In this week’s wrapup, we talk about the problem with lithium discoveries, India’s push towards coal gasification, India’s new FDI norms, what GameStop sees in eBay, and what is the appeal of orbital data centres.

Also, in this week’s Markets edition, we talk about electronic gold receipts (EGRs). You can read the full story here.

With that out of the way, let’s look back at what we wrote this week.

The problem with lithium discoveries

The US may have discovered massive lithium deposits. But turning that into battery dominance is far more complicated than it sounds.

Because finding lithium is only the beginning. The metal still needs to be extracted, processed, and refined, and that’s where the real bottleneck lies. Today, countries like China dominate the refining ecosystem, while much of the world still depends on complex global supply chains for battery production.

There’s also the geological problem. Some lithium deposits are trapped in hard rocks that are expensive and energy-intensive to mine, while others sit in brine reserves that are easier to extract. So not every discovery automatically becomes commercially viable.

That’s why lithium announcements often create excitement long before they create actual supply.

In Monday’s story, we break down why lithium discoveries don’t instantly change the energy game.

Is India betting on “Cleaner Coal” to solve its energy problem?

India’s energy transition has always carried a contradiction. On one hand, the country is aggressively expanding solar, wind, and nuclear power. On the other hand, coal still powers nearly 74% of India’s electricity. Because it is cheap, abundant, and we don’t need to import it. However, coal is extremely polluting.

This is why the government is backing a ₹ 37,500-crore incentive scheme to convert coal into “synthetic gas” and industrial chemicals rather than simply burning it. This way, pollution is controlled and captured at the source, leaving behind “cleaner coal”.

But here’s the catch. It doesn’t eliminate carbon emissions. It simply changes how and when those emissions are released. And without expensive carbon capture systems, the overall climate impact remains significant.

And this puts India in a difficult position.

Renewables still can’t fully replace coal for baseload power and heavy industry. But doubling down on “cleaner coal” could also lock the country into fossil-fuel infrastructure for decades.

So the real question is: Is coal gasification a temporary bridge to cleaner energy, or just a smarter way to extend the life of coal?

Read our Tuesday story to find out.

India’s FDI opens a small window for China

Back in 2020, India slammed the brakes on Chinese-linked foreign investments with something called Press Note 3. Press Notes are simply guidelines issued by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) for FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in India. The idea was to protect Indian companies during a tense geopolitical situation between the two countries.

But over time, this policy created a strange set of problems. Startups and manufacturing firms struggled to raise money, while some foreign investors found what looked like a backdoor route to invest in Indian companies anyway.

Which is why India has now relaxed some of these rules. And while that sounds like good news, there’s a catch. Because this fix could create a whole new set of problems for India’s trade and economy. If you’re curious to know why, check out Wednesday’s newsletter, where we explained what changed in India’s FDI policy, why it changed, and the consequences that could follow.

What GameStop sees in eBay

GameStop was the meme-stock darling of 2021. But while the stock rose, the business pretty much stayed the same.

Which is why when it proposed a $56 billion acquisition of eBay, everyone was surprised. Especially since eBay itself is at least four times larger than GameStop.

GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen has a simple reason: eBay has grown bloated. It spent $2.4 billion on marketing yet grew its buyer base by less than 1% in FY25. GameStop claims it can slash nearly $2 billion in annual costs post-merger, more than doubling eBay's earnings per share. GameStop's ~1,600 US stores could also serve as physical infrastructure for eBay's marketplace — handling seller intake and fulfillment.

The catch? GameStop doesn't have $56 billion, and the deal would rely on debt, outside investors, and its own inflated stock. In Thursday's story, we unpack why GameStop wants eBay and whether this ambitious bet could actually transform the struggling retailer.

What is the appeal of orbital data centres?

A few days ago, GalaxEye launched Mission Drishti, the world’s first “OptoSAR” satellite. Unlike traditional satellites that rely on either optical cameras or radar sensors for imaging, this one combines both and uses AI to fuse the data together. That alone is a major leap for applications like military surveillance, weather tracking, disaster management, and agriculture.

But another startup now wants to take things even further. Pixxel is now planning to launch India’s first orbital data centre satellite, complete with datacentre-grade GPUs in space itself. 

So, instead of simply capturing raw imagery and sending it back to Earth for processing, the idea is to run AI models directly in orbit and beam down only the final insights. 

And suddenly, what sounds like science fiction starts raising a very real question: why are companies seriously considering moving computing infrastructure into space?

Well, the answer has less to do with space exploration and more to do with a growing problem here on Earth. 

You see, AI infrastructure is becoming so power-hungry, land-intensive, and difficult to cool that companies are beginning to look beyond terrestrial data centres altogether and put them in space. 

But orbital computing also comes with enormous engineering as well as economic challenges that make the entire idea both fascinating and slightly out of this world. 

Why is that the case? Read the full story to know more.

🔔We have some exciting news!

We read about economic theories all the time. But no one really tells us how to use them. So we’re fixing that.

Next week, we’re dropping a new series where we take a few carefully picked economic ideas to show you how they play out in real life.

Introducing Finshots Pocket Economics, where we break down one idea every Saturday over the next few weeks, and show you how it can help you make better decisions in everyday life. Whether it’s your career, relationships, spending, or saving.

So yeah, it’s like an economics textbook, but pocket-sized. And actually useful.

We’ll see you next Saturday, in place of the weekly wrapup. And yes, your usual Markets edition will now come out on Friday morning while this series is on.

See you soon.

Finshots Weekly Quiz v2.0 🧠

Hey folks! As you probably already know, the Finshots Weekly Quiz has a new avatar. If you missed out on it in the last couple of months, don’t worry. Click here to check out the rules and set a reminder to participate consistently starting next month!

But for now, it’s time to announce the winners. First up, the winner of Finshots Weekly Quiz v2.0 for April 2026 is Hemant. Congratulations.

Next, let’s move on to the top scorers from our previous weekly quiz. There were a whole bunch of you who participated, and many of you ended up with the same scores. So we’re calling you Bulls, Bears, Unicorns, Blue Chips, and Rising Stars. Here’s how the leaderboard looks right now:

If your name has been featured on the leaderboard, then congratulations! If not, don’t lose hope. If you attempted last week’s quiz, keep at it and answer all the weekly quizzes this month. You never know when the turntables! Click on this link to take this week’s quiz, which is open till 12 noon, Friday, 15th of May, 2026. The more answers you get right, the better your chances of appearing on the Finshots Weekly Quiz leaderboard. We’ll publish it every Saturday in the Weekly Wrapup. And the winner will be announced in the first week of June.

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