🚀 Science non-fiction

Good morning. Happy Monday.

Go get this bread - or a Shahi Tukada (this festive season) 💪 🕯️ 

- Ruchirr Sharma & Shatakshi Sharmaa  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• 🚀 Science non-fiction

• 📳 Open RAN struggles in India

• 🗞️ Bite-sized summaries

  • 🛵 Zomato’s Independent Director resigns

  • 💰️ Bonus shares!

  • 💔 Political violence erupts

• 🧑‍🍳 What else is cookin’?

• 🍿 Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment

MARKETS

🇮🇳 India

• The Indian market experienced declines on Friday. Factors contributing to the downturn included foreign outflows, geopolitical tensions, and high valuations. The Rupee also hit a record low against the Dollar at 84.06 due to rising oil prices and foreign investor exits.

🌍️ International

• The S&P 500 and Dow hit record closing highs, boosted by strong bank earnings from JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and BlackRock. Financial stocks led gains. The Producer Price Index was unchanged in September, fueling expectations for a Fed rate cut in November. Tesla shares fell after unveiling a robotaxi without production details. Traders maintain bets on a November rate cut.

SPACE

🚀 Science non-fiction

In the wee hours of Sunday evening (IST), Elon Musk and his team at SpaceX achieved science fiction by successfully launching and landing the booster of its Starship rocket during its fifth test flight.

But the most dramatic achievement of this test was the successful catch of the "Super Heavy" booster - a feat that even SpaceX's communications manager Dan Huot described as looking "like magic."

The booster, clocking in at over 20 stories and weighing in at 119 million lbs returned to land on the “arms” of the company's launch tower, marking a significant milestone in SpaceX's (and humanity’s) quest for full rocket reusability.

Here are some other facts about the launch:

• Following the booster separation, Starship continued its journey, aiming to travel halfway around the Earth before splashing down in the Indian Ocean. This test flight builds on the success of previous launches, with each flight achieving more milestones than the last.

• Standing at 397 feet tall when fully stacked, Starship is the tallest and most powerful rocket ever launched. It's a critical component of NASA's Artemis program, designed to return astronauts to the moon.

• The launch came after some regulatory hurdles with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which issued the launch license sooner than previously estimated. This test flight also occurred amidst ongoing discussions about environmental impacts and regulatory compliance.

Overall: With this successful booster catch, SpaceX has surpassed the achievements of its fourth test flight, bringing the company closer to its goal of making Starship fully reusable while bringing us brings us one step closer to a new era of space exploration and potential interplanetary travel.

Read more: CNBC

TECHNOLOGY

📳 Open RAN struggles in India

Open Radio Access Networks (Open RAN), a vendor-agnostic technology designed to reduce costs in telecom networks, has faced significant challenges in India despite initial enthusiasm.

What is Open RAN you ask?

Open RAN is an approach to building mobile networks that allows interoperability between components from different vendors. Unlike traditional solutions, Open RAN enables telecom operators to mix and match hardware and software from various suppliers, potentially reducing costs and increasing flexibility.

Challenges and adoption

The adoption of Open RAN in India has been hindered by several factors:

• Cost effectiveness issues

• Scalability concerns

• Legacy infrastructure compatibility

• Lack of standardisation

These challenges have led experts to predict that widespread adoption may only occur with the advent of 6G technology, which is at least 4-5 years away for India.

Current landscape

While some global telcos like Japan's Rakuten have successfully implemented Open RAN for their 4G and 5G networks, Indian telecom companies have made limited progress:

• Airtel conducted trials with Mavenir for 2,500 O-RAN sites in rural markets.

• Reliance Jio is developing its own open stack.

However, these projects have lost momentum as most 5G deployments are now complete.

Future outlook

Despite the challenges, some industry players remain optimistic about Open RAN's potential:

• Rakuten Symphony India expects large open RAN deployments worldwide beginning in 2026

• Red Hat views the transition to Open RAN as a gradual journey rather than an immediate switch

Overall: The technology's future in India may depend on overcoming integration challenges and demonstrating clear cost benefits compared to traditional RAN solutions.

Read more: Economic Times

GENERAL OVERVIEW

🗞️ Bite-sized summaries

🛵 Zomato’s Independent Director resigns - Gunjan Soni, CEO of Zalora Group and a former executive at Myntra and Jabong, resigned as an independent director from Zomato's board, citing increased professional commitments. Soni had served on the board since before Zomato's July 2021 IPO. In her resignation, she expressed gratitude for the opportunity and confidence in the company's future. Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal thanked her for her contributions over the past three years. Soni also stepped down from Zomato's risk management and corporate social responsibility committees. Zomato shares closed 0.85% higher following the announcement.

💰️ Bonus shares! - Wipro’s board will consider issuing bonus shares during a meeting scheduled for October 16-17, 2024, alongside the announcement of its Q2 FY25 results. In the June-ended quarter, Wipro reported a 4.6% year-on-year increase in net profit to ₹3,003.2 crore, while revenue declined by 3.8% to ₹21,963.8 crore. CEO Srini Pallia expressed confidence in improved performance for Q2 and highlighted Wipro's focus on its AI-first strategy. Wipro shares closed 0.77% higher at ₹528.95 on Friday. The bonus share issue will follow the applicable regulations under the Companies Act and SEBI guidelines.

💔 Political violence erupts - Indian politician Baba Siddique, 66, was fatally shot near his son's office in Mumbai, despite upgraded security due to previous death threats. Two suspects are in custody, while police seek a third. Siddique, known for his connections to Bollywood and recent defection from Congress to the National Congress Party (NCP), may have been targeted due to links with Lawrence Bishnoi's gang, which has issued warnings to associates, including Salman Khan and the Dawood gang. Maharashtra's deputy chief minister condemned the "cowardly attack," and the government has promised a thorough investigation, raising concerns about political violence ahead of upcoming legislative polls.

HEADLINES

🧑‍🍳 What else is cookin’?

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

• In joint operation, Delhi and Gujarat Police seize cocaine worth ₹5,000 Cr..

• U.S. approves deployment of troops and anti-missile system to Israel.

• Ikea revenue falls after it lowered prices.

• Hurricane Milton leaves widespread destruction; rescue operations underway.

• Canada to cover cost of contraception and diabetes drugs.

CULTURE

🍿 Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment

• Australia beat India to reach Women’s T20 World Cup semis.

• Box office:

  • Terrifier 3 is No. 1 Clown as ‘Joker 2’ suffers record fall.

  • Vettaiyan box office collection day 3: Rajinikanth's film shows no signs of slowing down.

  • Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video box office collection day 2: Rajkummar Rao's film crosses ₹10 Cr. mark.

• Divya Khosla accuses Alia Bhatt of ‘rigging’ collections of ‘Jigra’.