One quick thing: Vanguard marks down Ola's valuation to $4.8 billion

In today’s newsletter:

• Decoding the truth about ONDC discounts
• Cisco's billion-dollar India plan
• K'taka polls: IT honchos, startup founders cast their vote

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If your social media feed is filled with people sharing screenshots of food prices on Zomato, Swiggy, and ONDC, you're definitely not alone in noticing this trend.

We took matters into our own hands and compared prices across the three platforms. To our surprise, we found out that prices on ONDC were generally similar to or even lower than the rates on Swiggy or Zomato, thanks to discount coupons.

• The prices on ONDC were initially lower because it offered discount coupons, waived delivery costs, packaging charges, and even convenience fees

And, as expected, when the discounting tap was slightly tightened last weekend, retail orders fell to 19,000 from a high of 25,000.

• A plate of mutton biryani from Behrouz Biryani was priced at Rs 549 on ONDC, but it was lower at Rs 535 on both Swiggy and Zomato

Stakeholders claim that the discounts were funded either directly or indirectly by banks, who are shareholders of ONDC, as well as e-commerce platforms and merchants on the network.

• ONDC chief T Koshy, however, has clarified that these incentives are only for the short term in order to jump-start transactions on the network

Most importantly, after being waived off in the initial days, delivery fees and packaging charges are now back on ONDC.

•  A like-to-like comparison shows that an order from Barista now requires users to pay a delivery fee of Rs 79 and a packaging charge of Rs 10. 

Go deeper

Tech giant Cisco is all set to make in India, with a goal of achieving $1 billion in domestic production and exports from the country in the next few years.

The company has announced that it will be setting up a manufacturing plant in Tamil Nadu, where it will produce two of its highest-volume products – network switches and cutting-edge router platforms.

• Work on the plant is already underway, and the first batch of products will begin to roll out within the next 12 months, according to a company executive

The manufacturing facility is expected to create 1,200 jobs, Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins said today.

Four years ago, when Robbins came to India, the government requested the company to establish manufacturing facilities in the country.

• But those were different times, and the tech giant raised the issue of a missing high-tech supply chain in India
  
  
• During the pandemic that ravaged the world in 2020-21, it was decided that it was time to de-leverage supply chains away from China. This presented India with an opportunity

Robbins, on his first visit to India after the pandemic, said that the necessary manufacturing supply chains have started taking root in India, and that the country is the most important geography for most global tech companies on a 10-year horizon. 

Find out more

The voting for Karnataka's Assembly polls concluded at 6 pm, wrapping up an election that had seen intense campaigning in the days leading up to it.

While the final polling numbers are not out yet, Bengaluru saw a strong turnout of IT honchos and startup founders, who also urged the city's residents to vote, as the voter turnout has usually been dismal.

Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy and philanthropist Sudha Murty were among Bengaluru’s earliest voters, and urged voters, particularly the youth, to come out and vote.

The Infosys founder had only one wish: the legislators elected today keep the betterment of the entire state in mind and work towards it.

Given Bengaluru's low voter turnout, he sees the issue as a simple question, particularly for the youth:

“If our youth is not able to spare 0.1 percent of their time once in five years, how can we then say our legislators are spending less than 90 percent of their time on progress for the country?” 

• Sudha Murty, too, called voting a sacred part of democracy.

Watch the interview here.

Prominent Bengaluru residents, including Aarin Capital co-founder Mohandas Pai, Aadhaar architect Nandan Nilekani, BigBasket promoter and serial entrepreneur K Ganesh, and Curefoods founder Ankit Nagori, turned out to vote in the elections.

One common expectation that startup founders have from state elections is the development of the capital's infrastructure, which includes improving public transportation and accelerating projects like the extension of metro rail and the construction of bridges.

More on the expectations here.

On May 10, 2019, Uber made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange, opening at $42 per share, which was lower than its IPO price of $45. 

However, the ride-hailing company's first day of trading was bumpy, with its stock falling by 7.6% and closing below $42 per share.

• Former Coinbase Global product manager Ishan Wahi has been sentenced to two years in prison for insider trading, marking the first case of its kind in the crypto industry.
  
  
• Cboe Global Markets seeks SEC approval to list and trade a bitcoin ETF backed by Cathie Wood's Ark Invest and 21 on the Cboe BZX exchange.

Looks like ChatGPT's chatter has gotten someone in trouble! 

In the first incident of its kind, a man in China has been arrested for using the AI language model to spread fake news about a fictional train crash. 

• The articles were shared on social media and garnered over 15,000 views before authorities caught on.

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