Namaste, Sat Sri Akaal, and Salaam. 🫡

Happy morning, folks. Hope life is good.

Today we’re diving into -
- Flipkart’s ambitions to become an Amazon Prime,
- Tesla’s India-first EV launch,
- And JSW Infra’s bumper first day.

Our read time today is 4 minutes and 48 seconds - faster than Honey Singh shook the world in 2014. 🤙

Let's dive in. 👇

Market Vibe Check

Flipkart copies Amazon Prime’s playbook. 👀

TLDR -
- Flipkart is launching an Amazon Prime-like product with free delivery, cashbacks, sales, etc.
- Their single goal is to find users who impulse-buy a LOT and then retain them.
- They’ve been struggling a little due to Amazon’s dominance in T1 cities/metros.

Baniya magic once more…

Flipkart is the undisputed king of e-commerce in India, and they’re quickly realising that keeping the crown might be a difficult job.

The only way to build a generational e-com business is through 2 methods -
- bump up the quantity of users who buy from you (more orders, slim margins)
- bump up the quality of users who buy from you (higher avg. order values, fat margins)

Flipkart’s entire strategy now revolves around Option 2 - to attract and retain high-quality users with an Amazon Prime-like product.

It will have all the usual jazz -
- free one-day delivery
- 1-5% cashbacks
- access to “Prime Day” sales

But there’s still one key piece of the puzzle that Flipkart seems to be missing.

They’ve always been chasing customer choice - not high-ticket orders.

This is precisely why they’ve fallen behind Amazon in metro cities, since their experience is not as “convenient”.

Amazon can offer faster delivery, music & video, and easier returns. And since convenience is a hardcore commodity for Young India, all of these make it an easier sell for a new customer.

Flipkart’s plan is solid… but as usual, devil is in the details.

Tesla places their chips on an India-first car. 🚗

TLDR -
- Tesla is exploring the possibility of a “India-first” EV, priced at 20L
- Currently, the cheapest Tesla retails for 80L-1Cr due to how generous Motabhai is with tax 🤦
- My bet: India is a KILLER export base - they can sell with no tax locally and take their maal to China for cheap, all with Indian employment & investment!

Tesla has had virtually NO presence in India for decades.

But things are changing - they’re exploring an India-only car that’s priced at 20L INR.

This is pretty big, because the cheapest Tesla on the market is 40L, which ends up retailing for 80L+++ because of how generous the government is with tax on imported cars.

And anyone who’s buying an almost 1-crore car knows that you can get a lot more for lot less.

But this is super encouraging stuff, since it means that Indians can now buy a relatively luxury EV for 1/5th the price, and Tesla can use India as an export base.

They can make & manufacture in India (their 2nd biggest Asian market) and sell with no tax locally, but they can also save a ton on shipping/regulatory costs while selling to China.

Attitudes are quickly changing - and the government has set 2030 targets of -
- 30% EV adoption for private cars
- 70% EV adoption for commercial vehicles
- 80% EV adoption for 2/3 wheelers

Elon baba ke margins ko thoda shock lagega, but it’s all good. ⚡

Ports giant JSW pops after hitting markets. 🚀

TLDR -
- JSW Infra is taking the fight to Adani Ports with a decently blockbuster IPO
- The government manages 50% of India’s port capacity - so the opportunity for private companies is UNBELIEVABLE.
- JSW is gonna be debt-free post IPO, so they’re building a war chest to encash on any big opportunities.

In other news… ☕

JP Morgan thinks that the Middle East is entering it’s golden era (BBG)

Sam Altman invests into 2 teens with an AI startup (TC)

TikTok e-commerce gets BANNED in Indonesia (CNBC)

Greylock launches a $1bn seed-stage fund (TC)

India tells Canada to recall diplomats (FT)

And that’s the tea the chai for today.

Thanks for reading, and we hope you enjoyed it. Have a mauj-masti filled day.

Lots of ❤️,

Team Cutting Chai