Arvind's Newsletter- Weekend edition

1.Are e-scooters (e2W) ready to take-off in India?
Four states (From Goa to Kerala) have breached the 10% mark in electric two-wheeler (e2W) penetration, according to the latest data from Vahan Dashboard. Goa leads the way with 17.20%, albeit with modest numbers, followed by Kerala (13.66%) and Karnataka (12.19%).
Overall, India reached an e2W penetration of 5.63% as of May 31, up from 4.05% in 2022, with 392,681 e2Ws sold in the first five months of this year out of the total two-wheeler sales of 6.98 million, the data showed. This augurs well for the government’s target of increasing the penetration of e2Ws to 80% by 2030.

2.A new study published in Lancet estimates that 101 million people in India - 11.4% of the country's population - are living with diabetes.

A survey commissioned by the health ministry also found that 136 million people - or 15.3% of the people - could be living with pre-diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of the condition. People have high blood sugars because they are unable to make enough insulin, a hormone, or respond to it properly.

3.As Ukraine reportedly begins its long-expected counteroffensive against Russia, a mood of deepening gloom is gripping Russia’s elite about the prospects for Vladimir Putin’s war. 

Even the most optimistic among them see a “frozen” conflict as the best available outcome for a Russian war that’s killed tens of thousands of Ukrainians. Many within Russia’s political and business upper classes contend they are tired of Putin’s war and want it to stop.

Even if Putin were to agree, however, Kyiv currently has other ideas. NATO tanks and other armour have been spotted on the battlefield, a signal that the latest concerted effort by Ukraine to reclaim its territory maybe underway. German-made Leopard tanks and US Bradley Fighting Vehicles pushing toward the town of Tokmak, in Ukraine’s occupied south, are showing up in photographs posted by Russian military bloggers.

Ben Barry, a senior fellow at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, said “the Ukrainian counteroffensive has begun.”

If Ukraine fails to break through Russian lines, support for arming Kyiv’s forces could shrink, and Ukraine could come under pressure from allies to enter talks with Russia to end or freeze the conflict reports the New York Times.

4.Going separate ways. Sequoia Capital downplayed the role that geopolitics played in its decision to split into three separate firms focused on China, Southeast Asia, and the U.S./Europe. The storied venture capital outfit looks like it’s responding to Washington pressure about its China investments, but the move essentially formalises how the firm is already set up reports the Forbes magazine.
Sequoia’s global leadership confirmed the news in a letter to limited partners signed by the leaders of the three firms, Roelof Botha, Neil Shen and Shailendra Singh. The resulting firms — Sequoia Capital representing the U.S. and Europe, HongShan in China and Peak XV Partners in India and Southeast Asia — plan to complete the separation “no later than” March 2024.

5.Wall Street has a new favourite phrase. Of mouse and men: the resistible rise of ‘double click’ reports the Financial Times.

A spectre is haunting earnings calls — the spectre of double-clicking.

If you haven’t encountered this phrase previously, you might — naive, tiny baby that you are — think it’s just about interfacing with software.

It looks like have analysts acquired a new favoured visual tic in “just wanting [want/wanted] to double-click”?

Lets consider the following excerpts from recent earning calls:

On cloud verticalisation: “Satya, in your prepared remarks, you spoke about an increase in verticalisation of Azure. Can we double-click on that a bit more?” Gregg Moskowitz, Mizuho, on the Microsoft April 2023 call

On the exceptional growth in Europe: “[C]urious to hear or maybe if you can double-click on what’s driving the exceptional growth here in Europe.” Samik Chatterjee, of JPMorgan, on the Apple April 2023 call.

On new customers: “Just double-click on what customers are coming to Salesforce and engaging with you around some of the new things that we’ll hear about it sounds like in June.” Brent Bracelin, of Piper Sandler, on the Salesforce May 2023 call.

On the retention commentary: “I just want to double-click on that retention commentary you said.” Jack Roberge, of William Blair, on the Adobe March 2023 call.

On security: “And then, just secondly, if I could just double-click on security.” Matthew Nikman, of Deutsche Bank, on the Cisco May 2023 call.

On deals: “Maybe just elaborate on some of the comments that you just made, especially in the enterprise about deals and longevity of deals or being pushed out or new deal momentum, just double-click on that?”Erik Woodring, of Morgan Stanley, on HP March 2023 call.

On the speaker’s own questions: “Hey, guys, thank you so much for taking my questions. So, a couple that I want to double-click into.” Stan Zlotsky, of Morgan Stanley, on Zendesk October 2020 call.

On scrutiny and sales cycles: “In the prepared remarks, you mentioned that in the quarter you saw increased deal scrutiny and longer sales cycles, can you just double-click on that comment?” Patrick Colville, of Scotiabank, on the CrowdStrike May 2023 call.

 On the integration of that business: “Maybe if we can just double-click on where we’re at in terms of the integration of that business?” Matt Stotler, of William Blair, on the Ooma March 2023 call. 

On gross margin: “George, I guess I wanted to double-click on gross margin.” Timothy Arcuri, of UBS, on Intel October 2020 call. 

On cloud infrastructure: “I guess Larry, can you sort of double-click on OCI . .. ” Stewart Kirk Materne III, of Evercore, on the Oracle September 2021 call.