Dec 01: Elderly Phone Addiction, Ola Electric’s Big Fall

We wake up today to a new cricketing milestone. One of Sachin's most colossal records has been broken by King Kohli. Virat scored his mind-blowing 52nd One-Day International ODI century against South Africa in Ranchi. With this ton, a brilliant 135 runs off 120 balls, he officially dethroned the Master Blaster's 51 Test centuries to claim the title for the most centuries ever scored in a single international format. Legend.

Now, let’s get into the Dispatch! 🚀

Today’s reading time is 6 mins.

The New Screen Addicts: For years, smartphone addiction was considered a young person’s problem. We blamed teenagers for endless scrolling and millennials for living on social media. But a quiet shift is unfolding in Indian homes today - senior citizens have become one of the fastest-growing groups trapped in compulsive phone use.

A Pandemic Habit That Never Left: The transformation began during the pandemic, when isolation pushed many older adults toward screens for comfort and connection. What started as harmless browsing soon evolved into hours spent consuming videos, forwards, religious content, health tips, and algorithm-driven suggestions. Parents and grandparents who once used phones only for calls are now spending long stretches glued to their screens.

A New Vulnerability Most Families Didn’t Expect: The impact is showing. One family lost their father to a cardiac arrest, and the daughter firmly believes his excessive screen-watching, disrupted sleep, and refusal to rest played a part. Beyond this tragic case lie thousands of silent stories: seniors staying awake past midnight, ignoring meals, avoiding walks, or getting irritated when asked to put the phone down. Unlike younger users, seniors tend to be passive consumers who rarely question the content they consume. This makes them fertile ground for misinformation, fear-inducing videos, and endless forwards - creating anxiety, confusion, and, in some cases, dependency.

The Health Toll We’re Underestimating: Experts note a rise in insomnia, eye strain, irritability, reduced physical activity, and even early cognitive decline when screen addiction combines with loneliness. What families dismiss as “harmless timepass” is often a deeper behavioural pattern.

What Can Families Do? Restriction isn’t the answer, gentle digital hygiene is.
Encourage elders to take screen breaks, avoid phones before bedtime, engage in walks, hobbies, social groups, or shared family activities. Teach them to verify information and help them replace passive scrolling with meaningful interactions.

Ola Electric’s Sudden Slide From First to Fifth: Ola Electric, once the undisputed front-runner with over 25% market share, has slipped to fifth place in November 2025 - selling just 8,254 scooters, capturing a mere 7.4% share. For a company that dominated headlines and shaped the early EV narrative, the fall is sharp and telling.

Rivals Shift Into High Gear: The decline didn’t happen in isolation. Legacy players - TVS, Bajaj, Hero MotoCorp’s Vida, and Ather have surged ahead by pairing EV innovation with decades of manufacturing expertise. Hero MotoCorp, in particular, posted 11,795 sales, racing past Ola. These companies offer what Ola has struggled with: strong dealer networks, reliable servicing, predictable delivery cycles, and consistent quality. The EV market’s maturity means customers now prioritise trust as much as technology an area where legacy brands naturally dominate.

What Went Wrong for Ola? Multiple headwinds converged. Operational challenges, rising scrutiny around registrations, delays, and patchy after-sales support have dented customer confidence. Financial stress added to the turbulence - Ola Electric’s Q2 FY26 revenue dropped 43% year-on-year, signalling deeper structural issues. The company has also shifted focus toward diversification, particularly its battery energy storage venture, Ola Shakti. While strategically sound, this may have diluted attention from its core two-wheeler business right when competitors doubled down.

A Market Growing Up And Leaving Early Movers Behind: India’s EV transition is no longer driven by novelty. Consumers today demand reliability, service networks, and proven performance strengths that legacy players are leveraging more effectively than startup-led disruptors.

Can Ola Stage a Comeback? A turnaround is possible but will require rebuilding trust, sharpening product quality, strengthening after-sales, and refocusing on execution. With competition intensifying, the window is narrowing.

New tobacco cess to keep taxes high: The government plans to introduce a “Health and Security Cess” on tobacco products like cigarettes, pan masala and gutkha as the existing GST compensation cess winds down. The move aims to ensure that overall tax incidence on these items does not fall. It forms part of a bill to amend the Central Excise Act and preserve state revenues while maintaining public-health oriented taxation. 

NCLAT upholds NCLT order against Voltas: The appellate tribunal National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) rejected an insolvency petition filed by Air Wave Technocrafts against Voltas, finding the dispute over work certification and payments was pre-existing. By upholding the May 2025 decision of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), the court concluded the claims lacked merit. Thus, Voltas avoids corporate insolvency proceedings — a relief for the Tata-group company

Double-digit corporate loan growth: India’s largest lender, SBI, expects corporate credit demand to rebound sharply, projecting double-digit growth for the rest of FY26. It claims to already have around ₹7 lakh crore in sanctioned but undisbursed corporate loans — working capital and term loans — in its pipeline. The uptick reflects improving economic activity and renewed confidence among firms to draw down funds.

Meesho targets ~$605 million via IPO: SoftBank-backed Meesho plans to raise up to $606 million in its IPO, aiming to deepen penetration into tier-2 and tier-3 India. The company’s value proposition — ultra-low prices and a large base of small sellers — positions it to target price-sensitive consumers beyond metros. IPO proceeds are expected to support cloud infrastructure, technology, and expansion, even as Meesho competes with big e-commerce players. 

India eyes fresh Russia arms deal: India is reportedly preparing to engage Russia again for advanced defence hardware — including Su-57 fighter jets and possible S-500 missile defence systems — during Vladimir Putin’s visit. The push comes even as India seeks to balance relations with Western powers and reduce over-dependence on Russian weapons. With over 200 Russian jets and S-400 batteries already in service, the government sees upgrading and expanding the fleet as a strategic necessity. However, sources caution that a deal is unlikely to be sealed immediately during the visit

British Airways to step up India–UK flights: British Airways says it will expand its services to India amid rising travel demand, aiming to launch a third daily London-Delhi flight in 2026 (subject to approvals). Currently operating 56 weekly India–UK services, the airline sees India as its second-largest international market — underlining the growing significance of the route. The expansion reflects surging demand from diaspora travel, business, tourism and stronger India–UK economic ties post-FTA. With this move, British Airways plans to boost connectivity and service frequency across its Indian network.

A Funding Rush Like Never Before: The world’s top AI startups are attracting capital at a pace the tech industry hasn’t seen in years. Companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, Perplexity and even newer players have raised back-to-back funding rounds within the same year. Investors, fearing they’ll miss the next big wave in artificial intelligence, are pouring in billions—often at rapidly escalating valuations.

Why Startups Are Raising Multiple Rounds: In most sectors, raising two or three rounds within months would be viewed as a red flag. But in AI, the scale and speed of innovation require massive capital: compute costs, model training, specialised hardware, and talent acquisition are extraordinarily expensive. Startups argue that successive rounds allow them to secure GPUs in advance, scale models quickly and lock in strategic partnerships with cloud giants. Some companies have used this cash to leapfrog competitors. Mercor’s valuation, for instance, rose sharply after its latest round, while OpenAI’s valuation reportedly touched the half-trillion mark. The AI race, in effect, rewards speed over caution.

Analysts Warn of Overheating: But experts caution that this fundraising sprint comes with risks. Many startups raising mega-rounds still lack stable revenue, clear monetisation pathways or proven, defensible business models. The fear is that valuations are being inflated more by hype than fundamentals, echoing past bubbles—from dot-coms to crypto. Investors may eventually step back if promised breakthroughs don’t translate into commercial success. And should macroeconomic conditions tighten, these sky-high valuations could be the first to fall.

What This Means for the AI Ecosystem: If capital continues to target just a handful of large players, smaller AI startups may struggle to survive, accelerating consolidation across the industry. Meanwhile, the pressure on well-funded companies to deliver rapid breakthroughs could lead to rushed releases, ethical lapses or untested features reaching users too quickly. The funding frenzy can either define the next decade of technological transformation—or end as another cautionary tale of exuberance. The outcome will depend on whether these companies channel their capital into genuine innovation rather than valuation chasing. 

AI Fuels Record Black Friday Spree: U.S. consumers spent a record $11.8 billion online on Black Friday 2025, aided significantly by AI-powered shopping tools that helped find deals and compare prices. Globally, AI agents influenced around $14.2 billion in sales over the Black Friday weekend. This surge underscores how quickly AI is changing how people shop — shifting preference from crowded stores to digital carts.

Netanyahu Seeks Pardon, Political Storm Ensues: Benjamin Netanyahu has formally asked Isaac Herzog for a presidential pardon in the midst of his ongoing corruption trial — a rare and controversial move. The plea comes despite no conviction yet — sparking criticism that such a pardon could undermine the rule of law and judicial accountability. Opposition figures warn this could set a dangerous precedent, especially in a democracy already under strain.

Amazon AI Policy Triggers Employee Uproar: Over 1,000 employees at Amazon are protesting the company’s new AI-use policy, arguing it threatens jobs, democratic values, and environmental standards. Critics say the policy risks reducing human oversight and accelerating layoffs as more tasks get automated — raising ethical and social concerns.

Swatch under fire — investor seeks board shake-up: U.S. investor Steven Wood has condemned Swatch Group for what he calls “worst-in-class governance,” proposing major board reforms. Although Wood owns only 0.5% stake, he has submitted six governance proposals — including granting voting rights to bearer shareholders. The move comes after Swatch’s market value plunged nearly 50% since early 2023 amid weak sales and shrinking demand, especially in China.

Trump declares Venezuelan airspace “closed in entirety”: Donald Trump announced that the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela should be considered “closed in its entirety,” calling on airlines, pilots, and traffickers to stay away. The announcement came without details on enforcement — prompting confusion and criticism from Venezuela, which condemned it as a “colonialist threat.” That same week, several international carriers had already suspended flights to and over Venezuela after safety warnings by U.S. aviation authorities.

India’s first coral-reef research centre coming to Andaman: The government will set up the National Coral Reef Research Institute (NCRRI) in South Andaman’s Chidiyatapu — a ₹120-crore facility dedicated to coral-reef research, conservation and monitoring. It will serve as India’s nodal agency for reefs and help study biodiversity, climate-change impacts and coastal protection across the country. Officials emphasise reefs’ vital role in cushioning coastlines against storms and preserving marine ecosystems — making the new centre a strategic environmental investment.

Uranium spikes in Delhi groundwater: A 2025 report by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) finds that 13–15% of groundwater samples in Delhi exceed safe uranium limits, placing the capital third-worst in the country for contamination. The contamination is spread across multiple districts — including North, North-West, South, South-East, South-West and West — triggering serious health and safety concerns for residents relying on borewell water. Environmental groups are demanding full data disclosure and corrective measures, warning that long-term exposure to uranium can cause kidney damage, skeletal and neurological disorders.

THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY!

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