2024 Wrapped: YearlyBrief

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Market Watch

• Today, the last trading session of 2024, the Sensex was down 109.12 points and closed at 78,139.01, and the Nifty was up 13.25 points and closed at 23,658.15.
• In 2024, Sensex recorded annual gains of 8.17% while Nifty saw 8.8%.
• Banks will remain closed tomorrow all over India.

Stories from the day

• India linked to failed Maldivian opposition plot to oust President Muizzu, raising diplomatic concerns.
• How two crew members survived the South Korean plane crash that claimed 179 lives
• DigiYatra data concerns addressed; IT department denies its use for tracking tax evaders.

YearlyBrief: In Case You Missed the Year (ICYMY)

2024 was touted as the year of elections as at least 70 countries went to polls and many other countries saw governments crumbling to internal chaos and coups. From Artificial Intelligence to Generation Beta, we have a recap of the key events and everything that you need to look forward to in 2?0?2?4? 2025.

Your top stories from India

• Ram Temple: After years of anticipation, the grand Ram Mandir was inaugurated in Ayodhya.
• 400 not paar: In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returned to power for a historic third term. However, it fell short of securing a majority on its own, leading to a coalition government after a decade.
• Women's safety in West Bengal: West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali witnessed significant political violence after allegations of systemic rape of women in the village by Trinamool Congress leader (TMC) leaders.
• Landslide in Wayanad: 231 died in Wayanad landslides—Seventeen families, comprising 65 members, were entirely wiped out.
• The never-ending Ambani wedding: Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant got hitched in the most extravagant wedding celebrations featuring international performances from Rihanna and Katy Perry.
• Why people hate Sitharaman: 2024 saw the Middle Class fighting back against economic reforms eating into their pie, making Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman an easy target in an inflation-ridden economy.

• Maldives controversy: A heated diplomatic spat broke out between India and Maldives after Maldivian ministers made derogatory remarks towards Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, leading to a social media campaign and trip cancellations. The spat was resolved peacefully but saw the Prime Minister promoting Lakshadweep as an alternate destination.
• Focus on ‘Men’tal health: The tragic suicide of Bengaluru techie Atul Subhash, allegedly driven by his wife's harassment, brought focus on misuse of dowry-related laws.

Sports achievements that will bring a smile

• The Men’s Indian Cricket Team won the T20 World Cup after 16 years, this was the first ICC Trophy win in a decade.
• Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine is Light won major international awards—it became the first Indian film to win the Grand Prix award at the Cannes Film Festival. Controversy also broke out about Laapata Ladies being sent to the Oscars over this movie.
• Indian prodigy D Gukesh won the World Chess Championship 2024 and broke Russian Grandmaster Garry Kasparov’s 39-year-old record to become the youngest world champion in history.
• Indian athletes clinched six medals (1 Silver and 5 Bronze) at the 2024 Paris Olympics. At the Paralympics, India secured the highest medal tally of 29 medals (7 Gold, 9 Silver, and 13 Bronze).
• Check out the complete list of India’s sporting achievements here.

Wars broke out and governments fell

• Russia continues its 2022 conflict with Ukraine, Israel's conflict with Hamas escalated into a region-wide conflict with Lebanon, Yemen, Iran and Syria being dragged into the war. Taiwan was on the edge with China but thankfully a war didn’t break out.
• The United States said Bye-den. In the run-up to the elections, Donald Trump survived two assassination attempts. He later won a historic mandate against last-minute Democrat Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris.
• Meanwhile, governments unexpectedly fell in Bangladesh and Syria. South Korea witnessed the shortest coup. Incumbent governments lost power in the United Kingdom (Conservative Party), South Africa (African National Congress), and Japan ( Liberal Democratic Party). France and Germany called for snap-elections.

Here are two defining maps:

Who made peace? India and China agreed to disengage troops at Depsang and Demchok.

All things Tech

• People lose trust in mainstream media: People no longer trust the mainstream media and according to a survey 56.1% preferred good news reports over bad news reports. Elon Musk claims that X is emerging as the leading source of news.
• Year of GenAI: Key trends include advancements in multimodal models, smaller and more efficient open-source solutions, and customizable local models.

• Google’s new quantum computing chip, Willow can solve a math equation in five minutes which would take the fastest supercomputers 10 septillion years to do.
• Revolution in AI videos: In a year, AI was able to produce a much better output of Will Smith eating Spaghetti.

• OpenAI drama ended with Sam Altman being reinstated to the board.
• SpaceX created history—It launched a Starship rocket and caught the returning booster using mechanical arms at the launch pad. Meanwhile, ISRO’s maiden solar mission, Aditya-L1, reached its halo orbit.

Ups and downs in Business and Markets

• Crypto bros have the last laugh (for now) as Bitcoin hit an all-time high above $100,000.
• Call it the Golden Year as the commodity surged 26% in 2024, marking its best performance in a decade.
• 2024 was the mega year of IPOs in India—the biggest IPO was of Hyundai Motors India which had raised Rs 27,870 crore.
• Boeing nosedived after a disused emergency exit door blew off a new 737 Max in January.
• Rupee hit a record low and depreciated to 85.6200 against the US Dollar.

RIP

Industrialist Ratan Tata, Friends co-actor Mathew Perry, Former One Director member Liam Payne, Tabla player Zakir Hussain, former Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh, Actor Dame Maggie Smith, Longest living US President Jimmy Carter, Indian Communist leader Sitaram Yechury, Indian Musician Ustaad Rashid Khan, Singer Pankaj Udaas, Producer Ramoji Rao, Fashion Designer Rohit Bal, Politician Baba Siddique, Folk Singer Sharada Sinha, Director Shyam Benegal, Cricketer Datta Gaekwad, High-ranking Hamas leadership and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Of course, Poonam Pandey for faking death to raise awareness about cancer.

As we step into 2025…

• Those born between 2025 and 2039 will belong to Generation Beta and are expected to constitute around 19% of the global workforce by 2039.
• India is the fifth largest economy growing at 8.2% in FY 23-24. The Budget will be presented on 1st February (Saturday) which has been declared a trading day.
• Pantone has declared Mocha Mousse as the Colour of the Year.

Pic de l'année

Hi, I’m Sai Deepthi, the editor of this newsletter. I’d love to hear some feedback on the newsletter. WhatsApp me directly and tell me what you think.