⚡RBI wants to ban crypto (again), Oyo’s IPO gets delayed (again)

Welcome to 2023! Here are the top Indian business stories to kickstart the year.

🤩The Good

India will embrace 5G in 2023. 5G phone shipments will exceed 4G shipments by the end of 2023, as per Counterpoint Research. The market share of 5G handsets in the under ₹20,000 bracket is expected to grow to 30% this year from 4% in 2022. 5G data speed will be nearly 10 times faster than that of 4G in the country.

Big film hits of 2022 include KGF: Chapter 2, Avatar: The Way of Water, and RRR. While Bollywood tanked, the total domestic box office collection crossed ₹10,000 crore in 2022, the second-best year after 2019. Avatar: The Way of Water earned under ₹300 crore in two weeks, KGF: Chapter 2 (Hindi) made ₹434.70 crore, and RRR (Hindi) raked in ₹274.31 crore. The biggest Bollywood earners were Brahmastra with ₹264 crore and The Kashmir Files with ₹253 crore.

Mamaearth prepares to go public. Honasa Consumer Ltd., the parent firm of beauty brands Mamaearth and BBlunt, has filed for an IPO with the SEBI. The company is looking to raise up to ₹400 crore. Shilpa Shetty Kundra, Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal (founders, Snapdeal), and others are selling their stakes. Being profitable might be providing the company confidence to go public during a stock market slump.

A behind-the-scenes look at Shark Tank India, as season 2 begins from January 2. Shark Tank marked the coming of age of entrepreneurship in India. With season 2 about to start, the sharks discuss factors that they consider when deciding to invest, including the “4F framework” (founder, foundation, financials, fit), perseverance, and whether the business problem is real.

👿The Bad

₹ ends 2022 as the second-worst performing Asian currency. At the end of 2021, the Indian rupee had an exchange rate of ₹74.33 against the US dollar. But at the close of 2022, the currency had slid 10.14% to ₹82.72. Only the Japanese yen fared worse in Asia with a 12% drop against the US dollar.

The Indian IT sector is struggling to manage employee satisfaction. A detailed report looks at the challenges faced by Infosys, Wipro, TCS, and other tech giants in maintaining staff satisfaction. Fresher salaries have increased only 46.94% in the last decade compared to 1,492.27% for CEOs, attrition has touched new highs, employees are moonlighting and quiet quitting.

Oyo’s IPO likely to be delayed (again). The hospitability startup’s plans to go public in the first half of 2023 were hit by a roadblock with the SEBI asking for updated information on risk factors, outstanding litigations, and more. The company has endured a beleaguered few years with a valuation drop to $2.7B from $10B in 2019 and disputes with hoteliers.

Videocon’s failed expansion into telecom, oil and gas, and insurance led to Venugopal Dhoot’s downfall. The CBI recently arrested the Videocon Group chairman for allegedly bribing former ICICI Bank MD, Chanda Kochhar, and her husband to secure loans. This “loan scam” was partly triggered by Videocon’s unsuccessful diversification into unrelated sectors, leading to the collapse of one of the biggest business tycoons of the 90s.

🤔The Wait-and-Watch

The RBI wants to discuss banning some cryptocurrencies during India’s G20 presidency. The country assumed the year-long G20 presidency on December 1, 2022. One of the priorities is to develop a global regulation framework, including the “possibility of prohibition”, for unbacked crypto assets, stablecoins, and decentralized finance. The RBI has never been a fan of the volatile nature of these assets.

NDTV staff speak about working with, and now without, the Roys. Adani-group owned AMG Media Network acquired Prannoy and Radhika Roy’s 27.26% share for ₹602.3 crore on December 30. Staffers reminisce about the network’s care for its employees and the Roys’ journalistic professionalism, but also highlight nepotism, salary discrimination, and other issues.

🔮What's Next

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Catch you tomorrow!👋🏼