☁️ India’s economic future

Good morning. King Kohli 🐐 🥇 

- Ruchirr Sharma & Shatakshi Sharmaa  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• ☁️ Climate Change and India’s Economic Future

• 🇮🇳 Meta expands in India

• 🗞️ Bite-sized summaries

  • 📚️ CBSE goes global

  • 🙅 OpenAI bans accounts

• 🧑‍🍳 What else is cookin’?

• 🍿 Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment

MARKETS

🇮🇳 India

• The Indian stock market closed lower. Auto stocks were particularly affected, with the Nifty Auto index dropping 2.58%. Most sectoral indices ended in the red, except for Nifty Metal. The market was influenced by concerns about US trade tariffs and global market movements.

🌍️ International

• Stock market experienced a significant downturn. A 1.69% decline marked the worst day for the Dow in 2025 so far, with concerns about economic growth and potential impacts of President Trump's policies weighing heavily on investor sentiment.

CLIMATE CHANGE

☁️ Climate Change and India’s Economic Future

A recent report by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has highlighted a looming financial crisis: rising temperatures could increase the probability of default in 30% of agricultural and housing loans in India by 2030.

Why is this a problem?

• Agriculture is a cornerstone of India's economy, employing nearly half the population and contributing significantly to GDP.

• However, climate change—manifesting through erratic monsoons, rising temperatures, and extreme weather events—is disrupting farming patterns and reducing crop yields.

• As farm incomes decline, the risk of loan defaults rises, putting pressure on India's financial system.

Similarly, the housing sector, another major driver of economic activity, is vulnerable. Coastal cities face the threat of rising sea levels and floods, while soaring temperatures may increase energy consumption, driving up household costs. This could lead to higher loan delinquencies, stressing banks that already have exposure to high-risk lending.

The bigger picture:

• According to the BCG report, nearly half of India's scheduled commercial banks have credit portfolios that are heavily dependent on nature and its ecosystem.

• Any disruption to these ecosystems could directly impact financial institutions, causing a ripple effect throughout the economy.

• With 321 districts expected to witness temperature rises of up to 2°C by 2030, this risk is rapidly approaching.

If these defaults rise unchecked, banks may tighten lending, making credit less accessible to farmers and homebuyers. This could slow down economic growth, reduce employment, and further deepen income inequality, creating a vicious cycle of financial distress.

The opportunity:

While the risks are substantial, climate change also presents a unique investment opportunity. The report notes that India requires an annual investment of $150-$200 billion to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Currently, the funding gap is significant, with only $40-$60 billion flowing into climate finance annually.

Banks and financial institutions can play a crucial role in bridging this gap by financing clean energy projects, supporting climate-resilient infrastructure, and encouraging sustainable agricultural practices. Those who act early could gain a competitive advantage in this evolving financial landscape.

So what’s next?

• Financial institutions must act now: Banks should integrate climate risk assessment into their lending models and offer financial incentives for green initiatives.

• Government intervention is critical: Policy measures such as subsidies for renewable energy projects and climate insurance schemes for farmers can mitigate risks.

• Private sector participation: Blended finance models—combining public and private investments—can help accelerate India's transition to a sustainable future.

Overall: India stands at a crossroads. If ignored, climate change could destabilize its financial sector, impact millions of livelihoods, and slow down economic growth.

However, with the right investments and policies, the country can turn this crisis into an opportunity—building a resilient, sustainable, and financially secure future.

Read more: Economic Times

FDI

🇮🇳 Meta expands in India

Meta is set to strengthen its presence in India with a new office in Bengaluru, focusing on hiring engineers and AI specialists. This move aligns Meta with other global tech giants like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, which have already established significant engineering teams in India.

Here’s what’s happening:

• According to job postings on Meta’s website, the company is recruiting an engineering director to build a strong technical team in Bengaluru.

• The Bengaluru center will be driven by Meta’s enterprise engineering team, which develops internal tools to enhance productivity across the company.

• Additionally, Meta is hiring hardware engineers to support its AI infrastructure, including data center operations and custom chip development.

Meta, which entered the Indian market in 2010, already has offices in Gurugram, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. However, until now, most of its workforce in India has been focused on sales, marketing, operations, policy, legal, and finance. The new hires in Bengaluru mark a strategic shift toward strengthening its engineering and AI capabilities in the country.

India remains Meta’s largest user market, with over a billion people using its platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The company's increased investment in AI and engineering talent in India signals a long-term commitment to innovation and growth in the region.

Overall: The announcement comes just as Google recently opened a massive campus in Bengaluru, named "Ananta," which will house teams from Google DeepMind, Android, Search, Pay, Cloud, Maps, and Play. With major tech firms expanding their presence in India’s Silicon Valley, Bengaluru continues to cement its position as a global tech hub.

Meta's hiring spree for AI and engineering talent further reinforces the city's reputation as a prime destination for cutting-edge technology and innovation. The move is expected to create new opportunities for India's growing pool of tech professionals, particularly in AI and hardware development.

Read more: Economic Times

GENERAL OVERVIEW

🗞️ Bite-sized summaries

📚️ CBSE goes global - CBSE plans to launch a global curriculum for its foreign schools from the 2026-27 academic session, aligned with the National Education Policy. This curriculum may also be adopted by international and CBSE-affiliated schools in India, offering a globally competitive learning experience. It aims to rival Cambridge International and IB, integrating elements of India's national curriculum. A meeting is scheduled to finalize the draft. CBSE previously introduced an international curriculum in 2010 but discontinued it in 2017. The initiative seeks to provide flexibility and a balanced approach, blending national educational priorities with global standards.

🙅 OpenAI bans accounts - OpenAI has banned multiple Chinese accounts for using ChatGPT to support social media monitoring. A threat intelligence report revealed that these accounts generated descriptions for a surveillance tool tracking anti-China protests in Western countries and proofread claims for Chinese embassies and intelligence agents. OpenAI also found users debugging code for the tool, though it ran on a non-OpenAI model. Additionally, an account was banned for using ChatGPT to produce anti-US news articles in Spanish and criticize Chinese dissident Cai Xia. OpenAI exposed these activities to highlight attempts by authoritarian regimes to exploit US-built AI tools.

HEADLINES

🧑‍🍳 What else is cookin’?

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

• We missed…the biggest business model on the web: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

• Shein's annual profit down by more than a third.

• Elon Musk takes dig at former X CEO Parag Agrawal amid federal workforce scrutiny.

• KKR to buy cancer care hospital chain HCG from CVC for $400 million.

• India bans production of two drugs ‘behind’ opioid crisis in West Africa.

CULTURE

🍿 Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment

• ICC Champions Trophy India beat Pakistan by 6 wickets.

• Nobody Wants This 2: Leighton Meester to join her husband’s Adam Brody's rom-com series.

• Spider-Man 4 release date set to 17th July 2026.