Good morning. Today, people are spending copious amounts of money on shiny new planes, cars, and being caught for money laundering. Catch it all here in this episode of Earlybird.

In this edition:

• ✈️ $80B in Airline deals

• 🚗 $200B on EVs and new Volkswagen tech

• 🔨 $115M in Indian crypto seizures

MARKETS

*Stock data as of market close. Source.

• Markets: The Indian stock market fell for the fourth consecutive day, with profit booking leading to a decline in both the Nifty and the Sensex, as investors took "stock" of the current economic environment and adjusted their portfolios accordingly.

AIRLINES

Air India just inked a supermassive fleet order worth $80B

✈️ Air India, the country’s flag carrier airline, is set to make a massive investment in its fleet with a deal worth around $80B to purchase hundreds of new Boeing and passenger planes. Here's everything you need to know about the game-changing deal:

• Air India just ordered a whopping 220 Boeing planes from good ol’ America and another 250 European units.

• Because they’re fancy, Air India is also lining up a fresh Rolls Royce XWB-84 engines, the only ones compatible with their roster of Airbus 350-900.

• Other MOUs with Rolls Royce had also been inked to provide other high-powered engines for their A350-1000 line.

🕛️ Deployment schedule. Some of these units will be deployed within the year, with the rest of them coming in mid-2025.

Did we mention that it’s the largest commercial plane order in the history of aviation?

CYBERCRIME

Crypto crime busters seize $115M in money laundering crackdown

🔨 India's government is cracking down on cryptocurrency-related money laundering with a series of investigations and seizures. According to reports, the country's law enforcement agencies have been probing several cases as of late. Here's the scoop:

💰️ Bagging sketchy crypto. The Indian government has seized over $115M worth of cryptocurrency assets in recent weeks, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. The assets were reportedly acquired through illegal means, including drug trafficking, cybercrime, and other criminal activities.

📑 Regulation. India has been taking steps to regulate the cryptocurrency industry in recent years, with mixed results. The country's central bank banned cryptocurrency trading in 2018, although the decision was later overturned by the Supreme Court. The government is currently considering a new bill that would ban all private cryptocurrencies and establish a framework for a digital rupee.

🔭 What lies beyond. While India has been taking steps to regulate the cryptocurrency industry, the recent crackdown shows that the government remains serious about tackling financial crime. With the country's regulators busting such hefty sums, the future of cryptocurrency in India is plunged into further uncertainty.

BANKING

IPPB wants to convert itself to a universal bank

🏦 India Post Payment Bank (IPPB), the government-owned payments bank, is seeking to expand its services and convert itself into a universal bank.

⚓️ Captain’s notes. The CEO of IPPB, J Venkatramu, has said that the bank is seeking to further its services by becoming a universal bank. This would enable it to offer a wider range of financial products.

🧱 Filling the gaps. While traditional banks have struggled to reach rural areas, IPPB's network of post offices provides it with a unique advantage in serving underbanked and unbanked populations.

🚦 Limitations. Being a payment bank regulated by the RBI, IPPB can offer deposits, remittances, online banking, and other services, but they cannot lend money or issue credit cards.

INDIA EDITION: WHAT ELSE IS ON THE BIRDWATCH

• 💵 DBS dangles 8% interest on FDs. DBS Bank India, a Singapore Bank’s Indian subsidiary, is making waves in the banking sector by offering a whopping 8% interest rate on fixed deposits.

• ▶️ Indian influencers surge crypto txns by 200%. Bitget, the global cryptocurrency exchange, is recognizing the contributions of Indian YouTubers to the digital asset economy, after having recorded a transaction surge of over 200%.

• 🚢 Trade minister positions exports at over $750B in 2023. India's trade minister Piyush Goyal is bullish about the country's exports, predicting that they will soar past the $750B mark this fiscal year.

FUNDING DEALS

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

• Jumbotail, a Indian grocery delivery startup, has just bagged Rs 75 crore ($10M) in debt funding and aims to achieve operational profitability within the next 12 months, as it continues to scale and "dal"iver fresh produce and staples to small retailers.

• Vitraya, an insurtech startup, has secured $1.5 M in fresh funding from from Season Two Ventures to cover the costs of upgrading its healthcare tech platform.

• Rockstud Capital, an Indian asset management firm, has "fund"amentally transformed the startup landscape with the launch of a new Rs 300 crore ($40M) pool aimed at fueling the growth of promising Indian startups.

WORLD

Headline Explorer

🦁 ING’s lending policy on oil just got tougher. Dutch bank ING is tightening its grip on the fossil fuel industry, announcing that it will expand its policy on oil and gas financing to include trade finance and midstream sectors.

🛫 Southwest Airlines takes off with people and tech upgrade. Southwest Airlines is flying high with plans to improve its tech and hiring efforts by adding hundreds of staff to its operations team and investing in new technology.

🚗 VW earmarks $200B for EVs and new tech. German automaker Volkswagen is driving forward with its electrification plans, announcing that it will invest about $200B in new technology and electric vehicles over the next decade.

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