Bullets

Harley Davidson is looking to re-enter the Indian premium motorbike race with its economically priced X440, but the company does not intend to stop at just selling in India.

By manufacturing the bike in India, partnered with Hero Motocorp, HD can avoid the heavy import tariffs on bikes.

HD is looking into using these manufacturing units to produce bikes in India for exports. If HD succeeds, the Indian economy could thrive, while certain "Lifestyle Company" struggles.

The split of Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries and its financial services division has been approved by the National Company Law Tribunal, as a result of which the stock price has gone almost 4%⬆️.

 The newly rebranded Jio Financial Services Limited will likely be listed by September. 

This decision is anticipated to create India's fifth-largest financial services giant and unleash enormous potential for shareholders. 

Meanwhile, to read about Jio’s success story, click here.  

The largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world is simplifying crypto investments in the nation by providing trading facilities in Rupees. After a trade is finalised, Binance will work as the third party between buyer and seller for crypto assets transfer.

Investors can trade by transferring funds from banks, GPay, or even physical cash.

This step is likely to meet allegations of lawbreaking and money laundering and is now under the eyes of regulators in the country.

IOCL approved the plan to raise ₹22,000 via the rights issue of equity shares. This funding is part of the government’s plan for state-owned fuel retailers to contribute funds to net zero carbon emission projects.

The initiative will apply to the three state-owned fuel retailers; Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (HPCL), and IOCL.

With the government being the company's primary owner, the rights issue will likely be subscribed by the state.

Drone manufacturing company IdeaForge seems to be flying high as far as stock prices and listing gains are concerned. As the shares list today, they are priced at ~₹1,300 per share, at listing gains of 94%.

The Qualified Institutional Buyers segment oversubscribed by 125.81 times, followed by Retail Individual Investors (RII) at 85.2x subscriptions and non-institutional investors at 80.58x subscriptions.

My only concern is if this hype for the drone industry is real or if it's just hawabaazi...

After Adani Enterprises and Adani Transmission, Adani Green has also hopped on the fundraising train. The company has received approval from the board to raise ₹12,300 crore.

The funds raised will be used for debt repayment and primarily to increase capex. For the QIP funding route, they will also ask the shareholders for permission.

Clearly all this effort is to recover from the “Hindenburg Research” catastrophe.
 

Everyone is ready to get a piece out of the massacre that is Twitter today. After Meta’s Threads launched yesterday, gaining 30 million signups in 1 day, another rival, Bluesky, is ready to participate in the party.

Bluesky secured $8 million in funding in a seed round led by Neo. The fund raised would be used to improvise Bluesky’s operations and AT Protocol ecosystem.

Bluesky’s first paid service also launched. What’s Twitter’s move going to be now?

The Manipal Group intends to invest ₹1,000 crore in return for an 18% share in API Holdings, PharmEasy and Thyrocare's parent company, in order to assist it in paying off its debts to Goldman Sachs.

Additionally, it is anticipated that existing investors will contribute ₹1,500 crore, valuing API Holdings at roughly ₹6,000 crore, a considerable decrease from its previous valuation. 

Will this infusion of funds be the game-changer for PharmEasy?
 

Digital document wallet, DigiLocker, will soon be the one-stop storage platform. Along with documents like Aadhaar Cards, PAN cards, etc., DigiLocker would soon allow storing other essential documents as well.

As part of the government’s plan to expand the platform, users will be able to store ITR, PF statements, NREGA job cards, and more.

Let’s hope that MeitY’s initiative to provide a safe house for official documents will be protected from any more data leaks.🤓

Guess who's ditching the junior league and stepping into the big boys' club? LTI Mindtree! 

LTIMindtree, is all set to take HDFC's place in the NIFTY 50 index. After the merger between HDFC and HDFC Bank, HDFC will cease to exist and trading will stop from July 13th.

Well who will be sliding into LTIMindtree's spot in Nifty Next 50, it is Jindal Steel & Power. And this chain reaction is set in motion as the cycle continues with subsequent replacements. 🔄
 

Swiggy is serving plastic with its food! This is not an exposé of flawed packaging by Swiggy, but a new offering in the form of an HDFC co-branded credit card, with additional benefits when used on the delivery platform.

Swiggy is also looking to enter the e-commerce and grocery delivery segments with its Minis and Instamart. All of this, while Zomato discontinued its credit card, struggles with Blinkit, and plateaus on its total customers. Did someone order some market disruption?

A microblogging app called “Threads” is launching on July 6th by Meta. The app will allow users to engage in a text-based conversation as well as give Instagram users the leverage to continue with their usernames in the app itself.

The launch of this new social media platform couldn’t have better timing as Musk announced certain limitations on Twitter posts.

How Twitter’s CTO replies to this first strike from Meta’s CEO would be interesting to watch.🥊

In a fresh wave of merger mania, IDFC and IDFC First Bank have decided to join forces, following the footsteps of HDFC. 

The board of IDFC First Bank has given the green light to merge with IDFC Limited, a move aimed at simplifying their corporate structure. 

The merger involves a share exchange ratio of 155:100, and is projected to increase the bank's standalone book value per share by 4.9%.

What does the future hold for the banking landscape?
 

Among acquirers and founders, both abandoning the business like a bad habit, ZestMoney still has some fight left in it. In a last-ditch effort to keep the business afloat, ZestMoney has managed to raise ~$7 million from a band of investors, including existing players like Qunoa Capital.

Zip, Omidyar Network India, Flourish VC and Scarlet Digital are other investors jumping into the fray.

Is this funding going to breathe life into the business, or are ZestMoney's dilemmas just beginning?

On one side, ed-tech firm Byju's is having continuous bad days, and on the other side, the company's promoters are cooking something else. Founder Byju Raveendran, wife Divya Gokulnath & brother Riju Raveendran have sold shares worth $408.53 million since 2015. 

PrivateCircle Research analysed the movement of 40 transactions done by promoters between 2016-2021. These transactions have helped them accumulate grand personal wealth.

Looks like the promoters are planning to jump ship with loaded bank accounts.

Troubles are what awaits the edtech firm Byju’s for the past few months. After the board members and auditor’s resignation, brand ambassador Shah Rukh Khan wishes to part ways with the firm.

SRK and Byju’s were fined ₹50,000 each by an MP redressal commission in April for not meeting teaching standards and promoting false ads. 

With SRK’s renewal due this September, the present contract of ₹4 crores might not be enough to make the superstar stay.

Ensure you mark these dates, as missing them could lead to penalties or missed opportunities for savings and benefits. 

1. ITR filing deadline: July 31.

2. Belated ITR deadline: December 31 (late fee under Section 234F).

3. TDS deposit deadline: July 7.

4. Increased rates on select saving schemes.

5. Higher pension effective from July 11.

6. No extension for PAN-Aadhaar linking.

7. Tax on overseas remittance postponed to October 2023.

Stay ahead of your tax obligations and make the most of these key deadlines in July!

National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority, under the Ministry of Chemical and Fertilizers, released two lists containing 53 drugs with a ceiling price. These lists include medicines for type 2 diabetes and anxiety, along with others.

NPAA has also ordered other distributors to revise medicine prices based on the ceiling fixed by the regulator.

This change came a few days after the news release of a 44% hike in diabetes patients in India in the last four years.

The board has given ICICI Securities permission to delist its shares, making it now a wholly owned subsidiary of ICICI Bank.

They could have chosen to merge, exactly like HDFC & HDFC Bank are doing, but they cannot do so due to regulatory restrictions, thus they have decided to delist. 

Following the delisting, holders of 100 I-Sec shares will receive 67 shares of ICICI Bank instead. Bid adieu as they are set to disappear👋.

To know more about delisting check this.
 

Udemy is looking to acquire a US-based peer, Udacity. While Udacity had received a peak valuation of $1 billion at one point, it is valued merely at $100 million for this acquisition.

Udacity generates revenue of $100 million and EBITDA of around $10 million. However, the company struggles with its retention rate falling to around 70%, thus, the reduced valuation.

Seems like a good time for edtech stragglers to buckle up. After all, edtech giant Byju's seems ready to fall.