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In today’s newsletter:

• Tesla begins hiring in India 
• SC stays arrest, slams Ranveer Allahbadia’s comments
• Kinara Capital hit by NBFC stress

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Looks like Tesla is revving up its India plans, once again!

Days after CEO Elon Musk’s high-profile meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Washington, the electric vehicle giant has restarted hiring in the country.

• This signals that Tesla’s long-anticipated entry into India may finally be gaining momentum, with the job listings hinting at upcoming offices in Mumbai and Delhi

The company has listed 13 job openings on LinkedIn, spanning key roles such as service advisor, store manager, customer support specialist, and business operations analyst.

• Positions like service technician and advisory roles are being recruited in both Mumbai and Delhi, while others, including customer engagement manager and delivery operations specialist, are specifically for Mumbai

• Tesla is also eyeing retail sales operations in India this year and could even launch its much-anticipated low-cost EV model nationwide

Tesla's hirings would mark a major shift in the company's India strategy, which had previously stalled over import duty concerns.

• After all, Musk’s meeting with PM Modi wasn’t just about cars—it touched upon space, mobility, technology, and energy, hinting at broader ambitions

For India, Tesla’s potential arrival could shake up the EV landscape, intensify competition, and push local automakers to accelerate their electrification plans.

Find out more

YouTuber Ranveer Allahbadia might have experienced a "Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na" moment when the Supreme Court, while granting him relief, also expressed disgust for his recent comments.

"He has shown the dirt in his mind, which he vomited, why should we protect?” the Supreme Court said while hearing Allahbadia's petition to merge FIRs (first information report) filed against him regarding his comments on Samay Raina’s YouTube show, 'India's Got Latent'. 

The influencer had approached the highest court after multiple FIRs were filed against him across Maharashtra, Assam, and Jaipur.

The controversy started when Allahbadia made a disturbing statement about parents and sex on the YouTube show, which led to public backlash, multiple FIRs and even death threats. 

• Allahbadia has also lost a considerable number of subscribers/followers across his social media accounts in the aftermath of the controversy

The apex court reprimanded Allahbadia saying that his words would put to shame parents, daughters, sisters and the entire society. 

• The SC judges also questioned Allahbadia's counsel on why they should favour the Youtuber when he was not responsible before making the comments that reflected the dirt in his mind

No more FIRs to be filed in this case in India's Got Latent controversy, the Supreme Court said. 

• The court has also given Allahbadia protection from arrest 

Find out more

Stressed assets, covenant breaches, and rising leverage have put MSME lender Kinara Capital under financial strain.

The Nuveen Global-backed MSME lender has breached loan covenants on Rs 1,772 crore (out of Rs 2,245 crore total debt) due to a surge in Gross Non-Performing Assets (GNPAs) and profitability issues.

• The company, profitable since inception, reported a loss of Rs 150 crore for the nine months ending December 2024

For now, Kinara has secured waivers for 38% of breached debt and is negotiating further relief with lenders.

Kinara’s struggles mirror broader NBFC stress, with firms like Spandana Sphoorty and IndoStar Capital facing similar financial stress.

• Many have faced the impact of the RBI's heightened scrutiny on unsecured lending norms for the past 12 months

Rising interest rates and weaker borrower repayment capacity have also pushed up delinquencies, affecting multiple lenders.

“We tightened underwriting in FY25, which stalled loan growth and pushed GNPA ratios higher,” Kinara CFO Aiswarya Ravi said.

To improve liquidity, Kinara is selling stressed assets, including Rs 123.12 crore in written-off bad loans. 

• The company clarified it won’t restructure these loans.

Dig deeper

As startups prepare to submit proposals in the coming months for the IndiaAI Mission's grants and GPUs to develop sovereign foundational AI models, the Department of Science & Technology-backed BharatGen Consortium may have an edge.  

• This consortium, comprising IIT Bombay, IIT Kanpur, IIIT Hyderabad, IIT Mandi, IIT Madras, and IIM Indore, is nearing the completion of its population-scale LLMs and application use cases

The consortium has found a way to build its models cost-effectively, with a total funding commitment of Rs 235 crore from the government.  

• BharatGen is leveraging innovative technologies to minimise compute costs, according to Professor Ganesh Ramakrishnan, the consortium's lead

Dig deeper

• Elon Musk’s xAI unveiled its latest AI model, Grok 3, claiming it can outperform OpenAI’s GPT-4o and China’s DeepSeek based on early testing.
  
  
• AI-powered medical document startup Abridge has raised $250 million in a funding round co-led by Elad Gil and IVP.

Ever wondered what’s really happening behind the sleek glass walls of Silicon Valley?

• Tune into Uncanny Valley, the podcast that takes you inside the world of tech’s biggest players 

From unexpected CEO habits to the rise of generative AI, the podcast breaks it all down—explaining why it matters and how it affects you

Check it out on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

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