How Was The Year ?

byMeenanomics -December 31, 2020

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The Year 2020 was just all about upside down However this year was too different to last years The Covid - 19 pandemic set off waves of bad news that we tend to forget 2020 had a sunny side too. Days after a nationwide sit-at-home order was issued in March , city dwellers in India were delightfully surprised to see blue skies and plenty of stars at night some Himalayan range were became visible from the nearby plains a first for entire generation. A drop in air pollution was just one of the many upswings of the year.

It was the year when stock market gained handsomely, public listed companies paid a whopping amount as dividend or bonuses , M&A deals and raising of equity worth billions of dollars hit the headlines , inflow of foreign direct investment rose and the nation's forex reserves hit an all time high . Here are some of the good things of 2020-

POLICY FRONTIERS

12,71,200 cr rupees value of RBI'S stimulus announced till Oct 31, 2020
$578.5 bn Foreign exchange reserves as on Dec 18, marginally lower than all-time high of $579 bn on Dec 11
15% Year-on-year rise of FDI inflows in April- Sep, valued at $30 bn
40,000 cr rupees Additional, fund earmarked under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme (MNREGA) for the fiscal year; expected to generate nearly 300 cr person days of employment

BIG ON THE BOURSE

57,190 cr average annual turnover on the stock exchanges as on Dec 24; This was the highest ever, recording 304.15 cr share trades
13% gain in Nifty during the year as on Dec 24

30,893 cr rupees raise through IPOs by 37 companies

REVENUE RECORD

26 companies on BSE 100 index posted all-time high quarterly revenue. The top 5 are ( Rupees in cr.)

TCS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 41,049
HDFC BANK - - - - - - - - - - - - 38,438
HDFC LTD. - - - - - - - - - - - - - 35,733
BHARTI AIRTEL - - - - - - - - - 25,934
INFOSYS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 25,140

Dividend Windfall 1,96,874 cr (2019) | 2,58,758 cr (2020)

BLUE SKIES

Air pollution ( PM 2.5 level ) dropped by 45-88% across Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru during the lockdown period ( March 25-May 31) as measured by the Centre for Science and Environment
During the lockdown , the Dhauladhar hill range was visible from Dharamshala
The Pir Panjal range could be seen from jammu plains
People in Khathmandu valley got a glimpse of Mount Everest , located 200 km away, after many decades

FLASHBACK

2020

JANUARY