a high-base effect from the previous year.

2. Rural inflation stood at 4.1%, while urban areas experienced a lower rate of nearly 3%.

3. The food price index saw a substantial decrease, dropping to 5.4% from June's 9.4%.

Interestingly, this inflation drop coincides with a slowdown in industrial output growth. The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) decelerated to a five-month low of 4.2% in June, down from May's seven-month high of 6.2%. 

This decline was primarily due to a slowdown in the manufacturing sector, although mining recorded double-digit expansion.

Experts remain cautiously optimistic about the inflation trajectory. The recent pick-up in rainfall has positively impacted kharif crop sowing, which exceeded last year's levels by 1.4% as of 12^th August. However, concerns persist about potential heavy rainfall and flooding in some states, which could affect standing crops and perishable prices.

Looking ahead: Economists predict a further easing of food and beverage inflation in August, potentially bringing the headline retail inflation down to 3.4%. Nevertheless, they emphasise the need to closely monitor perishable prices in the near term.

While this inflation dip is encouraging, it's clear that various factors continue to influence India's economic landscape. Consumers and policymakers alike will be watching closely to see if this trend continues and what it might mean for the country's economic future.

Read more: Times of India

GENERAL OVERVIEW

🗞️ Bite-sized summaries

☕️ Starbucks new CEO - Starbucks announced Brian Niccol, current head of Chipotle Mexican Grill, as its new CEO, replacing Laxman Narasimhan less than a year after he took over. Niccol will assume the role on 9 September 2024, with CFO Rachel Ruggeri serving as interim CEO until then. The company expressed confidence in Niccol's potential to drive transformation. Niccol, who began at Chipotle in 2018, previously held leadership roles at Taco Bell and Pizza Hut. He is also a board member of Walmart Inc. Starbucks' board chair, Mellody Hobson, thanked Narasimhan for his contributions and will become lead independent director.

🤯 Water on Mars? - Scientists analysing data from NASA's InSight Lander have discovered a massive hidden ocean beneath Mars' surface. This underground reservoir, located 11.5 to 20 kilometres deep, contains enough water to cover the entire planet with a mile-deep ocean. While currently inaccessible, researchers believe it could potentially harbour life. The water's presence suggests that Mars' surface water, lost 3.5 billion years ago, may have seeped into the planet's crust rather than escaping into space. This discovery provides new insights into Mars' geological history and offers a promising location for future exploration.

🗣️ Trump chats with Musk - Donald Trump and Elon Musk engaged in a glitchy conversation on X, formerly Twitter, discussing Trump's recent assassination attempt and immigration policies. Trump detailed his brush with death and promised extensive deportations if re-elected, while Musk endorsed Trump's toughness as crucial for national security. The event underscored changes in the U.S. political landscape since Trump's 2021 Twitter ban. The livestream also sparked criticism from Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign, who mocked the technical failures and Trump's previous ridicule of similar issues.

HEADLINES

🧑‍🍳 What else is cookin’?

What’s happening in India (and around the world 🌍️)

• Why China's and Russia's militaries are training together.

• Hamas strikes Tel Aviv with 'M90 rockets', city left shaken.

• India's smartphone market grows 3.2% with 35 mn shipment in Q2, Vivo tops the chart.

• Reliance, Disney said to have offered concessions to win antitrust nod for India media merger.

• Thousands of bankers are quitting their jobs in India.

CULTURE

🍿 Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment

• CAS differs decision on Vinesh Phogat’s appeal again - decision will now be revealed on 16^th Aug.

• Lionel Messi will not be featured in Miami’s Leagues Cup match at Columbus.

• ‘Only Murders in the Building’ heads to Hollywood in season 4 trailer with new look at A-list guest star.