🎬️ Sebi Cracks Down on Synoptics

Good morning. Swifties, rejoice: Taylor just dropped The Life of a Showgirl, her 12-track ode to glitter and reinvention.

In classic Swift fashion, it’s part diary, part revenge fantasy, all sparkle ✨ 🎙️ 

Ruchirr Sharma & Shatakshi Sharmaa  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• 🎬️ Sebi Cracks Down on Synoptics: A Red Flag for SME IPOs

• 🇮🇳 India, US working to resolve trade frictions

• Bite-sized summaries

  • 🖼️ Sora 2 soars, faces backlash 

  • 💬 Arattai’s Swadeshi Surge

• 🧑‍🍳 What else is cookin’?

MARKETS

🎬️ Sebi Cracks Down on Synoptics: A Red Flag for SME IPOs

India’s market regulator just dropped the hammer on Synoptics Technologies, a Mumbai-based IT firm — banning the company and its promoters from trading after uncovering what it called a “well laid-out plan” to siphon off IPO funds.

The backstory: Synoptics, which offers IT and cloud infrastructure services, went public on the NSE’s SME exchange in July 2023. It wasn’t a huge listing — the company raised ₹54 crore — but what happened next has sent ripples through the small-cap market.

The findings: Sebi found that Synoptics, along with its lead manager First Overseas Capital (FOCL), allegedly diverted ₹19 crore — more than half the funds raised — into “management fees” and “IPO-related expenses” that weren’t disclosed in its prospectus. Even worse, these transfers reportedly happened a day before the stock was listed, violating escrow norms.

Why it matters:

• This isn’t just about one company — it’s about trust in India’s SME IPO ecosystem, which has seen a boom in small listings over the past two years.

• FOCL, the lead manager, has worked on 20 SME IPOs, and Sebi has now barred it from taking new assignments — suggesting regulators are widening their net.

• The crackdown signals Sebi’s intent to tighten oversight on smaller IPOs, which have occasionally been accused of price rigging and misuse of funds.

The takeaway: The Synoptics case is a wake-up call — India’s startup-friendly SME exchanges may need a cleanup before they can keep growing at full throttle.

Read more: Economic Times

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

🇮🇳 India, US working to resolve trade frictions

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said India is actively working to resolve trade disputes with the United States, calling the tariffs imposed on Indian goods “unfair.”

Speaking at the Kautilya Economic Conclave 2025, he said talks are underway to bridge gaps on a Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) — with five negotiation rounds completed, the latest in late September. “We haven’t yet reached a landing ground in our trade discussions,” Jaishankar said, adding that India’s stance is to seek fair terms that respect its “bottom lines and red lines.”

The US had imposed 25% tariffs on Indian exports and added another levy over India’s continued imports of Russian oil, despite similar purchases by other countries facing no penalties.

Jaishankar framed these tensions within a broader shift in global trade and energy: the US has transformed from an energy importer to a major exporter, while China leads in renewables. He also noted that new factors like sanctions, crypto, and rare earth competition are reshaping global rivalries.

Overall: Reaffirming India’s “multi-alignment” policy, he said New Delhi aims to maintain productive but non-exclusive partnerships across regions. “We approach this phase with confidence and firmness,” Jaishankar said, calling the next five years a true test of India’s foreign-policy resilience amid global uncertainty.

Read more: Economic Times

GENERAL OVERVIEW

🗞️ Bite-sized summaries

🖼️ Sora 2 soars, faces backlash - OpenAI’s new short-video app Sora 2 has topped Apple’s App Store just days after launch, despite mounting copyright controversy. The invite-only app lets users generate videos through text prompts and saw 1.64 lakh installs within 48 hours. However, its “opt-out” policy for copyrighted content sparked outrage after users created clips featuring characters like Mario and Pikachu. Following pushback from Hollywood and Disney, CEO Sam Altman reversed the policy, shifting to an opt-in model and promising a revenue-sharing system for rights holders. Despite limited availability, Sora’s popularity has fueled massive online buzz and resale of access codes.

💬 Arattai’s Swadeshi Surge - Zoho-backed messaging app Arattai has hit 7.5 million downloads, driven by a wave of public endorsements from ministers, CEOs, and business leaders, including Anand Mahindra. The “Made-in-India” platform, meaning “casual chat” in Tamil, has gone viral across social media and even WhatsApp groups. Founder Sridhar Vembu credited years of deep R&D for Arattai’s reliability and performance, urging his team to stay focused amid fame. Analysts view its rise as part of India’s push for digital self-reliance, highlighting the growing need for secure, indigenous tech in an AI-driven era. Government adoption could further accelerate its scale and trust.

HEADLINES

🧑‍🍳 What else is cookin’?

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

• Telegram CEO Durov on 2024 arrest: 'no other tech leader targeted like this.

• Why Trump’s H-1B visa fee hike is facing a lawsuit.

• Indian market's shift towards premium devices to drive Snapdragon 8 chipsets adoption.