☀️ Welcome to the Midweek Edition!

Happy midweek! It’s that moment when your work calendar is packed tighter than a Mumbai local—but don’t worry, we’ve brewed up your business headlines hotter than a fresh vada pav 🌶️. Let’s crunch in.

📰 Chai Shots

• ✈️ DreamFolks Exits Domestic Lounges: India’s largest lounge aggregator, DreamFolks Services, has shut down all domestic airport lounge operations, citing a “material impact” on business. The move follows contract losses with major operators—Adani Airports, GMR, and Travel Food Services—who together control 80–85% of lounge traffic. With banks and card issuers striking direct deals, DreamFolks’ middleman model collapsed.

• 🥇 Gold Blazes to ₹1.10 Lakh/10g: Retail gold touched ₹1,10,540 per 10g (₹1,13,856 with GST), its highest ever in India. Jewellers say festive buyers will increasingly exchange old jewellery for new—expected to surge to 45% of sales vs 25% last year—as fresh purchases slow by up to 15%. Value-wise, demand could still rise 25–30% thanks to soaring prices.

• 🍟 Snack Wars: ITC, PepsiCo, Temasek Circle Balaji Wafers: Over a dozen firms—including ITC Foods, PepsiCo, Temasek, TPG, and ADIA—are competing for a 10–15% stake in Balaji Wafers at a valuation of nearly $5B. Blackstone and KKR are notably absent. PepsiCo, which failed to strike a deal back in 2013, is back in the ring, while ITC wants to beef up its Bingo brand against local rivals. Balaji, with FY24 revenue of ₹5,454 Cr and profit of ₹579 Cr, dominates western and central India with 65+ SKUs. More in the Big Brew 👇

• 💸 US Markets Bet on 75 bps Fed Cuts: US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said traders are bracing for up to 75 bps of Fed rate cuts before year-end, with at least one 25-bps trim already priced in. An inverted yield curve signals dovish expectations. For India, easier US policy could mean stronger FPI inflows, relief for IT exporters, and more headroom for the RBI to consider cuts—giving Dalal Street extra fuel.

📊 Market Masala

• 📈 Sensex & Nifty Rally: After a one-day pause, Sensex jumped 595 points and Nifty crossed 25,200, with gains led by financials and consumer stocks. The rebound comes as traders price in global easing hopes, keeping the current positive streak intact.

• 🥢 Eternal Joins Nifty’s Top 25: Eternal (formerly Zomato) has crossed ₹3.13 lakh Cr in market cap, overtaking Titan and Tata Motors. Now at No. 25 on Nifty50, it sits just behind HAL and NTPC. Blinkit’s revenue surge is powering this rise, with Eternal shares up 61% in six months and 29% in the last three months.

• 🎨 JSW Paints–Akzo Nobel Cleared: The CCI has approved JSW Paints’ ₹12,915 Cr acquisition of Akzo Nobel India’s decorative and industrial paints business. The deal makes JSW the fourth-largest paint player in India. Akzo will retain its powder coatings and R&D centre, while JSW scales up to take on Asian Paints, Berger, and Nerolac.

• ⚖️ US–India Trade Tensions Continue: The US rejected India’s WTO request to consult on its 50% copper tariffs, calling them “national security” measures, not safeguards. Yet, bilateral trade talks in New Delhi were upbeat, with both sides vowing to accelerate a deal by year-end. India insists on protecting agriculture and dairy while US keeps tariffs as leverage.

🌏 Global Masala

• 📉 Wall Street Eases Ahead of Fed Call: The S&P 500 slipped 0.1% after hitting a record, while the Dow fell 185 points as traders braced for Fed chief Powell’s announcement. Nvidia fell 1.5%, with Microsoft, Alphabet, and Palantir also down. Markets are 100% priced for at least a 25-bps cut, though a 50-bps move would look political given modest economic weakness.

• 🌍 Europe Slumps, Jindal Lifts Thyssenkrupp: European stocks fell 1.2% overall, with Germany’s DAX down 1.8%. But Thyssenkrupp shares rose 4.4% after confirming a non-binding offer from India’s Jindal Steel for its steel unit. Across the UK, unemployment held at 4.7%, a four-year high, with wage growth slowing to 4.8%—raising the odds of another BoE rate cut this year.

☕ The Big Brew 🍟 The Great Snack Wars: Balaji Wafers in Play

India’s ₹46,500 Cr snack market is sizzling, and Balaji Wafers is at the heart of it. The Virani brothers, who built Balaji from a small canteen stall into a ₹5,454 Cr empire, are now looking to dilute 10–15% stake at a valuation close to $5B—higher than the $3.5–4B street consensus.

• 👀 Who’s Interested? ITC Foods, PepsiCo, Temasek, TPG, ADIA, and other investors. Blackstone and KKR, however, are sitting out.

• 🥔 Why It Matters: For ITC, Balaji could supercharge its Bingo brand. For PepsiCo, it’s a second shot after a failed 2013 attempt to buy in. For global funds, it’s another chance to replicate March’s $10B Haldiram deal, the biggest in Indian packaged food.

• 🛒 The Business Edge: Balaji leads in western and central India, with 65+ SKUs spanning wafers, namkeens, and confectionery. It posted profits of ₹579 Cr in FY24, growing 41% YoY.

• 📈 The Bigger Market: India’s snack sector is set to double to over ₹1 lakh Cr by 2033 at 8.6% CAGR, driven by urbanisation, rising incomes, and regional taste preferences. Regional brands like Balaji are outpacing multinationals, forcing giants to rethink strategy.

What does this mean?

• 🍿 For FMCG Giants: Partnerships with Balaji could unlock deep regional distribution and backend efficiencies.

• 💰 For Investors: The outcome may set a new benchmark for valuations in India’s snack industry.

• 🇮🇳 For India’s Market: Much like the 1991 reforms transformed the economy, this snack war reflects a shift where regional brands are becoming global-scale assets.

🚀 Startup Scoop

• 📱 Nothing Closes $200M Round at $1.3B: Carl Pei’s London-based smartphone maker, which has shipped millions of devices since 2022, crossed $1B in sales. With Tiger Global leading the round, Nothing plans deeper AI integration into smartphones, wearables, and beyond.

• 🧑‍💻 Hyperbound Raises $15M: The sales-tech startup, led by ex-Meta and Salesforce engineers, offers AI-driven roleplay training in 25+ languages. With Autodesk, Bloomberg, and Monday.com as clients, it’s hitting $1M ARR growth monthly. Peak XV led the round, with YC and Snowflake joining in.

• 🔍 MarqVision Gets $48M: LA-based MarqVision, fighting counterfeits with AI-powered brand protection, raised Peak XV’s biggest US deal since the Sequoia split. Serving 350+ clients with $25M ARR, it blends deep-learning detection with automated takedowns across platforms.

🎲 Chai Break Trivia

Did you know 🍫 Balaji Wafers’ name was inspired by a Hanuman temple near the founders’ Rajkot home. From frying chips at a cinema stall in the 1970s, the Virani brothers built a brand now at the center of India’s multi-billion-dollar snack wars.

🔮 What’s Brewing Next

• 📊 US Fed Decision Tonight: Powell is expected to announce the first Fed rate cut of 2025—markets almost fully price in a 25-bps move. Indian equities will take cues tomorrow.

And that’s your Wednesday wrap! From wafers going gourmet-investor 🍟 to gold glittering like Diwali lights 🪔, today proves India’s markets are anything but boring. If the Fed cut lands tonight, expect fireworks tomorrow—until then, maybe grab a pack of Balaji chips before ITC and PepsiCo put their logo on it 😉.