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Hello,

All in all, a great Monday to start the week with, especially for Indian indices.

The BSE Sensex ended above the 65,000-mark for the first time ever after rallying for the fourth straight session while Nifty50 climbed 0.7% to end at a record high of 19,322.55.

However, not everything is as great as it seems with white-collar hiring in India seeing a 3% decline in June, according to the Naukri JobSpeak Index. Sectors showing cautious hiring sentiment include IT, retail, BPO, education, FMCG, and insurance.

Meanwhile, Rebel Foods is its expansion into Saudi Arabia. The startup, which owns brands such as Faasos, Behrouz Biryani, and Oven Story Pizza, will launch two cloud kitchens in Riyadh. It already has a presence in the UAE.

In other news, Meta-owned WhatsApp banned more than 65 lakh accounts in India in May in response to grievances received from users for violating laws. Surprisingly, the company banned 24 lakh accounts even before they were reported.

ICYMI: Whether it’s planning a party in the office, ordering lunch, or taking notes in a meeting, it’s highly likely that it’s the women who are shouldering the work.

An HBR study estimates women do 29% more office work than men and are more likely to volunteer or be approached for those tasks. Here are some tips to avoid getting stuck in the office.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Fantasy sports platforms’ IPL show
• EV sales drop in June
• Inside children’s parliaments of India

Here’s your trivia for today: The first real-world purchase with Bitcoin took place in 2010 when Laszlo Hanyecz spent 10,000 BTC. What did he buy?

Gaming

Fantasy sports platforms’ IPL show

Fantasy sports platforms made gross gaming revenue of Rs 2,800 crore during IPL 2023—up from Rs 2,200 crore in last year’s season. The earnings came on the back of nearly 61 million users participating in activities on these platforms this season, according to a report by Redseer. 

Hitting sixers:

• As per the report, nearly 35% of users who made transactions in fantasy games this season were first-time players. 
• IPL 2023 saw an 11% increase in the number of cash users—i.e. active users who make transactions during the IPL season—from the previous year when these platforms recorded 55 million paying users. 
• About Rs 10,000 crore was spent on advertisements during the latest IPL season in which BCCI, franchises, and broadcasters earned 65% of the total spend as direct revenue.

Funding Alert

Startup: Leverage Edu

Amount: $40M

Round: Series C

Startup: KaarTech

Amount: $30M

Round: Equity

Electric Vehicle

EV sales drop in June

Electric two-wheeler (E2Ws) sales in June 2023 fell 57% from last month to hit their lowest level in the last 12 months, according to Vahan’s dashboard. The decline followed the subsidy cap on E2Ws that came into effect in June.

In May, the Ministry of Heavy Industries made a significant announcement regarding subsidy cuts for E2Ws. The maximum subsidy cap, previously set at 40% of a vehicle’s ex-factory price, was reduced to just 15%.

What happened:

• On the battery front, the subsidy for electric two-wheelers was reduced from Rs 15,000/kWh to Rs 10,000/kWh.
• In June 2023, only 45,798 units were sold compared to 1,05,340 units in May. 
• It’s worth noting that May’s surge was largely driven by last-minute bookings and sales, as consumers rushed to avail of subsidy discounts before they expired.

Inspiration

Inside children’s parliaments of India

Children’s parliaments are a structure of and by children, representing their most pressing issues at panchayat, ward, district, state, and national levels. Child members are educated by NGOs facilitating the formation of these bodies, about their rights as citizens, the legal resources available to them, how to file RTIs and petitions, and follow-up.

These ‘ministers’ don’t take no for an answer. They want roads fixed, children fed and drugs eradicated. 

Of, for, and by children:

• According to UNICEF, children and youth parliaments create space for children to share problems and solutions within a progressive forum where they are all in charge. 
• Since 2017, Navjeevan Educational and Social Welfare Society Digha (NESWSD) has formed 35 children’s parliament units comprising 475 members from some of the lowest socioeconomic neighbourhoods in Bihar.
• The child parliamentarians also pushed local authorities to install a hand pump—the only source of water—at a government school in Bajitpur Digha. 

News & updates

• Charged up: EV makers Tesla and Rivian Automotive saw a massive uptick in deliveries. While Tesla delivered a record 466,140 vehicles in the April-June quarter after cutting prices, Rivian saw a 59% jump in sales.
• Consequences: A day after Twitter imposed new limits on the number of posts users can see according to their verification status, rival Mastodon reported a large increase in traffic. CEO Eugen Rochko claimed the platform’s active users increased by at least 110,000 on July 2.
• Say no to plastics: New Zealand has become the world’s first country to expand its ban on plastic bags in supermarkets to thin bags, which are typically used to hold fruits or vegetables. This move is expected to prevent the usage of 150 million plastic bags per year.

The first real-world purchase with Bitcoin took place in 2010 when Laszlo Hanyecz spent 10,000 BTC. What did he buy?

Answer: Two pizzas. Today, the same 10,000 BTC would be worth $300 million.

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