Arvind's Newsletter

1.Akasa Air's net loss widens to ₹1,983 crore in FY25 as costs, delays rise: Business Standard

Akasa Air’s standalone net loss rose 18.7 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to roughly ₹1,983 crore in 2024–25 (FY25), driven by rising employee costs, aircraft maintenance and airport charges, and a sharp increase in foreign exchange (forex) expenses.

While Akasa slipped further into the red, the other three major Indian airlines — IndiGo, SpiceJet, and Air India — fared much better in FY25. IndiGo remained highly profitable despite a slight Y-o-Y decline in profit. SpiceJet returned to the black and Air India reduced its losses while turning operationally profitable. 

Responding to queries on its FY25 results, an Akasa Air spokesperson said the airline does not comment on speculation but added, “It is important to note that the foundational years of any airline are dedicated to investing in its people, fleet, training, operating infrastructure, and network, and hence no airline registers P&L (net) profits in these years. Running an airline is a business of fixed costs and needs some scale before we turn profitable. This is neither surprising nor unanticipated. Our robust business plan provides for these losses.”

2.India’s manufacturing PMI rises to a 14-month high in June, but business confidence surprisingly dips: Mint

India’s manufacturing sector activity rose to a 14-month high in June on the back of expansion in output, new orders, and job creation, a private survey showed on Monday.

The HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), compiled by S&P Global, rose to 58.4 in June, up from 57.6 in May. It was at 58.2 in April and 58.1 in March.India's manufacturing PMI was 56.3 in February and 57.7 in January. A reading above 50 indicates expansion.

Front-loading of exports ahead of the 9 July deadline has buoyed headline PMI, helping Q2CY25 to end on a solid note. But this cheer could be short-lived as uncertainty on reciprocal tariffs still lurks.

3.Gross GST collections double in 5 years to record Rs 22.08 trillion in FY25: Business Standard

Rs 22.08 trillion is the total gross collection of the goods and services tax (GST) in India recorded in FY25 — the highest ever, doubling from Rs 11.37 trillion in FY21, according to Business Standard. Introduced in 2017, GST has reshaped India’s indirect tax system, expanding the tax base and improving transparency.

Some highlights:
-GST revenue grew 9.4% YoY from Rs 20.18 trillion in FY24;
-The Average monthly collection in FY25 stood at Rs 1.84 trillion, up from Rs 1.68 trillion in FY24
-Taxpayer base jumped from Rs 65 lakh in 2017 to Rs 1.51 crore in 2025
-GST collections hit Rs 2.37 trillion in April 2025, the highest monthly figure since launch

4.RailOne is now live: Indian Railways' super app consolidates all passenger services on one platform

The Indian Railways launched the much-awaited RailOne app, which consolidates all passenger railway services into an “all-in-one” platform — including an upgraded passenger reservation system, unreserved ticketing, catering, and other services. 

Through the app — touted as the railways’ “Super App” — the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) looks to sort out legacy issues of siloed passenger services by bringing all services onto one interface.

“The app is available for download on Android Play Store and iOS App Store. It integrates all the passenger services such as unreserved and platform tickets with 3 per cent discount, live train tracking, grievance redressal, e-catering, porter booking and last-mile taxi,” the Ministry of Railways said.

5.Simulation of Crashed Air India Jet Puts Focus on Technical Flaw: Bloomberg

More than two weeks after the deadly crash of an Air India plane that killed all but one of the 242 people on board, investigators and the airline are studying possible dual engine failure as a scenario that prevented the Boeing Co. 787 jet from staying airborne.

Pilots from the airline reenacted the doomed aircraft’s parameters in a flight simulator, including with the landing gear deployed and the wing flaps retracted, and found those settings alone didn’t cause a crash, according to people familiar with the investigation.

The result, alongside the previous discovery that an emergency-power turbine deployed seconds before impact, has reinforced the focus on a technical failure as one possible cause, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing non-public deliberations.

The simulated flight was conducted separately from the official probe being led by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, or AAIB, and was done to explore possible scenarios, one of the people said.

The Boeing 787 that crashed in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad on June 12 was powered by two engines made by General Electric Co. Video footage of the aircraft showed the plane struggling to gain altitude after taking off, and then sinking back to the ground, where it exploded.

6.Apple is considering using rival AI tech to bolster Siri : Bloomberg and The Verge

In a massive u-turn, Apple is considering using artificial intelligence technology from Anthropic PBC or OpenAI to power a new version of Siri, potentially sidelining its own in-house models.

The company has talked with both Anthropic and OpenAI about using their large language models for Siri, and has asked them to train versions of their models that could run on Apple's cloud infrastructure for testing.

If Apple moves forward with using third-party models, it would represent a significant reversal and an acknowledgment that the company is struggling to compete in generative AI, and could allow Apple to offer Siri features on par with AI assistants on Android phones.

7.There’s a Race to Power the Future. China Is Pulling Away: New York Times and others

While China builds the economy of the future, Trump’s agenda combines the energy policy of the 1980s with the trade policy of the 1880s.

“In China, more wind turbines and solar panels were installed last year than in the rest of the world combined. And China’s clean energy boom is going global. Chinese companies are building electric vehicle and battery factories in Brazil, Thailand, Morocco, Hungary and beyond.

At the same time, in the United States, President Trump is pressing Japan and South Korea to invest “trillions of dollars” in a project to ship natural gas to Asia. And General Motors just killed plans to make electric motors at a factory near Buffalo, N.Y., and instead will put $888 million into building V-8 gasoline engines there.

The race is on to define the future of energy. Even as the dangers of global warming hang ominously over the planet, two of the most powerful countries in the world, the United States and China, are pursuing energy strategies defined mainly by economic and national security concerns, as opposed to the climate crisis. Entire industries are at stake, along with the economic and geopolitical alliances that shape the modern world.

The Trump administration wants to keep the world hooked on fossil fuels like oil and gas, which have powered cars and factories, warmed homes and fueled empires for more than a century. The United States is the world’s largest producer of oil and the largest exporter of natural gas, offering the potential for what Mr. Trump has called an era of American “energy dominance” that eliminates dependence on foreign countries, particularly rival powers like China.” Read on (NYT gift article)

8.AI talent wars lead to superstar salaries for top tech staff: Financial Times

The intense battle to poach top artificial intelligence researchers and engineers from rivals has seen a rapid escalation in wages, as tech groups such as Meta and OpenAI race to gain the competitive edge in the fast-developing technology.

OpenAI told staff in recent days it is seeking “creative ways to recognise and reward top talent” after losing key employees to rivals, despite industry data suggesting the ChatGPT maker offers salaries near the top of the market.

Its latest move came after chief Sam Altman said Meta had promised $100 mn sign-on bonuses to its most high-profile AI engineers. Across the tech industry, senior AI research scientists in Silicon Valley are being lured with far higher remuneration than computer engineers without AI experience, according to tech industry hiring specialists and recent data on job moves.

While some top AI engineers are being paid more than $10mn a year, typical pay packages were between $3mn and $7mn — representing a rise of about 50 per cent from 2022.

9.What Makes Someone Cool? A New Study Offers Clues: New York Times

A person’s “coolness” transcends nations and languages, a new study suggests. A global survey of nearly 6,000 participants found cool people tend to have six traits: They’re extroverted, hedonistic, powerful, adventurous, open, and autonomous. Respondents had to recognise the word “cool” in English, suggesting “they were already familiar with… notions of coolness from wealthy Western countries ,” The New York Times wrote.

“Globally,” one expert said, “American success has led to the diffusion of music styles and an immense amount of cultural content, including, apparently, the concept of cool.”

Research suggests coolness isn’t necessarily a positive: Kindness was a trait attributed to “good” people, rather than cool ones. Read on

10.Adult content age checks required in UK for adult websites

The UK will require age verification from adult content sites (the range of permitted verification services is interesting) and the US Supreme Court decided that legal requirements for such checks are constitutional. Meanwhile, Apple will offer an age check API in this years’ OS releases