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Good morning. ½ of Up n’ Running has an unhealthy obsession with the Met Gala so she is taking the liberty to talk about it for just one more day.

Alia Bhatt wore a Sabyasachi saree with a 23-foot-long train that took 163 people and 1,965 hours to create.

With that team and time, you could build a small house from scratch including all the necessary plumbing, electrical wiring, and finishing touches.

- Ruchrngd Sharma & Shatakshi Sharma

📊 Markets

🇮🇳 India

• Losses in the market came despite an initial boost from positive global cues, as the indices failed to hold onto their opening advances, continuing a recent pattern of squandering early gains. Most key sectoral indices closed in the red, with pharma, metal, energy, and auto among the top laggards, while FMCG, IT, and consumption remained in the green.

🌍️ International

• The markets' upward momentum was curbed by Walt Disney Co.'s worst day since November after disappointing results, as well as declines in Tesla on weak China sales and Palantir Technologies on a disappointing revenue forecast. The modest advances reflected renewed expectations for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts later this year.

💰️ India enters JP Morgan bond index

Earlier this year, it was announced that several Indian bonds were going to be added to JPMorgan's emerging market bond index - marking a significant milestone for Asia's third-largest economy.

Well, the time has finally come. 

Starting in June 2024, JPMorgan will gradually add Indian government bonds to its widely-tracked emerging market debt benchmark over 10 months, ultimately giving India a weight of 10% (the highest possible weight in the index).

What does the 10% weight mean? 

• Indian sovereign bonds will account for 10% of the total market value of all the bonds in JPMorgan's emerging market bond index.

• So if the total value of the index is $5 trillion, Indian government bonds worth around $500 billion will be represented and tracked within that index.

Why is this a big deal?

• This inclusion opens up India's $1 trillion sovereign bond market to greater foreign investment inflows, especially given that global funds have been piling into Indian debt in anticipation, lured by the high yields on offer compared to other emerging markets.

• Estimates suggest India could see an additional ₹2.19 lakh Cr ($30 billion) of inflows after joining the index.

• For India, greater index inclusion means tapping a larger pool of global liquidity to help finance its fiscal and current account deficits. 

• It could also put pressure on policymakers to maintain fiscal discipline. However, Indian authorities remain wary about potential market volatility from "hot money" flows.

But it’s not all rosy - some hurdles remain around trading efficiency, taxes, and capital controls that make it harder for foreigners to invest in Indian debt. Addressing these could maximise the benefits of index inclusion.

Overall: Looking at global markets, the index news has helped anchor Indian bond yields despite the global volatility. Looking ahead, rising foreign ownership could structurally lower borrowing costs for India over time. The rupee could also find some support from the debt inflows.

Read more: Bloomberg 

♻️ Wind powers Sri Lanka

Adani Green Energy, the renewable energy arm of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani's Adani Group, has signed a major 20-year power purchase agreement with the Sri Lankan government. 

The deal will see Adani Green develop large wind power stations in the Mannar and Poonerin regions of northern Sri Lanka.

Quick history: 

• In February 2023, Adani Green received approval to invest ₹3689 Cr ($442 million) to construct 484 megawatts of wind power capacity across the two sites. 

• The Sri Lankan cabinet has now appointed a negotiation committee to finalise the project proposal details with Adani. 

• Under the 20-year agreement, Adani will sell power to Sri Lanka's national grid at a rate of ₹6.9 per kWh ($0.0826 per kW) 

Why is this important?

• Wind farms are a major renewable energy initiative for Sri Lanka, a country which has faced crippling power outages amid an economic crisis in 2022.

• Increasing domestic renewable generation will help reduce the nation's reliance on imported fuels.

Adani Green got a welcome surprise too, seeing its shares spike to ₹1,790 after announcing the deal.

Read more: Reuters

🗞️ Bite-sized summaries

🤑 Y’all are spending too much money - Net household savings in India declined sharply by around ₹9 lakh Cr to ₹14.16 lakh Cr in 2022-23 from the peak of  ₹23.29 lakh Cr in 2020-21, according to the latest National Account Statistics data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. The data showed household investments in mutual funds nearly tripled, shares and debentures almost doubled, and loans from banks and financial institutions saw a significant rise during these three years even as overall savings dipped substantially.

📉 Paytm shares are having a bad time - Paytm's market capitalisation fell to nearly ₹20867 Cr ($2.5B) as shares continue to tumble due to recent developments - including the resignation of its chief operating officer Bhavesh Gupta, leadership changes at its wealth management arm Paytm Money, and the Reserve Bank of India's action against Paytm Payments Bank. In January, the bank was restricted from taking on new customers, which led to a sharp decline in transactions on its popular mobile wallet offering.

🚀 Can space travel save Boeing? - After years of delays and setbacks, Boeing is finally set to launch its Starliner capsule with a crew of two NASA astronauts on board for a crucial test flight to the International Space Station. This flight represents a pivotal moment for Boeing's entry into the commercial crew market, competing with SpaceX to provide NASA with transportation for astronauts to and from the space station. If successful, Starliner will join SpaceX's Crew Dragon in rotating crew flights to the ISS, marking a new era of American human spaceflight capabilities following the retirement of the space shuttle program.

🧑‍🍳 What else is cookin’?

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

• Tata Electronics begins the export of semiconductor chip samples from the Bengaluru centre.

• Pelaton announces another round of layoffs, leadership change.

• HCL Technologies enters into strategic collaboration with AWS.

• Paytm COO Bhavesh Gupta quits; company rejigs senior management.

• India election campaign turns bitter as Modi casts his vote.

• Reddit shares soar 14% after company reports revenue pop in debut earnings report.

• TikTok sues U.S. government, says ban violates First Amendment.

🍿 Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment

• DC beats RR by 20 runs and moves up to number 5. IPL leaderboard here.

• Indians dominated the Met Gala 2024 red carpet. Unbiased opinion, Mona Patel won the event.

• Puma signs Ibrahim Ali Khan Pataudi as brand ambassador.