💥 Paytm's ₹611 Crore FEMA Trouble (Mar 2)

☀️ Happy Sunday, Chai Lovers! It’s not just any Sunday—it’s a cricket Sunday! 🏏 

India is all set to take on New Zealand today, and whether you’re team chai or team coffee, we can all agree on one thing: It’s game time! Grab your cup of chai, settle in, and let’s dive into today’s hottest headlines before the first ball is bowled.

Chai Shots ☕

• 💥 Paytm's FEMA Resolution: Paytm and its subsidiaries, One 97 Communications (OCL), Little Internet, and Nearbuy India, have received a show-cause notice from the ED for alleged FEMA violations involving ₹611 crore.

• 🇨🇳 DeepSeek’s AI Claims: Chinese AI startup DeepSeek revealed a theoretical cost-profit ratio of 545% per day, shaking up the global AI market. While the numbers sound impressive, analysts are cautious, highlighting the need for transparency and real-world testing before such high profit ratios can be taken at face value.

• 🏦 Axis Bank Cracks Down: Axis Bank demands ₹23.25 lakh from a Gurgaon resident for exploiting a loophole in its rewards system to acquire excess reward points.

• 💸 Citigroup's $81 Trillion Oops: Citigroup accidentally credited a customer’s account with a staggering $81 trillion instead of $280 last year. The mistake, caught within 90 minutes and reversed shortly after, was reported as a “near miss” to U.S. regulators. This is the latest in a series of operational errors for Citi, which is working to improve its risk and control systems.

Market Masala 📊

• 📉 Hyundai's Sales Drop: Hyundai retailed 58,727 cars in February 2025, a 10.48% drop from January. Domestic sales fell by 11.62%, but exports grew by 6.8%.

• 💼 Piyush Goyal on Market Turbulence: Union Minister emphasized short-term volatility as a normal part of financial growth, highlighting India's strong capex recovery.

• 💻 Jio’s AI Cloud PC: Jio Platforms, led by Aakash Ambani, is developing a cloud-based AI personal computer accessible on any device, aiming to facilitate compute-intensive AI applications at low cost.

• 💳 UPI Transactions Dip: UPI recorded 16.11 billion transactions in February 2025, a 5.2% decline from January, but still showed a strong 33% YoY growth. Transaction value reached ₹21.96 lakh crore, a 20% increase YoY.

• 📉 Trading Volumes Down 30%: Nithin Kamath, CEO of Zerodha, highlighted a 30% drop in trading volumes across stock brokers, marking Zerodha’s first-ever degrowth since its inception 15 years ago.

Global Masala 🌍

• 🚨 March 4 Tariff Tsunami: Trump plans to hit Canada and Mexico with 25% tariffs over illegal fentanyl and migration issues, plus slap an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods. The initial confusion over dates has been cleared up, and markets are bracing for impact.

• 💸 France Faces Budget Woes: S&P Global Ratings puts France’s credit outlook to negative, citing rising debt and political instability. With the country’s debt projected to exceed 112% of GDP by 2026, concerns are mounting over its ability to implement structural reforms.

• 💻 Microsoft Outage Chaos: Tens of thousands of users were locked out of Microsoft services like Outlook, Teams, and 365 on Saturday. The issue, primarily affecting New York, Chicago, and LA, led to a flood of complaints on social media. Microsoft says they've identified the cause and are monitoring the situation.

☕ The Big Brew: Indian Stock Market’s Rough Ride 🎢📉

The Indian stock market is on a rollercoaster ride, folks! Here’s the lowdown:

• 📉 Market Mayhem: NSE Nifty 50 is on track for its fifth straight monthly loss—the longest losing streak since 1996.

• 💸 Wealth Wipeout: Nearly $1 trillion in investor wealth has vanished as the market remains down 15% from its September peak.

• 🌍 Why the Dip?

  • Weak earnings reports 📉

  • Persistent foreign outflows, with investors pulling out ₹25 billion since September 💸

  • Ongoing U.S. tariff uncertainty 🌐

• 🔍 Trading Volumes Also Tanking

  • Trading volumes have plummeted by 30% across stock brokers.

  • Even Zerodha, India’s second-largest broker, reported its first-ever degrowth since its inception 15 years ago.

  • Nithin Kamath, CEO of Zerodha, pointed to SEBI’s 'True to Label' circular, which now mandates full transparency in broker fees, as part of the slowdown.

🧠 Our Take: The market might stay a “sell-on-rise” scenario for a while. With reduced trading volumes and shaky sentiment, caution might be the mantra of the day. However, like any good chai, markets need time to brew. Whether we’re heading into a long winter or an early spring remains to be seen! ☕❄️🌸

Startup Scoop 🚀

• 📉 Technicolor India Crisis: Technicolor's financial struggles lead to salary issues for its 3,370 Indian employees, as the company faces operational shutdowns.

• 🚀 Boss Wallah Acquires ffreedom: Sashi Reddi's Boss Wallah acquired edtech platform ffreedom, aiming to support budding entrepreneurs in Tier II & III towns with business courses and expert guidance. The acquisition will help scale Boss Wallah’s offerings in digital businesses, home-based businesses, small-scale manufacturing, farming, and more.

🧐 Chai Break Trivia

☕ Did you know? India is the world's largest tea-drinking nation, but per capita, Turkey holds the crown! The average Turk drinks nearly 3.2 kg of tea per year—almost 10 cups a day! 🍵🇹🇷

⏩ What’s Brewing Next?

• 🚦 India-EU Talks: While CBAM (carbon tax on imports) isn't on the agenda, the EU is open to discussing India's specific concerns about the levy.

• 📅 March 12: Watch out for the 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports from India into the U.S. as announced by President Trump.

We hope today’s brew hit just right. Now, go enjoy your Sunday—whether it’s cheering for India in the cricket match, savoring a lazy afternoon, or binge-watching your favorite show.

We’ll be back tomorrow with a fresh cup of Masala Chai. Until then, keep sipping, stay curious, and may your chai always be kadak! 🍵😊