Bullets

Indian GDP has grown at a rate of 7.2% for the year 2022-23, while the GDP growth for Q4FY23 stood at 6.1%. Both of these growth rates are higher than forecasts set out by the Reserve Bank of India.

This was after multiple financial organisations had reduced the growth projection of the Indian GDP, including the RBI setting the rate to 7.0%.

RBI, staying prudent, has forecast a growth rate of 6.5% for the next financial year.

Failing to raise equity worth ₹1,000 Crore, PharmEasy breached its covenant with investment company Goldman Sachs. The efforts to raise equity for a year included postponing their Initial Public Offering (IPO).

₹2,280 Crore was borrowed by PharmEasy from Goldman Sachs last August to pay off its debt to Kotak Mahindra Bank in the Thyrocare acquisition.

Will Goldman Sachs end up taking over Thyrocare or even the entire PharmEasy, as mentioned in the covenant agreement?

Byju's and Meesho's valuations have joined the infamous valuation tumble. After three months, BlackRock again dropped Byju's valuation to $8.2 billion from an $11.15 billion slash by the US-based investor in March.

Whereas, Meesho saw a 10% cut by US investor Fidelity making its valuation drop from $4.9 billion to $4.4 billion.

Swiggy, PineLabs, Ola, and Oyo are some names joining the valuation tumble this year. What's happening in the investing sector?🤔

WhatsApp is starting to monetise its Business platform with a new pricing policy. Based on the nature of communication, WhatsApp Business will charge ₹0.3082 for utility messages and ₹0.7265 for marketing messages from June 1st.

This news has hit small and medium businesses as they rely most on the medium to carry on their operations.

Many seem reluctant to continue their operations as usual with WhatsApp Business, whereas others think it is a necessity for their operations.

NDTV is currently being temporarily further monitored by the BSE and NSE because of unusual price swings caused by the spike in Adani group shares. 

Since the previous Monday, when Adani companies rallied after being cleared of allegations by a Supreme Court-appointed commission, the stock has increased 34%.

Is it merely a coincidence that the Adani group companies had already been monitored, adding to the general suspicion raised by NDTV's latest investigation?
 

The government banned 232 betting apps in February 2023. To which iPhone maker Apple responded by asking for a “concrete or legal reason” to take down the betting apps from its phones.

After MeitY’s order to ban apps like Betway, Lotus 365, etc., many are still operating in the open with advertisements on digital platforms and Apple App Store. 

Will Apple comply with the government’s clause, or will it take up arms in the court?

PR Sundar has agreed with SEBI to settle a prominent case by returning the advisory fee and surrendering over ₹6 crore.

The mastermind, along with his partner in crime Mangayarkarasi Sundar, both promoters of Mansun Consulting, had been accused of providing investment advice without proper regulatory registration.

Furthermore, they will be forbidden from engaging in any securities-related activities within India for an entire year. Indeed a piece of free advice is never good advice.
 

After asset management company Invesco slashed Swiggy’s valuation three months ago, Baron Capital cut the company’s fair value by 10%. Now the FoodTech company stands at $6.5 billion since March 31, 2023.

The US-based investor Baron Capital has held a 0.75% stake in Swiggy since January 2022.

The economic downturn and increased uncertainty of the rival Zomato’s stock prices have resulted in the downward slipping of Swiggy’s valuation. Or is it the fear of ONDC?

Ola Electric is gearing up for a potentially record-breaking IPO in India. 

With the support of investment banks Kotak Mahindra Capital and Goldman Sachs, the company aims to achieve a valuation higher than $5 billion. By selling 10% of its shares in the IPO, they could secure the largest IPO of the year in India, despite the current market conditions.

The company's decision to go public before the government discontinues electric vehicle subsidies reflects its strategic timing and ambition.
 

Meta's third round of layoffs, or the "Year of Efficiency", is coming to India. Saket Jha Sourabh, Avinash Pant, and Amrita Mukherjee, directors of media partnerships, marketing, and legal team, are some of the Indian employees affected by this round of layoffs.

The "Year of Efficiency" consists of removing 10,000 employees and freezing hiring for 5,000 open positions, as managers from various departments are asked to become "individual contributors".

This Bullet feed's getting filled with layoffs, something needs to change.

Kicking big tech firms to the curb, IAMAI's council selects members from startups. Dream11’s founder & CEO, Harsh Jain, is the chairperson, while Rajesh Magow from MakeMyTrip and Satyan Gajwani from Times Internet are chosen Vice-Chirperson & Treasurer, respectively.

The 24-membered governing council surprisingly doesn’t contain a single member from either Google or any of the other big tech firms.

Looks like the big kids were not invited to the trendy tech party!🤭

Nykaa experienced a remarkable surge in revenue but encountered a turbulent journey in net profit during the Q4 of FY23.

While their revenue from operations bloomed by a splendid 33.7% to ₹1,301.7 crore, their net profit took a detour and declined by 71.8%, landing at a mere ₹2.4 crore.

Nykaa seems to have taken us on a rollercoaster of surprises with the financial performance. Let’s hope their next quarter brings smoother sailing for their margins!
 

The roads of Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru will see 25,000 four-wheelers and 10,000 two-wheelers EVs running from next week. This initiative is part of the Uber Green category and is the first step toward Uber’s sustainability goals by 2040.

As an MoU agreement with Tata Motors, Uber will also release XPRES–Tata Motor EVs in a premium category.

The boom of EVs in India is a good sign of the nation’s movement toward creating greener surroundings.🚗

After withdrawing around $7 billion from Indian startups, reaching funding worth $15 billion in the country, Japanese Investment firm SoftBank is looking to reinvest around $400-$500 million.

The investment will be directed towards 5 startups in India, each with a valuation of around $400-$500 million, with investment in each firm exceeding $100 million if its investors want to exit, owing to the ongoing funding winter.

The aim behind the investment is to help these startups reach unicorn status.

Based on an Economic Times report, JioMart has laid off around 1,000 employees and plans to let go of up to 10,000 employees. Apart from the layoffs, many employees have been placed on Performance Improvement Plans as well.

Reliance's acquisition of Metro Cash and Carry India Pvt Ltd- Metro AG's Indian arm, which added close to 3,500 employees to its workforce, led to this decision.

Perfect, even the big shots are now jumping on the lay-off train! Who's next? Tata?

Meta has finally found a taker for Giphy after the UK's antitrust authority demanded the tech giant to sell the GIF library. 

Shutterstock snatched Giphy for a price of $53 million, leaving Meta's wallet hurting from their initial $315 million investment.

However, they can still enjoy Giphy's content through an API agreement.

This rollercoaster ride encountered a roadblock when the UK regulator said, "Undo it!" After a detour through the Competition Appeal Tribunal, the deal wraps up next month. Phew!
 

Media intermediaries like Twitter & Facebook might soon be held accountable for the content on their platforms. With the public unveiling of the Digital India Bill, the neutral ground for these platforms is in danger of poofing.

MoS for Electronics & Information Technology, Rajiv Chandrasekhar, is releasing the draft of the Digital India Bill for public consultation in June’s first week. 

Here’s hoping the 22-year-old IT Act’s replacement would bring much-needed changes to make the digital world safe for netizens.

The Adani Group has recently seen the market capitalisation of the various stocks of the conglomerate rise to their all-time highs since the ill-fated release of the Hindenburg Research report on 24 January 2023.

Adani Enterprises showed the strongest hike of all the stocks, reaching ₹2,600 on Tuesday from the ₹1,900 range last week.

After losing around ₹82,000 crore last week and making the same amount back through the ongoing rally, Adani is turning out to be one volatile underdog!

Meta, the proud owner of Facebook, has just been slapped with a mind-boggling fine of 1.2 billion euros! 

Since 2020, the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), acting as the EU's watchdog, has diligently investigated Meta Ireland's practice of transferring user data to the United States.

This marks the third hefty fine Meta has faced in the EU this year and the fourth in just six months. 

Ouch! Looks like Meta's piggy bank is taking a hit.
 

BSNL, the government-owned telecom company, has placed advance purchase orders worth over ₹15,000 crores to TCS and ITI for deploying 1,00,000 4G sites nationwide. 

Tejas Networks, a key player in the TCS-led alliance, will provide the essential Radio Access Networks (RAN) equipment for the project. 

Will this ambitious project finally bring high-speed communication services to every BSNL user?