Business in brief: Sensex likely to fall as consumption concerns remain

Looking at the Sensex trajectory, the market will likely fall from the current level before hitting bottom and rising. The next few months will determine whether the consumption levels will be maintained through the rate hike cycle.

Ola

The EV maker plans to launch electric cars by 2024. It also plans to produce 10 million two-wheelers and 100 GWh of electric battery cells yearly.

Impact: The country’s two-wheeler sales last fiscal were 13.47 million. In the previous seven months, Ola sold 70,000 units of its electric scooters, but the owners have complained several times about its lack of efficiency. The ambitious target set by the founder should be seen in this context. As promised, if Ola were to produce 10 million two-wheelers every year, which means Ola expects sales of 10 million scooters, then the total number of two-wheeler sales would have to increase to 23 million within a few years. Therefore, it will be a 100 per cent increase in sales within a couple of years or a multi-fold rise in sales of electric scooters. During the last calendar year, India’s current sale of electric two-wheelers was 1.36 lakh or 0.13 million.

Crude oil

Crude oil prices decreased more than 5 per cent on Monday as prospects of a return of Iranian oil increased. It will entirely depend on whether Iran accepts the European Union’s proposal to restore the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which aims to ensure that Iran’s nuclear program will be exclusively peaceful.

Impact: If Iran accepts the proposal, sanctions will be lifted, and about 2.5 million daily barrels will be available. It means more Iranian oil will flow into global markets. It could lead to oil prices settling at around $85-$90 per barrel. It will also ease inflation in the short term.

Byju’s

The edutech startup will finally release its audited financial results from the global consultancy firm Deloitte ahead of its planned IPO in the US.

Impact: Investors and all the stakeholders will finally be able to find out if there are any skeletons in Byju’s cupboard. According to reports, the delay in Deloitte’s report was because the consultancy firm found issues with refunds, loan guarantees and unusual recognition practices. In addition, Byju’s has been valued at $22 billion and has raised over $ 6 billion in the 12 years of its existence, while revenues are not even $1 billion, according to various reports.