In this week's wrapup, we talk about Google's monopoly rent, V-Marc India's stock rigging scandal, India's rising obesity rates, rate standardisation at hospitals and IPO financing.

For the markets edition, we talk about Gopal Snacks' IPO.

Wait... You haven't heard of this brand?

Well, it may not be your fault because it's more of a regional player. And most of its revenues come from one Indian state — Gujarat. But that hasn't deterred it from being the fourth-largest branded ethnic snack maker in the country! You know, stuff like namkeen which is made using moong dal, green peas, fried nuts, etc. and gathiya which is a Gujarati deep-fried snack made from chickpea flour.

So yeah, Gopal Snacks is quite a big name in the snacks market. But will it catch investors fancy? You'll have to head over to our markets story here, to find out.

Meanwhile, here’s a recap of what we wrote over the week.

Why did Google kick Indian apps off the Play Store?

Last week Google booted out 10 apps from its Play Store, including popular ones like Shaadi.com and Kuku FM.

Its reason?

They allegedly defaulted on Google's 'Service Fees.' And that has sparked outrage among app owners. But amidst the chaos, UPI giant PhonePe, has stepped in to capitalise on this opportunity, with its own Indus Appstore.

Does this mean that Google has made way for other players to disrupt its monopoly? You'll have to head over to our Monday's newsletter to find out.

A V-Marc stock rigging scandal?

SEBI, India's market watchdog, has a tech cache that it uses to bust stock market manipulations. It can track patterns, connections and even social media chatter to nab fraudsters with its sophisticated bunch of tech tools.

But maybe V-Marc India, a wires and cables maker didn't see SEBI's tech prowess swooping down on it. Because a few days ago it became a victim of its tech sorcery. Over the last few years V-Marc's insiders had managed to rig its stocks through circular trading.

How did they do it? Find out in our Tuesday's newsletter.

Is India getting unhealthy by the day?

An alarming study published in the international medical journal The Lancet has just highlighted a silently brewing crisis — obesity. Apparently, childhood obesity has skyrocketed from 0.4 million in 1990 to a staggering 12.5 million today. And that means over 3.5% of children in the country are now overweight.

Now, you might think that this is an urban phenomenon. But surprisingly, rural areas aren't spared either. Urban habits have seeped into villages, while public policies aren't doing much to crunch the crisis.

And all of that translates into a heavy direct and indirect costs. So how is obesity taking a toll on the economy? We discussed it in our Wednesday's newsletter here.

Price transparency puts hospitals in trouble

Indian hospitals' revenues are thriving! In this first 9 months of FY24, they've already earned close to 10% more average revenues per bed per day as compared to the same period last year.

But a Supreme Court diktat could threaten this growth. It has recently asked the government to set rate ranges for medical procedures and treatments across all hospitals pan India. Its reason?

There's a huge price disparity between state-run and private hospitals. How's that going to affect the healthcare industry? We wrote about it in our Thursday's newsletter here.

An explainer on IPO financing

Ever heard of IPO financing?

It's the lucrative business of lending big bucks to high-net-worth individuals (HNIs) eager to cash in on IPOs. But wait—there's trouble in paradise.

The RBI has reprimanded a major player JM Financial, for alleged regulatory violations via excessive leverage and governance issues. And this could spell doom for the IPO financing ecosystem.

Dive into our Friday's newsletter to read all about RBI's latest crackdown and find out if this could disrupt the red-hot IPO frenzy.

Finshots Weekly Quiz 🧩

Hey folks! We're back with our 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 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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