Good morning! We usually reserve this space for lighter news. Today isn’t that day. In a recent Facebook post, Doordarshan anchor Lopamudra Sinha shared a video of herself fainting during a live broadcast due to heat stress—ironically, while reporting on the ongoing heatwave in east India. Sinha was holding off on drinking water until the news bytes section, but her blood pressure dipped and she eventually blacked out. The news anchor shared that she’d never had to reach out for water in her years of news-reading. Meanwhile, the Odisha and West Bengal governments declared early summer holidays and morning hours for schools as the IMD declared a red alert in both states. If only Indian politicians making high-falutin electoral promises approached climate issues with the same vigour.

The Market Signal* 

Stocks & Economy: The “what if and what next” questions have begun actively playing on the minds of equity investors and traders as the great Indian elections got underway last Friday and opinion polls predicted a massive victory for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Yet, despite there being anticipation of a Narendra Modi-led government coming back to power, for the first time doubts are being expressed about whether even a status quo on the number of seats would mean a setback to Modi. 

A Bernstein report released Friday asks what if the opinion polls are too optimistic. The markets have already priced in 400 seats for the BJP and allies. A correction is inevitable but Bernstein does not expect a break in government policy nevertheless.  

Asian markets were awash in green in early trade and the GIFT Nifty hints at a strong opening for Indian equities too.

BANKING

No Scheme For Women

The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) is supposed to be the world’s largest exercise in financial inclusion. The premise is to offer financial services—small loans, pensions, etc.—to rural and low-income Indians who don’t have bank accounts.

PMJDY accounts crossed 500 million in number last year, and deposits exceeded Rs 2 lakh crore. But all is not rosy. In December 2023, the Minister of State for Finance revealed that of the 10.3 million inactive accounts, nearly 50% were held by women.

In its tryst to make banking “seamless”, with just Aadhaar verification and a mobile-first approach, the Centre overlooked that women’s lack of financial access is a social problem: their accounts and even their Aadhaar cards are linked to husband’s phone numbers. In today’s story, The Core reports on how extensive this issue is, even birthing a cottage industry of middlemen who take advantage of women entrepreneurs.

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 Siddharth Pai, tech industry columnist & founder, Siana Capital on why the headcount in the IT industry is falling and what does it mean. Also in this episode: Why a policy to offer free bus rides to women may not have the desired effect. With economic journalist and author Puja Mehra.

NEIGHBOURHOOD

Small Nation, Big Drama

Maldives went to the polls on Sunday and results are already out: in an emphatic validation of his ‘India Out’ campaign, sitting President Mohamed Muizzu’s People’s National Congress and allies bagged a ‘super-majority’, winning 66 of the 86 seats declared so far.

Advantage China: The PNC-led ruling coalition’s pro-China tilt began during the tenure of former President Abdulla Yameen (2013-2018), who was Muizzu’s mentor until the two became estranged. The opposition, led by the Maldivian Democratic Party, won just 12 seats at the time of writing this. It’s a thumping loss for a pro-India coalition and a national policy that ended when Muizzu succeeded Ibrahim Solih as President last year.

The implications are huge for the Indo-Pacific power tussle between China and India. Male signed a defence agreement with Beijing just last month, which coincided with Muizzu’s removal of Indian troops from the archipelago.

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

A Fender Bender Too Many

A recap of Tesla’s past week:

The company laid off over 10% of its global workforce. Despite declining sales, it asked shareholders to restore a mind-boggling CEO pay for Elon Musk—an exercise still underway despite a US judge deeming it “excessive”.

Tesla then recalled all 3,878 Cybertrucks due to faulty accelerator pedals. It had scrapped mass market plans to focus on self-autonomous cars and the Cybertruck, a pickup so contentious, one executive claimed the company dug its own grave with it.

On Friday, Musk announced he was postponing his India trip because of “heavy Tesla obligations”.

Then came the news that Tesla was slashing car costs in the US and China due to inventory pile-up. On Saturday, Reuters reported that it was struggling to deliver semi-trucks. PepsiCo, which paid for 100 e-trucks in 2017, has only 36. Several other companies, also waiting for semi-truck order fulfilment, have now turned to Daimler’s Freightliner eCascadia.

The Signal

Tesla’s unmet semi-truck ambitions—Musk once claimed they’d ship 50,000 semis in 2024—will hit hard. Would-be corporate customers, including in Norway, had placed orders to qualify for zero-emission subsidies. Tesla’s unreliability here will be its rivals’ gain. To its embarrassment, even Nikola, whose disgraced founder was convicted of fraud, has delivered more rigs under new leadership.

Tesla reports its first quarter earnings on April 23. Given the semis and Cybertruck fiascos, plus the fact that the company is now heavily discounting self-driving software rates at the risk of margins, investors may have little to look forward to.

FYI

What’s up, Doc?: The University Grants Commission has announced that 4-year undergraduate degree holders can appear for the National Eligibility Test and pursue PhDs in any subject irrespective of their Bachelor’s degree.

Des pardes: News18 reports that the Centre is planning to develop state-owned Doordarshan and Prasar Bharti into “global brands” with international bureaus if PM Modi is elected for a third term. It also wants to expand PIB’s controversial fact-checking unit to other regions.

Pay up: The Arc reports that the Indian Angel Network has sent a default notice to The Good Glamm Group for not fulfilling final payment obligations to Sirona, a women’s hygiene brand it acquired in 2021.

Five times the nightmare: Swiss banking giant UBS will conduct layoffs in five waves this year beginning June. In other layoff news, Nike and Lululemon Athletics are letting go of about 740 and over 128 employees, respectively.

Pushback: TikTok has warned that the US bill to ban the app, approved by the House of Representatives on Saturday, will “trample” free speech in the country.

THE DAILY DIGIT

81.62%

The voter turnout in Tripura, the highest so far in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections. (Financial Express)

FWIW

Bean counter: People are now using AI for the most mundane things when they needn’t, so it doesn’t surprise us to learn that an artisan roastery in Finland has used it to create a new coffee blend. Kaffa Roastery in Helsinki partnered with a local AI consultancy to create something that would “ideally suit coffee enthusiasts’ tastes”. Finland is the largest per-capita consumer of the beverage, so Kaffa was looking for something that would stand out. The AI model was trained on bean descriptions, and it eventually picked a mix of four beans. That’s a bit much, considering coffee blends are typically restricted to 2-3 bean varieties. Our two cents: leave the job to humans. We do have noses and taste buds, after all.