In this week’s wrapup, we talk about water futures, movie theatres, beer cartels, China and currency manipulation.

But before that, a note on this weeks Finshots Markets, where we look at the growth of the chemical industry in India, but more specifically one stellar performer within the pack — Deepak Nitrite. You can read the full story here.

Also, if you would like to listen to Finshots on our podcast - Spotify and other podcasting apps.

Water futures are here

California has a big problem. For the most part, the state has to contend with dry weather interspersed with brief spells of torrential rainfall. On other occasions, you could go months without any rain at all, at which point you’ll have to actively consider dealing with a drought. And while the state does, in fact, boast a rather efficient water management system that includes an interoperable structure of ducts, canals, pipes and reservoirs that transport water from places of plenty to places that need it. Climate change and overpopulation are pushing the state to the brink.

So how do you solve a problem like this? Enter — Water Futures.

The Movie Theatre Conundrum

The content pipeline is broken. There is nothing to show right now.

I mean, think about it. Producing new content is extremely challenging considering you have to get a whole bunch of people working together in close proximity. And with a pandemic at large, it’s simply not feasible to just keep doing this. You have to limit gatherings, avoid Covid hotspots, plan for contingencies and quarantines in the event someone contracts the disease. More importantly, you have to allocate a higher budget in order to film under these extraordinary circumstances. So what do movie theatres show now?

Well, that’s what we wanted to find out and if you want to read our take on this, do read the full story here.

The Beer Cartel

Indians are consuming more beer than ever. Roughly 20 million people enter the legal age for drinking each year. And despite what you may think of the product, India is a very important market for beer producers. But what if we told you a cartel involving these same producers have been rigging prices for years now? Well, that’s what a Reuters investigation revealed last week and if you had to read just one article, we highly recommend reading our simplified version of the investigation here.

How hungry is the Red Dragon?

The Chinese love their rice. It’s a staple food item for two-thirds of the people living in China. However, it seems the country is running out of this basic commodity. In fact, they are desperately looking to plug a shortfall and they’re looking at India to meet this demand. And although India is one of the biggest exporters of rice, we’ve never actually tended to the Chinese market. So why is the Red Dragon suddenly turning to us?

That’s what we explain here.

Currency Manipulators

A couple of days back the US treasury department put us on the currency manipulator watchlist. And while they didn’t explicitly call us out for manipulating the Rupee, you still have to wonder — How are they arriving at this conclusion? What benchmarks are they using here? And will this affect us in the long run. To understand the full story, you can read our take here.

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That’s it from us this week. We will see you again on Monday :)