1.Noel Tata Is New Tata Trusts Chairman, Takes Over Philanthropic Leadership

Noel Tata has been appointed as the Chairman of Tata Trusts, people familiar with the development told NDTV Profit. With an experience of 40 years under his belt, he will take up the mantle after the group's patriarch Ratan Tata passed away.

The unanimous decision was made during a board meeting of Tata Trusts in Mumbai, where discussions focused on the succession plan for the philanthropic organisation, the aforementioned persons told NDTV Profit.

"In due course you will get to know who Noel was. I have very little doubt that in 15 years people will say Noel Tata was a towering guy. I think he is a low profile guy, he gets on with work, he is a persistent guy and he reaches his goal. The journey of Trent is an evidence of that," R Gopalakrishnan, former director of Tata Sons, told NDTV.

2.India’s industrial output in August contracted for first time in nearly 2 years

India’s industrial output contracted in August—for the first time since October 2022—as the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) fell 0.1%, a stark contrast to the 4.7% growth recorded in July, according to estimates released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) on Friday.

The decline in industrial output was impacted by a sharp base effect across sectors, compounded by excessive rainfall in several regions.

3.India dominates AI app market, capturing 21% of global downloads in 2024

India has emerged as the leading market for AI mobile application adoption, accounting for 21 per cent of the global downloads, which exceeded 2.2 billion in the first eight months of 2024, according to data from Sensor Tower, as reported by The Economic Times.

Among the most popular AI applications are chatbot platforms like ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Google Gemini, alongside various image and video editing apps. Despite this popularity, a significant portion of Indian users access these applications for free.

4.How aggregator platforms are bringing the Ola-Uber model to inter-city bus travel

When app-based ride-hailing cab services Ola and Uber were launched in 2012-13, they not only disrupted the taxi segment, but also redefined intra-city travel in the country. Now, with the rise of app-based aggregators, the inter-city bus segment is witnessing a similar disruption.

Inter-city passengers often have to deal with poorly-lit waiting areas, dirty washrooms, errant staff, delayed services, stops at overpriced eateries serving substandard food and poorly maintained buses. The new app-based aggregators promise to tackle these growing constraints.

5.Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, has been offering aid to the country’s neighbours he tries to counter China’s influence, opines New York Times

As political turmoil churns India’s immediate neighborhood, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has been using a relatively new asset to compete with China for influence: the financial wherewithal that comes with a fast-growing economy.

When Sri Lanka suffered economic catastrophe in 2022, India stepped in with over $4 billion in aid. In tiny neighboring Bhutan, which has boundary disputes with China, Mr. Modi this year doubled India’s assistance, to $1 billion over five years. In Bangladesh, he provided billions for infrastructure projects to back that country’s autocratic leader, who promoted India’s interests until she was ousted in August.

The latest beneficiary is the Maldives. Its new president, Mohamed Muizzu, campaigned last year on an “India Out” platform, demanding that Mr. Modi withdraw a small military contingent from the archipelago nation. But that seemed forgotten on Monday, when Mr. Muizzu arrived in New Delhi for a state dinner, a photo opportunity at the Taj Mahal with his wife, and over $750 million in Indian aid, in the form of currency swaps, to bail his government out of extreme fiscal stress.

6.Tesla reveals new cybercabs that you can buy at US $ 30,000

Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled the highly anticipated robotaxi last night, a driverless, $30K vehicle called the Cybercab. Tesla says the car—which lacks pedals and steering wheels—will go into production by 2027. The company also debuted a 20-person robovan and touted its Optimus robots. 

The debut is almost a decade in the making and comes amid a series of lawsuits and investigations over Tesla's supervised driving vehicles. The company's investors hope robotaxis will generate almost 90% of Tesla's value and earnings by 2029. This would involve drivers being able to rent their vehicle through an app when not in use, earning passive income in a "part Uber, part Airbnb" model. Tesla hopes electric vehicle sales will eventually account for only 9% of Tesla's value. 

Tesla is not the first company to pursue this model; Google’s Waymo already services 100,000 paid rides per week, including in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Phoenix. Amazon's Zoox is coming soon to San Francisco.

7.King of Clay Retires

Professional tennis legend Rafael Nadal announced his retirement, with his final match set for next month’s Davis Cup finals in Malaga, Spain. Nadal has played in only nine tournaments since the start of 2023 due to injuries and recovery from surgery.

The 38-year-old Spaniard achieved remarkable success during his 23-year career. He won 22 Grand Slam titles, including a record 14 French Open championships, and secured 92 ATP titles, with 36 at the Masters 1000 level, a tier below Grand Slams. He holds the record for the longest winning streak on a single surface in the Open Era, winning 81 consecutive matches on clay courts, and boasts a 1,080–227 record, second behind Novak Djokovic. He has two Olympic gold medals, spent a total of 209 weeks at No. 1 in the ATP rankings, and earned nearly $135M in prize money. 

Beyond tennis, Nadal is a five-time Laureus award winner for his foundation, which provides opportunities for at-risk adolescents through sports and education.

8.The Wimbledon tennis championships will abolish line judges after 147 years.

The white-trousered and blue-blazered officials’ role is to yell a noise roughly approximating to “out” when they judge that a ball has fallen outside the line. But since 2007 they have been aided, and sometimes overridden, by electronic systems. Both the Australian and US Opens have removed human judges, a process sped up during the pandemic by the need to reduce the number of people on the court. But Wimbledon’s grass surfaces are more challenging, as are the clay courts of the French Open, which from next year will be the only Grand Slam to retain line judges.