⛓️ Supply chain success

Good morning. On July 25, 1909, Louis Blériot made history by flying across the English Channel and simultaneously paved the way for international air travel.

Who knew a 37-minute flight could change the world?🧑‍✈️ 🛩️ 

- Ruchirr Sharma & Shatakshi Sharmaa

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• ⛓️ Supply chain success

• 🦙 Llama 3.1

• 🗞️ Bite-sized summaries

  • 🧑‍⚖️ Dhruv Rathee summoned

  • 💰️ Cohere lays off 20 employees after huge funding round

  • 🛂 India ranks 82nd in powerful passports

• 🧑‍🍳 What else is cookin’?

• 🍿 Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment

MARKETS

🇮🇳 India

• Indian stock markets saw volatility Wednesday as investors reacted to Budget 2024. Broader markets showed strength, with MidCap and SmallCap indices gaining. Media, Pharma, and Realty sectors rose, while Banking declined, reflecting mixed budget reactions.

🌍️ International

• The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at multi-week lows due to lacklustre earnings from Tesla and Alphabet, eroding investor confidence in tech giants. The Magnificent Seven stocks’ performance had broader market implications, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hitting their lowest levels since June while the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed below 40,000 points for the first time in two weeks.

ECONOMY

⛓️ Supply chain success

India's economy is undergoing a remarkable transformation as global supply chains increasingly favour the subcontinent.

The Economic Survey 2023-24 highlights impressive growth across several key export sectors:

• Mobile Phone Exports: Surging by 40.5% in FY24, India is positioning itself as a tough competitor to China and Vietnam. This success is largely due to the government's Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes, which have bolstered various industries.

• Toy Industry: Once a net importer, India now boasts a trade surplus in toys, with exports growing at a 15.9% CAGR between FY13 and FY24. Stringent quality controls and reduced import dependence have driven this transformation.

• Footwear Sector: India has emerged as the second-largest global producer and the ninth-largest exporter. Government initiatives, including quality control orders and development programs, have significantly propelled the industry forward.

• Defence Exports: India now ranks among the top 25 arms exporter nations, having transitioned from a major importer to an exporter of a wide range of defence products, including aircraft, artillery, and missiles.

Why is this important? This shift towards export-led growth is one of the most positive developments for India's economy. 

Over the past decade, the government has implemented various policy initiatives to boost exports, particularly in the defence sector. These include simplifying and digitising export procedures to make them more industry-friendly and efficient and creating the end-to-end online export authorisation system to reduce delays and improve the ease of doing business.

Additionally, the Aatmanirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliant India) initiatives have encouraged the design, development, and manufacture of defence equipment. This focus on domestic production aims to reduce India's long-term dependence on imported defence technology and equipment.

These measures collectively support India's goal of becoming a significant player in the global export market while strengthening its domestic manufacturing capabilities across various sectors.

Read more: Economic Times

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

🦙 Llama 3.1

Meta unveiled its largest Llama 3.1 AI model, boasting 405 billion parameters and significant improvements in language and mathematical capabilities.

The new model can converse in eight languages, write higher-quality computer code, and solve complex math problems more effectively than its predecessors.

Key features of Llama 3.1 include:

1. Multilingual skills across eight languages

2. Enhanced coding and math problem-solving abilities

3. Expanded "context window" for processing larger user requests

4. Competitive performance on key benchmarks like MATH and MMLU

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg predicts Llama models will surpass proprietary competitors by next year, with the Meta AI chatbot potentially becoming the most popular AI assistant by the end of this year.

The company is also releasing updated versions of its 8 billion and 70 billion parameter models, all of which are multilingual and feature larger context windows.

Overall: Meta's strategy of releasing Llama models largely free of charge aims to foster innovation, reduce dependence on competitors, and increase engagement on its social networks. However, this approach has raised concerns among some investors regarding costs.

Future plans include developing multimodal versions incorporating text, image, video, and speech capabilities, which are expected to compete with models from Google and Anthropic.

Read more: Economic Times

GENERAL OVERVIEW

🗞️ Bite-sized summaries

🧑‍⚖️ Dhruv Rathee summoned - A Delhi court has summoned YouTuber Dhruv Rathee in a defamation case filed by Mumbai BJP leader Suresh Karamshi Nakhua. The case stems from a video Rathee uploaded on July 7, 2024, where he allegedly referred to Nakhua as a "violent and abusive troll." Nakhua claims this unfounded accusation led to widespread condemnation and ridicule. The court issued a summons to Rathee and a notice on Nakhua's plea for interim relief. Nakhua's lawsuit alleges that Rathee's video, which spread rapidly online, made unsubstantiated claims that tarnished his reputation and planted seeds of suspicion. The case will be heard on August 6.

💰️ Cohere lays off 20 employees after huge funding round - Cohere, an AI startup founded by ex-Google researchers, recently laid off about 20 employees following a $500 million funding round that valued the company at $5.5 billion. Despite the cuts, Cohere is still hiring in various areas. The company focuses on enterprise AI solutions rather than consumer chatbots. Backed by major tech companies like Nvidia, AMD, Salesforce, and Oracle, Cohere has seen significant growth in the booming generative AI field. The company's president, Martin Kon, emphasised their focus on enterprise AI as a strategy for efficiency and cost control. Cohere has attracted increased customer interest, particularly after recent industry events involving competitors.

🛂 India ranks 82nd in powerful passports - The Henley Passport Index has released its 2024 ranking of the world's most powerful passports. Singapore tops the list with visa-free access to 195 countries. France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Spain tied for second place. India ranks 82nd, with visa-free access to 58 countries. The UK is fourth, while the US is eighth. The index, based on IATA data, shows a widening global mobility gap. Despite the global average of visa-free destinations nearly doubling since 2006, disparities persist. The ranking, updated in real-time, has become a popular tool for assessing global travel freedoms across 227 countries and territories.

HEADLINES

🧑‍🍳 What else is cookin’?

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

• Nita Ambani unanimously re-elected as International Olympic Committee member from India.

• CrowdStrike offers a $10 apology gift card to say sorry for outage.

• Sequoia Capital-backed Vanta raises funding at $2.45B valuation.

• Govt reduces budgetary allocation for UPI and RuPay small value payments to ₹1,441 Cr.

• Google parent Alphabet beats Q2 revenue, profit estimates on strong ads, cloud.
  

CULTURE

🍿 Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment

• France has provisionally been chosen to host the 2030 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

• World number one Jannik Sinner has withdrawn from the Paris Olympics with tonsillitis.

• Pixar’s ‘Inside Out 2’ becomes top animated film of all time at global box office.

• Ghudchadi trailer: Sanjay Dutt and Raveena Tandon’s 90s romance gets intertwined in the love story of Parth Samthaan and Khushalii Kumar.