Good morning! Why would you have cameras pointed at garbage? To see and measure what’s consumed and what’s wasted. A bunch of startups are deploying artificial intelligence cameras at restaurant dumps and supermarkets to understand customer choices and behaviour, The New York Times reports. It has thrown up interesting insights. Croissants are too big and are often chucked away half eaten. Or the shelves are stocked with stuff that shoppers do not want. There are demand spikes for certain items at certain times. All that and some more. The insights gleaned from garbage are helping save costs and reduce wastage. We won’t mind some dumpster privacy invasion if it shrinks the landfill.

Anjali Palod and Soumya Gupta also contributed to this edition.

The Market Signal* 

Stocks & Economy: All eyes are on US retail inflation numbers due Wednesday. A decline could again start speculation of an early Federal Reserve rate cut. However, traders currently have pared down their expectations. US initial jobless claims will be known later in the week. US stocks remained steady and passed on the optimism to Asian peers which were up in early trade. 

Canada and Europe will announce their rate decisions this week while China’s retail inflation data will be revealed on Thursday.

Indian equities continue to rewrite peak records. The market capitalisation of the BSE crossed Rs 400 lakh crore (~$4.8 trillion) for the first time. Broking firms are expecting a subdued earnings season. The GIFT Nifty predicts yet another strong opening.

QUICK SERVICE RESTAURANTS

Split And Grow

The victims of new store openings of quick service restaurant chains are none other than… their own older stores. In the race to deliver faster, fast food chains are opening new outlets in the same territories in metros, risking cannibalising their older stores’ business, also known as store splitting.

After a spectacular post-pandemic year, 2022, fast food chains expanded…fast. But with prices pinching the pocket and wages not rising as fast as inflation, patrons are going slow on eating out. Now restaurants are wondering whether they’ve opened too many stores. 

Same-store sales growth (SSSG) decelerated for most fast food chains in the third quarter of FY24. Yet revenue growth remained positive. The decline in SSSG may indicate weak demand for an existing chain. That’s not stopped them, however, from opening more stores as it boosts the topline. Head to The Core to know if it’s a sustainable growth hack. 

PODCAST

Tune in every Monday to Friday as financial journalist and host Govindraj Ethiraj gives you the most important take on the latest in business and economy.

Today, he speaks to Rahul Jain, IT analyst and VP, Dolat Capital, on what’s ailing Wipro? Also in today’s episode: how cooking oil prices are keeping food inflation from getting worse, with Atul Chaturvedi, Chairman, Sri Renuka Sugars and Asian Palm Oil Alliance and President, Solvent Extractors Association of India.

CONSUMER

‘Wrist’-reward ratio  

Forget gold, land, even stocks. India’s ultra-rich are busy investing in watches. 

Returns on investments in top models of luxury wristwatch brand Rolex have beaten sure-shot assets, including gold, real estate, and stocks, in the last ten years. The Rolex Market Index—a measure of the price of second-hand Rolexes —has grown 42% in the last five years. 

Risky behaviour: Luxury investments may have alluring returns but would-be investors often fall for dupes or realise they’re up against a rigged game. Nike sued luxury sneaker trading platform StockX for allegedly selling fakes. In 2021, Rolex issued a rare statement denying it deliberately suppressed production to ensure demand outstripped supply after the watches went out of stock worldwide. 

Last month, two California residents sued luxury house Hermes for allegedly forcing customers interested in buying its iconic Birkin bag to first purchase many other Hermes products. 

WORK

iHomes For iWorkers In India’s Own iPhone City

This is one perk that’ll go a long way in making the Apple supplier network attractive to Indian workers: a safe place to stay.  

iPhone assemblers and suppliers Foxconn, Tata, and Salcomp are planning mass housing for their employees. The Apple industrial ecosystem in India now employs 150,000 workers, 70% of them women. The companies will initially build 78,000 living units with financial contributions from the state governments where their factories are situated, and the centre. 

The initiative mirrors those in China where the company and its suppliers thrived on government sops. They reportedly got $1.5 billion in government support to build factories and dormitories for workers. They also got discounted energy and transport.

The Signal

In a different era, residential neighbourhoods set up by large public sector companies like Bharat Heavy Electricals and Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers, and the rare private enterprise such as Tata Steel were the equivalent of modern gated communities. Many still exist but are on the decline as demand for prime land trumps the need for worker housing. Unlike the PSU residential neighbourhoods sprawled over hundreds of acres complete with parks, schools and hospitals for a few thousand workers, iPhone makers’ accommodations are largely dorms. About 200,000 blue-collar employees work and live in the 5.6 square kilometre Foxconn campus in Zhengzhou nicknamed iPhone City. Apple’s gadget makers prefer workers staying close to their units to reduce commute time and improve productivity.

FYI

Swap it: Swiss banking giant UBS may offer its stake in a Credit Suisse joint venture with a government investment fund in exchange for full ownership of its own securities joint venture with a state-owned entity. 

Add to cart: Taiwanese iPhone maker Pegatron is reportedly in “advanced talks” with the Tata Group to sell its only manufacturing unit, which makes five million iPhones annually, in Chennai.

Biden’s gift: The world’s largest chipmaker TSMC will get $6.6 billion in grants and another $5 billion in loans to quickly build one more fab in Arizona to add to the two under-construction units.

Cyber hit: A hacker going by the name ShopifyGUY has leaked personal data, including names, email, customer IDs, and phone numbers, of 7.5 million consumers of wearables brand boAT.

Put on the spot: Nicaragua has accused Germany at the International Court of Justice in The Hague of “facilitating genocide” in Gaza by helping Israel.

THE DAILY DIGIT

49,798,519

The number of transactions on e-commerce platform Open Network for Digital Commerce between January 2023 and March 2024. Half of them were accounted for by ride-hailing apps such as Namma Yatri. (The Economic Times)

FWIW

Make hay while the sun hides: By the time you read this, millions of people in North America would have witnessed a total solar eclipse (unfortunately, we’re missing it in this part of the world). This eclipse is more than just a teachable scientific moment though. Hundreds of towns and cities in the eclipse’s path areexpecting a massive economic boost as tourists fly in and book hotels and rent cars to witness the event, The New York Times reported. Supermarkets in some smaller towns are extending hours and offering deals on scarce parking space. One viral mapplotted Airbnbs with 100% occupancy rates in North America for April 8: sure enough, they coincide almost perfectly with the solar eclipse’s expected path. Rake in the cash while you can; most of North Americawon’t see another solar eclipse until 2045.