Arvind's Newsletter

1. This Bloomberg's opinion piece argues that India's late foray into the EV battery market lacks some key ingredients.

Indian companies are making a late charge to capture more of the global electric vehicle market, while the government has offered support in the form of tax cuts and subsidies. Two major Indian automakers — Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki — unveiled new electric models, and New Delhi wants to win part of the battery market as well. The potential is huge: India recently overtook Japan to become the world’s third-largest car market. But its companies suffer from a slow start and lack the domestic sources of raw materials needed to make batteries, leaving them vulnerable to rising global prices.

2. Maruti Suzuki, which has in the last few years lost ground to Hyundai/Kia, Tata and Mahindra group in the fast growing SUV market, aims to double its SUV offerings and targeting to become No 1 in SUVs by FY 2024. Fronx, a Baleno-based SUV coupe, and Jimny, a ladder-frame off-roader with five doors, were unveiled at the Auto Expo. Maruti is betting on these two models to help regain market share and reach the 50% level it had in the past.

3. Boredom at work is not the enemy, it is catalyst for changing your relationship with work. Far from a modern malaise, boredom is a psychological tool that serves a vital evolutionary function. It’s a warning for you to either change your current situation or risk the consequences.

“In this regard, boredom reveals an important aspect of being human: we have a strong need to be engaged with the world around us,” psychologists James Danckert and John D. Eastwood Eastwood .“We need to be engaged, mentally occupied, giving expression to our desires and exercising our skills and talents. In short, we have a need for agency. When this need is fulfilled, we flourish. When this need is thwarted, we feel bored, disengaged.” But if we can tap into our curiosity, meaning, and agency, we can better weather those dull storms or find enjoyment in work.

4. Over the last week we have been following the developments in satellite internet through Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellites (its use and playing a transformative role in warfare in Ukraine), expectation of it going mainstream with entry of many private players competing with Starlink, the first mover in this business. In this article, Rest of World, focuses on China's version of Starlink, Guo Wong, which is government backed and has global ambitions.

"Although Beijing is aiming to spur technological innovation and manufacturing capacity at private satellite companies, it is "unthinkable" that control over any broadband internet service would be left in private hands." While China's ground network infrastructure is comprehensive enough that there may not be huge need for satellite internet inside the country, it could provide internet access in parts of the world that have been difficult to connect- a goal Starlink has yet to achieve.

"As of April 2022, just 2% of Starlink's users are located outside of North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. China is looking export its satellite internet to countries in Africa, Latin America, and some parts of South East Asia where internet infrastructure is lagging. In that respect it may complement China's Belt and Road initiative."

5. Long called "Europe's enigma" Albania is possibly the most misunderstood country in Europe. Its language is a semantic anomaly with no known relatives in the Indo-European linguistic family. After World War Two, authoritarian ruler Enver Hoxha effectively sealed the mountainous nation off from the outside world for four decades; banning religion (and making it the world's first atheist nation) and forbidding travel.Curiously, the communist stronghold was never part of the Eastern Bloc, and since its transition to democracy in 1991, it's never been a member of the European Union. Instead, it exists as a sort of continental paradox: it's one of only two Muslim-majority nations in Europe (along with neighbouring Kosovo); more Albanians live outside the country (roughly 10 million) than in it (2.8 million); and it's a place where yes means no and no means yes. And yes, Mother Teresa was of Albanian origin.