highlights: Markets Down 2%, GDP Shrinks 23.9%, Reliance-Future Group Deal, & More

Sensex -2.13%; Nifty -2.23%

The markets were down by more than 2% today. Domestic cues - namely the tension at the Indo-Chinese border is said to be the main reason behind today’s market fall.

Top gainers: ONGC, TCS, HDFC Bank

Top losers: Sun Pharma, SBI, Bajaj Auto, NTPC

Indian Economy Contracts By Almost a Quarter in Q1

GDP in the June-ended quarter stood at -23.9%. The data was released after market hours today.

Here are a few sectoral break-ups (Y-o-Y):
Agriculture sector grew at 3.4%
Mining sector contracted 23.3%
Manufacturing contracted 39.3%
Construction contracted 50.3%
Financial services sector contracted by 5.3%

This contraction is the first since India began releasing quarterly GDP growth data in the late 1990s.

Reliance-Future Group Deal Sealed

Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd. (RRVL), subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) is acquiring the retail, wholesale, logistics, and warehouse businesses from the Future Group.

The deal is worth Rs 24,713 crores, according to RIL's press release.

This will bring brands like FBB, Easyday, Big Bazaar, Foodhall, Nilgiris, Central, and Brand Factory under Reliance Industries.

Reliance Industries’ stock settled 1.75% lower at Rs 2,078.55 per share. This is after reaching highs of Rs 2,172 per share in today's session.

International Flights Ban Extended Till 30th Sept 

Extending the ban on international flights since March 23 this year, the DGCA has said that the ban is a function of how the virus behaves both locally as well as in destination countries.

Those in urgent need of travel have been advised to use Vande Bharat mission flights.

India has set up air bubbles with countries like the US, Canada, UK, France, UAE, and a few others. Passengers can freely fly to these countries.

India has a policy of 7 days institutional quarantine followed by 7 days home quarantine for passengers entering India. However, if patients have an RT-PCR report done within 96 hours of flight, they need not quarantine. They can go through the green channel.

Unlock 4 to Allow Metros to Ply

The center has announced its most relaxed unlock yet.

Under unlock 4, metro trains will be allowed to ply for the first time since the lockdowns started.

Along with this, senior school students will be allowed to enter schools on a voluntary basis to clear their doubts.

States are also not allowed to impose a lockdown in areas that are not containment zones. They are also supposed to keep state borders completely open.

Sports facilities, religious activities, political functions, are also being allowed for up to 100 people.

All of the allowed activities will have to adhere to social distancing norms along with other procedures to ensure safety.

India has reported its highest ever number of daily cases at over 80,000 per day. At present, there are over 7.79 lakh active cases of the virus in India.