Good morning! The months-long wait for a Schengen visa may finally be worth it soon. Mint reports that the European Union (EU) has introduced a new visa regime for Indian passport holders. You can now enter 29 Schengen countries multiple times over two years and stay like a visa-free national. Currently, the visa is given only for three months max. What’s more, the two-year visa can be extended to five years on condition that your passport doesn’t expire three years later. Of course, there’s a catch: you can’t earn and work like a local citizen. Still better than the current system, no?

🎧India’s retirement crisis. Also in today’s episode: Sony’s strategic interest in bidding for Paramount Global. Tune in on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Roshni Nair and Dinesh Narayanan also contributed to today’s edition.

The Market Signal* 

Stocks & Economy: The Indian stock market’s volatility index or India VIX, fell 17% on Tuesday, perplexing traders. A fall in the gauge indicates a steadier market. Usually it happens when an expected event passes without surprises. However, Tuesday’s fall was unexpected. It could mean that markets have already priced in sensitive information such as interest rate changes or election results. The last time it fell so steeply was after the 2014 and 2019 elections, the Business Standard newspaper reported.

Tesla’s announcement that it was planning to introduce new, cheaper models helped its shares gain despite the company missing revenue expectations. It is the first of the Big Tech companies to release quarterly earnings. Meta, Microsoft and Google will follow this week. US equities rose and passed on the sentiment to Asia as well. The GIFT Nifty indicates a positive start for Indian shares too. 

MOBILITY

All That Gas

One of India’s biggest two-wheeler companies is going against the grain. While e-bikes and e-scooters sales surge in India—they’re expected to account for up to 70% of new two-wheeler sales by 2030—Bajaj is planning a CNG (compressed natural gas) bike for commercial use in June. According to chief Rajiv Bajaj, the company observed a 50% and 65% reduction in CO2 emissions and operating costs, effectively, with the prototype.

It seems promising. This will be the world’s first CNG bike, and Bajaj is a pioneer in CNG technology, particularly autorickshaws: 75% of its three-wheeler sales are CNG variants. The company can just shift its CNG tech from three- to two-wheelers…

…or can it? Several Indian players have tried their hand at CNG bikes, in vain. Why hasn’t this category taken off? The Core finds out in today’s story, and asks whether Bajaj can break the jinx.

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 Ajit Dayal, founder of Quantum Mutual Fund. Also in this episode: Adani wants to settle an allegation with Sebi which it denied.

GEOPOLITICS

How To Separate BFFs? Try The Bank

China has stood by Russia despite the West’s diplomatic onslaught and sanctions after the latter rushed into Ukraine, guns blazing. But now the US wants to turn up the heat. 

The US and its European allies plan to sanction Chinese banks that finance companies supplying goods—some of which, the US says, have military use—to Russia. Armed with a newly minted G-7 consensus on sanctioning select Chinese banks, US secretary of state Anthony Blinken is on his way to Beijing where he is expected to read the riot act to the leadership. 

Beijing has pledged limitless friendship with Moscow. China does not supply arms to Russia but it is its most important goods supplier. It also disapproves of weaponsing international finance. What if Blinken returns empty-handed and sanctions are imposed? It could become a limitless escalation spiral between the world’s top economies. Doesn’t bode well for the global economy.

SOFTWARE

Swap in Zoho, Swap out Google

Google Workspace and MS 365? Nah, Zoho Writer and Zoho Show. Gmail? Nope, Zoho Mail. 

It may take some adjusting for employees but African startups are falling for a juicy deal. Rest of World reports that many tech companies across Africa have dumped Google and Microsoft’s ubiquitous office apps for alternatives offered by Chennai-based SaaS unicorn Zoho.

Why the switch?: To save those precious pennies. In Nigeria, Zoho’s Office productivity suite of more than 45 products costs a mere $0.68 per user per month as opposed to $6 for Google Workspace. Nigerian edtech startup Flexisaf says switching to Zoho will save it $6,960 (Rs 5,80,057) in a year. 

Besides cut-price subscriptions, Zoho allows businesses to pay in local currency, unlike Google and Microsoft, which accept payments only in euros and dollars. 

It already employs the strategy successfully in India.

The Signal

Companies such as Google and Microsoft price their products in US dollars globally, which make them costly for local users in developing economies. Even more so when the dollar is growing in strength as it is now. It’s an opportunity for cost-efficient rivals such as Zoho to undercut the biggies and capture market share. Zoho earns in dollars from users elsewhere, which gives it a natural hedge against currency fluctuation. And when India cuts a currency swap deal with countries such as Nigeria, it will be even better positioned.

FYI

Fresh salvo: The European Union has initiated a probe to assess whether Chinese industrial subsidies favour local medical device makers over European manufacturers, opening another front in Brussels’  trade war with Beijing. 

On the mat: Apple has taken a beating from Huawei in China. iPhone sales fell 19% in January-March and Apple’s smartphone market share shrank from 19.7% a year earlier to 15.7%. Huawei’s sales rose 70% in the same period.  

Slowed by shackles: Weighed down by bans on wheat, rice and sugar exports, India’s farm shipments overseas stood at $50 billion in FY24, $3 billion less than the previous year.

More cheap goods? Reliance Industries has launched a new consumer electronics brand called Wyzr.

Childsafe AI: Meta Platforms, OpenAI and Google have agreed to integrate safety measures in their artificial intelligence products and tools to protect children from exploitation.

THE DAILY DIGIT

$2.4 trillion

What countries spent on defence in 2023, up 6.8% from the year before. It’s the steepest annual increase in 15 years. (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute)

FWIW

Boomers are saving the date: We’ve written quite a bit and even done a podcast episode on the (de)evolution of dating. Zoomers aren’t keen on Hinge, Tinder, Bumble, etc, and neither are ageing millennials. But Boomers? That’s a different story. The cohort isn’t just the fastest-growing one on dating apps—members aged 60-plus have shot up by 340% since 2022 on Feeld, an app for “open-minded individuals”—they’re also open to sexual experimentation. This trend has birthed a new term: ‘Boomergasms’. You’re never too old to live life to the fullest.