Groww’s hunt for a new cash cow; Building a global pharma company

Hello,

Investors are running amok in stock markets worldwide.

Despite chip giant Nvidia reporting a record revenue of $57 billion during the July–September quarter, its shares closed nearly 3% lower on Thursday, unnerving the wider American market. The S&P 500 ended the day 1.5% lower, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.8%, and the Nasdaq lost more than 2%. 

The worries around AI stocks lingered at the opening on Friday, too, with AMD and Oracle dropping 5% and 7%, respectively. 

The sector-wide pullback also hurt Asian chip stocks as fears of an AI bubble continue to swirl. SoftBank plunged more than 10% in Tokyo. The Japanese tech conglomerate recently offloaded its Nvidia shares but still controls British semiconductor company Arm, which supplies Nvidia with chip architecture and designs.

Indian equity indices weren’t immune either. Global cues and a weak rupee—hitting 89.46 against the dollar—led to Sensex dropping 400 points, settling 0.47% lower.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin is having a meltdown of its own. The largest cryptocurrency slid as much as 6.4% to $81,629 on Friday. Bitcoin has now shed about a quarter of its value in November, the most for a single month since June 2022, according to Bloomberg data.

One reason behind the crash may be Bitcoin hoarding.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Groww on the lookout for a new cash cow
• Building a global pharma company
• Sport as a vehicle to drive change

Here’s your trivia for today: Popular TV series Taarak Mehta ka Ooltah Chashma is based on a weekly column published in which magazine?

Fintech

Groww on the lookout for a new cash cow

Around this time last year, Groww and other brokerages found themselves in a tricky spot after SEBI reduced the number of weekly derivative contracts that traders could access, aiming to curb the surge in high-frequency F&O trading.

Derivatives brokerage fees have long been the bread and butter for platforms that don’t charge commissions on regular equity trades. For Groww, nearly two-thirds of its revenue came from derivatives brokerage, and this was a clear signal to diversify its offerings. 

Key takeaways:

• Management expects derivatives to slip below 50% of the revenue mix over time, as other segments scale up. This would largely be driven by faster growth in wealth management, commodities, and other products.
• Perhaps the most aggressive diversification play for Groww is in credit and margin trading. The Margin Trading Facility (MTF), launched in April 2024, has already grown to account for 5% of revenue, up from just 1% in the prior year.
• The stock broking platform reported a 12% YoY jump in quarterly profit even as revenue fell, defying an industry-wide slump in retail trading activity. Groww’s earnings were also its first financial disclosure since its blockbuster listing earlier this week.

SMB

Building a global pharma company

Laborate Pharmaceuticals, founded in 1985, has grown into a Rs 1,600 crore pharmaceutical enterprise with a portfolio of over 3,000 products and a distribution network that reaches every corner of India. It is now a trusted exporter to more than 55 countries.

“When my father and uncle founded Laborate in 1985, their goal was straightforward: make dependable medicines affordable for ordinary Indian families. Building our own manufacturing units early helped us control quality, costs, and supply reliability from the start,” says Parag Bhatia, Laborate’s current Director, who joined the company in 2015.

Legacy business:

• The company made a mark in high-demand categories such as antibiotics, pain management, respiratory care, and paediatrics with medicines like Ceflox, Clonac Plus, and C-Zin. 
• One of the company’s defining moves came in 2022 with the launch of Aqualab, Laborate’s direct-to-retail vertical. The idea, Parag says, emerged from observing a shift in how pharmacists interacted with customers.
• Over the next few years, Laborate aims to expand its presence to over 100 international markets while further scaling its domestic D2R network through Aqualab. The company also expects the wellness and cosmeceutical categories—currently smaller than generics—to grow substantially over the next five years.

Social Impact

Sport as a vehicle to drive change

As India chases global sporting glory, it is the small wins on the ground that truly matter. In the end, sport is not just about the game; it’s about the growth, confidence, and transformation it sparks in individuals and entire communities.

Check out these organisations using the sports-for-development model to rewrite social narratives and champion change.

News & updates

• Media wars: Paramount, Comcast, and Netflix each submitted bids for some or all of Warner Bros. Discovery, officially kickstarting a process likely to see the company sold to yet another new buyer, either whole or in part.
• Oil diplomacy: Reliance Industries has stopped importing Russian crude oil for its export-only refining unit at Jamnagar, Gujarat. The move aims to comply with an EU ban on fuel imports made from Russian oil through third countries, which takes effect next year. 
• AI infra: Foxconn said a $1.4 billion supercomputing centre it is building with Nvidia will be ready by the first half of 2026, and when complete, will be Taiwan’s largest advanced GPU cluster. The 27-megawatt data centre will be powered by Nvidia’s new Blackwell GB300 chips.

Popular TV series Taarak Mehta ka Ooltah Chashma is based on a weekly column published in which magazine?

Answer: Chitralekha Gujarati

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