Hello,
India’s equity market saw a sharp rally on Monday, with investors backing auto and consumer goods stocks amid rising hopes of a goods and services tax (GST) rejig.
The BSE Sensex was up 0.84% to close at 81,273.75, while the NSE Nifty gained 1% to settle at 24,876.95.
All eyes will now be on the two-day meeting of the state ministerial panel on August 20, when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to discuss the sweeping GST reforms.
In other news, Tamil Nadu is doubling down on its Rs 500-crore Semiconductor Mission 2030, seeking to position the state as a hub for chip design, testing, and manufacturing. The government has sanctioned a Semiconductor Design Promotion Scheme, which will provide subsidies and prototyping grants to fabless design firms.
ICYMI: After his chaotic exit from X, Parag Agrawal has now launched an AI startup to help bots interact on the open web.
Lastly, social media terms creeping into everyday conversation led Cambridge Dictionary to include “skibidi” and “delulu” among other words in its online edition.
“Broligarchy”, a mashup of ‘bro’ and ‘oligarchy’—referring to tech leaders who attended US President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January—also made it to the list.
In today’s newsletter, we will talk about
- Devdutt Pattanaik’s advice for founders
- Cashfree’s AI payment system
- AI-powered digital marketing engine for SMBs
Here’s your trivia for today: Which port, in modern-day Iraq, was home to the legendary Sinbad the Sailor?
Interview
Devdutt Pattanaik on why founders must introspect
In a world glorifying hustle, mythologist and writer Devdutt Pattanaik asks this simple question to startup founders. “A person who is ambitious thinks about their own hunger. And the people around them, they don’t just see them as beings—they see them only in terms of consumption,” he says.
In a candid conversation with Shradha Sharma, Founder and CEO of YourStory, Pattanaik talks about endless hunger—a trait often celebrated in corporate boardrooms, MBA schools, and at startup pitch fests, but one which depletes one of purpose, joy and sanity.
The hunger trap:
- Pattanaik’s latest book, Escape the Bakasur Trap, talks about this unending ambition and how, when unchecked, success can come at the cost of happiness and balance. He compares the relentless pursuit of success to Bakasur—a demon from Indian mythology known for his unending appetite.
- In the startup world where valuation trumps value created, contentment is often seen as the enemy of growth, and Pattanaik wants to challenge that. “…I am challenging this whole idea that growth can only happen through dissatisfaction.” He emphasises considering santosh, or contentment, as a core pillar of any business.
- In another metaphorical comparison, Pattanaik mentions that founders must serve, and not just scale. Emphasising the concept of punya, or karmic credit, he says everyone has to repay, and everyone owes something to the world.
Funding Alert
Startup: Amnex Infotechnologies
Amount: Rs 460 Cr
Round: Equity
Startup: Goldi Solar
Amount: Rs 137 Cr
Round: Equity
Fintech
Cashfree designs an AI payment system
Cashfree Payment has built an AI-native payments engine, enabling merchants to initiate and manage payments directly through conversational interfaces, such as WhatsApp, without any coding or complex integrations.
The fintech company—after introducing its Model Context Protocol (MCP) in June—has now become one of the first Indian fintechs to launch Remote MCP.
Key takeaways:
- Cashfree’s Remote MCP uses large language models to connect AI agents, bots, or automation tools with a business’s payment systems for secure, real-time collections, refunds, payouts, and verifications.
- Cashfree’s new feature supports over 100 payment methods, including credit and debit cards, net banking, wallets like Paytm, UPI via BHIM, EMI options, and Buy Now Pay Later.
- “With Gen AI, we’ve expanded use cases both for customers and internally. After launching our MCP server, we’re now building on top of it so merchants can integrate much faster, and it opens our products to a much wider set of users,” says Mayank Juneja, Associate Architect at Cashfree Payments.
Startup
AI-powered digital marketing engine for SMBs
A large number of MSMEs shied away from using technology that could benefit them. SaaS startup Grexa helps small and medium-sized businesses grow using GenAI.
The team at Grexa decided to make an automated digital marketing engine that will do everything—from acquiring new customers to creating marketing campaigns for SMBs to grow revenue. Grexa uses multiple LLMs in its backend, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic AI.
News & updates
- Steel plant: POSCO Holdings, a South Korean steel-making company, has signed an agreement with JSW Steel to jointly consider building a 6 million tonnes per annum integrated steel plant in India. Odisha has emerged as one of the likely candidates for this plant.
- Stargate: Foxconn plans to manufacture data centre equipment with Japan’s SoftBank at the Taiwanese firm’s former electric vehicle factory in Ohio, US, as part of the Stargate project to advance US AI infrastructure.
- New tools: Grammarly, an AI assistant for communication and productivity, is launching eight specialised AI agents that provide targeted assistance for specific writing challenges—from finding credible sources and checking originality to predicting reader reactions, according to a press release.
Which port, in modern-day Iraq, was home to the legendary Sinbad the Sailor?
Answer: Basra
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