In this week’s wrapup, we talk about making polluters pay, the latest Economic Survey, the Budget, a long simmering crisis in Korea's pop music industry and the great Indian Chinese conundrum.

Here’s a recap.

Should the EU face a historical polluter tax?

The EU is on a mission to hit climate neutrality by 2050, and it's shaking things up with its Emissions Trading System (ETS) and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). It's all about making big polluters pay.

But this has created a new set of problems for countries like India. And an independent think tank, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) suggests that that countries like India, or particularly those that haven't historically contributed much to climate change, should, in turn, impose a "historical polluter tax" on these more affluent economies like the EU. If that makes you curious, find out what's happening in our Monday's newsletter.

The Economic Survey 2024 Explained

This week the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the annual Economic Survey in the Lok Sabha. And this year’s survey has its fair share of interesting observations. So we had to write about it in our Tuesday's newsletter. You can read it here.

The Budget 2024 explained

In Wednesday's newsletter we covered the important highlights of the Budget that the Finance Minister rolled out this week. Didn't have the time to catch up on it? No problem! You can click here to catch up on the updates that matter most from this Budget.

The escalating K-Pop crisis

Kakao Corp's founder, Kim Beom-soo, was arrested this week for allegedly rigging stock prices in the K-pop industry, stirring up a major scandal. Kakao, a major player in South Korea's social media and entertainment scene, recently invested in SM Entertainment, a top K-pop agency. Now, Kim is accused of artificially boosting SM Entertainment's stock to fend off rival HYBE Corporation.

And this controversy isn't just affecting Kakao's stock price, but could also worsen the already struggling K-pop market. What are we talking about. Head over to our Thursday's newsletter to find out.

The great Indian Chinese conundrum

India is at a crossroads, facing tough questions outlined in the latest Economic Survey. Can the country boost manufacturing without relying heavily on China?

With the “Atmanirbhar Bharat” initiative pushing for self-reliance, India is trying to reduce its dependence on Chinese imports. But the reality is more complex. Is there a way to solve this problem, though? That's what we wrote about in Friday's newsletter. You can read it here.

Finshots Weekly Quiz 🧩

Here’s your chance to win some exclusive Finshots merch. All you have to do is click on this 👉🏽 link, answer all the questions correctly by 12 noon on August 3, 2024 (Saturday) and tune in to our Sunday newsletter aka Sunny Side Up next week to check if you got lucky.

That’s it from us this week. Have a great weekend!

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