💰️ Zepto eyes IPO

Good morning.

Kendrick Lamar will perform the halftime show at the Super Bowl in 2025.

Let’s go 🔥 

- Ruchirr Sharma & Shatakshi Sharmaa

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• 💰️ Zepto eyes IPO

• 🛴 Reliance enters the EV space

• 🗞️ Bite-sized summaries

  • 🌎️ 100% tariffs

  • 🚀 Delays in NASA missions

  • 🤖 AI is scary (for job searchers)

• 🧑‍🍳 What else is cookin’?

• 🍿 Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment

MARKETS

🇮🇳 India

• Indian benchmark indices BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 dropped over 1% due to regulatory concerns and profit booking ahead of US jobs data. Sensex fell 1,017 points, led by losses in SBI, NTPC, and ICICI Bank. All NSE sectoral indices ended in the red, with PSU banks hit hardest.

🌍️ International

• U.S. stocks declined on Friday, impacted by a jobs report indicating ongoing labour market weakness, which left traders uncertain about the extent of potential interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

🛴 Reliance enters the EV space

Reliance Infrastructure, part of Anil Ambani's Reliance Group, is making moves in the electric vehicle (EV) sector, exploring plans to manufacture electric cars and batteries - marking a potential major shift in its business strategy.

Here’s what’s going on: 

• To spearhead this initiative, Reliance Infra has brought on board Sanjay Gopalakrishnan, former India head of Chinese EV giant BYD, as a consultant. 

• The company is currently conducting a feasibility study for an EV manufacturing plant with an initial annual capacity of 250,000 vehicles, potentially scalable to 750,000 units.

• In addition to EV production, Reliance Infra is also considering setting up a battery plant. The proposed facility could start with a 10 gigawatt-hour (GWh) capacity, with plans to expand to 75 GWh over a decade.

This move puts Anil Ambani's company in direct competition with his brother Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries, which is already working on local battery manufacturing and recently secured government incentives for battery cell production.

Why now? 

• While electric models currently represent less than 2% of India's 4.2 million annual car sales, the government aims to increase this to 30% by 2030.

•  To support this goal, over $5 billion in incentives have been budgeted for companies manufacturing EVs and components locally.

Partnerships: Reliance Infrastructure is reportedly looking to team up with Chinese firms to support its EV ambitions. The company has already formed two new subsidiaries related to the automotive sector, including one specifically focused on vehicle manufacturing.

However, the project faces challenges, particularly regarding funding. Reliance Infrastructure has struggled with high debt levels and cash flow issues in recent years, making the financing of this ambitious venture a critical consideration.

Overall: As India's EV market continues to evolve, with players like Tata Motors, MG Motor, and BYD gaining traction, Reliance Infra's potential entry could significantly reshape the competitive landscape in the coming years.

Read more: Economic Times

ECONOMY

💰️ Zepto eyes IPO

Zepto, the rising star in India's quick-commerce sector and one of the 3 big names in the space, is making waves as it prepares for a potential IPO in 2025. 

Fresh off raising nearly $1 billion from private investors, the Mumbai-based startup is now in talks with major Wall Street banks like Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, as well as domestic investment banks, to explore going public.

Here’s the tea: 

• The company aims to list by August 2025, with plans to raise around $450 million through fresh share sales. However, this timeline hinges on Zepto's ongoing process of shifting its domicile from Singapore to India, joining a growing trend among Indian startups.

• Zepto's IPO ambitions come amid a booming quick-commerce market in India. The sector is growing rapidly, with established players like Swiggy's Instamart and Zomato-owned Blinkit expanding their operations. 

• Even traditional e-commerce giants like Flipkart and Amazon are entering the fray, recognising the increasing consumer demand for rapid deliveries.

• The quick-commerce buzz is attracting notable investors, including Raamdeo Agrawal of Motilal Oswal Financial Services and Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan's family office. 

• Industry analysts project significant growth, with Elara Capital estimating that quick commerce could account for 40-50% of e-commerce in some categories within the next three years.

Looking ahead: Zepto is riding this wave of growth, currently boasting an annualised gross sales run-rate of $1.5 billion. 

The company aims to more than double this to $3.5 billion by December 2025, supported by its expanding network of dark stores.

As Zepto gears up for its potential market debut, it's joining a select group of new-age firms like FirstCry and Ola Electric that have recently gone public with moderate valuations and seen their stocks surge post-listing. With the quick-commerce sector expected to maintain its rapid expansion, Zepto's IPO could mark a significant milestone in India's evolving e-commerce landscape.

Read more: Economic Times

GENERAL OVERVIEW

🗞️ Bite-sized summaries

🌎️ 100% tariffs - Donald Trump pledged a 100% tariff on goods from countries abandoning the US dollar in trade, aiming to maintain dollar dominance. Speaking at a Wisconsin rally, Trump emphasised that nations leaving the dollar would be barred from doing business with the US. His comments follow months of discussions with advisers about penalizing countries trading in non-dollar currencies. While the dollar's global dominance has declined, it still accounts for 59% of global foreign exchange reserves.

🚀 Delays in NASA missions - NASA has posponed Blue Origin's Mars mission, originally planned for October 2024, to avoid potential cost, schedule, and technical challenges. The mission, called Escapade, is now expected to launch in early 2025. NASA and Blue Origin are exploring new launch windows, with the earliest opportunity next spring. Meanwhile, Blue Origin plans to debut its New Glenn rocket in November 2024, moving up a previously scheduled mission.

🤖 AI is scary (for job searchers) - A recent survey by Great Learning reveals that 75% of young professionals fear job displacement due to AI disruptions. Many believe that upskilling in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) is crucial for staying relevant in the workforce. AI/ML has emerged as the top skills for FY25, with companies expanding training beyond technical teams to include operations, customer service, HR, and finance. IT services, consulting firms, and global capability centres are rapidly adopting AI, leading to fewer full-time employees per project due to efficiency gains. Gen AI is becoming a critical tool across all functions.

HEADLINES

🧑‍🍳 What else is cookin’?

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

• Russia advances in east Ukraine, launches deadly air strikes.

• China opens more manufacturing, healthcare sectors to foreign money.

• Whistleblower complaints at Indian companies up 8% to 1,074 in FY24.

• Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi arrives in India - to meet PM Modi on Monday.

• Tax department seeks $101M in unpaid dues from Byju's amid bankruptcy woes.

CULTURE

🍿 Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment

• US Open 2024 final scores:

  • J. Sinner beats T. Fritz in straight sets to win his second grand slam of 2024.

  • World no.2 Aryna Sabalenka beats Jessica Pegula 7-5, 7-5 to win her first US open.

  • Latvian Jelena Ostapenko and Ukraine's Lyudmyla Kichenok win the women's doubles with a 6-4 6-3 victory over Chinese-French pairing Zhang Shaui and Kristina Mladenovic.

  • Aussie pair clinch their first Grand Slam men’s doubles title as a team with a 6-4 7-6(4) victory against 10th-seeded Germans Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz.

  • Italians Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori defeat Taylor Townsend and Donald Young 7-6(0), 7-5 to win the mixed doubles title.

• Alia Bhatt and Vedanta Raina’s trailer for their movie Jigra dropped this weekend.