Succession test at Hikal; Nothing spins off CMF as majority Indian-owned company
At Hikal’s AGM on September 23, shareholders will vote on Sameer Hiremath’s five-year term as CMD. The Hiremath and Kalyani sides hold nearly identical 34% stakes, while proxy advisers are split over the move.
Dear Reader,
Weeks after the Tata Sons boardroom dispute put questions of succession, shareholder power, and board authority in focus, another family-linked corporate contest is heading to a key vote.
Hikal shareholders will vote on Wednesday on Sameer Hiremath’s five-year term as chairman and managing director, with the Hiremath and Kalyani sides holding near-identical stakes of about 34% each. The vote comes amid a decades-old ownership dispute, while proxy advisers are split on his elevation.
Meanwhile, India’s startup IPO pipeline is getting busier, and ecommerce and mobility are joining the party. Snapdeal parent AceVector is set to hit the public markets this week, while used-car marketplace Spinny has filed confidential IPO papers, reportedly looking to raise up to Rs 3,000 crore. Two very different consumer businesses, but both signal how India’s startup story is moving deeper into the public markets.
The expansion story is playing out overseas too. PhonePe is taking its payments overseas by securing in-principle approval from the UAE central bank for two payment licences. The fintech plans to integrate with the UAE’s Aani and Jaywan payment rails once it receives final regulatory approval.
And then there’s AI, where the debate is getting louder. DeepSeek is set to brief the UN Security Council this week on AI risks as world leaders gather in New York for the UN General Assembly. The meeting comes amid growing calls from AI leaders for a coordinated slowdown in developing increasingly powerful systems over concerns about human control.
But not everyone sees a doomsday scenario. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has dismissed predictions that AI could become “superhuman” and cause human extinction within the next few years, calling such claims exaggerated. He also criticised former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon’s warnings about AI risks as “irresponsible.”
In other news, Nothing is spinning off its CMF sub-brand into a standalone, majority-Indian-owned company headquartered in India, with its own local team and R&D operations. The move signals a shift from simply assembling devices in India to building more design, technology and IP locally.
In today’s newsletter, we will talk about
- MP Shashank Mani on NEET, India’s growth, and entrepreneurship
- Empowering young women leaders in rural Himachal
Here’s your trivia for today: In which year did Apple introduce the Lightning cable to standardise its chargers? (Scroll down for the answer)
Interview
MP Shashank Mani on NEET, India’s growth, and entrepreneurship
The 2026 NEET crisis has reopened a larger question about how India measures success, and what comes after the exam. In a conversation with Shradha Sharma, Founder and CEO of YourStory and The Bharat Project, Shashank Mani Tripathi, BJP MP from Deoria and Founder of Jagriti Yatra, connects education, entrepreneurship, and India’s demographic opportunity.
Key takeaways:
- Tripathi argues that failure in an examination should not define a young person’s potential, calling for greater emphasis on skilling, sports and entrepreneurship alongside formal education.
- He points to defence and space, agriculture, women-led enterprise and small-town urbanisation as areas with room for entrepreneurial growth.
- Through Amrit Prayas and his proposed “Banyan Revolution”, Tripathi is working to build enterprise hubs beyond major cities, with plans spanning Deoria, Kanyakumari, Ganjam and Nagpur.
Social Impact
Empowering young women leaders in rural Himachal
In rural Himachal, Enlightened India Foundation is helping girls move from the classroom to the community. Its approach combines education, digital safety and civic engagement to build confidence—and create young women leaders.
Key takeaways:
- The foundation runs learning sessions in subjects such as maths, English, science and coding, alongside sports and life skills programmes.
- The foundation has reached 3,500 children across 46 villages, with girls making up 70% of those reached. Five village-level women leaders now run programmes in their communities.
- EIF’s women leaders conduct surveys, document issues such as poor infrastructure and digital-safety risks, and take their findings to government departments and local authorities.
News & updates
- Cricket: India’s women’s cricket team clinched its second successive Asian Games gold, beating Sri Lanka by 147 runs in the final. Led by Harmanpreet Kaur, India scored 216, setting Sri Lanka a record target of 217.
- Indian founders: Founders who grew up in India account for an estimated $560 billion in founder-share-attributed value across current and former unicorns abroad, according to Prosus and Dealroom.
In which year did Apple introduce the Lightning cable to standardise its chargers?
Answer: 2012
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