Bloomberg (Bloomberg) -- As Covid-19 continues to ravage India, financial professionals across the country are grappling with an increasingly surreal disconnect between the epidemic’s devastation and a record-breaking boom in local markets.The world’s worst coronavirus outbreak has battered India’s economy and lifted its official Covid death toll to more than 318,000 -- a figure that experts say is likely a significant undercount.And yet investors continue to snap up Indian assets, fueling a 65% rally in the Nifty 50 Index over the past 12 months that has outpaced every other major equity benchmark worldwide. The measure’s surge to a record on Thursday has coincided with the fastest rate of Indian initial public offerings since 2017 and an unprecedented flood of foreign-currency bond issuance by local companies.While the combination of pandemic pain and financial-market euphoria is hardly unique to India, nowhere else has the contrast been so extreme.Bulls say the gains are justified by central bank stimulus at home and abroad, along with signs that the current virus wave may be peaking and optimism that India’s long-term economic growth potential will emerge from the crisis intact. Skeptics point to overly rosy earnings estimates and the risk of further outbreaks in a country where vaccination rates remain stubbornly low. India’s central bank weighed in on Thursday, warning in its annual report that the surge in stocks “poses the risk of a bubble.”What’s clear is that financiers on all sides of the debate are stretched thin. Booming markets have left the industry swamped with work at a time when many employees have been sickened by the virus. Some have had to franticly search for medical help after hospitals were overrun and oxygen supplies fell short. Almost everyone has at least one friend or family member who has died.“You feel numb, as if we are in the midst of a war and are losing people one after the other,” said Vikaas Sachdeva, the Mumbai-based chief executive officer of Emkay Investment Managers Ltd., who lost four members of his extended family to the virus.Sachdeva expects Indian markets to be volatile in the near term as investors weigh uncertainties around the vaccination program and the possibility of a third wave. His firm has been buying shares of Indian companies with “high quality” management, betting that the country’s long-term investment case remains intact.India’s $2.9 trillion stock market has been buoyed in part by resilient demand from international investors, who’ve purchased a net $34.9 billion of shares over the past 12 months. While they pared holdings in April and early May, buying by local mutual funds and insurance companies has helped fill the gap. A steady decline in reported Covid cases since mid-May -- along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to avoid another nationwide lockdown -- have added weight to calls for further market gains.Indian companies have taken advantage of the exuberance in markets to raise about $4 billion via public offerings since the start of the year, on track for the busiest first-half since 2017, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.“The IPO boom is being driven by Indian technology companies coming of age with businesses doing better than expected,” said Sunil Khaitan, India head of global capital markets at Bank of America. “Tech companies are advancing their fundraising plans and financial sponsors also believe this is a good time to bring in public market investors in these companies amidst ample global liquidity.”Khaitan expects India IPO volumes to more than double in 2021 from the previous year.The surge in activity has left some financial firms scrambling to complete deals after employees were sidelined by the virus. The head of equity capital markets at a Mumbai-based investment bank, who asked not be named discussing private matters, said that at one point 25% of his 40-person group was infected.About 200,000 Indian bank employees have been infected and 1,200 have died since the pandemic began, the industry’s largest union estimated this month.Among the biggest risks for India market optimists is another virus wave. Just 3.2% of the population has been fully vaccinated, versus 39.7% in the U.S. and 10.1% in Brazil, according to Bloomberg’s Covid-19 Tracker.The Indian economy’s recovery from last year’s recession is already showing signs of sputtering. The country lost 10 million jobs in May, according to private research firm Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy Pvt. Among the 40 companies in the Nifty 50 index that have posted quarterly results so far, more than half have missed analysts’ estimates. While India’s central bank predicts the economy will grow at a 10.5% pace this fiscal year, other forecasters including S&P Global Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service have recently cut their estimates to below 10%.“If this Covid situation keeps affecting newer areas and new strains keep emerging, then there is a problem for the near term,” said Deepak Jasani, head of retail research at HDFC Securities Ltd.Sachdeva, the Emkay CEO, said Covid will impact him and his colleagues in ways that go far beyond their work in finance. He’s reading “The Difficulty of Being Good” by Gurcharan Das, who writes about his search for a meaningful life.“The pandemic has brought about a change in many of us and we are more aware of things that matter most in life,” Sachdeva said. “We would though have to see if this is indeed a permanent change when life comes back normal.”(Updates death toll in second paragraph)More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.<doc-sep>Jason Hanna/Getty Images ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro said Friday the network doesn't plan to air the United States national anthem before its Monday Night Football telecasts during the 2018 NFL season. Sara Fischer of Axios provided comments from Pitaro, who said ESPN informed the league about its decision but left the door open to reverse it. "We generally have not broadcasted the anthem and I don't think that will change this year," he said. "Our plan going into this year is to not broadcast the anthem … again that could change. It's unpredictable what could happen in the world but as of now, we're not. We have communicated that back to the NFL." The anthem issue remains a polarizing topic for the NFL. Although the league's owners approved a plan in May that would have allowed the NFL to fine teams who had players kneel on the field during the anthem, enforcement of the policy is on hold after the Players Association announced a "standstill agreement" pending further discussions. Miami Dolphins wide receiver Kenny Stills, who was among the players to kneel during last week's preseason games, explained what the NFL would need to do for him to stand, per Jason Lieser of the Palm Beach Post. Video Play Button Videos you might like "What would it take? It would take a lot," he said. "But I think a good first step for us as a league would be acknowledging what they're doing to Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid. You can't say as a league that you support the players and the protest and then blackball the players that initially started the protest." Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump has continued to use the debate as a talking point: The NFL hasn't provided a timetable for a final decision about whether its new anthem policy will be in place when the regular season kicks off Sept. 6.<doc-sep>ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro, shown here in 2014, said ESPN will not show the anthem during “Monday Night Football” unless something newsworthy happens. (AP) New ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro said on Friday that the network will not show the national anthem during “Monday Night Football” broadcasts, which is a return to standard operating procedure and a recognition of fans’ desires. ‘Our fans like the game’ Via Axios.com reporter Sara Fischer, Pitaro said it isn’t a hard-and-fast decision. “ESPN is not a political organization,” he said. “It’s not our job to cover politics, purely, but we’ll cover the intersection of sports and politics. When something happens, when the Eagles are disinvited from the White House, when someone takes a knee, when we think it’s newsworthy we’re going to cover it.” ESPN senior vice president Stephanie Druley said, “We’ve seen the data from our fans that they like the game and that’s what they want. So that’s where we’ll keep our focus.” Pitaro communicated the news to the NFL “as courtesy and good partners,” according to Fischer. ESPN showed the anthem three times last season. ‘We want to be in business with the NFL’ ESPN’s deal with the NFL to air “MNF” runs through 2021, and the network is paying an astounding $1.9 billion per season for the right to air just 16 regular-season games and one wild-card playoff game. Despite the price tag, Pitaro signaled that he doesn’t want that relationship to end. “We want to be in business with the NFL and I believe they want to be in business with us,” he said. “We’re optimistic about not just the next four years but for the long-term partnership.” “MNF” averaged 10.76 million viewers a week last season, down from 11.4 million viewers per week in 2016. More from Yahoo Sports NFL: • Robinson: Elway’s comments on Kaepernick lack context • Marvin Lewis is counting on Andy Dalton to take the heat off • Will No. 3 pick Sam Darnold be the Jets’ Week 1 starter? • Patriots lose first-round pick Isaiah Wynn for the season<doc-sep>New ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro toldreporters Friday that the network does not plan to televise the national anthem as part of its Monday Night Football broadcasts this season. Pitaro, who was hired March 5 following the abrupt departure of John Skipper, told reporters at a media event on ESPN's campus in Bristol, Conn., that the network has not previously shown the national anthem during its Monday Night Football broadcasts and does not have plans to change — at least, not in the immediate future. According to Axios, Pitaro also said that ESPN has informed the league of its plans "as (a) courtesy" given their partnership. Earlier, he had toldreporters that he has spent much of his young tenure at ESPN working to strengthen the company's relationship with the NFL. ESPN pays about $2 billion per year for the right to broadcast Monday Night Football , according to the Associated Press. Demonstrations during the national anthem have become a hot-button issue for the NFL over the past two years, dating back to former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick's decision to first take a knee during the anthem in 2016. Players have described the demonstrations as a means of protesting police brutality and racial inequality, but critics — including the president — have denounced them as disrespectful to the military and unpatriotic. MORE:Patriots lose first-rounder Isaiah Wynn to torn Achilles, per reports MORE:Teddy Bridgewater should be Jets' Week 1 quarterback instead of Sam Darnold The league and the NFL Players' Association are currently working toward a mutually agreeable policy for conduct during the national anthem, and it is unclear whether a new policy will be unveiled prior to the beginning of the regular season Sept. 6. Later in his Friday remarks, Pitaro bristled at the notion that ESPN is a political organization, but told reporters the network will continue to cover the intersections of sports and politics and sports and culture. Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on Twitter @Tom_Schad.<doc-sep>
ESPN will not air the playing of the national anthem during its Monday Night Football broadcasts this season, network president Jimmy Pataro said Friday. "We generally have not not broadcasted the anthem and I don't think that will change this year," Pataro said at ESPN Football media day, according to Axios' Sara Fischer. "Our plan going into this year is to not broadcast the anthem ... again that could change. It's unpredictable what could happen in the world but as of now, we're not." Pitaro also said that ESPN is not a political organization and added that it is not the entity's place to cover politics "purely" but they will continue to address the intersection of sports and politics. The network president added that the organization will cover events if they think they are "newsworthy." This includes examples of a player taking a knee or the Eagles being disinvited from the White House. Regarding the coverage of controversy surrouding players protests and the anthem, Stephanie Druley, ESPN senior vice president of event and studio production, said, "We've seen the data from our fans that they like the game and that's what they want. So that's where we will keep our focus." In recent seasons, players have protested police brutality and social injustices during the playing of the national anthem. In May, NFL owners unanimously approved a new anthem policy requiring players to stand if they are on the field during the anthem, with an option to stay in the locker room. The NFLPA filed a grievance contending the policy, and since then, the NFL and the NFLPA have reached a standstill agreement on identifying a solution to player protests. ESPN did not show the playing of the national anthem before games last season either.