Top of the Morning

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Friday, May 31, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: It's been a rough week for stockholders: the Indian equity markets fell slightly again on Thursday. Nifty was down by 0.95 percent, while Sensex dropped 0.83 percent. The Reserve Bank of India released its annual report yesterday. It said that despite challenges, India is set to grow faster and stronger over the next decade. RBI noted the resilience of the Indian economy in the face of multiple external factors, including geopolitical tensions and risks due to climate change. Shayan Ghosh and Gopika Gopakumar write that another challenge that the RBI specifically pointed out was the rapid development of artificial intelligence, as opposed to being treated as an opportunity. Interestingly, a deficient monsoon meant that India had to over rely on manufacturing and services sectors to power its 7.6 percent growth last year. Thierry Delaporte's time as the CEO of Wipro was a rocky one. He was set to be at Wipro's helm for five years, but could barely eke out 14 months. Despite the short stint, he became one of the richest executives in India's IT sector. When Delaporte was asked to resign by Wipro chairman Rishad Premji, he was told he could have a hefty severance — 4.33 million dollars, or 36 crore rupees. However, public investors weren't too thrilled at such an expensive severance package: Varun Sood reports that more than 75 percent of investors voted against it. However, strong promoter holding meant that Premji could guarantee Delaporte his exit pay. It's a rare dispute between investors and the management in a company as well managed as Wipro, Varun writes. It's not been a good year for MBA students: a Deloitte report said that campus placement budgets for business graduates had fallen by 33 percent. This is the first time companies have reduced their budgets for freshers. Even top engineering colleges have failed to attract recruiters this past placement season. Devina Sengupta writes that a global economic slowdown has affected foreign companies hiring Indian graduates, while other companies are looking for hires that require minimal training. It's a dim job market out there. Chinese EV makers were hoping to expand across the globe, but the options are dwindling. First, the European Union planned to increase their import duties to around 25 to 30 percent on these vehicles. Next, the US said it would increase the taxes to 100 percent of the car's value. And now, the next most viable foreign market, India, might soon lose out too: the central government is ramping up its efforts to monitor the dumping of Chinese EVs in India. Dhirendra Kumar reports that senior government officials are worried that after being shunned from the western markets, these automakers will fill the Indian market with cheap electric cars. Officials are considering raising the import duties on electric engines, or imposing stringent quality checks to protect Indian car makers, reports Dhirendra. At one point, old age homes were the only available option for senior citizens. But today, we have independent senior living — an arrangement where retirees stay alone, with services such as meals and health checkups provided regularly. By 2050, India will be home to more than 17 percent of the world's elderly population. That provides a huge market for senior living, but at the moment, it's a luxury that only the affluent can afford. Madhurima Nandy takes a deep dive into this industry, and writes about the present situation, the opportunities, and the challenges for senior living to become a viable part of India's booming real estate market. We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at [email protected]. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business and finance. Show notes: India poised for stronger growth over next decade amid AI, climate risks: RBI Wipro’s public investors baulk at ₹36-crore severance to Delaporte B-school grad? You may be paid less this year Govt steps up vigilance against Chinese EV battery In Indian real estate, senior living is still in the junior league Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Thursday, May 30, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: Indian benchmark indices closed in the red for the fourth straight session on Wednesday. BSE’s Sensex closed 0.89 percent below its previous close, while NSE’s Nifty was down 0.8 percent. Delhi hit a blistering 52.3 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, marking its hottest day in history. The scorching summer sun has been draining the energy of Delhiites. Earth sciences minister Kiren Rijuju later said this was “not official yet” and described such a high temperature as “very unlikely” while asking the weather office to verify the report. Unfortunately, it is not just the people of Delhi-NCR who are suffering; the entire country is grappling with a nearly violent heatwave. Moreover, heatwaves are becoming more prolonged and intense. So, what causes a heatwave? Experts attribute this to two factors: One is El Nino, the infamous weather phenomenon frequently in the spotlight, and the second is the presence of high-pressure areas over southern peninsular India. Mint’s senior editor, N Madhavan, examines the long-drawn heatwaves and the reasons behind their increasing duration in today’s Mint Primer. In the world of stock trading, it’s crunch time, much like the final overs of a gripping cricket match. As India nears the end of its Lok Sabha elections, with the last votes being cast this Saturday and exit polls expected the same evening, investors are on the edge. Recently, there's been a notable shift in the stock market, particularly among retail and high-net-worth investors. These individuals, often referred to as the 'Client' category by the NSE, have traditionally been savvy, sometimes even outguessing foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in predicting market trends. However, in a striking move, they’ve significantly scaled back their bullish positions on Nifty and Bank Nifty futures. Conversely, foreign investors, who were net bearish in mid-May, flipped their stance to net bullish by the end of the month. This shift suggests a mix of caution and repositioning as everyone braces for the election results. Mint’s markets correspondent Ram Sahgal spoke to experts who pointed out that the market is playing between a position of optimism and caution. The 'None of the Above' (NOTA) option in Indian elections hasn't quite stirred the political pot as some might have hoped. Despite being around for a decade and touted as a tool for voter dissent, its impact has been minimal. In the last couple of Lok Sabha elections, barely 1% of voters chose NOTA. It has gained slightly more traction in places like Bihar and Odisha, particularly in tribal areas, but it’s still not causing major ripples. To break it down: in both the 2014 and 2019 elections, the majority of the 543 Lok Sabha seats saw less than 1% of voters picking NOTA. About a third of the seats saw slightly higher engagement, with 1-2% opting for it, but only a very few seats saw it cross the 4% threshold. Interestingly, its popularity dipped in 2019. Mint’s senior assistant editor Niti Kiran takes a closer look at the impact of the NOTA option on India’s elections. Chart links: https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/SFqmT/full.png https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/ywrY2/full.png https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/sADPO/full.png The United States is preparing to discuss a preferential trade agreement with India, according to U.S. Ambassador Eric Garcetti. In an interview with Mint’s Gireesh Chandra Prasad, the former mayor of Los Angeles indicated that while Washington isn't exactly eager to sign free trade agreements, it is open to exploring trade opportunities focused on specific products or sectors. This move aligns with the two nations' ambitious goal to double their trade to $500 billion by the end of the decade. Relations between the two countries have been improving, highlighted by the resolution of six trade disputes last June. Following this, India reduced customs duties on several U.S. goods, including apples and almonds. Last year, Amazon called off its deal to buy MX Player, a video platform owned by Times Internet. Now, after almost a year of back-and-forth, the e-commerce giant is back at the negotiating table with Times Internet, reports Mint’s Gaurav Laghate. Initially, Amazon valued MX Player at about $60 million, while Times Internet was seeking over $100 million. Fast forward to now, and MX Player's situation has worsened. Its valuation has dropped further due to financial struggles, including a substantial debt of about ₹2,500 crore (roughly $300 million). While Amazon remains interested, it has made it clear that it won't take on that debt. We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at [email protected]. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business an

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Wednesday, May 29, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: The Indian equity markets fell slightly on Tuesday. Nifty was down by 0.19 percent, while the Sensex dropped by 0.29 percent. We've got a pretty hot edition for you today: a lot of our top stories of the day have to do with the summer. Let's get into it. The summers are here — and with it, comes enormous demand for power. Temperatures are a good indicator of the demand for electricity, but that can vary a lot for a given place — and even on the same day. 2024 is shaping up to be warmer than last year , which would mean that India's power demand will peak again at some point in the next few weeks. Can India keep up with this fluctuating demand? Our partners at How India Lives . com try and answer that in five succinct charts. https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/kbPDA/full.png The heatwave is also bad news for automakers. Fewer people are stepping out to escape the sun, and in turn, fewer prospective buyers are going to the showroom to look at cars. Sales in May are sharply down from the same period a year ago, reports Alisha Sachdev. But the heatwave isn't the only one at fault: the election cycle, as well as a lack of auspicious days are also to blame. To counter that, dealerships are offering widespread discounts and doorstep deliveries. If you're in the market for a new set of wheels, now might be the time to capitalise. Despite a record harvest, wheat prices are still rising. Lower production due to untimely rains in some states has marred the distribution for wheat. This might push the Indian government to allow the import of wheat, which is currently banned. While currently wheat prices are fine, they might steadily but surely rise as there's less wheat stock in the market. Sayantan Bera explores the current predicament and the future outlook in this Mint Primer. https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/0B1nT/full.png For global media conglomerate Walt Disney, a particular piece of inheritance in India has turned into a white elephant. When Disney bought out 21st century Fox, it also received a 30 percent share of Tata's DTH company, Tata Play. However, sources told Gaurav Laghate that Disney wants nothing to do with this business. The Tata Group has refused to buy Disney out, and other buyers aren't interested either — further complicating the matter. The Tatas had hoped to IPO this company in at least three different instances, but decided against it. Tata Play has now become the strange DTH that nobody wants to play with. https://www.livemint.com/lm-img/img/2024/05/27/600x338/HULU-EVALUATION-DISNEY-COMCAST-1_1715095044262_1716804336688.JPG The Indian society isn't firmly patriarchal anymore: women now have various rights, and more importantly, cash in hand. Romita Datta's on-ground report from Kolkata during this election season proves that point. A host of women-centric schemes by the BJP government have made women in rural and semi-urban areas quite independent. More women are now registering as voters , and according to one research report from the State Bank of India, the 2029 national election will see more women voters than men. So, it's time for campaigns to focus on women now, as political parties see huge returns from them. The numbers make that clear too, Romita writes. https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/SXMyh/full.png https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/7TzBH/full.png We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at [email protected]. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business and finance. Show notes: Can India keep up with the ebbs and flows of power demand? Heatwave cooks car sales in May, footfall stalls in car showrooms Our daily bread’s getting hot. Can imports help? The curious case of Disney’s 30% stake in Tata Play Why political parties are breaking the bank to win over women voters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Tuesday, May 28, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: Indian benchmark equity indices touched their all-time highs intraday trading on Monday only to end the session on a muted note. The Sensex touched a new high of 76,009 points before climbing down and closing 0.03 per cent below its previous close. Similarly, the Nifty touched an all-time high of 23,110 points, only to close 0.11 per cent below its previous close. As the Lok Sabha election reaches its final stretch, with the last phase of polling scheduled for this Saturday, Mint’s Plain Facts series on the government’s schemes brings an overview of the PM Awas Yojana (Gramin) - a rural housing scheme. Originally evolving from the Congress-era Indira Awaas Yojana, PMAY-G has targeted 60% of its homes for SC/ST families, managing to reach about 11.4 million households. Launched in 2016, the scheme covers roughly 22% of India's rural SC/ST population, according to the 2011 Socio-Economic Caste Census. One standout feature of PMAY-G is the substantial ownership by women, who individually or jointly own nearly 72% of the houses constructed under the scheme—a stark contrast to the national rate of 43%. However, despite these impressive numbers, the implementation of PMAY-G has been uneven. Most houses were constructed in a concentrated period from 2019 to 2021, with recent years showing a slowdown. Moreover, the financial model supporting PMAY-G involves substantial central funding and a significant reliance on unskilled labour from the rural job guarantee scheme. Click on the link in the show notes to see the charts and interactive maps prepared by Mint’s data team and senior editor Nandita Venkatesan. Markets too are reacting to the final leg of the Lok Sabha election. Signs of restored investor confidence are emerging in the equity markets. The net value of marketwide options' open position saw a drastic reduction, from ₹4.96 trillion on May 7 to ₹91,149 crore by May 24, reflecting a shift in market sentiment. This decrease is significant as it indicates a wave of short covering. This means investors are unwinding their bets against the market. Mint’s markets correspondent Ram Sahgal spoke to market insiders and mutual fund executives who see this as an expectation of political continuity at the centre. People for years have been getting intellectual property rights protected for their own innovations. Be it technological innovations or a brand symbol - IP or intellectual property rights cover all of them. However, recently, Bollywood bigwigs Jackie Shroff and Anil Kapoor won legal protections for their iconic phrases "bhidu" and "jhakaas," stirring quite the pot about creative freedom. Essentially, they've set a legal boundary that prevents anyone from using their catchphrases, or even their images and voices, without permission. This move is part of a trend where celebs are locking down their personal brand elements to control how they're used, especially in our digital world. Experts now warn that this aggressive enforcement of personality rights could stifle creative content and legitimate freedom of expression. Mint’s legal correspondent Krishna Yadav spoke to experts who pointed out that if celebrities push too hard on these rights, we might see a serious drop in the variety of creative content online. While there’s no specific law in India for personality rights, the courts recognize them under the right to privacy. And yes, celebs can trademark their names and unique attributes. With more celebrities likely to follow suit, digital content creators are in a tight spot. India's highway building spree has hit a bit of a speed bump. Over the last decade, we've seen the construction pace shoot up from less than 12 km a day back in 2013-14 to a peak of 37 km per day in 2020-21. But now, it looks like things are slowing down. Last year, the government managed about 34 km per day, and it seems like we'll see even less this year. Estimates suggest highway building might drop to around 31 km per day. So, what's behind this slowdown? There's been some stalling with project cost approvals under the Bharatmala Pariyojana, thanks to the rising prices of raw materials and land. Plus, there's been a snag in the execution of projects awarded under the hybrid annuity model. Mint’s Sumant Banerji explains why the pace of highway construction is seeing a slowdown, in today’s Mint Primer. India's FMCG sector has been on a roll, especially in the rural areas. After some tough years marked by demonetization, financial crises, and a global pandemic, rural India is finally seeing some sun. The latest figures tell us that for the first time in over a year, rural shoppers are buying more, outpacing their urban peers with a 7.6% jump in demand. This comes after a pretty steady climb from a more modest 5.7% rise in urban areas. Now, what’

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Monday, May 27, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: The seventh and final phase of the 2024 general elections will conclude this week. Despite numerous rallies and manifesto releases, the parties' economic plans remain unclear. Puja Mehra raises a critical question to the two main blocs: how will they kick-start India's economic progress? She argues that both parties' plans have glaring loopholes. The prime minister must justify the modest economic progress over the past decade of his party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, while the INDIA coalition must specify the source of their planned economic development. Mehra also poses open-ended questions about corporate tax policies and the relationship between public and private investment. Be sure to read this piece for thought-provoking queries about the country's future, regardless of who comes to power. While election results are yet to be announced, the central government is already planning for the next term. The Centre aims to significantly scale up its interest-free loans to states to boost capital expenditure. Rhik Kundu reports that this initiative will be part of the full budget, set to be released in July. The government has currently earmarked 75,000 crore rupees for this scheme. To qualify, states must implement several reform-oriented structural changes in sectors such as housing and vehicle scrappage. Facebook has faced widespread criticism over its content moderation policies, leading it to contract IT giant Cognizant to filter out harmful content. Cognizant directed its staff to manually review reported content to determine its suitability for posting. However, these employees, who have since left the firm, are now suing Cognizant. They allege that the reviews were extreme in nature and high in volume. The 14 plaintiffs claim the work was misrepresented to them and that they now suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result. Varun Sood provides the details of the latest issue facing Cognizant. Eleven successive quarters of net profit, an EBITDA margin of around 25 percent, and a stock price increase of nearly 200 percent—any chief executive would be delighted with these numbers. But Amur Lakshminarayanan has just one question: what's next? Lakshminarayanan, the MD and CEO of Tata Communications, is now in his fifth year at the helm. The Trichy-born engineer has successfully diversified Tata Communications' revenue streams, including an exciting new venture into live streaming sports events. Right before the pandemic, Tata Communications also began modernizing its operations with artificial intelligence—a move that has paid off dividends. Arun Janardhan profiles Lakshminarayanan in this "Business of Life" piece for Mint Lounge. There are necessities, and then there are luxuries. Common Indian wisdom says it's always a good idea to buy a house. But what if you aim for a luxurious one? Generally, no financial advisor would recommend overextending yourself to buy a house beyond your means. However, Shah Rukh Khan differs in philosophy, suggesting that buying a more expensive house will motivate you to work harder to achieve it. Vivek Kaul, in his trademark writing style, explores this concept—examining whether it makes financial and common sense to follow this model. He provides answers through a narrative involving a young couple and their family's desires, making for an informative yet entertaining read. We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at [email protected]. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business and finance. Show notes: Questions on India's economy that Modi and Gandhi should answer Centre's interest-free loans to states could be scaled up in the full budget Ex-Cognizant staff sue over mental health harm from Facebook work Amur Lakshminarayanan: The communicator Why SRK’s home-buying guide doesn’t apply to everyone Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Friday, May 24, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: India’s stock markets had a great Thursday, with the Nifty and Sensex benchmarks each rising more than 1.6% to close at record highs. As a result, India's stock markets are now valued at over 5 trillion dollars, writes Dipti Sharma. Banking stocks, which have largely underperformed this year, also saw significant gains. Additionally, investor sentiment was boosted by the Prime Minister's projection that the stock markets would hit record highs on 4 June if the BJP returns to power with a comfortable majority. Zomato, on the other hand, rose just about a per cent yesterday. However, its share price has surged over 50 per cent since the beginning of the year. The food delivery company distinguishes itself from its startup peers as a consistently profitable and innovative entity. However, Zomato wasn't always this way—it spent its first four years burning through investor money. TN Hari, a senior executive with multiple growth-stage startups, chronicles Zomato's journey from a struggling startup to an investor darling. Paytm, another startup, which listed around the same time as Zomato, has faced a contrasting fate. Yesterday, Paytm's shares dropped nearly 3 per cent, bringing its total decline in 2024 to over 44 per cent. When the Reserve Bank of India cancelled its banking licence, Paytm's share price cracked. That has had an impact on its employees as well, who have flooded the job market with their resumes. Shayan Ghosh and Devina Sengupta report about the fintech's challenges. While Paytm hasn't resorted to any layoffs, yet, employees are concerned about potential cuts and career stagnation. If you're hiring, expect to see resumes from Paytm employees soon. Every year, India adds to its electric power generation capacity, a necessity given the record highs in electricity consumption we hit annually. With summer officially here, the demand for electronic items to keep cool has surged. However, June might bring with it a power crisis. As N. Madhavan writes, the power deficit in June is expected to be the highest in 14 years. Night-time demand is projected to reach 235 gigawatts, while supply lags at only 221 gigawatts. In response, the government has reopened old coal plants and plans to open new ones to meet this demand. Despite these efforts, power cuts are likely this year. These days, it seems only brands text me on WhatsApp. The app, once a cheap way to communicate with friends and family, has become a platform for endless coupons and shopping offers. This shift began a few years ago when Meta, WhatsApp's parent company, integrated commercial features into the messaging app. According to our reporter Gulveen Aulakh, this trend will only become more widespread. Gulveen spoke with Sandhya Devanathan, the head of Meta India, who said that conversational commerce is set to be a priority for Meta. Users will be able to chat with bots and shop for goods directly. Meta is targeting the 350 million Indians who have already used UPI for payments, believing they will be more receptive to online shopping on WhatsApp. We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at [email protected]. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business and finance. RBI largesse catapults market to fresh high Profits delivered: What Zomato’s sizzling results teach investors, VCs Paytm, its payments bank employees seek greener pastures Power crisis: Are we in for another sizzling summer? Chat-based e-commerce key priority for WhatsApp: Meta India head Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Thursday, May 23, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started. Indian benchmark equity indices closed higher on Wednesday, driven by positive cues from global markets and strong Q4 earnings reports from major companies. The Sensex climbed 267 points, closing 0.36% higher than the previous session. The Nifty remained relatively flat, gaining a modest 22 points. For decades, the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have been a beacon of hope for millions of Indians aspiring to build a stable and strong career. However, this year, IITians are struggling to get placed. The anxiety at IITs is palpable, with hundreds of students from the 2024 batch still jobless even after the second round of placements. The traditional powerhouse of engineering talent is now casting a wider net, reaching out to startups, alumni, and exploring new industry segments to secure opportunities for its students. In particular, IIT Bombay reports that out of 1,973 students registered for placements, 1,387 have secured jobs in the first and second phases. Yet, 300 to 400 students are still searching for employment. To address this, the placement teams are proactively contacting previous recruiters and broadening their search to include companies offering lower starting salaries than before. The challenge is more acute this year due to several large IT firms scaling back campus hires, a direct consequence of the economic downturn which has tightened budgets and led to job cuts across sectors. The newer IITs are feeling the pinch as well, navigating their placement season with cautious optimism. Mint’s careers correspondent Devina Sengupta, along with Pratishtha Bagai, report on a challenging placement season at the IITs. Amid a severe heatwave and unpredictable weather patterns, India is grappling with a rise in health issues such as heatstrokes and vector-borne diseases like dengue. In response, the health ministry has introduced an initiative that feels more necessary now than ever: including climate change in the medical curriculum. Medical students could soon be learning about climate change and its effects. The proposed course aims to prepare future medical professionals to better understand and tackle health challenges directly linked to climate fluctuations. Given the complexity of diagnosing conditions like heatstroke and managing emerging diseases like monkeypox, which are exacerbated by climate shifts, this educational update seems timely. Mint’s health and pharma correspondent, Somitra Ghosh, reports on the proposed inclusion, which could help our healthcare professionals deal with climate change more efficiently. The Indian state has been in existence for close to 77 years, yet a basic necessity like clean water for all remains a challenge. The Jal Jeevan Mission, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 15, 2019, aims to provide safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections to all rural households by 2024. While it has made significant strides, achieving 76.6% coverage of the estimated 193 million rural households, it still faces the challenge of ensuring these facilities are fully functional and sustainable.The initiative has seen substantial uptake, with 11 states and Union territories reaching 100% coverage. However, states like West Bengal and Rajasthan lag, with less than half of rural households connected. The discrepancy often stems from variations in local implementation and reliance on state-level schemes. In the second instalment of a new Plain Facts series by Mint’s data team, Shuja Asrar and Payal Bhattacharya examine the progress the Jal Jeevan Mission has made in rural parts of the country. Click on the link in the show notes to see the charts and interactive maps prepared by Shuja, Payal, and the data team. Indian carmakers are pushing back against new fuel efficiency standards proposed by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE). The BEE aims to align with Europe's stringent vehicle emission norms, targeting carbon emissions of about 70 grams per kilometre by 2030. Automakers argue that this target is too ambitious, given that gas-powered vehicles will likely remain dominant for the next decade despite ongoing electrification efforts. The BEE, advised by the U.S.-based International Council on Clean Transportation, is advocating for these strict standards to enhance carbon reduction efforts and accelerate the shift to electric vehicles. This would involve hefty penalties for carmakers that fail to comply. Mint’s auto correspondent, Alisha Sachdev, spoke to industry insiders who warn that such stringent rules could drastically impact sales and jobs, as EV technology in India isn't as advanced as in Europe, and the charging infrastructure is still underdeveloped. Navigating generational differences at work has always been a challenge, but th

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Wednesday, May 22, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started. Indian benchmark indices climbed off the day's high to close on a mixed note on Tuesday. Sensex fell marginally by 52 points to end the day 0.07 percent below its previous close while Nifty rose 27 points to close 0.12 per cent higher. India's IPO market is heating up and could be on track to set a new record in FY25. The apparent surge in enthusiasm seems to defy the usual election-season jitters. Just two months into the financial year, new share offerings valued at more than Rs 50,000 crore are already in the pipeline. This figure is fast approaching the nearly Rs 62,000 crore that 76 companies raised through mainboard IPOs in FY24. Well-known companies such as Ola Electric Mobility, Swiggy, and NSDL are among those that have filed for IPOs with the Securities and Exchange Board of India, and with heavy hitters like Tata Capital and Hexaware Technologies also expected to join the fray, the buzz is undeniable. Mint’s Dipti Sharma and Ranjani Raghavan spoke to market experts who are particularly bullish on the IPO scene. They predict the number and size of IPOs in FY25 could double those of the previous year. Munish Aggarwal of Equirus echoed this optimism and suggested that barring any major volatility, issuances could top ₹1.5 trillion this year—a milestone previously achieved only in FY22. The growing IPO market isn't just about raising more funds; it's a testament to the maturing of India's primary markets. The expanding real estate market has seen a distinct shift in dynamics that has particularly affected the availability and sales of affordable housing. Over the past five years, there's been a noticeable decline in the sale of homes priced ₹40 lakh or less in top Indian cities, even as the overall property sector has seen a recovery. The share of affordable housing in total home sales dropped dramatically from 38% in 2019 to just 19% by 2023, with a slight increase to 20% in early 2024. This trend is mirrored in the supply of new budget housing projects, which plummeted from 40% to 18% over the same period. Conversely, the luxury housing segment has thrived during this period. Benefiting from the real estate upcycle post-pandemic, luxury homes have seen an increase in both supply and sales. So, is there a way the affordable housing market could see a recovery? In which cities is this trend most visible? And has the government decided to step in? Mint’s Madhurima Nandy tackles these questions in today’s Mint Primer. Just days after the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, Norway’s Norges Bank, blacklisted its ports business, Gautam Adani's conglomerate is setting up a $3 billion fund to enhance its global ports capacity significantly. The Adani Group aims to create a strong presence in the crucial international trade corridor linking India with Europe through Central and West Asia, two company insiders told Mint’s senior editor Anirudh Laskar. The move is part of a strategic push to capitalise on the increasing export demands for commodities such as iron-ore and coal from India. The plan includes a substantial 25-30% increase in international port capacity over the next two years, primarily through acquisitions. The expansion will see Adani's current container-handling capacity increase from about 600 million metric tons a year to 800 million. Have you ever wondered how India’s polling stations have evolved since Independence? In the latest instalment of Mint’s election data series, Nandita Venkatesan looks at the math around India’s polling stations. As India’s population has grown, the number of polling stations has skyrocketed from just over 200,000 in the 1960s to one million in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The average number of voters per station has declined, however, from more than 1,000 per booth in the 1960s to 879 in 2019, thanks to efforts to make voting less of a hassle. But here’s where it gets interesting — not all polling stations are under the same pressure. In 2019, places in Kerala, Bihar and Rajasthan recorded the highest number of voters per station, while those in northeastern states such as Manipur, Mizoram, and Arunachal Pradesh had among the fewest voters each. Click the link in the show notes to read the full story, illustrated with charts and an interactive map prepared by Nandita and her team. E-commerce major Flipkart is feeling the heat from quick-commerce companies such as Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, and Zepto. Having started by delivering groceries, these platforms now offer everything from electronics to personal care items, encroaching on Flipkart’s turf. They’ve mastered the art of ultra-fast delivery, delivering products in 15-20 minutes from dark stores and reshaping consumer expectations in the process. The rise of quick commerce has been nothing short of explosive. Th

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Tuesday, May 21, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started. No stock market updates from us today as the markets remained shut on Monday as Mumbai went to the polls. Yesterday, Iran's interior minister confirmed that the country's leader, Ebrahim Raisi, had died in a helicopter crash that also killed the country’s foreign minister. We invited Elizabeth Roche, an associate professor at Jindal University, to write about the implications of this tragedy. Roche also answers what's next for Iran, and how this will affect India, the Middle East, and the West. A couple of weeks ago, a research paper by Banaras Hindu University sparked widespread worries among Indians. The paper said a significant number of people faced adverse side-effects after taking Covaxin, the indigenously developed covid vaccine. Bharat Biotech, which developed the vaccine, brushed off the concerns, pointing to other studies that proved the vaccine's safety record. Now, the government is stepping in to dismiss any concerns: the Indian Council of Medical Sciences said that BHU's study was poorly designed, and had no control group of unvaccinated individuals to compare with. Priyanka Sharma writes that the participants were contacted by telephone, and no physical examination was conducted. This ought to put Covaxin users at ease. The Reserve Bank of India has reprimanded a host of financial entities lately, from Paytm to Kotak Mahindra Bank and Bank of Baroda. Under governor Shaktikanta Das, the banking regulator is doing its best to whip every lender into shape. Prior to Das, Raghuram Rajan was at the helm. His goal was cleaning up banks' balance sheets, while Das wants to ensure better governance. But as Shayan Ghosh writes, the way the RBI has been going about this is interesting: it is now not afraid of taking big decisions. Earlier, the central bank relied on fines and warnings. Today, it is cancelling banking licences and preventing companies from taking on new customers — essentially hurting the core of their business. Shayan takes a deep dive into the RBI's practices, and why it's resorting to such measures to protect citizens. If you go to buy an electric vehicle, you'll realise that one big advantage EVs have over their fossil fuel-counterparts is that they don't carry any road tax. For example, in Karnataka, the road tax for petrol cars can be up to 17 percent of the car's price. This is an incentive from the government for companies and buyers to go green. But you don't have to electrify yourself fully to get discounts from the government. Take for example, ethanol-powered cars. Alisha Sachdev reports that union road minister Nitin Gadkari expressed interest in lowering the taxes on ethanol and ethanol-blend cars from anywhere between 2 and 14 percent. This would significantly lower the cost of cars that use either pure ethanol or a blend of ethanol and petrol, called flex-fuel cars. While flex-fuel cars aren't yet produced in India, Gadkari claims they pollute even less than EVs. In the battle between electric and petrol, ethanol seems to have gained the political upper hand. It's a good time to be a premium D2C company. Brands such as bespoke apparel maker Bombay Shirt Company, luggage maker Mokobara, and organic dairy startup Akshay Kalpa have raised funds from some of India's largest venture capital firms in the recent past. Sowmya Ramasubramanian speaks to investors who are bullish on this segment, as they see an increasing number of people willing to pay premium prices. Convenience plays a role, too. Sowmya writes that these products are more likely to be available on quick commerce apps than legacy brands. She also writes about the reality of affluent consumers, and how big an audience such brands can actually target. We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at [email protected]. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business and finance. Show notes: India’s ties with Iran: What after Ebrahim Raisi? Govt rejects Indian study about Covaxin side-effects In EV vs hybrid battle, flex fuel vehicles win political favour No carrot, only stick: Why the RBI has gone beyond moral suasion and fines VCs chase a pot of gold as India's growing affluent class goes premium Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Monday, May 20, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: What used to be the poster child of Indian startups and had a presence everywhere, from the FIFA World Cup to the Indian Cricket Team’s jersey - Byju’s - has witnessed a fall from grace over the last two years. The company, which was once a unicorn saw a 95% nosedive in its value. The Bengaluru-based company’s woes do not seem to end. Rajnish Kumar and T.V. Mohandas Pai, advisors on the panel of Byju’s parent company Think & Learn, have decided not to extend their tenure beyond June 30. This adds to the challenges faced by the company, as it navigates board exits, financial troubles, and increasing litigation. Both advisors have chosen to leave due to the company's ongoing legal entanglements, report Mint’s senior editors Gopika Gopakumar and Varun Sood. The advisory panel, established in July last year following notable resignations from the board due to governance concerns, was part of a strategy to address these corporate governance issues. Unfortunately, Byju's continued to face operational challenges, including the inability to secure additional funding, leading to layoffs and delayed salaries. In the past three years up to March 2023, a staggering revelation came from India's food safety authorities: out of 43 million food samples tested, a quarter did not meet domestic food safety laws. Alarmingly, one in six of these were found to be either 'unsafe' or 'substandard,' while the remainder failed to adhere to labelling laws, often misleading consumers with incorrect information. While India’s food safety regulator, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India or FSSAI, did initiate litigation against these outliers, what they forgot to do was inform the citizens about them. Fssai and state agencies have not sufficiently informed the public about the specific manufacturers or brands involved, leaving consumers uninformed about potentially harmful products. The lack of transparency is evident in Fssai’s 2021-22 annual report, which notably omits any mention of product recalls or license cancellations — standard practices in many other countries to protect consumers. Mint’s Sayantan Bera and Suneera Tandon spoke to FSSAI insiders to understand why the central government agency has failed to crack the whip on companies selling substandard products, amidst global scrutiny of Indian packaged food brands. Sayantan and Suneera also break down the challenges being faced by the FSSAI including a lack of testing labs. The Financial Services Institutions Bureau, an autonomous body under the central government, is set to conduct interviews on May 21 to recommend a candidate for the chairman's post of the country's largest bank - the State Bank of India. This decision will be finalised on the same day, replacing the incumbent Dinesh Kumar Khara who is slated to retire on August 28. The candidates in consideration for the chairman's position are State Bank of India’s (SBI) three managing directors—C.S. Setty, Ashwini Kumar Tewari, and Vinay M. Tonse. Mint’s banking editor Gopika Gopakumar reports on the closely monitored selection process. C.S. Setty, the most senior among the candidates, has a background in managing the bank's stressed assets and comprehensive experience across various banking verticals. Ashwini Kumar Tewari brings a strong international and corporate banking portfolio, having managed SBI's operations in the U.S. and as the former CEO of SBI Card. Vinay M. Tonse, who oversees retail banking, has a deep understanding of the domestic market and a record of effective team-building. Last year, online gaming companies in India were hit with a significant tax demand totaling over ₹1.12 trillion from their past revenues, leading to a legal challenge currently pending in the Supreme Court. The GST Council, the central body overseeing indirect taxation, is set to deliberate on this issue, considering the industry's plea for relief from these substantial tax claims. Previously, the tax regime for online gaming was ambiguous, with companies paying an 18% GST on platform fees or commissions, which range from 5% to 20% of the deposits. However, a dramatic shift occurred on October 1, 2023, when the GST Council imposed a 28% tax on the full face value of deposits, retroactively applying this rate to past earnings. Mint’s Gireesh Chandra Prasad reports that the central and state GST officials are currently reviewing the grievances expressed by the industry regarding the notices for the period leading up to October 2023. As the summer holiday season kicks off, the limitations of the Indian passport become glaringly apparent. According to the Henley Passport Index, out of 227 possible destinations, Indians can enter 31 countries without a visa and get a visa-on-arrival in 30 countries. This totals visa-free access to

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Friday, May 17, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: After Wednesday’s fall, the Indian benchmark indices Nifty and Sensex rose by nearly one percent on Thursday. While the Sensex climbed 670 points, the Nifty surged by more than 200 points. As we edge closer to the final phase of the Lok Sabha election, there's a clear divide between domestic and foreign investors' market play, especially in their bets on Nifty derivatives. Retail and wealthy investors, usually called 'clients' on NSE, are really bullish right now. They believe the ruling NDA coalition is heading for a big win, and have ramped up their bullish positions on Nifty futures to the highest levels since November 2. On the flip side, Foreign Portfolio Investors are treading cautiously. Maybe they're sensing a potential upset because they've gone and hedged their massive $794-billion portfolio of Indian stocks by taking on a hefty amount of bearish index futures. It's their highest level of bearish bets since, well, the same date as the domestic bulls. Mint’s markets correspondent Ram Sahgal brings the latest on how the markets are reacting to the national election. The Supreme Court recently made a big decision: lawyers are now exempt from the Consumer Protection Act. This change could pave the way for doctors to get a similar exemption. So what does this mean for you when you need to complain about poor service? Mint’s senior editor N Madhavan explains in today’s Primer. On 14 May, the Supreme Court said that legal services are unique and don't fall under the Consumer Protection Act. It pointed out that the law never intended to include professionals like lawyers and doctors. Instead, these professionals are regulated by their own bodies, like the Bar Council of India or the Indian Medical Association. Here’s where it gets interesting. The Supreme Court also hinted that it might reconsider its 1996 ruling that brought doctors under the Consumer Protection Act. This could mean doctors might also be exempted soon. The biggest sovereign wealth fund in the world - Norway’s Norges Bank Investment Management <pronounced Nor-ges> has blacklisted billionaire Gautam Adani’s Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, or APSEZ. The fund, which has $1.63 trillion in assets under management, blacklisted the firm citing unacceptable risk related to “serious violations of individuals' rights in situations of war or conflict.” Adani Ports became the 16th Indian company to be on its exclusion list. The Adani Group company acquired Israel’s Haifa port in 2022. However, it is unclear whether the $1.15 billion acquisition is the reason behind the blacklisting. APSEZ, which owns 14 ports globally, handles a significant portion of India’s cargo. Norges Bank, which owns 1.5% of the world’s listed companies, had a 0.24% stake in Adani Ports as of December. Mint’s Varun Sood reports on the decision by the sovereign wealth fund, which has shares in over 300 Indian companies. Its Exclusion List now includes 192 companies, with 16 from India. The fund avoids investing in companies involved in tobacco, coal, nuclear weapons, and those violating international conduct rules. For instance, it blacklisted ITC Ltd in 2010. NTPC and Coal India Ltd have also faced exclusion. Former Wipro CEO Thierry Delaporte has recently been quite busy in the stock market. Over the past month, he's sold Wipro shares worth 34.5 crore rupees, bringing his total earnings from share sales since stepping down on 6 April to a hefty sum of 70 crore 63 lakh rupees, or about 8.5 million dollars. And that’s on top of the 36 crore rupee cash payment Wipro offered him as a parting gift. It’s not clear if Wipro allowed Delaporte to accelerate the vesting of his employee stock options or if he just cashed in on the shares he already had. Mint’s Varun Sood and Jas Bardia report on the development. The 2024 Lok Sabha election is in full swing. Politicians are leaving no stone unturned to have their voices heard by the people. And just as with everything in 2024, AI has entered the political game as well. Political parties are using AI to evoke all kinds of emotions in voters. For instance, former Tamil Nadu chief minister and AIADMK leader J. Jayalalithaa was heard critiquing both the central and state governments in a clip released on her birthday in February. However, the Dravidian leader passed away in 2016. Her voice was recreated using AI as part of the AIADMK's strategy to commemorate Jayalalithaa and galvanise support for its current leader, Edappadi Palaniswami, ahead of the election. The trend of using AI to recreate the voices and images of late politicians has been gaining traction across India. The technology allows parties to forge a personal connection with voters, especially the youth, who are new to the electoral process. Platforms like YouTube, Instagram

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Thursday, May 16, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: After a couple of days of gains, the Indian stock markets fell on Wednesday. The Sensex shed 117 points, while the Nifty dropped by 0.16 percent during yesterday's trading session. Fake reviews have plagued e-commerce. But the central government might soon have a solution. The ministry of consumer affairs wants to establish a quality check order to crack down on fake reviews on e-commerce platforms. Dhirendra Kumar reports that these platforms will have to curb these dubious reviews or face action under the centre's consumer protection act. This proposal comes after there were a substantially large number of consumer grievances related to e-commerce on the national consumer helpline. In 2023, the helpline saw more than 440,000 complaints pertaining to e-commerce alone. Canada was the preferred destination for thousands of Indian students every year, but that is now changing. As Devina Sengupta writes, applications to Canadian universities have dropped by more than 40 percent this year. Canada is to blame here — the government had vowed to cut its international student number by a third last year. Moreover, a housing crisis and lack of jobs have also dissuaded Indian students from flying there. Devina spoke to higher studies consultants who told her that this dip is likely to continue till at least the end of 2025, which is when Canada is scheduled to have their next round of general elections. Health-conscious people always read the nutritional value of items when they buy any packaged foods. But what happens when the labels themselves are misleading? To help with that, the National Institute of Nutrition has issued a list of 17 do's and don'ts as dietary guidelines. This assumes importance as more than half of India's total disease are borne out of unhealthy diets. Indian diets are quite low in protein — the guide recommends you to increase your intake of proteins to improve your health. As Sayantan Bera writes, some fruit juices contain way too much sugar and not enough fruit. Getting into mutual funds can be a little daunting. There are some 140,000 mutual fund distributors in India today. These distributors cherry-pick their best-performing funds to get you to invest your money — but past history is not a certain indicator of the future. Some buy through banks because it's more convenient, but banks take a healthy cut out of your earnings. Neil Borate and Sashind Ningthoukhongjam outline some basic advice to help you choose a path through the mutual fund maze. They write about what a good distributor should have, and more importantly, how to spot a bad investment advisor. Remember: if it's too good to be true, it probably is. Hilton, Hyatt, Taj, Marriott — these are some of the most famous hotel chains across the globe. But now, real estate bigwigs want to get in on the action. Varuni Khosla writes that Prestige Group and DB Realty are among developers looking to expand their hospitality businesses. Varuni spoke with executives from the industry who hailed the next few years as the "golden era" for India's hotels sector, and everyone wants a piece of the pie. Some of these builders are co-investing with other hospitality companies to develop properties together. There's a fair amount of dealmaking that is currently underway in this business, so expect a host of luxury hotels to pop up across India very soon. We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at [email protected]. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business and finance. Show notes: Govt cracks down on fake reviews, proposes QCO for e-commerce players Indian students shy away from applying to Canada for higher studies ‘Read that label’ and 16 more food commandments Real estate majors are coming for the hotel industry bearing a ₹10,000-cr purse Where to find reliable advice in the mutual fund maze Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Wednesday, May 15, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: Indian stock markets trended upwards on Tuesday. Sensex and Nifty gained about half a percent each in yesterday's trading session. That was welcome news for Indian equity investors, who suffered through a string of loss-making sessions last week. That's all due to Vix — no, not the cough drop. Vix is an indication of the fear in the market sentiment. If the markets are up, Vix is down, as there is less fear of volatility in the market. Last week, the markets took a turn for the worse as the results of the general elections stoked fear among investors. Vix has been at a 19-month high of late, and investors want to book their profits in case of an unexpected result on June 4. Ram Sahgal writes a detailed explainer on why the elections are causing such instability across Indian equities. When the government launched the open network for digital commerce, or ONDC for short, it was supposed to be a game changer. A year and a half later, only one segment has actually seen some noted disruption: food delivery. Mobility, especially auto-rickshaw rides, are also doing well. But the rest of the apps haven't made ONDC their home just yet. As Sowmya Ramasubramanian writes, apparel, electronics, and other e-commerce ventures haven't fared well on ONDC. Even its success story, food delivery, did roughly 10 million orders, as opposed to 100 million between Zomato and Swiggy. ONDC was once heralded as the next possible success story after UPI. That comparison pales heavily today. Will ONDC be able to pick up some momentum soon? If you had friends in the West, you probably would've gotten some spectacular pictures of the sky from them. Social media was full of colourful skies last week, delighting many. But they were the result of a solar flare on the surface of the sun. This phenomenon can hurt power infrastructure, communications, and disrupt navigation. The pretty aurora borealis can thus disrupt our lives as we know it. Shouvik Das explains this occurrence, their severity, and how we can defend ourselves from a solar flare's negative effects. Godrej Properties is a landmark in India — both in terms of its name, and its real estate business. It has a market cap of 78,400 crore rupees, but its beginnings were quite humble. When it listed publicly in December 2009, it raised just 469 crore rupees — double of its revenue. But today, Godrej Properties rakes in more than 22,000 crore rupees as annual revenue. Its shares have increased by 239 percent in the last five years. There's one man from the Godrej family who can take credit for making its real estate arm as successful as it is today: Pirojsha Godrej. Godrej now competes with DLF, Prestige, and Macrotech in the real estate market. Madhurima Nandy tries to answer a burning question: what next for Godrej Properties? We were supposed to get Teslas on the Indian roads — instead, we got Tesla in the Indian courts. Recently, Tesla filed its first lawsuit in India against a battery seller named Tesla Power India. The Elon Musk-headed Tesla made this aggressive move to protect its brand and name. Krishna Yadav explains the rationale behind this move, which is the latest in the series of international brands protecting their likeness in India. Interestingly, as Krishna notes, the court's decision could also set a precedent for future trademark-infringement cases in India's growing electric vehicles market. We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at [email protected]. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business and finance. Show notes: Mint Explainer: Why the national election is making the market swing wildly ONDC's e-commerce puzzle: Food thrives but apparel and electronics lag Solar storms: How deadly can they get? How Pirojsha Godrej changed India’s real estate business Mint Explainer: How Tesla’s first India lawsuit will affect EV trademark battles Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Tuesday, May 14, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: Indian benchmark indices remained upbeat on Monday, with both Nifty and Sensex closing the session in the green. BSE’s 30-company Sensex surged 0.15 percent while NSE’s Nifty-50 saw a rise of 0.22 percent. Mini-cars have long been the gateway to four-wheeled transport for many in India, but they're facing a bit of a rough patch. Maruti Suzuki, the big player in India's car market, is hitting the pause button on sprucing up this segment. Why? Well, it boils down to costs and affordability. Right now, Maruti dominates the hatchback market, holding about 70% of it, but they're choosing to hold off on upgrades until these cars become more wallet-friendly for the average buyer. Their mainstays—the Alto, Celerio, and S-Presso—won't see significant changes for a while. Maruti's betting that once incomes go up, these entry-level cars will become popular again among first-time buyers. But here’s the kicker: the overall market for entry-level cars has really dipped, from more than 470 thousand units back in 2011 to just over 160 thousand in 2024. Customers are more inclined towards entry-level SUVs instead. Mint’s autos correspondent Alisha Sachdev writes on the shrinking market for entry-level hatchbacks. Nasdaq-listed IT firm Cognizant, which has more than 250 thousand employees in India, is getting tough with employees who are resisting returning to the office. They've warned that continued absence could lead to termination. This move, detailed in a letter from April 15, makes Cognizant one of the first major IT companies to use firing to get people back to their office cubicles. Until recently, Cognizant was flexible about office attendance, letting individual teams decide based on their project needs. But earlier this year, they changed gears and started asking their employees in India to be in the office three days a week. They even began tracking office attendance closely. Mint’s IT correspondent Jas Bardia reports on the emerging trend of IT companies using termination as a tool to get people back to office. Companies like Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys have also been tightening policies around office attendance, linking them to pay hikes and bonuses, indicating a significant shift from the more flexible remote work policies during the pandemic. The banking sector is basking in the glow of an extraordinary earnings season for the March quarter. State Bank of India, the country's largest lender, just posted a record-breaking profit of more than 20,000 crore rupees for the quarter, outshining even Reliance Industries, India's most valuable company. Punjab National Bank is another state-run lender that's making waves, with its net profit skyrocketing almost three-fold. Private players including HDFC and Axis Bank, too have reported strong numbers. However, not everything is smooth sailing. The robust post-pandemic economic recovery has led to a surge in credit growth, especially in the retail segment, which has outpaced deposit growth. This situation has pushed the loan-to-deposit ratio to a decadal high of 80%, signalling potential liquidity and credit risks. Banks are now caught in a tough spot. They need to either reduce loans, which could stifle growth, or increase deposits, which might hurt margins because higher interest rates would have to be offered to attract depositors. Mint’s Abhishek Mukherjee examines what’s behind the stellar fourth-quarter performance of banks and whether the results show the complete picture. Tata Motors experienced a standout fiscal 2024, thanks mainly to the performance of its British subsidiary, Jaguar Land Rover. JLR's margin climbed impressively to 8.5% from just 2.4% the previous year, a boost attributed to better scale, reduced costs for input materials, and strong sales of the Range Rover and Defender models. Additionally, JLR generated a whopping ₹24,000 crore in free cash flow for FY24, significantly cutting down TaMo's net automotive debt from ₹43,700 crore at the end of the previous year to ₹16,000 crore by March's end. Looking ahead, Tata Motors is potentially on track to erase its net debt by FY25, thanks to the continued cash flow from JLR. Mint’s Manish Joshi brings a snapshot of Tata Motors’ fourth-quarter performance and how the growth of its British subsidiary is on its way to a slower lane. The buzz is real! Cinema owners across India are all smiles as they gear up for a slew of blockbuster releases from the South. With big names and even bigger stories, movies like Allu Arjun’s Pushpa 2, Prabhas and Deepika Padukone’s "Kalki 2898 AD," and Kamal Haasan’s "Indian 2," are set to hit the screens in the coming months. Experts are predicting these films could rake in a whopping ₹1,500 crore at the box office. After a bit of a slump, with few Hindi movies catching eye

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Monday, May 13, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: Active investors in Indian equity markets have had a good run: in the last three years, the Sensex has increased by more than 45 percent. Often, the state of the stock markets also reflects the mood of the nation. If the country's economic output is robust, the market trends upwards. As Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at Bank of Baroda, writes, it is often assumed that a rising stock index is indicative of broad confidence in the economy and acts as a foreteller of its performance. But is this really true? Sabnavis argues that broader market trends do not reflect the true picture of Indian commerce or macroeconomic conditions. He compares India's GDP, Nifty, and Nifty companies' profits to make his point. Next time someone says the country is doing great because the stock market hit a new high, you might want to point out that the correlation isn't necessarily true. Investors opt for mutual funds when they want a more passive experience to investing. If you're bullish on one sector, you can even choose a sector-specific fund like banking, PSUs, and auto stocks. But what if you want to reap the rewards from a more risky instrument like cryptocurrencies? Since January 2020, the Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index, which is a collection of some of the top cryptocurrencies, has delivered 500 percent returns. That's where a fund like BitSave comes in. BitSave is a startup that operates a crypto-only fund, and isn't bound by SEBI's regulations as it operates out of Seychelles. We invited Yash Roongta, founder of Alt Investor, to write about this interesting but volatile investment option. AI this, AI that — it's impossible to escape the all-encompassing artificial intelligence. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, is drumming up hype for GPT-5. Some believe that along with GPT-5, OpenAI is also set to launch a search engine that would go toe-to-toe with Google. ChatGPT has also been licensed to a variety of businesses, and makes a lot of money from it. But as Leslie D'Monte writes, companies would do well to hedge their AI bets. Despite the hype for GPT-5, it might turn out to be a dud — that's where the competitors come in. If you've made international summer vacation plans, I must commend your patience. It's incredibly difficult to get a visa to the US or Europe these days. Appointments for the Schengen visa are months away, and you're not certain to get them either. Spurned by Europe, Indians are now looking at other destinations, writes Varuni Khosla. Varuni spoke with travel agents who are curating trips for holidays to places such as South Korea and Japan. Closer home, countries like Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Thailand are attractive destinations too, especially after they started providing visa on arrival for Indians. Europe's loss is India's gain, and Indians are cashing in. India is now a chess-playing nation. Much of the credit must be given to Vishvanathan Anand, India's first, and for a long time, only chess grandmaster. India now has 84 grandmasters. The latest Indian chess star is Gukesh Dommaraju, a 17-year-old prodigy who became a grandmaster at the tender age of 12. Gukesh now enjoys fame and celebration usually reserved for India's cricket heroes. We invited Deepti Patwardhan, noted sportswriter, to take a deep dive into the history and moves that made Indians in chess a force to be reckoned with. We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at [email protected]. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business and finance. Stock market indices say little about economic growth The curious case of India’s first crypto mutual fund Why buzz over search engine may help big tech Spurned by Schengen, Indians are being swayed by the lure of liberal visas Gukesh D and the rise of Indian chess Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Friday, May 10, 2024, and I'm Nelson John. Let's dive in: The Indian benchmark indices ended deep in the red on Thursday, marking their third consecutive session of losses, weighed down by a raft of weak March quarter results and uncertainty surrounding the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The Sensex, which had opened higher, tumbled more than a thousand points to close 1.45 percent lower than its previous close. The Nifty also ended in the red, down 1.55 percent. Spices and Indian masalas are an integral part of the subcontinent’s history and global identity. The spice trade in medieval times shaped India’s colonial history. However, Indian spices are now facing a crisis of confidence. It all began early last month when regulatory authorities in Hong Kong and Singapore suspended the sale of MDH and Everest spice mixes due to alleged chemical contamination. The regulators found high levels of ethylene oxide, a carcinogen, in the spice mixes. The Maldives has also banned both brands, while regulators in the US, Bangladesh, and Australia have initiated investigations. Indian spice exports are substantial, estimated at $4.25 billion in FY24, constituting 12% of the global spice trade valued at $35 billion. Mint’s senior editor, N Madhavan, explains how the regulatory action against these Indian spice companies could impact the $4 billion spice export sector. India’s largest public sector bank, the State Bank of India, announced stellar fiscal fourth-quarter results on Thursday. Profit for the quarter ended in March rose to more than Rs 20 thousand crores. Rising 24 percent year-on-year, the profit was the highest quarterly number it has ever reported. For the whole of FY24, SBI’s income stood at more than Rs 61 thousand crores, yet another record for the lender. SBI chairman Dinesh Khara expressed confidence in the bank’s growth prospects, saying that the lender aims to expand its credit book by 14-16%. Despite the positive outlook, SBI's projected deposit growth for FY25 is expected to lag its credit growth, a trend playing out across the banking industry. Khara remains optimistic, citing broad-based growth across various loan segments, including retail, corporate, small businesses, and agriculture. Mint’s banking correspondent Shayan Ghosh writes on SBI’s results and examines what the current fiscal year has in store for the bank. In 2023, Tesla chief Elon Musk conceptualized the Hyperloop—a revolution in mobility. The Hyperloop is envisioned as a low-pressure tube for high-speed transportation of cargo and passengers using magnetically levitated pod-like vehicles. Despite skepticism about its viability, Satyanarayan Chakravarthy, a faculty member at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, believes in its potential. Speaking with Mint’s senior editor Leslie D’Monte, Chakravarthy revealed plans for Avishkar Hyperloop, a project at IIT-Madras, to demonstrate a Hyperloop stack, including a vacuum tube, at their new campus. This demonstration will take place during the 'Global Hyperloop Competition' hosted by IIT-Madras next January. Despite challenges, Chakravarthy remains optimistic, highlighting Avishkar Hyperloop's progress in developing Hyperloop technology since 2017. The initiative has garnered support from the Ministry of Railways and various research institutions. Russian companies have utilized nearly $4 billion from their rupee vostro accounts in Indian banks over the past 6-8 months. These funds have been allocated toward purchasing various items, including locally manufactured arms. This spending surge follows a period where these accounts saw a significant influx of rupees due to India's heightened purchases of Russian crude oil. But wait, let's back up a bit. What exactly are vostro accounts? A vostro account is managed by a domestic bank on behalf of a foreign bank. The foreign lender can use the account for transactions, including forex settlements, cross-border payments, and investments in the domestic market. Notably, these vostro accounts also facilitate settlements for Indian exports to Russia. This arrangement serves as a workaround for Russian banks, which face limitations in interbank payment transactions following their exclusion from the SWIFT payment system due to Western sanctions. Mint’s foreign affairs correspondent, Rhik Kundu, reports on how Russia is exploiting all its resources—including money in its vostro accounts—to fund its war in Ukraine. Until recently, West Bengal's Chief Minister and All India Trinamool Congress leader, Mamata Banerjee, was notably uncomfortable with overt displays of political Hinduism. She even expressed disdain for the politicisation of religious sentiments, evident when she dismissed the grand spectacle of the Ram Temple consecration in Ayodhya as a political manoeuvre by the BJP before the Lok Sabha polls. However, Ban

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Thursday, May 9, 2024, and I'm Nelson John. Let's dive in: Indian benchmark market indices remained largely muted for the second straight day on Wednesday. BSE’s Sensex ended in the red, falling 0.06 percent, settling below its previous close. NSE’s Nifty 50, on the other hand, closed largely flat, dropping 45 points. The biggest spectacle of Indian cricket is in full swing. The Indian Premier League started early last month and is nearing its final leg as 10 teams battle it out for the coveted trophy, which comes with a prize money of ₹20 crore. The tournament—usually the biggest TV event every year—exhibits a peculiar trend among its fan base. According to a recent study by marketing analytics firm Crisp and agency Kadence, nearly half of IPL viewers don't consistently support a specific team. However, there are some favourites. The survey, which looked into brand-recognition dynamics and involved about 20,000 people, shows that there's a strong emotional connection that goes beyond just victories. Take Chennai Super Kings, for example; a lot of their appeal comes from the 'Dhoni effect.' Despite not topping the table like they do every year, CSK has emerged as one of the fan favourites. Nearly a third of those surveyed from 13 Indian cities said they prefer the team over others. Mint’s Varuni Khosla reports on the survey, which revealed that more than 86 percent of the fans prefer one of four teams. These teams are CSK, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mumbai Indians, and Kolkata Knight Riders. Varuni also looks at how the league’s brand value hasn't budged an inch as ad rates remain on par with the previous year. Since you are listening to this podcast, it is fair to assume that you get your information from podcasts. Now, imagine listening to a podcast run by the government. The consumer affairs ministry is taking creative steps to combat consumer fraud with the launch of a new podcast. Aimed at educating digitally literate consumers about fraudulent practices, the podcast will utilize storytelling to share real experiences of fraud victims and how their issues were resolved. Mint’s Dhirendra Kumar reports on the initiative being developed by the Central Consumer Protection Authority. The podcast is set to air episodes every Sunday across various social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. The government is mulling over a proposal to eliminate import duty on business jets, aligning it with the zero-duty policy on commercial jets. Mint’s aviation correspondent Anu Sharma, along with Gireesh Chandra Prasad, reports on the change advocated by the civil aviation ministry. The tax changes aim to stimulate growth in the private charters industry, which has stagnated over the last decade and a half with only 100-120 operators. The current tax, a modest 2.5%, has been in place for nearly fifteen years under a sunset clause, set to expire at the end of March 2024. The rationale behind this move is to level the playing field between the commercial and private aviation sectors. As of December, India had 381 aircraft and helicopters registered under non-scheduled operations, serving not just large conglomerates like Reliance and Tata but also offering more flexible travel options without fixed schedules, unlike commercial airlines. However, any decision on this duty removal will likely wait until the formation of a new government, as indicated by finance ministry officials. Demand for enterprise 5G services in India's $254-billion IT industry might be lower than expected this year. Big players like Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, HCL Technologies, Wipro, and Tech Mahindra are bracing for slower growth, particularly from telecom clients, who contribute over 10% of their yearly revenue. In FY24, revenue from telecom clients dipped by almost 3% to $8.25 billion. Tech Mahindra took a hard hit, losing 12.1% in annual telecom revenue. Analysts predict a further 3-5% decline in telecom revenue for these firms in FY25. Mint’s IT reporter Shouvik Das reports on this downturn, which could mean a loss of over $400 million in revenue. Amid general elections, the Centre has lifted the ban on onion exports, bringing relief to farmers. Last year, onion exports were banned to stabilize retail prices amid low production. Maharashtra's farmers protested the ban, demanding a reversal. The recent lift, just before the western state goes to polls, comes with a minimum export price and a 40% duty, citing improved supplies and stable domestic prices. But can the decision be reversed? Current retail prices are 56% higher than this time last year, making exports viable. However, if prices surge due to exports or crop losses, the decision might be overturned. Hopes rest on a promising monsoon to boost local supplies. So, are export restrictions common? Does such a move have other implic

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Wednesday, May 8, 2024, and I'm Nelson John. Let's dive in: India’s equity markets fell on Wednesday, with both the Sensex and Nifty declining by about half a percent. However, consumer stocks such as Marico, HUL, and Godrej performed well, defying the broader market downturn. IT stocks, meanwhile, have been on a downward spiral for a while now. However, a reversal in fortunes might be imminent, thanks to 'clouds'—and no, I'm not referring to the impending monsoon season, but to cloud computing. Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Google Cloud have had a spectacular first three months of the year. Historically, the success of these companies has directly and positively impacted the bottomlines of IT firms in India. As Microsoft, AWS, and Google continue to pick more business, companies like TCS, Infosys, and Wipro are likely to benefit as well, writes Varun Sood. This could be some much-needed good news for the IT sector, at last. Following the potential upturn in the IT sector, attention shifts to how the general elections might influence the broader stock market. Generally, the market favours stability at the helm. And a change in leadership could introduce new policies and widespread uncertainty—conditions no investor likes. Ram Sahgal reports that investors are increasingly taking measures to protect their portfolios in case of a regime change, or in a scenario where the BJP secures a win but with a narrower margin than expected. Currently, there are nearly 1.48 million put options on the market, indicating that investors are betting on a market decline. Market experts have told Ram that the mood among investors is nervous and jittery, evidenced by a persistently high volatility index. Everyone loves Haldiram snacks — but how much are you willing to spend on them? Maybe 500 rupees? A thousand? It turns out, private equity firms are willing to shell out a lot more to acquire a majority stake in the popular snack company. Sneha Shah and Ranjani Raghavan report that Blackstone, Temasek, and Bain Capital are gearing up to buy at least 51 percent stake in the sweets-and-savouries maker. The company has been valued at 8 to 10 billion dollars. Currently, the companies are conducting due diligence on the deal. That’s one expensive snack, indeed. Every election season, voters get their fingers stained with indelible ink. This practice, started in India in 1962, has found worldwide adoption as election commissions attempt to eliminate fraudulent voting. Such voting ink is made by a single company: Mysore Paints and Varnish. Originally founded by the king of Mysore, the company is now owned by the government of Karnataka and is a listed entity. Mysore Paints comes into the limelight once every five years, as production ramps up significantly during the general elections. However, as N. Madhavan writes, it is a rather small operation, covering just seven acres. Despite its modest scale, Mysore Paints has always been a profitable and a dividend-paying stock. But what happens to the company if India moves away from using ink on its voters? Madhavan explores this. India’s consumer affairs ministry is bullish on onions. Initially, it wanted to make a sweetener out of them. This was understandable: onions usually have a sweet tinge. But now, the ministry wants to extract tea from the purple vegetable, reports Dhirendra Kumar. The idea of onion in anyone's tea might be off-putting, but the authorities believe they might have stumbled upon a unique, gut-friendly blend. We already use items like lemon, jasmine, and chamomile to make tea — why not onion? Well, I might not try that anytime soon. However, if you feel brave enough, it might be available on the market soon. We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at [email protected]. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business and finance. Show notes: The cloud is building; will TCS, Infosys, Wipro get showers of joy? Investors take cover ahead of election outcome Blackstone, Temasek, Bain eye a big bite of Haldiram Snacks Indelible ink maker looks to make a mark beyond the poll booth Onion tea might make you tear up, but listen to your gut Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Tuesday, May 7, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: The public markets stayed largely flat on Tuesday. Sensex was marginally up, while Nifty fell by 0.15 percent. Linde India, an industrial gas giant, did better than the market indices yesterday: its shares were up 1 percent on the day. In the past two months, the company’s share price has surged by 50 percent as investors have anticipated a windfall from Linde's parent company announcing multiple deals to supply gas in India. As India gears up to try and become a hub for semiconductor manufacturing, there are some unanswered questions regarding Linde's India business. Linde's parent company, which is listed in the US, had announced the proposed business deals in India. Investors assumed that these businesses would be carried out by the company's India arm. However, Linde hasn't provided any clarity over this matter at all, reports Nehal Chaliawala. This is an odd case of a parent company being at odds with a regional unit, and millions of retail shareholders might get hurt as a result. A few weeks ago, Elon Musk appeared pumped to come to India. He was going to meet the prime minister, as officials provided Tesla with a slew of benefits to sell the electric vehicle in India. But at the last minute, he cancelled this trip—and ended up in China instead. Musk was able to secure an approval for Tesla's self-driving cars to be sold in China as a result of this trip. This was crucial for the company: China is the world's largest market for EVs. These are some of the reasons why Musk rebuked India for China, write our partners at how india lives . com. Click the link to the story from the show notes in your app to see the charts accompanying this story. Indians love to shop — and they want their cart to be delivered to their doorstep. While metro cities have always enjoyed widespread service, e-commerce penetration has also improved in smaller towns of India. But it's not just online marketplaces that are reaping the benefits: logistics firms are enjoying the boom too. Priyamvada C writes that companies like Ecom Express, XpressBees, ShadowFax, and Delhivery are earning a significant chunk of their revenue from tier 2 and beyond cities. Priyamvada spoke to executives from the startup ecosystem for this story, one of whom told her that around 60% of growth is likely to come from smaller towns. Who doesn't like to save on tax? In India, the personal finance industry seemingly finds loopholes in no time. Often, these are plugged by the authorities. The rules for a particular type of tax-saving insurance scheme with expensive premiums were changed. Now, any premium above 5 lakh rupees gets taxed at your income tax rate. But since the loophole was plugged, expensive life insurances have seldom found buyers. But fret not: another loophole has been found, reports Aprajita Sharma. For whole-life insurance plans, insurers are offering a complex plan: one could avail a loan against the maturity proceeds of this scheme, tax-free. It's an interesting idea for the time being, but Aprajita recommends checking with your tax advisor before entertaining this idea. Pepsi versus coca cola has been a fight the world over. In most areas, Coke wins by a comfortable margin. But in a particular segment in India, Pepsi has the upper hand: the energy drinks market. You might have seen it in any given shop with a fridge: a small, bright red coloured plastic bottle named Sting. In just 6 years, Sting now makes up 15 percent of the total bottling capacity of Varun Beverages, the main bottler for Pepsi in India. Sting is a hit across social stratas, and at a starting price of 20 rupees, is the most popular energy drink in India. Red Bull created this segment the world over, but Sting is the king in India, and in nearby countries like Pakistan and Vietnam. Sumant Banerji writes about this wildly popular product, and what kind of potential it has in the Indian market right now. We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at [email protected]. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business and finance. Show notes: Will Linde India really benefit from the semiconductor business? Why Elon Musk prioritized China over India As small-town shoppers go online, it’s not only ecomm firms that are celebrating Take loan to avoid tax: a new loophole in insurance town How a re-energized PepsiCo stung Red Bull with Sting Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Monday, May 6, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: Summer's here and it’s vacation time in India, despite the sweltering heat waves and steep airfares. Air travel reached a daily peak in April and it looks like it's going to soar even higher through May and June. Interestingly, the extreme heat hasn't deterred travellers. Destinations traditionally known for their warmth are also attracting tourists. According to industry insiders, who spoke to Mint’s aviation correspondent Anu Sharma, this high demand has maintained elevated airfares. Aloke Bajpai, CEO of ixigo, said that there has been no decline in bookings due to the heat wave. In fact, flight searches for May have surged to record highs, with domestic and international flight searches for May and June up 20% and 70%. This uptick in travel is supported by a shift in the mindset of Indian travellers post-COVID, with more frequent travel becoming the norm, helped by the increase in airport accessibility and budget-friendly options. Tata group’s Titan - the popular watchmaker - is gearing up to appoint a new CEO, marking only the fourth time in its 40-year history that it has done so. Currently led by C.K. Venkataraman, Titan is considering three internal candidates for his successor. Venkataraman, set to retire next October when he turns 65, took the helm on October 1, 2019. He has been granted an extension until the end of December 2025. According to an insider who spoke with Mint’s Varun Sood, the candidates in the running are Ajoy Chawla, CEO of the jewellery division which generates 81% of Titan's revenue; Suparna Mitra, CEO of watches and wearables; and Saumen Bhaumik, who leads the eyecare segment. Chawla appears to be the front-runner due to his significant impact on revenue, although Mitra being appointed would mark the first time a woman has taken the CEO role at Titan. Titan started as a watchmaker in a joint venture between Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corp. and the Tatas in 1984 and has grown into a diversified lifestyle company. Despite the expansion into new business areas like eyewear and perfumes, jewellery remains its core revenue driver. Having an opinion or protesting for a cause you believe in may cost you a job, if you are a student participating in protests across US universities. Recently, campuses like Columbia University, UCLA, Yale, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and University of Arizona have been buzzing with protests over Israel's actions in Gaza. The protests have taken an occasional violent turn, necessitating police intervention. However, the problem for students seems to be a much bigger one. Recruiters are taking notice of students participating in these demonstrations. Companies are wary of recruiting them, fearing they might struggle to integrate into a workplace where individual viewpoints are often superseded by that of the group, and one must know how to keep their opinions in check. Even Google's in the mix, having let go of employees who protested against its business deals over political issues. Mint’s workplace correspondent Devina Sengupta spoke to consulting firms responsible for hiring and HR heads who said they would like to maintain their distance from anyone with political leanings. One senior executive even said that the protesters would end up with a “blotch on their resume.” 2024 has truly been a blockbuster year for TV news channels, starting strong with the Ram temple consecration ceremony in January which spiked viewership and ad rates up to four times for a 10-second spot. Now, with the ongoing elections, channels are gearing up for even bigger gains. They've lined up everything from on-the-ground reporting and expert panels to interviews with key political figures and special election shows. It's all about covering every angle of the national and regional political scenes, and media experts are expecting a 25-30% bump in viewership during the two-month election period, ending on June 4. Advertising spending is anticipated to be massive, reports Mint’s media and entertainment correspondent Lata Jha. GroupM predicts spending of ₹1,500-2,000 crore across various media, with sectors like FMCG, automobiles, and building materials leading the charge in a bid to capture audience attention. Lata also spoke with executives from major news networks—all of whom expect a steady rise in their ad revenues. When HDFC Bank introduced Eva, their AI-driven customer service chatbot, seven years ago, it was limited to answering simple queries. Today, Eva has evolved to perform complex tasks like issuing credit card statements and booking fixed deposits. As Eva learns from each interaction, the role of AI in customer service deepens, with HDFC Bank now automating a significant portion of their 30 million monthly interactions. The shift towards AI-driven solutions is evident

Good morning listeners, Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Friday, May 3, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: Indian markets rose slightly on Thursday. Both Nifty and Sensex were up by around 0.18 percent. Godrej Industries was the biggest loser, washing away gains made by the announcement of its plans to split. Vedanta is another conglomerate that wants to head for a demerger. It has been preparing for this possibility for months, but the group finally has a crucial go-ahead: that of its lenders. Anirudh Laskar and Shayan Ghosh report that a consortium of lenders, led by the State Bank of India and including Bank of Baroda, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, and Punjab National Bank, has given its go-ahead for the proposed split of Vedanta Limited into six different entities. Vedanta will now begin the process of dividing its debt worth seven billion dollars into these new companies. Freshworks now has a new person at the helm: founder and longtime CEO Gireesh Mathrubootham stepped down yesterday. The news did little to excite investors: The Freshworks stock was down more than 25 percent at the time of recording this podcast. Dennis Woodside will be replacing Mathrubootham. Woodside came into the organisation as its president 18 months ago, a period that was meant to be transitional. He has his task cut out, and investors might find him more palatable than his predecessor, writes Ranjani Raghavan. Another reason why American investors have turned bearish is the lack of interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve. For months now, Americans have been anticipating a rate cut. But the Federal Reserve and its chairman, Jerome Powell, have consistently maintained the status quo citing fragile macroeconomic data. Despite Powell's hawkish stance, data show inflation to be favourable. The Fed’s current interest rate is the highest in nearly 25 years, write our partners at the Wall Street Journal. A rate cut now will spur the economy, but the Fed wants to be sure of subdued inflation before confirming any cuts. It's a precarious position, and Americans aren't the only ones watching: every central banking authority throughout the world, including the RBI, looks at the US Federal Reserve for guidance on setting their own interest rates. All political parties promise some form of welfare schemes as a part of their poll promises. Over the past decade, voters seem to remember the BJP's initiatives fondly. These schemes include monetary benefits as well as construction of roads and toilets. We invited political writer Ruhi Tewari to write about how the incumbent party is faring well on these issues. Ruhi visits Assam, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh to speak to voters and the real effects of the BJP's welfare schemes. Turns out these initiatives haven't trickled down well enough to certain people. Ruhi gets their inputs too as the election season rages on. Speaking of raging, let's talk about forest fires. Half of Uttarakhand's districts are currently seeing global warming-induced forest fires. In India, an abundance of dry leaves and high temperatures turns out to be the perfect combination to inflame the woods. Sumant Banerjee writes about these fires—their causes, effects, and what the authorities can do to prevent or contain them. It's difficult to fight fire, but we can take measures to mitigate the damage caused by them, he explains. We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at [email protected]. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business and finance. Show notes: Vedanta demerger: Key lenders signal green light after months of deliberation Investors may find Dennis Woodside a better chief for Freshworks Banking on suvidha: How state welfare schemes can help BJP win a third term Fed chair Jerome Powell projects optimism, but inflation data in driver’s seat Burning forests: We did start the fires that rage Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Thursday, May 2, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: Indian markets fell slightly on Wednesday. Nifty was down by 0.17 percent, while Sensex lowered by 0.25 percent. Following the announcement that it would split its businesses up, Godrej Industries gained more than 6 percent during yesterday's trading session. The 127-year-old conglomerate could yield multiple opportunities, even in a field where Godrej already has a commanding presence. Till now, Godrej and Boyce owned the group's land assets, while Godrej Properties developed the same land. But as part of the demerger, the former entity plans to hold on to the lucrative business, reports Varun Sood. They will only be able to do this after 6 years and not under the Godrej brand name, as per the competition commission rules. A move like this has massive consequences for corporate India, and we're just uncovering the ramifications. The Congress and the BJP are fighting it out in the voting booths. But even prior to that, there's another platform where they are vying for your attention: social media. Both parties are using features offered by Meta and Google to target specific audiences. Meta in particular is helping these parties to micro-target their advertisements to the intended audiences, write our partners at howindialives.com. They analyse ad spends of up to 50 crore rupees, and break it down across their strategies, form factor, and spending on particular platforms. What's common between Byju's, BharatPe, Zilingo, Housing.com, and GoMechanic? There were notable concerns around the governance practices of these startups. Unethical behaviour and mis-reporting numbers from founders led to the downfall of many of the aforementioned startups. As Tina Edwin writes, these concerns have given rise to a corporate governance charter. If a startup adheres to these norms, investors are more likely to find it attractive to invest in. While these practices aren't binding on non-listed companies, founders would do well to pay heed to help establish an open and fair work environment for their employees and investors. Good Glamm Group started out as a company that sold skincare items. It then went on an acquisition spree: first, e-commerce, and then, digital content publications. But Good Glamm's shopping cart wasn't restricted to India: they also expanded their presence in the US. But closer home, their Indian partners weren't paid their dues. A slew of top-level exits, layoffs, and a confusing focus has led Good Glamm Group to a confusing business strategy, write Ranjani Raghavan and Suneera Tandon. As an impending IPO looms, will the company be able to chart out a sustainable path moving forward? It's been terribly hot these days. No matter which part of the country you're in, this year's summer feels worse than its predecessors. Many regions are currently undergoing heatwave conditions. This also has an effect on food inflation: prices of vegetables and mangoes are already quite high. While currently, farmers aren't actively planting, the storage and transport of the previous rabi season's crops is under stress due to the hot climate. Easily perishable items like tomatoes have turned dearer by 62 percent. Dairy products too are feeling the brunt of the heat, writes N. Madhavan in today's primer. We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at [email protected]. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business and finance Show notes: Godrej group could see birth of another property developer Inside the digital ads blueprint of BJP and Congress Mint Explainer: Why good corporate-governance practices are crucial for startups The mystery of Good Glamm’s global gambit Red hot prices and other effects of the heatwave Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Wednesday, May 1, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: Indian markets broke the upward trend on Tuesday ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s policy decision today. Both Sensex and Nifty saw a slump, ending the session down 0.25 per cent and 0.17 per cent respectively. As the wave of Generative AI continues to swell, major global IT companies like Accenture, Cognizant, and Capgemini are stepping up, recognizing the technology as a significant business risk. This shift points to GenAI's growing impact within the tech sector, prompting a crucial conversation about the potential legal, financial, and reputational risks associated with AI deployment. These leading firms have started flagging concerns in their latest annual reports about how the rapid evolution of AI tools could negatively impact their operations. From potential legal liabilities to disruptions caused by fast-paced technological changes, the risks are mounting. Moreover, there's an underlying worry about the technology's still-developing regulatory environment and its ability to deepen social divides or amplify cyber threats like AI-generated deepfakes. Mint’s Varun Sood reports on the cautious approach of IT companies towards AI and how Indian IT majors like TCS and Infosys could follow their lead. The global pandemic changed many aspects of our lives, and one of them was the way we vacation. Covid restrictions across the world gave rise to the phenomenon of ‘staycations’ and ‘workations’. Villa rental emerged as a trend because of this. However, the way we vacation in villas has really shifted since the pandemic. There was a time when these private holiday villas were booked for about 15 days a month on average. Now, they're seeing just nine days of occupancy. What's behind this change? As more of us head back to the office, the need for extended stays has dropped. Plus, there's been a bit of a boom in the number of high-quality villas. Mint’s senior editor Varuni Khosla spoke to industry insiders including the heads of villa rental platforms StayVista and SaffronStays, who told her that these villas are now popping up all over the country. However villa owners are hopeful for a turnaround and modelling their villas around the needs of vacationers. This push towards luxury is helping operators pump up their revenue despite an overall fall in bookings. As the luxury villa market continues to grow and evolve, it's clear that this segment of the hospitality industry is headed for some exciting times. Anant Goenka, the 40-year-old vice-chairman of the $4.4 billion RPG Group, is charting a new course for the conglomerate. Unlike his father, Harsh Goenka, and grandfather, Rama Prasad Goenka, who expanded the business through aggressive acquisitions, Anant is known for a more conservative approach. Yet, after a decade-and-a-half with RPG, he’s signalling a shift towards greater acquisition activity. Anant, who prefers to keep a low profile, has been instrumental in improving the group’s financial health while expanding into related business areas. Recently, he expressed a desire to adopt a more acquisitive strategy moving forward. This includes investing 70% of capital in core businesses, 20% in adjacent businesses, and 10% in high-risk, high-return ventures. Under his leadership, RPG has ventured into new fields like e-commerce and telematics and is making strides in the climate sector. Mint’s senior editors Ranjani Raghavan and Satish John spoke to the Goenka scion for a profile. You can scroll down to the end of the show description and read all of the stories featured in this episode. Awfis Space Solutions just got the green light for its IPO, and it's a big deal for the flexible workspace crowd. If Awfis nails its market debut, it could open the door for other co-working space providers to hit the public markets. Remember when Embassy Office Parks went public in 2019? It pretty much kicked off a trend for office and retail REITs. Awfis could be about to do the same for shared workspaces. The sector's visibility from Awfis' IPO could attract significant capital investment, drawing interest from diverse investor groups like private equity, real estate investors, and venture debt providers. This influx of capital will likely accelerate the expansion and profitability of flex workspace operators. Companies such as WeWork India, IndiQube, and Smartworks are already positioning themselves for potential IPOs, fueled by growth in revenues and expansions across multiple cities. Mint’s senior editor Madhurima Nandy explains what Awfis’ IPO could mean for the co-working space sector, in today’s Mint Primer. Indian Railways, for years has pride itself on being the carrier of India’s common folks. If you grew up in India you are highly likely to have memories related to the Indian Railways. However, the last few years have

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Tuesday, April 30, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: Indian stock markets kicked off the week on a high note, with benchmark indices surging over 1% driven by strong gains in large-cap banks including ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, IndusInd, and SBI. The market rally on Monday propelled the Nifty Bank index to a record high. By the close of trading, the Nifty itself had climbed a solid 223 points, ending the day at 22,643, while the Sensex posted a gain of 1.28 per cent, reaching 74,671. The big banks weren't just showing off; they were closing the valuation gap with smaller banks, which have been priced pretty high lately. Take HDFC Bank, for example. Its price to book ratio is currently at 2.55, quite a bit lower than its five-year average of 3.45, making it look like a bargain compared to some of the smaller banks. Mint’s markets correspondent Ram Sahgal reports on a stellar start to the week for Indian banks. India is gearing up to boost its thermal power capacity big time! The plan? To set up six massive thermal power generation hubs, boasting a combined capacity of 30 gigawatts. With an eye-watering estimated cost of around 2.5 trillion rupees, this is no small feat. The government’s move comes as part of an effort to meet the country's soaring energy demands. These hubs are strategically planned near coal mines to slash coal transport costs, a smart move that also taps into existing resources. It’s like setting up shop right next to the supplier—efficient, right? Coal India Ltd and other public sector giants are set to team up with power companies, pooling their resources and expertise to get these projects off the ground. Mint’s energy correspondent Rituraj Baruah reports on the government’s move to set up more coal-fired power plants even as it aspires to lean more on sustainable energy sources. Unicorns, or startups valued over a billion dollars, are finding it tough to attract investors. Nowadays, investors are leaning towards smaller startups valued under a billion dollars. This year, there's been a notable difference in investment activity. Data from Tracxn shows 318 deals in smaller companies, but only a few in the billion-dollar club. Investors are particularly wary of companies valued over 2 billion dollars. Mint’s senior assistant editor Sneha Shah spoke to several analysts, including Pankaj Naik of Avendus Capital, who notes that investors are scrutinising the potential for substantial returns, especially for companies valued over $2 billion. The dilemma for companies with larger valuations is proving their ability to triple in value within 5-6 years. In the previous fiscal year, promoters of prominent Indian companies including Adani Power, Tata Consultancy Services, and Tata Motors significantly reduced their share pledges by more than 56,000 crore rupees - that is close to 6.8 billion dollars. Data from an analysis of Nifty 500 companies, which account for 91 per cent of the total market value of all listed firms on NSE, shows a 35% reduction in the aggregate value of pledged shares, reports Mint’s Mayur Bhalerao. Of the Nifty 500 companies, promoters in 27 increased their pledges by more than 26,000 crore rupees, a 20 per cent rise. Notably, 383 companies had no pledged shares, and 38 saw no change in their holdings. In the ever-evolving landscape of India’s startup ecosystem, Udaan, the online trade platform for businesses, secured a hefty 340 million dollars in its Series E funding round in December, despite a substantial 44 per cent cut in its valuation from a high of 3.1 billion dollars in 2021. This funding round, one of the largest in India last year, reflects a strategic pivot as Udaan grappled with shrinking revenues and fierce competition in the B2B market. Despite the challenges, including a 43 per cent drop in revenue in 2022-23 and ballooning losses, the funding underscores the potential investors see in Udaan’s recalibrated business model. Founded in 2016 by ex-Flipkart executives, Udaan initially aimed to revolutionise the traditional B2B sector by connecting producers directly with retailers via an expansive digital platform. Over the years, Udaan has expanded across multiple categories, experimenting with various business models, including a foray into B2C that was later shelved. Mint’s startups correspondent Samiksha Goel takes a deep dive into the inside story of Udaan’s pivot before its IPO. We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at [email protected]. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business and finance. Show notes: Top banks power market surge as valuations tempt Amid govt's renewables push, coal-fired power plants hold their own Startup investors are hunting outside unicorn zone Promoters trim nearly $7

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Monday, April 29, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: Over the past decade in power, the BJP and PM Narendra Modi have repeatedly promised "acche din". But reforms are easy to promise, and extremely difficult to implement. Nandita Venkatesan and Pragya Srivastava pick one initiative a year from 2014 and examine their effectiveness. From banking to housing to GST, this detailed story has it all. I'd recommend reading the story by clicking the link in the show notes on your app to also go through all the charts prepared by Nandita and Pragya. If San Francisco is known as the silicon valley, India would make its backyard. Post 1990, a host of Indian companies took the opportunity to provide cheaper, and in many cases better, services to supplant the world's digital economy. This turned India into an information technology powerhouse in its own right. Companies such as TCS, Infosys, HCL Tech, and Wipro are multibillion dollar enterprises that also championed the Indian stock markets. These companies recently announced their annual results, but the numbers aren't very exciting. Indian IT companies are losing out on large deals, and headcounts are dropping. While these large companies seem to be going through a moment of reckoning, mid-sized IT companies are enjoying healthy growth. Abhishek Mukherjee takes stock of the Indian IT sector, providing an important retrospective look and asking pertinent questions for these companies' futures. It's appraisal season. We asked more than 3,000 HR executives and employees what kind of year-on-year salary increments were expected. Nearly half of the respondents in this Mint-Shine survey said that they expect a raise in the range of 9 to 12 percent. Another 25% expect it to hover around 6 to 8 percent. Last couple of years saw widespread hiring as firms rushed to digitise their companies. But a sluggish global economy and geopolitical tensions have thawed these prospects. These numbers aren't the only way to keep employees happy though — a lot of companies will use promotions to keep their workers happy. Devina Sengupta and Tanay Sukumar team up to break down the results of this survey. Hotel companies enjoyed a fruitful FY24, with record bookings and revenues. But FY25 has gotten off to a tepid start. The crucial summer season is too hot for some to step out, resulting in fewer bookings. Additionally, the election season also dampened booking numbers. Large chains like Taj, Marriott, and Hyatt are now offering heavy discounts to lure people in these lean times. While discounts and offers are nothing new, hoteliers are gearing up for a poor summer and autumn, writes Varuni Khosla. Discounts now range anywhere between 15 t0 50 percent — if you're planning an impromptu trip, now might be a good time! Our last story this week is from Mint's weekend edition, Mint Lounge. We invited veteran sportswrite Rohit Brijnath to interview Abhinav Bindra – India's first Olympic gold medal winner. But curiously, Bindra considers himself a failure. It's been more than a decade and a half since Bindra won gold at the 10 metre air rifle shooting competition in Beijing. However, Bindra said as the years rolled on, his pursuit of excellence left him a little hollow, a little unbalanced. Rohit writes that while his obsession got him the coveted gold, he might have had a better chance at sustained success. But Abhinav Bindra in 2024 is a more composed, all-round person: he advises athletes on the Olympian mental health committee. He shares his wisdom with Adivasi athletes. He's also trying to devote more time towards forest conservation in Odisha. This is a fantastic profile of a man who once made a billion Indians proud, but somehow felt like he failed himself — and he's spending the rest of his life trying to make up for that. We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at [email protected]. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business and finance Show notes: In 10 charts: Where the Modi government's biggest bets of each year stand today The good, bad and ugly: Decoding the IT pack’s Q4 show Three in 5 recruiters to offer salary hikes of 6-12% this year: Mint+Shine study ‘Suite' surprise: Discounts rain at 5-star hotels for summer, autumn travel Abhinav Bindra: A champion looks back at who he was Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Friday, April 26, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: Indian benchmark equity indices surged for a fifth straight session on Thursday with BSE’s Sensex recording its all-time high of 74,571 points. NSE’s Nifty 50 ended the day 0.75 per cent higher. Packaged food is a convenience a lot of us rely on. From cereal for infants to readymade spice mixes, packaged food has become a crucial part of our diets. But recently, some big-name brands have found themselves in hot water over their food products. Public Eye, a Swiss watchdog group, has called out Nestle for adding too much sugar in its infant products and cereals in India. Nestle says it's been cutting down on sugar, but concerns linger. MDH and Everest, two popular spice brands, got flagged by regulators in Hong Kong and Singapore for using ethylene oxide, a cancer-causing chemical, to keep spices fresh. In response to these concerns, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India is conducting thorough investigations, including sample testing from various production sites. Sayantan Bera, who covers food and nutrition for Mint, explains the implications of lingering regulatory action on packaged food brands. Is Tesla on its way to India or not? That is a question a lot of Tesla fans and enthusiasts are grappling with right now. Despite India rolling out the red carpet with a new electric vehicle policy aimed at wooing automakers like Tesla, Elon Musk’s powerhouse remains on the fence. People in the know told Mint’s autos correspondent Alisha Sachdev that the Texas-based EV-maker hasn't engaged significantly with state governments or local suppliers, nor has it taken steps to set up its crucial supercharger network in India. Other automakers like Vietnamese EV-maker Vinfast, meanwhile, are making strides towards setting up their operations in India. Tesla on the other hand seems to prefer entering the market through imports to gauge potential before committing to local manufacturing. India is currently in discussions to sidestep a potential G7 mandate that requires all diamond imports to the G7 countries to be tested in Belgium. The G7 mandate is to ensure that diamonds originating from Russia do not enter its member nations. India on the other hand wants the diamonds to be tested in domestic hubs like Surat and Mumbai to avoid escalating costs for diamantaires. India, a major player in the diamond industry, processes about 91% of the world’s rough diamonds and is looking to negotiate with European authorities to prevent a disruption in its exports. Mint’s Mihir Mishra and Ram Sahgal report on India’s efforts to keep its diamond testing within its borders. The finance ministry's latest report is buzzing with optimism, thanks to predictions of a bountiful monsoon expected to boost harvests and keep inflation in check this year. This good news comes amid a backdrop of stubborn global inflationary pressures. Mint’s economy correspondent Rhik Kundu writes about the Finance Minister’s monthly Economic Report for March, according to which India's handling of inflation has been quite effective thanks to a mix of strategic interest rate decisions, robust food supply policies, and eased import restrictions. This has brought retail inflation down to a post-pandemic low, with core inflation dipping to 3.3 per cent in March. The India Meteorological Department's prediction of a normal monsoon paints a hopeful picture of agricultural revival and falling food prices, especially after last year's erratic weather. Food inflation in India eased to 8.52 per cent in March from February's 8.66 per cent, although prices remained high in categories like meat, fish, and eggs. Since the 90s, MTV has been a part of India’s cultural zeitgeist with not only its music but also many of its popular shows. Last month, MTV’s parent company Paramount Global decided to call it quits in India.The American media and entertainment giant sold its remaini ng stake in Viacom18 to Reliance for $517 million. Paramount is not the only international media company to leave India. Previously, NBCUniversal ended its joint venture with NDTV in 2009, Disney closed its Hindi film production division in 2016, and Universal Pictures shut its India office in 2020. Despite India being a prime market for streaming platforms and social media, traditional media companies have struggled to maintain their operations. The reason? Challenges range from the difficulty of creating content for a linguistically diverse audience to the complexities of managing local teams. Mint’s media and entertainment correspondent Lata Jha examines the reasons behind the exodus of global media companies. We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at [email protected]. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your v

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Thursday, April 25, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: The Indian equity markets increased marginally on Wednesday. Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty both rose by about 0.15 per cent. Vodafone Idea, Tata Consumer, and Sun Pharma were some of the notable names that lost a lot of shareholder value during yesterday's trading session. The board of Tata Sons is soon headed for a revamp, with two directors set to retire over the next 15 months, reports Varun Sood. Last month, a new independent member joined. In effect, about one-third of the Tata Sons 10-member board will be going through a turnover in just over a year. The main task for the new board members will be to ensure that the Tata group becomes a debt-free company. The group currently owes over 20,000 crore rupees to its lenders. But through selling of shares in its crown jewel TCS, and other measures, Tata Sons can realistically achieve this goal by next year. Kotak Mahindra Bank received a huge jolt yesterday when the banking regulator barred it from onboarding any new customers online. The Reserve Bank of India also barred Kotak Mahindra from issuing any fresh credit cards. RBI said that serious lapses in the bank's IT services had forced it to take such a drastic measure. Shayan Ghosh writes that existing Kotak customers shouldn't face any hurdles, but this is a huge loss of confidence for new CEO Ashok Vaswani's bank. At Mint, we've been steadily bringing you some in-depth election coverage. For today's Long Story, we invited Ruhi Tewari to write about the election landscape in Uttar Pradesh. UP is inarguably the most pivotal state when it comes to the general election: 15% of all elected Lok Sabha members come from this state. But what issues are UP citizens voting on? The usual, writes Ruhi: electricity, roads, and water. India's most populous state will vote for the party that guarantees them these basic necessities. However, the ruling BJP is expected to win this state again—not because of the Ram temple, but because of an improved law-and-order situation in the state. Ruhi gets the on-ground pulse from Lucknow, Ayodhya, and Mathura for this deftly reported story. If you've watched IPL this year, a host of betting apps would've tried to lure you in. But if you log in, they don't just offer bets on how much Dhoni will score or how many runs RCB will lose by this time—you can even punt on the results of the general election. Varuni Khosla writes that the advertising standards council of India has flagged brazen promotions by these illegal betting apps, but to no avail. This issue assumes importance especially as the Supreme Court forced Patanjali to apologise for its misleading advertisements, and hauled up other consumer goods companies as well. If you've seen any betting apps on a website, chances are you have searched for some betting sites yourself. This is called a targeted ad: catering to specific users' needs, based on their search or browsing history. If you're surprised, I agree: it's quite invasive. To help with that, the ministry of corporate affairs has initiated the Digital Competition Bill. This bill is only likely to be taken up after the national election is concluded, but will help with maintaining your privacy online, reports Gireesh Chandra Prasad. However, executives from the adtech industry have said this will result in fewer monetising avenues. In this battle for privacy versus revenue, who will win? We'll only find out by the end of the year—that's when the bill is likely to be introduced in Parliament. We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at [email protected]. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business and finance. Show notes: New faces on Tata Sons board? Bhaskar Bhat, Ralph Speth near retirement RBI bars Kotak Mahindra Bank from adding new customers via web, mobile app Work is worship: Bijli, sadak, paani are once again the key poll issues in UP IPL, elections are all fair game on illegal betting apps Targeted ads become focal point of digital competition debate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Wednesday, April 24, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: Indian benchmark indices continued their momentum on Tuesday to close in the green for a third straight session. BSE’s Sensex closed 0.12 per cent above its previous close while NSE’s Nifty too ended the day up 0.14 per cent. Are Indians changing the way they travel? It certainly seems so, given the surge in air travel. On April 21, a record-breaking number of over 470,000 passengers flew across India, surpassing last year's record on April 30. India, already the third-largest aviation market after the U.S. and China, has witnessed a remarkable growth in air traffic, more than doubling over the past decade. Experts suggest this boom is fueled by increasing incomes, competitive pricing of airfares, and the untapped potential of first-time flyers. Mint’s aviation correspondent Anu Sharma explores what's driving this shift, the impact on airlines, and the challenges that could temper this rising trend. The conversation around lowering the extra charges on hybrid vehicles is stuck in a bit of a limbo. People close to the development told Mint’s autos correspondent Alisha Sachdev that despite backing from the ministry of commerce and transportation, no real movement is possible without a bigger shake-up of the overall tax system. Right now, hybrids get slapped with a hefty 43 per cent tax, while electric vehicles cruise by with just a 5 per cent GST, thanks to policies aimed at cleaning up transportation. But not everyone's on board with making hybrids more attractive—major local car makers, led by Tata Motors, argue that cutting taxes on hybrids could slow down the electric vehicle revolution. Amid all this, there's a growing anxiety within the auto industry about what future tax rates might look like for electric vehicles as they become more common. Will the current low rates hold as EVs grab a larger market share? The scorching heat wave sweeping across East and South India isn't letting up anytime soon. The India Meteorological Department has issued a heads-up that we’re in for another five gruelling days of high temperatures. This heat wave is hitting just as voters in states including West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Bihar gear up for the second phase of the Lok Sabha election this Friday. IMD has predicted a particularly harsh summer with the possibility of extended heat wave conditions lasting anywhere from 10 to 20 days. An orange alert is out for regions like Odisha, Bihar, and Gangetic West Bengal, signalling moderate health risks, especially for the more vulnerable groups like the elderly or those with chronic health issues. Mint’s Puja Das reports on the met department’s predictions for the upcoming weeks. The Supreme Court of India has widened its lens in the Patanjali case to include all fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies, particularly those peddling health products with potentially misleading ads. This expansion follows a complaint by the Indian Medical Association against Patanjali for its controversial advertising tactics. The court has now asked several key ministries to step up and monitor these companies more closely, ensuring they aren't misleading especially vulnerable groups like children and the elderly. This could potentially reshape advertising norms in India, as the industry heavily invests in advertising, with FMCG companies being the largest spenders. Mint’s consumer correspondent Suneera Tandon reports on the crucial development that could shape the future of advertising in India. One of India’s biggest conglomerates - the Adani Group - is omnipresent in sectors across the country’s industrial landscape. Now Adani Properties, a part of the conglomerate, is making strides in the country’s real estate sector. The company won the bid to redevelop Mumbai’s Dharavi, also known as Asia’s largest slum settlement. It won the redevelopment bid in November 2022 with an offer of 5,069 crore rupees. The area, in the heart of India’s financial capital, is home to about a million people. Group chairman Gautam Adani has in the past expressed deep personal commitment to the redevelopment of Dharavi. The project aims to resettle Dharavikars and transform the area into a prime real estate location, potentially elevating Adani Properties to a major player in the real estate sector. The company, which ventured into real estate under the Adani Realty brand about 14 years ago, has expanded significantly, with projects across Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, and the Delhi-NCR region, totaling 200 million sq.ft. in various stages of development. Mint’s Madhurima Nandy takes a deep dive into the operations and projects of Adani Properties, and the conglomerate’s other real estate businesses, for today’s Long Story. We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Tuesday, April 23, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: The Indian equity markets bounced back on Monday. Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty both rose by about 0.8 percent. The country's largest conglomerate, Reliance Industries, filed its earnings report yesterday. While profits were down quarter-on-quarter, overall profit increased 4 percent in FY24, as compared to the previous financial year. The oil and chemicals giant reported a dividend of 10 rupees per share. Reliance Retail and Jio also reported their earnings yesterday, recording steady growth. Since the results were declared after the market closed, RIL's stock didn't record any significant change owing to the results. Let's move to another oil conglomerate, this time from across the Arabian Sea: I'm talking about Aramco, Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil refining company. Aramco's venture capital arm is interested in the Indian startup sector, and is willing to bet on it. Sneha Shah reports that this arm, named Prosperity7 Ventures, is looking to set aside around two to three hundred million dollars to invest in early-stage Indian startups. It plans on spreading that amount across nearly two dozen companies, Sneha writes. Prosperity7 has a portfolio worth about 3 billion dollars worldwide, and wants India to be the home for its next set of investments. You can't talk about conglomerates without talking about the Adani Group. Last year, the group bought a majority stake in infrastructure behemoth Ambuja Cements, and has slowly increased its share in the company. But the plan doesn't stop there, writes Anirudh Laskar: Ambuja is planning a series of acquisitions to overtake Ultratech as the country's number 1 cement company. A capital expenditure of over 9 billion dollars is in the works, Anirudh reports. This would take Ambuja's annual production capacity to at least 180 million tonnes, from about 80 million tonnes now. But Ultratech too has plans to add to its current capacity of 151.6 million tonnes a year. The Adani group has lots to catch up, at least in the cement sector. Metro cities are full of e-commerce deliveries constantly in action: vans, scooters, and even trucks fulfilling orders round the clock. But e-commerce hasn't penetrated as much into India's hinterlands. That is now changing, writes Priyamvada C. E-retailers like Rozana and Floryo are targeting customers in tier 2 cities and beyond, where customers are increasingly ready to pay more for products but unwilling to compromise on quality. These e-tailers are also attracting enough money from investors to become viable businesses, Priyamvada writes. She also spoke to executives from venture capital funds to assess the scope of startups that operate primarily in such markets. Election campaigns are in full flow. In most corners of the country, voters will be choosing between national or state parties. But very rarely will there be a viable independent candidate. Barmer, a desert-laden district in Rajasthan, might just have that. Sayantan Bera profiles Ravindra Singh Bhati, an independent candidate fighting for the seat of Barmer. He seems to be incredibly popular, and at 26, is one of the youngest candidates across the country. Bhati's popularity seems to be credited to his social media presence. On instagram, he has more followers than Barmer has eligible voters. Sayantan writes about how Bhati's campaign is developing, how caste politics are in play again, and asks the crucial question: will this show and dance translate to actual votes come elections? We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at [email protected]. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business and finance. We'll be back tomorrow with a fresh episode of Top of the Morning. Have a nice weekend! Show notes: Oil fuels RIL’s Q4 show Aramco’s VC arm in talks for India team Battle to cement leadership hots up between Adani’s Ambuja and Birla’s UltraTech The rise of tier-2 online shoppers: Can they change Indian e-commerce? In desert country, a 26-yr-old ‘reel neta’ rises to challenge BJP, Congress Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Monday, April 22, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: The earnings season is in full swing for India’s 245 billion dollar IT industry. Over the last couple of weeks Indian IT giants like TCS, Infosys and Wipro announced their quarterly earnings for the last quarter of FY24. But what about the future of the industry that employs close to 5.4 million Indians? Recent deal wins and Gartner’s forecast have painted a pretty optimistic picture for the IT sector's future. For instance, Infosys just announced its highest-ever annual contract value at $17.7 billion for FY24, and it’s not just Infosys riding this wave. Wipro and TCS have also reported strong order books, with TCS raking in a whopping $13.2 billion in the last quarter alone. They’re all betting on better times post the upcoming US presidential elections, expecting a boost in client spending. Mint’s Shelley Singh takes a look at what the future could look like for the Indian IT industry amidst a rapidly declining workforce. Top three companies in the sector - TCS, Infy and Wipro saw a deduction of more than 64,000 in their workforce. Chocolates are about to get pricier and it’s not just regular inflation at work. Cocoa prices have shot up recently, and not just by a little. Crop failures in big cocoa-producing countries like Ivory Coast and Ghana, have sent cocoa prices up by 133 per cent since last June! Behind this failure is climate change, adverse weather and a crop disease that affects the root of the cocoa tree. India too is set to feel the pinch. This story by howindialives.com breaks down the bitter truth unfolding in the chocolate industry. Even though we grew about 30,000 tonnes of cocoa in 2022-2023, it wasn't enough to keep up with our chocolate cravings. We had to import close to 1 lakh tonnes of cocoa products like beans, butter, and powder last year, and with global prices on the rise, our costs have soared as well. This price hike might cool down later this year if the crop yields improve, but it’s not just about the weather. The cocoa market has some deep-rooted issues. Most cocoa farmers are barely scraping by, earning much less than what their valuable crops should bring in. India’s tech epicentre and the internet’s favourite city Bengaluru lately has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Be it the soaring temperatures in a city otherwise famous for its “air conditioned” weather or the severe water crisis it’s been going through for the past couple of months. Amidst the empty tanks and drying lakes one has to ask whether the city’s companies are using its water judiciously. An analysis of Bengaluru-based top BSE-listed firms reveals an 11% spike in water usage in the last year, signalling the severity of the situation. 56 of the top 1000 listed companies on BSE are headquartered in Bengaluru. Only 45 had usable data, showing a collective water consumption increase to 33.3 million kiloliters in the fiscal year 2022-23. Notably, public sector companies saw a modest 2.2 per cent rise, while private sector firms ramped up their water usage by 21 per cent. Mint’s senior associate editor and data journalist Niti Kiran breaks down the water consumption pattern of each industry in Bengaluru Niti also takes a look at their water management practices. Taylor Swift - the pop culture phenomenon had a terrific 2023, ending the year as the TIME magazine’s person of the year. This year too the pop juggernaut of Taylor Swift - with millions of “Swifties” behind her - doesn't seem to be slowing down. This next story, however, is not about her music. Taylor’s Eras Tour in Singapore not only dazzled fans but also showcased the innovative use of 5G technology, according to Per Narvinger, Ericsson's Senior Vice President for Cloud Software and Services. At the heart of this tech integration was Singtel's 7 dollar worth 5G Express Pass, which offered fans high-speed data priority to stream and share the event. This service highlights a burgeoning opportunity to monetize 5G technologies through network slicing, which allows for dedicated broadband bandwidth tailored to specific events and needs without additional infrastructure. Network slicing is akin to a toll highway for data, offering a premium path separate from regular traffic. This technology is not yet widespread globally, but India, with its rapidly expanding 5G infrastructure, stands to benefit significantly. Mint’s telecom correspondent Gulveen Aulakh reports on this path breaking phenomenon and how a Taylor Swift concert proved helpful in testing it out. What can 70,000 rupees get you? In some cities, it's enough for a month’s rent in a decent apartment. But if you're eyeing a night at some of India's posh resorts like AmanBagh in Rajasthan or BrijRama Palace in Varanasi, that same amount might just cover one night, especially during peak season. Yea

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Friday, April 19, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: Markets continued to fall for the third consecutive trading session. Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty both fell by about 0.6 percent. Markets aren't likely to be any better tomorrow, if the annual results for Infosys are anything to go by. Infosys reported that revenue increased by only 1.4 percent over the previous financial year. FY2025 doesn't look much better either: revenue is likely to grow less than 3 percent. Analysts remain disappointed, write Shouvik Das and Jas Bardia. Marginal increase in revenue, lower profits, and poor future projections: the situation is not kind for Infosys right now Let's talk about Infy's rival, TCS. India's largest IT company is now assessing in-office attendance as part of its appraisal system. Jas Bardia reports that TCS employees who attended office regularly received much better annual pay hikes than their colleagues who chose to work from home frequently. An executive from TCS told Jas that the IT giant has been nudging its employees to come to office regularly for more than 15 months. That led to a directive in January, where everyone was asked to come to the office all five working days of the week. Those who chose to ignore that notice are now facing the consequences. In most parts of India, summer came early — and it seems, is here to stay. But the weather department's prediction of a bountiful monsoon season provides some much-needed hope. Of course, the IMD's weather predictions have often been mocked for being wrong. Sayantan Bera explains this year's prediction in his primer. A healthy monsoon would provide relief to India's sluggish farm economy and poor rural consumption. Equal distribution of rains is more important than the quantity of rainfall, Sayantan writes. That would help in reducing food inflation too. Foxtrot nuts are touted as a healthy alternative for snacks like chips. Now, they are being sold the world over, but closer to home, we might recognise them as makhana . Believe it or not, these white, fun to eat pops actually originate in muddy waters. About one lakh families from Bihar are the only ones engaged in the farming and harvesting of the foxtrot nut, writes Alisha Sachdev. But, makhana could emerge as the next big thing in India's 20 billion dollar snacking industry. Makhana goes up against millets in the health foods category, but is already bigger than the pulse in terms of sales. As more FMCG companies venture into selling makhana, industrial processing might soon propel it in everyone's kitchens as a healthy snack to have with your evening tea. Baahubali, KGF, and RRR had Indian audiences flocking to a movie theatre to watch vernacular movies. But the filmmakers of these movies chose to dub it in Hindi, English, and other languages, making it an easier sell. However, Manjummel Boys, a Malayalam movie, is now bucking that trend: it recently grossed more than 200 crore rupees. The makers of this movie chose not to dub it in any other language. Manjummel Boys is part of a slew of low-budget movies from southern India that are doing well, despite little or no dubbing, writes Lata Jha. Earlier, such movies rarely got a pan-India release unless they starred huge stars like Rajnikanth or Ram Charan. With the success of these movies, perhaps a good story wins over any language barriers. We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at [email protected]. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business and finance. That’s all for today. Thank you for listening. We'll be back next week with a fresh episode of Top of the Morning. Have a nice weekend! Show notes: Infosys projects bleak market to continue this year with paltry growth guidance Not been regular to the office? Here’s what India’s largest IT company did The 2024 monsoon forecast has a hidden warning Made in Bihar: How superfood makhana works its magic Manjummel Boys sets a new trend for southern films: mega success at home Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Thursday, April 18, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party released its manifesto last week. While most of the promises are pretty boilerplate for an incumbent party, the civil aviation sector gets some outsized attention. These promises include setting up of a commercial aircraft manufacturing centre, and turning India into an aviation hub. That would mean convincing foreign airlines to have layovers in India, en route to global destinations. Mint Snapview argues that some of these promises might be foolhardy and mistimed. India needs to make a lot of advancements across the board for this to happen. Economic feasibility and logistical issues are plenty in India, which prove to be detrimental to any such projects. For the BJP to make good on these promises, these challenges need to be addressed first — lest they end up like most hollow poll promises. The BJP has another, Tamil Nadu-sized challenge for the upcoming elections. Five years ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was viewed in the southern state as anti-Tamil. Contrast that to his campaigns in the region today, which are attended by no less than 10,000 voters. BJP is doing its best to garner support from the Dravidian heartland. They are targeting young and first-time voters, writes N. Madhavan. He writes that for the first time in decades, a national party is now a serious challenger in the electoral landscape. Madhavan writes about the history of Tamil Nadu's rich history of regional parties, the politicking, and how the BJP fits in the picture in 2024. In the last couple of months, Modi has visited the state eight times — and the campaigning is making a stark difference among voters, Madhavan reports. At 83.5, the rupee has reached a new low against the US dollar. While this makes exports more lucrative, imports now turn dearer. Geopolitical instability across Europe and the Middle East has lowered the prospect of the US Federal Reserve cutting its interest rates. Since India is a net importer of goods, a falling currency is not a good sign, writes Sumant Banerji. However, fret not: the Reserve Bank of India is likely to intervene to arrest any further sliding of the rupee, Sumant adds. In the 1960s, the space race between the US and the Soviet Union was in full flow. That led to a lot of advancements in the sector. In the present day, startups and private companies are now taking further strides towards outer space. Elon Musk's SpaceX has taken full advantage of that opportunity, making multiple efforts to launch their own rockets into space. Musk is visiting India soon, and some Indian aerospace startups have the opportunity to pick his brain about SpaceX. Shouvik Das reports that at least three Indian startups working in the space sector have been invited to meet Musk on 22 April. The meeting is not likely to provide business opportunities and is more to show Musk the strides that India has made in the sector, Shouvik writes. Does your investment portfolio include Bitcoin, ethereum, or dogecoins? Don't worry if not — these are all different types of crypto currencies. If you've heard of them and still haven't invested, it's understandable: since they are decentralised, crypto currencies are volatile by nature. Take bitcoin for example: it reached its lifetime high of 73,780 dollars last month, but has fallen 7 percent since then. Crypto, often referred to as ‘the Wild West of investing, makes for a very interesting option, and some Indians aren't afraid of dipping their toes despite the risks. Mint money's Anil Poste speaks to H-O-D-L-ers, who are holding on for dear life and investing more money into crypto, despite the roller coaster valuations, tax concerns, and regulatory uncertainties. We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at [email protected]. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business and finance. That’s all for today. Thank you for listening. We'll be back tomorrow with a fresh episode of Top of the Morning. Have a nice day! Show notes: The one thing that stands out in BJP’s manifesto is aviation. Can promises fly? In Tamil Nadu, BJP’s final frontier, a high-stakes battle How the rupee’s fall can impact the economy and what RBI can do about it Can Indian space startups wow Musk with indigenous tech? What drives crypto HODLers despite volatility, uncertain regulations, high taxes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Wednesday, April 17, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: Indian benchmark indices fell for the third consecutive session on Tuesday, influenced by negative cues from global markets which are currently under pressure due to geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. The Sensex closed down 0.62 per cent, while the Nifty ended the session 0.56 per cent lower. Shaktikanta Das, the Reserve Bank of India - India’s highest monetary authority - has recently flagged concerns about unauthorised forex trading platforms, urging banks to keep a sharp eye on them. This has sparked a broader discussion about the need for tighter regulation in India's forex market. These platforms are where most foreign exchange transactions happen. They are primarily used by businesses like importers and exporters to manage their currency risks. These trades usually happen on Over-the-Counter platforms authorised by the RBI or through recognized exchange-traded segments of bourses. So what exactly is going on with forex trading platforms? And what has the RBI done about it? Mint’s banking editor Gopika Gopakumar tackles those questions in today’s Primer. Smartphone companies in India finally have some good news. The scramble for smartphones in the country, triggered by Covid-19 lockdowns ebbed back as the world returned to normal. However, the March quarter has ignited some hope in the hearts of smartphone manufacturers. This past March quarter, smartphone shipments rose by 5% year-over-year to somewhere between 32.5 to 35 million units, according to data from four industry analysts. It’s a refreshing change, especially considering that back in the March quarter of 2021, shipments had peaked at 38 million units. Since then, there's been a bit of a slump. Mint’s technology correspondent Shouvik Das reports on this turnaround which is especially crucial for big players like Samsung, Xiaomi, and Vivo, who together made about $38.8 billion in sales in India last year. However, despite these positive signs, industry veterans are advising caution. The broader economic pressures still loom large, affecting consumer confidence. The market has also seen a shift toward refurbished and second-hand smartphones, thanks to the growth of organised retailers in this space. India is gearing up for the third phase of its airport privatisation plan. More airports are expected to see private stakeholders after the upcoming election. Officials close to the matter told Mint’s aviation correspondent Anu Sharma of Airports Authority of India’s plans to sell off its remaining 13 per cent stake in Bangalore International Airport Ltd . But that’s not all — they're also planning to throw the doors open for private bids to manage, operate, and develop 13 other airports, including popular ones like Bhubaneswar, Trichy, Indore, Raipur, Amritsar, and Varanasi. There’s also talk of selling stakes in Hyderabad airport. The authorities are planning to bundle six profitable airports with seven smaller, not-so-profitable ones like Kushinagar, Gaya, Hubballi, Aurangabad, Jabalpur, Tirupati, and Kangra. This mix and match might just make the deal more attractive to potential investors. This push towards privatisation is part of a bigger picture - India’s National Monetisation Plan which was rolled out back in 2021. The plan is ambitious, aiming to privatise around 25 airports and offload airport authority’s shares in big metro airports like Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bangalore. The government is hoping to unlock 21,000 crore rupees from these sales between 2022 and 2025. Mid-budget movies, which really felt the pinch through Covid, are suddenly back in the spotlight. Judging by the impressive box office numbers of films like Crew, Shaitaan, and Article 370 it looks like affordable ticket prices and clever marketing are paying off. Let’s talk numbers. The movie Crew, featuring stars like Tabu, Kareena Kapoor Khan, and Kriti Sanon, earned 77 crore rupees since its release at the end of March. Ajay Devgn’s horror thriller Shaitaan pulled in a cool 148 crore rupees from early March, and the political drama Article 370 isn’t far behind with 82 crore rupees since late February. Andthese films have all been profitable. Even though the Hindi box office saw a 25 per cent dip year-on-year in the last quarter of FY24, small and medium-budget films are making a stronger showing than they have since the pandemic began. They’re now accounting for 30-35 per cent of box office receipts, up from just 12-15 per cent previously. Mint’s media and entertainment correspondent Lata Jha reports on the resurgence of mid-budget bollywood movies and the changing landscape of Indian cinema. As tensions in West Asia heat up, there's a real concern that crude oil prices might just hit the roof, possibly soaring past $100 per barrel if things continue to escalate. T

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Tuesday, April 16, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: Indian stock markets fell by over one per cent for the second consecutive day on Monday, weighed down by rising tensions in the Middle East and resulting negative investor sentiment. India is in for some good news, especially for our farmers. After a tough year with less-than-ideal rain and the ongoing scorching summer, it looks like India is on track for a better-than-average monsoon season this year. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) anticipates that the fading El Niño – a weather phenomenon – will transition to neutral by June and possibly to La Niña conditions by late summer, promising higher rainfall. This could bump up our monsoon rainfall to 106% of the long-term average of 87 cm, which is above normal. This forecast is a relief considering the dry spell last year linked to El Niño, which reduced rainfall by 6% and nudged up inflation. Historically, when La Niña follows El Niño, India tends to see more rain. However, this could also result in uneven distribution of rainfall, meaning floods in some places. Mint’s Puja Das and Arshdeep Kaur report on the latest IMD forecasts. Tata Electronics has sealed a deal with Elon Musk’s EV manufacturer Tesla to produce crucial components for the car company. This partnership marks a significant boost for Tata in the electronics manufacturing space. The Tata Group company is also gearing up to set up a new facility dedicated to crafting essential parts like printed circuit board assemblies for Tesla vehicles. Interestingly, Tesla decided to go with Tata Electronics over its usual global partners like Foxconn and Jabil Inc. This choice seems to hinge on a couple of key factors: Tata’s aggressive expansion in semiconductor fabrication and its strong stance in securing government incentives in India. This strategy is a win for Tesla too, as it aligns with Indian policies that lower import duties for EV makers ramping up local production. These policies require that EVs achieve 50% local sourcing within five years to enjoy these benefits. Mint’s autos correspondent Alisha Sachdev reports on a development crucial for India’s EV and manufacturing landscape. Once the most valued Indian startup, Byju’s is going through its most turbulent phase yet. Now, another exit has shook the edtech company. Arjun Mohan stepped down as CEO of Byju's India after just seven months, handing the reins back to the company's founder, Byju Raveendran. Initially brought in to cut costs and reorganise operations, Mohan leaves behind a business that's noticeably scaled back. It's been a rough patch for Byju's, especially during the January-March quarter, which usually sees the bulk of its sales. However, this period turned out to be one of its worst, company insiders told Mint’s startup correspondents Priyamvada C and Sneha Shah. Debt has been a major issue. Reports suggest that Byju's debt has climbed to more than 200 million dollars in India and another 200-250 million dollars in the U.S. The company is also supposed to pay 40 million dollars quarterly to bondholders—a commitment that has sparked a legal battle as Byju's disputes these claims. However, an executive close to Raveendran told Priyamvada and Sneha that the debts are much lower and that the recent fundraising efforts should cover most of what they owe. The geopolitical situation in West Asia is volatile again. After Iran’s drone attack on Israel, the region is on the brink of a war. And when West Asia - a part of the Middle East - sneezes, economies around the world become prone to catching a cold. That is because of the fossil fuel reserves the area sits on. Rising tensions in the region could spell trouble for the Indian economy, with analysts warning that geopolitical uncertainties might drive up energy and commodity prices. This could fuel inflation and increase the government's spending on fertiliser subsidies, which could force the government to rethink some of its budget plans after the elections. In the budget laid out in February, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman planned for a 13 per cent cut in fertiliser subsidies and a 5 per cent increase in excise duty collections from the petroleum sector. But with oil prices creeping up towards 90 dollars a barrel—and possibly hitting the 100 dollar mark soon—those numbers might need a second look. Higher oil prices mean India's import bill could balloon, given it imports about 85 per cent of its energy needs. Mint’s senior editor Gireesh Chandra Prasad and energy correspondent Rituraj Baruah explore the consequences of the ongoing conflict in West Asia, for the Indian economy and for the government’s promises in its interim budget. In the early 1960s, India was in search of its national bird. Renowned ornithologist, the late Salim Ali, championed the Great Indian Bustard, a to

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Monday, April 15, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: There's a reason why central banks and prominent investors take notice when the price of gold moves significantly in either direction: its track record as the flagbearer of wealth stretches for over 5,000 years. As of last week, gold prices have hit lifetime record highs. Rising geopolitical tensions and a possible rate cut by the US Federal Reserve keep pushing the yellow metal to new highs. But despite much of the fighting going on in the Middle East, India and China contribute to over half of the global gold demand. Traditionally, the price of gold has had an inverse relationship with the equity markets, writes Abhishek Mukherjee. But that seems to have changed in the present day, when both gold and stock market valuations are taking off. Abhishek spoke to market experts and analysts, who pointed towards an increase in the volume of trading across the board. This, combined with most central banks around the world stocking up on gold, has led to a parallel surge. Will this trend continue? Experts, as always, ask you to exercise immense caution. While geopolitical tensions have been high over the last few years, we haven't seen many direct attacks across borders. That changed on Saturday, when Iran launched missiles at Israel. This was in response to a bombing of Iran's consulate in Damascus, Syria, ostensibly by Israeli forces. If Israel chooses to respond in kind, we might be at the cusp of a global war, writes N. Madhavan. Immediately, oil prices are likely to be affected: the cost of a barrel of oil had already crossed 90 dollars last week, a six-month high. An all-out war will cause huge disruption in oil, gas, and logistical supply chains. This is especially bad news for India, where inflation is just about cooling and industrial production is ramping up. The Tata Group has a reputation of never firing any employee, unless they're found guilty of sharing sensitive information or indulging in corruption. This is even more impressive when you consider the sheer volume of people they hire every year. But that is now changing: take the group's crown jewel, Tata Consultancy Services. TCS isn't rushing to fill the roles that have turned vacant after people leave the IT giant. This resulted in TCS having a lower headcount at the end of the financial year 2024 than when it started, report Jas Bardia, Varun Sood, and Devina Sengupta. This was a first since the company listed on the public markets 20 years ago. Historically, TCS's headcount and its revenue had a proportional relationship: revenue would grow with headcount, and lower with more headcounts. Some industry executives are of the view that as artificial intelligence becomes more useful in replacing roles. However, TCS has brushed aside any concerns of AI replacing human roles at the company. When most companies announce that they have introduced AI into their workflow, it usually means that they have integrated a version of AI already available in the market and customised it slightly. That isn't true for Navi, the financial services company founded by Sachin Bansal. Bansal is also the co-founder of e-commerce behemoth Flipkart. Navi is building large language models in-house at Navi. In an interview with Leslie D'Monte, Bansal admitted that choosing this route slows down the development and shipping of new features, it allows the company unmatched flexibility. In his endeavour to create a more customer-friendly banking and financial experiment, Bansal said these steps would help simplify the process that currently ails millions of people trying to access their own funds right now. Next steps? Directing bots to drive sales, which would allow someone to take a loan simply via a WhatsApp conversation. The Indian Premier League isn't just a battle between two teams playing cricket: it's also an advertising showdown between brands vying for your attention. Varuni Khosla writes that online gaming companies and fintechs are the most prolific advertisers. By virtue of being the title sponsor of the entire league, Tata is also relentless in promoting its electric vehicles and super app named Tata Neu . The reported cost for a 10-second slot on Star Sports is 12.5 lakh rupees, while Jio Cinema charges 200 rupees per thousand impressions on its app. Advertisers are spread across 55 categories, a 65 percent increase from the previous year's edition. We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at [email protected]. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business and finance. Show notes: What gold’s new playbook is telling equity investors Iran-Israel flare-up: What does it mean for India? What the vacant seats at TCS mean Why Sachin Bansal can’t resist b

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Friday, April 12, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: Indian markets ended Thursday on a robust note with the benchmark indices Nifty and Sensex both ending the day in the green. Touching an all time high of 22,775 points, Nifty closed just 22 points below it, up 0.49 per cent from its previous close. Sensex too closed on a higher note, up 0.47 per cent from its previous close. Equity trading at record levels, which has been going on for some months now, may soon hit its peak. Fresh data from the National Stock Exchange shows that retail investors as well as high net-worth investors have turned bearish on index futures amid rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. This group of investors became net sellers of more than 16,000 Nifty and Bank Nifty futures contracts, after the NSE index hit a fresh high on Thursday. Mint’s markets correspondent Ram Sahgal reports on the significant shift in sentiment from this group of investors. This comes after 84 days of bullish stance from the group of investors referred to as ‘Client’ by the NSE. Historically, the positioning of clients in index futures has been a reliable indicator of market tops or bottoms. When these positions turn light or negative, it often signals a market peak, while a substantial increase in bets typically indicates a market bottom. Generative AI - buzzword of the decade - is still a concept people are trying hard to grasp. It is important that people understand what generative artificial intelligence is. But it is even more crucial for lawmakers of the world to have a good understanding of the concept because laws around Gen AI will shape the technology’s future. One such law that could prove to be crucial for AI’s future has been tabled in the US Congress. The proposed “Generative AI Copyright Disclosure Act, 2024”, introduced by US Congressman Adam Schiff, addresses growing concerns over the fair use of copyrighted materials in the development of AI models. So what does the bill propose to do? This bill mandates that tech firms like OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, and Meta, which have developed large AI models trained on vast amounts of data, disclose the use of any copyrighted data in their training datasets. So what does the bill mean for innovation in AI? If passed, will it set a precedent? Will AI models be able to train themselves on copyrighted work? Mint’s Shouvik Das tackles these questions in today’s Primer. It hasn't been smooth sailing lately for Tata Group’s Vistara. The airline has been seeing some turbulence after it had to ground 30 to 50 flights a day with pilots calling in sick as a protest against an imminent cut in their salaries. The carrier even blamed botched up rostering for the delays and cancellations. Now the airline’s CEO, Vinod Kannan, has addressed the airline's recent operational challenges in a reassuring message to employees. Kannan emphasised that the difficult period marked by flight cancellations and scheduling disruptions is now in the past. The troubles, as Kannan explains, were a mix of things out of their control like air traffic delays, some unexpected bird encounters, and maintenance that just had to be done. These hiccups threw a wrench into their finely tuned schedules and, with pilot rosters already maxed out, it was tough to keep everything running smoothly. Mint’s aviation correspondent Anu Sharma reports on the latest development surrounding Vistara’s struggle to keep its flights on time and running smoothly. In the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, India’s political landscape is buzzing. Leaders of all political parties are out there campaigning, electioneering and asking for people’s support. The election, which is planned to be conducted over seven phases, will kick off in exactly a week’s time. Uttarakhand happens to be one of the key states going to polls in the first phase on April 19. Amidst the ongoing Game of Thrones for 7 Lok Kalyan Marg, its incumbent, the ruling party’s star campaigner for over a decade and the nation’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi sat down for an interview with Hindi Hindustan’s editor-in-chief Shashi Shekhar. The prime minister seemed confident about returning for a third term. He listed out his government’s achievements during the course of the interview, with special focus on Uttarakhand, which is one of the states voting in the first phase. Modi talked about issues ranging from his government’s approach towards corruption to its stance on renewable energy. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the prime minister refuted any claims of an anti-incumbency wave in the country. He said his party has robust on-ground support. Last week, Thierry Delaporte stepped down as the CEO of Bengaluru-based IT giant Wipro. To fill in his shoes, Srinivas Pallia was chosen. But Pallia isn't just any new CEO on the block; he's a seasoned Wipro veteran wh

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Thursday, April 11, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: Indian equity markets edged higher on Wednesday. Nifty and Sensex increased by around half a percent each, with Sensex closing at more than 75,000. The markets will remain shut today on the occasion of Eid. It's unusual for the stock market to be so bullish close to an election. Past election cycles have shown that the public markets deal with plenty of volatility and price corrections, as nervous traders choose to play safe. But market indices show that investors seem awfully calm this time around. They don't expect any large swings in the markets, and trading volumes have been robust, we argue in our special online-only premium segment, Mint SnapView. However, the current calm doesn't mean that it's going to stay this way: May and June might see some volatility, despite the bullish nature of the market at present. You might be playing the long game or short, but do continue reading Mint to understand the underlying sentiments of the markets as the runway to the general elections gets shorter. Much of India's general election coverage is focused on Uttar Pradesh, and perhaps justifiably so: the state has the most number of seats for the Lok Sabha. But with 48 seats, Maharashtra is the next biggest. Voting should be quite interesting here too: voters are spoilt for choice. Apart from the household names, a host of regional political parties — including not one, but two Shiv Senas — are contesting the ballot. Mint's national writer Sayantan Bera visited Wardha and Nagpur, two cities in the heart of Maharashtra, to bring you an on-ground pulse of the region. Sayantan writes about the hot button issues, the mass confusion among turncoat candidates and the parties they represent, and speaks to locals about how they plan on voting, and why. Life Insurance Corporation, the biggest insurer in India, has a market cap of over 6 trillion rupees. It invests a chunk of this money into other companies, often owning sizable shares of publicly traded companies. Due to its investing power, it often has a unique position among the board members. Anirudh Laskar and Niti Kiran team up to analyse these decisions, which paint an interesting picture: LIC has been an active cap table member in many of its invested companies. In the nine months ending December 2023, LIC had either outright rejected or abstained from nearly 10% of the proposals put forward to it. For more than 40% of the proposals it had rejected, LIC stated governance issues as a reason for its dissent. Most of these decisions were to do with appointment of directors, or their remuneration. The state-owned insurer is turning into a bit of an activist investor, data shows. For a long, long time, VIP was the most prominent branded luggage maker in the Indian market. But then came the Samsons and the Tourists, and VIP couldn't keep up. With margins of only 9 percent, the Piramal family considered selling their business, but decided against it last year. The lack of consistency might also cost them: VIP has seen three managing directors in the last three years. Mint's Dipti Sharma and Ranjani Raghavan speak to Neetu Kashiramka on the newest MD's three-year plan to revive the business. Kashiramka remains grounded, and wants to improve margins in her tenure before the owners contemplate a stake sale again. Can VIP shed its excess baggage to be a fitter and slimmer company? Time will tell. For fans of Bollywood, every major festival brought with itself a blockbuster movie release. The three Khans of the industry had divided release dates among themselves: Shah Rukh got Diwali, Salman got Eid, and Aamir got Christmas. But, the last few years have seen this order get jumbled. While this year's Eid is here, Salman isn't: and the film industry isn't happy. The lack of the Salman-Eid combo is likely to mute movie collections over this weekend, writes Mint's media and entertainment correspondent Lata Jha. She writes that box offices have seen around 30 percent less collection post Covid, as more people fire up OTT platforms and choose to watch movies from the comfort of their homes. We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at [email protected]. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business and finance. That’s all for today. Thank you for listening. We'll be back tomorrow with a fresh episode of Top of the Morning. Have a nice weekend! Show notes: Sensex at 75k: Why the bulls are unusually calm on the eve of an election Cards, ludo and low wages: Tales from Maharashtra’s hinterland LIC votes reveal governance fault lines at India Inc. How VIP is trying to shed its baggage When bhai goes missing in action, will Eid box office be the same? Learn more about your ad

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Wednesday, April 10, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: Having opened at record highs on the back of bolstered expectations of a strong showing by companies during the last quarter of FY24, Indian benchmark indices pared most of their gains to close in the red on Tuesday. BSE’s Sensex closed 0.8 per cent down from its previous close, while Nifty dipped marginally by 0.1 per cent below its Monday close. The last fiscal year was full of ups and downs for the Indian markets, but for one section of companies, FY24 proved to be the best one yet. Small and medium enterprises or SMEs took the Indian stock market by storm in the fiscal year ended March. A remarkable 204 SMEs launched their initial public offerings, raising close to 6,000 crore rupees. This marked a massive 167 per cent jump from previous years. Larger companies on the other hand, could only increase their IPO mop-up by a modest 20 per cent. Mint’s market correspondent Mayur Bhalerao writes about the surge which highlights the rising investor confidence in SMEs. Experts Mayur spoke to point at the rising interest for SMEs among high net worth individuals and retail investors .March 2024 alone saw 27 SMEs raise 862 crore rupees, setting a record for the highest number of SME IPOs since September 2023. We are only in the second month of summer and the country is already struggling with severe heat waves. With heat waves comes scarcity of water. While water shortage in metros like Bengaluru makes a lot of noise in the public sphere, what goes under the radar are the depleting sources of water used by farmers. At a time when the government is trying to reign in food inflation, dwindling water reserves across the country are only going to make it worse for a number of crops. Experts are now predicting an increase in the prices of crucial winter crops like gram, paddy, and maize, due to drying up reservoirs. Water levels in India's 150 major reservoirs, as of last week, stood at 35 per cent capacity. This figure, as reported by the Central Water Commission, not only marks a 17 per cent decrease compared to the previous year but also falls 2 per cent below the decade's average. These agricultural hurdles are compounded by above-normal temperatures and diseases, particularly affecting states such as Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu. Puja Das, who writes on agriculture and climate change for Mint, spoke to experts about the anticipated rise in the price of some key winter crops. Not all is grim though, experts predict that prices of other key winter crops such as wheat and mustard are expected to remain stable. With over 960 million eligible voters and spanning seven phases over 45 days, the upcoming Lok Sabha elections are poised to be the largest democratic event in history. In an unprecedented move, to bolster participation in the elections, India Inc is taking it upon itself to encourage voters. Companies are taking innovative steps to ensure their workforce can exercise their voting rights. Leading the charge, firms like TCS, Amazon, KPMG, and Quess Corp are making it easier for employees to vote, even if it means travelling to their registered constituencies. KPMG India, for instance, is offering special leave to employees needing to travel for voting. Tata Sons is providing a day off for Mumbai-based employees to cast their votes. The IT sector - arguably one with a large number of migrant employees - is not behind in this, with HCL and TCS announcing leave policies around the polling schedule. TCS is even planning to let its employees travel to their constituency for voting. Mint’s HR and workplace correspondent Devina Sengupta reports on the widespread initiative, covering companies of all sizes and underscoring the commitment of India Inc to democratic participation. Amid rising global crude oil prices, now surpassing 90 dollars per barrel due to fresh geopolitical tensions, India's domestic petrol and diesel prices are a focal point of speculation, especially with the election season upon us. The surge in Brent crude prices, coupled with the Indian crude basket's price increase of over 10% since the year's start, raises questions about potential impacts on India's oil marketing companies. So what’s causing this price hike? The backdrop of these price hikes includes an attack on Iran’s embassy in Syria, escalating tensions in the Middle East, and ongoing conflicts between Israel-Palestine and in Ukraine, which threaten to further disrupt global oil supplies. However, despite these international pressures, it appears unlikely that India will see an adjustment in fuel prices before the election concludes. Mint’s autos correspondent Sumant Banerji explains what the global rise in crude oil prices means for India, in today’s Mint Primer. In 2017, a peculiar concern was raised in Vistara's boa

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Tuesday, April 9, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: Indian equity markets surged on Monday. Nifty and Sensex increased by around 0.6 percent each, hitting fresh record highs. The Bombay Stock Exchange's total market cap crossed the 400 trillion rupee mark for the first time during yesterday's trading session, as global crude oil prices dropped further. Chennai-based Veritas Finance, a private lender to small businesses, , is heading for the public markets soon. Mint's new economy reporters Ranjani Raghavan and Sneha Shah report that Veritas is looking to raise 2,000 crore rupees. It has appointed four entities: Kotak Mahindra, HDFC Securities, ICICI Securities, and Jeffries, to help with the share issue. Last year, the company raised 1,200 crore rupees from a clutch of private equity investors. Veritas specialises in offering loans to small and medium enterprises in semi-urban and rural areas, with an average ticket size of 5 lakh rupees. These days, banks are offering relatively high interest rates even for a simple savings account. It's a simple supply-and-demand equation: they want more money as deposits, so they can offer more loans to applicants. According to the latest data released by the Reserve Bank of India, 80% of deposits in banks are now being doled out as loans. This number is called the credit-deposit ratio, and is at its highest mark since the RBI started recording this data in 2005. Mint's banking correspondent Shayan Ghosh analyses this data, which is buoyed by the merger between the blockbuster HDFC merger. Some analysts expect the credit-deposit ratio to remain high, while others think it'll moderate soon, writes Shayan. Speaking of blockbuster mergers, let's talk about the one between Disney and Reliance. In February, Disney agreed to merge its India business with Reliance Industries at a cost of just over 3 billion dollars. This raised some eyebrows in the media and entertainment industry: reports stated that Disney had acquired Star earlier at around four to five times that number just five years ago, in a bid to consolidate its position in India. Mint's consumer bureau editor Gaurav Laghate analysed the transaction document to find the cause for this steep haircut. Gaurav reports that despite it being labelled as a merger, Reliance will essentially take control of the joint venture moving forward. The reports also revealed that Viacom18, Reliance's media arm, is sitting on a cash pile of over 1.9 billion dollars at the moment. That, combined with the lack of potential suitors, meant that Reliance had the upper hand throughout the negotiations. The final step? An approval from the Competition Commission of India, as the new entity will have more than a 40% market share in many media segments. Insiders told Gaurav that they are confident of an approval. Enterprise technology companies like to bundle their offerings. This ensures that they secure more revenue from their clients. A user may want just a single feature, but has to subscribe to the whole package. This process is called bundling – it’s like eating at a buffet. However, you may soon be able to pick the service of your choice, a la carte. After a probe by the European Union, Microsoft unbundled MS Teams from its popular MS Office package. The EU ruled that Microsoft was abusing its market powers by forcing users to pay for the whole bundle that included MS Teams. India has powers to do this too: the India Competition Act of 2002 was supposed to act in the interest of the consumer. Mint's tech correspondent Shouvik Das explains that while such a move in India would provide more choices — especially for businesses, it will make cross-sharing of data very difficult. While privacy is generally a good thing, this could turn out to be a pain: imagine every single calendar invite needing approvals from multiple apps. If you're not a fan of MS Teams but use Outlook, you might be happy to read this Primer by Shouvik. Losing weight is usually a tough, long process. But drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic have changed that. a series of injections, and you shed kilos rapidly. But this magic drug hasn't reached the Indian shores yet: a patent is holding off Indian pharma companies from manufacturing liraglutide, which is the technical name of the drug. But Bloomberg reports that this patent only lasts till November. And India may have a willing maker already: Biocon, founded by Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, has won approval from a regulator in the UK to sell the drug in India. Other companies are likely to bring their weight-loss drugs to the Indian market only in 2026. We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at [email protected]. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business and finance. Sh

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Monday, April 8, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: Just as India’s 245 billion dollar IT industry prepares for its earnings season, a high level exit has shook the industry. Bengaluru-based Wipro’s CEO and managing director Thierry Delaporte put down his papers late on Saturday. People aware of the matter told Mint’s Varun Sood that the real reason behind the Frenchman’s exit was a phone call from Wipro chairman Rishad Premji. Despite expectations of a stagnant performance for April to October, Delaporte expressed optimism for the latter half of FY25 to company chairman Rishad Premji. However, internal projections remain undisclosed as Wipro, India's fourth-largest IT firm, braces for a potential revenue dip in its upcoming April 19 earnings report. Delaporte was expected to complete his five-year term in July next year. However, to his surprise, the Wipro chairman declined to offer him a second term. On Saturday evening at 7:13 PM, Wipro announced a significant leadership change, appointing Srini Pallia as its new CEO, making him the company's eighth CEO since 2000. Thierry Delaporte’s departure from Wipro’s C-suite follows a larger trend of expat CEOs finding it difficult to work in Indian IT boardrooms. Beyond the straightforward management of profit and loss, these leaders often grapple with cultural disparities that can significantly impact their effectiveness. Some of the Indian IT firms have ventured to appoint expat CEOs over the past few years. Notable names include Vishal Sikka - a US citizen - at Infosys, Brian Humphries at Cognizant, and Delaporte at Wipro, all of whom eventually parted ways with their respective companies under less than ideal circumstances. Mint’s Shelley Singh takes a look at the reasons behind the quick exits and temporary tenures of expat CEOs in Indian IT companies. Shelley writes that the primary issue lies in cultural integration. Expat CEOs often find it challenging to bridge the gap between Indian employees and a diverse client base, leading to a disconnect that adversely affects business operations. Last month Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with information and technology minister Ashwini Vaishnaw presented the first national creators awards. Winners included popular YouTubers, Instagram influencers and other social media celebrities. The move came right before elections, underscoring the government’s attempt to woo young voters between the age of 18 and 29 - the generation of ‘digital natives’, which will have a significant role to play in the upcoming elections. Turns out the ruling party isn't the only one trying to cash in on the popularity of internet influencers. With the 2024 Lok Sabha elections just around the corner, parties are aggressively adopting digital strategies to captivate the young, tech-savvy electorate. They are embracing artificial intelligence, podcasts, social media influencers, and even virtual reality. This election marks a significant departure from traditional campaigning methods, aiming to resonate with young Millennial and GenZ voters. Mint’s media correspondent Lata Jha spoke to several industry insiders who shed light on the shift in how political parties are electioneering. While billboards and outdoor advertising remain in play, particularly in tier-II and tier-III cities, the digital realm is where the battle for attention is most intense. According to Rajni Daswani of SoCheers, digital advertising is saturating tier-I cities, with political leaders engaging with key influencers. Meanwhile, traditional media maintains its grip on smaller cities, tailored to local narratives. The use of AI stands out, with innovative applications like AI-generated speeches of late leaders to appeal to voters, and translation services breaking language barriers to reach a broader audience. In September 2019, Sunil D’Souza, then managing director of Whirlpool India, was approached by Egon Zehnder for the CEO position at Tata Global Beverages, the beverage division of the Tata Group. Despite initial hesitations due to the conglomerate's scattered FMCG presence, a vision laid out by Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairman of the Tata Group, convinced him to take on the challenge of streamlining and expanding the group's consumer goods sector. In December 2019, D’Souza was appointed managing director and CEO, transitioning the company into Tata Consumer Products Ltd (TCPL) by February 2020. Under his leadership, TCPL has seen significant growth, with revenue climbing to 13,783 crores rupees in 2022-23, an 11 per cent increase from the previous year, and profits soaring by 30 per cent to 1,320 crore rupees. The company's share price has also seen a remarkable surge, increasing by over three and a half times since December 2019. D’Souza's strategic moves have diversified TCPL's portfolio beyond beverages to include a

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Friday, April 5, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: Indian equity markets surged on Thursday. Nifty and Sensex increased by around 0.4 percent each. IT companies had a tepid financial year. A lukewarm ending in the fourth and final quarter has resulted in decline in revenue and mediocre profit margins. Mint's tech writer Shovik Das and IT correspondent Jas Bardia took a deep dive into the results of six of India's top IT companies: TCL, HCL, Infosys, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, and LTI Mindtree. Analyst estimates and projections don't paint a pretty picture, as the financials are likely to remain flat or go down in some instances. Recovery is also likely to be slow, Shouvik and Jas write. While we won't know this for sure till these companies release their quarterly and annual reports, the expectations are low from India's IT sector. https://blankpaper.htdigital.in/dash/story/11712234575918 The central government decides how much money every state will receive — a process called financial devolution. Well, the states in southern India aren't happy with their share. That’s because Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu receive far less from the divisible pool of taxes than UP or Bihar. In the last couple few months, leaders from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka have publicly protested against this new fissure that’s emerged in India’s federal structure. It has also become the biggest campaigning point for regional parties, as the general elections draw closer. Mint's longform writer N. Madhavan examines if constitutional federalism is alive in 2024, and speaks to bureaucrats and economists to offer a possible solution for this conundrum. https://www.livemint.com/politics/tax-divide-why-are-southern-states-upset-11712235311609.html Land and property taxes are a huge revenue stream for most states. In 2023, a boom in the sale of houses also led to widespread buying of land. Top developers are buying land at record prices after being bankrolled by the public markets and healthy cash flow. An acre of land now costs around 16.5 crore rupees on average in India, reports Mint's Madhurima Nandy. Growing demand for homes will ultimately result in national and regional builders buying up more land, Madhurima explains. If you've taken a Vistara flight this week you may have achieved a rare feat. Vistara flights have been getting cancelled en masse: every day, at least 50 of them have been cancelled due to unavailability of pilots. These pilots have been calling in sick as a form of protest against the Air India-Vistara merger. Under the transition, Vistara pilots will get a fixed salary only for 40 hours of flying a month, instead of the 70 hours they had earlier. Two major pilot unions, including one that only has pilots from Air India, wrote to the Tata Group chairman N. Chandrasekaran about the merger, as well as other systemic issues. These pilots want further conversations to smoothen their deal with the airline, reports Mint’s aviation correspondent Anu Sharma. With fewer Vistaras flying in the air, any further delay in returning to full scale operations might shoot up ticket prices for consumers. Hiring can be a delicate and complex process, especially for organisations that are driven by strong work culture. But for senior level hiring across corporate India, it's more difficult than ever. Companies and candidates are now taking longer to make a decision — turning any hire into a 6-month process or longer. Until last year, this process usually took up to 3 months on average. Devina Sengupta, Mint's HR and workplaces reporter, speaks to executive search firms to find that there’s friction on both sides of the equation . Moreover, companies aren't doling out huge raises for potential hires to jump ship, and are taking a longer time to vet their candidates. With both sides in a standoff, this process is now longer than ever, headhunters told Devina. We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at [email protected]. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business and finance. We'll be back next week with a fresh episode of Top of the Morning. Have a nice weekend! Show notes: The one bright star in a bleak year for IT Tax divide: Why are southern states upset? Land ahoy: Will the buying craze continue in FY25? Air India pilots write to Tata chairman, say Vistara crisis ‘systemic’ Wary firms, candidates on fence slow top-level hiring Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Indian markets largely remained flat on Wednesday. For a second consecutive day, benchmark indices closed in the red with both Nifty and Sensex ending the day less than 0.1 per cent below their previous close. In 2020 the central government production linked incentive or PLI scheme. Hailed by the commerce ministry, with an outlay of almost 2 trillion rupees, the scheme aimed at supporting manufacturing growth in 14 different sectors spanning industries such as electronics, pharma and textile among others. The government is now set to tweak the flagship scheme by periodically reviewing its performance across different sectors and making necessary adjustments. This move aims to revitalise sectors lagging in progress and potentially eliminate the scheme in areas lacking investor interest and advancement. While the scheme has seen varying degrees of success across sectors, with electronics and pharmaceuticals among the beneficiaries, others like IT hardware and textiles have shown slower progress. Mint’s senior assistant editor Rhik Kundu reports on the government's proactive approach, which includes restructuring the scheme for underperforming sectors, enhancing efficiency, and positioning Indian manufacturers on the global stage. Moody’s, Fitch, Standards and Poor. If you follow business or economy news you have probably heard these names a lot. These are sovereign debt rating agencies which rate countries based on their creditworthiness. These rating agencies grade countries based on several factors such as economic conditions, political climate and their ability to pay back a loan. The grade stretch from AAA for a country with a good credit score to D for countries that are unlikely to pay back the loan. Now an Indian player is set to jump into the sovereign debt rating game. Care Ratings Ltd, is set to debut in sovereign debt ratings, beginning with Asia and Africa and eventually targeting Europe. To facilitate this expansion, the company is establishing CareEdge Global IFSC Ltd in GIFT City, focusing initially on countries like Nepal, Mauritius, and South Africa where it has a footprint. Speaking to Mint’s senior editors Shayan Ghosh and Satish John, Mehul Pandya, the managing director and CEO of CareEdge, talked about the strategic move towards rating foreign currency denominated debt through the GIFT City subsidiary. March saw a surge in the sales of electric two wheelers across the country. More than 1.3 lakh electric scooters and bikes were sold in March. The reason? Consumers rushed to capitalise on the soon-to-be-reduced government subsidies, which were cut by more than half. But it is not all rosy for the electric two wheeler makers, in fact if the numbers tell a completely different story. FY24 recorded the slowest EV adoption rate since FY21, primarily affected by a significant subsidy reduction last June. This reduction slashed the subsidy from covering 40% of the ex-factory price to just 15%. This marked a stark contrast to the almost six-fold rise in e-scooter sales witnessed in FY21 after the FAME-2 subsidy was tweaked. Mint’s autos correspondents Alisha Sachdev and Manjul Paul report on the dwindling numbers of e-scooter sales which follows a slash in government subsidies. It was 24 September 2007, a regular Monday for the rest of the world. But that day in South Africa’s Johannesburg, something happened that would change India’s sporting landscape forever. When Pakistan’s Misbah ul Haq scooped Indian pacer Joginder Sharma’s delivery towards short fine leg, he was caught by Sreeshanth. With that catch, India did not only beat Pakistan at the finals of the T20 world cup, but also started a domino effect that would bring forth one of the biggest sporting leagues in the world. After India beat its arch rival and won the world cup, this new format became all the rage. Capitalising on better watchability of this three-hour long format of the gentleman’s game, BCCI launched its very own Cricket league - the Indian Premier League. Cricket hasn't looked back since then in India. Since its inception in 2008, the IPL has emerged as a financial powerhouse, significantly influencing the sports sponsorship, endorsement, and advertising landscape in India. A report by GroupM highlights that investments in these areas have escalated from 2,423 crore rupees to 15,766 crore rupees in 2023. IPL commanded an astonishing 87% share of last year's total spend. This dominance is underscored by a Brand Finance report showing the IPL's brand valuation surged by 433% in 2023, crossing the 10 billion dollar milestone. The IPL's unparalleled popularity and financial success, driven by a massive 430 million TV audience, contrast sharply with other sports leagues. Despite their efforts, these leagues struggle to match the IPL's appeal, with even the Pro Kabaddi League, the second most popular, reaching only 226 million viewers. The disparity in financial and viewer support highlights the challenging landscape for other s

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Wednesday, April 3, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: Indian equity markets remained largely flat on Wednesday. Both Sensex and Nifty fell marginally around 0.1 percent each. Director Anurag Kashyap's Gangs of Wasseypur became a cult classic because of its realistic depiction of 1980s gang wars in eastern India’s coal belt. However, reality is stranger than fiction – an adage that journalists strive to prove. We invited Romita Datta, a West Bengal-based journalist, to write about Sheikh Shahjahan, a revolver-toting goon who came to rule over the village of Sandeshkhali. As his power and popularity grew, Shahjahan aligned himself with the various political forces in West Bengal, including the Left, CPI (M), and the Trinamool Congress. But before becoming an elected official, Shahjahan got caught up in allegations of extortion, land grabbing, sexual abuse and money laundering. He was finally arrested in February. Romita's exhilarating story of this powerful shrimp-farming thug captures his rise to prominence and how he then ended up behind bars. The pandemic, social distancing, inflation and unseasonal rains all got in the way of the alco-bev industry’s success over the last few years. But an unusual Indian Summer seems to be just what it needs for a revival of its spirits. In this weather, a cold beer can turn around a hot, sweaty day. Beer makers hope so too: they are gearing up for increased sales in 2024. Last year, sales dropped 10 percent as unseasonal rains dented demand. However, officials from these companies expect some uncertainty stemming from election dates. A long election cycle will result in sporadic dry days, lowering sales, writes Mint's lifestyle and hospitality correspondent Varuni Khosla, in this seasonal industry forecast. The devil works hard, but political parties in India work harder. After the Supreme Court struck down Electoral Bonds as "unconstitutional", the Ministry of Finance is now working towards a new scheme for campaign financing or the funding of political parties. Mint's economy reporter Gireesh Chandra Prasad reports that the new scheme will directly address the apex court's concerns around transparency and extent of financing. This scheme, however, is only likely to come into place once the general elections are over, Gireesh adds. For years now, electric two-wheelers have enjoyed generous subsidies by the central government. The government recently introduced another subsidy, but this is capped at 10,000 rupees per vehicle. Mint's national editor and auto expert Sumant Banerji writes that this move will hike prices by anywhere between 5 to 10,000 rupees per scooter — an increase of about 7 to 10% for automakers. The industry, for its part, hasn't passed on this hike to the consumer yet. With electric scooters already more expensive than their petrol counterparts, any further increase in prices might put potential customers off, writes Sumant. Last week, some Axis Bank customers got a huge shock when they received messages of money being randomly deducted from their account. To make matters worse, the money was deducted in a foreign currency. A series of international fraudulent transactions hit dozens of Axis Bank customers across India. Some others received OTPs to carry out the same transaction. Axis reversed these transactions in a few days, but the damage was done. Mint Money's Shipra Singh spoke to some victims of this scam. Some of these customers had already blocked their cards and requested a new one — only to find these fraudulent transactions taking place in the new card as well. Axis hasn't provided an explanation to its customers as to why this happened. Shipra also provides a helpful list of actions one should take if they are affected by this scam or know someone who is. We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at [email protected]. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business and finance. Guns n’ prawns: The strongman who ruled Sandeshkhali’s blue economy As India braces for a hot summer, beer makers have much to cheer From the ashes of electoral bonds, a new scheme is rising Electric two-wheelers weigh the cost of subsidy cuts How some Axis Bank credit cards became fraud targets Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Tuesday, April 2, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: Indian markets started the new financial year with a fresh vigour as benchmark indices closed in the green on Monday. BSE’s Sensex rose more than 350 points to close 0.49 per cent up from its previous close. NSE’s Nifty-50 also climbed more than 130 points to close 0.61 per cent above its last close. Tata Steel, Ultratech Cement and NTPC were among the top gainers on Monday. How fast is India growing? Is it really growing? Well, there are a couple of ways to find out. One can look at the constant construction happening in all major metros across the country. More and more infrastructure projects are coming up - a likely indicator of growth. Another way to track this growth is to look at GDP numbers. In FY23 India’s GDP grew at 7 per cent. For the first three quarters of the outgoing fiscal, the growth remained above a healthy 8 per cent. The government estimates the number for the full fiscal year 2024 to be at 7.6 per cent. So what’s driving the growth? While there is more than one driver, some attribute this boost in GDP numbers to the government's push for capital expenditure. But there are other engines of growth too - public consumption being one of them. Mint’s senior editor N Madhavan examines the factors behind India’s surge. What’s in a name? Not much according to William Shakespeare, but for small finance banks, it might make a world of difference. Small finance banks in India are advocating for a rebranding, seeking to drop the 'small finance' label to enhance their appeal to depositors and investors. This request was discussed in a meeting with RBI officials, people aware of the matter told Mint’s banking editor Gopika Gopakumar. The banks aim to improve customer perception and attract more current and savings account deposits with the name change. Some banks are testing the waters. Hoardings outside AU Small Finance Bank’s regional office in Mumbai’s Kurla read simply ‘AU Bank’. Websites of almost all SFBs, barring Ujjivan SFB and North East SFB, have dropped the label from their domain names. The term 'small' was initially used in the naming of small finance banks to highlight their core mission of promoting inclusive banking. Over time, these banks have achieved their goal of extending credit to small and micro businesses, demonstrating their commitment to supporting underserved segments. Now to continue inclusive growth, having more accounts and fixed deposits is necessary, which will be helpful if the word ‘small’ is dropped, a spokesperson for Unity SFB told Gopika. What’s light, has high strength, is durable and is extremely useful for the aerospace industry? It is a material called carbon fibre. Carbon Fibre is also extensively used to make sports equipment like hockey sticks, racquets, archery bows and golf clubs. Carbon fibre bicycles are popular among enthusiasts because of their light weight. The reason I am talking about it is because India is gearing up to start domestic production of carbon fibre, targeting aerospace, civil engineering, and defence sectors. The push comes as a strategic move to lessen imports and navigate around the European Union's impending carbon tax on steel and metal products. India is currently dependent on carbon fibre imports from countries like the US, France, Japan, and Germany. The EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism set for 2026 has propelled India to consider establishing its own manufacturing capabilities. The Indian government is in talks to create carbon fibre manufacturing units, with research support from leading institutions like the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) to meet international production standards. Mint’s Dhirendra Kumar brings us this exclusive story on the development, which is a part of India’s plan to expand technical textiles export from $2.5 billion to $10 billion within five years. Over 60 years ago, American mathematician and meteorologist Edward Lorenz's minor data alteration in a weather simulation at MIT led to significantly different results, laying the foundation for chaos theory - also known as the 'butterfly effect.' This concept, illustrating how small changes can have large consequences, is now relevant across various fields, prompting reflection on the impact of larger phenomena like climate change. India's FMCG sector, heavily reliant on imported palm oil, faces potential disruptions from the European Union's proposed carbon tax and the effects of climate change on palm oil production. With India as the world's largest palm oil importer and facing stagnating supplies from major producers Indonesia and Malaysia, the sector is at a crossroads. Additionally, the cocoa industry faces similar challenges, with extreme weather conditions and diseases reducing global output. Mint’s national editor Abhishek Mukherjee takes a

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Monday, April 1, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: With the financial year wrapping up last week, a lot of data was published from the past 12 months. One crucial data set was that from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. This act provides a 100 days of guaranteed employment to every household. Most routinely, these jobs are available in the construction sector. With a poor monsoon last year, it was expected that more people would take up MNREGA (pronounced mun-rega) jobs. However, official data shows that year-on-year jobs remained largely flat. Usually, a bad monsoon would result in less agricultural work — and in turn, more MNREGA job applicants. Mint's economy reporters Gireesh Chandra Prasad and Rhik Kundu bring you the details. The big tech development from last year was the release of ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence system that generates answers based on inputs. ChatGPT's free model runs on the GPT 3.5 version, while the paid model that costs 20 dollars a month uses GPT 4. But many users are unhappy with the output, even in the paid model. ChatGPT's founder Sam Altman agrees: he admitted that it "kind of sucks". A new version is expected this year. Mint's tech editor Leslie D'Monte writes about what we can expect with GPT-5, and how ChatGPT's competition is currently performing. If you're a tech geek, you might have heard of Carl Pei. He's the original mastermind behind the wildly successful brand of OnePlus, and later started his own company, named Nothing. The China-born CEO started out by making a website at 12 years old to help people beat a Pokemon game, and never stopped tinkering with both software and hardware. The result? Helping establish OnePlus, which ended up selling millions of phones — first in China, and then the rest of the world. But Pei still felt he needed to prove something on his own, and left in 2021 to start Nothing. Mint Lounge's Nitin Sreedhar speaks to Carl Pei about his journey and work for this fantastic profile. Chances are, you haven't been to watch a Bollywood movie in the theatres so far this year. And I won't blame you: the releases have been quite lacklustre. Mint's media and entertainment reporter Lata Jha reports that the absence of major stars from released movies has caused a drop in cinema goers. But the trend doesn't stop there: a slump in prices paid by OTTs such as Netflix, Hotstar, and Amazon Prime to stream movies post-release are also hampering the movie business. You may have heard of ShareChat and Moj. These are two short-video platforms that became popular after the Indian government banned TikTok in 2020. Both ShareChat and Moj are owned by the same company, Mohalla Tech. But despite being operational for more than four years, the companies haven't yet figured out a sustainable business model. The result? Losses adding up to more than 5,000 crore rupees in the last financial year. Where does Mohalla go from here? Priyamvada C tries to answer. We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at [email protected]. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business and finance. That’s all for today. Thank you for listening. We'll be back tomorrow with a fresh episode of Top of the Morning. Have a nice day! Show notes: Construction growth eases pressure on NREGA jobs amid farm slowdown Will OpenAI pull out GPT-5 from its hat next? How Nothing CEO Carl Pei is breaking barriers Film industry had a muted Jan-March, as star vehicles play truant ShareChat and Moj are floundering. Can the businesses be fixed? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Good morning listeners, Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Friday, March 29, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: Markets continued to pick up on Thursday. Benchmark indices Nifty and Sensex increased by around 0.90 percent each. Power, auto, and metal stocks led the surge during yesterday's trading session. Despite yesterday's good news, the markets have been volatile of late. Much of this volatility can be attributed to smallcap stocks, which suffered a crash after the markets regulator warned investors of the possibility of a smallcap bubble. The BSE Smallcap index is flat for the year, and down 4.5% in March. Mint's corporate writer Varun Soo unpacks one of the reasons behind this volatility: offshore funds. After a long investigation, Varun discovered that three men at the helm who were involved in dozens of smallcap stocks. They have been accused by the Enforcement Directorate of operating a "hawala" scam and manipulating stocks. This is an excellent read if you want to understand how smallcap stocks operate. Thursday was also the last trading day of the financial year for 2024. For the last 12 months, Nifty and Sensex have increased by 31 and 27 percent respectively. Small and midcap stocks increased by more than 65%, despite the recent volatility. Mint’s markets correspondent Dipti Sharma brings you a summary of the equity markets’ performance in the past financial year. You might have made some gains on a stock, but earlier you still had to wait two working days for the proceeds to be deposited to your account. This changed to one day. Now, you can realise your gains instantly: the markets regulator Sebi has approved same-day settlement on a trial basis. This process is called the T+X system, where X is the number of days taken to process a transaction. A limited number of brokers and a set of 25 stocks are currently following the T+0 system. Sebi is going to assess the results in 3 and 6 months from now, before deciding if a universal rollout is possible. Dipti Sharma explains the T+0 model, and how it might change equity investing forever. Recently, the Reserve Bank of India asked Federal Bank and South Indian Bank to stop issuing new co-branded credit cards. Usually, these tie-ups are either with retail outlets or fintech companies. Mint's banking correspondent Gopika Gopakumar writes that these partnerships came under the RBI's scanner after it found that banks were sharing their risk assessment models with the companies they tied-up with. These assessments are supposed to be done in-house by the banks, which contain sensitive information about a user’s financial data. The RBI also wants to prevent the rapid rise in credit cards issued — about 99 million such plastic is currently in circulation in India. We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at [email protected]. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business and finance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Thursday, March 27, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: Markets enjoyed an uptick on Wednesday. Benchmark index Nifty increased by around half a percentage point, while Sensex was up by 0.73 percent by the time markets closed. India is short on directors. Not the ones that make movies — plenty of those around — but those that run companies. According to the Companies Act, every board must have a certain number of directors, depending on the size of the company. These directors should ideally be independent and impartial, and take decisions that benefit the company's future, and in turn, its shareholders. But as Mint's corporate governance writer Varun Sood reports, these directors might be shaky. Over 25 such appointed directors have called it quits before they could join boards since 2021. These directors have time and again cited personal reasons for their sudden decision to quit. As Varun writes, these often take place at companies which are undergoing a governance crisis, like Zee Entertainment, Dish TV, and other firms like Alkem Laboratories and Union Bank of India. Varun spoke to directors, investors, and governance experts to find out why this curious trend is gathering steam in India Inc. Alternative investment funds, or AIFs, are going through a rough time right now. The markets and banking regulators came down heavily on these financial instruments, issuing notices that limited their scope of investments. Private and public banks have a fair bit of exposure to AIFs, so the Reserve Bank of India wanted to protect depositors against risky or fraudulent borrowing. But after Sebi floated a consulting paper, RBI might be willing to change its course: it is exempting banks and NBFCs from liquidating or provisioning the money it had in AIFs. Provisioning is the process of setting aside an equal amount of money to protect investors and depositors. The regulators came down hard on AIFs in December after it came to light that AIFs had borrowed from the very same banks who had invested in them, leading to a potential conflict of interest. If you're a startup, it's a hard time to raise money these days. Despite that, automobile platform CarDekho is working towards a new round of funding, reports startups and new economy reporter Sneha Shah. The company is in talks to raise anywhere between a 100 to 150 million dollars that will provide exits to existing investors. The company will now be valued at 1.3 billion dollars after this round, and claims it is on its way to an IPO in the next two years. CarDekho had a revenue of more than 2,300 crore rupees in FY23, which was a 46 percent jump from the previous financial year. Maruti Suzuki had high hopes from Jimny, a model it launched last year catered towards a market that likes off-road driving. That capability should come in handy now, as the Jimny has to overcome a steep climb from the depths of car sales hell. Only about 500 units of the Jimny have been sold in January and February. Compare that to its direct rival, the Mahindra Thar — 6,000 Thars were sold in February alone. Mint's resident auto expert Sumant Banerji takes a deep dive into the misfortune of Maruti's off-roading ambitions that hit a rough patch — it's a rut the company can't seem to get out of. Who watches the watchmen? The Indian government has decided: a fact-checking unit. It wanted to constitute such a team to flag misinformation about the government — this body would have directive powers too. Press freedom advocates and activists filed an appeal against the constitution of such a body, and the Supreme Court paid heed. The SC has now stayed the creation of this unit. Mint's special correspondent Shouvik Das explains the ramifications of the government's original plan, SC's order, and how artificial intelligence plays a crucial role in the entire saga. We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at [email protected]. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business and finance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Wednesday, March 27, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: Indian benchmark indices broke the three-day streak of higher close to end the trading session on the red on Tuesday. BSE’s benchmark index Sensex closed down 0.5 per cent, while NSE’s Nifty closed 0.42 per cent below its open. It's election season, and across the country, people are being encouraged to vote for their preferred political candidates. It's one thing to have a political party knocking on your door asking for your vote, but retail shareholders of ICICI Securities are facing a different kind of voting pressure altogether. In the run-up to a significant voting deadline, these retail shareholders reported an unusual campaign from ICICI Bank employees. ICICI employees have been urging them to vote in favour of a proposed demerger. In June, the boards of private sector lender ICICI Bank and its broking arm ICICI Securities approved the delisting of equity shares of ICICI Securities. This aggressive outreach, which includes calls and home visits confirmed by shareholders, has raised eyebrows over privacy concerns and the unwarranted access to shareholder data. Mint’s correspondents Shayan Ghosh and Nehal Chaliawala report on this peculiar method of shareholder outreach employed by ICICI. Credit card nerds are a different breed. They put in a lot of effort to carefully curate their spending — yes, curate — to maximise the benefits from any given card. Some go the lengths of opening a fixed deposit with a bank only to get a credit card. Axis Bank's offerings were too good to pass up for many. But last week, Axis devalued all of its cards: a process in which the benefits were watered down. Users who pay anywhere between 2,500 rupees to nearly 60,000 rupees as joining or renewal fees were shocked to hear of this news. Airport lounge visits, which were earlier free, are now dependent on spending at least 50,000 rupees in three months — this is over and above the fees mentioned earlier. Mint Money's Shipra Singh and Shashwat Mohanty report that some of these users are going to sue Axis Bank for this sudden devaluation, and explain the reasons for why Axis has taken this step. The rescue of struggling businesses through the insolvency and bankruptcy code or IBC is poised for a big jump this year. The expectation for this year is set around a 50 per cent increase to about 275 cases. Mint’s senior editor Gireesh Chandra Prasad spoke to insiders who credited a more efficient process at the tribunal benches for this boost. The need for quick turnarounds under the IBC is clear - it's about cleaning up the financial mess in companies and banks, paving the way for fresh investments. Since the IBC kicked off in 2016, it's chalked up approvals for 891 companies, with creditors cashing in 3.2 trillion rupees. After a period of enjoying some breathing room with expanding gross margins, fast-moving consumer goods or FMCG companies might be hitting a bit of a snag. Recent spikes in the costs of crucial raw materials like crude oil, palm oil, coffee, and cocoa threaten to put a stop to margin growth seen over the past few quarters. With cost pressure building up, companies are thinking twice before passing these price hikes onto consumers. Suneera Tandon, who writes on consumer companies for Mint, examines a recent report from BNP Paribas which seems to be waving red flags for the FMCG sector. This shift spells trouble for the sector, suggesting that the days of margin expansion might be behind us, with revenue growth also expected to slow down. From coffee to crude oil, price hikes are feeling pretty widespread. For example, coffee prices have seen a significant leap of 15.3 per cent from last year in March. And it's not just coffee feeling the heat; maize and wheat prices are on the rise too, fueled by demand and government plans related to ethanol production. Sterlite Copper, part of the Vedanta group, has had a tumultuous 22-year history in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu. Since its inception in 1996, it's faced multiple shutdowns over pollution norm violations, leading to a permanent closure by the Tamil Nadu government in 2018. The decision was upheld by the Madras High Court in 2020. Despite these challenges, the Supreme Court hinted at a possible revival in February this year, citing the plant's significant contribution to India's copper production. India has dropped from being a net exporter to a net importer following the closure. However, by the end of February, the Supreme Court upheld the closure, emphasising the importance of adhering to pollution norms over economic considerations. India's copper demand is surging, driven by infrastructure development, renewable energy, and electric vehicles. The closure of Sterlite Copper puts more pressure on meeting this demand, especially as domestic production relies heavily on im

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. This is Nelson John, wishing all our listeners a safe, colourful and happy Holi. It's Monday, March 25, 2024. Let's get started: What really makes us happy, and how do we measure it? While happiness can feel like a deeply personal experience, varying greatly from one person to the next, there's an attempt to quantify it on a global scale every year. And in this pursuit of measuring happiness, it turns out India hasn't scored too well. India ranked 126 out of 143 nations surveyed in the World Happiness Report 2024. A partnership between consulting and research firm Gallup, the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, the report looks at six variables, including per capita gross domestic product (GDP), social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity and corruption. Mint’s national editor N Madhavan breaks down the report which deemed Finland as the happiest country in the world. India fared poorly on most parameters. The rankings are also being questioned by many for having countries stuck in deep economic crises and geopolitical conflicts getting a higher rank than India. What do you think when you think of India’s postal services? Is it just letters and parcels? Think again. India Post is making waves in an unexpected area: life insurance. The 140-year-old Postal Life Insurance scheme has seen a growth spurt of 14.5% this financial year, outperforming the entire insurance industry for the first time since FY21. Apart from the trust in a state-run insurance plan, there are other factors driving the growth in life insurance for postal services. Mint’s Dhirendra Kumar writes about how the growth is also being driven by a digital overhaul, making premium payments and claim settlements a breeze online. While the private sector and the Life Insurance Corporation are facing their own challenges, the postal department's life and rural insurance schemes are thriving, with nearly 16% growth. This growth comes in a market that's still ripe for the picking, given India's low insurance penetration compared to global averages. Starting up a business may be a dream for many, including celebrities and those in showbiz. But scaling it up and making it big - that’s where the plot thickens! Many movie stars and sports icons ventured into launching their own brands. But a few years into the business, the hand over the reins to bigger companies. Mint’s startups reporter Priyamvada C spoke to industry insiders, who see more celebrity-led brands being acquired by bigger, professionally run businesses. Big names like Alia Bhatt, Masaba Gupta, and Hrithik Roshan have already seen their brands acquired by retail giants. While celebrity involvement can add credibility and market pull, the success of these brands hinges on more than just a big name. Rising customer acquisition costs and market saturation pose challenges, and the alignment with larger entities offers a chance to expand beyond. In a bold move to draw more global investors into India's infrastructure projects, the Indian government is setting its sights on auctioning off completed road projects directly to private sector Infrastructure Investment Trusts, or InvITs, leaving traditional bidders like sovereign wealth funds on the sidelines. This strategic shift aims to funnel global investments into the country's roadways through InvITs. InvITs are entities similar to mutual funds but focused on infrastructure, offering a modern avenue to finance projects like highways. Mint’s infrastructure editor Subhash Narayan reports on the move that comes as part of a broader effort to boost investment in India's infrastructure. As the election season heats up with the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections just around the corner, an unlikely set of candidates are readying for a popular surge – FMCG companies. With political rallies and large gatherings becoming more frequent, there's a notable increase in the consumption of packaged snacks and drinks. Parle Products and the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), known for the Amul brand, are among those preparing for this uptick. Mint’s FMCG correspondent Suneera Tandon spoke to industry executives to examine the effect of elections on demand for consumer companies. Krishnarao Buddha, senior category head at Parle, told Suneera that a rise in disposable income for people with political parties doling out money and freebies results in a positive impact for FMCG companies. To read any of the stories in today’s episode, please click the links in the show notes.You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business and finance. Mint Primer | Happiness report: Why it has raised eyebrows in India A 140-year-old policy puts its stamp on postal department’s life insurance biz How celebrit

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Friday, March 22, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: Indian benchmark indices surged on Thursday, riding the wave of optimism from global markets. This uptick came after the Federal Reserve maintained its outlook for three rate cuts within the year, sparking a rally. Both Nifty and Sensex rose more than 0.75 per cent by the end of the day’s trading on Thursday. Money x Power = ? Have you ever heard of a plutocracy? It's a scenario where the wealthiest individuals not only hold the purse strings but also the reins of governance, turning financial might into political power. A similar trend is unfolding in India. As per the World Inequality Lab's latest study, income and wealth inequality are breaking records, even outpacing countries like China and Brazil. The elite one percent in India aren't just wealthy; they're earning 23 times more than the average Indian. If left unchecked, this imbalance could lead to India's future being shaped by a plutocracy.Mint’s national writer Sayantan Bera takes a closer look at this pressing issue in today's Mint Primer. Ola Electric, steered by Bhavish Aggarwal, is on the brink of a significant move in India's electric vehicle landscape with its initial public offering drawing near. The electric scooter-maker known for its S1 series is drawing investor interest. People close to the matter told Mint’s autocorrespondent Alisha Sachdev that Singapore’s Eastspring and UK-based Pictet are lining up as anchor investors, signalling favourable market sentiment. Dominating over 40 per cent of India's electric two-wheeler market, Ola Electric's battery division, Ola Cell Technologies, is set to boost efficiency and profitability. Ola's ambitions are clear: expanding its cell factory capacity and venturing into advanced battery technologies, including bidding for lithium resources. The Indian Premier League, Indian cricket’s biggest spectacle, begins today, kicking off a summer of high octane action in the game’s shortest format. Cricket fans are excited, but the advertising scene this year tells a different story. Star Sports and Jio, the custodians of broadcast and digital rights, have seen ad rates stagnate. Major sectors like automotive, e-commerce, telecom, and fintech are yet to jump into the advertising fray. Mint’s assistant editor Varuni Khosla reports on the mood of the advertisers around this year's biggest television event. Varuni also spoke to advertising experts who noted a peculiar reluctance towards the IPL among clients this season, pointing to a broader market slowdown rather than the tournament's appeal. Seems like restaurants are in a bit of a soup. The stock market isn't serving up good news for restaurants lately. Case in point: Devyani International Limited, the company operating your local KFC and Pizza Hut outlets. Over the past year, Devyani's shares climbed just 10 per cent, a stark contrast to the Nifty Midcap index's 57 per cent surge, indicating rough weather for the sector. And it's not just Devyani feeling the heat. Westlife Foodworld, which runs McDonald's in India, also saw its stock rise by merely 10 per cent over the same period. So what's behind this industry-wide slump? Mint's national editor Abhishek Mukherjee dug into the issue. Abhishek spoke to Siddhanth Chhabaria of Mirae Assets who blamed the downturn on dwindling demand and a broader consumption slowdown. Right before Russia made its move on Ukraine in February 2022, their hackers unleashed malware on Ukrainian military comms by targeting routers connected to Viasat, a major American satellite and internet provider. Things got tense and Ukrainian leaders called out for help. Elon Musk, who owns Starlink responded and Ukraine got its internet back. Fast forward two years, and Starlink has become a lifeline, keeping Ukraine's military and civilians connected through the chaos. This satellite internet service, brought to life by SpaceX, is changing the game with thousands of satellites zooming around in low Earth orbit. Meanwhile, back in India, there's a scramble to catch up. The Indian government tweaked some rules to make it easier for satellite broadband services to set up shop without the usual auction requirements. This is a big deal for companies like Bharti Group's OneWeb, Reliance's Jio Satellite Communications, Musk's Starlink, and Amazon's Kuiper, paving the way for them to offer their services across India's vast and varied landscape. Mint’s telecom correspondent Gulveen Aulakh takes a deep dive into the emerging industry of satellite communications or SatCom in India. A subset of India’s 8.5 billion dollar space economy, the satcom industry is set to close in on 2 billion dollars by 2030. According to ratings agency Icra, by 2025, India's satcom industry could be serving up to 2 million users and raking in revenue between 5,000 to 6,000 cror