1.Indian stock market's $489-bn equity rally is winning back global funds

Global funds are returning to Indian stocks, signaling that this month’s rally in Asia’s best-performing equity market likely has more legs.

Having largely been sellers in the months since Indian benchmarks scaled records in September, foreigners are coming back amid growing optimism that a domestically-driven economy will make the South Asian nation withstand the global trade war better than most peers. A sharp advance from this month’s low already boosted India’s market’s value by $489 billion to nearly $4.4 trillion at the end of last week.

Overseas funds bought $589 million of Indian shares on a net basis last Friday, marking an eighth straight day of purchases, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The buying streak means they have now invested about $680 million in April. At one point, they were sellers of more than $3 billion for the month.

“Foreigners are coming back as India is perceived to be relatively better placed than other emerging markets due to its faster economic growth despite the trade war,” said Sneha Tulsyan, an investment analyst at Tokio Marine Asset Management International Pte. in Singapore. Expectations of further monetary easing and moderating crude oil prices will continue to drive a “positive narrative” for India, she said.

2.Rajiv Bajaj on what they don’t teach you at Harvard Business School

The MD&CEO of Bajaj Auto is the only one in his family who hasn’t gone to business school. His management insights have evolved on the job and from eclectic sources such as Charles Darwin’s concept of “survival of the fittest”. He shares his ideas with Lata Venkatesh on how to seamlessly blend the accumulated wisdom of a legacy business with the disruptive potential of a startup.

3.Foxconn India revenue rises to over USD 20 billion, employee count up at around 80,000

Taiwanese electronics manufacturing major Foxconn is reported to have more than doubled its revenue in India to over USD 20 billion (about ₹1.7 lakh crore) in the financial year 2024-25 on account of a jump in iPhone production, sources aware of the development said.

The company is also learnt to have increased its total employee count in the country by over 65 per cent to around 80,000 in fiscal year 2025, industry and government sources aware of the estimates told PTI.

4.Mark Carney’s Liberals win pivotal Canadian election

Mark Carney completed a remarkable comeback for Canada’s Liberal Party, scoring a slim election win. While it remains uncertain if he will have to govern in minority or with a thin majority, the former central banker brought the Liberals back from what looked like certain defeat just four months ago.

In his victory speech, Carney appealed for unity in what he described as a turning point in history because of the “shock of American betrayal.” Echoing the themes of his campaign, the prime minister told supporters he would focus on strengthening Canada’s economic independence and called for “comprehensive negotiations” with the government of US President Donald Trump. 

The Canadian dollar weakened against the US currency after it became clear that any Carney triumph would be a narrow one. 

5.A huge blackout Monday shut off power for tens of millions across Spain and Portugal.

Authorities are yet to determine what caused the blackout, which disrupted public transport, airports, and basic services, but ruled out foul play. “The answer will have serious ramifications for the two countries — and for Europe as a whole,” Politico wrote, as the bloc has urged members to better connect Europe’s grids, a growing issue as economies electrify and reliance on power stretches infrastructure.

Outages of such scale are rare for richer countries, and given the Iberian Peninsula’s reliance on renewable energy, the incident will be a “case study of how renewable generators impact on reliability as well as restarting after widespread failure,” an energy analyst wrote.

Spain and Portugal restored virtually all power after a mass blackout, but the episode signaled deeper worries about countries’ dependence on struggling power grids as they electrify their economies.

The sweeping power failure shut down public transport, telecoms, and major infrastructure including airports, with one Madrid-based Flagship writer having to ask a passing van to turn up its radio in order to get a news update.

The blackout — just weeks after London’s Heathrow Airport was shut down over its own power failure — highlighted the mammoth risks of electricity outages and cast a particular spotlight on systemic underinvestments in power grids that have vast supplies coming online but lack added transmission infrastructure.

6.Amazon’s rival to Starlink makes first satellite launch

Amazon deployed the first spacecraft in its space-based internet project, Kuiper, and said it would start providing broadband later this year. The 27 satellites that took off from Florida marked the first of 80 planned launches: The company hopes to eventually put 3,200 satellites in space to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink, which has 7,200 and counting.

Satellite internet is expected to be huge: Amazon has invested close to $20 billion, one analyst told Scientific American, and the ability to provide unblockable, high-speed wireless broadband around the world “can benefit many people on the planet,” despite some concerns over space debris and the satellites’ effect on astronomical observations

7.ChatGPT adds shopping: Search, compare, buy with personalised picks

OpenAI is incorporating more shopping features into ChatGPT search results, the company. For web searches, ChatGPT will now include links to products with images and reviews. The links open up another avenue of competition with Google, whose browser-based shopping feature returns paid product listings above typical search results. Google, which has raced to introduce consumer AI products after the success of ChatGPT, also shows product links to some users in its AI Overview search results.

OpenAI said the links won’t include ads or paid results, and it isn’t taking a cut of purchases for now. Instead, ChatGPT will base its results on a variety of online sources, including traditional publishers like product review and news sites, as well as user forums like Reddit, and users will be able to instruct ChatGPT which kinds of reviews to prioritise. More brands and retailers are starting to revamp their websites and product listings so that chatbots can reference them more easily in their results.

While other AI search companies like Perplexity have added the ability to purchase products directly in their search results, users will still have to navigate from ChatGPT to merchants’ sites in order to check out. OpenAI’s search product lead Adam Fry told Wired that the company’s main priority right now is providing high quality recommendations and that the company might test various affiliate revenue models later. OpenAI has forecast that new products including “free user monetization” will generate $25 billion in 2029, or one-fifth of all revenue.

8.A biotech startup said its male contraceptive was effective for at least two years, following a clinical trial. 

Almost all existing birth control options are for women, but several groups have been researching ways of making men temporarily infertile. The new technique, ADAM, involves injecting men with a water-soluble gel to block the vasa deferentia, the tubes which carry sperm from the testicles.

The trial was small, but participants reported no significant side effects. Around 10% of US women of childbearing age use long-term contraceptives such as IUDs, suggesting that a significant percentage of men might do likewise, Gizmodo reported, although one scientist warned that there was no long-term data on the effects of blocking the vasa deferentia.

9.China’s chipmakers are catching up to Nvidia and TSMC. Here’s how they compare

Washington’s latest export restrictions on Nvidia’s H20 chips are likely to accelerate China’s shift toward domestic alternatives, as homegrown firms strive to close the gap with global rivals. 

Years of controls on U.S. chips have pushed the Chinese government to invest billions in its domestic supply chain for semiconductors that are key to the development of artificial intelligence.

“China’s progress is being slowed down by chip-related controls, but it is hard to imagine a situation where you can stop them forever,” Ray Wang, a semiconductor analyst based in Washington, D.C., told Rest of World. 

China has advanced more in some areas — such as memory chips and design — than others, while struggling with equipment making, he said.

10.Ultra-processed foods may be linked to early death

People who eat lots of ultra-processed foods (UPF) may be at greater risk of dying early, a study in eight countries including the UK and the US suggests.

Processed meats, biscuits, fizzy drinks, ice cream and some breakfast cereals are examples of UPF, which are becoming increasingly common in diets worldwide.

UPFs tend to contain more than five ingredients, which are not usually found in home cooking, such as additives, sweeteners and chemicals to improve the food's texture or appearance.

Some experts say it's not known why UPFs are linked to poor health - there is little evidence it's down to the processing itself and could be because these foods contain high levels of fat, salt and sugar.