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Hello,

Buyback norms are no longer the same.

After a board meet on Tuesday, SEBI has tightened disclosure rules for buybacks to increase transparency and credibility of markets. Companies have to now use 75% of the proceeds of a buyback through the stock exchange route from the existing minimum of 50%. 

The regulator also proposed reducing the time a share buyback process is open in the market to 66 days from the present 90 days.

In other news, Elon Musk is looking for a new CEO… for Twitter, reported CNBC. This is after the billionaire’s informal poll asking users if he should step down as head of the company resulted in almost 58% of respondents choosing yes. 

Now, Musk has said Twitter will only allow accounts with a blue tick to vote on policy changes. Unrelated? Who knows what goes on in the mind of the enigma that is Elon Musk?

ICYMI: The GOAT took over Instagram! Lionel Messi’s post about winning the FIFA World Cup 2022 final has garnered the most likes on the platform, surpassing the mysterious egg post that previously held the record at 56.1 million ‘likes’. 

It’s all ’bout the likes, ’bout the likes (or algo).

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Road ahead for India’s logistics sector
• BetterPlace closes Series C at $40 million
• Mission economy: Growth lies in rural areas

Here’s your trivia for today:  Mother India (1957) was the first Indian film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. By how many votes did it lose the award? 

Logistics

Road ahead for India’s logistics sector

Introduced in September, the National Logistics Policy (NLP) hopes to build a logistics ecosystem in India that is technology-enabled, integrated, cost-effective, and dependable. 

The policy also aims to create data-driven tools that help people make decisions for a better logistics environment.

On the right track:

• The logistics sector in the country is largely unorganised and fragmented, resulting in high logistics costs—14-15% of the GDP, compared with 7-8% in developed nations.
• Through the initiatives of NLP, the government intends to raise India’s global ranking in the Logistics Performance Index to 25, from 44 in 2018, and bring down logistics costs to 8% of GDP by 2030. 
• The policy also aims to create a data analytics centre for driving transparency and continuous monitoring of key logistics metrics. 

Funding Alert

Startup: Naomi Patisserie & Bakehouse

Amount: Rs 5 Cr

Round: Undisclosed

Startup: Plugzmart 

Amount: Rs 3.63 Cr

Round:  Seed

Startup: The Artment 

Amount: Undisclosed

Round: Seed 

Funding

BetterPlace closes Series C at $40 million

Betterplace, the Bengaluru-headquartered workforce management solutions provider for blue and grey-collar workers, has raised additional capital in an extension of its Series C funding round, bringing the total amount raised by the startup to $40 million. 

Expansion plans:

• Betterplace will utilise the capital for tech enhancement and strengthening its AI capabilities, besides geographical expansion.
• The company had previously raised $24 million in a Series C round in September 2021 led by CX Partners and Jungle Ventures. 
• It plans to launch in Indonesia by mid-January 2023, followed by other Southeast Asian geographies, including Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and South Korea. 

Fintech

Mission economy: Growth lies in rural areas

The NBFC sector—heavily impacted by the first wave of COVID in 2020—faced headwinds again when the second wave struck in March 2021. Mahindra Finance, which majorly caters to the unorganised sector, too faced disruptions, especially in disbursements. 

COO Raul Rebello managed the rural markets when he joined the company last year. He explains why he chose to serve rural markets despite many challenges and why India’s economic growth potential lies beyond cities.

Financial inclusion:

• Only 15-20% of 60 million small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in India are funded. The rest, however, base their business models on informal credit.
• Globally, the investment arms of big banks, including Citigroup Inc and Standard Chartered Plc, have invested in fintech companies over the past few years. 
• The World Bank has estimated MSMEs in India face a credit gap of $380 billion. 

News & updates

• Winds of change: Amazon agreed to settle two European Union antitrust cases related to allegations about its treatment of third-party sellers on its platform, ending some of the bloc’s most advanced cases targeting a US tech company. 
• Surprise move: Global markets were jolted overnight after the Bank of Japan unexpectedly widened its target range for 10-year Japanese government bond yields to move 50 basis points either side of its 0% target, up from 25 basis points previously, sparking a sell-off in bonds and stocks around the world.
• Lawsuit alert: Hello Logistics, which operates under the name NextMed, has sued Instacart co-founder Apoorva Mehta, his business partner Tejasvi Singh, and their company Cloud Health Systems over allegations of misappropriation of trade secrets, copyright infringement, and other claims. Both companies run websites promoting weight loss.

Mother India (1957) was the first Indian film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. By how many votes did it lose the award? 

Answer: One.

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