🤖 Layoff Szn

PLUS: Groww, Worldline get RBI nod

Author

Ruchirr Sharma
May 01, 2024

Was this forwarded to you? Click below to subscribe so you don’t miss another edition.

Good morning humans of the internet. India has announced their 2024 T20 World Cup squad, and here are some thoughts:

➕ Positives:

  • Sanju Samson and Yuzvendra Chahal’s addition to the squad has Indian fans breathing a sigh of relief.

  • Rishabh Pant's inspiring return after his life-threatening accident is heartwarming - super eager to see him back in action.

🤔 Head scratchers:

  • Hardik Pandya's appointment as vice-captain, despite a subpar season with the Mumbai Indians, has raised questions.

  • Despite his strong performances in T20Is, Rinku Singh's omission from the initial 15-member squad is surprising. Even his impressive stats, with an average of 89 and a strike rate of 176.24, weren't enough to secure him a spot beyond the reserve list.

  • The absence of KL Rahul, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Dinesh Karthik has also fueled debate. These players have a history of performing under pressure, and their exclusion has left many questioning the final team selections.

Regardless, as Sreesanth recently stated, this is the team that's been chosen, so let’s support them! Indian cricket stays exciting.

- Ruchrngd Sharma & Shatakshi Sharma

📊 Markets

🇮🇳 India

  • NSE and BSE will be closed for trading today due to Maharashtra Day. The Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) won't be open for trading during the morning session from 9am to 5pm, but trading will resume in the evening session from 5pm to 11:30/11:55pm.

🌍️ International

As of close, 30/04/2024

  • US stocks closed with significant losses on Tuesday, marking Wall Street's worst month of 2024. The reason? Hotter-than-expected labour data and anticipation of the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision.

Big changes are happening at Ola Cabs:

  1. The company has laid off ~10% of its workforce (~200 employees) across various departments. This move comes as the firm prepares to file its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) within three months for a $500M (₹4173 cr) initial public offering (IPO).

  2. Adding to the turmoil, Ola Cabs' CEO, Hemant Bakshi, resigned yesterday - within months of joining. Bhavish Aggarwal, the co-founder and chairman, will now oversee daily operations in addition to his existing roles.

The big reason for these changes? Artificial Intelligence.

In an email to employees, Aggarwal referenced the company's significant investments in AI as a major factor for cost advantages and the need for restructuring, stating that some roles had become redundant due to these AI-driven efficiencies.

The broader context: This reduction marks Ola's third workforce cut in the last two years as it strives to streamline operations and boost profitability ahead of its anticipated public listing.

While layoffs are not ideal, the larger concern here is the potential disruption of the job market by AI—not just in India but globally. We're already witnessing how AI is impacting companies worldwide:

So, what's the way forward? Stakeholders, including company officials and the government, should proactively tackle this challenge through re-skilling initiatives and creating AI-related job opportunities. This approach will ensure that the AI revolution doesn't leave parts of the workforce behind while maximizing its potential.

Read more: Inc 42

In a significant move for India's digital payments landscape, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has granted online Payment Aggregator (PA) licenses to two key players - the wealth management platform Groww and digital payment processing company Worldline ePayments.

What is a Payment Aggregator (PA) license?

  • A PA license is regulatory approval from the Reserve Bank of India, allowing a company to provide payment gateway services and facilitate online transactions.

  • The online PA license enables fintechs and payment companies to legally facilitate and process online payments for merchant transactions under RBI's supervision.

Why is this important?

  • Groww: The wealth management platform has been actively diversifying its portfolio, venturing into lending with a non-banking finance company (NBFC) license, asset management through Groww AMC, and enabling peer-to-peer payments and merchant transactions via UPI through Groww Pay.

  • Worldline: With the PA license, the French payment giant can now expand its operations to online payments.

Overall: The PA licenses for Groww and Worldline ePayments come at a time when the RBI has been actively regulating the digital payments ecosystem, granting approvals to various players such as PayU, Razorpay, Cashfree, MSwipe, Juspay, Amazon Pay, Zoho, Google Pay, and Tata Pay.

This move is expected to enhance the efficiency, security, and compliance of online payment processing in India while also encouraging innovation and growth in the country's rapidly evolving digital finance sector.

🗞️ Bite-sized summaries

Source: Inc.

🚚 Amazon stays winning - Amazon reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue for the first quarter of 2024, with profit more than tripling year-over-year driven by growth in its highly profitable advertising and cloud computing businesses. Revenue rose 13% to $143.3 billion, beating estimates, while operating income soared over 200% to $15.3 billion aided by cost-cutting measures. Amazon Web Services revenue grew 17% to $25 billion, outpacing expectations, and the advertising business saw a 24% jump in sales to $11.8 billion, emerging as a key driver along with the company's third-party seller services unit. With profitability improving, Amazon projects further operating income growth in Q2 between $10-$14 billion, while guiding for revenue of $144-$149 billion, slightly below analyst estimates.

💈 Godrej splits into two - The founding Godrej family has reached an agreement to split the 127-year-old conglomerate into two branches. The Godrej Industries Group, comprising listed companies like Godrej Consumer Products and Godrej Properties, will be chaired by Nadir Godrej and controlled by him, his brother Adi Godrej, and their families. The other branch, Godrej Enterprises Group will be controlled by cousin Jamshyd Godrej as chairperson and MD, along with his sister Smita's daughter Nyrika Holkar. This group will also hold the prime 3,400-acre land bank in Mumbai. The split aims to better align ownership with the differing visions of the family members while continuing to use the shared Godrej brand.

🪙 Binance CEO sentenced to 4 months in prison - Changpeng Zhao, the billionaire founder of Binance - the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange - was sentenced to four months in prison after pleading guilty last November to charges of willfully failing to implement an effective anti-money laundering program at Binance and allowing illicit transactions. Although prosecutors had sought a 36-month sentence, the judge handed down a lighter four-month term after Zhao expressed remorse and took responsibility for his "serious mistake." As part of his plea deal, Zhao stepped down as Binance's CEO but still holds an estimated 90% stake in the company. The sentence is much lighter than the 25-year term given to Zhao's former crypto rival Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX for fraud charges.

🧑‍🍳 What else is cookin’?

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

🍿 Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment

And that’s all for today folks - have a lovely day and we’ll meet again tomorrow.