Good morning! A good credit score can get you a car, a house, even a job. What it cannot get you is love. Or can it? As per TechCrunch, a new dating app called Score (zero marks for ingenuity btw) will be launched this Valentine’s Day. It’s targeted at people with a minimum credit score of 675. The best part? If you don’t qualify, you’ll be directed to websites that help you improve your credit scores. CRED founder Kunal Shah would approve!

🎧 Valentine’s Day and the big, big business of love. Also in today’s episode, Punjabis are reconsidering the Canadian dream. Tune in to The Signal Daily on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Venkat Ananth and Soumya Gupta also contributed to today’s edition.

The Market Signal*

Stocks & Economy: Valentine’s Day has begun with little love for shares the world over. Asian markets opened on a weak note following US equities, which fell after retail prices rose faster in January than expected, dashing hopes of an early rate cut by the Federal Reserve. 

A bunch of Fed officials are scheduled to speak during the week beginning Wednesday at various events. Several central bank officials, including European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, will also be speaking this week.

Indian equities had bounced back on Tuesday after a sloppy beginning to the week but the weakness is likely to return today, the GIFT Nifty shows. 

Reliance Industries became the first Indian company to cross the valuation of ₹20 lakh crore (~$250 billion) when its stock price hit ₹2,957.8 per share on the BSE on Tuesday. 

BUSINESS OF SPORT

IPL Honchos Aim For The Hundred

Former Indian Premier League (IPL) commissioner Lalit Modi could return to cricket, this time as an investor in England’s The Hundred (100-ball a side) competition. Modi could be joined by other IPL franchise owners such as the Chennai Super Kings’ N Srinivasan.

Eyes on: The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is keen to seek about £750 million in private investments in 2025 for a two-phase expansion of The Hundred, including adding more teams to the eight city-based ones currently tied to ‘host’ counties.

Home advantage: A host county gets a bigger revenue share from the tournament because of hosting rights, ticketing, and food and beverage sales.

County hunting: IPL franchise owners such as the GMR Group (Delhi Capitals) are making a beeline to acquire ownership in major county clubs such as Hampshire for a quicker entry into The Hundred. Ditto for the Rajasthan Royals’ owners, who were once eyeing Yorkshire.

AUTOMOBILES

Kerala ♥️ EVs

Kerala is witnessing an EV revolution. The coastal state accounts for a mere 4.4% of total four-wheeler sales in the country but bought 13.2% of four-wheeled EVs sold in 2023. That puts it just behind the leader, Maharashtra. 

Infra push: Kerala’s push in the EV space is led by greater awareness, low operation costs and massive charging infrastructure. It boasts of the fourth-highest number of charging stations in the country. With 852 stations, it’s only preceded by Maharashtra, Delhi and Karnataka. Little wonder that the likes of BYD started their India operations in the southern corner.

Meanwhile: Tata Motors is betting on #vocalforlocal new releases and price cuts to displace Hyundai as the second- biggest passenger vehicle maker in the country.

In other news: Bologna, home to supercar makers Ferrari and Lamborghini, is caught in a turmoil over its new law restricting the speed limit to 30kmph. 

AGRICULTURE

Highways Of Discontent

Farmers from the neighbouring states of Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh have laid siege to the capital Delhi’s borders where police have erected concrete bulwarks and container fortresses. 

In a reenactment of farmer-police clashes in 2020-21 on the same borders, police used water cannons and dropped teargas shells using drones on protestors trying to breach the fortifications. 

The demand: Farmers want a legal guarantee of minimum support prices for their crops. They are also seeking pensions and loan waivers.  

Global unrest: Not just in India, all over Europe—including in Paris, Brussels and Berlin—farmers have blocked major highways. Rising input costs but lower prices for produce and foreign competition due to trade agreements are agitating agriculturists. 

The Signal

Farmers have enjoyed political and economic support globally. In Europe, leaders are walking back on climate change actions and promises in trade talks to appease farmers. Profitable farming is a key election issue in the US. The Indian government gives away ₹6,000 (~$72) per head in annual direct cash transfers to small farmers. The only laws the Narendra Modi government rolled back under pressure were a set of farm legislations. But high food prices irk other voters. India banned onion exports in December to tamp down local prices. Desperate farmers are now smuggling the bulbs to neighbouring Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and the UAE where they fetch 10X the prices in India. Food price stability has suffered due to climate change and uncertain demand and supply, troubling producers, consumers, and policymakers alike.

MIGRATION

Punjab’s Love Affair With Canada Cools

The Indian government is not the only one that is having relationship issues with Canada. Even Punjabis, for whom the North American country is as good as home, are increasingly finding it difficult to stay put. 

High cost: The rising cost of living, strained healthcare system and diminishing opportunities are forcing many migrants from Punjab to return home. Students are scared of increasing hardships and fewer jobs. Applications to study in Canada fell 40% in the second half of 2023.

The trend, however, is pronounced among those migrants who have land or other means of livelihood to fall back on in India. The middle class and lower middle class migrants still see the distant shores as their path to economic progress.  

Not in sync: Conservative Punjabis are also angered by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s policies, including legislation legalising cannabis and inclusive education policies favouring LGBT students.

E-COMMERCE

All Roads Lead To neu

Tata Digital has it all: medicine, grocery, electronics, and fashion. All it needs is to tightly knit together its ₹200 crore (~$24 million) e-commerce empire.There’s just one problem—Tata Neu. 

Pity party: Tata Digital is planning to reroute all customers of its e-commerce brands—BigBasket, 1mg, Tata Cliq, and Croma—to the Tata Neu app. But Neu is a non-starter and Tata Digital has been losing top executives as it struggles with growth. It now has a new CEO and the Tata Group may invest another billion in the venture.

Leaner, meaner, fitter: Tata is hoping to save costs by integrating back-end operations for all its e-commerce brands. This way, teams of the Tata Digital apps will work together, instead of in silos. But customers—used to their favourite app—will be forced to useTata Neu, an app with poor reviews and functionality. Is it worth the risk? 

FYI

Let's pay!: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his United Arab Emirates counterpart Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan introduced UPI RuPay card services in Abu Dhabi. Modi is on a two-day visit to the Emirate.

Downgraded: Global brokerage house Macquarie slashed its target price for Paytm by 57.7% to ₹275, citing “serious” risks of its customers leaving the platform amid increased regulatory scrutiny. The downgrade (at ₹275/share) would value the fintech company at $2.1 billion.

Nope, can’t do: Markets regulator Sebi has rejected the NSE’s application to settle the colocation case under its consent mechanism where parties agree to pay a fine without admitting guilt. 

Historic first: The US House of Representatives voted to impeach US Secretary for Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, with 214 members in favour and 213 against.

Respite: Apple’s iMessage, Microsoft’s Bing search engine, Edge browser, and Microsoft Advertising will not be regulated under Europe’s Digital Markets Act after a probe found them not to be holding dominant positions. 

First hurdle cleared: The US Senate approved a $95.3 billion security aid package for its allies Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The bill will be up for consideration in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, with its fate unclear.

Super hit: The Super Bowl LVIII game between Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers garnered a record 123.4 million audience, making it the most-watched programme in US television history.

THE DAILY DIGIT

59,100

The number of Indians who became US citizens in 2023, second only to Mexicans (110,000+).  (The Economic Times) 

FWIW

Jilted lovers Inc: Life can be pretty tough for them on Valentine's Day. So, it’s only human to show some empathy and offer them avenues of their own. Like, naming a roach or rodent after an ex and feeding it to one of the animals at the San Antonio zoo for a donation ranging from $5 to $25. Or buying some ‘self-love’ gifts that numerous companies are offering these days. As per Etsy, searches for “self-gift” ahead of Valentine’s Day have increased 12% year-on-year. Looking for activities on the damn day? Try the numerous ‘single’s day’ events organised by comedy clubs. Overall, the opportunities to make money out of people’s misery are limitless. 

New flavour: The purists are gonna hate this one. Coca-Cola is launching a permanent new flavour to its lineup. Called Coca-Cola Spiced, the drink is a mix of raspberry, spiced flavours (similar to the ones found in a spice cake) and Coca-Cola. Early tasters note that it has hints of vanilla, cinnamon, citrus oils, and nutmeg. The drink will come in both regular and Zero Sugar varieties. This comes after the company tried to bring a ‘New Coke’ which changed the formula of the older drink. It was universally hated and so if they’ve decided to introduce something like Spiced, they must’ve done their research. Right? 🙃

Unstoppable: Age is just a number and Taghi Askari is a living embodiment of that. At 100, the Iranian is the oldest competitor at the World Aquatics Masters Championships in Doha. His love for the sport dates back to his teenage years. Taghi won a silver and bronze medal at the first-ever Asian Games in 1951. He’s making a comeback to the sport, almost 60 years after he last took part in a national competition. Damn, some people are truly extraordinary.