☕ Happy Thursday aka Friday Junior chai fam!

The markets are sweating, startups are raising, and even diamonds are sparkling their way into India’s premiumisation story. Meanwhile, railway employees just got their festive bonus, and fintech giants are queuing up to list. Grab your cup — today’s brew is full of glitter, grind, and a little government spice 🚂💎📉

📰 Chai Shots

• 🚂 Railway Diwali bonus approved: The Cabinet cleared a ₹1,866 crore productivity-linked bonus for 10.9 lakh employees, equal to 78 days’ wages. Workers like track maintainers, guards, loco pilots, and technicians will get up to ₹17,951 each. The government hopes this cash injection, alongside record freight loading of 1,614.9 MT and 7.3B passengers carried last year, will stoke festive spending.

• 🏦 Swiggy divests Rapido stake: Swiggy sold its 11.8% holding in Rapido for ₹2,400 crore to Prosus and WestBridge. The move comes after Rapido’s entry into food delivery via ‘Ownly’, seen as a direct conflict of interest. The deal values Rapido at ₹20,000 crore, up from ₹8,500 crore in 2024.

• 🍵 Emergent’s $23M leap into AI-powered app building: Dunzo cofounder Mukund Jha and his brother Madhav are building a future where anyone can spin up a working app in minutes — no coding required. Their startup Emergent just raised $23M from Lightspeed, Y Combinator, Prosus, Balaji Srinivasan, Jeff Dean and others. More in the Big Brew 👇

• 📲 PhonePe files IPO papers: Walmart-backed PhonePe has confidentially filed with SEBI to raise about $1.5B in a domestic IPO, valuing the fintech at nearly $15B. Revenue surged 40% YoY in FY25 to ₹7,115 crore, while net loss narrowed 13% to ₹1,727 crore. With a payments aggregator licence in hand and expansions into insurance, lending, stockbroking, and app distribution, PhonePe is positioning itself as a broad-based financial services player ahead of the listing.

📈 Market Masala

• 📉 Sensex extends losing streak: The Sensex closed 386 points lower at 81,716, while Nifty slid 113 points to 25,057, marking the fourth straight day of declines. Selling pressure was concentrated in IT, auto, and banking stocks as fears over the U.S. $100K H-1B visa fee and persistent FII outflows rattled sentiment. Tata Motors sank 2.7% after extending a JLR plant shutdown, while BEL, UltraTech Cement, and Axis Bank also dragged the indices.

• 💊 PharmEasy clears debt pile: Parent firm API Holdings raised ₹1,700 crore through non-convertible debentures by pledging a 61% stake in Thyrocare. The money will be used to redeem older debt worth over ₹1,800 crore. The company remains under pressure with mounting losses and multiple leadership exits over the past year.

• 💎 Diamonds sparkle in India: Premiumisation is fuelling a 12% YoY jump in India’s diamond jewellery demand, and De Beers is betting big. Its Forevermark brand is being reintroduced as a retail-first label, making India its global launchpad. With branded diamond jewellery projected to grow from $8B to $20B by 2030, De Beers plans 15 stores next year and 100 by 2030, targeting a growing affluent middle class and Gen Z buyers. India now accounts for 10% of global diamond jewellery sales, second only to the U.S.

🌍 Global Masala

• 📱 Xiaomi takes on Samsung with 15T launch: Xiaomi debuted its 15T and 15T Pro phones in Munich at €649 and €799, offering flagship-level features at lower prices than Samsung’s S25 lineup. Alongside, it rolled out Mijia-branded appliances like fridges and washing machines, signalling a direct challenge to Samsung’s multi-category dominance.

• 🔋 Lithium Americas rockets: Shares of Lithium Americas surged nearly 90% after reports the Trump administration is negotiating a 10% stake in its Nevada Thacker Pass mine. The $2.26B project, partly backed by GM, could churn out 40,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate annually by 2028 — enough for 800,000 EVs.

🍵 The Big Brew — Emergent’s $23M leap into AI-powered app building

Ex-Dunzo cofounder Mukund Jha and his brother Madhav Jha are turning a sci-fi vision into reality: letting anyone with an idea and a smartphone build a working app. Their startup Emergent just closed a $23M Series A led by Lightspeed, with Y Combinator, Prosus, Jeff Dean, Balaji Srinivasan, and others participating — bringing total raised to $30M.

Here’s why this matters:

• 🏗️ Emergent collapses the entire app dev cycle — frontend, backend, payments, deployment — into a chat-like experience for non-coders.

• ⚡ In 90 days, it’s already hit $15M ARR, with over 1M users building 2M apps ranging from CRMs to trading tools.

• 🤖 Its in-house AI coding agent detects and fixes bugs in real time, simplifying software building for first-timers.

• 🌍 Use cases span global SMBs digitising workflows, U.S. jewellers pricing repairs with AI, and creators making productivity apps.

• 📈 Unlike low-code tools with steep learning curves, Emergent aims to be “like talking to a dev who codes, tests, and ships for you.”

What does this mean? Emergent’s rocket-like rise shows how India-born founders are driving global AI infra for non-tech users. If they keep up this momentum, they might define the way future businesses, creators, and entrepreneurs build software.

🚀 Startup Scoop

• 🛠️ P-TAL secures $3M: Heritage-inspired D2C brand P-TAL raised $3M from VC Grid, Rainmatter, and others. The funding will be used for product innovation, artisan community empowerment, and supply chain efficiency upgrades.

• 🪙 Gullak strikes gold: Gold savings platform Gullak secured $7.5M in Series A funding led by Chiratae Ventures with Y Combinator, GMO, and Rebel Funds participating. The app, which already boasts 10 lakh+ downloads and 80% annual retention, will use the money to expand into tier-II and III cities and deepen jeweller tie-ups for digital gold SIPs and one-time investments.

• ♻️ Grest pulls in ₹16 crore: Electronics re-commerce player Grest raised funding led by Equentis. With 60+ retail stores and a 20,000 sq ft refurb lab, it sells smartphones, laptops, and wearables after 50+ quality checks. FY25 revenue surged 9x to ₹26 crore, up from ₹2.9 crore in FY23.

• 🤖 Blinkit-AI gets $1.2M: Noida-based Blinkit-AI raised seed funding from Foliflex Cables. Its platform unifies content creation, campaign management, and collaboration into a single workflow for brands and creators. The funds will go into new hires, larger client partnerships, and product upgrades.

⚡ What’s Brewing Next?

• 📲 PhonePe IPO filing: Walmart-backed fintech confidentially files for $1.5B domestic IPO at a ~$15B valuation.

That’s all for today’s brew ☕ — from railway bonuses lighting up Diwali to Emergent trying to make coding as easy as chatting, India’s story is a mix of festive cheer and futuristic ambition. May your Thursday be as rewarding as a ₹17,951 PLB bonus and as exciting as a 90% lithium stock rally 💸🔋

Catch you tomorrow with another hot pour of Masala Chai 🌶️