Episode Details

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Thursday, February 6, 2025. This is Nelson John, let's get started.

In January, Prime Minister Modi introduced Mission Mausam, a significant climate forecasting initiative, receiving ₹1,329 crore in funding for FY26. But is this sufficient? Soumya Gupta explores. The mission, overseen by the Ministry of Earth Sciences, aims to enhance India's climate change predictions and track extreme weather with new technologies, including AI-enhanced models and advanced satellites. Initially funded with ₹2,000 crore, its budget includes ₹671 crore for FY25 and the remainder for FY26. India's climate strategy extends beyond Mission Mausam. The Ministry has integrated four programs into its PRITHVI scheme, focusing on climate research in critical regions like the Arctic and Himalayas, with a budget exceeding ₹2,500 crore through FY26. Overall, India plans to allocate over ₹50,000 crore in FY25 and nearly ₹62,000 crore in FY26 to combat climate change. Despite these investments, they account for just 1.2% of the total budget for FY26, far from the ₹57 trillion pledged through 2030 for comprehensive climate change measures.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman advocates a full-stack approach for India's AI development, contrasting with his 2023 stance where he deemed competing in AI training as "hopeless." He discussed this shift in an interview with Hindustan Times’ editor-in-chief R Sukumar on Wednesday before reiterating his opinion at a discussion with IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw the same morning. Altman points to a drastic cost reduction in AI, which now surpasses the rate predicted by Moore's Law, stating costs drop tenfold annually. This change supports more expansive AI initiatives, including foundational models which underpin technologies like ChatGPT. At his discussion with Altman later, IT minister Vaishnaw emphasized India's comprehensive strategy, from chip design to application development, drawing parallels to India's cost-effective space missions. He noted promising developments from six Indian entities poised to unveil foundational AI models within the year. In discussions with tech leaders and investors, Altman remarked on the immediate potential of AI to enhance scientific research and development significantly but tempered expectations about its current capabilities, such as curing diseases.

India's services sector saw its slowest growth in over two years this January, with the HSBC India Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) reading dropping to 56.5 from December's 59.3, according to S&P Global. Despite this slowdown, the sector remains in expansion territory, above the 50-point mark that separates growth from contraction. Rhik Kundu reports that the dip is attributed to decreased customer numbers and a softer rise in sales and output. HSBC's chief India economist, Pranjul Bhandari, noted that both business activity and new business indices have not been this low since November 2022. However, the new export business has provided some cushion, reflecting a rebound in services exports as of December 2024. Simultaneously, India's manufacturing sector showed improvement, with the Manufacturing PMI climbing to a six-month high of 57.7 in January, driven by an increase in new export orders.

India is currently experiencing two rare events: the Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj, occurring once every 144 years, and an unexpectedly cheerful middle class following the Union Budget 2025-26. This year’s budget has infused ₹1 trillion into the economy via tax rebates to middle-income earners, marking a significant shift in fiscal policy that could ripple through the economy and the equity markets. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced substantial tax breaks that not only increase disposable income but are set to initiate a beneficial economic cycle through th