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TRAI is cracking down on Jio and Airtel! Swipe left to know why↩️ Who do you think is at fault here, the telecom company or the regulator? Let us know in the comments and follow Finshots for more!

We had a BIG announcement to make but things didn't go according to plan. We'll try again later, but in the meantime- do you have any guesses? 👀 Tell us in the comments. Let's see if you can get it right!

A two-wheeler showroom raised Rs 4800 Crore through IPO! Here is the crazy story-- If you’ve seen The Wolf of Wall Street, you’ll probably remember that iconic scene where Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, Jordan Belfort, spins a slick pitch over the phone, selling a questionable penny stock. But if you haven’t watched the movie, here’s what the scene looks like. The investor, sceptical at first, gets completely swept away by Belfort’s smooth talk and ends up investing more than they initially planned. It’s a masterclass in persuasion, and a cautionary tale for anyone thinking of jumping into the stock market. Now, if you think that this kind of pitch belongs only in the ’90s; believe it or not, something similar is playing out in the Indian markets today. But instead of Belfort’s phone calls, we’ve got small Indian companies asking for massive sums from the public. And investors aren’t shying away from showing up in droves. You could look at Resourceful Automobiles Ltd., for example. It’s a bike dealership with just 2 showrooms and 8 employees. In FY23, the company recorded close to ₹20 crores in sales and made a profit of about ₹40 lakhs. Yet, it wanted ₹12 crores from its IPO. Sure, that might seem reasonable when you look at the sales-to-valuation figure. But here’s the kicker. The company was clearly running on negative operating cash flows. And nearly 40% of the IPO funds were intended to repay loans, not fuel business growth. Despite this, investors flooded the bike dealership with offers totalling a staggering ₹4,769 crores. And although the stock remained flat at ₹122 per share on its first day of trading, it never dipped below its issue price of ₹117. Or consider Broach Lifecare Hospital, a tiny 25-bed facility. It set out to raise ₹4 crores but ended up with offers exceeding ₹640 crores from eager investors. These are just a couple of handpicked examples, but they’re far from isolated cases. So far in 2024, over 140 SMEs (small and medium enterprises) have launched IPOs, raising a jaw-dropping ₹4,800 crores. Sounds like a win-win for the company and the investors, right? Well, not quite. Get the full scoop in today's newsletter! And don't forget to follow Finshots for more!

Mukesh Ambani announced big plans for Jio Finance during Reliance’s AGM, but can the company really make a dent?🤔 Swipe left to find out↩️ And don’t forget to follow Finshots for more!

🚨India needs a Census, URGENTLY! Here is why— If you grew up in the 90s or early 2000s, you may remember the census (from 2011). Maybe a friendly enumerator knocked on your door, asking questions about your household — how many people lived there, your education level and if you have access to basic amenities like a washroom. Fast forward to 2024, and here we are, gearing up for another round of this once-in-a-decade ritual. But this one’s a little late — actually, three years late. Sure, you could blame it on the pandemic and the government’s intention to shift from pen-and-paper to digital tabulation, but this delay is more than just a minor inconvenience. In fact, it’s causing some serious complications. So, why does the census matter so much, you ask? You see, the census is not just a routine headcount of the population. It’s like the ultimate data treasure trove. It shapes how we understand our country — who lives where, how cities are expanding and what kind of social policies need tweaking. It’s the bedrock for everything from planning welfare schemes to building political strategies. To get the full picture, you could take a quick trip down memory lane to past censuses. In 1991 and 2011, for instance, the numbers revealed something shocking. There was a steep drop in the child sex ratio in states like Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat. In simple terms, people were aborting female babies and in favour of male children. This disturbing trend forced the government to step in. They introduced the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act in 1994 to crack down on female foeticide. And by 2015, the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao campaign came into play, tackling gender bias head-on. Or you could consider the rapid urbanisation trend captured by the 2001 and 2011 censuses. That data prompted governments to launch initiatives like the JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission) in 2005, followed by the Smart Cities Mission and AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation). These were all aimed at making Indian cities more liveable, sustainable and well-managed. Plus, census data isn’t just about numbers. It’s key for deciding how resources get distributed. The education department, for example, depends on this data to support states with lower literacy rates and the Finance Commission decides how to allocate funds. But why has it been delayed so far? Find out in today’s newsletter! And don’t forget to follow Finshots for more!

GST collection from Maharashtra is more than double of Karnataka, the state with second highest collections!🤯 This means more businesses are based out of these states. Why do you think it is so? Let us know in the comments and follow Finshots for more!

Amazon is spying on Flipkart!! Will there be any consequences?🕵️♂️ Let us know in the comments and follow Finshots for more!

Are Amazon and Flipkart in TROUBLE? Here is the full story-- Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal didn’t hold back last week. He called out e-commerce companies and his question was simple: Is Amazon playing fair, or is it slowly squeezing the life out of India’s small businesses? But this isn’t the first time we’ve heard concerns about e-commerce giants since they entered the Indian market back in the early 2010s. So why call them out today, all of a sudden? Well, it seems Amazon is planning to invest a whopping $26 billion into India by 2030. And there’s a troubling inconsistency that Goyal can’t ignore—how can Amazon justify this massive investment while its Indian arm, Amazon Seller Services, reported a 33% rise in net losses last year? It’s not just about the money because Goyal is also questioning how a company that claims to merely connect buyers and sellers is racking up billions in losses while pushing deep discounts. It all sounds too twisted, right? And that's the heart of the issue. It's something that Goyal flagged as “predatory pricing” or in other words, the strategy of selling products at such low prices that it drives competitors out of the market— like e-commerce platforms offering prices so low that local businesses just can’t keep up. And as Goyal suspects, Amazon’s aggressive pricing strategy is doing just that - slowly but surely crushing India’s small retailers. To understand the impact, let’s take a step back. Say you’re eyeing the latest smartphone. You’ve got two options: head to a local store and haggle a bit, or shop online, where irresistible offers—10% off with a credit card, extra discounts for trading in your old phone, and cashback deals – lure you in. It’s no wonder millions, like you and me, click ‘buy’ from the comfort of their couch. But while you’re scoring those deals, local shops are fighting to stay open. They can’t compete with the rock-bottom prices offered by online giants. And this isn’t just bad news for your neighbourhood retailers, it’s a serious issue for India’s economy too. Back in 2013, 10% of smartphones in India were being sold online. By 2016 that figure jumped to 30%. By 2019, 44% of all smartphones were sold online. And of these online sales, Amazon and Flipkart were already dominating roughly 90% of all smartphone sales. It doesn't stop at smartphones – whether its clothing, footwear, or kitchen appliances, folks are turning to online marketplaces for the best possible deals they can find. So, when Amazon announced its plan to invest another $26 billion in India, Goyal wasn’t buying it—literally and figuratively. He suspects those massive losses Amazon reports are a direct result of slashing prices to undercut competitors. And those billion-dollar investments? They might just be a clever way to cover these losses. What do you think? Let us know in the comments and follow Finshots for more!

Tata, Birla, and Reliance are now competing in this space, who do you think will win?🤔 Let us know in the comments and follow Finshots for more!

24 companies related to Reliance have been banned from the stock markets for 5 years!!! Here is why.. For starters, these companies were related to Anil Ambani. But why? Let’s take it from where it all started. t’s 2017, and you're a young up-and-coming investor having parked some money in an Indian housing finance company. Housing finance companies are all the rage at the time. So you think you've made a sound investment. But a year passes by and the stock doesn't perform as expected. Then, troubling news begins to surface. First, you hear about fund diversion. And then you see reports about the company’s top management, especially the chairman. It seems he has been approving loans worth thousands of crores of rupees without following due process. And these loans were improperly categorized as general-purpose working capital loans (GPCL) and were being used to pay off earlier loans in a circular funding scheme, or what accountants call “evergreening of funds”. Worse still, the companies receiving these loans seem dubious—with close ties to the chairman and little to no real assets backing them. Then in June 2019, the company's statutory auditor abruptly resigns. The reason? Several irregularities, and a shocking revelation – loans disbursed by the company for general corporate purposes spiked from ₹900 crores in March 2018 to ₹7,900 crores in March 2019. ₹7,000 crores in general loans in just one year? That looked bad and it gets worse for your investment. As the fraud becomes apparent, the share price collapses to just ₹0.75 by March 2020. Come 2021, and you realise that SEBI has found further irregularities in the company's operations and has barred the chairman from the markets. Panic spreads, and investors like yourself finally begin to sell what little shares they hold. Now it’s 2024, and the market regulator drops another bombshell. ₹8,470 crores in loans were disbursed from the housing finance company to 45 related companies, all without proper due diligence. In fact, most of the loans were disbursed on the same day, and of those 45 companies, 41 companies shared a common email address. Unfortunately, you missed the bus on the whole saga and you couldn't sell your stocks. Your once-valuable shares worth ₹100 seven years ago, are just worth ₹4 today. And it’s not just you. Close to 9 lakh investors are now staring at massive losses. It’s a nightmare no investor would wish for! And as you may have guessed already. The company here is Reliance Home Finance Limited (RHFL) and the chairman is Anil Ambani. Get the full scoop in today's newsletter, and don't forget to follow Finshots for more!