Weekly Wrapup: Fingers Crossed
In this week’s wrapup, we talk about the fraud at Luckin Coffee, the resurgence of Eurobonds, the MPLAD scheme, the plight of the insurance industry and how to emerge out of a lockdown.
And yes we are keeping our fingers crossed hoping we can flatten the curve whilst entering this crucial period of the 21 day lockdown.
Luckin Coffee and the Anatomy of a Fraud
On Monday, we did the epic story on Luckin Coffee and the Anatomy of a fraud.
The premise is simple. Luckin Coffee is one of the fastest-growing coffee chains in the world. It goes public in under 2 years. It raises a lot of money. It keeps growing at breakneck speeds. And then an anonymous report shakes the very foundation of the company’s growth story.
It’s one of the best articles we’ve written so far. So if you haven’t read it yet, you should do so right now.
Can Coronabonds save Europe?
On Tuesday, we talked about Coronabonds and how the great European powers are now plotting to come together one more time to borrow money as a collective unit as opposed to individual nation-states.
Granted this could help struggling economies like Spain and Italy to reduce their borrowing costs. But where’s the incentive for the well off nations to share this burden of debt?
That’s a question we wanted to explore. So if you are still curious about these bonds, do check out our Tuesday issue right here.
The MPLADS Conundrum
On Wednesday, we talked about MPLADS — a scheme that provides local MP’s the monetary resources to fund development projects in their constituency and how the government recently scrapped it for 2 years effectively moving all resources to the centre’s consolidated fund.
Now the MP’s aren’t pleased about this move because they feel they’re best suited to decide how the fund is utilized. The government, on the other hand, claims that they are a better custodian considering they have a bird’s eye view of what’s happening on-ground.
Anyway, if you want to know who’s right and who’s wrong, you can check out the full draft here.
Business Interruptions and the plight of the Insurance Industry
On Thursday, we talked about how businesses across the country are hoping their insurance providers can cover claims arising out of business interruptions.
Unfortunately for the businesses, insurance companies are trying to wiggle out of this crisis by suggesting that they can only cover claims if business interruptions are caused by actual physical damage.
But businesses aren't taking this insult sitting down. On no! They’re fighting. And if you want to find out how do check out the Thursday issue here.
How will India emerge from this lockdown?
On Friday we talked about all the ways in which we could potentially end the lockdown and the economic consequences surrounding each move.
Is it better if we simply lift the lockdown and hope for a V-shaped recovery? Or is it more prudent for us to persist with the lockdown despite the harsh economic penalties? Even better, what if we could have the best of both worlds.
Well, you don't have to keep guessing. Because we’ve tried to answer some of these questions here.
Anyway, that’s it from us this week. We will see you on Monday.
Until then…
Also, if you have found Finshots useful and would like to show us some love please tell a friend about how cool we are 😅. All you have to do is WhatsApp or Tweet this :)