🚧 Zepto Pauses Cafes. What Went Wrong?

☕ Good Morning, Masala Crew!

It’s Saturday, May 24, and the weekend is here—but there’s no rest for the news-hungry! While you’re figuring out brunch plans, India Inc. was busy shifting gears, trimming costs, and playing tariff tag with the world. From RBI’s record payout and Zepto’s temporary food delivery pause to Lego's India dreams and Trump’s trade tarriffs, we’ve got your weekend business fix, hot and ready.

Let’s steep the stories that matter 👇

☕ Chai Shots

• 🚧 Zepto Cafe Hits Pause on 44 Stores: Zepto has temporarily shuttered 44 of its quick-service cafes in North India, including locations in Agra, Chandigarh, and Mohali. The culprit? A surge in demand outpaced vendor supply, leading to stock-outs and operational chaos. Nearly 500 gig workers are affected, but most were offered redeployment. Zepto aims to resume operations by September. 📦 More in the Big Brew below!

• 🏪 Flipkart’s Quick Commerce Hustle: Flipkart Minutes is doubling down—literally. After launching in Bengaluru last year, it's expanding rapidly, with plans to hit 800 dark stores by December. Order volumes are now doubling every 45 days, as new chief Kabeer Biswas (ex-Dunzo) takes the reins.

• 🧱 Lego Builds Big in India: The Lego Group has launched its first certified store in Gurugram’s Ambience Mall, the largest in South Asia at over 4,500 sq. ft. The company plans to expand across key Indian cities and even help upskill toy designers through a partnership with C-DAC and MeitY.

• 🍎 Trump vs. Apple: The Tariff Tussle Returns: Former U.S. President Donald Trump has reignited trade war tensions by threatening Apple with a 25% tariff on iPhones not made in the U.S. The move tanked Apple shares by 3% and spooked global markets. 📉 More in Global Masala!

• 🧺 Otipy Folds Under Pressure: Agritech-backed grocery startup Otipy has shut shop, laying off 300+ employees after struggling to keep up with quick commerce rivals like Blinkit and Swiggy. Vendors and staff are reportedly owed payments as the curtains fall. This one feels personal- we really loved their direct-from-farm freshness. 🥲

📈 Market Masala

• 📊 Markets Bounce Back Big: The Sensex rose 769 points to 81,721, while the Nifty climbed 243 points to 24,853, snapping a 3-day slide. Buying in heavyweights like Reliance, HDFC Bank, and ITC helped, alongside RBI’s dividend news boosting investor sentiment.

• 💰 Forex Reserves Dip Despite Currency Gains: India’s forex reserves fell by $4.88B to $685.72B last week, led by a sharp $5.12B drop in gold holdings. Foreign currency assets rose marginally, offering a silver lining.

• 🎁 RBI’s Record Dividend Cheers Markets: The Reserve Bank of India is showering the Centre with a record-breaking ₹2.69 lakh crore dividend for FY25—its largest ever. This windfall, far higher than last year's ₹2.1 lakh crore, stems from stronger forex gains and VRR operations.

• 💵 Rupee Rebounds with Swagger: Snapping a three-day losing streak, the rupee surged by 50 paise to 85.45/$, helped by a weaker dollar index, strong local equities, and RBI liquidity support. This marks its strongest single-day gain in over 18 months.

🌍 Global Masala

• 📉 Wall Street Slides as Tariff Fears Return: Trump’s 25% iPhone tariff threat and a proposed 50% duty on EU goods rattled markets. The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 all closed the week over 2% lower. Apple fell 3%, dragging tech peers down too.

• 💸 Bitcoin Retreats Below $109K: After flirting with all-time highs, Bitcoin lost steam amid the market selloff and regulatory uncertainty. Crypto-linked stocks like Riot and Marathon also tumbled.

• 👜 Luxury Stocks Bruised by Trade Tensions: Shares of LVMH, Hermes, and Prada dropped after Trump’s EU tariff warnings. Analysts warn of ripple effects across Europe’s export-reliant luxury sector.

• ☢️ Nuclear Stocks Glow Brighter: New executive orders signed by Trump to revive nuclear energy gave a boost to companies like Oklo, Nano Nuclear, and Constellation Energy, all of which rallied in double digits.

☕ The Big Brew: Zepto Cafe’s Sudden Shutdown

Zepto Cafe, the fast-growing QSR wing of Zepto, has hit the pause button on 44 of its cafes across North India.

📦 Why the pause?
Skyrocketing demand (100K+ daily orders!) outpaced vendor capacity, causing frequent stock-outs. Combined with high operational costs and staffing challenges, Zepto decided to temporarily shut select cafes to fix the cracks.

👥 Who’s affected?
Around 400-500 gig workers and full-time employees, although Zepto claims most were offered redeployment. Store staff teams have also been trimmed from 9 to 7-8 per outlet to rein in payroll costs.

💸 The bigger picture
After burning ₹250–300 crore per month last year, Zepto has tightened its purse strings—spending fell to ₹95 crore in April. CEO Aadit Palicha still sees big potential in Zepto Cafe, which crossed ₹100 crore GMV and aims to scale rapidly after Q2.

What does this mean?
The 10-minute food game is fierce. With Blinkit’s Bistro and Swiggy’s Snacc in hot pursuit, Zepto’s temporary pullback might be just the breath it needs to regroup and come back stronger.

🚀 Startup Scoop

• 🧈 Milky Mist Goes Public: The dairy giant has transitioned to a public limited company ahead of its ₹2,000 crore IPO. With 150+ SKUs and a ₹1,900 crore revenue run rate, it’s churning up serious heat in the FMCG space.

• 💸 Stable Money Secures ₹173 Cr: The fixed-income wealthtech platform has raised fresh funds from Nandan Nilekani’s Fundamentum and others, pushing its valuation above $100M. Funds will go toward growth and marketing.

• 📦 Porter Gets Wellingtoned: On-demand logistics unicorn Porter saw Wellington Management pick up a stake through a green channel deal cleared by the CCI. Porter plans to use the momentum to scale further.

• 🧯 Zepto Faces Labour Heat: A Telangana gig workers' union has raised concerns about low pay, speed pressure, and safety issues. Zepto responded, defending its incentives, insurance cover, and flexible working terms.

• 🌐 OpenFX Steps Out with $23M: After a year in stealth, OpenFX has raised $23 million to build real-time cross-border payments infrastructure. With $10B in transaction volume already, it’s gunning for expansion into Latin America and Asia, and targeting treasury solutions for modern enterprises.

☕ Chai Break Trivia

Did you know? The word "jugaad" was officially added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2017! It’s defined as “a flexible approach to problem-solving that uses limited resources in an innovative way”—basically, peak Indian genius/

🍵 What’s Brewing Next?

• 💻 Nvidia’s Big Reveal: The AI chip giant will post earnings Wednesday. Investors are watching closely—especially after its recent entanglement in trade talks and its role as the poster child of Big Tech's AI splurge.

• 🛫 IndiGo’s Cross-Border Turbulence: The Indian government may review IndiGo’s partnership with Turkish Airlines amid geopolitical tensions and public pressure following Turkey’s pro-Pakistan stance.

🎉 Until Next Brew...

That’s a wrap on this piping-hot pour of Masala Chai! Whether you’re team filter coffee or swear by your elaichi chai, we hope this edition kept your weekend sizzling with news and nuance. As Trump lobs tariffs and Zepto flips switches, one thing’s for sure—there’s never a dull sip in the world of business. For now, enjoy your weekend!

Catch you later, same chai time, same chai channel ☕📈