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☆ CNBC's Inside India newsletter: An education scandal years in the making
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-04 | by ( Ganesh Rao | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Yet, the system has also exacerbated the social divide between the haves and have-nots, who are confined to the largely abysmal state-run education system. That means entrance tests and examinations are a high-stakes juncture in a person's life. A half-hearted attempt at testing the country's education system in 2021 was aborted when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country. The company, which offers services ranging from online tutorials to offline coaching, attracted billions of dollars from investors worldwide during the pandemic when online education services were in high demand. One of the companies it bought was an offline test preparation service called Aakash Education Services, which is still expected to IPO this year.

Persons: Firdous Nazir, NurPhoto, Cram, —, Byju's Organizations: Youth Congress, Getty, Testing Agency, Reuters, FIFA, Aakash Education Services Locations: Jammu, Kashmir, India, Kota, Rajasthan, PISA, Kyrgyzstan, Turkish

☆ CNBC's Inside India newsletter: IPO boom looks to break new records
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-13 | by ( Amala Balakrishner | In Amala-Balakrishner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The spotlight has seemingly shifted in the past year toward companies going to market, hoping to ride on the coattails of India's growth story. Growing foreign listingsThe allure of India's stock markets has trickled to companies beyond its shores — with foreign entities eyeing a share of its growth. Such listings add strength to India's markets, says M&G Investment's Asian Equities Portfolio Manager Vikas Pershad. The optimism on India's IPO boom is sometimes marred by concerns over elevated valuations of its stock market — and whether it is headed toward a bubble. "When we look at India, we see continued economic and earnings per share growth and higher levels of profitability," Dorson from Global X told CNBC's Inside India.

Persons: Swiggy, Debarchan Chatterjee, Neil Bahal, Dhruba Jyoti Sengupta, Ola, PhonePe, Ola Electric, Sengupta, Vikas Pershad, Malcolm Dorson, CNBC's Organizations: Getty, Reliance Industries, Adani Enterprises, Mankind Pharma, Negen, Securities, Exchange Board, Wrise Private, Aakash Educational Services, Aakash Educational, Walmart, United Arab, Hyundai, Insurance Corporation of India, Maruti Suzuki, Hindustan Unilever, Siemens, ABB India, Global Locations: Kolkata, India, SEBI, United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka, Hyundai India, India's, Maruti Suzuki India, Hindustan

☆ Why the hottest commodity of 2024 could be in for a rude awakening
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-01 | by ( Lisa Kailai Han | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Cocoa prices rose to a red-hot sizzle this Valentine's Day — but they could soon be due for a reckoning, according to Citi. Cocoa futures finished 25.5% higher in February, cinching their biggest monthly gain since November 2001, when they rose 31.66%. Cocoa supply might increase on one side of the equation, but Doshi cautioned that demand might also be weighed down by consumption risks. Even against this backdrop, Doshi highlighted that it might take some time before cocoa prices completely retreat off their record highs. "Our base case remains that cocoa terminal prices will enter a bear market by end-2024, off a historically rich nominal price area."

Persons: Aakash, Doshi, haven't, Chocolate, Hershey, — CNBC's Michael Bloom, Gina Francolla Organizations: Citi, Wall Street, Nestle Locations: …

☆ Gold at $3,000 and oil at $100 by 2025? Citi analysts don't rule it out
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-20 | by ( Lee Ying Shan | In Ying-Shan-Lee | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

That could double central bank's gold purchases, challenging jewelry consumption as the largest driver of gold demand, Doshi elaborated. China and Russian central banks are leading gold purchases, with India, Turkey, and Brazil, also increasing bullion buying. The world's central banks have sustained two successive years of more than 1,000 tons of net gold purchases, the World Gold Council reported in January. Another wildcard scenario highlighted in Citi's report was for oil prices to hit triple digits again. Stock Chart Icon Stock chart icon Oil prices in the past one year

Persons: Doshi, Stagflation Organizations: Citi, CNBC, Central, U.S ., Gold, U.S . Federal Reserves, Co, Bloomberg, Getty Locations: Citi's North America, China, Russian, India, Turkey, Brazil, U.S, Bangkok, Thailand, Israel, Yemen, Iraq, OPEC

☆ Cocoa prices just hit a record high. Here's what's driving the gains and what it means for chocolate makers
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-17 | by ( Lisa Kailai Han | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

If you think chocolate prices this Valentine's Day were more expensive than usual, it's not you. Year to date, futures contracts are up nearly 27%, with cocoa prices rising in six of the past seven weeks. Here's a breakdown of what's driving cocoa prices higher and how it impacts the investment case around two major chocolate stocks. Doshi thinks cocoa prices could sell off about 20%, taking them to around $4,500 to $4,800 per ton. In an interview with CNBC last week, he underscored the rising cocoa price outlook as the key driver for his lower rating.

Persons: Humza Hussain, El, Aakash Doshi, Doshi, Bernstein, Bruno Monteyne, … There's, Mondelez, Alexia Howard, Hershey, Michele Buck, Bernstein's Howard, Howard, I'd, Bryan Spillane, Morgan Stanley, Pamela Kaufman, Bank of America's Spillane Organizations: Asset Management, CNBC, Hershey, Citi, 2H, Street, Bank of America, Bank of, Cadbury Locations: Mondelez, El Niño, Ghana, Ivory, Nigeria, Europe

☆ Gold prices to breach all-time highs? Some expect bullion to hit $2,500
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( Lee Ying Shan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Spot gold prices hit a record intraday high of $2,072.5 on Aug. 7, 2020, according to data from Refinitiv. We also see a return of physical gold jewelry demand from China and India as both economies stabilize and retail spending returns. Gold prices tend to have an inverse relationship with interest rates. "We also see a return of physical gold jewelry demand from China and India as both economies stabilize and retail spending returns," Heng said. Chinese retail gold demand has been resilient in 2023 even as consumption of other commodities remained weak, Citi said in a July report.

Persons: Sven Hoppe, Bart Melek, Melek, David Neuhauser, Neuhauser, Randy Smallwood, Heng, Heng Koon, UOB Heng, Citi's, Doshi Organizations: Getty, Refinitiv, CNBC, Securities, U.S . Federal, Livermore Partners, Fed, Wheaton Precious Metals, greenback, Markets, Federal Reserve, Citi, Commodities, Future Publishing Locations: U.S, China, India, Yichang, Hubei province

☆ Byju’s blowup makes its investors look bad
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( Pranav Kiran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Adnan Abidi/File Photo/File PhotoBENGALURU, Aug 7 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Byju’s says it provides learning programs to over 150 million students. The biggest lesson may be for the Indian education giant’s global investors including Prosus (PRX.AS) and Peak XV, formerly part of Sequoia, who watched founder power run amok in a country they have pinned high hopes on. But so long as the blowup at the hot startup once valued at $22 billion goes from bad to worse, its backers will struggle to create enough distance. For early supporter Peak XV Partners, the mess comes at a sensitive time, hot on the heels of announcing a separation from its U.S. parent. Representatives of the Amsterdam-listed investor and Peak XV Partners, formerly Sequoia’s India unit, both quit Byju’s board in June.

Persons: Adnan Abidi, Byju Raveendran, Davidson, Byju’s, Reuters Breakingviews, Prosus, Una Galani, Thomas Shum Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, Bloomberg, XV Partners, HK, Thomson Locations: New Delhi, India, BENGALURU, Sequoia, U.S, Byju’s, Amsterdam, China, Delaware

☆ India's Byju's seeks investors for Aakash Education stake, ET Now reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, June 30 (Reuters) - Embattled Indian edtech startup Byju's is looking for investors to sell a part of its stake in the educational institute Aakash Education Services, television news channel ET Now reported on Friday, citing sources. Byju's holding company, Think and Learn (THIK.NS), is looking to dilute up to 20% of its total 70% equity stake in Aakash Education, sources told ET Now. The company bought Aakash Education for $950 million in 2021. The talks with prospective investors are early and preliminary, the broadcaster reported in a tweet. The reported plans of stake offloading come as a sharp contrast to the edtech's earlier plans of listing Aakash Education through an IPO by mid-2024.

Persons: Byju's, Hritam Mukherjee, Eileen Soreng Organizations: Education Services, Aakash Education, Deloitte, Thomson Locations: BENGALURU, Bengaluru

☆ India probes education platform Byju's over alleged forex law violations
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

April 29 (Reuters) - India's financial crime-fighting agency said on Saturday it had raided three premises linked to education platform Byju's and its billionaire CEO Byju Raveendran over suspected breaches of the country's foreign exchange laws. The searches under alleged foreign exchange law violations revealed that Think and Learn Private Limited, Byju's parent firm, had received foreign direct investment of nearly 280 billion rupees ($3.43 billion) during the period from 2011 to 2023, ED said. Byju's legal spokesperson said the visit by ED officials to one of the company's offices in Bengaluru was related to a routine inquiry under foreign exchange laws. The company reported a loss of 45.64 billion rupees ($558.49 million) in May for fiscal 2021. Byju's spent $2.5 billion in fiscal year ended March 2022 to acquire companies such as Aakash, U.S.-based Epic, kids' coding platform Tynker, professional education firm Great Learning and exam perpetration platform Toppr.

☆ Ukraine’s corn and wheat exports are set to plummet. Here’s what that means for the world's food supply
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Lucy Handley | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Both Ukraine and Russia were among the world's top producers of commodities such as wheat and barley before the war broke out in February 2022. But the conflict saw the price of U.S. wheat and corn futures hit decade highs (with one benchmark wheat contract hitting an all-time high) and sparked volatility in global wheat prices throughout the year. 2023/24 Ukraine grains exports (corn + wheat) might be 27-30mmt, down 15-18mmt from 2021/22," he added. Global food tradeThe war in Ukraine has contributed to rising food prices, with inflation above 5% in more than 80% of low-income countries, according to World Bank figures. Climate change causing extreme weather is already damaging the food system, according to Alexander, a senior lecturer at Edinburgh University's Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Systems.

April 4 (Reuters) - Even as bitcoin flies high, investors are keeping their options open, judging by a record race to derivatives. Most options traders are betting on bitcoin prices jumping higher, with open interest in call options at 206,979 contracts on Deribit, more than double the bearish put options of 93,857. "We have reached the same levels of open interest as 2021 at half the prices, which means we have doubled." Options contracts give their buyers the right, but not an obligation, to buy or sell an underlying asset at a fixed price in the future. Open interest in ether on Deribit features 1.7 million call options versus 656,158 puts.

☆ Indonesia's seafood farming industry faces a 'technology gap' — and startups are raising big bucks to fill it
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Sheila Chiang | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

And we are third in aquaculture production after China and India. Aquaculture production and exports by country in 2020 Aquaculture (animals, not including algae) Top producing countries in 2020 Top exporting countries in 2020 1. Aruna, for its part, helps to connect Indonesia's small-scale aquaculture farmers to buyers. Indonesia has the puzzle pieces to become a global leader in aquaculture and seafood production. "Indonesia has the puzzle pieces to become a global leader in aquaculture and seafood production.

☆ The crypto industry is closely watching the midterm elections. Here's what it's looking for
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The midterm elections are next week, and some investors are closely watching the outcome for an idea of how the next Congress's lawmakers will approach cryptocurrency over the following two years. Lawmakers and regulatory agencies have scrambled to sharpen their understanding of the fledgling sector, while the industry itself has beefed up its lobbying. There's a good chance the midterm elections will hardly dent the price action in the days that follow. They say the midterm elections and the new shape of Congress could affect how the legislative process unfolds. While the bear market has dominated headlines this year, the drumbeat for crypto regulation has gotten much louder, providing some comfort to members of the crypto industry.

☆ India's Byju's to cut 2,500 staff, aims for profitability by March 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BENGALURU, Oct 12 (Reuters) - India's popular edu-tech startup Byju's will lay off 2,500 employees in its push towards achieving profitability by March next year, the Tiger Global-backed firm said on Wednesday. Valued at around $22 billion in September, the online learning platform had in May reported a loss of 45.64 billion rupees ($554.77 million) for fiscal 2021 due to higher promotion and employee expenses. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register"We aim to ensure sustainable growth alongside strong revenue growth," Mrinal Mohit, chief executive at Byju's India business, said. Last month, Byju's paid 19 billion rupees to Blackstone Inc (BX.N), settling its dues to the private equity firm as part of a $950 million deal to buy Aakash Educational. ($1 = 82.2680 Indian rupees)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Arun KoyyurOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Byju's pays $234 mln to Blackstone related to Aakash deal -source
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( Yuvraj Malik | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterSignage is seen outside The Blackstone Group headquarters in Manhattan, New York, U.S., November 12, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File PhotoSept 23 (Reuters) - India's Byju's has paid 19 billion rupees ($234 million) to Blackstone Inc , settling its dues owed to the private-equity firm as part of a $950 million deal to buy Aakash Educational, a source directly involved with the deal said on Friday. While closing the deal, Byju's had paid all of Aakash's shareholders, except Blackstone as the PE firm had agreed on deferred payment, the source said. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterBlackstone did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ($1 = 81.1660 Indian rupees)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'SilvaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ India’s edtech startup flunks the growth class
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Children recite the preamble to the Constitution of India during an assembly at a school in Mumbai, India, January 27, 2020. REUTERS/Francis MascarenhasMUMBAI, Sept 16 (Reuters Breakingviews) - India’s most valuable startup is not growing much at all. It reveals the company’s top line shrunk 3% to $304 million while losses ballooned around 14 times to roughly $570 million. But the endless controversy around the Indian company is also ammunition for those calling for more regulation of the red hot-industry. (By Una Galani)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterFollow @Breakingviews on Twitter(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist.

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