The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 855 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 9 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
IPCC 1.5°C Climate Models Mathematically Require Unproven Carbon Dioxide Removal Tech
“One, when the IPCC runs these models, and we say politically we want to try and keep to a world of 1.5 warming, the models don't close. You can't do it without a whole bunch of assumptions around carbon dioxide removal.”
Mehta: Electric scooters emit 40% less than petrol scooters on current grid
“In scooters at least, our math was, it is. It is 40% less emission than a petrol scooter. You're at least reducing emission to 40%. Even if the grid does not become greener at all.”
Ossus Biorenewables produces green hydrogen for refineries at 40 rupees per kg
“For certain PSUs in refining, it's 40 rupees per kilogram.”
Maini: Indian government removed subsidies and doubled EV taxes before Reva launch
“One month after we launched, the government pulled the plug on subsidies, and actually one month before we launched, and doubled the taxation on electric vehicles... And reduced taxes on petrol vehicles.”
50% of electric trucks in China used swappable batteries in 2023
“This year, 50% of all electric trucks in China were with swappable batteries, right? That target was supposed to be achieved in 27.”
BluSmart recovers EV capex premiums in 14 months via fuel savings
“The additional amount I paid for buying that electric vehicle with that additional battery, I recovered that in just 14 months because my operating cost was low.”
Tarun Mehta: Ather operates India's largest two-wheeler fast-charging network
“Actually in two wheelers, it's the largest fast charging network in the country.”
Mehta: Giant battery cell makers operate at thin 4-6% PAT margins
“Most cell manufacturing companies, the really enormous ones, like LG Chem, Panasonic, all these guys, even in the best times that they made cells and sold cells, had like crazy ability to sell price at any point. They can sell at any price, like last year basi…”
Maini: India's 18% battery GST versus 5% EV GST penalizes EV manufacturers
“Electric vehicles at five percent GST, but a battery pack, right? Batteries are at 18%, right? So it's also hard, A, for a lot of companies only making electric vehicles where they'll have an inverted duty structure, because the input will over time be more th…”
Yassin: Indian audiences generate one-tenth the ad revenue of Americans
“So if I get a thousand view, a thousand dollars from American audience, I get a hundred dollars from Indian audience.”
Kamath: Indian influencer brand spend is ₹1,500–2,000 crore, growing 30–40%
“I think the amount of money brands are spending on purely social media influencers, because you can extrapolate and everybody's an influencer, right? If your profession is social media influencer, like you, for example, I would assume that number is between 15…”
Allahbadia: Podcasts drive sales while millions of Instagram views drive none
“We get about three to four million views on any short form video that I create. Which is usually emotional. It caters to the mental health oriented audience to whom my app is also catered to... We always get more sales from the podcast. Like almost, we get alm…”
Bhat: Creator talent agencies face record attrition due to manager envy
“The attrition rate amongst talent management companies is that it's highest it's ever been.”
Allahbadia: Reels shot on SLR cameras perform worse than smartphone footage
“We've noticed that when we create a reel with SLR footage, it doesn't work as well as when you do it with iPhone footage, like phone footage in general.”
Bhat: Top 10% of Indian creators earn over $1M yearly from brands
“Branded revenue wise, if you're in the top five, 10% of creators, you can make over a million dollars a year.”
Kalra: 90% of Restaurants Fail Within a Year Due to Undercapitalization
“90% around that of restaurants failed within the first year and around 96% within 18 months. And the biggest reason you won't believe is not necessarily lack of passion or getting into it for glamorous reasons. It's undercapitalization.”
Kalra: Farzi Cafe's Best-Performing Stores Are in Tier-Two and Tier-Three Cities
“Farzee Cafe is now in about 15 cities of India, and we're actually seeing some of our best performing stores to be coming out of tier two and tier three.”
Kalra: Nobu is the Only Globally Successful Celebrity-Owned Restaurant
“So I think the only, only restaurant that is celebrity owned, that is a worldwide phenomenon and extremely successful is, believe it or not, Nobu. Partially owned by Robert De Niro.”
Kalra: Swiggy and Zomato Do Not Hire Employees From Each Other
“They don't even hire from each other, from what I know.”
Narayanan: Private brands grew to 30% of sales, driving Myntra's profitability
“And the private brand business of Myntra at the same time also went from seven, eight percent to call it almost 30%, which is what drove profitability. So we were among the most profitable pieces of the Flipkart ecosystem, not amongst, we were the most profita…”
Kamath: Raj Shamani raised from Lightspeed at 3x valuation in under 48 hours
“He went to another venture capital fund light speed.
And he raised more money at three times the valuation.
And the duration between beginning and end of that conversation was less than 48 hours.”
Kamath: Amazon India grew just 5% in 2023 while Flipkart grew 7-8%
“Amazon India grew by just about five percent this year. Flipkart seven, eight percent based on higher end electronics and premiumization, which seems to be growing.”
Biyani: India's top 120 million people account for 70% of FMCG consumption
“Another research which we found out was the total package good consumption in India, FMCG package good in value terms, is 70% of excess is by this India one.”
Biyani: Just 60 customers generate 80% of sales at Mumbai Hermès store
“There is a store in Bombay, Hermes. So, it's the most popular brand of the world. 60 people account for 80% of the business.”
Ananth Narayanan: Instagram Shopping has not taken off in any meaningful way globally
“Insta shopping hasn't really taken off globally, right? In any meaningful manner. I mean, at the Instagram level, I'm saying.”
Narayanan: E-commerce purchase volumes drop precipitously above 5,000 rupees
“It is true that beyond 5000,
The volumes drop precipitously.”
Palicha: Zepto reached over 5,000 crore INR sales in 24 months
“And yeah, from July, 21 to today, like about 24 months, went from about zero to like today north of 5000 crores in sales.”
Kamath: Bollywood film production is currently net-unprofitable overall
“If a thousand rupees is going into making Bollywood movies, the net outcome is sub thousand rupees. Today.”
Prashanth Prakash: Global LPs expect a 20% net dollar IRR in India
“Compounded, they would like to see that some, something in the neighborhood of 20% net dollar IRR. Net IRR. After the fees.”
Prashanth Prakash: Only two Indian startups raised $50M+ external rounds in 2023
“From new externally led rounds, there's been two this year. So it's a tough market.”
Sivanandan: 80 to 90 million Indians have paid for streaming subscriptions
“The size of the number of people who've, ah, who've paid subscription at least once, at any given point in time, is anywhere between 80 to ninety million people.”
Subramaniam: Talent fee haircuts are actively happening in the entertainment industry
“I just saw the haircut's happening. I can assure you as we speak being in the business.”
Mazumdar-Shaw: Biocon is the only Indian firm with biosimilars in US and Europe
“Therefore, if you look at in, in India, we are the only company that has managed to develop biosimilars for global markets. No other Indian company has been able to take their products to the US. Or Europe.”
Nikhil Kamath Has Not Taken A Trading Day Off In 18 Years
“You know, like, since the day I started trading, I'm talking like, 17, 18 years. I think I was sick once. Sick enough not to trade. And I was in the hospital for 10 days or something. I'm talking, what was that, 1213 years ago? Something like that. 1213 years …”
Gaurav Munjal: Unacademy hit its first cash-flow-positive month in June 2023
“Unacademy in the last 12 months, the way we have focused on EBITDA, I think very few venture funded companies have. And this month will be the first month where we are cash flow positive.”
Gaurav Munjal: Four top offline coaching institutes generate ₹20,000 crore revenue
“They were getting paid similar amounts by offline coaching centers who collectively were doing 20,000 crores in revenue. So between Chaitanya, between Alan, between Akash and between Narayana, and I don't want this to become the Rameshwaran cafe type shot, but…”
Kotak: Top HBS career targets shifted from finance to tech and entrepreneurship
“I graduated six years ago, and it had already started to change... Entrepreneurship software product management.”
Mayya: GPT training data is predominantly sourced from Reddit and forums
“It's all of the web, but it's mostly Reddit, right? And the best way to understand mostly Reddit. It's Reddit anywhere. Like the internet, it was mostly forums.”
Mayya: Stable Diffusion reproduction rate of training data is 1%
“And the reproduction rate for something like stable diffusion is one percent.”
Kamath: Most Indian black money sits untaxed in real estate
“What happens to most of the ill-gotten wealth, black money in India, it goes and sits in real estate. There's no way of taxing that.”
Aatrey: BlissClub is India's first women-focused fitness brand
“What she's trying to solve is she's fundamentally building the first women focused fitness brand, right? Because in India, most fitness brands have always been associated with men. Like no one saw women focus problems.”
Biyani: A single movie placement virtually created Indian apparel brand Biba
“I remember we made a movie and there was a particular dress which was made by Biba and they still sell that dress after 14 years or 15 years. And that, virtually that dress made Biba as a brand also to a great extent.”
Biyani: India has 1 crore weddings annually and a ₹15 lakh crore wedding economy
“India has, ah, two crore weddings a year. One crore weddings, two crore families. We produce two and half crore children every year. So, and our wedding economy is 15 lakh crores.”
Bedi: 98% of Saudi Arabia's population is on TikTok
“It is insane. It's 98% of the population is on TikTok.”
Bedi: TikTok burned $60M-$70M monthly in India after 2018 launch
“They launched in 2018 in India. They burnt to the tune of sixty million dollars a month to seventy million dollars a month in India.”
Bedi: TikTok was Facebook's largest global advertiser for 2-3 years
“They were Facebook's largest advertiser around the world for two or three years.”