Mint Primer

Last week, Nvidia briefly overtook Apple to become the second most valuable company in the world at $3.01 trillion. Even as Nvidia shareholders and its chief executive rejoiced, analysts and watchers of the company claimed the future may not be so easy.

After two terms of absolute majority, the Indian electorate has given a fractured mandate to the Narendra Modi-led BJP. The era of coalition politics is back with a bang. Does that also mean an end to the promise of big-ticket reforms?

The BJP-led NDA scored a victory in the Lok Sabha polls, but the saffron party was unable to secure a simple majority on its own. The age of coalition politics is back and this queers the pitch for the market in the short term. Mint explains why.

The 2024 elections have thrown up a major surprise. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was supposed to have swept the polls. Instead, it has fallen short of a majority. It now needs to form a government with its partners in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). In short, the era of coalition politics is back in India. Here are some of the main takeaways

Artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI (GenAI) are advancing at an incredible pace, but we are unable to understand how they make decisions, so they are called ‘black boxes’. Researchers say they are now able to peek under the AI hood. Will this make AI models safer?

India has built highways at a frenetic clip over the past decade. Now there are signs that the pace may have peaked in 2023-24 and it may even fall in the current fiscal year. Mint explores the reasons for this and whether this is a temporary blip or long-term in nature.

Tune in to the latest episode to know that now users are getting comfortable with AI models and chatbots, the next step is to improve user experience. But how? The answer lies in using many specialist bots, rather than getting one to do all the jobs from banking to customer care to teaching.

A sizzling heat wave is stretching India’s power infrastructure. In fact, the power deficit in June is projected to be the highest in 14 years. Mint looks at the factors causing it, steps the government has taken, and whether a crisis can be avoided this time around.

Google’s long-term experiment to create a science fiction-like 3D, holographic ultra-realistic display is now a real product. After many failures, is Silicon Valley’s quest to build screens that look like teleportation portals finally nearing promise?

The Supreme Court has exempted lawyers from the purview of the Consumer Protection Act. This sets the stage for doctors to get a similar exemption. Mint looks at what this ruling means for consumers and what redressal options we now have for poor service.

Regulatory action in Singapore and Hong Kong on two of India’s biggest spice brands—MDH and Everest—for alleged chemical contamination has turned the heat on spice exports. Mint looks at the issue and analyses what it could mean for the $4-billion export sector.

New RBI draft guidelines on project loans are aimed at bringing credit discipline and ensuring only serious players participate. But since their release last week, shares of PSU banks and infra NBFCs have tanked. And bankers are upset.

Flexible workspace provider Awfis Space Solutions recently got the market regulator’s nod for a public listing. More operators, which offer modern office solutions, are likely to follow. What does this mean for the commercial office sector?

Prominent brands are under the scanner for selling sugary infant food, chicken fed with antibiotics, and spices peppered with cancer-causing chemicals. Naturally, experts are concerned about lax regulations.

This month, Meta unveiled its new AI model, Llama-3, and Microsoft introduced Phi-3. The base version of each is tiny in comparison to large language models (LLMs). Turns out, shrinking AI models is what Big Tech is doing to reach every user in the world.

Fresh geopolitical uncertainty has pushed global crude prices above $90 per barrel. How does it impact India’s oil marketing companies? Will they be forced to increase prices in the election season?

Microsoft is unbundling its video conferencing platform Teams from the Office suite after a European probe into anti-competitive practices. Bundling of apps is under regulatory scrutiny everywhere. But breaking up Big Tech might not be the magic bullet.

Maintaining that GPT-4 “kind of sucks”, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said recently his company will release an “amazing new model” this year. This has sparked speculation that OpenAI may release GPT-5 sometime between June and August this year. Why is this a big deal?

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is tightening its scrutiny of the credit card industry. Recently, it asked Federal Bank and South Indian Bank to stop issuing new co-branded credit cards.

The Centre has notified a fact-checking unit to flag ‘misinformation’ about the government, with powers to issue directives. The Supreme Court has stayed the notification to verify the unit’s constitutionality.

In a surprise move, the government brought in a new EV policy on Friday slashing import duties on electric cars to 15% just before the Model Code of Conduct came into force.

The Draft Digital Competition Bill looks to check Big Tech from creating market monopolies. But lawyers and policymakers fear it may scare away global investors, and stifle innovation by breaking up apps that work with each other. Here’s how the bill may work.

By Chinese standards, the 5% economic growth projected for 2024 seems rather modest. But such is the state of its economy that most analysts do not expect it to meet even this target. Mint looks at China’s economic woes and what it portends for the global economy.

The Indian economy grew at a surprising 8.4% in the third quarter of FY24. Will this pace of economic expansion continue in the fourth quarter? What is the outlook for 2024-25? Mint looks deeper into the third quarter performance and the prospects for the next few quarters.

SpiceJet boss Ajay Singh and Busy Bee Aviation have submitted a rescue plan for bankrupt airline Go First. Previously, efforts to revive Jet Airways have met with limited success. Mint explains the flight path of recovery and the challenges associated with it.