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Ola Electric's PLI woes; Paytm rides MDR hopes
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Ola Electric's auditor has raised a red flag in the company's Q1 results. This and more in today's ETtech's Top 5.
Also in the letter:
■ GalaxEye's StarOps bet
■ LinkedIn CEO on AI jobs
■ Zee's music rights battle
Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO, Ola Electric
Ola Electric's auditor has flagged the reversal of a Rs 57 crore provision linked to a penalty for missing investment targets under the government's battery production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme.
What's the issue? Ola Electric reversed the provision without receiving formal approval from the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) for a penalty waiver.
The reversal reduced the company's June-quarter expenses and helped narrow its loss to Rs 336 crore from Rs 428 crore a year earlier.
Also Read: Big shift: Ola Electric moves to dealership model amid market share wipeout
Tell me more:
Ola nevertheless reversed the provision, prompting its auditor to qualify its review of the results.
Also Read: Ola Electric loss narrows to Rs 336 crore, revenue down 45%
Info Edge posted a strong June-quarter performance, driven by recovery in enterprise hiring and improved momentum at 99acres.
Financials:
Vijay Shekhar Sharma, CEO, Paytm
Shares of One97 Communications, Paytm's parent, rose 4.5% to Rs 1,506 on the BSE on Monday.
Why the rally?
Also Read: Exclusive: UPI merchant fee likely to be set at 5-7 basis points: sources
Background: ET has reported extensively on India's plan to restore MDR for large-merchant UPI transactions.
The government has said consumers will not be charged for UPI payments. MDR would apply only to select merchant transactions above a threshold. The government has also said that UPI needs a revenue model to cover continued spending on cybersecurity, fraud prevention, and infrastructure.
Also Read: PhonePe, Razorpay chiefs say UPI will stay free for users, back sustainable model
GalaxyEye founders
Spacetech startup GalaxEye, backed by Infosys, has bought spacecraft engineering firm StarOps to expand its satellite-building capabilities.
Deal details: StarOps will bring its engineering team, spacecraft technology, and satellite platforms into GalaxEye. The deal will help GalaxEye speed up product development and build more of its satellite systems in-house as it works towards its planned OptoSAR constellation.
Yes, and? The acquisition comes about a month after GalaxEye lost contact with Mission Drishti, its first earth observation satellite and the world's first to combine synthetic aperture radar (SAR) with optical imaging.
Chetan Mehta, founding partner, Aum Ventures
Early-stage VC firm Aum Ventures has raised Rs 225 crore in the first close of its second India Innovation Fund.
Fund details: The fund is targeting Rs 750 crore, or about $80 million, and will back early-stage startups in areas like spacetech, semiconductors, and AI. It will mainly invest at the pre-seed and seed stages, with initial cheques of $750,000-$2 million.
Dan Shapero, CEO, LinkedIn
India is emerging as a key artificial intelligence jobs hub, with AI engineering roles up 51% on-year, LinkedIn CEO Dan Shapero said in an interview with ET. Edited excerpts:
On the labour market: We (LinkedIn) sit on the world's best data set about what's going on in the labour market, and if you look at what's going on with hiring right now, hiring is slower today than it was before the pandemic, but it does not appear to be driven by AI. It appears to be driven by global interest rates.
India job trend: One trend is that India's share in US companies' overseas R&D hiring grew from 27% to 41% between 2019 and 2025. So, you're seeing that over the course of the pandemic, a lot of companies realised that they can move more and more of their R&D capabilities into India. Another trend that we're seeing globally is a trend towards more people being founders.
Zee Entertainment has sued Nykaa and Blinkit over alleged unauthorised use of its copyrighted music on Instagram, putting commercial use of platform music under scrutiny.
Nykaa case:
Blinkit matter:
Also in the letter:
■ GalaxEye's StarOps bet
■ LinkedIn CEO on AI jobs
■ Zee's music rights battle
Ola Electric auditor flags Rs 57 crore PLI penalty reversal in Q1 results
Ola Electric's auditor has flagged the reversal of a Rs 57 crore provision linked to a penalty for missing investment targets under the government's battery production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme.
What's the issue? Ola Electric reversed the provision without receiving formal approval from the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) for a penalty waiver.
The reversal reduced the company's June-quarter expenses and helped narrow its loss to Rs 336 crore from Rs 428 crore a year earlier.
Also Read: Big shift: Ola Electric moves to dealership model amid market share wipeout
Tell me more:
- Ola Cell Technologies, Ola Electric's battery unit, had provisioned Rs 57 crore for liquidated damages after missing an investment milestone under the Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) PLI scheme.
- In 2022, Ola was awarded 20 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of domestic ACC manufacturing capacity under the scheme.
- Beneficiaries were required to invest Rs 225 crore per GWh within two years.
- After missing the deadline, Ola sought more time and a waiver of the penalty. MHI had not approved the request by the end of the June quarter.
Ola nevertheless reversed the provision, prompting its auditor to qualify its review of the results.
Also Read: Ola Electric loss narrows to Rs 336 crore, revenue down 45%
Info Edge Q1 profit rises 43% to Rs 490 crore as Naukri, 99acres gather pace
Info Edge posted a strong June-quarter performance, driven by recovery in enterprise hiring and improved momentum at 99acres.
Financials:
- Revenue: Up 11% at Rs 881 crore vs Rs 791 crore a year ago.
- Net profit: Up 43% to Rs 490 crore, compared with the year-ago period.
Paytm shares jump 5% after Bernstein sets target price above IPO level for the first time
Shares of One97 Communications, Paytm's parent, rose 4.5% to Rs 1,506 on the BSE on Monday.
Why the rally?
- Target raised: Bernstein lifted Paytm's target price to Rs 2,200 from Rs 1,500,while retaining its Outperform rating.
- MDR boost: The brokerage expects the MDR (merchant discount rate) on UPI (Unified Payments Interface) transactions to improve Paytm's net payments margin by 3-4 basis points. It sees this lifting FY30E (estimated) earnings per share (EPS) by 30% over its earlier forecast.
- UPI monetisation: Bernstein said recent Ministry of Finance comments and legal changes removing the statutory ban on UPI MDR indicate the debate has shifted from whether charges will return to when and how. It has moved UPI monetisation into its base case, with benefits from FY28E.
Background: ET has reported extensively on India's plan to restore MDR for large-merchant UPI transactions.
The government has said consumers will not be charged for UPI payments. MDR would apply only to select merchant transactions above a threshold. The government has also said that UPI needs a revenue model to cover continued spending on cybersecurity, fraud prevention, and infrastructure.
Also Read: PhonePe, Razorpay chiefs say UPI will stay free for users, back sustainable model
GalaxEye acquires StarOps, looks to strengthen satellite engineering after Drishti setback
Spacetech startup GalaxEye, backed by Infosys, has bought spacecraft engineering firm StarOps to expand its satellite-building capabilities.
Deal details: StarOps will bring its engineering team, spacecraft technology, and satellite platforms into GalaxEye. The deal will help GalaxEye speed up product development and build more of its satellite systems in-house as it works towards its planned OptoSAR constellation.
Yes, and? The acquisition comes about a month after GalaxEye lost contact with Mission Drishti, its first earth observation satellite and the world's first to combine synthetic aperture radar (SAR) with optical imaging.
Aum Ventures marks first close of Rs 750 crore deeptech fund at Rs 225 crore
Early-stage VC firm Aum Ventures has raised Rs 225 crore in the first close of its second India Innovation Fund.
Fund details: The fund is targeting Rs 750 crore, or about $80 million, and will back early-stage startups in areas like spacetech, semiconductors, and AI. It will mainly invest at the pre-seed and seed stages, with initial cheques of $750,000-$2 million.
AI job market booming in India, engineering roles growing 51% every year: LinkedIn CEO
India is emerging as a key artificial intelligence jobs hub, with AI engineering roles up 51% on-year, LinkedIn CEO Dan Shapero said in an interview with ET. Edited excerpts:
On the labour market: We (LinkedIn) sit on the world's best data set about what's going on in the labour market, and if you look at what's going on with hiring right now, hiring is slower today than it was before the pandemic, but it does not appear to be driven by AI. It appears to be driven by global interest rates.
India job trend: One trend is that India's share in US companies' overseas R&D hiring grew from 27% to 41% between 2019 and 2025. So, you're seeing that over the course of the pandemic, a lot of companies realised that they can move more and more of their R&D capabilities into India. Another trend that we're seeing globally is a trend towards more people being founders.
ETtech Explainer: Why Zee sued Nykaa, Blinkit over Instagram reels
Zee Entertainment has sued Nykaa and Blinkit over alleged unauthorised use of its copyrighted music on Instagram, putting commercial use of platform music under scrutiny.
Nykaa case:
- Zee is seeking Rs 2 crore from Nykaa, alleging it used Zee songs in 12 Instagram reels to promote products.
- Zee argued that its deal with Meta, Instagram's parent, allows its music catalogue for personal, non-commercial use. Zee says Nykaa's promotional posts fall outside this.
- However, Nykaa wants Meta added to the case, arguing Instagram's licensed music library is covered by its agreement with Zee.
Blinkit matter:
- Zee has also approached the Delhi High Court over alleged copyright infringement in Blinkit's Instagram content.
- The court has issued summons, allowed Zee to submit screen recordings, and asked Blinkit to respond within 30 days, according to media reports.
- The next hearing is listed for August 27.
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