🌤️ Good morning, midweek marvels!

While global trade talks are doing the tango and India’s IT stocks keep the party going, we’ve brewed a power-packed cup of news to keep your head sharp and your masala stronger. Whether you're reading this over filter coffee or mid-commute, this edition is for everyone who likes their news bold and bite-sized.

Let’s sip in. ☕

☕ Chai Shots

• 🚪 Zomato’s Delivery Chief Steps Aside: Rakesh Ranjan has exited the top job at Zomato's food delivery biz. Founder Deepinder Goyal is stepping in temporarily. With rivals like Swiggy speeding up 10-minute deliveries, Zomato’s plate just got hotter.

• 💼 Big Brother is Watching Your Bag: From April 22, splurging over ₹10 lakh on items like designer watches, handbags, or art will attract a 1% tax collected at source. The taxman isn’t just counting your income—he’s tracking your taste. 🕵️‍♂️ More in the Big Brew!

• 💼 Tata Tea Feels the Burn: Tata Consumer’s profits may have surged 59% YoY, but tea inflation in India brewed a bitter aftertaste. Rising input costs dented EBITDA margins — and even with price hikes, it wasn’t enough chai to save the cup.

• 🛫 Adani’s Airport Ambitions Take Flight: Adani Airports is hunting for a $750M offshore loan from global banks like Barclays and Standard Chartered. The goal? Fund capex and refinance dollar debt due in September. Global lenders seem to be warming up again to Gautam Adani’s empire. 💰

📈 Market Masala

• 📊 Seven Straight for Sensex & Nifty: The Sensex rallied 521 points to end above 80,100, while Nifty surged 162 to 24,329 — both clocking their seventh straight day of gains. HCL Tech led the cheer squad with an 8% pop.

• 💻 IT Stocks Dominate: HCL Tech wasn’t alone. Infosys, Tech Mahindra, and TCS rallied hard, making the Nifty IT index the session’s best performer.

• 🏦 Banking Stocks Dragged: While tech soared, banking cooled off — Kotak, HDFC, and SBI took a breather, dipping up to 2%.

• ⚡ BluSmart Sparks Investor Alarm: Financial irregularities at BluSmart and Gensol have investors rewriting contracts with stricter terms, broader background checks, and clawback clauses. Venture capitalists are now packing extra armor before betting on Indian startups.

• 🏦 FDs Take Another Tumble: Both Kotak Mahindra and Axis Bank slashed fixed deposit rates this week — for the second time in April! With the RBI dialing down the repo rate to 6%, your long-term returns are now feeling the pinch. Might be time to lock those FDs while you still can. 📉

🌍 Global Masala

• 📈 Dow Jumps on Tariff Truce Hopes: The Dow rose 400+ points as Trump signaled softer trade terms with China and said Fed Chair Powell's job is safe (for now). Apple, Nvidia, and Tesla rejoiced. 📊

• 🏦 EU Smacks Apple & Meta with $800M+ in Fines: The European Union fined Apple for blocking alternative App Store options and Meta for pushing users into consent or pay models. Regulatory heat? Blazing.

☕ The Big Brew: India’s Tax Net Just Got Luxe

Catch the Cash: From now on, if you're buying luxury watches, art, sportswear, or even yachts over ₹10 lakh — you’ll pay 1% upfront as tax collected at source (TCS).

Why this matters: It’s not about raising revenue — it’s about shining a flashlight on India’s luxe-loving, tax-shy elite. Small-town HNIs are splurging big and not always declaring it.

What's on the list:

• 👜 Designer handbags

• 🕶️ Luxury sunglasses

• ⛷️ Ski gear

• 🐎 Race horses

• ⛵ Canoes, yachts

• 🖼️ Art pieces & antiques

How it works: The seller collects 1% TCS and links it to your PAN. You can claim it back in your ITR, just like TDS. But it also puts you on the IT radar if your luxury lifestyle doesn’t match your declared income.

🧐 What does this mean for me?

If you're dropping big bucks on baller buys, your name’s likely to flash on the taxman’s dashboard. No more hidden Hermes.

🚀 Startup Scoop

• 🥘 Devyani x Biryani by Kilo: Devyani International (behind KFC & Pizza Hut in India) is buying into Sky Gate Hospitality. This brings BBK into its spicy portfolio. The biryani game just got franchised.

• 🧠 Ampivo AI Acquires Commerce Forever: AI meets B2B ecom — Ampivo AI now owns 51% of Commerce Forever. It’s planning to bake predictive AI into every backend process, from logistics to invoicing.

• 🔋 Fabric & Intellicar Raise $13.5M: EV data platform Fabric and subsidiary Intellicar scored fresh capital from Nuveen. With 3L+ EVs on their tech stack, this will boost green mobility data infra.

• 🎮 Zupee Scores Big: Real-money gaming app Zupee posted a whopping ₹146 crore profit in FY24, fueled by Ludo, Snakes & Ladders, and an ever-growing user base of 100M+. That's not just play money. 🎲

• 🧠 KiranaPro Gets a Boost: D2C expert Arjun Vaidya joins KiranaPro as investor and mentor. The ONDC-integrated quick commerce startup is now gearing up to digitally upgrade your neighborhood kirana like never before.

🤓 Chai Break Trivia

Did you know 🤑 India mints a new billionaire every five days?
According to the Hurun Rich List 2024, 🇮🇳 now has over 330 dollar billionaires — and the number's still climbing.

🌆 Small-town millionaires from Tier 2 and 3 cities are fueling the luxury boom and redefining where wealth lives in India! 💸💼

🔮 What’s Brewing Next?

• 📦 Zepto and Swiggy respond to HC over app accessibility for visually impaired

🫖 Until tomorrow...

In a week heavy with heartbreak and headlines, the markets held firm, and India’s growth story didn’t flinch. But today, maybe light a candle, skip the screen for a minute, and check in on someone who might need it. We’ll be back tomorrow with more masala, less noise.