Good morning. It’s Earlybird here with your daily energy drink of Indian business and tech news, minus the caffeine crash.

In this edition:

• 🚨 Tax crackdown on fake GSTs

• 🍃 Billion-dollar air-conditioning

• 💵 Cyberattack on Western Digital

MARKETS: WEEK-TO-DATE

*Stock data as of market close. Source.

• Markets: Analysts have noted that the current trendline indicates a bull trap for market investors. This is because Nifty failed to hold above the high overhead resistance of 18,200 levels on Friday, when the market caved under selling pressures. At the same time, take this stock market horoscope with a grain of salt.

ENERGY

Amara Raja powers up lithium cell production with Rs. 9,5k Cr facility in Telangana

And just like that, a new battery plant is born.

🔋 Amara Raja Batteries Ltd. recently laid the foundation stone for a new lithium cell production facility in the Mahbubnagar district of Telangana. Here’s what you gotta know:

About the new factory

• The new facility, which will be Telangana’s first gigafactory, will be designed to pump out up to 16GWh of lithium cells and 5GWh of battery packs.

• The plant also plans to produce 4,500 direct jobs and a comparable number of indirect jobs that will contribute significantly to the region's socioeconomic growth.

Development roadmap. Amara has stated that it will invest the Rs 9,500 crore over a 10-year period in Telangana to establish research and development as well as the said greenfield manufacturing plant for lithium-ion batteries.

TAX

CBIC cracks down on fake GST registrations in 2-month special drive

🚨 The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has launched a special two-month drive to identify and weed out fake Goods and Services Tax (GST) registrations. Here’s the plan, Stan:

The pressing concern

• The drive aims to identify the masterminds behind these fake registrations, which are used to generate fake invoices for claiming input tax credit (ITC) fraudulently.

• ITC fraud has been a major issue in the GST system, with fake invoices being used to claim refunds on taxes that were never paid.

• The CBIC has been taking steps to address this issue and the special drive is the latest effort in this direction.

Plan of attack. The CBIC will use data analytics to identify fake registrations and investigate the individuals and entities behind them. The use of technology is expected to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the drive.

We’ll check back with the CBIC to see what sort of fish they catch in their latest crackdown.

BUSINESS

Daikin India cools the competition with billion-dollar revenue milestone

🍃 Daikin Airconditioning India Pvt. Ltd. just crossed the billion-dollar revenue mark. And now the company is aiming to double its business in the next three years. Here’s what you need to know:

Strong growth in India

• Daikin India has seen strong growth in recent years, driven by increasing demand for air conditioning in the country.

• The company has been investing heavily in manufacturing and R&D to cater to this demand and expand its product portfolio.

Where all the loot comes from. Here’s a high-level picture of Daikin India’s revenue stream: 70% from residential (room AC), 20% from VRV (variable refrigerant volume AC systems) used in big workplaces, and the remaining 10% from commercial enterprises.

Second to cross the line. Daikin India is now the second business in the cooling industry to surpass the USD 1 billion mark, following Tata group firm Voltas, which posted a total income of Rs 9,667 crore for FY23.

INDIA EDITION: WHAT ELSE IS ON THE BIRDWATCH

• ⛽️ India’s OPEC imports are at their lowest, ever. India's imports from OPEC have hit an all-time low as the country opts for cheaper Russian oil. According to data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell, India's oil imports from OPEC countries fell to 74% in the fiscal year ending in March, the lowest level in over a decade.

• ✈️ GoFirst flights cancelled ‘til May 12th. Soon after filing for bankruptcy, GoFirst has announced the cancellation of all flights until May 12th amid its plea for voluntary insolvency resolution proceedings.

• ⚡️ JSW lands 300MW project deal with SECI. JSW Energy has signed an agreement with the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to develop wind power projects with a total capacity of 300 MW.

FUNDING DEALS

Catch up on the Indian funding flows from the past 24hrs:

• Auraml, a synthetic image data platform for robotics development, has raised $230K in fresh funding from Indian Angel Network to accelerate its growth and enhance its technology.

• Zapkey, a proptech and home sales guarantee platform, has secured pre-Series A funding from DSP Group Family Office to support its growth plans and expand its customer base.

WORLD

Headline Explorer

👀 OpenAI’s GPTs a bit rusty on customer data. isn’t trained for OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, has disclosed that the company has not trained its GPT language models with any paying customer data for a while, citing ethical concerns and potential biases.

💵 Buffet’s still got it, BH makes billions. Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate run by Warren "Oracle of Omaha" Buffett, made a whopping $35.5 billion in Q1. The earnings are a result of the company's investments, which include major positions in Coca-Cola, American Express, and the healthcare sector.

💻️ Cyberattack on Western Digital. Western Digital, the American data storage company, announced that it suffered a cyberattack that exposed customer data, including names and partial credit card details.

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