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Good morning. IPL 2024 season has come to an end with KKR winning their 3rd trophy. Some thoughts:

• Honestly, I didn't think SRH could reach the finals when the tournament began. But as they continued to play more games, their impressive batting power at the top of the order made it increasingly believable.

• Mitchell Starc had a slow start to the tourney, but as the Aussies usually do, he showed up and showed out in the knockout stages.

• Abhishek Sharma might be the find of the tournament for India.

- Ruchrngd Sharma & Shatakshi Sharma  

📊 Markets

🇮🇳 India

• Equity markets hit new highs for the second day on Friday, with top performers like HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, L&T, and others. However, markets settled slightly lower. BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices also peaked but closed mixed. Nifty Bank and Private Bank indices rose, while Nifty FMCG fell.

🌍️ International

• The U.S. stock market rebounded on Friday after heavy losses, with the Nasdaq hitting a record high and ending its fifth week of gains. Despite the rise, traders are still assessing potential Federal Reserve interest rate cuts. Workday dropped after lowering its revenue forecast, while Ross Stores rose after beating estimates and increasing its profit outlook.

🎟️ Elections decide the market

Look - the stock market game is always going to be a challenging one to play. But every now and then, some events can help you predict the general direction of the markets. 

War. Emerging tech (AI). Elections…

And it looks like India's booming markets are bracing for a potential selloff as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP faces uncertainty in the ongoing national elections. 

A slim victory for the BJP could hinder Modi's plans for contentious reforms, such as overhauling land and labour laws, which require substantial political capital.

This is a big week for India: 

• Investors are closely watching the vote outcome, as a disappointing result on June 4 could lead to increased market volatility, further outflows from stocks and bonds, and pressure on the rupee, which has been trading near record lows against the US dollar.

• Modi had initially aimed for a landslide victory, with the BJP and its allies winning 400 seats, up from around 350 in 2019. However, low voter turnout and reports of close contests in some areas have raised concerns about the breadth of public support.

• A strong BJP majority would make it easier to implement reforms crucial for Modi's ambition of turning India into a developed nation by mid-century. 

• However, a weaker mandate could force the BJP to increase welfare spending, complicating delayed privatisation efforts.

Overall: Analysts suggest that a strong BJP showing would likely strengthen the rupee, lower interest rates, and boost equities, while a weak coalition or change in government could lead to a selloff in the rupee, higher rates, and a stock market decline.

Read more: Bloomberg

🚒 Economic engines

Over the weekend, Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu wrote a compelling post on X, emphasising the need for India to develop "economic engines" at the district level to promote balanced regional growth.

What does this mean?

• Vembu explains that an economic engine is the goods and services a region exports to the rest of the world, creating revenue to offset imports.

• The "value-added" by these engines, such as local labour income and profits, can provide economists with a per capita measure of the region's prosperity.

Vembu suggests that even a modest $1,000 per capita value added from economic engines could significantly enhance the prosperity of a rural Indian district. 

He uses the case of Zoho as an example, estimating that the company contributes about $100M annually to the value of the Tenkasi district. This translates to approximately $70 per person considering the district's 1.4 million population.

"We need such economic engines in every district in India, across all our 800+ districts. This is crucial for balanced regional growth," Vembu stated.

How does he plan to achieve this? Through conducting experiments in selected rural areas. By identifying and nurturing these economic engines, whether they are successful companies, industries, or export-focused ventures, regions can attain balanced development and enhance the overall living standard of their populations.

Overall: Vembu's viewpoint is in line with the principles of regional economic development, which focus on utilising local resources to stimulate self-sustaining growth.

Calculating value added per capita from exports could direct policies and investments towards nurturing these vital economic engines throughout India's districts.

Read more: ISN

🗞️ Bite-sized summaries

🤑 New funds for you avid investors - Nippon India Mutual Fund launched two new index funds to expose investors to specific sectors through passive management. The Nippon India Nifty IT Index Fund mirrors the Nifty IT Index, investing in the top 10 IT companies in India, a global leader in technology services, and has seen the IT sector generate strong returns recently. The Nippon India Nifty Bank Index Fund tracks the Nifty Bank Index, investing in a portfolio of the top 12 banks in India, which has delivered solid returns over the past few years. These new offerings allow investors to gain diversified exposure to the IT and banking sectors through index funds rather than picking individual stocks.

🕉️ Religious games? - Indian gaming studios are tapping into the country's rich cultural heritage by developing games based on mythology, history, and folklore. Players can immerse themselves in experiences like managing the Ayodhya Ram Temple, building the Vande Bharat Express train, or stepping into the shoes of legendary figures such as Tamil emperor Rajendra Chola. These games, offering adventures with high-speed chases, stealth combat, and moral dilemmas faced by iconic characters, are resonating with Indian audiences, with developers like Yug Metaverse, WinZO Games, Funstop Games, Studio Sirah, and Ayelet Studio creating titles rooted in Indian epics like the Ramayana and Mahabharata.

💰️ So… no one Peys? - Ending a five-year legal battle, Walmart-backed digital payments firm PhonePe and fintech startup BharatPe have settled their dispute over the usage of the suffix 'Pe' in their brand names. In a joint statement, the companies announced withdrawing all trademark oppositions against each other, facilitating the registration of their respective marks. The conflict began in 2018 when PhonePe issued a legal notice to BharatPe over using 'Pe' in the Devanagari script. PhonePe had subsequently filed cases in Delhi and Bombay High Courts seeking injunctions against BharatPe's use of the 'Pe' suffix, though one plea was dismissed. Hailing the "positive development," PhonePe's CEO Sameer Nigam and BharatPe Board Chairman Rajnish Kumar appreciated the "maturity and professionalism" shown by both sides in resolving outstanding legal issues amicably, allowing them to now focus on building robust digital payment ecosystems.

🧑‍🍳 What else is cookin’?

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

• EaseMyTrip founder Nishant Pitti withdraws from GoAir bid.

• Maldives to introduce India’s RuPay service to strengthen the economy.

• Doordarshan Kisan to launch new AI anchors starting this week.

• Google invests $350M in Flipkart at a $36B valuation.

• Phase 6 turnout rises to 63.4%, exceeding polling in the previous lap.

• EaseMyTrip posts its highest EBITDA at ₹228 Cr.

• Elon Musk plans the largest-ever supercomputer for xAI startup.

🍿 Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment

• KKR win their 3rd IPL by beating SRH by 8 wickets.

• Indian women's hockey team loses 0-3 to Argentina in FIH Pro League.

• PV Sindhu loses to China's Wang Zhiyi in Malaysia’s Masters 2024 final.

• Real Madrid’s midfielder Toni Kroos plays his final match against Real Betis, which ends in a 0-0 draw.

• Payal Kapadia becomes the first Indian to win the Grand Prix for ‘All We Imagine As Light’ - sample review here.

• PGA Tour star Grayson Murray dies by suicide aged 30 after withdrawing from Charles Schwab Challenge. Note: if you need help, please call the suicide helpline at 7893078930. Other resources here and here.