Arvind's Newsletter

1.India's GDP grows at 7.4% in Q4 FY25; full-year growth estimated at 6.5%: Business Standard

India’s real gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the fourth quarter (Q4) of financial year 2024-25 (FY25) stood at 7.4 per cent, according to data released by the National Statistics Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) on Friday. For the full financial year 2024-25, real GDP growth stood at 6.5 per cent, slightly below the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) projection of 6.6 per cent for the year. 

Q4 GDP beats RBI forecast

The central bank had forecast Q4 growth at 7.2 per cent, but the actual figure for the fourth quarter surpassed this at 7.4 per cent. For the ongoing financial year (FY26), the RBI has pegged GDP growth at 6.5 per cent.

The central government managed to meet the fiscal deficit target of 4.8 per cent of the GDP for 2024-25, according to the provisional data released by the Controller General of Accounts on Friday.

In the revised estimates (RE) presented to Parliament in February, the government had pegged the fiscal deficit or gap between expenditure and revenue at Rs 15,69,527 crore or 4.8 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP).

2.Bengaluru Airport bags IndiGo’s Rs 1,100 cr MRO facility, to be built on 31 acres: Economic Times

Airline carrier IndiGo announced plans to establish an additional maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport (KIA). The airline signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL), under which BIAL will allocate approximately 31 acres for the project.

The facility will be built with an investment of over Rs 1,100 crore, inclusive of infrastructure, plant and machinery, the Karnataka government said in a statement. With this project BIAL will support a projected 1,300 aircrafts by FY31 and potentially scale it to 2,100 aircrafts by FY 37-38, it added. The new MRO facility at KIA will be an addition to its current infrastructure already serving Airbus, Boeing and defence aircrafts.

“With Indigo and Air India both now operating MRO facilities in Karnataka, alongside TASL’s upcoming MRO plant and HAL’s existing MRO operations in the state, Karnataka truly earns its title as the MRO Capital of Asia,” the Karnataka Industries department said in a statement.

3.India Bank Frauds Triple to $4.2 Billion as Credit Scams Swell: Bloomberg

 $4.2 billion (Rs 36,000 crores) is the total value of frauds reported by Indian banks in FY2024–25, triple the amount from the previous year (Rs 12,230 crore), according to the Reserve Bank of India’s latest annual report.

Most of the frauds stemmed from loans, not digital payments. The jump includes Rs 18,674 crore from 122 older cases reclassified as fraud after a court order. Frauds in private banks surged by 270%, while public sector banks saw a 177% rise. Digital frauds fell to Rs 520 crore, even as UPI transactions soared 30% to Rs 260 trillion.

4.Tech company CEO Vishal Sikka, shown the door at  Infosys, is back with AI (startup) bang: Economic Times

In 2017, the chief executive of a software services company was shown the door for being too technology-focused and having less managerial chops. Eight years later and millions of dollars in funding from the likes of Masayoshi Son, and Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang, the geek is building an artificial intelligence (AI) company that may one day become his former employer’s envy. 

After leaving the much-admired technology company with a bitter taste, the man who secured his PhD in integrating ‘specialist’ AI techniques into general purpose reasoning, did what those who spend 18 hours a day on meetings do; spend time with family and catch up with hobbies — in Sikka’s case, surfing.

But for those destined to make it big, rest and riding the waves can only be a brief interlude. Two years after his acrimonious exit from Infosys, Vishal Sikka raised USD50 million for his AI startup VIANAI. 

Sikka’s startup is working on a crucial aspect of GenAI deployment — data accuracy and reducing hallucinations — a tech word for when a large language model (LLM) appears to make things up. 

VIANAI’s hila platform uses a proprietary technique to create a ‘measure’ for hallucination. It creates a ‘hallucination score’ which ‘considers the differences in sentence structure that appear between an LLM-generated answer and the sources used to generate the answer.’ It also uses an iterative refinement technique, a multi-step verification process and a fine-tuned process. VIANAI says hila takes hallucinations down from 66% of a sentence to zero. 

In 2021, his startup raised an additional USD140 million, from Softbank’s Vision Fund 2. Aside from Masayoshi Son, his investor list has giants such as Jim Davidson, co-founder of private equity firm Silver Lake, Henry Kravis and George Roberts, co-founders of KKR, and Jerry Yang, co-founder of Yahoo.

5.Trump Tariff Ruling Whiplash: The Hill

A US appeals court temporarily reinstated the Trump administration's reciprocal tariffs yesterday while it reviews a lower court ruling blocking the new import levies.

The latest action comes a day after the US Court of International Trade ordered the administration to stop most of its new levies, including a 10% baseline import tariff, on nearly all US trading partners within 10 days. The ruling argued President Donald Trump exceeded his authority by using a 1977 emergency powers law to impose tariffs. Trump has used the tariffs to lure manufacturing back to the US, potentially reduce federal deficits, and gain leverage to negotiate more favourable trade deals. 

The federal court decision is now stayed through June 9, when the appeals court will hear arguments in the case.

6.The European Union will reportedly relax its emissions-reduction targets as it looks to head off a threat to its green agenda from a rightward tilt in the bloc.

 The European Union is set to offer greater flexibility in July over achieving its emissions-reduction target for the next decade, as the bloc seeks to bolster flagging support for its ambitious climate plans.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, told member states it’s considering publishing a measure to set an interim climate goal for 2040 on July 2, according to diplomats with knowledge of the matter. Options under consideration include allowing some international carbon credits and giving up sub-targets for various sectors, the diplomats said, asking not be identified as the discussions are private.

Despite the retreat from ESG, some of the biggest energy consumers remain committed, with Microsoft saying it’s on track to meet its 2030 goals.

7.Apple is falling behind its Magnificent 7 rivals. Should it just be the Magnificent 6?

As Big Tech races into the AI era, Apple risks being left behind. And soon, the so-called “Magnificent Seven” might be more like a “Magnificent Six.”

While Apple’s Mag 7 peers — Microsoft, Google, Meta, Amazon, Nvidia, and Tesla — have reoriented around AI, Apple has moved cautiously. Its Apple Intelligence suite, powered in part by ChatGPT, arrived late, with limited rollout and few unique features. Apple’s other big swing, the Vision Pro headset, fell short of expectations with sluggish sales and waning developer interest.

Apple’s stock is down around 18% this year, making it the worst performer among the Mag 7. Meanwhile, Nvidia has become the market darling, Microsoft is at the forefront of the next AI developments, and Meta is pivoting from the metaverse to machine learning.

Wall Street still cares about Apple — it remains wildly profitable — but the company is no longer setting the tempo. Add to that slumping iPhone sales in China, tariff threats from Trump, and a Services business that’s growing too slowly to pick up any slack, and the Cupertino giant suddenly looks a little… small.

Yes, Apple still owns the high-end device market. But in a moment defined by bold bets and rapid AI reinvention, merely keeping pace may not be enough.

8.Israel accepted a new ceasefire proposal over the war in Gaza, potentially offering a respite for the enclave’s conflict-battered residents and suggesting ties with the US may be improving.

Israel has given up its demand that negotiations to end the war only begin after all hostages are released, Haaretz reported, and the plan is currently reviewed by Hamas. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approval of the proposal comes after weeks of tensions with Washington over the Gaza war, a US ceasefire with Yemen’s Houthis, and American negotiations with Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program, which Netanyahu fears won’t block Iran’s bomb making capabilities but may hold Israel back from taking military action, The Wall Street Journal reported.

9.The rise of the Japanese Toilet in USA

"In 1982, a peculiar commercial aired on televisions across Japan. An actress in a pink floral dress and an updo drops paint on her hand and futilely attempts to wipe it off with toilet paper. She looks into the camera and asks: 'Everyone, if your hands get dirty, you wash them, right?' 'It’s the same for your bottom,' she continues. 'Bottoms deserve to be washed, too.'

The commercial was advertising the Washlet, a new type of toilet seat with a then-unheard-of function: a small wand that extended from the back of the rim and sprayed water up. After its release, Toto, the Washlet’s maker, was deluged with calls and letters from viewers shocked by the concept. They were also angry that it was broadcast during evening prime time, when many were sitting down for dinner."

Well, they got over the shock and anger and their bottoms are all the better for it. "Washlet-style bidets, sold by Toto and a few smaller rivals, are a common feature in Japan’s offices and public restrooms and account for more than 80 percent of all household toilets."

"Toto is now selling more bidets in the United States. Toto’s president says not even tariffs will halt its advance."

10.And for the weekend: Squid Game to The Bear: 10 of the best TV shows to watch this June

From the final series of Netflix’s gruesome dystopian thriller to the return of the Emmy-winning series set in a Chicago restaurant – and Owen Wilson in a golf comedy.