❤️‍🩹 Expanded coverage

Good morning. Fun fact: Margot Robbie is now officially a mother - not just a Mother (the millennial slang - iykyk) 👶 

- Ruchirr Sharma & Shatakshi Sharmaa  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• ❤️‍🩹 Expanded coverage

• 🚀 India’s affordable space program

• 🗞️ Bite-sized summaries

  • 🛒 Festive sales

  • 🥖 Food safety scare

• 🧑‍🍳 What else is cookin’?

• 🍿 Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment

MARKETS

🇮🇳 India

• Indian stock markets faced a plunge, with investors losing over ₹3.5 lakh crore within just 15 minutes. The decline - due to global economic concerns and rising interest rates - led to a significant sell-off in stocks across various sectors.

POLICY

❤️‍🩹 Expanded coverage

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced an expansion of the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), which will now provide healthcare coverage to all senior citizens aged 70 and above, regardless of their socio-economic status. This initiative, part of a larger health project worth ₹12,850Cr., aims to enhance financial security for elderly healthcare across India.

Here’s the TL;DR:

• The expanded scheme offers a benefit cover of ₹5 lakh per year, applicable at over 30,000 empanelled hospitals nationwide.

• It is expected to benefit approximately 60 million senior citizens, significantly improving access to essential health services.

• For seniors already covered under the scheme through their families, an additional ₹5 lakh will be provided on top of the existing family coverage.

• Those in households not previously enrolled will also receive up to ₹5 lakh annually on a family basis.

To support this initiative, the government has allocated ₹3,437Cr. specifically for individuals aged 70 and above, with funds distributed over one and a half years, covering both the remainder of the current fiscal year and the entire upcoming financial year.

How has the feedback been?

• Experts view this expansion as a transformative milestone in India's healthcare landscape.

• Nilaya Varma, Co-founder & CEO of Primus Partners, emphasized that this move represents a significant step towards achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

Overall: With rising life expectancy and an increasing geriatric population, addressing the healthcare needs of older adults has become urgent. The PM-JAY initiative not only enhances access to necessary health services but also promotes dignity and well-being for seniors during their later years.

This expansion reflects the Indian government's commitment to improving healthcare access for vulnerable populations and ensuring that senior citizens receive the medical attention they need as they age.

Read more: BW Healthcare World

SPACE

🚀 India’s affordable space program

India’s space program has captured global attention for achieving ambitious milestones at a fraction of typical costs.

• Recently, India allocated ₹227B ($2.7B) to new projects, including an orbiter to Venus, a space station, and a reusable heavy-lifting rocket.

• Despite its modest budget, India’s space agency, ISRO, consistently delivers high-impact missions.

• Notably, its Mars Orbiter Mission, Mangalyaan, cost just $74M, far less than comparable missions by NASA or Russia.

Why is this impressive?

• ISRO’s low-cost model is built on self-reliance and innovation.

• Since the 1974 technology embargo, India developed indigenous technologies, which minimized expenses.

• Unlike NASA, ISRO manufactures its own equipment domestically, cutting costs in labour and materials.

• The agency also skips costly steps like testing with engineering models, opting instead to build and fly a single mission model—an approach that accepts higher risk but saves money.

Frugality extends to the lean mission teams, work extended hours, and find inventive ways to stretch limited budgets. For example, engineers reduced components on Chandrayaan-1 to avoid using a more expensive rocket, an approach that encouraged out-of-the-box thinking.

India’s reliance on smaller rockets means spacecraft take longer to reach their destinations, using Earth’s gravity to save fuel. This resourceful technique exemplifies ISRO’s cost-effective methods, though future human missions will require heavier and costlier rockets.

Overall: India’s space program may see rising costs as it expands and incorporates private players, but its unique approach has set a benchmark in affordable space exploration, showcasing how to achieve world-class results on a budget.

Read more: BBC

GENERAL OVERVIEW

🗞️ Bite-sized summaries

🛒 Festive sales - India’s month-long festive sales saw record-breaking transactions totalling nearly ₹1 lakh Cr. ($11.9B), up over 23% from the previous year. Smartphones dominated, making up 65% of online sales, with demand for premium models particularly strong. Non-metro areas drove significant growth, contributing 70% of Amazon’s premium smartphone sales and boosting luxury brand purchases by over 400% in categories like fashion and beauty. Quick commerce also performed well, adding $1.2B. Leading marketplaces, including Amazon, Flipkart, and Meesho, reported major increases in home and kitchen, beauty, and kids’ products, reflecting rising consumer spending during the season.

🥖 Food safety scare - Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal addressed a recent controversy involving Hyperpure, Zomato’s B2B marketplace, where food safety officials flagged mushroom packets labelled with a future packaging date. Goyal clarified this was a manual typing error by a vendor, who has since been delisted. Despite the error affecting only a small batch worth Rs 7,200, Goyal expressed surprise at the issue's scale. He highlighted Hyperpure’s strict quality control, noting that the flagged items had been rejected and that their Hyderabad warehouse received an A+ rating in food safety. Recently, Hyperpure also faced criticism for listing analogue paneer.

HEADLINES

🧑‍🍳 What else is cookin’?

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

• Endgame: Donald Trump, Kamala Harris wrap up campaigns as US goes to poll today.

• Berkshire Hathaway's cash soars to $325B, Buffett sells Apple, Bank of America.

• MIT debuts a large language model-inspired method for teaching robots new skills.

• Fun read - How Japan's youngest CEO transformed Hello Kitty.

CULTURE

🍿 Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment

• Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 box office collection day 4: Kartik Aaryan film dips on Monday, crosses ₹120 crore mark.

• Men's One Day International Series - Nepal (v Scotland) are 26 for 1 with 37.3 overs remaining.