The Week Ahead: Markets brace for consumer inflation report; IPL to resume in UAE

Mumbai The consumer price index (CPI) and the wholesale price index (WPI) are fair indicators of the impact of inflation on the common person. It is therefore quite natural that Monday’s announcement of the CPI data for August will be looked upon with significant interest. On Tuesday, the WPI will be announced. CPI inflation had eased to 5.6% in July after remaining above the 6% mark – the upper limit of Reserve Bank of India’s tolerance zone of 2%-6% -- in May and June. Food prices, which have a weight of 39% in CPI, were largely responsible for this decrease in inflation. Food inflation decreased from 5.1% in June to 4% in July. Non-food inflation decreased only marginally: from 7% in June to 6.7% in July. At 11.2%, WPI grew in double digits for the fourth consecutive month in July . However, this was lower than the June WPI inflation of 12.1%.

The other topic of mass interest will be the Indian Premier League, the country’s most popular cricket tournament. Transferred out of India due to Covid’s devastating second wave in April, IPL 2021 resumes in the UAE on September 19.

Players have begun to gather in the UAE bio bubble, including the 21 India players who were on the England tour where the final Test was cancelled after a Covid scare in the Indian contingent.

Meanwhile, in the English Premier League, Manchester City and Liverpool continue their quest for the title with City playing Southampton and Liverpool vs Crystal Palace on September 18.

Back to India for more important political developments. The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on data protection will meet on September 15 and 16 to discuss what format the new data protection bill should have. This is the first meeting under chairman PP Chaudhary.

In Punjab, chief minister Amarinder Singh has a series of outreach programmes lined up. To make up for the time lost on account of Covid and internal bickering, Amarinder may launch whirlwind tours of Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Ferozepur and other important districts in Malwa and Doaba, sources said, stressing the need for a speedy campaign to counter anti-incumbency.

In West Bengal, TMC minister Partha Chatterjee will appear in front of the CBI on September 13 for questioning in the I-Core ponzi scam that the agency is probing since 2014. The campaign for the crucial Bhabanipur assembly seat is expected intensify from next week as BJP candidate Priyanka Tibrewal will file her nomination papers on Monday and chief minister Mamata Banerjee is expected to address her first election rally in the constituency. Votes will be polled on September 30.

The Congress, too, has a busy week ahead. A Digvijay Singh led committee with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will meet for the first time to plan sustained agitations ahead of elections next year.

Jharkhand is likely to become the latest state to take a call on reopening schools from Classes 1 to 8. Chief minister Hemant Soren may also announce the reopening of temples, too, this week.

In northeast India, a select committee of Nagaland assembly will meet on September 14 to discuss the Assam-Nagaland border issue. Both states share a 434 km border with each other. In July, both states had agreed to deescalate tensions at two border points by withdrawing security forces.

Home Minister Amit Shah is expected to visit Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh on September 18 to celebrate Balidan Diwas or martyrdom day of Gond king Shankar Shah and his son Kunwar Raghunath Shah, who were killed by British forces during the first war of Independence in 1857. The visit is aimed to lure back the tribals, who had weaned towards Congress and tribal political party, JAYs, in the 2018 assembly polls.

But before that, Shah will be in Nirmal district of Telangana on September 17 to participate in BJP’s Liberation Day, which marks the Hyderabad state joining the Indian republic in 1948, a year after India’s independence. The BJP celebrates the day, whereas the state government holds no such function on that day as many people died in riots before September 18.

The other issue that is consuming Indian policymakers is the climate crisis. US Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry will be in India from Sunday to Tuesday to meet the environment minister, Bhupender Yadav, and various other ministers and senior officials of the Indian government regarding India’s climate change goals.

A statement issued by the US department of state said Kerry will engage with international counterparts on efforts to address the climate crisis. He will meet with Indian counterparts and private sector leaders to discuss efforts to raise “global climate ambition and speed India’s clean energy transition.”

During his visit, the United States and India will launch the Climate Action and Finance Mobilization Dialogue (CAFMD), one of the two main tracks of the U.S.-India Agenda 2030 Partnership that President Biden and Prime Minister Modi announced at the Leaders Summit on Climate in April.