India is haemorrhaging jobs
Nearly 5 million salaried Indians lost their jobs in July—taking the total to 18.9 million since the pandemic began. Of these 17.7 million were lost in April, another 100,000 in May, and 5 million in July. Point to note: only 21% of all jobs in India are salaried. Separately, 6.8 million daily wage earners lost their livelihoods in the same period. (Economic Times)
But Indians are still spending: They spent more money online in May, June and July than they did during the same period last year. All this thanks to the pandemic—which has also been a boon to Amazon. Its Indian customer base has doubled in just a few months. Related read: Indian Express on the big disruption of India’s online pharmaceutical market—which witnessed two heavy hitters, Amazon and Reliance, enter the fray.
Not doing well in India: Harley Davidson. The US motorcycle company is planning to shut shop due to weak sales and likely poor future demand. (The Hindu)
Facebook India faces rebellion
Eleven employees have written an open letter to the company’s leaders, insisting they acknowledge and denounce “anti-Muslim bigotry.” They’ve also asked that the policy team in India (Read: Ankhi Das’ team) “includes diverse representation.” They wrote:
“It is hard not to feel frustrated and saddened by the incidents reported ... We know we’re not alone in this. Employees across the company are expressing similar sentiment… The Muslim community at Facebook would like to hear from Facebook leadership on our asks.”
An internal source says the leadership will face greater scrutiny “to see what went down”—though the India operations head sent out an internal memo defending Das after the Wall Street Journal story broke. (We explained that angle here). (Reuters)
Doing a lot better: Apple, which doubled its valuation in just two years to cross the $2 trillion mark—and is the first company to do so. It became the most valuable listed company at the end of July when it passed oil giant Saudi Aramco. (CNBC)
Supreme Court rules on Rajput case
The court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to take charge of the case—and asked the Mumbai police to turn over all the evidence in its possession. It also held up the FIR filed by Sushant Singh Rajput’s father against Rhea Chakraborthy. This development broke the maun vrat of previously silent stars like Akshay Kumar, Shilpa Shetty, Kriti Sanon—who were quick to applaud the ruling.
A depressing side-story: Five doctors who signed off on Rajput’s autopsy report are being flooded with abusive calls—after trolls put their names and contact information online. These nuts insist the doctors took bribes to declare his death a suicide. Mumbai Mirror has the story.
Military recalled from Kashmir
The government has ordered the withdrawal of 10,000 paramilitary troops from Kashmir—where they were sent right before the suspension of Article 370. No explanation has been given for the decision thus far. (The Hindu)
TikTok is not going anywhere
ByteDance is getting ready to dig its heels in the US—even as President Trump’s September 15 ‘sell or get out’ deadline draws near. A top exec told reporters it has no plans to leave the country even if it is not sold to a US company: "TikTok is here for the long run. We are more than confident in our future.”
In related China ban news: Vivo has been replaced by the ‘Made in India’ Dream 11. But ‘Made in China’ Tencent owns a stake in the company, which created great debate on Twitter, forcing a BCCI source to issue this patriotic statement:
"Dream11 stakeholders, including its founders plus all 400 plus employees, are Indian...
Their Indian investors are Kalaari Capital and Multiples Equity. Even Dream11's product is available exclusively for use only by Indians. Only a single-digit percentage minority stake is held by Tencent.”
In related anti-China news: The 5000-plus Chinese-Indians are worried they will be scapegoated amid the escalation of tensions—and some have even written to Canadian PM Justin Trudeau asking for help. South China Morning Post reports on the debate roiling the community.
Wanna shuffle your Netflix watchlist?
We’ve all been there: endlessly scrolling for something to watch. Netflix feels your pain and is testing a solution: a ‘shuffle’ button that will pick a show or movie for you. This could be something on your list—or something similar to it. But wait... the main reason we can’t find anything to watch is because the Netflix algo is crap at making recommendations. Right? (The Verge)
In more useful news: Finnish researchers may have found the Holy Grail: the cure for a hangover. Bloomberg has that happy story.
Delhi monsoon: vids and photos
It’s been raining very hard in the NCR. We have nothing to add to that except the following viral clips. One: how many cars can a line of trees destroy? Two: NCR, the underwater edition. And the winner is below: is it Venice or Gurgaon?