- Arvind's Newsletter
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- Arvind's Newsletter
1.The Indian car industry is gradually moving towards Electrification. Two news items yesterday are part of this story. The first related to Chinese owned MG Motors which because it has been facing challenges in getting government approval to make fresh investments is planning to dilute the Chinese stake over next few years in favour of domestic entities and “Indianise” its operations (shareholding, board, management and supply chain) . The second related to South Korea’s Hyundai plan to invest $2.45 bn over next 10 years to increase production and introduce new EVs.
MG’s parent SAIC Motor is in the advanced stages of talks with investors from different Indian companies, which include Reliance, Hero Group, Premji Invest, and JSW Group for equity sale.The automaker announced that it will be raising funds and will make investments worth Rs 5,000 crore. It will also develop a new plant in Gujarat for manufacturing, while also expanding its annual production capacity to 300,000 units in the period of the next five years. It aims to launch four to five all-new electric cars in the next five years and to achieve 65 to 75 per cent of revenue from its EV portfolio in the future.
Hyundai, through its Indian subsidiary Hyundai Motor India, will also set up a battery pack assembly unit with an annual capacity of 178,000 units and install 100 EV charging stations across the state of Tamil Nadu. It plans to increase its total production volume in the country to 850,000 per year, the company added.
India's EV industry has grown rapidly, with domestic carmakers Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra as well as global rivals BYD and SAIC's MG Motor lining up launches
2.Pakistan is in turmoil after dramatic arrest of former premier Imran Khan, lead to violent clashes across the country. Meanwhile, in a twist to the drama,Pakistan's Supreme Court has ruled that former prime minister Imran Khan's arrest on corruption charges this week was illegal.The court ordered Mr Khan's immediate release.
The former cricket star’s arrest by paramilitary troops marked a sharp escalation in Khan’s confrontation with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government and the country’s powerful military. At the same time, the nation’s economy is in deep trouble, as Pakistan edges closer to default and the unrest is set to delay an International Monetary Fund bailout ,reported Bloomberg.
Civilians seemed to cross a line in defying the army in Pakistan, where protesters rarely rise up against the military reported the New York Times. Protesters pushed through the gates of the national army headquarters, a mob set fire to a senior military official’s residence and demonstrators looted a paramilitary school.
At least ten people have been killed during the two days of protest, local news media reported, and more than 2,000 have been arrested but the crackdown has had little effect reported the BBC.
3.Google is throwing generative AI at everything, reports the MIT’s Technology Review
The news: Google is stuffing powerful new AI tools into tons of its existing products and launching a slew of new ones, including a coding assistant, it announced at its annual I/O conference on Wednesday.
What’s changing: Billions of users will soon see Google’s latest AI language mode, PaLM 2, integrated into over 25 products like Maps, Docs, Gmail, Sheets, and the company’s chatbot, Bard, which it’s opening up to a bigger pool of users. This is the company’s biggest push yet to integrate the latest wave of AI technology into a variety of products.
Why it matters: Because of safety and reputational risks, Google has been slower than competitors to launch AI-powered products. But fierce competition from competitors like Microsoft, OpenAI and others have left it feeling it has no choice but to push ahead. Experts warn that it’s a risky strategy that could backfire and run afoul of the regulators. Read the full story below.
A trial of a personalised pancreatic-cancer vaccine showed promising results.
Pancreatic cancer is deadly: Only 12% of U.S. patients survive five years after diagnosis. Scientists tailored mRNA vaccines to the genomes of tumors removed from 16 patients. The vaccines, which tell the body how to attack the tumors, provoked an immune reaction in eight patients. None of those eight had a relapse within 18 months. Those with no immune response usually saw the cancer return after around 13 months. Tailored vaccines are expensive but should become cheaper as genetic sequencing improves. A cancer specialist told The New York Times the result was a “milestone.” A tailored vaccine for melanoma also reduced relapses in a trial last year.
5.Growers have long tweaked with the genes of vegetable crops to increase yield. Now they're working to change flavour.
"Today’s Brussels sprouts taste better than you might remember from childhood. It’s not that your refined adult palate appreciates them better. Rather a new variety has displaced the original vegetable. You can thank plant breeders for the change. And modern breeders, armed with new gene-editing technology, are looking to replicate Brussels sprouts’ reinvention." Reports the Scientific American.
