Good morning! The term Blade Runner just got a whole new meaning. Charter helicopter rates have soared by up to 20% compared to six months ago, thanks to politicians booking choppers in the run up to this year’s elections. The current rate for twin-engine helicopters, preferred by VIPs, is now Rs 3,000 a minute. Demand is so high that there are no charter choppers left to book, Business Standard reports. Btw, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee had complained about this back in 2023. This problem wouldn’t be there if netas did something about congested roads, jussayin’.

🎧 The perils of one of India’s most popular painkillers. Also in today’s episode: how to train your AI model. Tune in on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Roshni Nair and Anup Semwal also contributed to today’s edition.

The Market Signal* 

Stocks & Economy: Two days, two records. The BSE’s 30-share index, the Sensex, briefly crossed the 75,000 mark for the first time before paring gains. The exchange’s market capitalisation had touched an all-time high of Rs 400 lakh crore (~$4.8 trillion) on Monday. 

Despite regulatory warnings about froth and actions to curb unbridled speculation, especially in small cap stocks, domestic investors have poured money into shares. Strong inflows into mutual fund systematic investment plans are neutralising the selloff by foreign portfolio investors. The most important news for the Indian economy came from weather forecaster Skymet on Tuesday. It predicted a normal monsoon this year as weather conditions flip swiftly from El Nino to La Nina, which brings more rainfall. 

Asian markets opened mixed. Japan and Korea were subdued while China and Singapore markets were upbeat. The GIFT Nifty hints at a strong Wednesday opening.

WASTE MANAGEMENT

Trash To Treasure

The garbage hills in India are arguably the most quintessential monuments of the 21st century. Each year, Indian cities discard 42 million tonnes of solid municipal waste, and due to ineffective management, most of it rots in dumping sites.

The primary reason Indian cities have been struggling miserably with handling waste is the lack of segregation in our homes (no segregation, no composting, no recycling). But what if we had a solution that didn't require much sorting? A small plant in Uttar Pradesh's Gangoh town is doing exactly that. Run by Cogo Eco-Tech, the plant converts unsegregated waste into charcoal, which the company sells commercially.

If we could scale it up, Cogo's waste-to-charcoal plant can solve two prickly problems at once: shrinking the size of our mounting landfills and, in turn, cutting down India's methane emissions. About 15-20% of India's methane emissions come from landfills. Head to The Core to learn how Cogo is converting waste into charcoal.

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 veteran aviation analyst Kapil Kaul, CEO, CAPA India, on how India's airline industry is geared for the summer.

E-COMMERCE

Home Improvement

While online pharmacies remain in regulatory limbo, Tata is wasting little time in playing safe. The Economic Times reports that the conglomerate will do what online retailers in India have resorted to for years now: establish a brick-and-mortar presence. 1mg, operated by Tata Digital, will sell medicines and offer testing facilities offline. The budget for this expansion will reportedly be finalised in late April.

Tata Digital CEO Naveen Tahilyani, who took over from Pratik Pal in February, is also cutting spending and prioritising a data-focused approach to resuscitating a house in shambles. One of his tasks is to “integrate operational structures” in Tata’s new economy ventures such as BigBasket and Tata Cliq into Tata Neu, the superapp that has failed to take off two years into its existence. Last month, it was reported that Tahilyani is overseeing a design refresh for Neu, which may venture into food delivery too. 

EDUCATION

For Students, Credit’s The Score 

Higher education in India has undergone a sea change with an increasing number of students preferring institutions abroad. The trend is pulling private equity (PE) firms towards companies which help finance that demand. 

In the biggest deal in the sector, PE firms BPEA EQT and ChrysCapital bought HDFC Credila for Rs 9,553 crore (~$1.1 billion). Abu Dhabi sovereign fund Mubadala invested Rs 1,000 crore in student loan provider Avanse Financial, which is backed by Warburg Pincus. The two companies have a combined student loan book of Rs 37,000 crore. 

Expanding market: About two million Indian students will likely go abroad in 2025, up from 1.5 million in 2023. Student spending is expected to hit $70 billion, including housing and living expenses, by 2025, according to international education market intelligence company ICEF Monitor.

The Signal

The student loan market in India is still nascent as banks are averse to lending to this group, whose bad loans level stood at 4.4% as of September 2023. Last year onwards, a 5% tax is collected at source (TCS) on remittances above Rs 7 lakh a year for education through the RBI’s liberalised remittance scheme. But if that’s met through loans, the TCS drops to 0.5%. That could push more students to access the loan market. Interestingly, the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2022-23 showed that urban households’ share of education in total expenditure fell from 6.90% to 5.78% in a little over a decade.

FYI

From one exit…: Surinder Chawla has resigned as the CEO of Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPBL), Paytm parent One 97 Communications said in a stock exchange filing.

…to another: Ola Cabs will stop operating in international markets by April-end. The ride-hailing company has notified users in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK about the impending closure.

In line: At least eight firms, including private equity majors KKR, CVC Capital, and Nordic Capital, are in the race to buy German generic drugmaker Stada, Bloomberg reports.

Mixed bag: Blackstone is closing in on a deal to take the $5.6 billion luxury cosmetics company L’Occitane private, Bloomberg reports. Meanwhile, American cosmetics major Neutrogena is laying off staffers as parent Kenvue, which also owns Aveeno and Tylenol, moves headquarters from Los Angeles to New Jersey.

Displacement: Russia and Kazakhstan have ordered over 100,000 people to evacuate after both countries experienced the worst floods in at least seven decades.

THE DAILY DIGIT

$127 billion

BloombergNEF’s estimate of annual global revenue from public-charging business for electric vehicles by 2030. (Bloomberg) 

FWIW

Whose rice is it anyway?: The cross-border war over basmati rice, ongoing since 2018, is scaling new heights. As Pakistan contests India’s bid at the European Commission to grant basmati a geographical indication tag, scientists from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute are accusing the neighbour of “illegally growing copyrighted strains” of the prized rice. The timing is sensitive. India accounts for 65% of the global basmati market, but exports have fallen since January mostly due the Centre’s imposition of a higher minimum export price. The pattern could continue due to higher freight costs and lower yields this year, and Pakistan is expected to capitalise on its lower basmati prices. Whoever said competition was fair?