Happy Independence day folks.  But before we get to the wrapup, here's this week's Finshots Markets on the boom of the pharma industry. It's a must-read even if you're not all too interested in the pharma sector.

And on that note, here's this week's wrapup.

What's happening to Boeing and Airbus?

On Monday, we discussed the plight of aircraft manufacturers amidst the pandemic. Globally, airlines are burning hundreds of millions of dollars daily, passengers have dipped by 91% compared to the same time last year, and experts have predicted that it’ll take the industry roughly 2–5 years to recover completely. And when airlines clamp down on their expansion plans, it’s bad news for aircraft suppliers like Boeing and Airbus as well.

Until February this year, these manufacturers believed they would supply 40,000+ aircraft worth roughly $7 trillion over the next 20 years. But that outlook isn’t tenable anymore.

So how are they faring in this new reality? Find out here.

The AGR Saga drags on

On Tuesday, we spoke about the AGR saga. A few days ago, there was another hearing on the AGR matter. Unfortunately, there was no resolution. But something interesting did happen at the hearing. And it has to do with the most valuable asset in a telco’s balance sheet–Spectrum. Specifically, whether telcos can sell it to other entities.

Apart from this, we also talked about the eruption of Mount Sinabung and the economic fallout associated with it. You can read both stories here.

Why India can't monetise its gold?

On Wednesday, we talked about India's Gold Monetisation Scheme.

India has always been obsessed with gold. But it's not ideal to keep importing this stuff considering we already hoard a lot of gold in this country. So if there was a way we could monetize all this idle gold. That would be a godsend. However, it hasn't worked out all too well for us. Find out why here.

When Bitcoin Adoption went Mainstream

On Thursday, we talked about a company that converted most of its cash into Bitcoins. The company, MicroStrategy, took $250 million from their balance sheet and purchased 21,454 bitcoins in exchange.

This is perhaps the first instance of a mega-corporation vouching for Bitcoin. And it begs the question, could this be the beginning of a new revolution? Here's what we think.

The Negative Import List Explained

On Friday, we talked about why India wants to ramp down its defence imports. At the beginning of this week, India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh made a rather bombastic announcement. He said and we quote — “Am happy to announce that for the first time we have come out with the list of 101 items, which we will not import, we call this list as a negative list.”

But the question is, why are we ramping down on defence imports, especially in times like these? Are we suddenly turning into pacifists? What is the government playing at?

We've answered all these questions here.

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And that's a wrap here. Happy Independence Day once again, and we'll see you on Monday. Or maybe not!