Karun Menon

In search of Truth .
Retardmaxxxing!😎

[Neelkanth Mishra @neelkanthmishra]

The number of active companies in India has risen by a third in three years: 1.6mn to 2.2mn.

Whether due to formalization of existing businesses or creation of new firms, this can only be due to i) easier regulations; ii) falling cost of capital.

Much distance to travel on both fronts, but side-effects are already showing on the second one. As the gradient of cost of capital reverses (global cost of capital is up, India's is down), capital flows are scarcer.

The lazy recommendation is to raise rates, or to raise fiscal spending. A more prudent approach would be to i) further ease capital inflows (e.g. the recent relaxation for bond investors); ii) raise demand for local capital (i.e., create more opportunities locally) - e.g., Rs6 trillion of fund-raises likely this year.

My column today in the Economic Times:
https://t.co/si4zWH0YIk

[Karun Menon @karunmenonp]

Free Entry ,
Paid Exit.

[yogeshh sharma.. @yogeshsh2135]

2 दिन से ज्यादा परेशान हो गए हो
तो लो फिर महाराष्ट्र के मुख्यमंत्री की पत्नी अमृता फडणवीस का यह गाना सुन लो

[yogeshh sharma.. @yogeshsh2135]

2 दिन से ज्यादा परेशान हो गए हो
तो लो फिर महाराष्ट्र के मुख्यमंत्री की पत्नी अमृता फडणवीस का यह गाना सुन लो

[Karun Menon @karunmenonp]

@Pontifex Get well soon Pope Leo ! My Prayers 🙏🙏🙏

[Harsh Gupta Madhusudan @harshmadhusudan]

Hi pinkman9414 thank you sincerely for the warm compliment and for putting me in august company (Sridhar.)

I have reached a point where if I am not called a “delusional optimist about India” who is spreading toxic positivity etc, I get genuinely worried if I am losing touch with reality.

Because reality is very optimistic about India!

The other day I was honoured to have dinner with a very, very kind gentleman who was very good friends with the late Rakesh Jhunjhunwala.

He said RJ (and RK, the great man who also needs no intro) were always crazily optimistic about the India story. That doesn’t mean they were not aware of nuances and shortcomings.

But they could see the big picture that was unfolding. So if that is delusional, I will take the odds 🙏🏾
#LongIndia

[Karun Menon @karunmenonp]

What’s this guy smoking these days ???

[Umar Saif @umarsaif]

After the US crackdown on Indian IT companies accused of gaming its visa and immigration system, many people have asked what this means for Pakistan.

First, understand the scale: India’s software services exports exceed $220 billion a year — roughly seven times Pakistan’s entire goods exports across all sectors combined.

The policy reforms I introduced as Federal Minister a few years ago helped grow Pakistan’s IT exports from around $2.5 billion to over $4.5 billion. That is meaningful progress, but still minuscule compared with our potential.

The most important thing we must fix is our higher education system. Business models built around low-skilled tasks on platforms like Upwork are especially vulnerable to AI automation. We cannot build our economic future on work that AI can increasingly do faster and cheaper.

We need universities that produce an AI-ready workforce, high-tech startups, and solution architects capable of designing and deploying enterprise AI workflows. We need businesses building the platforms and datasets used to train AI models, and data centers capable of becoming part of the global compute infrastructure.

That requires a serious overhaul of what we teach, how we train our graduates, and how we connect research with industry.

Unless we build these capabilities now, we will once again be left behind — watching another technological revolution create wealth elsewhere while we debate its impact on Pakistan.

[Subash R @subashr232]

I was fascinated by the idea of migrating abroad when I was in middle school. I had heard so many “wow” stories about the sons and daughters of my father’s colleagues who had gone overseas.

I wrote the SAT way back in 2003. Got multiple admits, including NUS and NTU. Everything was ready for me to migrate.

But I also got admission to CEG, then among the best engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu. And I did the unthinkable. I chose Mechanical Engineering at CEG over NUS/NTU.

Dad went wild!

At the end of my undergraduate years, I had two choices: GRE or CAT. Dad wanted me to take the GRE and leave India at the earliest. I chose CAT. I stayed back.

I eventually started a venture in one of India's most heavily regulated industries.

And the regulators nearly killed my venture thrice. Closing down MSE. Slashing commissions at their whims and fancies. Arbitrarily increasing net-worth requirements and questioning the very viability of my business.

There were moments when I wondered whether staying back had been a mistake. The system certainly gave me enough reasons to feel that way.

Yet, by God's grace, I survived. Seventeen years of running a company in India.

And despite everything, I still love this country. I don't entirely know why.

Perhaps it is the mananimmathi I experience when I travel through her countryside. Perhaps it is the atma tripti her temples give me. Perhaps it is the inexplicable happiness I feel in Malnad, in my Pandya desam, or in my beloved Travancore whenever I set foot on that soil and walk its paths.

Priceless. Absolutely priceless.

Look at where India was in the 1960s and 1970s and where she is today. She has come a long way.

From confiscatory 97% marginal income-tax rates to a much lower peak rate today. From a hopelessly Fabian socialist model to a mixed economy. From waiting endlessly for a Bajaj Chetak to being able to buy a Toyota in minutes. From waiting years for a telephone connection to becoming one of the world's cheapest mobile-data markets. From mud roads to expressways. From extreme poverty — remember Kamal Haasan eating an apple that had fallen into a gutter in Varumayin Niram Sivappu — to Shimla apples being available even in village markets.

India has travelled an extraordinary distance.

Of course, she could have done much better. She could have become another Singapore in terms of civic infrastructure, public services and urban planning. We have squandered decades and opportunities. There is no denying that.

But she remains India.

I take comfort in how far she has travelled despite decades of socialist policies and political mismanagement, rather than spending every waking moment complaining about everything that is wrong with her.

I can criticise India. I can demand better governance, better infrastructure and better public services. I can be frustrated with her bureaucracy and regulations.

But my affection for her runs deeper than my frustrations.

And perhaps that is what people who constantly compare India with the West fail to understand. A country is not merely the quality of its roads, the efficiency of its bureaucracy or the size of its paycheques. There is also a sense of belonging, a civilisational connection and a peace of mind that cannot be measured on a spreadsheet.

I would rather be a small soul in a country I love than spend my life as an indentured servant in a soulless system.

I had my opportunities to leave. I chose to stay.

Seventeen years later, with all the scars, setbacks and struggles, I still feel it was worth it.

She is far from perfect. But she is mine. She will never ditch me. She will not ask for a VISA to accommodate me as she has soul and I am her son.

And that makes all the difference.

[JJ @JosephJacks_]

Satya was born in India.
Lisa was born in Taiwan.
Elon was born in South Africa.
Jensen was born in Taiwan.
Sergey was born in Russia.

[Sagorika @sagorika_s]

I will say, this is rare, almost unprecedented, in terms of diplomacy. Very good to note.

[Stanford University @Stanford]

The most important briefings of the day.

Karl Deisseroth, professor of bioengineering and of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, shares the news of his Nobel Prize with his kids.

[عبدالله بن زايد @ABZayed]

تبرير الاٍرهاب ارهاب

[Karun Menon @karunmenonp]

@harshmadhusudan @harshmadhusudan
Don’t you think the UAE under MBZ is trying puch way above its weight by involving in proxy wars and using financial aid to leverage its influence over countries where it has key interest?
That said ,got immense respect for them .

[Murtaza Syed @murtazahsyed]

Seven blunders of the world that lead to violence

wealth without work

pleasure without conscience

knowledge without character

commerce without morality

science without humanity

worship without sacrifice

politics without principle

— Mahatma Gandhi

[Eric Wallerstein @ericwallerstein]

will AI kill us in 10 years… buddy, the bond market is going to kill us next week.

[Karun Menon @karunmenonp]

@nikesharora @nikesharora

[CEOInterviews.AI @CEOinterview]

Big Short investor Steve Eisman says the AI labs know they have no moats and are manufacturing a crisis to get regulation that hands them a duopoly

"I think this is all nonsense."

[ You think it's all nonsense? ]

"All nonsense. I think that there's something else completely going on here. ... What I think is happening is that token maxing is over. The open weight models are taking big market share. I think these companies are very nervous. They realize that there are no moats around their business whatsoever, and they're trying to manufacture a crisis that will create regulation, and that they think they can then manipulate to create the moats, to create the duopoly that they want."

[ Wow. ]

"That's what I think is going on."

"Honestly, I think this whole Terminator thing is garbage. That's for sure."

[Karun Menon @karunmenonp]

@ShekharGupta @ShekharGupta Sir, the same applies to Kerala too.

[Derek J. Grossman @DerekJGrossman]

Allow me to translate.

India to USA: Ain’t happening.

[Sidu Ponnappa @ponnappa]

@cokanestudio A subset of these show in the list of "3 life changing books" of 80% of candidate applications that I've processed.

Not that the books are bad per se, but _this_ set seems to be a strong signal of mediocrity.

[Shekhar Gupta @ShekharGupta]

Our #50WordEdit on state-mandated vegetarianism