Indonesia to ban TikTok commerce | Fuel economy standards to cost automakers billions | India seeks to boost domestic oil production

In today's Portfolio Intelligence Daily, where we highlight under the radar investment themes and idiosyncratic company risks:

• Indonesia set to ban TikTok commerce
• Fuel economy standards to cost automakers billions
• India invites TotalEnergies to bid for oil exploration rights

Auquan’s analyst team curates these summaries from our intelligence engine, which uses retrieval augmented generation (RAG AI) to uncover unique insights at scale, typically involving emerging markets, supply chains, financially-material ESG risks, and the impact of regulatory changes.

Indonesia set to ban TikTok commerce

Indonesia has banned e-commerce transactions on social media platforms like TikTok Shop and Facebook, prohibiting users from engaging in buying or selling goods and services on these platforms.

• Indonesia gave TikTok — owned by China's ByteDance — a one-week deadline to remove its e-commerce feature and become a standalone app. Failure to comply may result in the closure of TikTok in the country.
• The move greatly impacts TikTok's plans for expansion in Southeast Asia —?the company previously announced it would invest billions of dollars in the region to diversify its global business amidst increasing pressure from the U.S. Indonesia is TikTok's biggest market in Southeast Asia and second-largest globally, with 125 million users.

“We are deeply concerned about [the] announcement, particularly how it would impact the livelihoods of the 6 million sellers and nearly 7 million affiliate creators who use TikTok Shop.” — TikTok spokesperson (source)

“In the near term, the main beneficiaries to this regulation would be existing e-commerce players like Shopee and GoTo.” — Jonathan Woo, senior research analyst at Phillip Securities Research (source)

Select timeline

• October 3, 2023 | TikTok Shop officially closes in Indonesia tomorrow (Tech in Asia)
• October 3, 2023 | TikTok to stop sales in Indonesia after social media transaction ban?
• September 29, 2023 | TikTok’s Southeast Asia ambitions to take a major hit with Indonesia ban (CNBC)

Fuel economy standards to cost automakers billions

The fuel economy standards proposed by President Joe Biden's administration would result in $6.5 billion in fines for General Motors and $3 billion for Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler, according to the auto makers.?

• The American Automotive Policy Council, which represents GM, Stellantis, and Ford Motor, expressed concern in a letter to the U.S. Energy Department on Friday stating that they find the expected penalties for not meeting proposed Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) requirements to be alarming.
• Ford could potentially face $1 billion in penalties, according to the letter. Among foreign automakers, Volkswagen faces the highest penalty, exceeding $1 billion.

Select timeline

• October 3, 2023 | GM, Stellantis on hook for $9.5B in fines under fuel economy proposal - report (Seeking Alpha)
• October 2, 2023 | GM, Stellantis face $9.5 bln in US fuel economy fines -industry group letter (Reuters)
• October 2, 2023 |? Detroit 3 estimated to face ~$10B in fuel economy fines through 2032 (Teslarati)

India invites TotalEnergies to bid for oil exploration rights

India has extended an invitation to French oil major TotalEnergies to participate in bidding for oil exploration rights.?

• As the world's third-largest oil importer and consumer, India aims to decrease its reliance on expensive imports.
• On Monday, Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri met with TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne in Abu Dhabi, extending an invitation to bid for exploration rights to one million square kilometers of blocks across the country.?
• Last month, TotalEnergies and Adani announced a partnership to develop wind and solar electricity production in India.

Select timeline

• October 3, 2023 | India invites France's TotalEnergies to bid for oil exploration rights (Economic Times India)
• October 3, 2023 |? India invites France's TotalEnergies to bid for oil exploration rights (Reuters)
• September 20, 2023 | TotalEnergies, Adani Team Up To Expand Renewables In India (Barrons)

While you’re here…

If you find these kinds of insights interesting, please subscribe!?

If you’d like our deeper analysis on any of these themes or to learn about Auquan’s Intelligence Engine and how it can expand the scale and scope of your research and risk monitoring, let’s talk!

#ai #rag #genai #esg #privatequity #supplychain #emergingmarkets #portfoliomanagement #riskmanagement #duediligence?