ICICI Bank has taken a U-turn on its recently announced minimum balance requirement. Just a few days ago, the bank had upped the minimum account balance needed in urban areas for new accounts to ₹50,000 rupees. The announcement triggered an uproar from experts, commentators and potential customers. They slammed the bank for making its accounts out of reach for most Indians.
After the pushback, ICICI Bank has now reduced the monthly
minimum average balance for urban locations to ₹15,000. Announcing the downward revision, the bank said it had done so after feedback from customers and to meet their expectations.
E20 fuel pricing debate
In the last few weeks, we have seen an uproar against the rollout of E20 fuel – that's 20% ethanol blended with 80% petrol. Many vehicle owners said the mileage of their cars had gone down significantly after using E20. Some also raised concerns regarding the impact on engines. Last week, the government responded to such claims and concerns. It cited studies to say the impact on mileage is minimal and there is no adverse impact on engines. However, there was one question that remained unanswered. Many people wondered why the government wasn’t reducing the price of E20 and selling it at regular petrol’s price. Their assumption: ethanol is much cheaper than petrol.
Now, the government has responded to this with a fresh statement. It has said that, over time, the procurement
price of ethanol has increased. According to the Petroleum Ministry, the average price of ethanol is higher than the cost of refined petrol.
Also watch: https://hook.online/business/is-ethanol-blended-petrol-killing-your-car-1754401082674
Retail inflation hits 8-year low
India’s retail inflation – that's the rate of rise in the costs of things bought by us, the consumers – has hit the lowest level in eight years. In July, retail inflation dropped to 1.55%.The main reason behind this is the sharp decline in food prices, especially the prices of vegetables. Compared to July 2024, vegetable prices were down over 20 per cent in July this year. And that’s something you might have noticed while buying tomatoes or onions recently. Every year, around this time, prices of tomatoes and onions surge and make it to news headlines. This year, that hasn’t happened so far.
Perplexity’s surprise bid for Chrome
A David versus Goliath story is panning out in the AI space. US-based AI start-up Perplexity has made a surprise bid for Google’s Chrome web browser. The most interesting part of this story is that Perplexity itself is valued at around $18 billion. However, its bid for Chrome stands at $34.5 billion. Perplexity, which is led by Indian-American Arvind Srinivas, has made this pitch in a letter to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai.
Also watch: https://h-k.ai/104m0?utm_medium=Desktop&utm_source=social_share
Fractal files for IPO
India is set to get its first listed artificial intelligence company. Mumbai-headquartered AI solutions provider Fractal Analytics has filed its preliminary papers for an initial public offering with SEBI. According to PTI, the company is planning to raise ₹4,900 crore through the IPO, at a valuation of around ₹30,000 crore.
A week of gains
Indian equities gained during the week in the absence of any major developments. The Sensex rose almost a per cent, inching closer to 81,000. The Nifty also inched back towards 25,000.
