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The global economy faces increasing risk of a painful slowdown. The International Monetary Fund trimmed its global growth projections and warned of high uncertainty and risk as financial-sector stress adds to pressures emanating from tighter monetary policy and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

In a quarterly update to its World Economic Outlook, IMF said the global gross domestic product will likely expand 2.8% this year and 3% next year. That compares with a 3.4% expansion in 2022.

As for India, IMF has trimmed its growth forecast for the country to 5.9% from 6.1% for the current fiscal year.

Following the announcement, the benchmark S&P 500 was little changed as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of Wednesday’s US inflation data that could determine the Federal Reserve’s policy moves.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 70 points, or 0.2%, while the Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.3%.

Meanwhile, a group of Indian startups—The Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF)—has asked a court to suspend Google’s new in-app billing fee system until the country’s antitrust body investigates the US firm for alleged non-compliance with its directives, a legal filing showed.

ICYMI: A delicate 4.5-inch diameter porcelain bowl recently fetched over $25 million in an auction. Here’s why.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Startup funding plunges 75%
• Rocket Learning’s edtech solutions
• Tide wants Indian SMBs to go digital

Here’s your trivia for today: Which is the only Disney Parks resort not owned or operated by The Walt Disney Company?

Funding

Startup funding plunges 75%

Rising inflation and interest rates continue to affect India’s startups, with funding in the ecosystem dropping by as much as 75% in the first quarter of this calendar year, according to Tracxn’s Geo Quarterly Report: India Tech – Q1 2023. Indian startups raised a total of $2.8 billion in January-March 2023, significantly lower than the $11.9 billion secured in the same period last year. 

The slump:

• India witnessed a 63% decline in the number of funding deals in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same year-ago period.
• Leading sectors in the first quarter of 2023 were fintech, retail, and enterprise applications.
• The March-ended quarter did not lead to the creation of any new Indian unicorns, while the same period last year saw 14 unicorns emerge.

Education

Rocket Learning’s edtech solutions

With a simple, asynchronous model, edtech non-profit Rocket Learning is strengthening anganwadis and empowering low-income households to provide high-quality early childhood education. Since its launch, the non-profit has also empowered anganwadi workers by inculcating the WCD Ministry’s POSHAN Abhiyaan, enabling mothers to get involved in their child’s foundational education.

Learn more:

• Rocket Learning has created two-minute activity videos less than 5 MB in size. These can be downloaded on WhatsApp by parents and teachers.
• The non-profit offers offline, tactile, play, and discovery-based learning to low-income kids using simple annotations and diagrams customised to their cultural contexts and geographies.
• It has partnered with six state governments. In Aurangabad district, it has onboarded 4,000 anganwadis, benefitting 20,000 parents and children.

MSME

Tide wants Indian SMBs to go digital

Although a huge digital transformation wave is sweeping the country’s businesses, MSMEs are still wary of adopting new technologies— fearing increased tax demand as every record would be available for examination. UK-based financial services platform Tide hopes to help these MSMEs tide over their hesitation in going digital by educating business owners about the exact benefits of digital adoption.

On track:

• Tide wants to onboard five lakh MSMEs from Tier I, II, and III cities by 2024. 
• Currently, 50,000 MSMEs from across India (primarily from Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Karnataka) are present on Tide India’s platform.
• The company’s mobile app has had over two lakh downloads since its launch in December. 

News & updates

• Unveil: Apple CEO Tim Cook has scheduled a trip to open the iPhone maker’s first stores in Mumbai and Delhi on April 18 and 20, respectively. The trip coincides with Apple hitting important markers: India sales of iPhones reaching an all-time high and annual iPhone exports from the country reaching billions of dollars. 
• Suing: Former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, ex-chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde, and former CFO Ned Segal have sued Twitter to recover more than $1 million in legal expenses incurred by responding to shareholder lawsuits, federal investigations, and a congressional hearing, according to a complaint filed in Delaware Chancery Court.
• Green push: The Reserve Bank of India will allow banks to raise ‘green deposits’ from June as it seeks to boost the allocation of funds towards renewable energy and clean transportation projects. The decision is part of RBI’s push to have regulations that encourage banks to lend more to environment-friendly projects and mitigate risks emerging from climate change.

Which is the only Disney Parks resort not owned or operated by The Walt Disney Company?

Answer: Tokyo Disney Resort. It opened on April 15, 1983.

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