Prem Srinivasan

I wish GIFT City could have made this ad in Hindi because GIFT city belongs to India 😞 but it's okay. At least white people working there can know how hard Indians celebrate 😎

Quick breakdown for India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. X is banned in China These percentages are charged extra from you compared to US users. Once again, you will be paying more compared to US users. Don't think it is because of exchange rate conversion. USD price for Plus is $8, Premium is $30, Super is $100. Plus: India ~0% | Pakistan +1.5% | Bangladesh +26% Premium: India +19% | Pakistan +1% | Bangladesh +22% Super: India +30% | Pakistan +30% | Bangladesh +22% Purchasing power parity usually means lower prices for emerging economies. Here, users in the region are paying either equal to or significantly more than someone sitting in the United States. My reading is that since corporate ad spending on X dropped significantly following the buyout, direct consumer and enterprise cash flow has become vital. Rather than chasing sheer volume at cut-rate prices, the goal is extracting higher average revenue per paying user (ARPU) from dedicated power users worldwide. This is also known as Price Skimming Strategy which Elon Musk used for every other business he runs. New Rates (per month) in India Plus – ₹759 Premium – ₹3,399 Super – ₹12,399 I don't think anyone is paying these prices every month unless you are rich enough. It's time to move out of X and grow the desi social media platform like Vync.

Stock performance (last 1 year): Down roughly 97% to 99%, collapsing from around $2.20 in late 2025 to pennies per share. Stock performance since AI image inception (late 2022 to present): Down over 99% from its post-SPAC public trading peak near $37.88 in mid-2022 to under $0.02. Pre-AI exclusive image pricing: Single rights-managed and exclusive licenses typically ranged from $175 to $499+ for standard web/print, scaling into the thousands of dollars for exclusive commercial campaigns.

When someone says the global order is dead, you usually check their credentials before taking them seriously. Then you look at who just said it: Rishi Sunak. “The United States-led global order, which I grew up with, is over. I don’t think it’s coming back." This isn’t an outside pundit firing off a sensationalist op-ed. It’s coming from someone who has operated at the very core of global finance, statecraft, and frontier technology: * Former Goldman Sachs analyst and TCI hedge fund partner * Former UK Chancellor and Prime Minister * Currently advising at the cutting edge where capital, state power, and AI collide; from Wall Street to Silicon Valley giants. Sunak didn’t point to individual leaders as the source of the fracture; he called recent political turbulence a symptom, not the cause. The real break is structural: the multilateral, rules-based system enforced by Washington for decades has eroded, replaced by great-power rivalry and a fractured economic map. When a consummate establishment insider tells you the system that built him is gone for good, it isn’t just political commentary; it’s an alert to how the game is actually being played now. Our current leadership, headed by PM Modi Ji, is well qualified and equipped to take us through the turbulent times ahead. They have successfully faced 5 crises in past 6 years and hope they will be able to handle the upcoming crisis also. Stay vigilant and alert for the coming 5 to 6 years. Please 🙏

character.ai officially filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. to pursue a court supervised sale of its assets amid mounting legal liabilities and operational headwinds. As part of the process, The Walt Disney Company stepped in as an initial stalking horse bidder with a $20 million offer for select IP assets. The company had a peak $1 billion+ valuation. Bursting of the AI bubble can pull the money back into emerging markets and that too to India.

Worth reading... It's horrible to see that mobile software is watching our screen. news.com.au/lifestyle/relationships/sex…

Amundi Investment Institute, research arm of Europe’s largest asset manager, says that end of the 2026 Iran war would ease oil price pressures and mark a turning point for Indian equities. Important point to note is that Alessia Berardi is bullish on India once the Iran war ends. But the major questions are what about the Ukraine war and the dangerously low strategic oil reserves globally, which might take another 2 years to return to the normal level? Alessia Berardi is the Head of Global Macroeconomics & Emerging Markets Strategy, Amundi Investment Institute

The Reserve Bank of India is actively tightening the liquidity tap this week using two decisive moves. Here is the breakdown: 1. Daily CRR Floor Raised from 90% to 99% (Effective October 16, 2026) The Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) is the portion of customer deposits banks must maintain as cash balances with the central bank. While the headline CRR remains unchanged at 3.00%, the RBI is raising the minimum daily maintenance threshold from 90% to 99%, starting from the reporting fortnight beginning October 16, 2026. Previously, banks had breathing room to manage liquidity flexibly across the 14-day cycle as long as their two-week average matched the requirement. Under the new mandate, lenders must lock up virtually the entire mandated balance every single day, drastically cutting their daily surplus cash. For example, From RBL Bank’s official Q2 FY27 published today 12 October, Total Deposits as on 30 Sept 2026 = 1,56,272 crore. Headline CRR at 3% = 4,688.16 crore (14-day daily average). Old daily floor (90%) = 4,219.34 crore New daily floor (99%) from the fortnight beginning 16 Oct 2026 = 4,641.28 crore Daily flexibility drops from 469 crore to 47 crore. Roughly 422 crore of floating cash gets locked every night for RBL alone. For the entire Indian banking system, roughly 75,000 to 77,000 crore of extra cash gets locked every night across the banking system. 2. 25,000 Crore OMO Bond Sale Auction (Scheduled for October 13, 2026) The RBI is conducting an Open Market Operation (OMO) auction to sell government securities across six tranches maturing between 2030 and 2034. When banks and financial institutions purchase these bonds, liquid cash moves off bank balance sheets and directly into the RBI, pulling 25,000 crore out of the system in one go. Why the tightening? Coming right after the repo rate was raised by 25 basis points to 5.50%, these actions target systemic surplus liquidity (which hovered around 3.88 lakh crore). By locking up daily cash and absorbing reserves through bond sales, the RBI is ensuring interbank lending rates stay closely aligned with the policy rate to keep inflationary pressure in check.

First, HSBC is reportedly restructuring its compensation model to tilt more heavily toward performance based bonuses, according to Bloomberg. The move ties compensation closer to bottom line results, and equity markets seem to like the cost - discipline angle; shares are holding up well on the news. Second, Germany just revised its 2026 GDP growth forecast upward to 1.3%. After a sluggish stretch for Europe's largest economy, the upgrade reflects improving sentiment around exports and resilient domestic spending. Between banking cost structures tightening up and a bit of momentum returning to German manufacturing and consumer demand, the macro picture in Europe is showing some quiet resilience heading into the back half of the year.

India is exporting Made in India 5G antennas to Europe now, and Ericsson told the India Mobile Congress that more than 15,000 antennas and 25 million components made here since July 2025 are already shipping out. The mid band 5G coverage that hit 95 percent of the population here against 45 percent worldwide is the scale they are using as the reason the country has a real edge when the industry moves toward 6G. At the same congress Reliance Jio put its pre 6G stack and Giga MIMO radio on the floor and showed a common baseband unit that supports both 5G and 6G. That baseband is built so the network hardware they are deploying today can stay in place when 6G standards get finalised in 2030, and they are aiming for five times the capacity of current 5G with ten times lower latency. Jio has filed more than 8,000 patents with hundreds of them on 6G and has made over 934 contributions to global standards, and Akash Ambani said they will contribute heavily to the target of 10 percent of 6G patents coming out of India. This is not a future slide, this is kit and filings already on display. India is shipping the current generation and designing the next one in the same window.

Starlink receives $1,500 per location under Alaska’s BEAD program to serve remote rural sites. In high-demand Alaskan areas, new residential sign-ups still face a $1,500 demand surcharge + $120–130/month service on top of hardware. Rural options remain limited Many homesteads are stuck on 20 Mbps down / 5 Mbps up. The subsidy covers deployment capacity; the surcharge is a separate congestion fee charged to customers. So, the total cost is $3000 plus a monthly charge of $120 to $150 plus taxes. Surcharge for Internet congestion to be paid by users? Can't even imagine this happening in India.

Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh and UK Minister Jonathan Reynolds held the 8th Council Meeting. They inaugurated a BRIC-CDFD–ONT India Genomics Centre of Excellence. Cooperation covers AI, quantum technologies, advanced materials, biotechnology, SMRs, clean energy and startups. The talks expand bilateral technology translation and commercialisation pathways

CPI inflation rises to 5.54% in September, near two-year high. MoSPI data shows retail inflation at 5.54% (up from 4.83% in August). Food inflation jumped to 7.74% (from 5.97%), led by onions (108%), ginger and garlic. Rural inflation hit 6.08%. The print is the highest under the new 2024 base series and sits near the top of the RBI’s 2-6% band, supporting the recent 25 bp repo hike to 5.50% and calibrated tightening stance.

MEA updates on Hormuz traffic and stranded Indian vessels. Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said several India-bound ships have transited the Strait, with 10 Indian-flagged vessels still in the Persian Gulf Two Indian ships have crossed into the Gulf, showing traffic moving both ways. Since the June US-Iran MoU, 11 India-bound vessels including crude tankers have passed. Partial reopening eases some shipping risk but oil stays elevated for India.​

Capital-city values are down for six consecutive months. Affordability remains at record lows despite the correction. Further RBA hikes and investor demand weakness add downside risk

Sales are near two-year lows and prices continue to edge lower. Higher fuel costs and a weaker exchange rate are weighing on the recovery. RBNZ is expected to pause then lift the OCR later in the year.