Praval Shah

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Providing the retail Indian investor an alternative way to invest.

[Anand Ranganathan @ARanganathan72]

Dozens of journalists covered the student protest in BJP ruled Delhi with total freedom, while in Opposition ruled Jharkhand @AmanChopra_ is picked up by cops, questioned, and slapped with an FIR.

No outrage. Because Democracy is alive and so is Press Freedom under the Congress.

[Amit Malviya @amitmalviya]

Another day, another front-page “investigation” by the Indian Express that falls apart under scrutiny.

The newspaper has attempted to manufacture a controversy around the Government’s ₹2,192 crore RDI Fund by insinuating that companies were favoured because some Investment Committee members had past professional or investment associations with them. The facts, however, tell a very different story.

The Government has unequivocally clarified that none of the Investment Committee members who participated in approving any proposal had a conflict of interest. Every potential conflict was disclosed in accordance with the RDI Fund guidelines, and wherever a member had any connection with an applicant, they recused themselves completely from the evaluation, discussion and voting process. No conflicted member participated in any funding decision.

The Indian Express headline deliberately conflates association with participation in decision-making. In India’s relatively small deep-tech ecosystem, domain experts often have prior academic, professional or investment links with startups. The RDI framework was designed precisely with this reality in mind, not by excluding expertise, but by regulating it through internationally accepted safeguards of disclosure, mandatory recusal and collective decision-making.

The safeguards are extensive:

• Independent expert evaluation of every proposal.
• Mandatory disclosure of all interests.
• Mandatory recusal wherever any potential conflict exists.
• Approval only through a supermajority of eligible members.
• Government officials do not determine technical merit, and the Member Secretary has no voting rights.
• Final approval rests with the Technology Development Board after due process.

The report also creates the false impression that Government funds were handed out to companies. That is incorrect. The RDI Fund supports specific research and technology development projects, not companies as entities. These are soft loans tied to defined milestones, requiring matching private investment mobilised after approval and subject to rigorous oversight.

Equally misleading is the suggestion that prior investments by angel investors or venture capital funds somehow taint the process. Deep-tech startups typically raise equity in their early stages because conventional lenders do not finance high-risk research. The Government has clarified that investments made before a proposal is submitted have no bearing whatsoever on project evaluation, while investments made after approval are independent commercial decisions by private investors. Neither influences the Government’s appraisal process, which is based solely on scientific merit, technological innovation and national importance.

Ironically, several of the projects highlighted had already undergone independent evaluation through national innovation platforms or had previously received technology support from TDB long before attracting venture capital. Instead of recognising India’s emerging deep-tech ecosystem, the Indian Express has chosen to sensationalise normal professional relationships into a conspiracy.

This is not investigative journalism. It is guilt by association, a classic attempt to create suspicion where the institutional record shows transparency, disclosure, recusal and merit-based evaluation.

India’s deep-tech ambitions deserve serious journalism, not clickbait headlines. When every safeguard has been followed and no conflicted member has participated in any funding decision, the only thing exposed is the Indian Express’s willingness to sacrifice facts for a sensational front page.

[Kiren Rijiju @KirenRijiju]

Also, a reminder to Rahul Gandhi Ji, there's no woman in Karnataka DK Shivakumar’s Cabinet! This raises serious questions over Congress’s stand on 33% Women quota.

[Kiren Rijiju @KirenRijiju]

Rahul Ji, you know it very well that:

1. The reservation of seats for women in the House of the People and Legislative Assembly of the State is provided in the Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023 (Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam).

2. It shall come into effect:—
(a)After an exercise of delimitation is undertaken,
(b)Based on the census figures published after the year 2023, which means the census figures published after the year 2026.

3. The exercise for publishing the census figures after the year 2026 is currently underway; however, this may take substantial time (due to caste based census) to be finally published. In view of this, it may result in considerable delay in the implementation of women reservation, at least not before 2034 General Elections.

4. Therefore, to implement the women reservation at the next general elections in 2029, the delimitation exercise needs to be undertaken at the earliest, based on the latest available Census figures, as published.

5. The implementation methodology has been proposed under the Delimitation Bill 2026, introduced in the Lok Sabha along with the amendments to the Constitution.

6. However, the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 which was introduced for this purpose has been defeated.

[Dhananjay Singh @Dhananjayohm]

@1shankarsharma Cherry-picking to put across shallow point must stop in public discourse.Until 2014, India was significantly power-deficient,whereas today it's nearly self-sufficient.The addition of RE capacity should not be brushed aside, a 10X increase compared to"lost decade" is stupendous.

[Anand Ranganathan @ARanganathan72]

Testimony of a police officer’s daughter: My father was on duty at Jantar Mantar. He was almost lynched. He remained unconscious for hours. He was brought home drenched in blood. His attackers are now filing complaints against him.

The price of bravery in this country is blood.

[Mohandas Pai @TVMohandasPai]

This is total rubbish centre only runs 4-5% of school and college education, sets national standards. Rest regulated by States. Low quality is a failure of the State education dept not centre. @ShekharGupta Look at data before you tweet. You need to be objective not make loose remarks. What prevents states from doing better?

[Sheema Kher @spillingbeans4]

🙏🏼🙏🏼

[Devika Diwan @ilah108]

I mean the fact that Mr. Raj Thackeray is raising this point really tells us the gravity of the situation. Anybody beating anyone without cause should be punished, absolutely.
Sir can we apply the same logic to your MNS workers? Please 🙏🏻

[BALA @erbmjha]

Nothing beats watching a millennial bash reckless Gen Z.

Worth every second 🔥

[V Ashish Nautiyal @ashu_nauty]

Believe it or not, the relentless abuse and personal attacks on PM @narendramodi have ended up pushing even critics like me in the opposite direction. I was genuinely angry with the gvt during the initial NEET paper controversy. But once this CJP protest turned into what I see as an anti-India, anti-Modi alliance, my perspective changed completely. At this point, I want these abusive protesters to be dealt with firmly.

[Anand Ranganathan @ARanganathan72]

Accountability should be demanded, and fixed, without bias, without agenda. I repeat: Opposition no longer represents us, the people of India, it represents a clique of power-hungry brokers. Ye log Sarkar badalna chahte hain, System nahin.

My views with @PadmajaJoshi on @ndtv:

[Ratan Sharda 🇮🇳 रतन शारदा @RatanSharda55]

Now that @dpradhanbjp has resigned, he has sent a precedent. It clears the way for Punjab, Kerala, Karnataka education ministers to resign. Cmon #RahulGandhi #ArvindKejriwal. Respect your own words.

[BhikuMhatre @MumbaichaDon]

That was absolutely chad .@ARanganathan72 🔥🔥

"I want resignation of Pradhan & also of education ministers of Karnataka & Punjab, over paper leaks"

Cockroach Dahiya: "This is whataboutery"

AR: "If 3 people have committed same crime, why are U demanding that only 1 be punished? Everyone must be held with same standard."

"Just keep eating your burger & enjoy"

That was lethal.😂😂😂

[Praval Shah @PravalShah1]

Interesting piece.

If the capital is being raised to create capacity and the OFS component isn't as high as it used to be in the 1990s (basic Gemini search so can't state certainly) , and raising funds is also touted as a competitive lever, will this still be "Insiders Selling"?

[शिक्षित बेरोज़गार @kaul_vivek]

The AI Bubble May Have Peaked

My column @91basispoints (No paywall. One time registration required.) Read and share.

The IPOs of SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI are expected to raise $195 billion in total, with SpaceX raising $75billion.

This is 26% more than the money raised by all the IPOs in the US over the last four years.

Those running the AI firms are the ultimate insiders and typically know more about the true prospects of their businesses than even the so-called informed investors.

When firms rush to sell shares at the same time, it may indicate that those closest to the business believe that existing valuations are unusually generous and unlikely to last.

https://t.co/2XzEG2VW1Q

[Abhishek Murarka 💹🐂 @abhymurarka]

A crisp 18 page note on the topic. Like and Retweet if keen, will send the note to you via DM.

[Praval Shah @PravalShah1]

@AlfieJCarter Claude

[Praval Shah @PravalShah1]

@suru27 1. Vadilal industries - bought early and sold nearly right. 10% move & ice cream (litre per person) consumption made me buy again. Promoter quality>>> theme + valuations
2. UDS - Theme was strong, numbers never really came through. Wait for evidence of theme benefiting the co.

[Praval Shah @PravalShah1]

Reading Mastering the Market Cycles by Howard Marks helps.
To understand that money is made at the extreme ends of the market - take money off as the probability of rapid expansion (PE or Profits) starts to dwindle.

[Anish Moonka @anishmoonka]

When Everyone Else Is Broke

Michael O'Leary had a strange habit for an airline CEO.

While his competitors were buying shiny new planes during boom times, he was hoarding cash. While they were expanding aggressively when credit was cheap, he was sitting on mountains of money.

Everyone thought he was being too conservative.

When O'Leary became CEO of Ryanair in 1994, the airline was a tiny, loss-making business that had been facing bankruptcy. Most other airlines were thinking about expansion, not survival. But O'Leary started stockpiling cash.

His reasoning came from Irish farming.

You sell your cattle and crops in summer, then hunker down for winter. Same principle for business. The airline industry was capital-intensive and cyclical. Good times never lasted forever.

So while others celebrated the good years by spending, he prepared for the bad ones by saving.

His competitors thought he was nuts. Boeing was happy to sell planes to anyone with a credit line. Airports were expanding. The industry was booming.

But O'Leary kept hoarding cash.

Then the inevitable happened.

September 11th. The 2008 crisis. COVID-19. Each time, the same pattern played out.

Airlines that had been buying planes at full price were suddenly canceling orders. Boeing, desperate for buyers, offered massive discounts. Airports practically begged airlines to mantain service.

And there was O'Leary, sitting on his cash pile like a patient hunter.

While competitors fought for survival, he shopped for bargains. Aircraft available at massive discounts. Routes abandoned by others became his.

The pattern repeated every cycle: Good times made everyone optimistic and cash-poor. Bad times made everyone desperate for liquidity.

O'Leary positioned himself to be the buyer when everyone else had to be a seller.

Ryanair emerged from each crisis stronger. Newer planes at lower costs, better routes, more market share.

Cash is only powerful when everyone else needs it.

March 2020 was my wake-up call. The entire market was on sale. Companies I'd tracked for years were suddenly at 50-60% discounts. But I could barely scrape together 1% position sizes because I was "fully invested" in January.

The psychological trap is real. During bull markets, holding cash feels like malpractice. So we stay fully invested when we should be getting liquid.

O'Leary's farming wisdom applies to investing: You make your money in summer so you can buy during winter.

The hardest part? You never know when winter is coming.

You just know it's coming. And when it does, you want to be the one with ammunition.

Right now, everything feels like summer. Markets are up, optimism is high, and opportunities feel scarce.

Which probably means I should be getting ready for winter.

But here I am, eyeing that next "reasonable" stock while my cash sits there doing nothing. Same pattern, different cycle.

O'Leary made it look easy. It's not 🎯

[Pranita Joshi @pranitajo]

To the international media blindly echoing Pakistan’s false victim narrative, it’s time for a reality check.

First things first- This is not Palestine. This is not Ukraine. Stop drawing lazy comparisons. Let’s start with the basics.

India is a civilization that has welcomed the world for centuries. “Atithi Devo Bhava” — “The Guest is God” — isn’t a slogan, it’s how we live. We’ve always opened our arms to people of all religions, castes, and communities — not from insecurity, but from a place of strength and cultural depth.

We have never invaded another country. We don’t export terrorism. We don’t initiate wars. But we have endured terrorism again and again — with patience, with restraint, and with hope that the world would see the truth.

The 93 Mumbai blasts, 26/11 in 2008 where one of the terrorists himself confessed to being trained from Pakistan, the 2016 Pathankot airbase attack, and many more. We’ve carried the pain of every single one of these tragedies.

Yet again in 2025 — 26 innocent Indian tourists were gunned down in Pahalgam while on vacation. Husbands were shot after confirming they weren’t Muslim. It was calculated, it was brutal, and it was an act of terrorism — plain and simple.

This time, India responded. Not with vengeance, but with precision. We struck terrorist camps inside Pakistan, carefully avoiding military bases. And yet, Pakistan has been attacking Indian civilians across northern and western India ever since. We have intercepted their drones, neutralised their aggression, and responded only to military targets while they use civil planes as shields & yet somehow they are victims ? All I see is a compulsive liar in the name of “where’s the proof”

Not to forget, Osama Bin Laden was found in Abbottabad, Kasab admitted to being trained in Pakistan. It is a country that for decades, supported and sheltered terror and is finally being shown its place.

It’s mind-boggling how quickly people buy into false narratives, while ignoring documented history and on-ground realities.

Wake up. Read more. Ask better questions. Don’t fall for viral videos and half-baked propaganda.

Jai Hind 🇮🇳