Category: Counterpoint

Tesla has taken a significant step towards its India expansion, reportedly securing a prime office space in Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC).

The Elon Musk-led electric carmaker has leased a 4,003-square-foot space in the Maker Maxity building. The licensee for the agreement, reports claim, is Tesla India Motor & Energy Pvt., which currently operates from Panchsheel Business Park in Pune’s Viman Nagar. The licensor is Univco Properties LLP. As part of the lease deal, Tesla India has put down a security deposit of Rs 2.11 crore and will pay Rs 35.26 lakh in monthly rent, with a 5 per cent annual escalation.

The agreement is valid for five years.

The move comes amid intensifying discussions surrounding Tesla’s entry into India. On Feb. 13, Musk met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Washington, DC, fueling speculation about the company’s long-awaited arrival. Since then, Tesla has listed 20 job openings across India—15 in Mumbai and five in Pune—and is actively exploring showroom locations in Mumbai and Delhi. Tesla’s India launch is likely to happen in the second half of 2025, with the Model Y expected to be the first offering. The vehicle is anticipated to be priced between Rs 60-70 lakh, positioning it against entry-level electric offerings from Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi. If Tesla’s pricing stays above Rs 50 lakh, it could challenge the dominance of German luxury carmakers. If priced in the Rs 25-35 lakh range, the competition would extend to Indian manufacturers like Tata Motors and Mahindra. For Tesla, India could provide a much-needed boost.

The company is facing slowing sales globally, with declining shipments across key markets like the U.S., Germany, and China—where it already operates multiple factories. However, an immediate manufacturing facility in India appears unlikely, with Tesla initially expected to import its vehicles. The Tesla Model 3, the company’s most affordable offering, is expected to cost between Rs 35-40 lakh in India. This estimate considers a base price of around $35,000 (approximately Rs 30.4 lakh) in the U.S., reduced import duties of 15-20 per cent, and additional costs such as road tax and insurance. A calculation suggests that the total cost of owning a Model 3 in India could be around Rs 45.5 lakh, factoring in road tax (Rs 3.5 lakh), insurance (Rs 1.75 lakh), and an import duty of 15 per cent (Rs 5.25 lakh).

In a LinkedIn post, Byju Raveendran, founder of embattled edtech giant BYJU’S, alleged “criminal collusion” between EY India, GLAS Trust, and an interim resolution professional (IRP), accusing them of working against the company’s interests.

He claimed to have received “conclusive evidence” of wrongdoing and called for an immediate investigation but did not disclose further details. “Several employees and I received a document with conclusive evidence of criminal collusion between EY India, which I otherwise held in high regard, GLAS Trust, which claims to represent lenders it does not represent, and the IRP, who was appointed by an Indian court to protect BYJU’S but ended up destroying it,” he wrote.

“I am sure a thorough investigation of this evidence will reveal the truth. I request the authorities to take that up immediately,” he added, demanding a probe into the alleged misconduct. Shortly after his post gained traction, Byju Raveendran’s LinkedIn account and the post were allegedly taken down. His wife, Divya Gokulnath, took to social media to highlight the removal, questioning the reason behind it. “Byju’s post and account taken down. Investigating why. But no problem. Here we go again,” she wrote, sharing screenshots of the deleted post. However, at the time of writing, both the account and post were restored. Raveendran’s statement comes as BYJU’S battles a legal and financial storm.

The company is entangled in disputes over a $1.2 billion term loan, with lenders pushing for governance changes amid an ongoing insolvency resolution process.

The push for greater accountability in government is gaining momentum, with calls for corporate-style efficiency now extending to public offices.

Gurmeet Chadha, Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Complete Circle, in a post on X questioned why government employees and public servants should be exempt from the rigorous performance reviews common in private organisations.

"I remember having weekly MIS & monthly reviews in every organisation I worked—ACC, HDFC, Nippon, Citibank. Why should govt employees & public servants be any different?" Chadha wrote, suggesting that leaders like NR Narayana Murthy, Aditya Puri, Nandan Nilekani, or Anand Mahindra be brought in to overhaul the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in India.

This demand for accountability echoes recent developments in the US, where federal employees were given an ultimatum—list their weekly accomplishments or be deemed to have resigned. The move, backed by Elon Musk and the Trump administration, is stirring controversy over its potential impact on the workforce. Over the weekend, US government employees received an email instructing them to submit a list of their accomplishments from the past week or risk resignation.

The directive came shortly after Elon Musk posted on X, stating that employees would "shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week," adding, "Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation."

The email, which had the subject line "What did you do last week?", was sent by HR and requested employees to submit five bullet points summarizing their work, without including classified information, by midnight on Monday. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the federal government's HR agency, later confirmed the email’s authenticity, stating that it was part of an initiative to make the federal workforce "more efficient and accountable."

Musk, a vocal proponent of cost-cutting measures, has been at the forefront of a sweeping restructuring of government agencies under the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), with the White House’s approval. Thousands of employees at the IRS, Pentagon, and FAA have already been dismissed in recent weeks as part of the downsizing effort. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the largest union representing federal workers, strongly condemned the move. "Once again, Elon Musk and the Trump Administration have shown their utter disdain for federal employees and the critical services they provide to the American people," said union president Everett Kelley, vowing to challenge any unlawful terminations.

Meanwhile, newly confirmed FBI Director Kash Patel urged his agency’s employees to ignore the OPM directive for now. "FBI personnel may have received an email from OPM requesting information. The FBI, through the Office of the Director, is in charge of all of our review processes, and will conduct reviews in accordance with the FBI procedures," Patel stated in an internal memo.

The policy closely mirrors Musk’s approach to employee management during his Twitter takeover in 2022 when he issued ultimatums requiring staff to commit to an "extremely hardcore" work culture or resign. Trump has openly supported Musk’s actions, celebrating them as a step toward cutting bureaucratic inefficiencies. Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), he declared,

"We're removing all of the unnecessary, incompetent, and corrupt bureaucrats from the federal workforce. We want to make government smaller, more efficient. We want to keep the best people, and we're not going to keep the worst people."

Adani Power will fully restore the 1,600 MW power supply from its Jharkhand plant to Bangladesh, but it has rejected Dhaka’s request for discounts and tax benefits, Reuters reported, citing sources.

The restoration follows a request from the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) amid rising summer demand. Despite agreeing to resume full supply, Adani Power has declined BPDB’s demands for discounts and concessions potentially worth millions of dollars.

Bangladesh owes Adani approximately $650 million, though company sources estimate the outstanding dues have reached nearly $900 million. The $2 billion plant in Jharkhand, which operates under a 25-year power purchase agreement signed in 2017, had reduced supply on October 31 due to overdue payments.

Since November 1, the facility has been running at minimal capacity, with one unit offline and no confirmed timeline for complete restoration. A Reuters-reviewed document revealed that the plant operated at just 41.82% capacity last month, its lowest level this year.

Adani Power had sent a letter on October 27, warning BPDB that if payments were not made, it would suspend power supply on October 31 as per the terms of the power purchase agreement.

Payments of $85 million in November and $97 million in October have only marginally reduced the outstanding balance. The company highlighted that BPDB has neither provided a $170.03 million letter of credit (LC) from Bangladesh Krishi Bank nor cleared the accumulated dues of $846 million.

In winter, Bangladesh had imported around 1,000 MW per month from Adani’s plant. With full supply expected to resume next week, it remains uncertain how the unpaid dues will affect the long-term power arrangement between the two parties.

The sharp decline in labour migration across the country has emerged as a major concern for industries, says SN Subrahmanyan, Chairman and Managing Director of Larsen & Toubro. Speaking at CII’s Mystic South Global Linkages Summit 2025 in Chennai on Tuesday, Subrahmanyan warned that the reluctance of workers to relocate for jobs poses a significant challenge to businesses and the nation’s growth.

“As an organisation, we employ about 2,50,000 staff and 4,00,000 labourers at any given point of time. While attrition among staff does bother me, I am more worried about the availability of labourers today,” Subrahmanyan said.

He elaborated on L&T’s approach to labour mobilisation, which includes a dedicated HR team closely involved in recruitment and deployment. Despite these efforts, challenges remain. “Labour is not willing to move for opportunities… Maybe their local economy is doing well, maybe it is due to the various government schemes & DBTs available to them, but they are not willing to move,” he explained.

The issue isn’t limited to blue-collar workers. Subrahmanyan noted a similar reluctance among white-collar professionals, including engineers. Reflecting on his own career, he remarked, “When I joined L&T as a graduate engineer, my boss said if you are from Chennai, you go to Delhi and work. But today, if I ask a person from Chennai to work out of Delhi, he says bye. It’s a different world of work today, and we have to see how to make HR policies flexible.”

He described this trend as a hurdle not just for L&T but also for the broader industry’s nation-building efforts.

L&T is tackling this issue through skill training institutes and technology adoption. Subrahmanyan highlighted the use of Artificial Intelligence, with around 100 algorithms developed in their infrastructure business to optimise operations.

The company is also exploring futuristic solutions to labour challenges. “3D printed buildings are still costly when seen at a rate per square foot, but if labour is getting difficult, maybe sometime in the future, we have to live with this,” he said, signaling a shift toward innovation as a potential answer to the workforce crunch.

US President Donald Trump has ordered a pause in the enforcement of a nearly half-century-old law that was used to go after the Adani Group under the previous Biden administration.

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) bans firms and people with US ties from offering money or gifts to foreign officials to secure business overseas.

President Trump had considered pausing the law during his first term.

“It sounds good on paper, but in [practice] it’s a disaster,” President Trump said on the FCPA, the British daily, “Financial Times”, reported. “It means that if an American goes over to a foreign country and starts doing business over there legally, legitimately or otherwise, it's almost a guaranteed investigation, indictment and nobody wants to do business with the Americans because of it.”

The order marks one of the boldest enforcement policies issued by the Trump administration, “FT” reported.

“… Over-expansive and unpredictable FCPA enforcement against American citizens and businesses — by our own Government — for routine business practices in other nations not only wastes limited prosecutorial resources that could be dedicated to preserving American freedoms, but actively harms American economic competitiveness and, therefore, national security,” the White House said in a statement on pausing the FCPA.

“It is therefore the policy of my Administration to preserve the Presidential authority to conduct foreign affairs and advance American economic and national security by eliminating excessive barriers to American commerce abroad,” President Trump's executive order said.
The executive order that President Trump signed asked the US Attorney General to “review in detail all existing FCPA investigations or enforcement actions and take appropriate action with respect to such matters to restore proper bounds on FCPA enforcement and preserve Presidential foreign policy prerogatives”.

Following the executive order to pause the enforcement of the FCPA, stocks of all Adani Group firms saw substantial gains on 11 February. The most notable gainer was Adani Enterprises Ltd, whose stock rose 4.28 per cent. Following closely was Adani Power Ltd, which rose 4.17 per cent to Rs 511.90 apiece.

Adani Green Energy Ltd was the third top gainer, as it rose 3.34 per cent to Rs 985.90 apiece. New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) stock rose 3.84 per cent to Rs 145 apiece. The shares of Adani Energy Solutions Ltd, Adani Total Gas Ltd, and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd also saw gains.

On 10 February, six US Congressmen in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi said the previous Department of Justice's (DoJ) action was a “misguided crusade” that came at the “risk of harming” America's relationship with a “strategic geopolitical partner” like India.

They called it one of the “unwise decisions” by the Biden administration.

“This case rests on the allegation that preparations were made by members of this company in India to bribe Indian officials, also exclusively located in India. Instead of deferring the case to the appropriate Indian authorities, the Biden DoJ decided to push forward and indict the company's executives without any real injury to US interests being present,” the six Congressmen said.

Earlier, the Adani Group — the largest and fastest-growing portfolio of diversified businesses in India — had last year strongly denied allegations by the Biden administration that some company officials were part of an alleged scheme to pay over $250 million bribe to Indian officials in exchange for favourable terms for solar power contracts.

The Adani Group has interests in logistics (seaports, airports, logistics, shipping and rail), resources, power generation and distribution, renewable energy, gas and infrastructure, agro (commodities, edible oil, food products, cold storage and grain silos), real estate, public transport infrastructure, consumer finance and defence, and other sectors.

Activist short-seller Nathan Anderson, known for his high-profile campaigns against the likes of Adani Group, said he is closing his firm, Hindenburg Research, not because of any threat – legal or otherwise – and that he stands by all its reports.

Anderson told PTI that Hindenburg’s January 2023 report accusing Adani Group of “the largest con in corporate history” was a result of following “red flags” raised against the conglomerate in media reports.

Adani group had repeatedly denied all allegations in the report.

He termed as “goofy conspiracy” the attempts by some to link Hindenburg with alleged anti-India groups like OCCRP and George Soros, saying his outlet never commented on them as it followed the policy of not feeding into “silly conspiracy theories”.

Anderson, who came to be known for meticulously detailed reports against companies he alleged were committing fraud, last month announced shutting down his forensic research firm nearly eight years after he founded it.

Asked why he chose to shut down Hindenburg when he could have stepped back and passed on the reins of the company to someone else, he said there is “no way to separate me from the brand.” “Hindenburg is basically synonymous with me,” he said. “If it was a software application or a bicycle factory you can sell the application or the factory. But when it’s research driven by me, you can’t really just hand that off, and so I would not actually be ‘done’. But I am happy to support the team if they want to launch a new brand, which I expect they will.” Anderson, who first shot to fame with a report against electric truck company Nikola and had gone after the companies of major financial figures, including Carl Icahn’s Icahn Enterprises LP, had last month blamed the “intensity and focus” of the job for the decision to wind up.

He had spent much of the last eight years either in fights or preparing for the next fight. Many times during this period, he was often trailed and attempts were made to infiltrate his system.

“As to why I retired – it is all in the letter (released on January 16 that announced shutting down of Hindenburg) – it is not based on any threat, health issue, personal issue or otherwise,” he said.

Conspiracies theories like being on the verge of an investigation by the US Department of Justice and/or US SEC to “concoct a counter-narrative about my retirement is a great example of why I am happy to instead be enjoying more time with family, friends and good music,” he said.

Hindenburg has said it is not under investigation by the US SEC over anonymous reports linking its founder to a hedge fund for preparing reports targeting companies.

Asked if he stood by Hindenburg reports particularly against the Adani group, Anderson said, “We 100 per cent stand by all of our research findings.” Hindenburg had alleged that Adani Group had used a web of companies in tax havens to inflate its revenue and manipulate stock prices, even as debt piled up. The conglomerate vehemently denied all claims but the damning report at one point sheared over USD 150 billion off its value, losses it eventually recouped in over a year’s time.

The issue was agitated before the Supreme Court which did not find any need for a probe other than the one market regulator SEBI had initiated into certain issues prior to the Hindenburg report.

On some seeing the Hindenburg report as against India and its growth story, Anderson said, “We have always believed in India’s potential and view market transparency and strong corporate governance as key factors that can fuel India’s growth story.” He did not elaborate.

“We initially saw media articles outlining red flags, took a closer look, and just kept following the evidence,” he said on why Adani group was chosen.

On allegations of being in cohorts with OCCRP and George Soros, he said, “Of course not, but we have a policy of not feeding into silly conspiracy theories. When the main response to 100+ pages of evidence (presented in the report against Adani Group) is a goofy conspiracy, we view it as a sign that we were right on the mark.” Asked about the response of regulatory bodies in India to Hindenburg reports, he said, “We view our role as researching and writing about issues in need of transparency. The rest is out of our hands.” He dismissed allegations of sharing reports with hedge funds, saying, “We have always maintained full editorial control over all of our research.” “As we and many other US-based short sellers have discussed in public interviews for years, our model involves investing our own capital and sometimes also bringing on a balance sheet partner. This is one of the most common business models in our industry, it is fully compliant with all applicable laws, and we disclose this in our reports,” he added.

The 40-something son of a university professor and a nurse, Nathan (Nate) Anderson on January 15 issued a personal note that Hindenburg Research was being wound up after it “finished the pipeline of ideas we were working on.” The Connecticut man, who worked for 10 months as an ambulance driver in Israel, studied international business, finance, and accounting, managed money for the rich, believed he could make money by exposing corporate corruption.

Hindenburg, founded in 2017, placed bets against the companies it was researching. And it made money when stock prices of its targets tumbled on disclosure of fraud and other abuses that it unearthed through deep forensic financial research.

It however made surprisingly little money — just over USD 4 million — from the report on billionaire Gautam Adani’s sprawling business empire in January 2023.

That figure, disclosed for the first time by Hindenburg on its website last year, along with details of a letter it said it had received from India’s markets regulator, SEBI.

Anderson appears to be wanting to move on, having achieved what he and his colleagues wanted. “We shook some empires that we felt needed shaking,” he wrote in a personal memo last month.

But, this did take a toll on him. “It has come at the cost of missing a lot of the rest of the world and the people I care about,” he had written. “It wasn’t always obvious to me, but I now view all of this as a love story.” Hindenburg’s research has led to fraud charges and indictments against dozens of individuals, but has also resulted in expensive legal battles. The firm had just 11 employees.

Its last published report was on online car retailer Carvana earlier this year.