Hello,
The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday held the policy repo rate at 5.50%, maintaining its neutral stance after assessing the current macroeconomic situation.
Meanwhile, the rift between India and the US deepened on Wednesday as the White House said that it is imposing an additional 25% tariff, bringing the total levies against India to 50%.
The RBI is also formalising how banks and NBFCs collaborate on loan origination. The central bank has published the first standalone directions for co-lending. The guidelines take effect on 1 January 2026, though lenders may adopt them sooner.
Elsewhere, ChatGPT maker OpenAI is in early-stage discussions about a stock sale that would allow employees to cash out and could value the company at about $500 billion, Reuters reported, citing a source.
ICYMI: The AI boom is helping tech executives become billionaires. The latest to join the elite club is Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar.
Lastly, while imaginations of the future often feature flying cars, one Chinese startup thinks people need a robotic dog that’s sturdy enough for an adult human can ride on.
Also, there are robots that can help you practise chess moves or even learn theories of relativity from a replica of Albert Einstein–take your pick!
In today’s newsletter, we will talk about
- Boost for India’s manufacturing sector
- Safeguarding digital banking
- Sujatha Mukunthan on breaking barriers in tech
Here’s your trivia for today: What war is the setting for the novel All Quiet on the Western Front?
News
Boost for India’s manufacturing sector
India’s manufacturing sector is expected to contribute approximately 3% to the global goods trade by 2030, up from its current share of around 1.8%, according to a new report released by Accel.
The report on Advanced Manufacturing also notes that “Domestic manufacturing is estimated to reach $1.3 trillion by FY30 at a CAGR of 18%.” While India’s current domestic manufacturing GDP stands at $471 billion, a significant portion of this growth is expected to be driven by advanced manufacturing.
Driving growth:
- The Accel report notes that India could be an alternative to China, amid the ongoing US-China tensions. While the report commends India’s Performance-Linked Incentive scheme and other policy changes, it also highlights India’s growing talent advantage compared to countries like China, Japan, and South Korea.
- According to the report, several key sub-sectors are expected to drive higher market growth in India’s manufacturing industry. These include aerospace and defence, electronics and electrical products, automobiles, chemicals, medical devices, and space.
- The report highlights that India’s $200 billion electronics and electrical sector is poised for 3X growth by 2030. It also notes that many publicly listed companies in the sector have shown strong growth compared to pre-COVID levels.
Funding Alert
Startup: The Sleep Company
Amount: Rs 480 Cr
Round: Series D
Startup: SuperGaming
Amount: $15M
Round: Undisclosed
Startup: DPDzero
Amount: $7M
Round: Series A
Startup
Safeguarding digital banking
While digital payment instruments have become more convenient and widely used, they’ve also increased the risk of fraud. Banks, especially small and medium-sized ones, are increasingly vulnerable to cyber fraud as banking services grow more digital and require the handling of large volumes of customer data.
Drona Pay works to secure banks and financial institutions from money laundering by adapting and updating their systems regularly, and focusing on detecting fraud and risky transactions.
Smart fraud detection:
- Drona Pay has built a platform that delivers real-time risk scores to help banks spot and stop every kind of fraud—from personal scams to large-scale money laundering. It uses real-time smart profiling, external references, and AI to flag suspicious transactions and send them for manual review.
- The startup works entirely within its clients’ systems—whether on the bank’s servers, within their private cloud, or as a hosted software-as-a-service (SaaS). It follows the same rules and compliance standards as the banks and only processes data that users have consented to share.
- Drona Pay was selected as a finalist at RBI’s HaRBInger 2024 for its solution to detect and prevent mule accounts using machine learning. Additionally, it was selected among ‘Top 100 Startups to Watch’ under IDFC FIRST Bank’s Leap to Unicorn programme, in collaboration with CNBC-TV18 and Moneycontrol.
Women in Tech
Sujatha Mukunthan on breaking barriers in tech
When Sujatha Mukunthan began her career as an intern at Siemens over two decades ago, she had no idea that she would one day return to lead a team of top-notch researchers at Siemens Technology & Services.
As Vice President and Research & Predevelopment Head, Mukunthan is an integral part of Siemens’ corporate research structure, heading a team in India that belongs to a bigger corporate research team at its headquarters in Germany.
News & updates
- Buyback: Uber unveiled a $20 billion stock buyback programme and forecast its third-quarter bookings above Wall Street estimates on Wednesday, as the ride-hailing and delivery services company benefits from growing adoption of its paid loyalty programme.
- Investment: Apple is reportedly investing another $100 billion to expand its operations in the United States. The major investment comes after the tech giant already committed $500 billion to growing its domestic footprint earlier this year.
- Upbeat: Walt Disney posted better-than-expected quarterly results and raised its annual profit forecast on Wednesday, led by gains in the streaming business, which is expected to be the centerpiece of its growth strategy in the coming years.
What war is the setting for the novel All Quiet on the Western Front?
Answer: World War I
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