Arvind's Newsletter

1.Bharti Airtel to bring Elon Musk’s Starlink to India, signs agreement with SpaceX

Elon Musk has reached an agreement to introduce Starlink to India in a tie-up with local telecoms tycoon Sunil Mittal, as the rival billionaires join forces in the battle to bring satellite internet services to the world’s most populous nation.

The partnership between Musk’s SpaceX and Mittal’s Bharti Airtel was announced on Tuesday and pitches the duo against Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio. (Bharti’s philosophy appears to be -”if you cant beat ‘em, join ‘em.”)

Ambani had previously been joined by his longtime domestic adversary Mittal in attempts to convince the government to auction spectrum for space-fed internet. Musk’s view has been that spectrum should be directly allocated. 

The deal gives SpaceX, the owner of Starlink, the right to sell Starlink in India, provided they get regulatory approval from the authorities. The company aims to connect business customers, communities, schools, and health centres across the cities and even in rural areas.

2.Coinbase to make comeback in India as opposition to crypto eases

The US’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase will re-enter India after securing a key regulatory nod, in a sign of a thaw in the country’s hostility to digital coins following President Donald Trump’s strong support for the assets.

Coinbase said it had been given permission to register with India’s Financial Intelligence Unit, an anti-money laundering watchdog, and planned to start offering retail services later this year before branching out into “investment and products” in the world’s most populous nation.

Other major crypto exchanges, including Binance, have also recently registered with the FIU, after an Indian crackdown on offshore platforms allegedly violating local rules. John O’Loghlen, managing director for Asia-Pacific at Coinbase, said: “India represents one of the most exciting market opportunities in the world today.”

3.Ather Energy Eyes IPO, Listing By Mid-April At Existing Valuation Of Rs 14,000 Crore

The Ather Energy IPO, approved by India's market regulator late last year, includes a fresh issue of shares worth Rs 3,100 crore and an offer for sale of 2.2 crore shares by founders Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain, and a clutch of existing investors. Hero MotoCorp., India's biggest two-wheeler maker and the largest shareholder in Ather Energy, is not offloading any of its 37.5% stake.

4. US Stocks Rattled Anew as Trump Ramps Up Trade War With Canada: Bloomberg

Goldman Sachs drastically cut its forecast for US GDP growth in 2025, to 1.7% from 2.4%, blaming “considerably more adverse” trade assumptions, while upgrading its outlook for eurozone growth thanks to unexpectedly aggressive German government spending plans. 

Other investment banks are similarly pessimistic: Morgan Stanley lowered its US economic growth projections, JPMorgan cut its first-quarter GDP estimate.

Citi downgraded US stocks, and upgraded China to overweight in another sign of divergence in their market outlooks. “US exceptionalism is at least pausing” for the coming few months, according to its strategists. While the MSCI China Index slumped, it remains up by over 3% since the start of the National People’s Congress on Wednesday.

The rally sparked by AI sensation DeepSeek is infusing new energy into the gathering, which wraps up Tuesday, with Chinese shares on track to post their best performance during an NPC since 2018. 

5.China shows off a new ‘completely autonomous’ AI agent. Manus AI says its general AI agent can perform tasks like planning trips and analysing stocks.

Manus, launched a very cool demo of an AI agent that can apparently process a bunch of complex multi-stage tasks, including ‘Operator’-like use of third-party websites. It’s based (or at least domiciled) in Singapore, without much clarity about backers, but the are some suggestions that under the hood it’s really Anthropic’s Claude with a bunch of other tools bolted together.

If the demo is real, though, and if it’s their model, then this is a little bit of another DeepSeek - in the sense that it demonstrates the increasing commodification of this technology while the real use-cases are built elsewhere.

6.The Longevity Gap Between Men and Women Is Getting Bigger. Here’s Why.

New research out of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and UC San Francisco found that the gap between how long men live and how long women live has been widening for more than a decade.

As of 2021 (the latest year there’s data for), women live an average of 5.8 years longer than men. That’s up a year from 2010 and making the gender longevity gap the largest it’s been since 1996.

7.The Dark Heart of Trump's Foreign Policy: The Ezra Klein Podcast

New York Times columnist Ezra Klein interviews Fareed Zakaria, noted journalist, foreign policy expert and author of “ Age of Revolutions”, to obtain an understanding of Trump’s Foreign Policy.

“If you’re looking for a single-sentence summation of the change in America’s foreign policy under Donald Trump, you could do worse than what Trump said on Wednesday:

“The European Union was formed in order to screw the United States. That’s the purpose of it. And they’ve done a good job of it. But now I’m president.”

Trump seems to loathe America’s traditional European allies even as he warms relations with Russia. He’s threatened tariffs on Canada and Mexico while softening his rhetoric on China. And he seems fixated on the idea of territorial expansion — whether it’s the Panama Canal, Greenland or even Gaza.   

There is a “Trump doctrine” emerging here. It’s one that could be glimpsed dimly in Trump’s first term but is exploding to the fore in his second. What will it mean for the world? What will it mean for the United States?” Listen to the podcast on Spotify or read the transcript below.

8.Artificial intelligence has overtaken environmental, social, and governance efforts as a priority for major European lenders: Bloomberg

European banks mentioned “AI” 46 times in their full-year earnings calls in 2025, more than twice as often as in 2024, whereas “ESG” was referenced just 17 times, down significantly from a year ago. It marked the first time in at least six years that AI overtook ESG in the number of mentions in such calls, according to Bloomberg analysis.

The changing priorities reflect both growing investor and internal interest in AI within Europe’s banking sector, as well as the transatlantic impact of a largely US-led crackdown on efforts to promote ESG issues in finance.

9.Thousands of Cat-Eared Robots Are Waiting Tables in Japan’s Restaurants:Robot Waiters Plug Labor Gaps

A cat-themed robot with big blue eyes glances from side to side as it purrs across a Tokyo restaurant, searching for the customers who’d ordered strawberry parfaits covered in cream to go with a large, piping hot pizza.

“Your order’s here,” the automated cat server says, arriving with a crisp 90-degree turn that lights up the faces of the patrons at the table. “Meow!”

This isn’t a scene from Studio Ghibli’s latest animated fantasy — rather it’s an increasingly common sight at more than 2,000 restaurants operated across the country by Skylark Holdings Co., the nation’s largest table service restaurant chain. Skylark uses around 3,000 cat robots, which have 3D sensors, dozens of facial expressions and can carry heavy plates of food.

Faced with a severe labor shortage in one of the world’s most rapidly aging populations, service-sector businesses in Japan are increasingly investing in robots that don’t need expert supervision and can work alongside people, instead of simply replacing them. So-called service robots are also making it easier for firms to employ older or foreign workers — who are crucial to plugging the shortfall — by helping them overcome language barriers or cope with the physical demands of a role.

Service robots are also increasingly being used in Japan’s aged care sector, as the government projects a shortfall of 570,000 caregivers by fiscal 2040. One such device is “Hug,” a mobility support robot that helps get seated residents on their feet.

10.Manchester United reveals plans for new 100,000-seater stadium

Manchester United has announced plans to build a 100,000-seater stadium as the “centrepiece” of a major regeneration project, as minority shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe presses on with his efforts to overhaul the club from top to bottom.

The new ground, designed by architects at Foster + Partners, would be the biggest stadium in the UK and among the largest in the world. It would be built on ground adjacent to the team’s current 74,000-seater Old Trafford stadium, which would be demolished once the venue is complete.

The designs feature a canopy that will collect rain water and solar energy, and will be suspended by three 200-metre spires — a nod to the trident-wielding red devil on the United club crest — that will be visible from 40km away.

Industry experts said building a new stadium was likely to cost upwards of £2bn.
On a lighter note, “If you can not win matches, might as well make money on the stadium.”