Tata tussle turns the spotlight on TVS-Hanno deal; India is leapfrogging in AI: Google Cloud executive

Dear Reader, 

India’s tech companies have raised a cumulative funding of $10.3 billion in the nine months of 2026, up 6.2% from $9.7 billion raised in the same period last year. Total tech funding this year is 3% above the $10 billion raised in the first nine months of 2024, according to market intelligence firm Tracxn. 

The numbers are notable given that the number of funding rounds, first-time funded companies, and soonicorn additions have all declined sharply this year. The report reveals that capital is concentrated in fewer but larger, higher-conviction bets.

In other news, shares across the insurance sector, including those of PB Fintech and Turtlemint, tumbled on Thursday after the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India released a consultation paper aiming to overhaul the commission structure for insurers and distributors, sparking fears of a sharp contraction in industry earnings.

Meanwhile, Google Cloud is pushing agentic AI deeper into India’s businesses via partnerships in consumer hardware, agriculture and commerce. Its collaborations with boAt, Cropin and Pine Labs demonstrate how AI is moving from assistance to action. 

Moving on, while we debate AI slop today, here’s an Excel goof-up from more than 10 years ago. 

In 2015, an Excel spreadsheet error briefly turned a Rs 185 pack of Surf Excel into an Rs 82,740 product on Amazon India. What’s more surprising was that within 40 minutes, 90 customers had placed orders, creating nearly Rs 74 lakh worth of sales that the company had to roll back. Of course, none of the products reached the customers. 

This rather unusual incident was recalled by Anubhav N, Business Head at Amazon, in a LinkedIn post. He said this was the only time during his tenure at Amazon when he was praised for ensuring that products did not get delivered. Users on LinkedIn have found the incident incredulous, funny, and even nail-biting. 

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• How the Tata tussle turned the spotlight on TVS-Hanno deal
• India is leapfrogging in AI: Google Cloud executive

Here’s your trivia for today: Who said, “Every child is an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up”?

Corporate

Tata tussle turns the spotlight on TVS-Hanno deal

The Tata conflict has brought attention to Hanno’s deal with TVS Motor after documents revealed a 29-year lease and a build-to-suit structure. 

The commercial relationship between TVS Motor and Hanno One Warehousing, a company run by family members of Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran, appears to be broader than previously reported, according to regulatory filings reviewed by YourStory. The filings reveal an arrangement in which TVS Motor is both the lessor of the underlying land in Tamil Nadu’s Krishnagiri district and the customer for the facility Hanno is developing on it, with rental income projected to begin in November this year.

Key takeaways 

• Hanno’s first annual report, Ministry of Corporate Affairs records, and approved project plans show that TVS Motor leased 17.41 acres in Uddanapalli village in Tamil Nadu’s Krishnagiri district to Hanno for 29 years. The filings also provide details on the roughly Rs 106 crore project, including its proposed financing, and show that Hanno is exploring a similar build-to-suit model in Mysuru.
• The documents add detail to a commercial relationship that has come under scrutiny amid the governance dispute at Tata Sons. TVS Motor Chairman Emeritus Venu Srinivasan is a Tata Sons director, vice-chairman of Tata Trusts, and a member of Tata Sons’ Nomination and Remuneration Committee, which reviews the Tata Sons Chairman’s performance. He supported N Chandrasekaran’s fresh five-year term at the September 17 board meeting, while Tata Trusts Chairman Noel Tata opposed the reappointment.
• A Tata Trusts spokesperson said, in a written statement to YourStory, that no disclosures were made to the trustees with regard to Hanno One Warehousing/Hanno Infra and TVS Motor by Srinivasan. The spokesperson said the Trusts had also been “given to understand” that no such disclosures were made to the Tata Sons board, but could not definitively comment because the Trusts do not have independent access to the board’s proceedings, apart from their nominee directors having access to board papers. 

Interview 

India is leapfrogging in AI: Google Cloud executive

As India leapfrogs in global AI, enterprises are shifting from model debates to agentic value, hybrid cloud sovereignty, and a democratised engineering mindset, says Amit Kumar, Managing Director, Digital Natives Business at Google Cloud India.

Key takeaways

• On the sidelines of Google’s first ‘Let’s Talk AI’ media tour stop in Bengaluru, Kumar spoke about how India has emerged as a high-velocity proving ground for global innovation and how enterprises and startups are navigating AI’s next frontier.
• “Engineering is not a degree anymore. It’s a mindset,” Kumar notes, pointing out that curiosity and hands-on experimentation are replacing formal coding degrees as the primary drivers of technological impact.
• Kumar says Indian digital companies are solving global problems sitting out of India. “Whether it is workforce productivity in banks, government enterprises, and manufacturing, or advanced consumer interfaces, we see a prudent yet rapid movement… India is building solutions for global customers, and adoption is only scaling.”

News & updates

• AI alarm: OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei have told United Nations members that robust international efforts are needed to regulate the technology amid escalating concerns of AI posing a threat to humanity. Meanwhile, a rogue OpenAI agent had infiltrated an Australian government statistics portal in June and accessed “non-sensitive” private data from Australia’s universal healthcare scheme. 
• AI agent push: Meta has unveiled Meta VR Glasses and the Muse Charm pendant as part of its AI agent push. Muse Charm is a handheld device that works with the company’s recently released Muse AI personal agent. 
• Expansion plans: PhonePe plans to hire more than 20,000 frontline sales personnel on its rolls over the next year. The company will also deploy more than 50 lakh payment devices over the next 12 months, with around 50% of these devices coming up in rural India. 

Who said, “Every child is an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up”?

Answer: Pablo Picasso

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