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Hello,

It has been an encouraging week on the stock market.

Eight of the top 10 most valued firms collectively added Rs 1.47 lakh crore in valuation gain, with LIC and Reliance Industries being the primary beneficiaries of this surge. However, TCS saw its mcap decline by Rs 16,588 crore, or 1.17%.

The IT services firm also announced the retirement of COO and Executive Director N Ganapathy Subramaniam, who has been with the company for over 40 years. He was appointed to the COO role in 2017.

TCS has also ceased to be the most profitable Tata company—the first time in 10 years. That crown now belongs to Tata Motors, which is also raising its investment outlay for FY25 to Rs 43,000 crore for new products and technologies. Jaguar Land Rover will absorb the maximum share of the outlay. 

Meanwhile, India’s export manufacturing woes continue.

After many countries including Singapore, Hong Kong, and Nepal banned Everest and MDH masalas over quality control, drugmakers Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Sun Pharma, and Aurobindo Pharma are recalling products in the US market due to manufacturing issues.

ICYMI: The life and times of banking doyen Narayanan Vaghul, who redefined ICICI Group.

Oh, and here are some beautiful videos of the meteor that flew over Portugal and Spain.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Teaching NRI students in the Gulf
• From Instagram to Shark Tank India

Here’s your trivia for today: What is the maximum number of votes an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) can record?

Startup

Teaching NRI students in the Gulf

Four years after it started operations in India, 90+ My Tuition App, an e-learning platform, expanded its footprint to Dubai, UAE, in 2022. The edtech startup, which offers syllabus-aligned lessons and digital textbooks to CBSE students, along with live classes, saw an opportunity to tap non-resident Indian students living in GCC countries.

E-tutoring:

• The Bengaluru-based startup caters to students in classes 8-12 students across 14 states in India. Its 90+ Hybrid Daily Live Tuition platform prioritises virtual classrooms and tailors them to individual students’ needs. 
• In the UAE, 90+ has launched live classes for classes 7-10 based on the CBSE syllabus. These classes combine online and offline sessions, including revision, exam special classes, and regular communication with parents.
• It aims to generate a revenue of $2 million in 2024-25 from its GCC offerings while maintaining an EBITDA margin of 40%. It wants to consolidate its presence in UAE and Qatar in 2024.  

100 Emerging Women Leaders

From Instagram to Shark Tank India

From a content creator and an influencer to a successful entrepreneur—Diksha Singhi has traversed the creative path with success. She started A Little Extra—an Instagram account which was recently suspended and then restored—featuring her quirky and handmade jewellery designs.

Following passion:

• “On the first day, I featured my designs on Instagram, I made a profit. It also helped that I had around 20,000 followers on my personal page before I started my business,” Singhi explains.
• In the four years since its launch, A Little Extra boasts over 1,000 SKUs on its website, including handcrafted jewellery made with brass, terracotta, fabric, beads, and more.
• This year, A Little Extra featured on Shark Tank India and secured an investment of Rs 60 lakh for a 7.5% stake from Anupam Mittal, CEO of Shaadi.com, and Vineeta Singh, Founder of SUGAR Cosmetics.

News & updates

• Internet service: Elon Musk travelled to Indonesia’s resort island of Bali to launch Starlink satellite internet service in the world’s largest archipelago nation. He also signed an agreement on enhancing connectivity in the country’s health and education sectors, aligning with Starlink’s broader mission of providing affordable access to high-speed internet services.
• Space tourism: Blue Origin launched a rocket to fly passengers to the edge of space for the first time in nearly two years. NS-25, Blue Origin’s seventh crewed flight to date, carried six customers aboard the capsule. The launch follows the success of an uncrewed science mission in December.
• Hush hush: OpenAI employees who left the company without signing a non-disparagement agreement could have lost vested equity if they did not comply—but the policy was never used, CEO Sam Altman acknowledged after the high-profit exits of AI safety researchers Jan Leike and Ilya Sutskever. The NDA reportedly forbids employees from not just criticising the company but even acknowledging the existence of the document.

What you should watch out for

• Trading pause: Both the National Stock Exchange and the Bombay Stock Exchange will observe a trading holiday on May 20 on account of the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections in Mumbai. There will be no trading either in the cash market or in the F&O segment—this includes equity, commodity, or currency contracts. Many restaurants in Mumbai are also offering a 20% discount on their dine-in bill to motivate citizens to exercise their voting rights.
• Public issue: After insurtech unicorn Go Digit, Awfis’ IPO will open for subscription on May 22. The coworking space provider set the price range at Rs 364–383 per share while eligible employees will receive a discount of Rs 36 per share on reserved shares. The three-day IPO comprises a fresh issue of 33 lakh shares worth Rs 128 crore and an offer-for-sale component of 1.23 crore shares aggregating to Rs 471 crore by existing shareholders. The minimum lot size will comprise 39 shares, with additional bids to be placed in multiples of this amount.

What is the maximum number of votes an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) can record?

Answer: 2,000 votes.

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