Good morning! It’s election season but the public is already tired of patriotism. Mint reports that ‘nationalist’ films such as the recently released Swatantrya Veer Savarkar, Main Atal Hoon, Bastar: The Naxal Story and The Vaccine War got a lukewarm reception at the box office. It’s surprising given that two of those films were made by the same team that gave hits like The Kashmir Files and The Kerala Story. Perhaps the magic ingredient isn’t the right director or story, but an endorsement from the BJP. Case in point: Article 370, the only hit among the recent patriotic flops, which got a shoutout from PM Modi himself. Our advice to filmmakers is to ditch those heavy marketing budgets and get the blessings of the country’s biggest influencer instead.

Programming note: We are taking the day off on account of Good Friday. There will be no editions of The Playbook today and The Intersection on Saturday. 

Roshni Nair and Jessica Jani also contributed to today’s edition.

The Market Signal*

Stocks & Economy: US Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell, nuancing his position on factors that will encourage him to cut interest rates, is now leading to bond traders betting that prices will stay elevated for longer, Bloomberg reported. Jobs, alongside inflation, are now a priority for Powell. He said prices are more or less under the Fed’s arm but he would use the headroom to cut rates quickly if unemployment worsens. 

Almost all popular assets, including gold, Bitcoin, and stocks, had a good first quarter run in 2024. 

India’s output in eight core sectors, including steel, cement and power, grew 6.7% year-on-year in February. While seven of them rose, fertiliser production shrank 9.5%.

Asian equities began the day on a positive note, following their US peers. Several markets, including India, are closed today for Good Friday.

ENERGY

Oligarchs, Assemble

India’s richest men have joined hands in a show of literal power. Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries has acquired a 26% stake in Madhya Pradesh-based Mahan Energen Ltd (MEL), a subsidiary of Gautam Adani-owned Adani Power. According to the 20-year power purchase agreement, Reliance will use 500 MW of MEL’s capacity for captive use.

It’s unclear what Reliance plans to do with the 500 MW (the unit has a total capacity of 600 MW). It has captive units in Gujarat and Maharashtra, and its coal bed methane block in Sohagpur, Madhya Pradesh, may not need that much power.

The agreement is in keeping with India’s Electricity Rules, 2005. The Centre amended the rules in July 2023 to mandate that captive power users must buy a minimum 26% in the plant they draw power from. Another amendment in January gave captive generating plants exemption from transmission licences.

AUTOMOBILES

Ship Up, India

Indian car exports are recovering, but China is still king. Overall exports are expected to recover to pre-Covid levels by the end of this fiscal year, driven by Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai. Both companies also plan to further scale up exports; Maruti Suzuki is planning to triple exports by the end of this decade. Meanwhile, Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra, both of which have been trying to step up exports, made up a small 0.4% and 2% share, respectively. 

However, China is still the preferred hub for global companies to export cars, with Nissan, Tesla, BYD and Ford increasing exports from the country. EVs may have something to do with this. Cars, including EVs, are cheaper to make there. Plus, companies want their China plants to act as export hubs for growing markets in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, as restrictions increase from the US and Europe.

WORK

(Not) Wanted: Expensive CXO 

A new class of workers is falling victim to the country’s vicious job market: laid off CXOs (chief experience officers). 

C-suite executives laid off from high-profile startups are struggling to find a job. any among them were awarded lofty titles and high compensation too early and now, bigger firms are unwilling to hire them on the same terms. Headhunters say these executives need a reality check. 

It’s good enough: Meanwhile, white collar workers in the US are done with hustling. More Americans are taking a pay cut in exchange for less work, more downtime, and fulfilling roles. 

It’s the same elsewhere. A survey of white-collar workers conducted in 10 countries including India found nearly two-thirds were willing to take lower pay in exchange for a lighter workload. Most are burnt out. 

The Signal 

Demand for hybrid work and shorter work weeks were dismissed as short-term fancies of the pandemic years. But despite widespread layoffs and pay cuts, white collar workers are pushing back against a culture that treats jobs and career progression as the central theme of life. This may have far-reaching consequences beyond just workplace policies. For example, as fewer workers go back to office in the US, developers are refurbishing former offices to include retail and residential spaces.

Will this work in India? Unemployment among the educated youth remains alarmingly high. But the private sector may have to help create more quality jobs to fix the crisis. Their terms of employment may not be so empathetic. 

🎧 Troubled times for India’s workforce. Also in today's episode: how OTT platform MUBI didn’t live up to its promise. Tune in on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

FYI

Serving time: Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), co-founder of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for fraud and ordered to forfeit $11 billion.

Credit is the secret of my energy: The Economic Times reports that Adani Energy is in talks with banks to borrow up to $600 million to fund smart meter projects.

Assuage this: China’s commerce minister Wang Wentao will travel to the EU in April to hold discussions over the European Commission’s investigation into Chinese EV subsidies, Reuters reports. Chinese President Xi Jinping recently hosted US business representatives to shore up ties amid Washington-Beijing tensions.

Take this algorithm and run: Spotify will release features to promote new releases and increase fan engagement for artists signed to Universal Music Group, the world’s biggest record label.

All tell no show: Banking giant Citi has revealed that 42% of the energy clients it lends to lack a climate transition plan.

THE DAILY DIGIT

Rs 125 lakh crore

The yearly increase in total market cap of companies listed on the BSE. While blue chip stocks yielded returns of over 27% in FY24, smallcap stocks yielded 63% returns in the same period. (The Economic Times)

FWIW

We are the disease: Literally and officially. A study published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution reveals that humans transfer nearly twice as many viruses to animals than the other way round. A team of researchers studying millions of virus genomes zeroed in on 3,000 that are transmitted between species. Within this lot, animal-to-animal transfers accounted for 79%, while 21% involved humans. It was in the second category that scientists discovered anthroponosis (human-to-animal transmissions) is more frequent than zoonosis (animal-to-human transmissions). The critters most affected are domesticated animals, poultry, dogs, cats, chimpanzees, and raccoons. And you thought bats, rats, and roaches were the scourge of the earth.