Arvind's Newsletter

1.Indian car buyers, like many other global consumers, are holding their horses on EVs and buying hybrids instead

 Sales of strong hybrid cars are growing rapidly, outpacing electric vehicle and fossil fuel car sales. According to industry estimates, 23,394 strong hybrid cars were sold in the June quarter, a 62.5% year-on-year growth, compared to 3% growth in the overall domestic passenger vehicle sales.

In the same period, about 22,000 electric cars were sold. Overall, the Indian auto market has been struggling with sluggish sales and piling inventory. 

2.Adani Group’s Dharavi dream faces reality check as land acquisition challenges mount

The joint venture led by Adani Group for the Dharavi redevelopment is facing a fresh challenge. Reuters reported that the joint venture is struggling to acquire land to rehabilitate Dharavi residents. Only residents who lived in Dharavi before the year 2000 will be eligible for free housing, and the Adani Group will have to provide housing to about 7 lakh ineligible residents. This would require a major chunk of the land acquired – about 580 acres out of the 594-acre slum. The joint venture has applied to various agencies for more land but has so far not secured any. 

3.Bajaj Auto targets 100K monthly sales of clean energy vehicles: Rajiv Bajaj

Bajaj Auto is gearing up to launch a slew of clean energy vehicles, including another CNG-powered motorcycle, showcasing ethanol-powered motorcycles and three-wheelers next month, as well as launching a new Chetak platform early next year, as it closes in on hitting the 100,000 monthly sales mark from clean-energy vehicles this festive season.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Bajaj Auto Managing Director Rajiv Bajaj said that these initiatives are part of Bajaj Auto’s broader goal to achieve monthly sales of 100,000 clean energy vehicles by this festive season. "We stand on the cusp of monthly sales and production of 100,000 clean energy vehicles by this festive season,” Bajaj said in the interview.

4.Top defence contractors set to rake in record cash after orders soar; Financial Times
The world’s largest aerospace and defence companies are set to rake in record levels of cash over the next three years as they benefit from a surge in government orders for new weapons amid rising geopolitical tensions. 

The leading 15 defence contractors are forecast to log free cash flow of $52bn in 2026, according to analysis by Vertical Research Partners for the Financial Times — almost double their combined cash flow at the end of 2021.  Five top US defence contractors are forecast to generate cash flow of $26bn by the end of 2026, more than double the amount in 2021. The figures exclude Boeing, given its recent problems and heavy weighting towards civil aerospace.

Meanwhile, Y Combinator, the venture capital group, backed a defense firm for the first time. But the industry will need reassurance that the big orders will continue long-term: A UK subsidiary of France’s Thales went from being “basically mothballed” to getting a $300 million contract overnight. 

Governments should “give surety” that “this is not just a two-second thing” preceding “another 30 years of decline,” an analyst told the BBC.

5.IBM shuts China R&D operations in latest retreat by US companies

IBM is shutting down its China research and development department, the latest retreat from the country by top U.S. technology companies.

The company is moving its China R&D functions to other overseas facilities, Jack Hergenrother, an IBM executive, told employees at a virtual meeting on Monday morning, according to employees who attended. Hergenrother said IBM faced intensifying competition in China with its infrastructure business declining in the past few years, the employees said.

Hergenrother said IBM plans to concentrate its R&D in several regions, the employees said. IBM has told some employees it is adding engineers and researchers in places outside China including in Bengaluru, India, according to employees who were briefed. The closure will affect more than 1,000 people, mostly working for the company’s R&D labs, the employees said.

In May, Microsoft offered to relocate hundreds of Chinese staff working on cloud and artificial intelligence as the US continued to restrict China’s access to sensitive technologies. Microsoft had earlier closed its LinkedIn social networking site in the country.

6.The 10 Best cities for remote work

Remote work can take on a whole new meaning when it means someone can work and travel – cue in: a “workcation.”

Such freedom will come at a cost and that often means considering major factors like climate, culture, food prices, happiness, and of course access to wifi.

According to the International Workplace Group, considering these components can help individuals decide where in the world they choose to venture off to while chipping away at their daily work obligations.

The results might surprise you. Take a look at the top 10 destinations.

7.Gen Z and millennials are less likely to answer the phone than their older peers

The Wall Street Journal r

An industry survey found that a quarter of 18- to 34-year-olds never answer the phone, and would respond by text to a missed call. It rings true — Flagship remembers one young journalist staring petrified at a clanging landline phone in 2016. Younger people associate unexpected calls with either “bad news, scammers or cold-callers.”the BBC reported. The younger generation’s relationship with tech is different in other ways: They are computer-savvy, the Wall Street Journal reported, from a lifetime spent online, but few of them can touch-type as so many have grown up using touchscreens rather than keyboards.