😤 Flyers fume, banks stay open, and Coke recalls 10,000 cans

Good morning and Happy Friday Junior ☕️

We're just one masala chai away from the weekend, and it’s already getting spicy out there. Tech stocks are wobbly, banks are staying open on a holiday, and flyers are fuming over sky-high fares. It’s time for your full-bodied pour of everything that matters today.

🍵 Chai Shots

• 🥊 Airlines vs DGCA continues: In the latest of a series of events (as we covered last week too), the DGCA has now backed down from its earlier demand for granular passenger-level fare data and will analyze aggregated numbers instead. More on this in Big Brew.

• 🌟 Jindal Stainless has stirred the pot by acquiring a 9.62% stake in Amazon-backed M1Xchange, a digital supply chain finance platform. It’s a big play for control over invoice discounting and liquidity access for MSMEs.

• 🏛️ Iconic US diner chain TGI Fridays is shutting down 130 stores as it battles bankruptcy and a slump in foot traffic, ending an era of casual dining nostalgia. Casual dining chains are struggling to stay relevant in the post-Covid, delivery-first era.

• 💸 NRI deposits dipped by $1.5 billion between October and January, despite the rupee weakening. Analysts point to job market pressures in the Gulf and economic uncertainty abroad.

• ⚠️ Bank of India has declared its ₹616 crore exposure to Rolta India as fraud. The IT firm, which filed for bankruptcy in early 2023, reportedly owes ₹14,000 crore across banks and bondholders.

🌟 Market Masala

• 📉 The Sensex finally took a breather, falling 729 points to 77,288 and snapping a seven-day rally. Nifty dropped 182 to 23,487 as investors booked profits.

• 🧪 Sectors with US exposure like pharma and IT saw red as traders grew wary of fresh US tariffs. Meanwhile, oil prices crept up due to US sanctions on Iran and a dip in crude inventories.

• 💰 Despite the dip, foreign investors continued to show confidence and remained net buyers in Indian equities.

• 📱 UPI users were temporarily thrown off as partial outages disrupted payments, but NPCI has since stabilized the system.

🌎 Global Masala

• 📉 Wall Street took a beating with tech leading the slide—S&P 500 fell 1.12%, Nasdaq dropped 2.04%, and Dow shed 132 points. Nvidia and Tesla were among the hardest hit.

• 🤖 Nvidia plunged over 5% after China's new environmental guidelines excluded its H20 chip, triggering wider tech stock selloffs. Microsoft’s data center pause didn’t help.

• 🚗 European stocks skidded, led by auto companies, as anticipation builds around Trump’s incoming auto tariffs. The Stoxx 600 slipped 0.7%.

• 💷 UK inflation cooled to 2.8%, sparking optimism about interest rate cuts. Gilt yields dropped slightly after a well-calibrated debt sale announcement.

• 📦 Coca-Cola recalled over 10,000 cans of Coke in Illinois and Wisconsin due to potential plastic contamination, in a rare Class II recall.

🍵 The Big Brew: Airfare Surge Drama

India's skies are getting expensive, and flyers aren't keeping quiet. ✈️ Here’s a quick chai-time breakdown:

• 💥 A LocalCircles survey showed 80% of flyers felt the burn of steep ticket prices over the past year.

• 🎫 During Maha Kumbh, airfares to Prayagraj surged by 300-600%. 87% of passengers ended up paying double—or more—than usual.

• 📊 The public wants action: 60% support capping fares, while half of them want a 2x ceiling.

• ✋ Airlines pushed back hard, warning that caps on upper bands could raise base fares and hurt overall affordability. Also, with 30% of aircraft grounded for maintenance, capacity is already stretched.

• 📉 In a major climbdown, the DGCA dropped its earlier demand for detailed, passenger-level data after airlines flagged competitive risks. Instead, it will now study aggregated fare data to track trends.

What does this mean?

The regulator is treading a tightrope between oversight and overreach. While there’s no cap coming yet, the issue’s staying hot. For now, more flights—not more rules—might be the way forward. But don’t expect the fare debate to fly away anytime soon. 🛫

🚀 Startup Scoop

• 🥛 Country Delight is milking investor interest again, securing ₹212 crore from Temasek to meet working capital needs and pursue new projects.

• 🧘‍♂️ Cult.fit has picked top banks like Axis, Jefferies, and Goldman Sachs to lead its ₹2,500 crore IPO, aiming for a near-$2 billion valuation.

• 📊 MobiKwik is flexing into broking with a new subsidiary targeting shares, commodities, and currencies. An initial ₹2 crore capital infusion is lined up.

• 🍵 D2C tea star Vahdam India brewed a ₹25 crore round with SIDBI Ventures—not for expansion, but to fortify its balance sheet.

• 🛒 Jumbotail is acquiring B2B rival Solv India in a consolidation play backed by SC Ventures. Expect tighter integration in SME finance soon.

🔢 What’s Brewing Next?

• 📅 March 31 bank holiday is officially cancelled—RBI wants year-end government transactions completed without delay.

🎮 Chai Break Trivia

Did you know that India's UPI (Unified Payments Interface) handles over 50 crore transactions a day?

No wonder even the tiniest tea stall now flashes a QR code! 🇮🇳📲💸

That’s all for this Thursday—err, Friday Junior! If you’re feeling smarter, share Masala Chai with someone who needs their daily dose of India’s most flavorful business brew.

Masala Chai out ☕️