Happy Teacher's Day!

गुरुर्ब्रह्मा ग्रुरुर्विष्णुः गुरुर्देवो महेश्वरः। गुरुः साक्षात् परं ब्रह्म तस्मै श्री गुरवे नमः॥

Guru (The Teacher) is verily the representative of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh. He creates, sustains knowledge & destroys the weeds of ignorance. I salute such a Guru.

Just like a good guru, this newsletter aims to destroy the weeds of ignorance by bringing the students with:

MARKET UPDATE

Closed because of Sunday.

ECONOMY

China is absent from the list of significant contributors to India's FDI

Key Facts:

• Singapore was the leading contributor with $15.9 billion

• Cayman Islands amounting to $3.8 billion

• United States at $10.5 billion and Mauritius at $9.4 billion

The Story:

India received $58.8 billion in FDI in 2021–22. With inflows totaling $15.9 billion, Singapore was the most significant contributor, followed by the United States ($10.5 billion) and Mauritius ($9.4 billion).

However, China is conspicuously absent from the list, which is made even more intriguing by the fact that it hasn't appeared on the list of countries that contribute the most to India's foreign inflows since 2017–18, according to data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Experts believe that China's absence is because India accepts China's company-specific FDI offers. According to media sources, only 80 of the 382 FDI bids from Chinese companies that the center received in July were approved.

Another intriguing finding from data on foreign investment into India by country in 2021–22 is that large nations like Germany, Canada, France, and Denmark contributed less than $1 billion in inflows.

HEALTHCARE

Leap in Medical Sector: Researchers discover how AI can be trained to detect tumor

Key Facts: 

•  Research Centre for Protein Diagnostics: PRODI.

• Research led by Professor Axel Mosig.

• A team consisting of researchers Ruhr-Universitat Bochum and other universities performed this experiment.

The Story:

A German institute has developed and trained its Artificial Intelligence (AI) to detect tissue containing Tumor.

The PRODI team is still on the fence about how the AI analyzes data and detects tumors. Generally, an AI uses concrete observations and forms a data model through which it performs the task assigned to it, which in this case is tumor detection.  However, the PRODI AI cannot factualize its detection capability, making the researchers doubt the judgment and trustworthiness of the AI.

Although this advancement is unable to justify* itself, the purpose and functioning of their model is something we must look forward to.

*Conventional AI models are trained in such a manner that the basis of their decisions, or why they have taken a decision, cannot be found out. New age models, like the one being developed above, removes this black box and makes the AI decision more trustworthy.

AUTOMOTIVE

Mopeds and Rickshaws: The drivers of electric vehicle movement of India.

Key Facts:

• Out of the 16 million vehicles sold in the last fiscal year, only 2.6% were electric.

• Of the total EVs sold, 45% were three-wheelers.

• Recent surge in oil and natural gas prices has helped in evoking interest for EV.

The Story:

With a median income of just 2400$ India is not giving up in the EV Race. The EV movement of India is being spearheaded by not four wheelers, but by two and three wheelers. Out of the total 4,30,000 EV’s sold in the last fiscal year, cars accounted for just 18000, as per the industry data.

In a country, where most of the transportation fuel is used by two and three wheelers and car ownership being incredibly low, it makes environmental and economic sense for India to start with smaller vehicles. With both govt and auto industry betting heavily on the affordable electric vehicles, the competition and subsidies have helped in making the electric rickshaws and mopeds equally priced or even cheaper than their ICE versions, enabling faster penetration of these vehicles.

However, scaling up the EV production and faster adoption by people is heavily dependent upon the development of the charging infrastructure and sourcing of raw materials for batteries. Raw materials for batteries are in short supply and Indian auto makers have to compete with larger players like Tesla and GM to acquire them.

Although India is still in a very nascent stage of the EV movement but the success with low-cost vehicles can provide a template for the developing countries to combat climate change without pricey electric cars.

TECH

Byju's likely to raise over $500 million

Key Facts:

• The planned financing for Byju's will be at a valuation of about $23 billion

• The EdTech business intends to use the funds for US acquisitions.

The Story:

According to the sources, the EdTech company is in talks with the Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi's Sovereign Wealth Funds about funding for an amount of between $250-350 million and $400-500 million, respectively.

The financing is part of the company's strategy to use the funds for inorganic expansion, primarily in the US, according to the latest reports. The business has already paid $500 million for the US-based reading platform Epic and $200 million for the online learning platform Tynker. Other foreign purchases made by Byju’s include the Singapore-based organization Great Learning for about $200 million and the Austrian math operator GeoGebdra for about $100 million. The company is still waiting for $250 million from Sumeru Ventures and Oxshott as part of the $800 million round of funding declared in March at a valuation of $22 billion but it looks like that hasn’t stopped them from going to the market again to raise more funds.

Still reeling from yesterday's India vs Pak loss?

For those who watched India vs Pakistan match yesterday, the last few balls must have been reminiscent of the turnaround India had against Bangladesh when our neighbours towards the east needed 2 runs in 3 balls. Alas! the same could not be repeated yesterday but there could be a chance once again when we reach the finals.

And did we miss Dinesh Karthik yesterday? Yes, we did!