The great Indian consumer reset; Maha, Karnataka top crypto TDS collections

Hello,

Too big to fail.

The Indian government is planning stricter actions against IndiGo, following at least 2,000 flight cancellations last week. It now wants to "set an example" for airlines that violate regulations.

Following this, IndiGo’s shares fell 8.7% on Monday—its biggest plunge since February 2022—and marked a seventh day of selling that has cumulatively cut $4.5 billion in market cap. 

The low-cost air carrier—with a 65% domestic market share—told the DGCA that a combination of factors, including new pilot rest and duty rules and "minor" technical glitches, had led to flight cancellation.

Meanwhile, the Parliament was informed that IndiGo—operating a fleet of around 400 aircraft—employs about 5,085 pilots, nearly one-third of the pilots working with major domestic airlines.

In other news, PhysicsWallah saw its profit surge 70% in Q2—its first quarterly earnings after the edtech company made its stock market debut in November at a more than 30% premium over its issue price.

PW clocked a profit of Rs 69.7 crore, compared with Rs 41.1 crore a year ago. This is particularly surprising, since it clocked a loss of Rs 127 crore in the June quarter.

Elsewhere, China’s trade surplus for the year topped a trillion dollars for the first time, despite a tariff war with the US.

When one door shuts, another opens!

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• The great Indian consumer reset
• Maha, Karnataka top crypto TDS collections
• Fixing broken customer communication

Here’s your trivia for today: Which branch of Christianity introduced the Advent calendar?

Ecommerce

The great Indian consumer reset

The year 2025 marked a significant turning point for India. Physical fitness turned to social media trends, entertainment shrank to seconds, and snacking bulked up on protein. From pickleball courts mushrooming across every neighbourhood to micro-dramas becoming a companion during work commute, consumer behaviour has changed this year.

Movers and shakers:

• Invented as a backyard game for kids in the 1960s in America, pickleball is a blend of tennis, badminton, and table tennis. It has now become one of India’s fastest-growing sports.
• Short-form video content has emerged as dominant across digital platforms. Once a niche category built around TikTok clips and Instagram reels, bite-sized videos have now become the backbone of brand engagement, social media strategy and mobile-first storytelling.
• The discerning Indian consumer latched onto another frenzy this year: everything protein. From protein powders, bars and shakes, consumers moved to chips, aata, bread, and milk.

Ecommerce

Maha, Karnataka top crypto TDS collections

India collected Rs 511.83 crore in tax deducted at source (TDS) from crypto transactions in FY24-25, up sharply from Rs 362.70 crore in FY23-24 and Rs 221.27 crore in FY22-23, government data showed.

Often referred to as punitive by traders, a 1% TDS is levied on the sale, transfer, and expenditure of virtual digital assets, applicable to all transactions where the income is taxable in India, including those involving offshore platforms.

Key takeaways:

• Maharashtra remained the largest contributor, with TDS collections rising 30.63% to Rs 293.40 crore in FY24-25 from Rs 224.60 crore a year earlier.
• Karnataka recorded the fastest growth among major states, with collections jumping 63.40% to Rs 133.94 crore from Rs 81.97 crore in the previous year.
• Indian tax authorities have also intensified enforcement against crypto platforms. Officials said several offshore exchanges serving Indian users were found to be out of compliance with the country’s TDS rules.

Startup

Fixing broken customer communication

Banks, insurers, and NBFCs struggle to streamline customer communication, spanning SMS, emails, and WhatsApp. All of these run on different systems, templates need constant approvals, and new regulations break flows overnight. 

In 2022, this broken reality pushed Aniketh Jain to take on what most companies avoided: rebuilding the enterprise communication stack as a unified layer. Before becoming Fyno’s CEO and Co-founder, Jain had built Kaleyra, a communications platform.

News & updates

• AI deal: IBM will buy data infrastructure company Confluent in a deal valued at $11 billion, ramping up its cloud computing offerings to capitalise on an AI-driven demand boom. Confluent provides technology needed to manage massive, real-time data streams for AI models.
• Blue tick: Elon Musk has called for the European Union to be abolished after the bloc fined his social media company X 120 million euros ($140 million) for a “deceptive” blue checkmark and lack of transparency of its advertising repository.
• Crypto: After a pause of more than two years, crypto exchange Coinbase has opened its app for registration in India. At the moment, users can make crypto-to-crypto trades, and it will open up a fiat on-ramp in 2026, allowing users in India to load money and buy crypto. 

Which branch of Christianity introduced the Advent calendar?

Answer: German Lutherans, in the 19th century.

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