In today’s Finshots, we talk about the most recent tradeable financial instrument — “water futures.”

Steelmakers have been making an impressive comeback of late. A meteoric rise in production, robust recovery in demand and record high selling prices have all pushed the incumbents in the industry on a profitable path. And through it all, the stock price of major steel producers have been on a rally like no other. So we thought we could look at the industry, understand the dynamics propelling it and see how this recovery is currently manifesting in an ever-changing world.

On Tuesday, the federal government, including 46 states in the US sued Facebook for engaging in monopolistic or anti-competitive practices. And while many people have sued the company in the past, the sheer scale and influence of this lawsuit deserves special merit. So we thought we could look at the case more closely and explain why Facebook is being accused of exploiting its dominance in the social media space.

On December 2nd, Down To Earth released an extensive investigative report on the menace of adulterated honey and we need to talk about it.

Australia is all set to introduce a law that would force companies like Google and Facebook to pay media companies for their news content. As chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission noted — “There is a fundamental bargaining power imbalance between news media businesses and the major digital platforms, partly because news businesses have no option but to deal with the platforms, and have had little ability to negotiate over payment for their content or other issues. We wanted a model that would address this bargaining power imbalance and result in fair payment for content, which avoided unproductive and drawn-out negotiations, and wouldn’t reduce the availability of Australian news on Google and Facebook.” And while there is considerable euphoria surrounding this bill, there is also good reason to exercise caution. So we thought we could look at this more closely and see how it might impact the media ecosystem in Australia. Possibly even the world?

On Monday, news agencies started reporting that President Nicolas Maduro had seized total control of Venezuela’s political institutions with a sweeping victory in legislative elections. And while there was considerable euphoria within the Venezuelan ruling class, ground reports from the country are truly disheartening, to say the least. 96% of the country’s population currently lives in poverty and about one-third of these people lack enough nutritious food for normal human growth and development. According to one survey, 60% of Venezuelans shed at least 11 kilograms in weight over the recent past due to malnutrition. And with the pandemic and the lockdown in place, the food crisis has reached truly incredible proportions. Whatever little food that Venezuelans still produce is currently rotting because farmers don’t have the means to carry their produce to the markets due to an unprecedented shortage of overpriced fuel. Imagine this happening in a country that boasts the largest oil reserves in the world. It is simply crazy. So we thought maybe we could look at how Venezuela got here and see why the government's policies to control prices have failed so miserably.

Spotify has reportedly confirmed that they are testing a Stories feature within the app. And while reactions to the announcement were mixed, we thought we could look at the feature more closely and see why so many companies are adopting “Stories”.

This week Shree Cement’s stock price breached its yearly high. And while that isn’t surprising in itself, the rally came against the backdrop of stellar results for the months of July, August and September, when most businesses were still struggling to cope with the pandemic. So we thought we could look at Shree Cement and its performance, particularly considering it’s part of the Nifty 50 now.

In today's Finshots, we talk about pepper imports and RBI's latest diktat for HDFC Bank.

What happens when a multinational corporation is forced* to delay a product launch because someone else owns the right to use the name? Well, ask Sony. *While there were rumours circulating that Sony was forced to delay the launch of their much-anticipated console in India because of the trademark issue, it’s still not quite clear if this was the principal reason for the apparent delay. After all, despite the gentleman withdrawing the application. Sony is yet to announce a launch date for the PS5 in India. So who knows?

We’ve been bombarded with questions about the Burger King IPO. So we thought we could answer all your queries with this one story.

In today's Finshots, we talk about data breaches and how they affect people and businesses alike.

During the 1st ODI between India and Australia, two protestors barged into the Sydney Cricket Ground holding a sign that said "No $1B Adani Loan." And yeah, we need to talk about it.

Last week, Motherson Sumi unveiled its detailed 5-year plan where it set an ambitious target of reaching sales figures totalling ₹2.6 lakh Cr by 2025. That means they’ll have to quadruple sales over the next five years. And while such lofty proclamations are usually met with derision, investors and analysts have been quite optimistic about the company’s prospects. In fact, its stock price made a yearly high right after the announcement. So we have to look at this more closely and ask — Do these claims warrant serious consideration or are they mostly fluff? Well, in today’s Finshots Markets, we will discuss this and more.

In today's Finshots, we talk about offshore financial centres, why they're such a menace and who's responsible for all of this.

In today's Finshots, we talk about what's happening with air freighters.

In today's Finshots, we talk about planned obsolescence and the right to repair.

In today's Finshots, we talk about Nitin Gadkari's comments on increasing the speed limit on certain multi-lane expressways.

In today's Finshots, we talk about recommendations from the Internal Working Group on licensing and other matters.

Airbnb is looking to potentially raise $1 billion in an IPO by the end of the year. And while we mostly do stories on the Indian markets, we thought we would switch it up this week and do a story on something more international. So yeah, hopefully, you'll enjoy this one.

In today's Finshots, we talk about a brand new idea called "Privilege Tax".

In today’s Finshots, we talk about the merger between Lakshmi Vilas Bank and DBS Bank India.

In today’s Finshots, we talk about the problem of semantics and the rise of the plant-based milk industry.

In today's Finshots, we talk about the Simandou saga or as The Economist called it - a titanic battle between the giants of iron-ore mining for control of the world’s richest deposits.

Since everybody is talking about air pollution these days, we thought it would be prudent to discuss one of the primary contributors to this problem - Stubble Burning.

In today's Finshots, we talk about the possibility of the government regulating online streaming content

On 2nd September, Indian authorities banned the popular battle royale game PUBG alongside many other apps with links to China. However, just a couple months later, PUBG is planning to stage a comeback. So in today’s Finshots, we will look at how the saga has unfolded so far and why the gaming company is so desperate to make a re-entry.

In today's Finshots, we talk about the economic implications of a Biden Presidency.

Yesterday, drugmaker Pfizer announced that early analysis of its coronavirus vaccine trial suggested the vaccine (developed in conjunction with BioNTech) was robustly effective in preventing Covid-19. And while multiple pharma companies have released details about their own vaccines so far, there is a lot of optimism surrounding Pfizer’s announcement. So why are people this excited you ask?

In today's episode, we talk about NPCI's latest ruling and how it might affect payment applications like Google Pay.

Hero MotoCorp put out its sales figures for the month of October and it surprised almost everyone. The company said it had recorded the highest sales figure ever and experts were visibly surprised with the announcement considering we are in the midst of a pandemic. So we thought we could look at Hero, its current performance and see how the company has fared over the past couple decades.

In today's Finshots, we talk about a unique problem facing India right now

In today's Finshots, we talk about Ant Financial and how its plans to go public went awry at the last moment.

In today's Finshots, we talk about the first coal auction since the reforms.

In today's Finshots, we talk about China, castor seeds, and conspiracy theories.

A couple of days back, Infosys announced that the company had reduced its carbon footprint and turned carbon neutral 30 years ahead of the 2050 timeline. So we thought we could look at this story and see how they got here.

Airtel just reported its latest quarterly results and while the company could not muster a profit, there’s been a lot of optimism surrounding its future prospects. So in this week’s Finshots Markets, we thought we could look at Bharti Airtel and see why analysts think this might be a turning point for the company.

In today’s Finshots, we talk about the changing landscape of the smartphone industry in India and Micromax’s place in it.

Quibi was meant to revolutionize the streaming industry. It had everything going for it. Seasoned tech executives — Check Big-name Investors — Check A $2 billion-dollar war chest— Check And yet 6 months after launch, Quibi is all set to shut down. So what went wrong?

In today's Finshots, we talk about fantasy gaming apps and their legal status in India.

In today's episode we talk about Indian SME IPO market and the lesser known and darker sides of the SME IPO investing.

Stock buybacks are all the rage these days. The government is doing it. Tech companies are in on it. And every other day, we hear rumors about a new company planning to repurchase shares. So in this episode, we thought we would look at buybacks and see why companies are so excited about this little program *except for the obvious tax benefits that is*

In today's Finshots, we talk about property cards and the government's plan to help rural land owners.

In today’s Finshots, we talk about Artificial Intelligence and the government’s ambitious AIRAWAT project.

In today's Finshots, we talk about SMRAs and spectrum auctions.

In today's Finshots, we tell you why Robert Wilson and Paul Milgrom were awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics

In today's Finshots, we talk about the government's new guidelines surrounding surrogate advertising.

Life insurance products have been synonymous with LIC since time immemorial. But ever since the government opened up the industry to private players, a lot of companies have been making considerable headway. And perhaps one of the leading players in the recent past has been HDFC Life — a company that’s focused on selling long-term life insurance products. So today we thought we’ll look at how the industry is shaping up and HDFC Life’s place in the ecosystem.