Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Thursday, November 14, 2024. This is Nelson John, let's get started.

Markets crashed for a second straight day on Wednesday, confirming a shift to bearish sentiment. Ram Sahgal reports that options traders are cutting their put positions on the Nifty index as uncertainty mounts, prompting investors to hedge their portfolios. However, the rising cost of put options has intensified selling pressure. Ram notes that in this bearish climate, call options have become cheaper. The takeaway? Investors are hoping the market has finally bottomed out.

One company bucked the market trend: Swiggy. It made its market debut yesterday, closing with a 7.7% premium over its issue price. Mansi Verma and Priyamvada C report that the listing was a significant liquidity event for major backers like SoftBank and Prosus. Analysts have generally maintained a positive outlook for the stock, though some urge caution, pointing to potential cash flow challenges.

Official data shows India’s consumer price index (CPI) surged to 6.2%, breaching the Reserve Bank of India’s upper tolerance limit. The primary driver was food inflation, which remains high at 10.9%. N. Madhavan reports sharp increases in the prices of vegetables, fruits, pulses, and edible oils. The RBI had aimed to keep inflation near 4.8% through the year’s end, but that target now seems elusive. Furthermore, hopes for an interest rate cut have also been dampened.

Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer, has been in India for nearly two decades and has already invested $10 billion. As this Taiwanese giant and a key Apple supplier plans to ramp up investments with sprawling industrial townships, all four southern states are competing for its attention. A potential ‘Foxconn city’ would encompass not just factories but also housing and social infrastructure, generating substantial employment and helping states move up the manufacturing value chain. In today’s long-form story, Gulveen Aulakh and N. Madhavan explore how states are vying for this pivotal investment.

Indian authorities are struggling to investigate a recent wave of bomb hoaxes because of stringent European regulations. Shouvik Das reports that Indian authorities need specific warrants to request information from European countries, but European agencies are citing strict data protection laws to deny these requests. Tracing the calls to individuals has been difficult, as virtual private networks (VPNs) mask users' identities. India’s lack of data-sharing agreements with Europe adds another layer of complexity, slowing cross-border information exchange and further delaying the investigation.

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Wednesday, November 13, 2024. This is Nelson John, let's get started.

It's never a problem raising money if you're a well-to-do quick commerce player. Zepto is raising around $250 million from high net worth individuals and wealth management firms, report Priyamvada C. and Sneha Shah. Firms like Motilal Oswal, IIFL, and InCred are looking to invest in the company at its previous valuation of $5 billion. If this goes through, this will be Zepto's third capital raise in six months. Zepto wants to balance its capital ahead of a planned IPO next year. Apart from its dark stores, Zepto has also recently launched "Zepto cafe", which competes with established platforms like Swiggy and Zomato.

Finfluencers have a new entity that they have to be wary of: Youtube. The google-owned website has started blocking access to videos following complaints from a government entity. This has led to sharp criticism and potential legal action from these creators. These finfluencers said their videos were removed without prior notice, write Pratishtha Bagai and Neha Joshi. In its response to Mint, Youtube said that it complies with local laws and handles removal requests. But the finfluencers are accusing Youtube of censorship.

History repeats itself, sometimes much faster than we’d think. Donald Trump will soon be back as POTUS, and already, the trade wars that marked his previous term seem to have returned. The US government has reportedly asked TSMC, the world’s largest chip maker, to stop selling advanced ‘AI’ chips to Huawei, China’s largest tech conglomerate. Huawei has been in trouble with American authorities since 2019 after it was accused of cyber espionage. But why will TSMC and Huawei bow to the US’ will? It all has to do with the legacy of chip design, Shouvik explains in today’s Mint Primer.

In its first ever earnings report, Hyundai India disappointed. It reported a 16% drop in net profit for the July-September quarter. Alisha Sachdev writes that weak domestic demand and the Red Sea crisis affected its exports, leading to the drop in numbers. Revenue was down too, primarily due to poor domestic sales. Hyundai doesn't expect demand to pick up significantly either. Moreover, high interest rates will hinder future earnings as well, the automaker added. It is counting on launching its first India-made EV next year to provide a boost for its lagging sales.

There's been a stark rise in cyber crimes of late. Scammers pose as police officers and convince people that they were involved in money laundering. People have fallen prey to such scams and lost lakhs — in some cases, crores — of rupees. Suman Banerji writes that over 1.5 million cyber crime complaints were filed in 2023. But this number could be higher. Experts suggest that many cases go unreported due to embarrassment and indifference from local police. Victims range widely across different demographics, including younger people that might be more savvy, but still got duped.

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Tuesday, November 12, 2024. This is Nelson John, let's get started.

Starting tomorrow, Zomato will fight its rival not just to deliver your food and groceries, but for your investments too. Swiggy will list on the stock exchanges after its initial public offering was oversubscribed by 3.59 times. At the heart of all the investor buzz is Swiggy’s rather reclusive founder Sriharsha Majety. What is he like, and how different is he from Zomato’s extremely public founder Deepinder Goyal? Ranjani Raghavan profiles Majety – the man of ideas – and how he quietly won over sceptics in the battle for food delivery and quick commerce.

Any foreign traveller will think about how they're going to pay for things once they have reached their destination. Cash, debit card, credit card, and forex card are your major options. Out of these, prepaid forex cards are theoretically the most economical option as they lower conversion markups. Shipra Singh writes that forex cards also allow for loading multiple currencies at the bank's prevailing exchange rates. However, loading fees and issuing charges can severely eat into this advantage. Shipra's research shows that providers like BookMyForex and Thomas Cook offer better value compared to major banks due to mid-market rates and minimal fees.

ESOPs, or employee stock options, used to be restricted to startups. Mid and junior level employees got them as incentive to leave established companies and join fledgling startups. But now, even the former have joined in on the trend: Devina Sengupta and Sneha Shah write that companies are focusing on middle and junior management employees to retain top talent by offering employee stock ownership plans. They are being offered broadly across industries like IT and e-commerce. These benefits are traditionally reserved for senior management. This shift reflects a growing need to compete for niche talent even at junior-level positions. Soon, these companies might also offer other startup perks like flexible work arrangements to either attract or retain talent.

Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin have fallen out of favour in India. Cryptocurrencies have seen a 90% decline in retail trading volumes in the past three years. Shouvik Das writes that Bitcoin's surge to a new all-time high of over $82,000 due to Donald Trump's recent election victory might tempt crypto investors back. Platforms like CoinSwitch and CoinDCX are reporting a 700% increase in active users. Challenges like heavy taxation and the Reserve Bank of India's negative stance on cryptocurrencies still persist, denting exponential growth. Issues like the WazirX hacking incident have also worried investors.

Small-town residents in India are increasingly adopting the dining habits of their urban counterparts. They are developing a preference for eating out and trying international cuisines. Priyamvada C writes that the absence of extensive community spaces has made dining out an important social activity in smaller cities. With the Indian food services market expected to nearly double to ₹9 trillion by the end of the decade, investors see significant opportunities.