Good morning! Red Louboutins have nothing on the red tape of India. Mint reports that luxury giants Louis Vuitton, Dior, and Christian Louboutin are struggling to get past the new quality controls of the Indian government. Under it, the manufacture, import, and selling of footwear without the ISI mark is prohibited. For now, these companies are lobbying for an exception given their own high standards of quality. As a wise Frenchman once said, the more things change, the more they stay the same. 

Dinesh Narayanan, Venkat Ananth, and Adarsh Singh also contributed to today’s edition.

The Market Signal* 

Stocks & Economy: MSCI has rejigged indices, which would trigger a passive inflow of $1.9 billion into Indian equities by the end of February. NMDC, GMR Airports, Union Bank, BHEL and Punjab National Bank are the new entrants in the MSCI Global Standard Index. It has also added 27 stocks to its Small Cap Index and removed six. India’s weight in the MSCI Emerging Market Index will go up from 17.9% to 18.2%. 

Bitcoin is back in the reckoning, crossing the $50,000 mark as newly launched exchange traded funds (ETFs) raked in the moolah. BlackRock and Fidelity have both seen inflows of $3 billion each into their respective spot Bitcoin ETFs.

US equities paused their rally but valuations remained high. Investors are awaiting retail inflation data due on Tuesday. Asian markets surged in early trade. China is closed for the week.

AVIATION

SpiceJet Tries A Crosswind Landing

It may be a good idea to launch an airline today rather than revive an ailing one. SpiceJet’s Ajay Singh is discovering it rather painfully. 

Declining by the day: The struggling airline is laying off 15% or nearly 1,400 of its employees as costs mount and operations shrink. From 118 planes in 2018 flying 650 daily flights, the fleet has shrivelled to 34 planes flying 200 flights in 2024, but staff strength has reduced from 16,000 to only 9,000. 

SpiceJet’s cost of operations is higher than that of rivals as it flies older planes. While IndiGo is far ahead of the pack with a 60% market share, Akasa Air, launched during the pandemic, has now levelled with SpiceJet with 4% of the pie. While Akasa and Tata-owned Air India Express are on an expansion spree, SpiceJet’s ₹2,250 crore (~$271 million) fundraise has run into rough weather.

TECH

Memorial Tablet

Will Apple’s mixed reality headset, the Vision Pro, replace the iPad? It may not happen soon but don’t write it off, reckons Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.

Context: Global iPad sales, along with those of the Mac, have been on a steady decline, including in India. In November 2023, Gurman also reported that Apple would introduce new iPad and Mac models to reverse the slump.

Meanwhile, the company has been developing prototypes of foldable iPhones. But because that long-drawn process comes with significant challenges, Apple’s first foldable device could probably be the iPad.

Cannibalism: The iPad, once positioned as a Mac replacement, never lived up to that potential. The Vision Pro is reportedly buggy and has a long way to go before being usable, but its immersive world and ability to serve as another Mac monitor means it can serve as a better portable option than the iPad.

EDUCATION

Bargain B-School

Its image is taking a beating this year. As students realise it’s no longer raining jobs, they’re slowly but surely shifting away from the full-time MBA to flexible and online options. This year’s Financial Times ranking of the world’s best B-schools is taking value for money into account; the FT picked University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business as the world’s best.

Advantage India: Two Indian B-schools outranked better known global names on value for money. Alumni of The Indian School of Business reported the highest jump in salary three years post-graduation, while IIM-Ahmedabad was judged best at offering graduates career progression, ahead of Stanford. 

The Signal

As the MBA becomes increasingly expensive, hopefuls want bang for their buck, not just a fancy name with a massive loan. Indian B-schools are far more worth it than their prestigious American and European counterparts. Armed with an English-medium MBA, Indian grads have long scored top jobs around the world. Heck, even the deans of some of the world’s best B-schools are Indian, many of them IIM graduates. 

But how long can Indian B-schools hold on to this advantage? This year, even so-called top-tier IIMs struggled to place their graduates as tech firms laid off employees and cut back on hiring. They had to redouble efforts and reach out to many more companies to help place the students. FMCG, consulting and banking companies offered the best pay and roles. Air India came back to B-schools after staying away for 20 years.

🎧The MBA degree is not dying, but reinventing itself. Also in today’s episode, we deep dive into SpiceJet’s turbulent start to 2024. Tune in to The Signal Daily on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

ENERGY

China Eclipses The US

When it comes to the solar power ecosystem, that is. The Wall Street Journal explains to what degree in this interactive report.

The Biden administration has been trying to close the gap with China here with the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, through subsidies and production incentives. But it’s a long shot. Energy- and capital-intensive polysilicon or high-purity silicon—a critical component in solar panels—is 51% cheaper to make in China; thanks to this, the country dominates 91% of global production. US moves to decouple from Chinese polysilicon is proving expensive, because those supplies are limited. China also accounts for 97% and 80% of solar ingot and solar cell production, respectively. Beijing’s chokehold on the global ecosystem has even the EU rethinking some protectionist measures.

China’s ramp-up of renewable energy capacities is so massive, analysts now estimate that the country’s greenhouse gas emissions may peak this year, earlier than anticipated.

GEOPOLITICS

Europe Will Vote For Biden

Former US President and failed casino owner Donald Trump offered a glimpse of what global allies could expect if he returns to the Oval Office. 

Nyet: Trump said he would not help Nato allies who don’t pay their defence dues if Russia attacks them. In fact, he said he would encourage Russia to do whatever it felt like. By paying, Trump meant each of the 31 Nato members spending at least 2% of their GDP on their own military annually. Only 11 currently do. The US accounted for 70% of Nato spending in 2022 even as European militaries stood depleted. 

Trump’s comments came just as Russian President Vladimir Putin said the US should get Ukraine to cede territory to him. Putin also told conservative US television host and Trump supporter Tucker Carlson that he had no intention of attacking Poland.

FYI

Summoned: Elon Musk has been ordered by a US federal judge to testify in a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into his $44 billion takeover of Twitter.

And the winner is…: Kansas City Chiefs, who won their third Super Bowl in five years, defeating San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in overtime. Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes starred for the champions with his match-winning touchdown.

Nope: Reserve Bank of India governor Shaktikanta Das stated that there was “hardly any room” to review the actions the central bank took against Paytm Payments Bank.

More chaos: Pakistan is set for a coalition government with the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and Pakistan People’s Party potentially coming together, with some independents. Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf would prefer sitting in opposition, per its leader.

Concerning: US defence secretary Lloyd Austin was hospitalised for the second time in a month for an “emergent bladder issue”. Austin was admitted into critical care, while his deputy Kathleen Hicks took charge.

Hop, skip, and: Oyo’s senior executives and lead bankers approached markets regulator Sebi to expedite the approval of its initial public offering.

Bust: Fantasy sports platform Dream11’s parent Sporta Technologies will go through bankruptcy resolution process on the National Company Law Tribunal orders following a default of ₹7.61 crore ($917,069).

THE DAILY DIGIT

$70 million+

The potential cost of the Disney boardroom battle featuring activist shareholders—Trian Fund Management, Blackwells Capital, and others—making it the most expensive shareholder fight ever. (Wall Street Journal) 

FWIW

Pricey love: There’s no limit for a parent’s love for their child. Or is there? Rising living costs and upheaval in the job market mean that the younger generation are struggling to make ends meet. To combat it, they’ve been relying on their parents' help in the US; moving in with them, asking for rent money or just asking for help on down payment for their houses. Parents have had to delay retirement and cut costs on their part. But now, many are cutting the financial cord… ever so gradually. That means setting benchmarks and clear boundaries for their children. Will it work? Parents sure hope so, otherwise it’s gonna be a very awkward dinner. 

Orange season: It is that season but it also means something more. The fruit has become the ultimate litmus test for relationships. Partners are asking their significant others to peel an orange for them, even when they’re perfectly capable of doing it on their own. The test is supposed to show how far are their partners willing to do acts of service. Plus, there’s the added advantage of flaunting their healthy relationship online. For those who fail the test, deep-dialogues follow suit about the relationship and what needs to be done to make it better. Whatever happened to letting things be and hoping for them to resolve on their own?

New king: 2024 is the year of the Olympics and it looks like China is set to dominate again. Pan Zhanle is the latest prodigy to come out of the country’s rigorous sporting centres. Pan has broken the men’s freestyle world record in the 100 metres category. At 46.80 seconds, the 19 year old’s lap was part of the 4x100m relay event at the World Championships in Doha. The previous record was held by Romanian David Popovici. The feat is all the more special because China isn’t really known for producing world-class swimmers and Pan’s feat has made him one of the five men to have broken the 47-second barrier in 100m freestyle history. Look out Phelps!