A cricket field where girls and boys are equals; Hiring intent among GCCs

Dear Reader,

India is the fastest-growing major economy in the world, says Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. 

Here’s why. 

India offers scale, sustained growth, a young population, rising consumption, and rapidly deepening capital markets, the minister said, addressing members of the Indian business community in Toronto. For Canadian investors with a long-term horizon, this is a combination hard to match, she added. 

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal too is bullish on India’s prospects, especially its startups. 

The minister has proposed a Shark Tank style India-Japan startup pitch series to boost investments and ties between the two nations. He has also invited Japan’s patient capital and precision engineering to partner with India. 

“I suggest the Japan-India deeptech capital corridor, where larger pools of patient capital, not only for mature unicorns but particularly early-stage funding, can help catalyse these startups’ ideas and innovations into success stories," he said.

Speaking of deeptech push, Tamil Nadu is keen to position itself as a national leader in AI and deeptech innovation. 

The state government has announced a slew of initiatives towards this: a deeptech innovation fund with an initial corpus of Rs 50 crore, AI centres of excellence, an ultra-high-performance GPU computing cluster, an AI-enabled Tamil Internet Language Lab, and a super app for government services. 

Here’s more good news for deeptech startups. 

Micromax Informatics has launched its family office with a corpus of Rs 250 crore. It will invest in deeptech startups in India and overseas across AI, semiconductors, defence, space tech, and robotics, primarily at the early stages of funding. 

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• A cricket field where girls and boys are equals
• Hiring intent among GCCs

Here’s your trivia for today: What does the ‘Big Mac Index’ measure? (Scroll down for the answer) 

Social Impact 

This non-profit uses cricket to level the playing field 

In Chhattisgarh, non-profit Girl Rising’s RISE Premier League is putting girls and boys on the same cricket field, where they play together on the same team, as equals. 

The league, part of Girl Rising’s flagship RISE education programme, is about more than cricket. It is about challenging stereotypes, understanding gender equality, and building self-confidence. 

Pitch-perfect: 

• A comic book became the unlikely spark for the RISE Premier League. Stories gathered from different projects and communities resulted in Kusum’s Adventurous Innings, a comic book whose central character, Kusum, dreams of becoming a cricketer. Children who read the book wanted to play the game like Kusum, leading to the formation of the league. 
• Himani Yadav, a Class 12 student from Bhadi, a village in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, who plays in the league, says, “It feels special to come together, play, support each other, and create memories that we will always remember.” It is also a chance to break stereotypes, believe in ourselves, and show that the game belongs to everyone, girls and boys alike, says the captain of the ‘Bhadi Ke Blasters’ team. 
• Through the RISE programme, children learn core life skills and how to identify and manage emotions. They also gain a deep understanding of gender equality, and digital and financial literacy. 

Funding Alert

Startup: Emerald AI 

Amount: $150M

Round: Series A

Startup: Runable 

Amount: $21M 

Round: Series A

Startup: Ringg AI 

Amount: $10M 

Round: Series A 

Hiring Outlook

GCCs eye quality talent in FY27

The hiring outlook among global capability centres (GCCs) in India remains positive for FY27. But the focus is on hiring quality professionals, instead of pursuing volume-led recruitment, says a report.

The annual GCC survey by Taggd, in partnership with CII, titled ‘From Intent to Predictable Scale: The Future of GCCs in India’, says that 52% of GCCs plan to expand their workforce in FY27, up from 47% in the previous fiscal year.

Key takeaways: 

• According to the report, India now has 2,117 GCC units employing 23 lakh professionals and generating Rs 9.4 lakh crore in revenue. The country also accounts for more than 50% of global GCC activity, the report said.
• Among those surveyed, quality mismatch is the most cited hiring constraint in GCCs, with only 42.6% of graduates meeting industry employability standards.
• While GCCs have adopted AI in hiring, many of them still cannot quantify the returns. The reason is structural: most GCCs have deployed AI stage by stage, with each tool serving a narrow sliver, in isolation. While individual tasks may become faster, the system as a whole doesn’t get smarter.

News & updates

• FY26 earnings: Consumer electronics brand boAt has reported a 38% growth in profit after tax at Rs 84.5 crore in FY26. The company’s revenue from operations was Rs 2,931 crore. The wearables business turned profitable during the year. The segment recorded a profit of about Rs 7 crore in FY26, compared to a loss of Rs 54 crore in FY25.
• Pet nutrition: Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting has entered the pet food market with the launch of nutrition brand Snuggles. The brand’s initial offering is dry dog food combining kibble with freeze-dried chicken chunks.
• New portal: Bloomberg Media has launched Bloomberg India, a premium news destination for investors, business leaders, and decision-makers in the region. The new offering, powered by Bloomberg’s global newsroom of more than 3,000 journalists and analysts, will deliver actionable local insights and global context audiences need to navigate markets with confidence, said Bloomberg. 

What does the ‘Big Mac Index’ measure? 

Answer: Purchasing power parity between two currencies using local price of a McDonald’s Big Mac

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