India's bumper Apple exports; Musk's Grok under scrutiny

Apple reached a record $50 billion in iPhone exports from India by December 2025. This and more in today's ETtech Top 5.

Also in the letter:
■ Beauty drives Nykaa's Q3
■ Agritech M&A
■ Paytm's Esop plan

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Tim Cook, CEO, Apple

Apple's India manufacturing just hit a milestone few would have predicted five years ago.

The iPhone maker has exported a record $50 billion worth of iPhones from India by December 2025, riding the momentum created by the government’s smartphone production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, data reviewed by ET showed.

The export surge follows Apple’s decision to enter the PLI programme in FY22, a move that rapidly reworked its global supply chain away from China. With three months still left in the five-year scheme, exports are expected to climb further.

More details:

• Apple shipped nearly $16 billion worth of iPhones in the first nine months of FY26 alone, taking cumulative exports under the PLI window past the $50 billion mark, an official said.
• Five iPhone factories, operated by Tata and Foxconn, now anchor Apple's India operations.
• These plants support a supply chain of roughly 45 companies, many of them MSMEs.
• Rival Samsung exported around $17 billion worth of mobile phones during the five-year PLI period from FY21 to FY25.
• Samsung was also the only firm to exit the scheme early, having met its targets in the first year due to pre-existing capacity.

Also Read: Meet the firms taking a big bite of Apple's India manufacturing pie

What else? While the smartphone PLI scheme ends in March this year, the government is already working with industry players on a successor incentive programme to keep India's smartphone manufacturing engine humming, officials added.

Also Read: Make in India Electronics: Cos create 1.33 million jobs as PLI scheme boosts smartphone manufacturing & exports

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Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok is under mounting global scrutiny over its “Spicy Mode”, a feature critics say has enabled the creation and spread of non-consensual sexualised images of women — including high-profile celebrities such as Taylor Swift.

Global reactions:

• The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) issued a notice to X on January 2, directing the platform to take down obscene AI-generated content.
• Malaysia's communications watchdog flagged rising misuse of AI tools on platforms such as X, particularly the digital manipulation of images of women and minors.
• In France, authorities said Grok's outputs as "clearly illegal" under the European Union's Digital Services Act.
• A Turkish court went a step further, banning Grok after it generated content deemed insulting to national values.

No safety regard: Critics argue Grok was deliberately built with looser safety filters than rivals such as OpenAI, prioritising edginess over safeguards. Its tight integration with X has worsened the problem, allowing harmful content to spread rapidly before moderation intervenes.

Back home: ET reported on January 5 that the Indian government is prepared to revoke X's legal safe-harbour protections if it fails to comply with takedown orders linked to AI-generated harmful content.

Also Read: ETtech Explainer: Why Grok’s edgy AI image generator has come under fire

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Falguni Nayar, founder, Nykaa

FSN E-Commerce Ventures, the parent company of beauty and fashion etailer Nykaa, expects its consolidated net revenue growth in the December quarter to come in at the upper end of the mid-twenties year-on-year range.

Beauty boom: In a provisional stock exchange filing, Nykaa said growth momentum has accelerated sequentially, led by its core beauty business.

• The beauty vertical is expected to report net sales value (NSV) growth in the high twenties, the strongest performance in the past six quarters.
• Demand was boosted by a strong festive season, higher traction for in-house brands, and customer additions during the flagship Pink Friday sale.
• Beauty continues to anchor profitability and scale, reaffirming its role as Nykaa's primary growth engine.

Also Read: Nykaa eyes Rs 6,000 crore GMV from in-house brands by FY30, ramps up fashion and AI bets

Fashion trails: Nykaa Fashion continues to lag the beauty business.

• Fashion NSV growth is expected to be in the mid-twenties.
• Net revenue growth for the segment is likely to remain in the late teens.

The company attributed the gap to softer marketing income and ongoing channel optimisation of its owned brands, which has weighed on near-term growth.

Also Read: In the beauty game, quick commerce's serving all the looks

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Agritech startup Unnati, founded by former Paytm chief financial officer Amit Sinha, is set to acquire Gramophone, in a stock-swap deal, bringing together two complementary players in India’s farm services ecosystem.

Deal details: Gramophone, which is backed by Info Edge and focuses on the distribution of farm inputs, will be merged into Unnati as part of the deal.

• Info Edge will transfer its 51% stake in Gramophone and receive a 15.7% stake in Unnati.
• It will additionally invest Rs 35 crore in Unnati, taking its holding to 20.5%, which will later dilute to 18.48%.
• All existing Gramophone shareholders will move to Unnati’s cap table.

Tell me more: Info Edge currently holds 39.58% of Gramophone through wholly owned subsidiary Startup Investments (Holding) Limited (SIHL). This stake will rise to 50.94% prior to the transfer.

The Gramophone stake is valued at around Rs 92 crore, based on a per-share price of Rs 2,703. The transaction is expected to close within 90 days, subject to customary approvals.

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Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder, Paytm

Paytm parent One 97 Communications has issued fresh equity shares to employees following the exercise of stock options, continuing its use of equity incentives to retain talent.

Driving the news: The company allotted 1,88,879 equity shares under its Employee Stock Ownership Plan (Esop) 2019 scheme, as per a stock exchange filing

Details:

• The allotment was approved by the company's nomination and remuneration committee on January 3.
• The shares carry a face value of Rs 1 each.
• They were issued at an exercise price of Rs 9 per share.
• Post-allotment, Paytm's issued, subscribed and paid-up equity share capital increased marginally to Rs 63.97 crore from Rs 63.95 crore.

Yes, and: In a separate disclosure, Paytm said its board approved a fresh grant of 1,23,908 stock options to eligible employees under the same Esop 2019 scheme. Based on Paytm’s last closing price of Rs 1,340.7, the newly granted options are valued at roughly Rs 16.6 crore.