We are not Musk.

The initial public offering (IPO) of Elon Musk's Texas-based SpaceX raised at least $75 billion from financial firms which bought shares at $135 a piece." Musk plans to use the money "to fund new future ventures: mining asteroids, colonizing Mars and putting AI data centers in space." BBC. SpaceX is valued at $1.75 trillion. Sounds crazy but, "SpaceX's valuation surged past $2 trillion following its blockbuster Nasdaq debut last week." However, after the initial buying it was down 6.5% to $178.50 on 18 June on profit taking. "It was still more than 30% above its $135 offering price." Reuters. SpaceX is one of its kind in the technology of reusable rockets. "The technology has reduced the cost of launching satellites from over $54 million per kilogram, to under $3 million." Today it conducts over 100 launches to earth's orbit annually. "The booster stages of reusable rockets can be used several times...one of its rockets was reused over 25 times," wrote Shouvik Das. This is somewhat like Henry Ford's assembly line which reduced the manufacturing time of a Model T from 12 hours to just 90 minutes and its cost from $825 in 1908 to just $260 in 1925. Also, Ford more than doubled the daily wages "from $2.25 to $5 a day, and therefore gave his own employees the opportunity to purchase the product they made." Automotive Training Centers. SpaceX is not just rockets but is into telecommunications and AI as well. "SpaceX says it operates roughly 9,600 Starlink satellites, serves around 10.3 million subscribers globally and provides connectivity services across 164 countries and territories." Its future plans include: "Orbital AI compute infrastructure, massive AI training clusters, space based data center capabilities and AI-enabled satellite networks." MC. The defensive implications of these technologies combined is unimaginable. Is all this even possible and can any industrialist in India ever dream of taking such risks? In India, Skyroot Aerospace and Agnikul Cosmos are aiming to launch satellites under 300 kg to "low-earth orbits of under 500 km from the Earth's surface." They are "also developing patented affordable rocket propulsion and 3D-printed body technologies to be able to turn rockets around at a rapid pace." Skyroot turned unicorn last month, wrote Das. "In business, a unicorn is a startup company valued at over US $1 billion which is privately owned and not listed on a share market." wikipedia. There is a yawning gap between $1 billion and $1,750 billion, so SpaceX will need some catching up. "At a time when two US AI startups Anthropic and OpenAI are heading towards public listings estimated to be worth several billion dollars," Indian founders may be "building high quality AI startups but lagging compute capacity, underdeveloped research ecosystem and slow domestic consumption are the reasons why India is trailing in AI." "India generates nearly 20% of global data but owns less than 5% of AI compute capacity." TOI. The government organized an India AI Impact Summit at Bharat Mandapam in Delhi from 16-21 February 2026.  wikipedia. In a recent podcast, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said that "the summit was extremely disorganized. DH. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that he "was sort of confused like when he (PM Modi) grabbed my hand and put it up, and I just wasn't sure what I was supposed to be doing." TNIE. Shut up, you two. Isn't it enough that you were photographed with the great man? This was real, not artificial. And not about intelligence. For the lobotomised Bhakts.        

As advised by Theodore Roosevelt.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 16 June addressed the deaths of Indian seafarers in a US military strike during an address to G7 leaders, which included US President Donald Trump." "While the Prime Minister did not directly mention the recent deaths of three Indian nationals, his comments appeared to underline New Delhi's concerns about the safety of civilian crews operating in conflict zones and the economic consequences of disruptions to maritime commerce." NDTV. India did condemn the attack without naming the US but, "In a big development, New Delhi has issued a demarche to the United States' top diplomat in Delhi after the attack." NDTV. Not only did the US fail to apologize for the murder of the three Indians but Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that he stressed to India's External Affairs Minister Jaishankar that "all commercial vessels should immediately comply with orders from US forces, which seek to uphold peace and security in the Strait. He underscored that violations of the US blockade and the illicit transport of Iranian oil will not be tolerated." NDTV. In short, we will kill again if we want to. Rubio's rude response can be understood if we remember that he represents the US, which is a most barbaric and violent nation, where "At least 40,000 people were shot in 2025 - more than 110 people a day across the country." "Still, 2025 marked a milestone, with shooting deaths and injuries plummeting to some of their lowest levels on record." The Trace. With such numbers in his home nation, Rubio probably thinks that deaths of three Indians may be ignored but, in 2013, when India's Deputy Consul General in New York Devyani Khobragade was arrested, handcuffed and then physically and sexually assaulted by US Marshals, India reacted swiftly by withdrawing "airport passes and diplomatic privileges for American consular staff, recalled identity cards issued to US Embassy personnel," and, most visibly, by removing "concrete barricades outside the main entrance of the US Embassy in New Delhi." India Today. Khobragade was promptly released. This time it was a demarche. Not concrete. "On 10 December 1971, the US Navy's 7th Fleet, operating under the name Task Force 74, was deployed to the Bay of Bengal as a show of strength in support of Pakistan." "The White House wanted to prevent a total Pakistani collapse. They hoped the show of strength would pressure India to back down, or at least create space for a negotiated ceasefire that could save face for Pakistan. But India didn't flinch." News18. Indira Gandhi was the prime minister in 1971. "A set of freshly declassified top secret papers on the 1971 war show that "Indira Gandhi went ahead with her plan to liberate Bangladesh despite inputs that the Nixon Administration had kept three battalions of Marines on standby, and that the American aircraft carrier USS Enterprise had orders to target Indian army facilities." TOI. 93,000 Pakistanis surrendered. wikipedia. Three days back, Zahed Ur Rahman, the Bangladesh Prime Minister's adviser on policy and strategy affairs returned home from Delhi airport "after he was stopped at the airport for 'verification'. Rahman told Bangladeshi media that he had been treated 'poorly' at the airport." Apparently, India had been informed 60 hours ahead of his visit and had not objected. The Print. In 2018, Mr Modi and other Indian leaders snubbed the then Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau when he visited India with his family. BBC. In April 2026, a report by the Auditor General of Canada showed that "Indians accounted for 51.6% of the incoming international student population in 2023. That fell to 33.6% in 2024, and by September 2025, the cohort's share has dropped to 8.1%." BS. "For more than a decade now, India has sought to build its 'strategic autonomy'." "The national interest, we were told, required us to be close to everyone, but not too close to anyone," wrote Mihir Sharma. Now our oil and gas are blocked by Iran and our sailors killed by the US. So, "India has friends everywhere, leverage nowhere." A former President of the US advised "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far." wikipedia. Indira Gandhi followed that in 1971. As did Manmohan Singh in 2013. Now it is bombast and demarche. Lost the big stick.

It's getting hot.

"India's retail inflation rose to 3.93% in May, driven by higher food and fuel costs, government data showed." "The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised its inflation forecast for the current fiscal year to 5.1% from 4.6% earlier this month but kept rates on hold." Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and fuel costs, remained steady at 3.9%. Reuters. In March, "India's federal government retained its retail inflation target at 4%, within a comfort band of 2% to 6%, according to an official notification." Reuters. However, the RBI should not derive any comfort from the level of core inflation because its mandate is to target the consumer price index (CPI). The base year for measuring CPI inflation was changed from 2012 to 2024 to better reflect the changing patterns of consumer expenditure and the weights of the various items in the CPI were changed, with the weight of food and beverages sharply reduced from 42.62% in 2012 to 36.75 in 2024. Weights of housing, transport and personal care were increased slightly. finshots.in. "India's wholesale price inflation rose to 9.68% year-on-year in May," as "The data, the first print from the revised series with a base year 2022-23, showed inflation rose at the fastest pace in six months under comparable numbers calculated by the government under the new series." Reuters. In the wholesale price index (WPI), primary articles, which include agricultural produce and minerals, have a weight of 22.62%, fuel and power have a weight of 13.15%, while manufactured products are at 64.23%. Bajaj Finserve. While prices of agricultural products may fall if the harvest is abundant, prices of fuel, power and manufactured products never come down and are likely to feed into CPI inflation with a lag. India's agriculture is mostly dependent on natural rainfall but this year, "El Nino - the natural Pacific weather pattern that pushes up global temperatures - has officially begun, US scientists say." "Many forecasts suggest this could end up as a so-called 'super' El Nino, and even be among the strongest ever recorded." BBC. Ominously, although this year's monsoon started on 4 June, "Fresh imagery from European weather satellite Meteosat, US weather agency NOAA and ISRO's INSAT-3DS satellite has revealed an unusual picture for mid-June large parts of central, western and peninsular India are missing the dense cloud bands normally associated with an active monsoon." "According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Central India recorded a rainfall deficit of around 65% between 4 June and 16 June," as "Several districts across Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and adjoining areas have received little or no rainfall during a period that is crucial for kharif sowing." news18.com. If the monsoon plays truant, food prices could rise and could even force greater import of necessary items like pulses and edible oil. In addition, According to the Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas of India published by Isro's Space Applications Centre, about 30% of India's geographical area - spanning 97.85 million hectares - is undergoing land degradation. Of this, a staggering 25% is experiencing desertification." HT. India is already providing free food grains every month to 813 million people from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2028. MC. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was greeted by Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni as "the most famous couple on Instagram". TOI. Hot El Nino, hot inflation and hot Instagram. The heat is on.  

Follow SpaceX.

A week after its initial public offering (IPO), "SpaceX shares rose 4.8% to close at $201.80, giving Elon Musk's company a market value of roughly $2.655 trillion - some $800 billion more than when it sold its record IPO last week." Reuters. Music to Mr Mukesh Ambani whose Jio Platforms Ltd is headed for its own IPO. With 525 subscribers "paying Rs 214 a month on average, Jio garners $15 billion in operational revenue at a 52% Ebitda margin," wrote Andy Mukherjee. Is there enough money for the IPO? "About $55-65 billion is expected to flow into the country due to the RBI move to bear full hedging cost of banks for raising fresh 3-5 year FCNR(B) deposits and providing a concessional forex swap facility to incentivise ECBs (external commercial borrowing) by PSUs (Public Sector Undertakings), according to estimates by the State Bank of India's economic research department." The Hindu. This will result in a flood of liquidity into banks which will enable local institutions and savers to subscribe to Jio's $4 billion worth of IPO. However, former Credit Suisse analyst Ashish Gupta "reminds us that massive record-breaking IPOs have historically presaged market tops." Usually followed by deep market corrections. "The logic is straightforward: Mega-IPOs act as a structural liquidity drain, sucking vital capital out of  secondary markets." "The danger is particularly elevated in India where the banking system's 12% deposit growth is 4 percentage points slower than credit expansion," wrote Mukherjee. Will it produce jobs? "The aggregate net income of listed Indian firms is approaching a record 6%  of gross domestic product (GDP). Even so, their capital expenditure (new investment) has remained flat, hovering at 3.6% to 3.7% of GDP." "The good jobs that come with new factories, warehouses and showrooms are becoming elusive. Since wages support many more people than dividend or stock market gains, inequality is worsening." Only Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani, the Tata Group and Sajjan Jindal intend to invest, the rest do not. Even Pirojsha Godrej, chairman-designate of the Godrej Industries Group, plans wealth management, wrote Mukherjee. "A majority of global emerging-market (EM) investors continue to remain underweight on India...according to a report by Jefferies" which "analysed 70 large EM funds managing assets of about $320 billion as of March 2026 and found 61% of them were underweight India relative to benchmark allocations." FE. Indian manufacturers cannot compete against Chinese companies because the Chinese are subsidised through "3 major channels of sustained state support: direct state grants, preferential tax treatment and access to below-market borrowing through state-backed financial institutions. Together these reduce costs, lower investment risks and allow firms to expand more aggressively than competitors operating under commercial conditions," wrote Shishir Priyadarshi. One big problem is that state governments refuse to honor contracts made by previous governments. "Political parties across the board are guilty of reversing their predecessor's decisions or refusing to honor the commitments of past governments, citing reasons such as corruption, illegal tendering, environmental concerns and public interest. There may be some truth in these reasons, experts argue, but the end result is dwindling investors' confidence in Indian states." The Print. Trickery by the Chinese, vindictiveness of Indian politicians or fear of losses of Indian businesses, lack of investment means no jobs. The JIO IPO will probably sail through. Because of SpaceX. Musk's genius.    

The 33rd honor.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi was yesterday conferred with Slovakia's highest national award, The Order of the White Double Cross (1st Class). This is PM Modi's 33rd international honor." NDTV. This is very satisfying. 'Double cross' is very meaningful (Dictionary), especially if it is '1st Class', and 'White'. Meanwhile, back home, "Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke was slapped and manhandled at a protest meet in Jaipur yesterday. Dipke had called for a peaceful protest....to oppose paper leaks and unemployment, and demand the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan." TNIE. Dipke needs to be careful because lynching by mobs is common across India (wikipedia) and very often go unpunished. Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan which has a National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government led by the BJP with 118 seats out of a total of 200 assembly seats (wikipedia). On 12 June, "Around 4,000 electronic voting machines (EVMs) used in nearly 10 constituencies of South Bengal in the recent Assembly elections were destroyed were destroyed in the fire that engulfed a government building in Alipore," and "According to sources, the fire gutted 4,000 ballot units, 4,000 control units and 4,000 VVPAT machines reportedly belonging to key constituencies." DC. VVPAT, or Voter verifiable paper audit trial, allows voters to check that their votes were allotted correctly and detect possible voting fraud. wikipedia. Therefore a very thorough fire, leaving no trace behind. Fires are not unknown in official buildings in India, usually whenever there is a controversy. In 2012, "The fire at the Mantralaya (Ministry building) destroyed scores of files and official records." "There were claims that the fire was set off to destroy documents related to the Adarsh scam." HT. In the Adarsh Housing Society scam, politicians, bureaucrats and military officers contrived to buy flats at a prime location at below market price. wikipedia. While politicians and officials are protected by fires, journalists and citizens can be charged with fictitious offences and harassed over years even if exonerated in the end. "To allow the Delhi Police's foreign investment case against Newsclick to proceed would entail a 'gross abuse of the process of law', while the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) resting proceedings consist of 'bald assertions' that do not 'even remotely' point to an offence, the Delhi high Court has ruled, quashing both cases against the outlet." The Wire. The case has been going on since 2020, while in 2023, the publisher was arrested and journalists and offices raided, thus achieving the objectives of intimidation, coercion and harassment. In the US, "Members of both the Democratic and Republican parties on Capitol Hill have begun voicing increasing criticism of proposed changes to India's Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) which they believe could adversely impact civil society groups - including Christian organisations - by preventing access to foreign funds and having their assets seized." HT. The ED has already charged The Timothy Initiative and many individuals under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for using "foreign-origin debit cards issued by a US bank to withdraw and utilise foreign funds across India." The Print. Bail is denied and people incarcerated indefinitely on dubious evidence under UAPA. livelaw. The conviction rate for UAPA accusation is just 4% in the whole country and an abysmal 0.8% in Jammu and Kashmir. NDTV. An honor for Dear Leader is an honor for all Indians. We have all been Double Crossed. It's 1st Class. And white.  

Lagging per capita.

"India's economy grew an unexpectedly strong 7.8% year-on-year in the January-March quarter, the government said, as robust private investment, farm output and construction activity offset the early impact of the Middle East conflict." "India estimates GDP growth for the full fiscal year that ended at 7.7%, the National Statistics Office said." Reuters. "Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis dismissed concerns about an economic slowdown in the country, saying India has the capacity to repay 94% of its foreign debt in a single day." Earlier, our situation was more precarious. MC. This comfort is due to the foundation built by earlier prime ministers and our reserves are an insurance, not disposable cash. "Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan has questioned whether India's strong economic growth figures fully reflect conditions on the ground, arguing that weak corporate investment and foreign capital inflows are difficult to reconcile with official data showing the economy expanding at more than 7%." ET. In 2026, at current prices, India's GDP per capita is $2,800 while that of Bangladesh is $2,900 and of South Africa is $7,500. imf.org. If the economy is growing gangbusters our companies should be increasing their business. But, "For the first time since at least 2000, no India company ranks in the top 10 of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, a benchmark that shapes how hundreds of billions of dollars are allocated to developing economies worldwide." "Total assets benchmarked to MSCI's emerging market indexes including active funds that measure their performance against the same benchmark, exceed $1.8 trillion, MSCI data show." HT. "Foreign investors remained sellers in Indian equities, dumping more than Rs 628.53 billion of shares in the first fortnight of June," and "With the latest outflows, total withdrawals by Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) from Indian equities have surged to Rs 2.87 trillion in 2026." ET. India-focused funds have pulled out $770 million in the latest week alone, while "US technology focused funds recently attracted a record $9 billion in inflows, while broader US equities saw $10 billion in foreign investments." And, "While India and China have seen outflows, markets like Taiwan and South Korea - which are globally recognized hubs for AI hardware, semiconductors, and electronic supply chains - have attracted over $9 billion in combined inflows." Whalesbook. Previously, FPI selling would cause markers to decline, but "In 2022, despite heavy FPI outflows of over Rs 1.2 trillion, the Nifty 100 generated a positive return of 4.9%. Similarly, in 2025, FPI selling of about Rs 1.64 trillion did not prevent Nifty 100 from gaining over 10%." This is because domestic investors are constantly buying Indian stocks through Systematic Investment Plans (SIP) of mutual funds. Mint. Despite domestic buying, "India's equity market was overtaken by Taiwan and South Korea in quick succession, pushing what was once emerging Asia's darling to seventh in the world by market capitalization." "India's share in the MSCI Global Standard index has shrunk to 12.3% from a peak of 21% in September 2024." Reuters. Domestic buying supports prices of stocks and allows foreign investors to sell at higher prices, increasing their profits and depleting our foreign exchange. "True earned reserves come from sustained current account surpluses (like China has). India rarely runs one." "A large portion  of India's reserves are better understood as 'rented capital' rather than earned surpluses." The stock market should be allowed to fall to protect the rupee. "Countries survive stock market crashes. But countries routinely go bankrupt because of currency crashes," wrote Shankar Sharma. Even with GDP soaring we haven't caught Bangladesh as yet. South Africa is far beyond the horizon. What exactly are we celebrating?    

Punishment vs morality - a conundrum.

"At the invitation of the President of France, H.E. Mr Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will be undertaking an official visit to France from 13-14 June 2026 (Nice), and 16-18 June 2026 (Evian and Paris), as also Slovakia from 14-16 June 2026. mea.gov.in. Mr Modi "arrived in Nice yesterday as part of his official visit to France," where "Modi and Macron are set to hold bilateral discussions covering key areas of cooperation between India and France." Mr Modi will also meet President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit "amid strains in India-US relations following Operation Sindoor and Washington's decision to impose steep tariffs on New Delhi." TOI. Operation Sindoor followed a terror attack at Pahalgam in Kashmir on 22 April 2025, when three terrorists shot 26 civilians to death, of whom 24 were Hindus, one a Christian and one a Muslim pony ride operator. wikipedia. In retaliation, India is also withholding water under the Indus Water Treaty. "With India keeping the Treaty in abeyance, a severe water shortage across Sindh and Balochistan is fueling fears of an 'economic massacre' in agricultural regions." "According to Dawn, the crisis is becoming increasingly visible around the Sukkur barrage," which "supports millions of acres of farmland across Sindh and Balochistan, making it critical to Pakistan's economy." TOI. The Indus Water Treaty "gave control of the waters of the western rivers - the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab - to Pakistan and those of the eastern rivers - the Ravi, Beas and Sutlej - to India." The British constructed a large canal system but, after Partition, the headworks came to India feeding the canals running through Pakistan. India started withholding water to Pakistan. The Treaty, with funding from the World Bank, provided for the "building of dams, link canals, barrages and tube wells - notably the Tarbala Dam on the Indus River and the Mangla Dam on the Jhelum River. These helped provide water to Pakistan in the amounts it has previously received from rivers now assigned to India's exclusive use." Britannica. The situation is deeply troubling. If India is not receiving any water from Pakistan's rivers, why should India share its waters with Pakistan while Pakistan actively supports a policy of 'death by a thousand cuts'  (wikipedia) which was invented as "Lingchi" by India's existential enemy, and Pakistan's iron brother, China, whose mutual infatuation is "higher than the mountains, deeper than the sea, sweeter than honey, and harder than steel"(ciis.org.cn)? On the other hand, is it morally justifiable to engineer a severe drought which destroys agriculture, causing hunger, maybe even starvation, to a large population of civilians including children, who have nothing to do with the Pakistani Army or terrorism? Is an "economic massacre" any better than a massacre with guns?  "Moderate to strong El Nino conditions are likely to prevail during India's June-September monsoon season (Reuters), because of which the India Meteorological Department "downgraded its long-range seasonal monsoon forecast, predicting 90% of average rainfall between June and September (DH)." India may also need more water from the same rivers. On the other hand, in November 2025, "The Sindh region may not be with India today, but borders may change and the region may return home to India, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said." NDTV. Not if people and cattle have died of starvation. In 2015, Pakistan's Army accused India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) of inciting insurgency in Balochistan. BBC. In August 2019, "Irrespective of being a province within the territory of Pakistan, people of Balochistan expressed their solidarity with Indians on the occasion of the country's 73rd Independence Day and said they need India's support to free their land from the domination of Pakistan and its military establishment." ANI. India needs water. Pakistan needs to be punished. Sindh and Balochistan are suffering. The very provinces India wants to befriend. A difficult conundrum. What is the solution? Over to Dear Leader. But, where is he?