In this week’s wrap-up, we discuss how Eli Lilly’s weight loss and diabetes drug could reshape healthcare in India, the side effects of Trump’s tariffs, why dating apps are struggling to grow business, how tyre recycling problems are fuelling an environmental crisis in India and finally, how GPT-4o could potentially change the world of design.

And in this week’s markets edition, we break down the Siemens Energy India demerger. Click here to read the full markets story.

But before we begin… We’re on the lookout for a Financial Writer!

If you love finance and have a knack for storytelling, this is your chance to join Finshots. We simplify business and finance for 5,00,000+ readers every day, and now, we’re looking for someone who can break down market trends, economic policies and business stories into crisp, engaging reads.

If this sounds like you, or you know someone who’d be perfect for the role, apply here or share it with them.

Now, let’s dive into what we wrote over the week…

Can India afford the weight-loss and diabetes drug revolution?

What if you could lose 5 to 10 kilos in just a few weeks? Sounds exciting, right?

Well, last week, American pharma giant Eli Lilly made waves by launching Tirzepatide (brand name Mounjaro) in India, a powerful new drug that helps with both diabetes and weight loss. And with over 100 million Indians living with diabetes and another 70 million battling obesity, this could be a game changer.

But there’s a catch. Managing these conditions with the drug could set patients back by a whopping ₹2 lakhs a year. That’s a steep price to pay.

So then how does this weight loss revolution actually hold promise for Indian patients? Find out in our Monday’s newsletter.

Trump wants European eggs, but what about tariffs?

The US president is in awe of tariffs. And soon after he took office, he slapped a slew of tariffs on almost all of his major trading partners, including the European Union (EU). And in response, the EU imposed retaliatory tariffs on the US. So yes, it’s a full-blown tariff war. “You tax our imports? Guess what? We tax your products. We’re even now.”

However, as great an economic tool as tariffs might seem at first, they have always backfired. And history is proof.

So, in our Tuesday story, we break down the unintended costs that economies bear in these tariff wars. You can read it here.

Why are dating apps struggling?

When Bumble, the dating app, went public in 2021, its market capitalisation hit $13 billion on the first day of trading.

But if you had invested in Bumble back then, thinking that online dating was the next big thing, that investment would be worth peanuts today. And why’s that, you ask?

Well, because the dating app business isn’t exactly swiping right on growth anymore. Weaker than expected earnings have sent stocks of companies like Match Group, the parent of Tinder, Hinge, OKCupid and more, tumbling nearly 80% from their 2021 peak.

So, what’s going wrong in the world of dating apps? We break it down in Wednesday’s newsletter.

UK’s waste tyres fueling a crisis in India?

Nearly half of the UK’s scrap tyres, or what you call end-of-life tyres (ELTs), end up in India for recycling. 

All good till here. However, the problem starts when these waste tyres find their way into illegal, unlicensed pyrolysis plants that are burgeoning in numerous parts of the country.

In these makeshift plants, tyres are heated in an oxygen-free environment, releasing a cocktail of toxins that are highly carcinogenic. 

And guess what? The UK’s regulations for exporting these worn-out tyres are extremely lax. Pyrolysis plant owners extract oil by recycling these tyres from the UK, and the UK exporters make a fair amount of money out of the deal.

So yes, people engaging in this trade are having a good time earning decent amounts of money, while the labourers working in these plants and the nearby environment suffer beyond repair. 

You can read Thursday’s newsletter to understand why this needs to stop immediately and what the Indian government is doing about it.

OpenAI’s new AI model just made everyone a designer overnight

Imagine creating beautiful visuals simply by describing them in plain language — no more complicated tools, no more waiting for graphic designers to send drafts back and forth, and no more complaining. It’s kind of the ultimate dream, and despite massive advancements in AI, we’ve always seemed to be just out of reach. 

However, OpenAI’s latest image generation model (4o) changes this. It has probably brought us within touching distance of the promised land, if not directly into it. For context, it can create photorealistic images, understands context and it’s turned everyone into an overnight designer.

But does this mean professional designers are about to lose their edge? We break it down in Friday’s newsletter.

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