💰️ Investment boom in India

Good morning. If you were wondering how this week was for us, yesterday’s NL opening should have given you a hint. In our defence, it did feel like it was time for Friday.

Happy real Friday. You know the drill 💪🍞 ➡️ 😴 🥾 

- Ruchirr Sharma & Shatakshi Sharmaa  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• 💰️ Investment boom in India

• ☕️ Blinkit’s Bistro takes on the 10-minute food delivery race

• 🗞️ Bite-sized summaries

  • 💸 New budget approvals

  • 🤳 Global outages abound

• 🧑‍🍳 What else is cookin’?

• 🍿 Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment

MARKETS

🇮🇳 India

• Indian stock markets closed lower. The decline was driven by caution ahead of inflation data. While IT stocks performed well, sectors like FMCG and power faced selling pressure.

🌍️ International

• Stock markets retreated on Thursday following the previous day's rally. Investors reacted to new inflation data, particularly wholesale prices, which raised questions about potential Federal Reserve interest rate cuts in the near future.

INVESTMENT

💰️ Investment boom in India

India's economy is on track for a robust 6.5-7% growth this fiscal year, says Harsha Vardhan Agarwal, President of FICCI. While Q2 GDP growth dipped to 5.4%, Agarwal sees this as a minor blip, with stronger quarters ahead fueled by rising private sector investment.

Capacity utilization levels nearing 75%—a critical threshold for business expansion—are driving this surge in investments. Agarwal predicts more opportunities for Indian industries, even as global geopolitical shifts, like a Trump-led US administration, introduce uncertainties. He expects India to navigate these changes better than peers like China and Mexico, despite potential tariff challenges.

FICCI is advocating for bold measures in the upcoming Union Budget, including a 15% hike in capital expenditure, simplified TDS rates, and increased funding for green energy and circular economy projects.

Meanwhile, the RBI is treading a fine line between curbing inflation and supporting growth. Although GDP growth estimates have been revised to 6.6% from 7.2%, FICCI remains bullish, citing strong private sector activity and policy support as key drivers of a rebound in Q3 and Q4.

Read more: Economic Times

QUICK COMMERCE

☕️ Blinkit’s Bistro takes on the 10-minute food delivery race

Zomato-owned Blinkit has launched Bistro, a standalone app catering to the booming 10-minute food delivery segment. Rolling out in select areas of Gurugram, Bistro promises a variety of snacks, meals, desserts, and beverages delivered ultra-fast, positioning itself against fierce competition in this emerging market.

Rivals like Swiggy and Zepto are already scaling aggressively. Swiggy’s Bolt spans over 400 cities, contributing 5% to its total food orders, while Zepto’s Café clocks over 30,000 daily orders, adding 100+ outlets monthly with plans for its app. Blinkit’s move taps into this growing demand, building on Zomato’s earlier experiments with 10-minute delivery through "finishing stations," which were shelved in favour of other models like Everyday, offering home-style meals.

Despite these shifts, quick commerce remains a cornerstone of growth. Blinkit reported a gross order value (GOV) of ₹6,132 crore in the September quarter, supported by Zomato’s ₹8,500 crore fundraising to expand its operations. Meanwhile, Bengaluru-based Swish is among the startups riding this wave, raising $2 million to scale its cloud kitchens and meet consumer demand.

The stakes are high, with Zomato’s food delivery business still leading in revenue, reporting a GOV of ₹9,690 crore in Q2 FY25. However, the rise of ultra-fast delivery reflects changing consumer expectations, igniting a race to dominate the category.

With Bistro, Blinkit aims to redefine convenience, delivering hot, fresh food at record speed, challenging competitors, and reshaping the future of food delivery.

Read more: Economic Times

GENERAL OVERVIEW

🗞️ Bite-sized summaries

💸 New budget approvals - The government has sought parliamentary approval for ₹44,143 crore in additional net spending for FY25, covering agriculture, fertiliser subsidies, defence, and ministries like External Affairs and Home. The total gross expenditure of ₹87,762.56 crore will be offset by ₹43,618.43 crore in savings or enhanced receipts. Notable allocations include ₹9,000 crore for agriculture, ₹6,593.73 crore for fertiliser subsidies, and ₹8,000 crore for defence. Economists, like ICRA’s Aditi Nayar, believe this extra spending won’t jeopardize the fiscal deficit target due to likely underspending in other areas, particularly capital expenditure, which could fall short by ₹1 lakh crore.

🤳 Global outages abound - WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram experienced a global outage, with WhatsApp users reporting disruptions and over 50,000 Facebook and 23,000 Instagram users affected, as per Downdetector. Many users took to platform X to report errors like "something went wrong." Meta acknowledged the technical issue and assured users it was working to resolve it swiftly. Services were restored after a few hours. This marks another significant disruption affecting hundreds of thousands of users globally, highlighting ongoing technical challenges faced by Meta's platforms. Meta apologized for the inconvenience caused during the downtime.

HEADLINES

🧑‍🍳 What else is cookin’?

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

• Swachh Bharat Mission helped reduce child mortality in India: Arvind Virmani.

• Bajaj Finance's five-year plan has a deep AI focus.

• India among top three contributors to tourism emissions during 2009-2019.

• US finalises tariff hikes on more China green tech imports.

• WayCool cofounder Sanjay Dasari exits after decade-long stint.

CULTURE

🍿 Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment

• Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju becomes the youngest-ever world chess champion after beating defending champion China's Ding Liren.

• Despatch review: It is a solid and pointed probe into a profession in crisis and a life in the doldrums.

• Selena Gomez announces engagement to Benny Blanco