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In today’s newsletter:

• Zomato's new name is Eternal
• IndiaAI may add Google's Tensor chip to cart
• Kumbh-fluencers strike gold

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Food and grocery delivery major Zomato has changed its name to Eternal!

• This comes amid a slowdown in the firm’s core food delivery business, in line with what its rival Swiggy has faced

What started as a way to distinguish between Zomato’s food delivery app and the company itself has now become its identity.

• After receiving board approval for the name change, Eternal will now comprise its four major businesses – Zomato, Blinkit, District, and Hyperpure

To be sure, the Zomato app will not be renamed – only the stock ticker will be labelled Eternal.

"We thought that we would publicly rename the company to Eternal, the day something beyond Zomato became a significant driver of our future. Today, with Blinkit, I feel we are there," Deepinder Goyal, group CEO and co-founder of Zomato, said in a letter filed with the BSE.

 The identity change accompanies a slowdown in Zomato’s food delivery business, a trend its rival Swiggy has also witnessed.

Both firms have reported slowing growth over the past few quarters, the impact of which has been most pronounced in the December quarter.

• Zomato’s gross order value (GOV) grew just 2% QoQ in Q3 FY25, compared to Swiggy’s 3.4%

Onboarding new customers has been a tough nut to crack for the food delivery duo, who have also faced challenges in scaling beyond top markets, say stakeholders.

• The new-fangled trend of 10-minute food deliveries is also unlikely to move the needle much in terms of growth, indicated analysts and top executives at the firms, given it is still early days.

Swiggy's share price slid 6.98% to Rs 388.90 apiece at the end of trading on February 6, while Zomato was down 0.90% to Rs 229.05 apiece on the BSE.

Dig deeper

It is a great time to be a startup, researcher or an academic working in the artificial intelligence sector in India. 

India's GPU kitty under the IndiaAI Mission, offer some of the lowest rates per hour compared to the rest of the world. 

• It boasts of high end GPUs from big wigs like Nvidia, AMD and others. And now that cart is set to expand and how!

Google may supply its Tensor chip in the next phase of the GPU empanelment process, sources told us. 

• Tensor is a processor that powers Google’s Pixel smartphones

The Tensor chip was under consideration for the current round of empanelment. 

However, the company did not receive the necessary approvals 

With the government aiming to increase its GPU acquisition from the current 18,693, the addition of Tensor chips is likely. 

• A government official told us that the total number of GPUs empanelled will reach 38,000 within the next two months

In January, the IT ministry announced that 13 firms including Jio Platforms, Yotta Data Services, E2E networks will supply the GPUs.

• The GPUs include Nvidia H100, Nvidia H200, AMD MI325x and others

To streamline access, the government is working on developing a portal where startups can easily connect to the available GPUs.

• This platform will require APIs to be installed at both the suppliers' and subscribers' ends

Find out more

It is raining brand deals for influencers this Maha Kumbh, a once-in-a-lifetime event for not just devotees but also for brands as well as content creators. 

• The Maha Kumbh is a dream opportunity for content creators, driving high engagement and better brand deals, say marketers

Brands can't keep calm this Maha Kumbh with the likes of ITC, Dabur, Bingo, Muthoot dialling up influencers for marketing campaigns for the biggest religious spectacle. 

• Brands are making a beeline for influencers who are cashing in on this opportunity by charging two-three times higher premium for social media posts on Maha Kumbh

The Kumbh ad market has jumped 300% to Rs 4,500 crore in 2025 from Rs 1,500 crore in 2013. 

• The mega event so far has recorded 3,225 paid posts on Instagram

Cost of sharing a post/reel is running in lakhs if the influencer has over a million followers. 

• Influencers with 100,000 followers are charging Rs 15,000 for a post on Instagram, while those with 1 million followers are charging Rs 1-1.5 lakh which is also going as high as Rs 4 lakh. 

Charges for regional influencers are touching Rs 9 lakh per post.

Average engagement rate is 40-50% higher for Maha Kumbh 2025 related content on social media, according to marketers.  

• Engagement rates are 202% higher for creators with 1,000-10,000 followers while for influencers with 10,000-50,000 followers engagement is around 10.78%. 

Around 40,000 influencers have posted on Maha Kumbh 2025 on social media with the content overall generating 547.91 million views with 3.8 lakh comments and 9.07 million shares.

Click to know more about the divine deals

• South Korea has temporarily blocked employee access to Chinese AI startup DeepSeek due to security concerns, joining Australia and Taiwan in restricting the company's use on government devices.
  
  
• Google announced updates to its Gemini family of large language models, including a new product line with competitive pricing to low-cost AI models like that of Chinese rival DeepSeek.

Hold on to your seatbelts, because India is set to soar to the moon and dive into the depths of the ocean!

• In 2027, the Chandrayaan-4 mission will bring back samples of moon rocks, taking India’s space program to new heights

But wait, there’s more! 

India’s Gaganyaan mission, which is set to send astronauts into low Earth orbit next year, is another major milestone. 

• Add to that Samudrayaan in 2026, where three scientists will plunge 6,000 meters underwater to explore the ocean’s mysteries

Find out more