Best of the Week: Why I quit Twitter this week
- Best of the Week, 23 November: Adani's week from hell, India's textile industry, and a weakening rupee.
This week, I made the decision to quit Twitter.
It sounds like I'm letting go of an addiction, but for a Gen Z-er, social media is pivotal. I grew up right when dial-up connections were still around, and diligently finished my homework to get my 15 minutes of Facebook twice a week. I was eager to “cultivate” my crops on an online game called Farmville.
Every time I excitedly told my mother about the potatoes or brinjals I had “grown”, she starkly reminded me that someday I should try my hand at watering some real crops (she grew up on a farm in Odisha).
While that was the beginning, Facebook still was for friends and the occasional hobbies. But Twitter? Twitter was where the world was at.
I could follow the thoughts of any celebrity and spout my displeasure at a new music album or my mother's baingan, one that was not grown on Farmville.
More importantly, Twitter is where news was. It's where news broke first, it's where journalists were treated with credence. Blue ticks were reserved for Hollywood actors and your local weather reporter.
Then, Elon Musk (reluctantly) bought the platform, and commodified the ticks. By all available business metrics, Twitter seems to be doing just fine even with a tenth of its workforce. But the algorithm has been tweaked.
A WSJ research found that even if you want to focus on topics like sports or knitting, you will still be shown political content (never mind that this affirms my teenage year proclamations of “everything is political”).
As a journalist, I must now focus on other avenues to inform myself, to collate data, and meet people. Twitter was a good place to do all of that.
Take for example yesterday's huge break about the US Department of Justice accusing the Adani group of bribery and corruption.
🔁 If you aren't familiar with the entire issue, read Nehal Chaliawala's excellent recap. Krishna Yadav also explained the entire legal angle of the case in this story.
I found out about it first through Mint's slack channel, first thing in the morning. But earlier, this would have broken on Twitter first. The western media world was already on top of it, which broke after 2 am IST.
🚨 If you want to know the inside story of what the Adani group and what its top bosses are accused of, read Varun Sood's incisive story. Varun's sources told him that these accusations come after some whistleblowing and a two-year investigation.
💨 As the air quality in Delhi and the National Capital Region gets worse, most schools and many offices have remained shut. Soumya Gupta writes that respiratory issues are on the rise and OPDs are reporting three times the usual number of admissions. People have stopped outdoor activities, and air purifiers, masks and respiratory drugs are selling in record numbers. Many are travelling to hill stations to escape the toxic fumes in the capital. Soumya calls this the "smog economy”.
🔌 One category of goods that doesn’t seem to be part of the "smog economy" is electric vehicles. Sales of EVs in Delhi declined 79% in September. Alisha Sachdev reports that the withdrawal of incentives led to a sharp increase in the price of EVs, causing sales to plummet. Alisha writes that as the pollution gets even worse, policymakers may look to bring back these subsidies to incentivise EV makers.
💵 The rupee continues to hit record lows against the US dollar. This is a reaction to Donald Trump's presidency; the impending fear of new tariffs has worried the commodities market. The Reserve Bank of India has measures in place to arrest this slide, but Payal Bhattacharya has a curious question: should it attempt to do so, or should RBI let the rupee weaken? Since 2013, the rupee has only moved in one direction—a dollar used to be worth 30 rupees cheaper! A weak rupee, theoretically, will give a boost to international trade. But politically, it might not bode well.
📊 It hurts to lose ₹50. Imagine how difficult it would be to write off $500 million. But that's what Prosus, a tech investor, did after the Byju's debacle. Prosus was quick to lick its wounds as it secured a major victory with Swiggy's public listing. Prosus has been prolific in India, securing deals worth more than $8 billion across 24 transactions. Sneha Shah and Ranjani Raghavan write that unlike traditional venture capital funds, Prosus uses its own balance sheet to invest in companies. This allows it to take a long-term approach without having to worry about securing quick, profitable exits. All companies are subject to market fluctuations, and between Byju's and Swiggy, Prosus knows it best.
👋 RBI’s crackdown on unsecured personal loans has led to a reduced demand for off-roll workers in the banking sector. Shayan Ghosh and Devina Sengupta report that the in-house shift of KYC rules has also affected this type of employment. These roles typically did KYC, loan sales and loan collections. While RBI's change aims to increase compliance and prevent money laundering, it may inadvertently push borrowers towards unregulated money lenders.
🥱 Are you bored at work? Your employer should be concerned. Devina Sengupta writes about employees who take to vices to fulfil their free time. From your run-of-the-mill addictions to porn, employees are slowly but surely getting disengaged from the real world. That also includes their work. Devina writes that this leads to poor quality of work, low productivity, and ultimately, attrition. If nothing else, read this story on Devina's personal anecdote about Hum Aapke Hain Kaun for a chuckle this weekend.
We also had a few stories on India's textile industry this week:
🧶 More than 60% of India's domestic textile demand is for cotton. In a humid country like ours, it's not difficult to see why. Things are different across the world. Man-made fibers such as polyester are much more common in countries such as China, Taiwan, and Vietnam, which already cornered a lion's share of that market. N. Madhavan writes about these man-made fabrics, their endless potential, and the limitations in the Indian manufacturing and consumer verticals that might prevent them from succeeding like their East Asian counterparts. The government, for its part, has announced a productivity linked incentive (PLI) scheme that exceeds ₹10,000 crore for these fabrics. It has already found takers for nearly double that amount. But will it work?
🧵 Cotton farmers have begun to shift to rice plantation following recurring crop failures. As rice needs around five times as much water as cotton, this has led to a rapid decline in soil quality. Sayantan Bera writes that India produced cotton in excess and exported more than $10 billion worth of cotton last year. However, the change in production patterns could threaten the livelihood of around 45 million people. Despite being the world's second-largest producer of cotton, India is projected to be a net importer of the textile this year. India's cotton yields remain significantly low compared to global averages, leading to this crunch. Sayantan explains how we got here.
👔 Many inherit a family business; few take it from strength to strength. That's what Nikhil and Nitin Mohan have managed to achieve. They are the co-founders of Blackberrys Menswear, which is known to make quality formalwear. However, the Mohan brothers seemed like they were always destined for a bright future in textile: their family has owned the famous Sriram and Son retail chain in Delhi. Mahalakshmi Prabhakaran interviews the brothers about their journey, the apparel business in India, and a little bit about how difficult (or easy) it can be to run a business with your sibling.
That's all I have for you this week. If you have any feedback or alternatives to Twitter, please write to shashwat.mohanty@htdigital.in.
Best,
Shashwat Mohanty
Assistant Editor
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First Published:23 Nov 2024, 06:00 AM IST
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