Exit polls signal stress for BJP. Yes Bank points finger of blame at Kotak. Flipkart’s had too much of smartphones? And more, in today’s ‘de-fogged’ shot of DKODING Newsline.

BJP may struggle to retain key states, Congress could lose Mizoram; according to exit polls

The exit polls for assembly elections across five states are out, and predict rough tidings for the BJP. The ruling party will struggle to win a majority in the three crucial heartland states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan according to an aggregate of the exit polls. Congress can look forward to a clear majority, while MP and Chhattisgarh could deliver a hung verdict.

BJP may struggle to retain key states, Congress could lose Mizoram; according to exit polls | amit shah| dkoding | dkodingnewsline

In Madhya Pradesh, the poll of polls expects BJP and Congress to win 109 and 110 seats respectively, slightly short of the half way mark of 115. In the state of Chhattisgarh, BJP can expect 41 seats out of 90 compared to 43 for the Congress, and again, the two parties will fall short of the magic number of 46 in the 90-member assembly.

In Rajasthan, on the other hand, Congress could win clean with 110 seats and leave the BJP languishing at 78 seats. Meanwhile, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) led by K Chandrashekar Rao may manage to ward off anti-incumbency and retain the state of Telangana with 64 seats, to be followed by the Congress-Telugu Desam Party (led by Chandrababu Naidu) alliance at 41 seats and BJP at 5 seats.

BJP may struggle to retain key states, Congress could lose Mizoram; according to exit polls | Rahul Gandhi | dkoding | dkodingnewsline

Mizoram is projected to vote out the Congress and give it 16 seats. But here too, the Mizo National Front (MNF) is expected to be the leading party with 18 seats. As always, the disclaimer stands — Exit polls often get it wrong!

As troubles refuse to abate, Yes Bank accuses Kotak of bad press

Yes Bank has been reeling from a deluge of problems of late — regulatory issues, director resignations, promoter feud between CEO Rana Kapoor and Madhu Kapur, rating downgrades and falling stock prices. But it would prefer to lay the finger of blame on bad press being fuelled by its rival bank Kotak Mahindra.

‘The bank has accused newspaper Business Standard of churning out ‘malicious and defamatory reports, at the bidding of Uday Kotak, who ‘owns Kotak Mahindra Bank as well as the business daily’. Yes Bank has stated in a filing with the stock exchanges, “The pattern/sequel of articles published by Business Standard in the last two+ months would clearly indicate that there is explicit malice and prejudice, which the journalist(s) of Business Standard are trying to demonstrate.”

Moreover, it has asked for an internal investigation to reveal the true motivations of the journalists writing these articles. Kotak Mahindra has rubbished these allegations, with Rohit Rao, its chief communication officer stating that Kotak Mahindra and its subsidiaries hold just 2,000 shares or 0.0013% of the capital of Business Standard Ltd.

Moreover, Uday Kotak has no stake in the newspaper, though ownership of Business Standard is with the Kotak family. Yes Bank’s stock has taken a severe beating of late since the RBI cut short Rana Kapoor’s tenure as CEO, falling by 50% over the past three months.

Government appoints ISB Professor as new Chief Economic Advisor

The Government of India has appointed Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Associate Professor and Executive Director (Centre for Analytical Finance) of Indian School of Business, Hyderabad as the new Chief Economic Adviser to the Finance Minister for a period of three years.

Government appoints ISB Professor as new Chief Economic Advisor | Krishnamurthy Subramanian |dkoding |dkodingnewsline

He replaces Arvind Subramanian, who had resigned in June 2018. Prof Subramanian is joining the Ministry of Finance just a few months before the interim budget, where the NDA government is expected to announce its vision for reforms and inclusive growth.

Given that this budget will be announced just before the General Elections 2019, the Government would want to appeal to different sections of the country in this budgetary announcement. Prof Subramanian has done his PhD from Chicago-Booth School of Business and he is also a high-ranking alumnus of IIT and IIM and counts names like Professor Luigi Zingales and Professor Raghuram Rajan among his mentors.

A leading expert in banking, corporate governance and economic policy, Prof Subramanium is currently a member of SEBI’s standing committees on alternative investment policy, primary markets, secondary markets and research. Besides this, he is on the boards of Bandhan Bank Ltd, the National Institute of Bank Management, and the RBI Academy.

Major management changes at Flipkart, as CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy plans to reduce exposure to smartphones

E-commerce firm Flipkart has completed its first major reshuffle of top management since its acquisition by Wal-Mart. A number of top and mid-level executives have taken up new roles, while some leaders have been shifted from Flipkart to Myntra and vice versa.

Sandeep Karwa, head of large appliances will now oversee the company’s hyperlocal business, while Hari Kumar, Senior Director, will replace him in the large appliances vertical. Ayappan R, head of smartphones is taking a role in Myntra and Aditya Soni will now take charge of smartphones.

Smrithi Ravichandran, a senior director in charge of major events like Big Billion Days, merchandise and business developments, will now take care of the company’s fintech unit, and her previous role will now be managed by Nandita Sinha, currently owner of the home and furniture business. Jevandran Venugopal, Myntra’s CTO is expected to move to Flipkart.

It is reported that CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy is looking to improve performance across all its business units, with specific attention to reducing Flipkart’s dependence on smartphones, which still account for more than half of Flipkart’s overall sales.

India-Australia test match tantalizingly poised at stumps on Day 2

The first Test Match between India and Australia has reached an interesting juncture at stumps on Day 2, thanks to a phenomenal bowling performance by spinner R Ashwin and an unbeaten half century from Australian batsman Travis Head.

Delivering a fascinating combination of drift, dip and turn, Ashwin managed to take the three crucial wickets of Marcus Harris (26), Usman Khwaja (28) and Shaun Marsh (2). Ishant Sharma got India the early breakthrough off just the third ball when he bowled Aaron Finch for a duck. Both Jasprit Bumrah and Ishant Sharma took two wickets each.

Australia had reached 191 for the loss of 7 wickets at stump, with Travis Head unbeaten on 61 (149 balls, 6×4) along with Mitchell Starc on 8 (17 balls, 1×4). Peter Handscomb was the second highest scorer for Australia with 34 (93 balls, 5×4). The Australians are now 59 runs behind India’s first innings total of 250 all out. Now cricket lovers look forward with eager anticipation to Day 3, which will determine which team takes the advantage.

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