Good morning. It’s that time of year, it’s scorching hot, and you’re hallucinating a whole global economic recovery. It’s good we’re here to set the record straight.

In this edition:

• 🥗 Extra charges at Swiggy

• 📦️ Amazon omits India from earnings report

• 🛑 Google bans 1.4 million apps

MARKETS

*Stock data as of market close. Source.

• Markets: Nifty has been flexing a lot lately, and if the momentum persists, experts predict that the next resistance levels to follow are 18,200 and 18,300. Likewise, support levels have scooched higher too, touching 17,900 and 17,800.

FOOD

Swiggy announces new per-order platform fee

🥗 Food delivery giant Swiggy has announced the introduction of a new platform fee as part of the company's efforts to maintain profitability. Here’s what you need to know:

• The platform has begun collecting a fixed fee of Rs 2 for each order, no matter the cart value

• The extra fee will befall the metros first, in cities like Bengaluru and Hyderabad, among others. But not Delhi and Mumbai for some reason.

• Swiggy’s quick-commerce division, Instamart, was spared from this change.

But why the bigger swig

The additional Rs 2 fee would generate a respectable corpus to re-inject back into the platform's daily delivery of over 1.5 million orders amid its recent cash crunch. The platform has reportedly lost more money than Zomato last fiscal, so it makes sense that they’re making up for it.

LOGISTICS

India gets omitted from Amazon’s Q1 earnings report

📦️ Amazon has released its Q1 2023 earnings report, but there's one major detail missing - the figures for its India business.

This marks the first time in years that Amazon has omitted data for its fastest-growing market, and it has raised concerns among investors and analysts.

Behind the omission

• India’s absence from this key metric comes in the wake of Amazon shutting down a number of services in the nation, including food delivery and wholesale distribution.

• This has many analysts wondering if the American giant is planning to ditch more plans in the nation amid global restructuring.

Good strides in the past. Over the past ten years, Amazon has invested over $7B in its operations in India, where it has engaged in aggressive competition with Walmart-backed Flipkart.

Put your tin foil hats on. Sanford C. Bernstein's analysis claims that Amazon is trailing Flipkart and finding it difficult to establish itself in smaller Indian cities and villages.

INDIA EDITION: WHAT ELSE IS ON THE BIRDWATCH

• 🏦 Axis Bank down Rs. 57,000 crore after Citibank takeover. Axis Bank has reported losing Rs. 57,000 crore for the March quarter, following the acquisition of Citibank's India business. Without the humongous buy, the bank’s net profit for the quarter would have stood at Rs 6,625 crore, up 61% year-on year.

• ✂️ Tickertape is trimming team by 30%. Tickertape, a financial research platform backed by the investment firm Smallcase, has announced plans to lay off 30% of its workforce. The move comes amid growing competition in the Indian fintech space and a need for Tickertape to restructure its operations to stay competitive.

• 💵 New price premium on Amazon Prime. Amazon Prime's subscription cost is set to increase in India, with the company now charging more than its main rival, Netflix at Rs 299 a month.

FUNDING DEALS

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

• Xpressbees, a logistics firm that provides courier and warehousing services, is packing up a recent $40M investment from the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund, Khazanah Nasional Berhad. The new capital will be used to enhance the company's technology capabilities, expand its reach across India, and explore opportunities in new business verticals.

• Servify, a Mumbai-based device management and after-sales services platform, has raised $5.3M in a funding via an extended Series D round. The funds will be used to and accelerate Servify’s growth in the device after-sales and warranty segment.

WORLD

Headline Explorer

🛑 Google bans 1.4 million apps. Google is laying down the law on rogue apps in India with over 1.4 million apps banned from its Play Store for policy violations.

🪙 Get schooled by Binance’s AI tool for Web3 learning. Binance has launched a new AI-powered educational tool called Binance Sensei, designed to make it easier for newbies to understand and access Web3.

💵 Sony's profits hit high notes with record sales. Sony has announced a record-breaking year of sales so far, with net profits beating expectations at $84.5B. The surge was attributed to the expansion of the company’s image sensor, music, film, and gaming segments.

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