ELON MUSK: FROM ENTREPRENEUR TO RICHEST PERSON IN THE WORLD

 Elon Musk is known for his ambitious ventures, relentless drive, and revolutionary ideas, Musk's rise to becoming the richest man in the world is a story of incredible determination and unwavering vision. In this blog we will dive into the remarkable journey of Elon Musk, exploring the challenges and ventures that help him to become the richest person in the world.

A True Entrepreneurial Spirit

Elon Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa, in 1971. From a young age, he displayed a deep fascination with science and technology. His entrepreneurial spirit began to shine during his college years when he co-founded Zip2, a software company focused on providing business directories and maps to newspapers.

PayPal- the Birth of Online Payment Systems:

Musk founded X.com, an online payment company that later merged with Confinity to become PayPal, which became a breakthrough moment. Under Musk's leadership, PayPal revolutionized the online payment system, providing a secure and efficient platform for e-commerce transactions. The company's success caught the attention of eBay, which acquired PayPal for $1.5 billion in 2002.

Crossing the Boundaries with SpaceX:

Elon Musk turned his interest to space exploration and founded SpaceX in 2002. Musk aimed to reduce the costs associated with space travel and make it possible for humans to do space travels. With SpaceX, he achieved numerous groundbreaking milestones, including the first privately-funded spacecraft to reach orbit and the successful landing and reuse of rockets.

Tesla: The EV Revolution.

Elon Musk's entered the automotive industry in 2004 when he became heavily involved with Tesla Motors (now known as Tesla, Inc.). Musk believed in the potential of electric vehicles (EVs) and he sought to create a sustainable and affordable electric car for the people. Despite facing significant challenges in the industry, his pursuit paid off, and Tesla became a global leader in the EV market.

SolarCity 

As a contribution to promoting sustainable energy, Elon Musk co-founded SolarCity in 2006. SolarCity focused on providing solar energy solutions to residential and commercial customers, offering affordable solar panels and energy storage systems. This venture aligned with Musk's broader vision of creating an interconnected ecosystem of sustainable energy production and consumption.

Elon Musk's relentless drive and the success of his ventures moved him to incredible financial heights. Tesla's skyrocketing stock prices and his significant ownership stake in the company played an important role in Musk surpassing other billionaires to become the richest man in the world. His ability disrupts industries cemented his status as an icon of entrepreneurship.

Elon Musk's journey from a South African entrepreneur to the richest man in the world is a testament to the power of relentless determination, audacious vision, and unwavering belief in one's mission. Through ventures like SpaceX, Tesla, SolarCity, and The Boring Company, Musk has reshaped industries and sparked a global revolution in technology, transportation, and renewable energy. As he continues to push boundaries and inspire future generations, Elon Musk's story serves as a reminder that with passion, resilience, and a commitment to making a positive impact, remarkable success can be achieved.

India will be able to become $5-trillion economy by 2027: Sunil Mittal

 Mittal said that according to him ,  India is the fastest growing and advanced country in the world as far as telecom is considered.  

India will able to become $5-trillion economy by 2027, Bharati Enterprises founder and Chairman Sunil Mittal said on Saturday. 

He said it while speaking at a conclave on 9 years of the Narendra Modi government ,  Mittal said businesses in general require a very decisive leadership and India after a long time not only has a government with full majority but also a leader who is a recognized as a global leader.

“This country has clearly moved to a additional $1.4 trillion taking us to $3.5 trillion and I think the audacious target of $5 trillion, which couple of years ago would have looked a difficult one to accomplish, is now clearly in sight and I think by 2027 we should be able to achieve it," Mittal said. 

He said that he personally experienced the change in last five years .Mittal said that India, according to him, is the most advanced country in the world as far as telecom is concerned. 

"My generation grew up in the age of very deep and long shortages of telecom and connectivity to a point today where the deepest and remotest part of the country is using smartphones.

"We moved very quickly from technology shifts. India now has the fastest 5G roll-out in the world. By 2024 March India will have 5G connectivity across the country," Mittal said.

India has setup a 2 lakhs base station for the 5G services within 8 months of launch of the service and also Mittal said that even people in the remote places also now have mobile phones, radio connection and dth tv connections .  

“This to my mind is the power of technology which this government has used to its utmost power to usher in reforms and benefits for the masses. I am very proud that we are part of the industry which is a great enabler for economic growth. Today telecom services give 1-1.5 per cent additional GDP growth to this country," Mittal said.

He said that the telecom services enabled e-commerce, online banking, remittance of payments in rural areas, healthcare and now with the help of 5G there will be roll-out of many services such as drone management and other advanced technologies.

Meta now allows Quest Users to tap, swipe in VR without controllers

 

Meta Platforms, Inc formerly named Facebook, Inc., and TheFacebook, Inc is an American Multinational technology conglomerate based in Menlo Park, California owned by Mark Zuckerberg. Meta owns Facebook, Whatsapp, and Instagram among other products and services. Meta has become one of the world’s most valuable companies and among the ten largest publicly traded corporations in the United States. It is considered one of the Big Five American information technology companies, alongside Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft. Meta’s other products are Messenger, Oculus Quest, Horizon Worlds, Mapillary, Workplace, Portal (discontinued), and Diem (acquired). Meta employees 77,114 as per the report of March 2023. On October 28, 2021, the parent company changed its name from Facebook to Meta, to reflect its focus on building the metaverse. According to Meta, the term “metaverse” refers to the integrated environment that links all of the company’s products and services.

Users of Quest may now tap and swipe in VR without using controllers thanks to Meta. As part of the v50 OS update, Meta today revealed additional enhancements to the Quest platform, including an experimental feature called "Direct Touch" that enables users of the platform to tap and swipe with their unaided hands. The business also updated the Meta Quest touch pro controllers and added an in-game multitasking capability to Meta Quest 2. They already have the hand tracking function, which was added to the Quest Platform in 2019, and it can now do more than just pinch the air to engage in virtual reality. A new hand-based movement gesture has now been added by Meta. Users can now swiftly enter messages on the virtual keyboard, change settings by tapping buttons with their index finger, choose games from their library, and do a lot more with this new feature. The direct Touch function, which provides a more user-friendly and enjoyable method to interact with the system and 2D panels in general, is a significant advancement in the company's hand-tracking technology.

The initialization time of tracking on the Meta Quest Touch Pro Controllers will be sped up by using this technology or the v50 update. Additionally, they included in-game multitasking, which enables us to access the 2D app without pausing the game we are currently playing. With the v2.1 version, they also enhanced their Quest hand-tracking technology and made it the standard for Quest applications.

Meesho hints at IPO in 2025; focus shifts to generating profits

 Meesho, an electronic commerce platform, would be looking for an initial public offering only in 2025. They were introduced in 2015 by two IIM Delhi graduates. The app is supported by marquee investors like Softbank Media and Meta Platforms. Top sources in the company have stated that the group's current focus is on generating profits after tax and not solely on earnings before interest and taxes (EBITDA). The corporation, which is open to a new change in strategy, is now aiming to lower its yearly sales growth target from 100% to 40%. According to some, the growth rate is larger than that of other e-commerce platforms. An rise in revenue over time is referred to as revenue growth. Prior to implementing the new approach, the corporation concentrated on reducing its cash burn by 25%. When a corporation is not producing more money than it allocates, it is said to be burning through its cash at a rapid rate. The burn rate is a measurement of how quickly a business uses up its cash on hand.

In the financial year 2022, Meesho saw a steep rise in its loss by seven times, which amounted to Rs.3247 crore, but its revenue showed a rise by four times, which amounted to Rs.3232 crore only. Meesho's cash in the bank is nearly $570 million, which makes the company valued at $4.9 billion. The interest from that money is sufficient for the company, and a requirement for the new shares won't be needed, said the sources. Around 10 per cent of the transactions whose average ticket size is Rs.350 are made by this startup company. They have also made certain offerings to their merchants, such as short-term credits and insurance on returned orders. This would give them an additional 1-3 per cent in their overall margins, and providing these offers to their 1 million merchants would help in earning the trust and loyalty of merchants to their startup. However, based on the time taken to scale up, the offerings will be provided to merchants as separate financial services. E-commerce Giants like Flipkart and Amazon are moving to Tier 1 and Tier 2 in cities where Meesho is reigning. This is mostly due to Meesho's contrasting strategies compared to other players in the market. However, the other players are also serving different segments, and their ticket sizes vary by 4-5 times compared to Meesho, so that they are able to serve their premium customers. Ticket size refers to the total amount a customer spends in one visit. Meesho's gross merchandise value is often clothing and lifestyle, whereas on other platforms, mobile phones contribute to their gross merchandise value. The reason Meesho doesn't adopt mobile phones is that the margins are very low compared to others. Along with that, Meesho is also trying to reduce its delivery time by one day each year.

 

                                   Tesla may be revving up interest in India, again

                  Tesla Inc has been in the news for the last few days since it hinted at an Indian entry in 2021. There was relatively no movement on the Tesla - India partnership until late 2020 and early 2021. Tesla made several moves to establish a production facility in India and planned for a electric vehicles Gigafactory at Karnataka. But due to high import duties, lack of charging infrastructure and regulatory hurdles, the entry became delayed. Now senior Tesla executives are now planning to come to India and meet the government officials. They are also coming to see the scope of expansion and develop local sourcing of components from India for assembling Tesla cars in India and open up a growing EV market for the brand.

                    Elon Musk's Tesla is probably a pioneer in the global electric vehicle industry. Although India's electric vehicle market surged in 2022, it is steered by only five carmakers. The current visit of Tesla to India could indicate a revival of Tesla's plan to make inroads into India. Recently, Elon Musk had to recall1 million Tesla e-cars in China due to local policies on safety. In 2022, it was planning to sell cars in India by importing them through the CBU( importing finished, assembled car) . But the government refused to reduce the import duties on luxury cars which were at hundred percent for cars with a cost insurance freight (CIF) value of over $40000. Also other automaker Mahindra argued that would hurt investments in domestic manufacturing. India told Tesla it would have to source at least $500 million of auto components domestically if it wanted an import duty cut and also agree to scale up the parts purchases around 10-15 percent per year. Although its arrival in India was delayed , Tesla has been manufacturing and selling Tesla's in China since 2017.

                  Bharat Forge Ltd, Sona BLW Precision  Forging Ltd and Sandhar Technologies Ltd are understood to be among the Indian companies already supplying components to Tesla . The government urged that cars are to be assembled in CKD ( exporting cars in pieces and assembling them here) rather than importing them from China as Tesla wanted to bring down prices. Tesla argued that EV was in its infancy in India, there was less charging infrastructure and so it wanted to test the market by importing vehicles first to gauge public demand. Tesla is expected to launch five cars in India in the year 2023-2024. Tesla Cybertruck , Tesla Model Y are launching soon in India. The main highlight is that Tesla is accelerating the world's transition to sustainable energy with electric cars ,and solar and integrated renewable energy solutions for homes. The high energy for Tesla is fueled by the green energy movement. As per the reports, Tesla did not discuss low import taxes with Indian officials. It only proposed setting up a new factory. Thus making cars locally in India aligns with the 'Make in India' campaign.

Tata Sons set for record dividend income in FY23

 

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), being the cash cow of Tata Group, helped in bringing a big payout, which may in turn help in earning a record high dividend worth Rs.33,350 crore from listed companies for the financial year 2023. In the previous financial year, it was about Rs.14529 crore. About Rs.30500 crore would go to Tata Sons, and the rest would go to the profit and loss account for the financial year 2024. This is done due to the allocation of 80 per cent of the dividend pay-out for the financial year 2023 by TCS, which was given before the end of the financial year through three quarterly interim instalments. Whereas Tata's other groups, like Tata Steel and Tata Motors, paid dividends after the end of the fiscal year, TCS is expected to give a dividend income of Rs30418 crore in the financial year 2023. After ICICI Bank, which reported a net profit of Rs.34026 crore in the recent financial year, these events may make Tata Sons the seventh most profitable company in the country in the financial year 2023.

It is concluded that Tata Sons' dividend income is said to be its net profit. Apart from the dividend, the group earns income in the form of interest from its treasury operations. About 96 percent of Tata Group revenues are constituted from Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) dividend proceeds. Analysts are expecting high revenues and profits in fiscal year 2023. In the financial year 2022, Tata Sons reported revenues of Rs. 24177 crore and a net profit of Rs.17171. About Rs.18000 crore was spent by TCS on share buybacks in March 2022. Tata Steel is the second contributor to Tata Sons dividend pay in the financial year 2023, which was about Rs.1427 crore, followed by Tata Motors. The contributions of Tata Elxsi are not likely to be included in the group's dividend income for the financial year 2023. In the financial year 2022, an equity dividend of Rs.265 crore was paid by Tata Elxsi to its shareholders. From which about Rs.112 crore had accrued to Tata Sons. Tata Sons owns 42.22 per cent of Tata Elxsi. Tata Sons directly owns 14 of the 26 listed firms in the group. The group's revenues and profits are dependent on the profitability of Tata Consultancy Service (TCS). The high dividend pay-out may result in opportunities for Tata Sons to invest in various sunrise sectors such as e-commerce and loss-making legacy businesses such as aviation and broadcasting.

 

FMCG firms chases growth

 Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) firms often pursue volume growth as a key strategy to increase their market share and revenues. To achieve this, they may increase the quantity of products sold  without necessarily increasing the price. This approach is sometimes referred to as "bumping up grammage."

The idea behind bumping up grammage is to offer customers more value for their money, which can increase customer loyalty and drive sales. For example, a company might increase the size of a package of potato chips from 100 grams to 120 grams while keeping the price the same. This would effectively increase the quantity of chips in each package by 20%, providing consumers with more chips to enjoy at no extra cost.

However, firms also need to be careful not to sacrifice profitability by bumping up grammage too much. If the cost of producing the additional volume is higher than the revenue generated from increased sales, the strategy can backfire. Additionally, increasing grammage can also lead to higher production and distribution costs, which may ultimately lead to higher prices for consumers.

Therefore, FMCG firms need to strike a balance between offering more value to consumers and maintaining their profitability. This often requires careful analysis of market demand, production costs, and pricing strategies to determine the optimal grammage for a given product.

 

                              Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) firms often chase volume growth as a key strategy for expanding their market share and increasing their revenue. One way they can achieve this is by increasing the grammage (i.e., weight or quantity) of their products while maintaining or even increasing the price per unit.

By bumping up the grammage, FMCG firms can offer consumers a greater quantity of their product for the same price, which can incentivize consumers to purchase more and potentially switch to their brand. This can lead to increased sales volume and revenue for the company.

However, increasing the grammage of a product also comes with additional costs, such as raw materials and production expenses, which can affect the company's profit margins. To offset these costs, FMCG firms may choose to bump up the prices of their products slightly, without significantly affecting consumer demand. This can lead to increased revenue per unit and ultimately higher profits for the company.

Overall, increasing the grammage of a product while maintaining or increasing its price per unit is a common strategy used by FMCG firms to drive volume growth and increase revenue. However, it is important for companies to carefully consider the potential impact on profit margins and consumer demand before implementing such a strategy.

 

 

Reason behind the violence in Manipur.

 In various locations throughout Manipur, violent fights have broken out due to long-standing hostilities and mistrust between the state's tribal populations and the dominant Meitei community. The state's Kuki and Naga tribes have benefited from reservations. A recent Manipur High Court judgment for the government to provide its recommendation on the topic within a month gave the demand more traction. This was viewed as a step that would enable the Meitei to be granted reservation.

Many castes and communities are demanding reservations, and those already benefiting from them are rejecting the requests of the new groups. As a result, reservations are becoming a more contentious social and political problem. The majority community in Manipur, the Meitei, has 40 representation in the Assembly's 60 members. The native communities view the demand for reservations as a plot to rob them of their rights and seize control of the entire state. The tribal communities are mocked as outsiders and seen as settlers who emigrated from Myanmar. Although the direct cause of the violence is the demand for reservations, there have also been other points of contention. The N Biren Singh-led BJP administration has been accused by the tribal communities of having a target on its back. Numerous occurrences from the past two years, such as home evictions, have been accused of being hostile and discriminatory. The instances were justified by the government as routine administrative procedures.

The failure of the government to provide adequate education and the economy's inability to provide enough jobs for the country's youth have contributed to the rise in demand for reservations. Therefore, quotas are viewed by all groups as a means of obtaining limited educational and career chances. Political factors have led to governments' willingness, but the courts haven't been especially supportive. The problem is also entangled with other social and economic disputes and grievances, as is the case in Manipur. The Meitei community looked to the state government as its protector. It handled the situation poorly because it failed to foresee the violence. Political solutions are required for contentious topics like reservations and other grievances. Bans, restrictions, and the use of force can only make the issues worse, especially in a state that has had negative experiences with repression and strong-arm tactics.

 

DIGITAL INDIA : REALITY

 The lack of technical skills in Indian youth continues to remain a worry. More than 70% of Indian youth aged between 15 and 29 do not know how to send emails with attached files. Nearly 60% cannot move or copy files or folders. Over 80% do not know how to transfer files between computers and other devices. These numbers are founded in a survey published by NSSO (National Sample Survey Office) last month. The survey defined nine parameters for accessing the information and communication technology skills of Indians between 15 and 29.

The parameters included skills such as installing and updating new software, connecting, and installing devices, etc. The data shows that Indians fare poorly in most of the listed basic IT skills.

The latest report published by the World Economic Forum suggests that in the next five years, the churn in Indian labor markets will be led by technology-driven sectors. Jobs such as Data analyst and artificial intelligence etc. will lead this labor churn. This assumed labor churn added urgency to the lacking of IT skills in Indian youth.

"Labor-market churn" refers to the expected job movement, including new roles being created and existing roles destroyed, as a proportion of current employment. With generative artificial intelligence emerging as the next frontier to be conquered in tech and IT skills, firms have already begun hiring for new roles such as prompt engineers, AI trainers, ethics coaches, etc. which, according to experts, will likely open the tech and IT sector for the layman. However, experts agree that there remains a massive demand and supply gap for computer skills. Studies show that only 40-45% of Indian youth are readily employable.

Hyundai to invest 20,000 Cr rupees in TN to expand EV production

 Hyundai to invest 20,000 Cr rupees in TN to expand EV production 

Hyundai Motor India (HMIL), India’s second largest car manufacturer, signed an agreement with Tamil Nadu to invest for expanding electric vehicle (EV) production and in associated ecosystem. The investment is of around 20,000 Cr rupees over 10 years of period. HMIL is planning to set up a battery pack assembly unit with an annual capacity of 178,000 units. And it is planning to install 100 EV charging stations across the state in the next 5 years. 

                                 In 2022, HMIL’s total exports were 1,81,000 units, and the company plans to increase the exports to 3,19,000 units in 2023. They are planning to do this by converting the Sriperumbudur unit near Chennai as a regional export hub of ICE and EVs. Tamil Nadu announced a new policy in February which offers incentives for manufacturers, customers and charging infrastructure providers. After this announcement it is the second large investment for EV production in Tamil Nadu. The HMIL’s plant in Sriperumbudur came up in December 1996 and the second factory which needed an investment of 4,000 Cr rupees came up in February 2008. According to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, HMIL has invested 23,900 Cr rupees in the state and provides employment to 15,000 people directly and 250,000 people indirectly. He added that Tamil Nadu is the leading producer of automobiles and components, including electric vehicles in India. And the reasons for this are mainly the efficient human resources, world-class infrastructure, and the constructive actions of the Tamil Nadu government. He also pointed on how this will be a step towards the state’s goal of becoming a 1 trillion dollar economy by 2030.

                          The Tamil Nadu investment contributes to Hyundai’s roadmap to become net zero carbon foot by 2045. The Hyundai’s Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) came to Tamil Nadu after Cisco, US-based network gear maker, announced its plans about setting up manufacturing plant in the state. The Tamil Nadu Electric Vehicles Policy 2023, have incentives for manufacturers which include 100 percent repayment of state goods and services tax, investment or turnover based subsidy and advanced chemistry cell subsidy. Other than that the state will provide a 100 percent exemption on electricity tax for 5 years on power purchased from the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation. Tamil Nadu has seen projects with employment potential of around 48,000 jobs in the EV value chain during the last 5 years.

Lowering the threshold rate for e-invoicing

 

GST INVOICING MUST FOR BIZ WITH TURNOVER OF Rs.5cr OR MORE

 

                            For business to business (B2B) transactions under the goods and service tax, now it is been followed as e-invoice is compulsory for companies with a turnover of Rs.10cr or above.

                        The Ministry rate of Finance then notified that a new mandate has been proposed to lower the threshold rate for e-invoicing. Now the new act which will came into existence from August 1 onward says that Businesses with a turnover of Rs 5 crore and more are obligated to generate e-invoicing forB2B.

 

This movement results in many benefits,

·      it digitizes higher volumes of transactions

·      the transparency in sales reporting will increase

·      the number of errors reduces

·      lower rate of mismatch

·      the data entry work gets automated

·      improved compliance

 

                                    Earlier, on 2020, the companies with a turnover of 500cr, it was mandatory for them threshold for in-voicing and then on 2021 it became Rs 50cr and the threshold was brought down to Rs 20cr, beginning April 1, 2022. And then it further lowered to Rs 10cr in October 1,2022, which now became Rs 5 crores.

 

                                        To the system of IRP which is “a requirement to avail of input tax credit” to which the Tax payers must register to. They should generate invoices on the internal systems or billing software and then report them to the IRP.

                                                Saurabh Agarwal, partner of EY, says that from August 2023 onward i.e. after the implementation of the new rule, the industry need to review its vendor masters and ensure any vendor supplying good or services are breaching this contract of threshold turnover of Rs 5cr.

                                            The Finance Ministry of Indian said that, The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has rolled out a module for automated scrutiny of GST returns. This will help the officers to work on scrutiny of GST returns of Centre Administered Taxpayers selected on the basis of data analytics and risks identified by the system. The discrepancies on account of risks associated with a return are displayed to the tax officers. They are provided with a workflow of interacting with the taxpayers through the GSTN Common Portal for communication of discrepancies noticed.

 

NCLT admits Go First's insolvency petition , puts it under moratorium

 The Delhi Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Wednesday accepted Go First’s insolvency petition , resulting in the airline’s being put under a moratorium in accordance with the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). 

“The application of the Corporate Applicant (Go First) is admitted. As a necessary consequence, the moratorium in terms of Section 14(1) (a), (b), (c) & (d) is declared,” the order said. All or certain legal remedies against debtors are suspended during a moratorium. This means that the lessors of Go First will not be able to take possession of the aircraft.

Talking to Business Standard, Go First Chief Executive Officer Kaushik Khona said: “This is a historic ruling. An application of insolvency has been admitted promptly. The order prevents a viable airline from becoming an unviable one. The purpose of the IBC has always been revival.” 

The airline has informed the civil aviation ministry that it would be able to restart operations in two weeks and is mobilising funds for it .  “Protecting customer interests is the priority,” an official said.  

The airline’s lenders too will be discussing this week the way forward, including a resolution plan. While the NCLT order means the firm does not have to make repayment on its existing loans, fresh funds too will not be granted. Banks will also internally assess the provisions and look at the feasibility of resolution. Senior advocate Sanjay Sen said: “Lessors not being able to take possession of the aircraft may be the immediate objective or takeaway, which will give a reasonable chance to the airline to resume operations with the support of the lenders. In the intervening period, it’s a good move to safeguard the interests of employees and other stakeholders.”  

 SMBC Aviation Capital, which is one of the lessors of the airline, has filed an appeal against this order. It is listed for hearing on May 11 before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT).

The NCLT has appointed Abhilash Lal of Alvarez and Marsal interim resolution professional (IRP) to take charge of the airline. The tribunal said the professional should ensure that employees of the airline were not laid off. 

“The IRP shall ensure that retrenchment of employees is not resorted to as a matter of course. In any event, any such decision/event should be brought to the attention of this NCLT,” the court order said.An IRP is a professional who is the whole and sole of the company after the insolvency application has been approved by the NCLT. The court also directed the IRP to take steps, such as executing the arbitral award in favour of Go First against Pratt and Whitney (P&W) so that the airline could run its service. 

The airline had told the tribunal that it had won an arbitral award in Singapore against P&W, directing the latter to supply 10 serviceable engines by April 27 this year and 10 serviceable engines each month till December 2023.

“P&W failed to comply with the arbitral orders, for which the Applicant (Go First) has already initiated enforcement proceedings against P&W in Delaware, US, as well as other relevant jurisdictions where engines are located,” Go First told the tribunal. Reacting to the order, P&W’s spokesperson said: “Go First’s allegations that P&W is responsible for its financial condition are without merit. P&W will vigorously defend itself against Go’s claims and is pursuing its own legal recourse.”

Khona said: “A major issue is to get the P&W engines and that is what the arbitral award means. The IRP has been directed to pursue that too (arbitral award).” He said that 27 aircraft of Go First were functional. The airline on its website said all its flights had been cancelled until May 19.Go First filed for insolvency this month, blaming “faulty” P&W engines for the grounding of about half its 54 Airbus A320neo. In its insolvency application, the airline said it had cancelled 4,118 flights (serving 77,500 passengers) in the past 30 days .

According to the insolvency application, the airline said it defaulted on paying Rs 2,660 crore to its lessors and Rs 1,202 crore to its vendors. The airline, last week, had urged the NCLT to either grant it an interim moratorium or admit its insolvency plea under the IBC.

The lessors (SMBC Capital Aviation, GAL, CDB Aviation, Sonoram Aviation Company, and MSPL Aviation) have opposed the airline’s plea and said it could not ask for a moratorium before they were heard. The tribunal in its ruling rejected the lessors’ arguments. Ajay Monga, partner, SNG & Partners, said: “It is a wait-and-watch situation for the airline.”

Prantik Hazarika, aviation law expert and partner at Khaitan & Khaitan, said: “As of now the aircraft lessors will now have to wait in respect of deregistration of the aircraft from the notation register of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.”

Walmart commits to source $10-bn India goods each year.

 

Walmart, the American multinational retail corporation, has committed to sourcing $10 billion worth of goods from India every year. They come to India because the country is in the growth phase and also it is considered the manufacturing hub globally. President and CEO of Walmart, Doug McMillon had assured their partnership with suppliers, partners, and small and medium enterprises of India. A group of Walmart officials visited Bengaluru, India on Tuesday to assess the progress the entities had made including Flipkart, Global Tech, and phone Pe, and also their suppliers and partners. This commitment is made in the long term, and they also claimed that India got a bright future ahead. They also claimed that their suppliers and partners are making quality, sustainable, and affordable products for their customers and members around the world. They had set up their partners including artisans, merchants, grantees, suppliers, and medium and small-scale enterprises for discussing their plans. This commitment with Walmart will benefit the Indian small and medium enterprises, and also Indians by providing job support, strengthening communities, and accelerating India’s progress as a manufacturing destination. India had been a long priority for Walmart. The great entrepreneurial spirit made by the country impressed Walmart making India their partner country. They also stated that by 2030, India will become the world’s largest economy.

Walmart is in a battle with US rival Amazon, Reliance Jio Mart, and Tata-owned Big Basket for being dominant in the online retail market and also in financial areas such as Flipkart and Phone Pe. One of India's top e-commerce companies, Flipkart, was purchased by Walmart in 2018 for a 77% interest. Walmart has been doing business in India for several years. Walmart has been able to reach more Indian customers and provide a greater selection of goods thanks to Flipkart's online platform. To assist them in enhancing their manufacturing procedures and product quality, the organization has already developed ties with several efforts to assist them in enhancing their manufacturing procedures and product quality, the organization has already developed ties with several local enterprises. To support the expansion and improvement of regional businesses, Walmart has also committed to investing in the infrastructure of the local supply chain. Walmart wants to support Indian farmers in addition to buying products from Indian vendors. The company has pledged to work with farmers to help them improve their agricultural practices and increase their yields. Through these initiatives, Walmart wants to encourage sustainable agriculture and food security in India. Walmart's resolve to get items from India is also consistent with that country's national "Make in India" program. The initiative aims to encourage foreign companies to invest in India and promote local manufacturing. Walmart helps Indian manufacturing and job growth by procuring products from Indian vendors. Walmart's foray into the Indian market, though, was not without its difficulties. The company faced opposition from local traders who feared that Walmart's entry would hurt their businesses. The Indian government also imposed restrictions on foreign direct investment in the retail sector, making it more difficult for Walmart to establish a physical presence in the country. Despite these hurdles, Walmart has remained dedicated to increasing its operations in India. The company's concentration on e-commerce has helped it to reach more Indian clients, and its connection with Flipkart has given it a footing in the Indian market.

                                                            The rise of micro- ATMs

              The micro ATMs use have risen to 15.59 million in February this year, up by 83.19 percent from a year ago, which signifies that cash is still a much preferred medium of exchange. Micro ATMs are machines that are modified point of sales terminals  where we can swipe the card and is a mini version of an ATM. These machines connect to their core banking system via GPRS to perform banking transactions. It is used to disburse cash in remote locations where bank branches cannot reach. The platform will enable a million businessmen to conduct instant transactions. The basic transaction types are deposits, withdrawals, fund transfers, balance enquiries and mini statements. If we need cash, we can go to a nearby merchant and swipe our debit card and the amount is handed over to us from the store. At the same time if the cash is with us , an equal amount can be credited to the store's bank account and if it's a savings account we can earn interest from it. They are easy to deploy and cost effective devices and are now being more prevalent in India's semi-urban and rural areas. This is mainly because rural India has fewer bank branches , making it difficult for residents to access ATM  services that are primarily available at faraway bank branches. It is quick and is an easy digital payment system and allows bank account holders to make transactions using their Aadhaar number and biometric authentication without physically visiting a bank branch for ATM services and thus is backed by the Aadhar Enabled Payment System( AePS) which will serve as the ID proof required to withdraw money.

                  All transactions like cash withdrawal, balance check, mini statement can be done through micro ATMs. It helps people of the rural area in financial inclusion. Also now a shop can be converted to an ATM, it a low cost option , is a portable device and easy to set up anywhere in remote areas and is an interoperable equipment that can work for any bank. It plays a major role in digitisation. Also banks can deploy micro ATMs at different places within a shorter radius of distance as it is cost effective too. It bridges the gap between the need and availability of cash requirement in the eco- system. It works as a Bank-in -a-box, allowing customers to withdraw cash and know their balance. This machine comes with a fingerprint scanner attached to it. These are similar to point of sale( PoS ) terminals and are a doorstep mobile banking arrangement. It has connectivity through GSM and hence can travel from village to village. Even though cash payments due to UPI are more prevalent now, India is still cash driven as cash in circulation in FY23 was Rs 33.5 trillion and in FY24, this is projected to be Rs 35.5 trillion.  Thus these micro ATMs act as an important lifeline for the unbanked and underbanked population ,to access the cash. Another main reason for the acceptance of micro ATMs is that the distribution of traditional ATMs within India is unbalanced and India is among the countries to have the lowest ATM penetration in the world. Around 65% of Indian Population lies in rural India and they have only 20% of all ATMs in the country.

                  Unlike the other ATM machines, micro ATMs offer more personalised service, as there are agents available to assist with transactions. This is beneficial to customers who prefer face to face interactions and for those who struggle with digital technology. Also with the surge in AePS transactions in recent years, along with the pandemic, micro ATMs have been gaining more popularity. Many Fin Techs are working on micro ATMs and expanding the market by offering financial services to the unserved and underserved population  and making banking services easily accessible in remote areas. Also people need not travel long distance to access the nearest ATM or a bank. It ensures a continuous flow of cash to keep rural economy operational and bridge gap between customers and their financial needs. Thus the micro ATMs will play an important role in accelerating the reach of basic banking operations by connecting the vulnerable sections of our society.

Invesco cuts down its share in Swiggy

 Invesco a major investor in Swiggy to cut 33% food delivery giant valuation to $5.5 billion. Last year in January, swiggy which was under funding of Invesco had acquired $700 billion from the investors, which increased its valuation to $10.7 billion. Last year on April Invesco estimated the values of Swiggy to $186 billion. The Arc also estimated its value and shortened its share this was exposed by tech focused media. The latest news is that swiggy’s valuation is under Zomato, which trades with market capitalization of $6.7 billion. The Invesco revised its valuation in January 31,2023. And this is the second time the investors are cut shortening the investment in Swiggy, which is backed by SoftBank and Prosus. Last year in October Invesco cut shortened the value to $8 billion. Swiggy did not disclosed any comment regarding the situation it was reported by TechCrunch. 

 

                                                     The investors do such things when they notice whether companies are into losses and are laying off employees among a funding winter and macroeconomic uncertainties. Recently there was a strike regarding wages and firing of employees. In January Swiggy laid off 380 employees, this can become a challenging condition and slow down of growth of food delivery systems. Swiggy’s Chief Executive Sri Harsha Majety said that company is over hiring as a case of poor judgement. Swiggy also reported its losses widened 2.24 times to Rs.3,628.8 crores. As an overview Swiggy is not only the company where an investor has marked down the valuation. US based asset manager BlackRock has reported there reduced valuation of edutech Byjus.

 

Why Godrej CPL acquired Raymond Consumer

 In today's competitive business environment, FMCG companies aiming to expand likely have three possibilities.

The first option is to create a brand-new sub-brand from scratch. But it's challenging. To build and market it successfully, a lot of money is required. Not to mention how much time it takes. Given that the majority of FMCG products already have razor-thin margins, it might not be worth it.
The second choice is to acquire an up-and-coming D2C brand. These days, this is what all the cool kids are doing. However, the majority of these brands don't generate large earnings. Additionally, their audience is relatively small. It is so challenging to the business, commercial scale. The 125-year-old Godrej Group is currently pursuing this third alternative. It desires a stake in the Raymond Group, another nearly 100-year-old provider of consumer care.

GCPL now values brands. Cinthol soaps, Good Knight insect repellents, Godrej Expert hair dye, and even the Hit bug sprays are among the most recognized brands in India. Purchasing Park Avenue and KS only expand its clientele. According to Nielsen data, Park Avenue is ranked second among deodorants. Only Vini's Fogg is in front of it. The most intriguing aspect is that Raymond is on the podium without significantly investing in advertising and promotion. Vini's has been spending anywhere from 13 to 20% more on advertising than Raymond, which spends about 5% of its income on them.

In spite of this, Godrej's research tends to indicate that consumers' perceptions of and satisfaction with the Park Avenue brand are far greater than those of its five main rivals.

Raymond’s EBITDA margin is hovering around 5% thanks to its high fixed costs. And it’s quite shockingly low when you compare it to its rival Vini’s which is 5 times higher at 25%. Getting this to head north will be an uphill task for GCPL.

The other thing analysts are questioning is why it wouldn’t Godrej just capitalize on its existing brands. It does have Cinthol which is a pretty popular soap in the country. And while Godrej has tried to extend the brand into deo's, it hasn’t worked out yet. So maybe Godrej needs to refocus a bit on Cinthol instead of looking elsewhere.

But Godrej has a response to that. They had a slide in their presentation which said — “If you are not among the first few entrants, you can only enter if you have a seriously disruptive product.” And since their surveys indicate that people are fairly loyal to their deos and don’t switch often, they wanted something which already had a strong presence in the market.

 

CASAS BAHIA

 

Casas Bahia is the largest retail network in Brazil other being Magazine Luiza and Americanas. Casas Bahia has developed an innovative business model that serve the bottom of the pyramid population throughout Brazil. Their business model is a unique approach to customer service. Casas Bahia have 330 stores ,10 million customers and 20,000 employees.

It was founded in 1952 in Sao Paulo by a polish immigrant Samuel Klein who began his career as a peddler selling products to the migrant workers from the Brazilian Northeast.

The scope of Casas Bahia is that in Brazil they maintain a standard which stratifies the individuals into five economic classes A, B, C, D and E. From this C, D and E are considered at the bottom of the pyramid in 2002, the population of Brazil was 176 million, 84 percent of whom were at the bottom of the pyramid. The BOP represents a significant purchasing power in the Brazil. Specifically, 45 percent of total appliances and furniture spending is done by BOP.  Everyone in Brazil regardless of their age feels the need for entertainment, for poor in Brazil that comes in the form of radio and television. Seventy percent of Casas Bahia’s customers have no formal income, they are primarily maids, cooks and construction workers who have minimal wages.

Casas Bahia role is that they emerged by fulfilling the untapped financial needs of the Brazilian people. It has unique financing model that has enabled the company to serve BOP customers. While many companies saw Casa Bahia customers undesirable, they saw an opportunity in them. In order to serve the poor population, they developed an innovative approach that is pass book. Pass book allows to make small installments payments foe merchandise. The payment schedule is 1-15 months. The passbook is payable only at Casas Bahia stores. Every month the customers must enter the store to pay bills. SPC score is also an important factor, the score should be positive for further purchases.

COMPETITION

The competitive landscape of the retail industry in Brazil is constantly changing based on the product offerings, geography etc. With no new entrants, a large portion of the market share is concentrated with only few companies. The top five competitors comprise 45% of total retail sales. Casas Bahia remain the leader with 15% of the market. Recently large hyper markets like Carrefour , Extra and Big have entered the market , which poses threat to Casas Bahia.

GO FIRST FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY, SUSPENDS FLIGHTS

 Go First was an Indian ultra- low- cost airline services. It was based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Go First started its operation on Nov 4, 2005. India’s Wadia Group is the owner of this airlines. But now this Low-cost carrier has filed for bankruptcy at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), seeking voluntary insolvency resolution proceedings. And they have even cancelled their flights till May 12. According to a Go First official, the financial crunch that the company facing is due to non-supply of engines by US- based jet engines manufacturer Pratt and Whitney (P&W) which caused the grounding of more than 50 planes. This caused Go First to set back by 10800 crore rupees in lost revenues and additional expenses. In the last two years Go First has paid 5657 crore rupees to lessors. Also, the grounding of its aircraft, that started in 2019, grew from 7% of its fleet to 31% 2020 December, to 50% by 2022 December.

                                                 The current situation is getting worse because of the P&W’s refusal to take steps for the immediate release of 10 leased engines by April 2023 and another 10 engines by December 2023. The airline pointed out that if the engines were made available, it would have returned to full operations by August or September of 2023.The lessors of Go First opposed the airline’s plea to admit insolvency in the Delhi bench of NCLT. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)’s stand on this situation is made clear by asking the airline to refund passengers who have booked tickets for cancelled or suspended flights. The DGCA’s statement came after the airline filed the insolvency citing the cash crunch. Go First’s CEO Kaushik Khona told that the insolvency proceedings are done for reviving the airlines, and not for selling it. This chaotic atmosphere faced by the Wadia Group owned airlines reminds of the situation in 2019, when Jet Airways went bust. The leasing companies have repossessed some of Go First’s leased planes because of the non- payment of the rental dues. Though there were consistent investments from the Wadia Group and also emergency credit line from the government, the airlines failed in operation.

CHINA TAKES THE YUAN GLOBAL IN BID TO REBEL A WEAPONISED DOLLAR

 

CHINA TAKES THE YUAN GLOBAL IN BID TO REBEL A WEAPONISED DOLLAR

 

 

                              America is one of a kind in the economic, political, and military spheres of the world. One of the main reason America is so powerful is the value of its currency in the world economy and the power America gained through Petrodollar system. Now many countries and world currencies are coming forward against the American Dollar. The trade or any other business deals in between Russia and China have decided to be carried out in the Yuan Renminbi, which is now the Chinese currency. The BRICS countries which include Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa are likely to come forward as a new common currency, in which they too a step towards de-dollarization. There are also reports that many countries are starting to use other currencies instead of using the American dollar for their trade. In this way American dollar tend to lose its status as the “World Reserve Currency”. This is called De-Dollarization.

All the countries in the world have their own central banks. All these banks have a foreign exchange reserve, in such exchange reserves, the foreign currency that they keep in large amount is called the reserve currency and in this 60% of the world’s foreign currency is kept in the American dollar. That’s why it has become the World’s Reserve Currency. According to a research paper published by IMF, there are three things which make the currency eligible to become the world reserve currency. First one is the good governance, then the economic stability and finally the openness in international trade. By having these eligibility, a country’s financial system should be in a good way, country should have good peace, democracy should exist, fast growing economy, value of the currency should be significant etc. So, after the second world war, the country which qualifies the three eligibility was America.

A spark for the de-dollarization was initiated in 2014, when Russian invaded Ukraine and Russia entered into discussion with China to bypass US dollar and use the Chinese currency Yuan Renminbi. So, after 2014, the use of Yuan Renminbi, for the trade between Russia and China have significantly increased.

Now China is putting its currency in front in all possible ways against American dollar. President Xi Jinping’s Government has been trying hard to act as a catalyst in enhancing the value of Yuan by entering into new agreements linked to the renminbi stretching from Russia and Saudi Arabia to Brazil and even France. While US still remain as the financial hegemon, through this movement, China can carve out a bigger place for itself in the international financial system.

            The use of Yuan Renminbi in the contracts for everything from oil to nickel is attain speed as the currency’s share of global trade finance tripling since 2019. Still its only a tiny part of the whole and it is strictly controlled by the Chinese authorities. And now it is going global. The reputation is now been promoted abroad.

Indian smartphone shipments decline 16% YoY to lowest Q1 in 4 yrs: IDC

 India’s smartphone market is expecting to see a flat growth in the Current Year 23 as the India’s smartphone shipments fell 16 per cent on-year to 31 million in the first quarter (Q1) of calendar year 2023 (CY23) to reach the lowest Q1 shipments in four years, according to a Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker preliminary data by the International Data Corporation (IDC). 

The consumer demand remained sluggish between the uncertain  macroeconomic conditions , and inventory levels stayed elevated because of high stocking in the second half (H2) of calendar year 2022 (CY22), the report said.  

The average selling price of the smartphones reached an all-time high of $265, and the share of higher-priced smartphones (over $600) increased to 11 per cent, compared with 4% a year ago. 

The share of 5G smartphones increased to 45 %, up from 31 % in Q1CY22, led by Samsung, which accounted for more than a quarter of the 5G smartphone shipments .

“5G smartphones continue to increase penetration in the low-end price segment and we should expect a strong 5G play in the $150<$300 segment in H2CY23 as high-end 4G models vacate the space,” says Upasana Joshi, research manager, client devices, IDC India. 

Shipments to the online channels dropped heavily, as the offline channels were backed by model launches and attractive channel promotions in the Q1CY23. 

Samsung climbed to the top slot after more than five years, supported by the launch of affordable 5G smartphones and the Samsung Galaxy S23 series, followed by the Vivo which continued to build on its omnichannel portfolio and Oppo (including OnePlus), while Xiaomi slipped to fourth slot in Q1CY23. 

India’s smartphone market is expected to see flat growth in CY23.“The second half of the year can bring some growth if brands bring attractive festival offerings across channels to drive affordability,” says Navkendar Singh, associate vice-president, devices research, IDC.  

This, he says, can be facilitated by consumer optimism on the back of the Cricket World Cup (hosted by India), a few key state elections, followed by general elections in 2024.

                             Private sector may get limited access to Gati Shakti Portal

                               The Gati Shakti portal which is now accessed by only state and central government ministries and departments for detail planning and implementation of infrastructure connectivity projects in a time bound manner, has now limited access to private sector. Based on a draft framework by the department for promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, a national master plan data of Gati Shakti will be shared  with the private sector. The private sectors will have viewing rights as well as access rights to social and economic infrastructure related data with a private entity. They should take special care that the wealth of data in the national master plan should not be misused. The national master plan now contains 1450 layers of information including information related to railway and port connectivity, gas pipelines, optic fibre across the country and land records. The 36 central ministries and departments have uploaded 585 data layers and the states and union territories have uploaded 872 data layers. The main aim behind providing access to private sectors is to help them in the execution of infrastructure projects. The government will have to consider the privacy concerns along with the national security concerns. 

                             The Gati Shakti national masterplan is a project by central government to revolutionise infrastructure in India. It is a 100 lakh- crore project announced by Prime minister Narendra Modi on the 75th Independence day,2021. The plan was launched on October 13 2021 and was approved on October 21 2021 by Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs. It is also known as the National Master Plan for multi modal connectivity. This provide competitive advantage for manufacturing India and thereby helps to enhance the Indian economic growth.  It's main objective was to bring together all relevant ministries  and departments of Government  of India  and promote an integrated planning of projects. There will be an interconnection with the ministries of Indian Roadways, Indian airways and Indian Waterways for easy movement of goods. They will provide a multimodal connectivity infrastructure to all economic zones of India . Also there will be transparency in monitoring current projects and provide information about upcoming connectivity projects. The main six pillars of this  are comprehensiveness, prioritization, optimization, synchronization, analytical and dynamic. All projects having an investment of above 500 crore are routed through the Network Planning Group( NPG). It addresses the critical infrastructure gaps for seamless movement of people and goods. The five key sectors under this Gati SHAKTI  are ports, steel, coal, fertilisers and food and public distribution. Once the data of primary level schools are mapped on the portal, they can check the areas that are underserved and take measures to address the gaps. Better connectivity and plan can be formulated by Gati shakti. The National Master Plan portal is already being used for pre feasibility assessment and detailed project by railways, road and telecom ministries.

                       As part of this plan, Indian Railway will develop 400 new Vande Bharat  Express in 3 years and will revamp 200 railway terminals within India with modern facilities and will build 300 new terminals in next five years. The main challenge is that while acquiescing land , it is extremely difficult to get  environmental clearance. There are also plans to bring various other infra projects in the country include industrial corridors, freight corridors, PM Mitra Parks and defence corridors under the Pm Gati shakti scheme for optimum utilization of resources. Thus coordination between the government and private sector is key to the success of Gati Shakti yojana. Also, the private sector companies must work together to understand the needs of the communities they are serving and to ensure that the infrastructure they build is sustainable and meet the needs of the people.

                              

Airtel to merge Sri Lanka ops with Dialog to make nation's largest telco

 

Bharti Airtel stated on Tuesday that Dailog and its Bharti Airtel Lanka operations would merge. Axiata Group Berhata, a multinational telecommunications firm based in Malaysia, owns Dialogue. In terms of market capitalization, Dialog is one of the biggest listed firms on the Colombo stock exchange. The honour of being the first and only business in Sri Lanka to reach a market valuation of $1 billion belongs to Dialogue.

In 2009, Bharti Airtel Lanka became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bharti Airtel. Following the transaction's conclusion, Airtel will issue additional shares in Dialog. The parties are now in conversation regarding the proposed transaction in compliance with the applicable laws and regulations. The proposed transaction is subject to the execution of definitive agreements and satisfaction of other customary closing conditions, including the approval of applicable regulatory and shareholder bodies. As a result of this acquisition, Airtel should have access to more customers. They would become the largest telecom provider in the nation as a result of this strategy. The second-largest player in the market would be the government-owned firm SL-Mobitel. The business argues that its technologically innovative products or activities are to blame for its success, which ultimately led to increased adoption rates among Sri Lanka's young people. This innovation includes the launch of several initiatives such as lowest rates for voice services, lowest rates for IDD(International Direct Dialing), and international voice and data roaming rates.

Bharti Airtel has also taken initiatives to increase network capacity and conducted trials of 5G technology through commercial networks. The trial version was intended to achieve download speeds of 1.9 GBps or higher. This is said to be the highest record ever in the country in terms of download speed. As of 2021, the number of subscribers in Sri Lanka has reached 30.76 million, with mobile network coverage of around 99%, reports Sri Lanka's International Telecommunications Union. Sri Lanka has taken very active initiatives to implement 5G commercial services this year. But the economic crisis seems to hinder the whole process. Sri Lanka is reported to be the first country to take the lead in rolling out her 3G and her 4G in the country, but the rollout of 5G has been slow for the country's people and consumers due to inflation. It may not be viable. An unstable political system may also be another factor that prevents the country from expanding its grid. Aside from the fact that the telecommunications tax on operators fluctuates between 11.25% and 15%, tax rate hikes could also hinder the 5G deployment. 

Why is India's Public System a Mess

Over 70 million people in India use Public transportation.

On the other hand, Indian Railway consolidates 24 million people daily.

In cities, buses are often opted for by the public, because of it's offer unmatched connectivity and also it's affordable form of transit. According to 2018 reports, the World Resources Institute published that 46% of all motorized trips within Bengaluru were on buses.

Buses are a lifeline and useful transportation for the masses.

But there are issues plaguing the public bus system in India. The majority doesn't make profit. Only a handful of the State Road Transport Undertakings (SRTUs) manage to turn a profit. 

One of the major reason for the public transportations to turn in to loss is the fare.

buses require a lot of diesel and the fuel prices aren’t exactly cheap in the country. It’s not subsidised for state-run buses. And above all staffs are to be paid regular salary. 

It's not feasible to just raise fares either to combat this issue. For instance, an IndiaSpemd study that looked at Delhi’s transport system revealed that while the fare should be revised twice a year on the basis of the inflation numbers, it's all involved political pressure.

State governments reimburse the SRTUs for the concessions they dole out. But it’s often not enough. There are numerous delays. And even a gap of a few hundred crores of rupees each year. If you add the rising costs that don’t get tacked on to the fares, you’ll see that the SRTUs are often left with no option but to borrow money to survive. And that comes with an interest cost too which further worsens their situation.

As a result, we get poorly maintained buses.

But we do not have enough buses.

Okay, it’s not like the government has completely ignored it. They’re trying to finalize the reports for FY18 and FY19 now. But it’s still way too much of a time lag.

For instance, India has around 3 lakh buses run by state undertakings. But some estimates say that India needs around 30 lakhs buses to meet the needs of the population. And since we all love comparisons, here’s one — While China has about 60 buses for every 10,000 people, India has a measly 4 buses that serve the needs of 10,000 folks. The bare minimum is 12. So we’re way off the mark.

The introduction of electric vehicles at least helps to sort out the issues of fuel cost.

AI AND INDIAN MARKET

 Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been growing rapidly and has become a significant technological force in various sectors worldwide. In India also AI is having a substantial impact on the market, affecting consumers and the workforce. This report aims to explore the challenges and opportunities of AI in the Indian market. Efficiency AI is being used to automate various processes in the Indian market, which has led to increased efficiency and productivity. For example, chatbots are now used to automate customer service processes which reduces the response time and improve customer satisfaction. Adding to this, AI-powered systems are being used to automate repetitive tasks in manufacturing, which has led to increased output and reduced costs.

Decision-making AI is helping businesses in improved decision-making. These Decision-making AI analyze vast amounts of data. In India, banks are using AI-powered systems to analyze customer data and provide personalized financial advice and investment recommendations. This has led to better customer engagement and loyalty.

AI-powered startups are emerging in various sectors like health care and finance which are disrupting traditional business models. These startups are leveraging AI to develop innovative solutions that solve complex problems and meet customers' needs.

Job displacement AI is leading to job displacements in certain factors.AI powered systems are used to automate repetitive tasks like manufacturing which in turn leads to job losses. This has caused concern among some groups about the impact of AI on employment opportunities in the Indian market. Skill Development AI is creating new job opportunities that require specialized skills. This leads to increased demand for professionals with specialized skills in areas such as machine learning, data science, and natural language processing. Organizations are investing in training and upskilling their employees to meet the growing demand for these skills.

In conclusion, AI is having a significant impact on the Indian market. It presents both opportunities and challenges It leads to increased efficiency, improved decision making, and leads to job losses in some sectors. However, the benefits of AI are likely to outweigh the challenges, and the Indian market is well-positioned to leverage this technology to drive growth and innovation. Businesses, policymakers, and other stakeholders need to work together to ensure that the benefits of AI are realized while minimizing the negative impacts.