Weekly Insights - Sunday August 2, 2020

1) The Arctic is warming so fast that it has become an accelerator of climate change than the rest of the world. According to CNN Climate, in 2019 a football pitch of tropical forest was destroyed every six seconds. The world lost over 9 million acres of tropical forest. Carbon dioxide (CO2) accounts for 72% of the global human-caused emissions. After being released into the atmosphere, about 40% stay for 100 years, while 20% remain after 1000 years and 10% up to 10,000 years. Meanwhile, methane (CH4) stays for less time in the atmosphere than CO2 but it's much stronger in terms of the greenhouse gas effects. Its global warming impacts is 25 times larger in a period of 100 years. It accounts for 16% of man-made greenhouse gas emissions.

2) Indian Tobacco Company (ITC) is the Indian multinational conglomerate company. ITC has a diversified presence across industries such as cigarettes, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), hotels, packaging, paperboards & specialty papers, and agribusiness. The company completed 100 years in 2010 and as of 2017-2020, had an annual turnover of $10.74 billion and a market capitalization of INR 2,38,660.74 crore. Here are the brands that ITC owns.

3) Chinese company Tencent, that has stake in many Indian companies and having a majority of stake in South Korean company 'PUBG' which is one of the most famous games in India, is now bigger than Facebook after adding over $200 billion to its value this year. The gaming and social media giant's market capitalization stood at $664.50 billion while Facebook market capitalization totaled $656.15 billion as of Tuesday, July 28, 2020.

5) India changes its education policy after 34 years. All you need to know.

6) Grofers advances IPO listing target to the end of 2021 instead of 2022.

7) Nifty Bank - Red flag

8) Reliance Industries Limited now accounts for 10% of all BSE listed companies combined market capitalization.

9) India's first numberless card is targeting teenagers and their parents. 

10) New e-commerce rules are part of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. Making online retails more transparent and liable.

11) After 59 apps, India had banned 47 more Chinese apps and has drawn up a list of over 250 that will be examined for any violation of national security. According to CNN News 18, gaming apps like PUBG, are expected to be banned.

12) According to the United Nations (UN) 690 million people were undernourished last year that is 8.9% of the global population.

13) Infographics by Visual Capitalist describes the $86 trillion world economy.

14) Currency against the US dollar in 2019.

15) India extends medical assistance to North Korea worth $1 million.

16) Indian government restricts imports of color TVs without a license. Xiaomi has a majority of market share that is 27% according to LiveMint, following LG 14%, and Samsung 10%.

17) Coronavirus has devasted the global film industry. The global box office sales totaled a record $42 billion in 2019 according to the World Economic Forum.

18) According to reports, Mexico is the most at risk as 15.5% of GDP depends on tourism.

19) Apple Inc. overtakes Saudi Aramco as the world's most valuable company as market capitalization hits $1.84 trillion.