Hello,
Last week, dismal earnings reported by Indian IT companies–Infosys and TCS–have lowered market expectations for Q4, with experts predicting one or more choppy seasons ahead. Upcoming Q4 earnings to watch out for this week include HCL Tech and Cyient Limited on April 20, and Reliance Industries Limited on April 21.
In other news, ride-hailing app Uber has signed a pact with AAI (Airports Authority of India) to build its cab service zone across its airports as it sees the aviation sector as one of the key growth drivers of its business, a senior company official said.
Meanwhile, NASA recently unveiled its simulation of a Mars habitat where four volunteers will train before humans send the first manned crew to the Red Planet. Is it just us or do parts of the habitat look like sets of Ridley Scott’s science fiction movie–The Martian?
Oh, and did you know that only one of the ancient seven wonders of the world–the Great Pyramid of Giza–still stands? Here’s a neat map of the six others. Fun fact: The ancient wonders were all located around the Mediterranean Sea and had an average age of 1,158 years.
Lastly, from a tiny frog, an avocado factory to a sunken car–here are the pictures from Sony World Photography Awards 2023.
In today’s newsletter, we will talk about
- FAME III to likely focus on infra
- Hitting the target despite all odds
- Successfully managing a crisis
Here’s your trivia for today: In 2004, which symbol became the first to be added to the Morse Code since World War II?
Electric vehicle
Upcoming EV subsidies to likely focus on infra
India has set itself an ambitious goal of a 30% EV penetration by the end of this decade. Eight years after it launched the FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles) to incentivise the use of electric vehicles, the government is planning to shift the focus of its subsidies to build a robust charging infrastructure.
Power boost:
- With a capital outlay of Rs 10,000 crore over three years, FAME II planned to support one million electric two-wheelers, 500,000 three-wheelers, 55,000 four-wheelers, and 7,000 buses.
- FAME II has achieved close to 90% of what it had set out to achieve, a NITI Aayog official told YourStory.
- The next iteration of the scheme—’unofficially’ termed FAME III—will likely focus on subsidising charging infrastructure so that it grows in proportion to the number of EVs being sold.
Inspiration
Defying all odds to become an archer
In 2015, Murthy Naveen Babu suffered from a spinal cord injury that left him paralysed from the waist down. Eight years later, Babu is an archer who competes with able-bodied athletes.
He has so far won bronze in the 3rd National Field-Archery Online E Championship 2022, a silver medal in the 6th Karnataka state-level Indoor Archery Championship 2022, and a gold medal in the senior category barebow five spots (Regular) at the 13th National Field Indoor Archery Championship in 2022-2023.
Bullseye:
- Babu found his love for sports, in particular, archery, when he joined the Association of People with Disability (APD) in Bengaluru in 2019.
- APD is an NGO that runs programmes in rural and urban Karnataka to empower children and adults with a range of disabilities including locomotor, spinal cord injury, speech and hearing, and cerebral palsy.
- Babu says he hasn’t been able to afford a bow, which can cost anywhere from Rs 10,000 to Rs 4 lakh.
Startup
HealthifyMe’s Tushar Vashisht on managing crisis
Digital health and wellness company HealthifyMe’s journey started with Co-founder Tushar Vashisht’s personal need to lose weight and get fit.
Now a classic case study of a B2C premium model, the startup faced an uphill battle to build its revenue. Vashisht reveals how the company survived despite its multiple failures.
Survival of the fittest:
- Initially, Vashisht used Microsoft Excel to track Indian food and its calorific values, micro-nutrients, and macro-nutrients. Soon enough, the project had grown beyond Excel and he turned to Google Sheets, then a website, and eventually, an app.
- He spent the first four years just building the free solution, enabling customers to interact and find value in fitness.
- The Co-founder says he wishes he could have been calmer and patient through crises, especially the first hurdles—launch or demo fail, running out of money initially, or the first time a key employee quit.
News & updates
- Jerry the sloth: An adorable sloth, which photobombed the launch of the Ariane 5 rocket on Friday morning, has caught netizens’ attention who have named it Jerry and Gerard. While Jerry is alive, other animals that earlier stumbled into the vicinity of other space launches have been less fortunate.
- End of an era: Germany’s final three nuclear power plants closed their doors on Saturday, marking the end of the country’s nuclear era that has spanned more than six decades.
- No entry: The autonomous region of Alto Adige, also known as Bolzano – South Tyrol, in the north of Italy, has introduced a limit on overnight visitors, capping numbers to 2019 levels and imposing a ban on any new accommodation openings–unless another has closed.
In 2004, which symbol became the first to be added to the Morse Code since World War II?
Answer: The @ symbol, which was the first addition made by the United Nations to the Morse Code since World War II.
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