Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Friday, August 2, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started:

India’s benchmark equity indices ended at fresh highs on Thursday. The Nifty 50 closed above the historic 25,000-point mark for the first time, rising 60 points from previous close. The 30-share Sensex climbed 126.21 points to settle at a new lifetime high of 81,867.55.

Ola Electric is set to debut on the stock market this Friday, with its valuation reduced to $4 billion, significantly lower than the initial target of $7 billion. This recalibration aligns Ola more closely with the global EV industry's valuation range, typically spanning 3 to 8 times annual sales. The adjustment reflects challenges posed by policy shifts and stiff competition from established players like Hero MotoCorp, underscoring the turbulent path Ola has faced due to fluctuating sales driven by changing government subsidies. Despite holding a 49% share of India’s electric two-wheeler market, Ola's financial standing is less robust compared to Hero, which benefits from healthier profit margins. The key question remains: will the lower valuation of Ola's IPO appeal to investors? Manish Joshi explores this in his Mark to Market piece.

This month is super exciting for India's startup scene because Bhavish Aggarwal of Ola Electric, Supam Maheshwari of FirstCry, and Kunal Bahl of Unicommerce are about to make some serious waves by taking their companies public. This isn't just big news for these founders; it's a game-changer for everyone watching the space. Bhavish Aggarwal is all set to join the elite club of startup billionaires, much like Deepinder Goyal from Zomato and Falguni Nayar from Nykaa. Mint’s startups and new economy editor Ranjani Raghavan writes on how these listings illustrate the growing confidence in Indian startups. These IPOs are not just about cashing out; they're about setting a precedent for the market and instilling confidence in new entrepreneurs.  

If you are a Tata Play customer, this next bit is for you. The Tata-group DTH service, is pulling the plug on all Sony Pictures Networks India channels from nearly 10 million subscribers’ plans over the next ten days. The decision, which began with one million subscribers on Thursday, is based on low viewership figures, Tata Play's CEO, Harit Nagpal told Mint’s Gaurav Laghate. Despite the potential revenue loss, Nagpal justified the move as a cost-saving measure for subscribers, emphasizing that those interested in Sony channels can easily reactivate them. On the flip side, Sony criticized the action as "arbitrary" and potentially retaliatory, linked to disputes over audit rights and discrepancies in subscriber data management. 

India's innovative faceless tax assessment system, launched in 2020 to eliminate biases by concealing the identities of tax officials from the assessees, is encountering challenges. According to tax lawyers who spoke to Mint’s Neha Joshi, the system, designed to simplify and speed up tax processes, is proving to make communication more difficult and is resulting in an increase in court cases. Tax lawyers highlight that explaining complex tax issues through just audio communication without visual cues makes it tough for assessing officers to grasp the intricacies, leading to misunderstandings and more disputes being escalated to courts. Additionally, the random assignment of cases to officers, regardless of their expertise, is contributing to less efficient handling of complex cases.

The recent landslide in Wayanad, Kerala, which claimed over 200 lives, is a stark reminder of the increasing frequency of such natural disasters in India. Positioned among the top four countries most prone to landslides, India's landscape faces significant risks. These mountains, still evolving from the tectonic pressures between the Indian and Eurasian plates, are vulnerable to the slow yet constant geological shifts that make them susceptible to both landslides and earthquakes. Mint’s Sumant Banerji explains why the country is at a higher risk of landslides, in today’s Mint Primer. 

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Show notes:

Will investors greet Ola IPO at lower valuation?

Startup street mints new founder millionaires

Tata Play starts to remove Sony channels from 10 million subscribers' plans

Tax lawyers stare at robotic faceless assessments

Mint Primer | Landslides: Why they are more frequent & lethal

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