Good digging, I was wondering about not seeing the disclosures as well. Though I expected more clarity at the end of this quarter, after the Group filed its Q4 financials. What is the authors' thesis about what actually happened with the $2bn? It was only a partial repayment as a direct result of margin calls and not a complete repayment as indicated? Also, another concerning event in this saga is that SBI had initially misled the public about not having exposure to Adani shares, even though it later emerged that they did! Of course, there was no clarification. (Edited to remove link to external site)

Shreedhar Manek

Interesting. Thanks for the deep research and insights! :)

Shreedhar Manek

The way I'm reading this is: 1) They attracted some prominent names as "Masters" 2) On the basis of those prominent names + some online marketing, they got through to potential IIM-level students 3) Those students then went on to have good placements. On the backs of which they got more students in successive batches. I understand how point 3) would come about. If Masters Union manages to get good placements, that makes things easier. But how did they achieve points 1) and 2)? How did they attract big names? How did they ensure that those big names reached the ears of potential students? How did they ensure that they didn't come off as a scam (or just another edtech?). Any insights?

Shreedhar Manek

Good topic and good info, but this could've been more readable. I nearly dozed while reading this. (Some feedback for the editor there.)

Shreedhar Manek

Ah, could be? But I'd doubt that serious intra-day traders would be taking the opposite view at a time when most Adani stocks were in lower circuits. I'd guess it was just your point (1) that was happening -- in the float that does exist, investors went bonkers and offloaded their stock disregarding the selling price entirely at market orders. One can only guess, at the end of the day.

Shreedhar Manek

Hey Anand, even if it's intra-day short sellers, at the end of the day someone still has to sell the stock to the short sellers to square off, right? So then it would come back to who's selling to the intra-day short sellers?

Shreedhar Manek

Interesting company! I'd love to read about them and their borrowers and sales/collection agents on-ground. Hard to take their claims on good underwriting at face value.

Shreedhar Manek

The biggest takeaway from this piece is that the valuation exercise is redundant and "valuers" as a profession should not exist. The companies are selling, VC and PE investors are buying -- who's anyone else to comment on what price they both agree upon? As for retail investors, apart from having a bright red "THIS IS AN EXPENSIVE STOCK, INVEST WITH CAUTION" what else is one to do? But then again most retail investors can put at most Rs 15,000 or so to buy one lot in an IPO that is seeing demand.. it's not a lot. PS - some of the spacing between paragraphs is messed up, do fix (see the para before and after "Indeed, different VC and PE")

Shreedhar Manek

Even though Leap is highlighted in the title and in the intro, there's little to no information about it in this article. AFAIK Leap has a US-based entity that gives out the loans, so my guess would be the factors that relevant to Leverage might not necessarily be so for Leap. I'd have liked to know if their business models differ, if at all. A lot more justice could've been done to this piece.

Shreedhar Manek

All in all, this is what happened, if I'm not wrong: 1. They did a deal. Market was buoyant. Price seemed fine. 2. Market fell. Buyer wasn't so happy anymore. 3. They had a deadline to close the deal. This wasn't met. 4. Buyer has all the right to get out of the deal, but Billdesk can say that it was the buyer who delayed the deal in the first place. Which opens room for litigation. 5. Litigation is obviously expensive, and very annoying in India. Billdesk is private, there was no public shareholder money. Proving PayU delayed *intentionally* is not easy. Bottom line, there's little chance of a favourable outcome post litigation. Great insights but the story should really have been shorter!

Shreedhar Manek

Yes, of course. Honestly I have my doubts about how much value theses consultancies actually bring in and if they just get these guys on board for cosmetic reasons in front of the RBI. "Look we've paid big money to a Big 4. We're taking whatever you say very seriously."

Shreedhar Manek

Great findings! Paying off debt with debt doesn't sound sustainable and things might implode soon. I'd love to know if there are other examples of this happening and how it ended. The article could've been a tad bit shorter, by the way. The first half is the crux while the second half felt unnecessary and stretched.

Shreedhar Manek