Spectrum auction surprise, SpaceX in India, Deep Nostalgia and other news
Business news and insights to jump start your day.
“Don’t be pushed around by the fears in your mind. Be led by the dreams in your heart.”
- Roy T. Bennett
Good morning!😀
In today’s edition, we look at:
4G spectrum auctions kick-off with a surprise
Flipkart eyes travel aggregator Cleartrip
Elon Musk’s Starlink coming to India
📈 How did the markets fare
BSE Sensex - 49,849.84 | +1.53% ⬆
NSE Nifty - 14,761.55 | +1.60% ⬆
10-Yr Bond Yield - 6.209% | -0.020 ⬇
S&P 500 - 3,901.82 | +2.38% ⬇
USD/INR - ₹ 73.54 | +0.10% ⬆
Equity markets rebounded yesterday on the back of positive economic data, clawing back some of the losses from a brutal sell-off on Friday.
📰 What's happening around us
Telecom
The 4G spectrum auction kicked off yesterday with Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea putting in bids worth Rs 77,000 crore. Although spectrum worth Rs 3.92 lakh crore was up for sale, the bids on the first day did surpass the government’s estimate of Rs 45,000 crore.
Jio is expected to have accounted for a major chunk of those bids as a large block of the spectrum necessary for the company’s continued operation was up for renewal. Also because it had put in an earnest money deposit of Rs 10,000 crore. The deposit amount is an indicator of the size of bids the telecom companies are likely to place (usually 5-7 times the deposit amount). Airtel had deposited Rs 3,000 crore while cash-strapped Vodafone Idea had deposited just Rs 475 crore.
So what does this mean for you and me? The higher bids could indicate that telcos are not just looking to do the bare minimum but may also be looking to improve the quality of service by acquiring more airwaves. Higher levels of spectrum usually mean better quality of service.
With the industry straddled with high debt, financial prudence is necessary, especially with the 5G auction likely to be held later this year. The 4G auction is expected to close today and the spectrum allocated will be valid for a period of 20 years.
E-Commerce
Flipkart is out shopping. This time, the Walmart-owned e-commerce player has set its sights on travel aggregator Cleartrip. According to a Moneycontrol report, Flipkart is negotiating for a majority stake in the aggregator which competes with MakeMyTrip, Yatra, Booking.com and EaseMyTrip. With the travel industry in doldrums and Cleartrip’s financial performance taking a hit, Flipkart is looking for a good deal on the acquisition.
Flipkart already offers travel booking services on its platform through a partnership with Makemytrip, which it struck in April 2018. Amazon on the other hand started domestic flight booking with the help of Cleartrip in May 2019. But as more and more players look at embracing the super app strategy (super app is a platform offering various services under one umbrella), acquiring Cleartrip will help Flipkart get direct access to the market and strengthen its presence in the highly competitive travel space.
Tech
Elon Musk announced in December that Tesla will be hitting Indian shores in 2021, but another of Elon’s companies is coming to India soon – SpaceX. The rocket company whose aim is to make humanity multi-planetary won’t be launching rockets to Mars from India, but will instead launch its Starlink satellite internet service in the country in 2022.
Starlink, which is still in the beta phase, will beam high-speed internet to users with the help of 12,000 low Earth orbit satellites. Over 1,000 satellites have been deployed already with the company manufacturing 120 satellites per month.
The service doesn’t make much sense in cities and towns where wired internet connections are easily available at very reasonable rates but instead, would be ideal for remote places which lack internet connectivity.
Don’t expect it to be cheap though. While people can pre-order now with a deposit of $99 (~Rs 7,300), all the hardware contraptions will likely cost $499 and the monthly subscription $99. Plus considering Elon’s track record with product launches, don’t be surprised if it gets here only by 2023-24.
🎯 News Bites
Some respite might be around the corner. According to reports, the Finance Ministry is considering cutting excise duties on petrol and diesel to cushion the impact of record-high retail prices.
In a positive sign, GST collections in February crossed Rs 1 lakh crore for the fifth straight month. Goods and services tax revenue for January, collected in February, stood at Rs 1.13 lakh crore, 7% higher than last year same time, but 6% lower than the previous month.
Another positive news is from the automotive sector. Sale of passenger vehicles posted double-digit growth of 23% in February. Except for Ford and Skoda, every car maker in the country witnessed a growth in sales year-on-year. Though these numbers reflect dispatches from factories to dealerships and not actual sales, they are still positive.
Chinese hackers are hard at work. State-backed hackers have been targeting the IT infrastructure of Indian vaccine makers Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech in an effort to steal vaccine-related data. Meanwhile, a report by US-based cybersecurity company Recorded Future claimed that there was an increase in cyberattacks by Chinese groups on India’s power grid after border clashes.
In a surprising move, the Delhi government cancelled the subsidy (for electric vehicles) on Tata’s electric car Nexon EV based on complaints that it failed to meet the promised range of 312 km on a single charge.
A new artificial intelligence-powered tech called ‘Deep Nostalgia’ can animate faces and bring photos to life. The service is being offered by online genealogy company MyHeritage and people are using it to bring old photos (of dead people) to life. Creepy?
That's it for today. Have a productive day!
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