📈 Costly Rupee

Good morning. PBKS vs RCB for the IPL final today - who are we supporting? 🏅 

Ruchirr Sharma & Shatakshi Sharmaa  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• 📈 Costly Rupee

• 🤖 AI adoption is rising

• 🗞️ Bite-sized summaries

  • 🥑 Food license revoked

  • 🧪 Perplexity Labs

• 🧑‍🍳 What else is cookin’?

• 🍿 Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment

MARKETS

🇮🇳 India

• Indian markets saw mixed results as early vote counting in the general election showed a tighter race than expected. All sectoral indices ended deep in the red, with banking, financials, and infrastructure stocks hit hardest amid heightened political uncertainty.

🌍️ International

• US stocks started June on a strong note. Gains were led by tech and consumer discretionary stocks, as investors looked ahead to key economic data releases and remained optimistic about potential Fed rate cuts.

FOREX

📈 Costly Rupee

India's rupee is currently Asia’s worst-performing currency - and the pressure is only mounting.

The root of the issue? A $73 billion "short book" of future dollar repayments, a kind of IOU that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has taken on in its efforts to protect the country’s foreign exchange reserves.

Here’s what’s going on in plain terms: 

• The RBI had previously promised to sell US dollars to stabilize the rupee.

• But those promises now need to be fulfilled, meaning the central bank must buy back huge amounts of dollars at a time when India’s reserves are already being stretched.

• This rush to restock dollars is driving up demand for the US currency, which in turn pushes the rupee's value down.

Analysts estimate the rupee could weaken further - possibly hitting ₹87.50 to the dollar by year-end (from about ₹85.40 today), despite India’s economy growing by a robust 7.4% last quarter.

Why should this matter to you?

• A weaker rupee means costlier imports - everything from smartphones and fuel to medicines and foreign education could become more expensive.

• It also means higher inflation risks, which can eat into household budgets.

• On the flip side, a cheaper rupee can benefit exporters and boost sectors like IT and manufacturing.

The broader story here is about balancing financial stability with market forces. India’s central bank is walking a tightrope: it wants to defend the rupee from wild swings, but it also knows that trying to control the market too tightly could backfire.

The RBI’s current strategy appears to be a middle path, quietly rebuilding dollar reserves while allowing the rupee to move within a soft range of ₹84–₹87. It’s less hands-on than before, but still ready to step in if things spiral.

Read more: Times of India

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

🤖 AI adoption is rising

ChatGPT clocked 365 billion searches in 2024, according to Mary Meeker’s influential Trends – Artificial Intelligence report.

To put that in perspective: it took Google 11 years to reach the same milestone. ChatGPT did it in just two - a 5.5x faster rate of adoption, underscoring how AI tools are not just complementary to search anymore - they’re beginning to replace it.

With over 700 million users, 20 million paying subscribers, and $4 billion in revenue, ChatGPT is more than a viral app - it's now a central pillar of the digital economy. This surge reflects a paradigm shift in how people find information, solve problems, and interact with technology. Traditional search engines like Google are increasingly being supplemented, or even skipped, as people turn to AI for more contextual, personalized, and conversational responses.

But the story isn’t just about numbers - it’s about transformation.

The report highlights capabilities that AI like ChatGPT will soon master, from writing full-length films and operating customer service bots to running autonomous businesses and collaborating on scientific discovery. We’re entering a world where AI isn't just a tool, but a partner - creative, responsive, and intelligent.

Meanwhile, the ecosystem of AI builders is booming. Nvidia’s developer base has grown sixfold in seven years to 6 million, and Google’s Gemini developers jumped from 1.4 million to over 7 million in a single year. These numbers point to a gold rush in AI innovation, with startups and tech giants alike racing to build the next generation of intelligent applications.

Overall: The implications are massive: education, media, commerce, science, even our daily habits - all are being reshaped by systems that learn and reason. And as AI continues to evolve, the biggest transformation may not be in what machines can do, but in what we imagine we can become with them.

Read more: Economic Times

GENERAL OVERVIEW

🗞️ Bite-sized summaries

📱 Adani sanctions probe - Meta is set to revolutionize digital advertising by fully automating the ad creation and targeting process through AI by the end of 2026. Advertisers will be able to provide a product image and budget, and Meta's AI will generate the ad—including images, videos, and text—and determine user targeting across platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Additionally, AI will personalize ads in real-time based on factors such as geolocation. This move positions Meta to compete with other tech giants like Google and OpenAI in the AI-driven advertising space.

📶 AI-driven ad automation - Meta Platforms plans to fully automate advertising by 2026, enabling brands to create and target ads using AI tools.Advertisers can input a product image and budget, and Meta's AI will generate the ad, including visuals, text, and targeting suggestions. The platform aims to personalize ads in real time based on factors like geolocation. This move positions Meta to compete with rivals like Snap, Pinterest, and Reddit in the evolving digital ad market.

HEADLINES

🧑‍🍳 What else is cookin’?

What’s happening in India (and around the world 🌍️)

• PM Modi to chair Council of Ministers' meeting, first after Operation Sindoor.

• Why aren’t we having Teslas in India?: Elon Musk's father hints at India potential as Tesla skips manufacturing pitch.

• Anand Mahindra hails Gukesh's composure after Carlsen's table slam: 'His silence roared louder.'

• UK is with India against terrorism: Indo-Pacific minister tells all-party delegation.

• 'Baseless and mischievous': Adani Group denies being under investigation by US authorities over links with Iranian LPG.

• Gukesh beats India No. 1 in Norway Chess.

CULTURE

🍿 Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment

• Kartik Aaryan and Ananya Panday's Tu Meri Main Tera Main Tera Tu Meri gets a release date.

• Stranger Things premiere dates revealed for final season - New Year’s Eve.