ConveGenius' edtech playbook, Jio Financial Service Ltd's demerger from Reliance Industries, BFSI's ransomware woes are some of the stories that piqued the interest of our readers this week
1) Baby steps of Social Stock ExchangeWhat if you could donate/invest in making a direct impact on social change with the ease of investing in the equity market? This idea behind a social stock exchange (SSE) makes it a powerful concept. With SSE, interested investors can use financial markets to move capital towards social impact. In India, it could bridge the trust and credibility gap between the social sector and individuals and corporations with means to make a difference. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed the creation of SSE in her Budget speech in 2019. Four years later, India's SSE is reportedly targeting to list its first few non-profits in August. Curious about how will SSE work? What are the benefits? What are the challenges? Read on.2) Edtech playbook and common sense"We always had a sense of who we were and what we were doing," says Jairaj Bhattacharya, co-founder of edtech platform ConveGenius. He was explaining why he and his co-founder didn't raise money when VCs were emptying their vaults for the edtech sector in 2021. VCs invested a record $4.1 billion in funding that year. Observing the recent turmoil faced by the industry where giants like Byju's are struggling, even a casual onlooker would ask what happened to the common sense of asking for money when there is a need, not greed. This rooted-in-reality sense of knowing who they are became the beacon for the rookie founders navigating the edtech storm post-pandemic. ConveGenius is reportedly on the path to cross the Rs100 crore revenue mark in FY24. Here's a deconstruction of the two unconventional entrepreneurs. Read more3) The dawn of 'India over China'For more than three decades, investment managers in India have faced unfounded scepticism as foreign investors chose China over India to make big-ticket investments. The underperformance of Chinese equities never swayed them from believing that 'one day dragon will deliver.' A case in point: Since its inception in October 1995, the MSCI China Index has delivered no returns to investors. In contrast, the MSCI India Index returned a whopping 2,000 percent, and the MSCI Emerging Market Index rose over 160 percent. Did they need a pandemic to shatter that belief and look at other emerging markets like India to park their investments? Because Bloomberg data now shows that US ETFs favoured India stocks the most among emerging market peers and invested $637.5 million between July 10-14. Is this the dawn of a new era? Read on