#india-expansion

#india-expansion

What would have been a moment of united commitment to global tech innovation at the ongoing India AI Impact Summit instead proved an awkward one: When Prime Minister Narendra Modi prompted speakers at the event to join hands and raise them in a show of solidarity, all executives on stage obliged - except OpenAI's Sam Altman and Anthropic's Dario Amodei, who held their hands noticeably apart.

McDonald's ( NYSE: MCD) and Yum! Brands ( NYSE: YUM) face a punishing domestic landscape. QSR traffic from lower-income consumers declined by nearly double digits in the third quarter, a trend persisting for nearly two years. Rising labor costs, consumer pushback on pricing, market saturation, and value menu wars are eroding margins. India offers explosive growth: 1.4 billion people, median age of 29, a rapidly expanding middle class expected to reach 600 million by 2030, and massive underpenetration of Western QSR brands.

The company said that its store will offer a dedicated space for customers to experience and explore different products, including its smartphones and true wireless stereo (TWS), and other devices, along with their design. This will provide an opportunity for customers to decide whether they want to buy the device or not. The company recently teased that it will soon open its first flagship store in India. However, the UK-based smartphone maker has yet to reveal the exact date for the store's opening.

India's appetite for instant convenience - once confined to food and grocery delivery - is expanding into house help. That shift has helped Snabbit, an on-demand home-help startup, secure $30 million in new funding and lift its valuation to $180 million, up from $80 million five months ago. The all-equity Series C round - Snabbit's third fundraise in nine months - was led by Bertelsmann India Investments, with participation from existing backers Lightspeed, Elevation Capital, and Nexus Venture Partners.