Best of the Week | Journalism? In this economy?

Dear reader,

For the first three-odd years of my career, I was a beat reporter. I wrote on various sectors — renewable energy, the monsoon, venture capital firms, and even cybersecurity. But over the past couple of years, my pace of reporting has slowed to a crawl. Primarily, reporting and writing stories is not my main (or even secondary) job here at Mint. 

If you'll allow me the sin of indulgence, reporting is an art form. You're pretty much on the job all the time: a nugget of information here, an observation there. Exploring these random shards of information can help you create a full picture; one that might be beneficial to your readers. When it comes to business news, the scope has narrowed — but there is so much more to excavate deeper into this focused space.

That's how I ended up reporting on the HDFC Pixel credit card. I was talking to a friend, who bemoaned that he couldn't get his hands on Diljit Dosanjh's concert tickets because he didn't have a particular credit card. I sought out to explore this practice (which, to be fair, isn't a new concept at all). 

What I found was how young Indians were so savvy that they would sign up for credit cards without any hesitation, book tickets, and then cancel them after the work was done. The same people have signed up for half a dozen credit cards, and optimised their spending to a new level.

The work doesn't end after the story is reported, written, and edited though — I spent a day haggling with the PR team of one of the banks mentioned in the story. Can't say I missed that bit of the job.

You can read that story here if you want, but I'm afraid it doesn't qualify as the Best of the Week. Our newsroom produced some acerbic work over the week; here it is:

🐂 The markets crashed on Thursday, recovering slightly on Friday. But this year's stellar IPO debuts stood tall even as Nifty and Sensex fell by 2%. Stocks like KRN Heat, TechEra Engineering, and Thinking Hats Entertainment ended in the green. Mayur Bhalerao and Niti Kiran analysed 23 companies that went public between January 2019 and September 2024 on days when the market indices fell by more than 1,000 points. They found out that despite tumultous markets, IPOs always fared decently. This is a good read with some insightful charts — particularly helpful if you're an IPO hunter.

🛵 For a while, Ola Electric has reigned supreme on India's electric two-wheeler market. Shortly after it launched, it had a market share of 50% consistently, a position it held till April. But this dominance came with problems — a lot of problems. Despite constant customer service issues, Ola went ahead and had a bumper IPO listing. But now, come further troubles: Ola's market share has been slipping, and is now hovering at around 27%. At Ola's heels is Bajaj, with about a 20% market share. Will customers now opt for known brands like Bajaj and TVS? Alisha Sachdev answers.

💬 WhatsApp groups are full of people pretending to be legitimate advisors offering stock market advice. These groups promise unrealistic returns and insider information, and have caught the attention of market regulators. Stockbrokers are also raising alarms to such practices. The scams have not only duped investors, but also posed significant reputation risk to the impersonated firms. Dipti Sharma, Neha Joshi, and Shayan Ghosh bring you the details of how the authorities are fighting back to regain the public's trust.

🇨🇳 Last week, the government of China infused $143 billion into its economy to try and revive it out of a slump. This prompted the Chinese public markets to have their best week in more than 16 years. Initiatives also included a 2 trillion yuan bond, eased rules for buying homes, and revival of consumer spending. N. Madhavan explains this stimulus package, and how it might affect the Indian economy.

🇮🇷 We might be on the verge of the third world war: Iran's recent airstrikes on Israel underscore Tehran's readiness to confront any perceived threat. Shweta Singh explains why this situation could escalate, and how the US is involved in the entire mess. Shweta also explains the implications of the fallout of this development on India, including how it would affect Indian trade, and helps you understand the complex geopolitical dynamics at play.

🏦 The Yes Bank saga has been ongoing for a while. The Reserve Bank of India has specific conditions, especially since the suitors are from outside India: it wants to cap a foreign buyer's voting rights at just 26%, despite paying for 51% of the bank. RBI doesn't want it to have the power to veto any massive policy decisions. Despite these rules, Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is interested, reported Anirudh Laskar and Gopika Gopakumar. The total valuation of the deal stands at $8-10 billion.

✅ RBI isn't the only body actively regulating its sector: the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) came in with some rules about trading this week. It clamped down hard on futures and options trading. F&O trading was rampant amongst investors, who often lost money on it. Sebi implemented six out of seven recommendations by an expert committee. Some of these changes are effective from November, while some from February. Ram Sahgal and Neha Joshi bring you the details of this landmark decision by the markets regulator.

🗳️ We like to do some political reporting from time to time here at Mint. The election season resumes in Haryana, with a tightly contested battle between Congress and BJP. Sayantan Bera brings you an on-ground report from Sonipat, Hisar, and Sirsa on what the public feels about the upcoming state election. Agricultural issues dominate the chatter, as do jobs (or the lack thereof). Read this story to understand how the election is shaping up.

🎬 If you watch movies in the cinema hall frequently, you might have noticed that there's always some old movies running. Some of them are from the 2010s, while others are from the 1960s. How and why is this happening? Ishita Sen Gupta writes for Mint Lounge that the answer is a mix of covid, OTT services, and nostalgia. Read this piece to understand why.

🩺 I'll end this week's edition on a sombre note: Sashind Ningthoukhongjam spoke to Naveen Fernandes about his financial planning. Unfortunately, Fernandes is suffering from stage 4 cancer, which has spread across his body. A fund manager in his past life, Fernandes is well aware of the necessity to plan his financial future. He has a wife and three daughters — two of whom he recently fostered. He speaks about his expenses, insurance payouts, and how he is dealing with such a tough fight. 

That's all from me this week. If you have any feedback, please write to shashwat.mohanty@htdigital.in.

Best,

Shashwat Mohanty

Assistant Editor