‘Golden Age’: Trump Sounds Bugle

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Good morning. In today’s edition — US president Donald Trump follows up on all his threats; investors show confidence in Indian apparel retailers; and what the government could do to deal with inflation.

DECODE THE NEWS

Tariffs, Deportation, Flags On Mars: US President Trump Keeps To His Poll Promises

As Donald Trump took over as the 47th president of the United States he promised several actions that could have far-reaching effects for world trade and business. Keeping with his poll promises, Trump announced the signing of several executive orders on border policies, trade tariffs and deporting illegal immigrants. 

“Will begin overhaul of trade system. Will establish external revenue service. Will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens,” Trump said, promising a “golden age” for America. 

• National Emergency On Southern Borders 

  The US president said that all illegal entry would be immediately halted and deport millions of illegal aliens. He promised to end the practice of “catch and release” and deport “millions and millions” of illegal immigrants. For India, this could mean thousands of immigrants being deported. This comes even as the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement had also categorised India “uncooperative” and alleged there were delays by Indian authorities in verifying citizenship or giving travel documents. 

  “We will reinstate my remain in Mexico policy. I will end the practice of catch and release. And I will send troops to the southern border to repel the disastrous invasion of our country,” Trump said. 

• ‘Drill Baby Drill’ 

  The Trump administration will rehaul the Joe Biden administration’s electric vehicle mandate. Trump also promised to “drill baby drill” abandoning America’s plans for sustainable energy and returning it to a “manufacturing nation”. 

  “We have something that no other manufacturing nation will ever have, the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on Earth and we are going to use it, and they use it,” Trump said to thumping applause from the crowd. 

• Pledge To US Autoworkers 

  Trump, who has denied climate change and doesn’t believe in clean energy, said America would reverse Joe Biden’s electric vehicle mandate so that Americans could buy the vehicles of their choice. 

  “We will build automobiles in America again at a rate that nobody could have dreamt possible just a few years ago and thank you to the autoworkers of our nation for your inspiring vote of confidence. We did tremendously with their vote,” Trump said. 

• Trade Tariffs 

  While he did not name the countries he will impose tariffs on, Trump promised to overhaul the trade system to “protect American workers and families”. 

  “Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens. For this purpose, we are establishing the External Revenue Service to collect all tariffs, duties and revenues. It will be massive amounts of money pouring into our treasury coming from foreign sources.” 

  While he did not name any countries during the inauguration, Trump had threatened to impose tariffs on India. 

• Renaming The Gulf Of Mexico 

  Trump said that America will soon rename the Gulf of Mexico “to the Gulf of America and we will restore the name of a great president, William McKinley to Mount McKinley, where it should be and where it belongs”. 

• Take Back Panama Canal

  Trump said the Panama Canal was foolishly given away and was being run by China. “We didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama and we’re taking it back”.

• Expanding Territory

  While he had promised to take over Canada and buy Greenland, Trump mentioned America as an expanding nation in his speech. 

  “The United States will once again consider itself a growing nation, one that increases our wealth, expands our territory, builds our cities, raises our expectations, and carries our flag into new and beautiful horizons. And we will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars launching American astronauts to plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars,” he said.

PODCAST

On Episode 486 of The Core Report, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj talks to Aashish Sommaiyaa, Executive Director and CEO WhiteOak Capital Asset Management as well as Dr Irfan Nooruddin, the Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani Professor of Indian Politics at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. 

• Trump effect lifts global, Indian markets.

• Which way are oil prices headed now ?

• Stockpicking in an era of market and economic uncertainty.

• What will a Trump administration mean for India, the new vulnerabilities ?

• Billionaire wealth across the globe surged by $2 trillion in 2024 to $15 trillion at a rate three times faster than the previous year, a study showed on Monday.

• Who is not at DAVOS?

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FROM THE PERIPHERY

—🛬 Go First Airways has entered the final stages of liquidation following the National Company Law Tribunal’s (NCLT) approval on Monday, acting on a request by the airline’s Committee of Creditors. The low-cost carrier had filed for voluntary insolvency on May 2, 2023, under Section 10 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), citing financial stress and operational hurdles. Despite resistance from aircraft lessors and attempts to halt fleet deregistration, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs approved the insolvency process in October 2023, paving the way for the liquidation process. This marks the closure of a turbulent chapter for Go First.

—🏦 India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has issued new rules for how Asset Reconstruction Companies (ARCs) settle dues with borrowers. A significant direction by the RBI was that ARCs must only make settlements with borrowers once all avenues of recoveries the dues have been exhausted, PTI reported. Not only do ARCs need to make “oard-approved” policies to govern how to recover and settle dues, but also find methodologies to ascertain the realisable value of securities in the loan.

THE MEDIA ROOM

‘A Verdict On What Worked, What Didn't’: Ormax Media’s Shailesh Kapoor On The Science Behind Content Testing

Despite some big-budget films released, Indian cinema saw a 3% decline in business in 2024. The movie business, especially theatres and even big names like PVR-Inox, has been struggling to get audiences back to the movies. 

At a time like this, Ormax Media has been using data models (which transformed post-pandemic) to help in both the pre-production and post-production phases of the content pipeline. In the first episode of The Media Room, The Core’s newest fortnightly podcast series hosted by journalist Vanita Kohli-Khandekar, Shailesh Kapoor said, “A lot of platforms use the research to decide what kind of marketing budgets to put behind the series.” 

An example of successful testing, Kapoor said, was Dharma Productions’ runaway hit  Rocky Aur Aane Ki Prem Kahani starring Alia Bhatt and Ranveer Singh. Ormax Media tested it across four or five markets a few months before release. “One of the interesting things that I remember came out was that despite the film being Delhi-based, the performance was stronger in Mumbai compared to Delhi. That was because the film is slightly progressive in its themes in the second half, and it talks about gender equality in a certain way. And Mumbai is a market-based response better to more progressive themes compared to Delhi.”  

How can information from such testing help the marketing campaigns of a film? 

CORE OBSCURE

The Zepto Conundrum

A Reddit post highlighting a new app that compares prices across quick-commerce apps like Instamart and Blinkit reinforces a long-standing observation about Indian consumer behaviour: discounts drive decisions. The app validates the consumer internet theory that Indians will switch platforms to save even the smallest amounts.

However, the real obscurity lies in the unsustainable quick commerce sector, with Zepto as a prime example.  Zepto, a pure-play quick commerce platform, plans to go public despite no profits or a proven business model. Unlike competitors Swiggy and Zomato, which balance quick commerce losses with diversified revenue streams, Zepto’s reliance on a single, loss-making vertical raises questions. Its proposed IPO is problematic as the proceeds, funded by public and institutional investors, will be used to provide exits for its early-stage backers rather than building a sustainable business.

This mirrors trends seen in food delivery, cabs, and edtech, where unsustainable models have led to mass consolidation and shutdowns. Since the quick-commerce sector’s value lies in temporary price wars, and not long-term trust or profitability, the question remains: how long can investors and public markets prop up this fragile ecosystem?

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