Sensex Ends Day in Green, India's Widening Trade Deficit, and Top Stocks in Action

Tue, 18 Dec Pre-Open

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On Monday, share markets in India opened on a positive note and ended the day in green after an optimistic day of trading.

The BSE Sensex closed higher by 307 points to end the day at 36,270. While the broader NSE Nifty ended the up by 83 points to end at 10,888.

Among BSE sectoral indices, metal stocks rose the most by 2.1%, followed by energy stocks at 1.5%. Tata Motors and Power Grid Corporation were among the top gainers.

Top Stocks in Action Today

Bandhan Bank share price is likely to be in focus today after the Kolkata-based private sector lender received prior approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to open new branches.

Shares of the bank have rallied 19% in the last four trading sessions on back of the above news.

In September, the Reserve Bank of India had barred Bandhan Bank from opening new branches without its approval and had ordered it to freeze the MD's salary over its failure to meet shareholding rules.

Tata Motors share price is likely to be in focus said it has filed a writ petition against the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) for forbidding the bank to reduce promoter holding to the mandated level by issuing perpetual non-convertible preference shares (PNCPS).

India's Trade Deficit Widens to US$ 16.7 billion

According to commerce ministry data, India's exports grew by a meagre 0.8% to US$ 26.5 billion in November.

Imports rose by 4.3% to US$ 43.2 billion during the month, leading to widening of the trade deficit to US$ 16.7 billion.

The deficit widened despite a steep decline of 15.6% in gold imports at US$ 2.8 billion during the month under review.

During April-November this fiscal, exports rose by 11.6% to US$ 217.5 billion, while imports recorded a growth of 14.7% to US$ 345.6 billion.

Trade deficit during the period widened to US$ 128.1 billion as against US$ 106.4 billion during April-November 2017-18. Oil imports in November jumped by 41.3% to US$ 13.5 billion. However, the non-oil imports dipped by 6.8% to US$ 29.7 billion.

Speaking of the reason behind India's rising deficit, the one big thing that worked for the Modi government when it came into power was low oil prices.

Given that India largely imports most of the oil it consumes, lower prices meant the trade deficit was kept in check.

Fast forward to recent past...oil prices had risen.

So has the trade deficit. But can this be entirely attributed to rising crude prices? Not really, if an article in Livemint is to be believed.

You see, oil prices have inched up in FY18. But they are still not as high as they were in FY14.

Yet, in FY14, the trade deficit was barely anything. Whereas in FY18, India is staring at a trade deficit of around US$ 53 billion.

Gold is not the culprit either. Gold imports peaked in FY12, after which they fell and have been at moderate levels.

So it's the non-oil, non-gold deficit that is the big problem today.

You may be aware, dear reader, India's export growth in the last four years has been poor. Meanwhile, imports have risen.

We seem to be staring at a structural problem. While consumption has been a big driver of GDP growth, investments in the economy have not picked up.

This is a crucial issue that must be addressed in the long-term.

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