Last week the stock markets ended the week in green. While we are currently in the midst of a raging pandemic that has very adversely impacted our healthcare system as well as our economy, 2 particular reasons contributed to the markets rising.

First, and the more important one is that the RBI decided to have a surprise meeting to address the situation caused by the pandemic. RBI governor Shaktikanta Das unveiled a series of measures to help support the healthcare and infrastructure sectors, as well as small borrowers impacted by the second wave of Covid-19. Secondly, global cues remained strong, which also uplifted investor sentiment.

Anyway, before moving on, here’s a quote for the week that helps us think about risk… 👇

Quote of the week

“Risk and time are opposite sides of the same coin. If there were no tomorrow, there would be no risk.”

Markets Update

The Big Picture

• India’s trade deficit, which is the difference between a country’s imports and exports, widened to $15.24 billion in April 2021. This is much higher than the $6.76 billion in the same period last year.
• Deposit growth, which measures the growth in commercial bank deposits, stood at 10.3% in the fortnight ended Apr 23rd, 2021 when compared to the same period last year.
• Loan growth, which measures the growth in commercial bank loans, stood at 5.7% in the fortnight ended Apr 23rd, 2021 when compared to the same period last year.
• The India Manufacturing PMI measures the performance of the manufacturing sector. In April, the Manufacturing PMI stood at 55.5, beating market expectations of 51.6 – indicating good improvement in the health of the sector.
• The India Services PMI measures the performance of the services sector. In April, the Services PMI declined to 54 from 54.6 in the previous month. This was above market expectations of 51.1.

Ok, so?

Business is booming for Indian IT firms!

Indian IT firms have been witnessing bumper deals coming their way over the past few quarters, with some of the names closing their biggest ever deals last quarter. A deeper dive into this trend reveals that firms across the globe are actively rethinking their business models.

Why? Because the pandemic has made the importance of a digital society very clear. And for firms to survive through this change, they need to make their business conducive to the digital world. Hence, they are approaching Indian software companies to help them digitize their business. Okay, so? Click below to find out!

Inside smallcase

Introducing fee-based smallcases

At smallcase, we strive to make your investment journey as simple and hassle-free as possible. Working in that direction, we’re thrilled to announce the launch of fee-based smallcases on our app and website.

Until now, users who chose to invest with various managers and their smallcases had to go to separate manager websites to check them out and start investing. Now, you can find all managers and their smallcases in one place. Read more on this, here.

That’s a wrap for this week. Take care and happy investing! 🙂