In this week’s wrapup, we discuss the dispute between Reliance and ONGC and how they could have prevented it, Bill Ackman’s aspirations to become Warren Buffett, why Donald Trump and Elon Musk want to audit the gold at Fort Knox, Amtek Auto’s huge loan fraud, and finally, the last edition of the Finshots Cracks Crypto series, where we tell you why you need to think twice before betting on crypto.

And in this week’s markets edition, we tell you how Spicejet turned profitable for the first time in a decade. Click here to read the full markets story.

We also have an exciting video for you – What if there’s a mutual fund that has consistently beaten the market, even during crashes? It's a cult favorite among investors, but is it really the best out there? We break down its strategy, performance, and risks in this video. Watch it here and decide for yourself!

And with that out of the way, let’s recap what we wrote over the week.

Reliance, ONGC, and the missing unitisation agreement

Reliance Industries is a thief!

No, this isn’t an allegation we’re making. It’s quite literally what happened after the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) opened the doors for private companies to bid for and extract oil and gas. Previously, only state-run giants like ONGC and OIL had access to these exploration blocks.

Reliance was extracting, drilling wells and pumping gas from its awarded block, which happened to be right next to ONGC’s. But since these blocks were geologically connected, some of ONGC’s gas may have migrated into Reliance’s block. Meaning, Reliance was effectively extracting ONGC’s share. And while it may not have been intentional, Reliance wasn’t exactly eager to compensate ONGC for years of lost gas.

And this legal battle has dragged on for years, with court rulings swinging both ways, sometimes favouring Reliance and its allies and sometimes going against them.

But could Reliance and ONGC have avoided this dispute altogether?

The answer is yes, if a unitisation agreement had been in place.

What’s that, you ask? That’s exactly what we explored in Monday’s newsletter. Click here to read it.

Bill Ackman wants to be Warren Buffett

Bill Ackman wants to be the next Warren Buffett.

If that doesn’t make immediate sense, he’s looking to acquire a larger controlling stake in HHH and transform it into a powerhouse holding company. Or, as he puts it, ‘the modern-day Berkshire Hathaway’.

But can he really pull this off?

We dug into it in Tuesday’s newsletter. You can read it here.

Why Elon Musk and Trump want a Fort Knox gold audit

Fort Knox is one of the most famous gold vaults in the world, holding about half of the US’ total gold reserves.

The problem though? No one has actually checked it in decades. The last full audit was way back in 1953.

And now, the US government is getting a little curious. Some people even believe that there may be no gold at all. So why not just open the vault and settle the debate?

Well, that’s the obvious question. But what if the real reasons behind this sudden interest are something else entirely?

We dug into it in Wednesday’s newsletter. Read it here.

Amtek Auto’s ₹27,000 crore bank loan fraud

Last week, the Delhi High Court denied bail to Arvind Dham, the promoter of Amtek Auto and the man behind a massive loan fraud worth thousands of crores!

Now, you might not have heard of Amtek Auto, but back in the day, it was a big deal. As one of India’s top auto component suppliers, it worked with giants like Maruti, Tata Motors and Ford Fiat. And its business was booming.

Then, in 2017, everything crashed. Amtek had racked up over ₹20,000 crores in debt and couldn’t repay its lenders. So, banks dragged it to insolvency court.

But here’s the thing. No one really asked why Amtek couldn’t pay. It had a solid reputation, plenty of assets and was supposedly doing well. So what went wrong?

Well, it turns out that behind the scenes, Amtek and its promoter were allegedly siphoning off bank loans for personal gain. And yet, no alarms were raised. Even when suspicions emerged, no real probes followed.

So how did they pull it off? And why did no one investigate?

We broke it all down in Thursday’s newsletter. Read it here.

Finshots Cracks Crypto #7: The harsh truth about cryptos and where they’re headed

Over the past few Fridays, we’ve taken you through all things crypto. But after all that, you’re probably wondering — “Wait, is crypto all sunshine and rainbows?”

And it’s only fair if you asked this question because none of our stories really emphasised its downsides enough. Not because we’re biased or part of the crypto hype squad. We just saved the hard truths for this final chapter on why you might want to think twice before buying crypto.

We talk about crypto scams, vulnerabilities beyond your control and where crypto may be headed despite all these drawbacks.

Dive into the last edition of Finshots Cracks Crypto here.

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