Eternal feels the heat from competition; Helping retail traders make smart decisions

Hello,

Trump tariffs have failed to shake Big Tech.

Microsoft reported growth in both revenue and bottomline for the quarter ended March 2025. The Windows maker saw a 22% increase in its server products and cloud services revenue driven by Azure. It foresees continued growth in the segment for the next quarter as well.

Meanwhile, Meta has shown resilience, driven by strong ad revenue. The tech giant’s topline increased to $42.3 billion in the quarter, a 16% year-on-year jump. Meanwhile, its net profit surged 35% YoY to $16.6 billion.

The sun is shining on the Indian IT services sector as well.

Cognizant has kept its full-year guidance on revenue growth unchanged despite macroeconomic uncertainties. It plans to onboard 20,000 freshers in 2025 in managed services and AI roles.

However, the big picture is not as sunny.

In a hit to India’s manufacturing sector, Zoho Corporation has suspended its $700 million plan to venture into chip manufacturing, as it struggled to find the right technology partner. It had planned to invest $400 million in a semiconductor facility in Karnataka.

Its chief scientist Sridhar Vembu also noted that there was a massive scope for improvement when it comes to product innovation in India, and that the government should play a stronger role in funding research.

More must be done.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Eternal’s profit shrinks, revenue up
• Helping retail traders make smart decisions
• Shefali Shah on staying true to her craft

Here’s your trivia for today: What is the oldest gharana (school of music) in Hindustani classical music?

Foodtech

Eternal’s profit shrinks, revenue up

Eternal saw its profits tank in the fourth quarter of FY25 as fierce rivalry in the quick commerce space prompted aggressive spending on expansion, weighing heavily on the company’s bottom line. 

The Deepinder Goyal-led company clocked a whopping 77% decline in net profit to Rs 39 crore, from Rs 175 crore a year earlier. Formerly known as Zomato, it posted an over 63% YoY growth in its consolidated operating revenue to Rs 5,833 crore in Q4.

Key takeaways:

• Eternal is considering an inventory-model structure for Blinkit, as against the company’s marketplace format. It expects to only require about 5% of its net order value of Rs 22,000 crore to adopt a 100% owned inventory model.
• The quick commerce and food delivery firm is shutting down its Zomato Quick and Everyday initiatives “as we are not seeing the path to profitability in these without compromising on customer experience,” said Co-founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal.
• Goyal is expected to hold the mandate for Eternal’s food delivery business as Rakesh Ranjan, the current Zomato CEO, moves out of the role, the company said in its quarterly shareholder letter.

Startup

Helping retail traders make smart decisions

Despite record-high demat account openings and a surge in market participation, with over 10 million Indians entering the derivatives segment between FY23 and FY24, the vast majority are losing money.

Gurugram-based Univest is trying to close this gap. Founded in 2022, Univest blends AI with SEBI-registered human intelligence to deliver personalised, data-backed trading insights.

Right guidance:

• Univest’s flagship feature delivers real-time entry and exit signals during market hours—tackling one of the biggest blind spots in retail investing—knowing when to exit.
• In terms of portfolio management, investors can link external demat accounts to receive ongoing buy, sell, or hold signals, generated through a proprietary risk- and market-sensitive engine.
• The startup also offers SEBI-registered research through UniResearch and brokerage services via Univest Broking, with a clear separation between the two to maintain independence and avoid conflicts of interest. 

Women in Cinema

Shefali Shah on staying true to her craft

Over a career spanning more than two decades, Shefali Shah has built a formidable reputation as one of Indian cinema’s most restrained but powerful performers.

“I don’t approach a role thinking about its impact or awards,” Shah spoke at Shiv Nadar Foundation’s event. “It’s about being true to the character and the story.” This fidelity to the internal life of her characters—rather than the glamour of their circumstances—has been the foundation of her acclaim.

Claim to fame:

• Her portrayal of DCP Vartika Chaturvedi in Delhi Crime earned her widespread acclaim, including an International Emmy Award for Best Drama Series. Meanwhile, Darlings became one of Netflix’s most popular non-English Indian originals.
• Her sense of quiet observation—of seeing the world with a clear, often unvarnished eye—is evident across Shah’s work. “Delhi Crime, based on the infamous Nirbhaya case, demanded that sort of groundedness to reality; we wanted people to see this story inside out,” she said.
• “There's a change happening,” she said. “Stories are becoming more inclusive, and there is a genuine hunger for narratives that reflect the diversity of real life. It’s an exciting time to be telling stories that aren’t bound by the old rules.”

News & updates

• Perjury: Apple willfully violated a 2021 injunction that came out of the Epic Games case, a US judge said in a court filing on Wednesday. She wrote that Apple Vice President of Finance Alex Roman “outright lied” to the court about when Apple had decided to levy a 27% fee on some purchases linked to its App Store.
• Demand hit: McDonald’s posted a surprise decline in first-quarter global sales on Thursday, as demand from cash-strapped diners in its key markets faltered on uncertainty sparked by chaotic tariffs. Global comparable sales fell 1%, CEO Chris Kempczinski said.
• India-Pakistan: Air India has projected losses of around $600 million (approximately Rs 5,040 crore) if Pakistan’s airspace ban persists for a year. The airline has reportedly urged the Indian government to implement a “subsidy model” to offset the economic impact.

What is the oldest gharana (school of music) in Hindustani classical music?

Answer: Gwalior Gharana. Its rise started in the 16th century under the reign of Mughal emperor Akbar.

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