Also in the letter:
■ Go Digit’s GST reprieve
■ Amazon Now in New Delhi
■ Professors turn founders
Capgemini to acquire WNS for $3.3 billion
French tech giant Capgemini is set to acquire WNS, an Indian-origin business process management (BPM) firm, for $3.3 billion (about Rs 28,280 crore) in cash. That’s $76.50 per share, a 17% premium to WNS’s recent closing price.
Why it matters: WNS, founded in Mumbai and now US-listed, specialises in BPO ( business process outsourcing) and data analytics for clients like Coca-Cola, T-Mobile, and United Airlines. Capgemini expects the deal to immediately boost revenue growth and margins, and lift earnings per share by up to 7% by 2027.
The AI twist: Capgemini is betting big on merging WNS’s deep domain expertise with its AI capabilities, think Gen AI and Agentic AI, to create advanced, data-driven services. WNS CEO Keshav Murugesh says it’s about shifting from “automation to autonomy” and helping clients cut operating costs by as much as 40%.
WNS’ key numbers:
- FY25 revenue: $1.31B (down ~0.6% YoY)
- Operating margin: 18.7%
- 700+ clients, 64,000+ employees
- Operations in 13 countries from 64 delivery centres
What analysts think: Morgan Stanley analysts flagged that AI could make BPO a more automated, less people-intensive sector, potentially reducing revenues and increasing competition. They also noted WNS is too small to dramatically move Capgemini’s around $25 billion needle but adds around 19% to headcount.
Market vibes: Capgemini’s shares slid around 5.6% after the announcement, hitting their lowest level since April. Investors are wary of the short-term balance sheet impact and long-term AI risks.
America Party: Musk’s move to break up the “uniparty” system
Elon Musk
For Elon Musk, neither Democrats nor Republicans can effectively address government overspending and bureaucratic red tape in the US. So he’s decided to strike out on his own, launching the America Party, an uncommon third front in the country’s polarised politics.
Taking matters into his own hands: “When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy,” Musk declared on X on July 5. He conducted a poll among his 228 million followers, with roughly 65% voting in favour of forming a new party. Staying true to the result, he announced: “Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.”
Trump fires back: President Trump slammed Musk’s move on Truth Social, calling it “ridiculous” and predicting it would lead to “complete and total disruption and chaos.” He also hinted at retaliatory measures against Musk’s companies. Musk brushed it off, quipping: “Truth Social? Never heard of it.”
The backstory: Musk has flip-flopped across the aisle. He backed Barack Obama (vocally and financially), gave a tepid nod to Hillary Clinton, and claimed he’d vote for Biden (but reportedly didn’t). In 2022, Musk turned sharply red, calling Democrats the “party of division and hate.” But after falling out over Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” in 2025, Musk decided to go solo.
Next steps unclear: Musk has teased ideas for the party’s first congress on X, but so far, the America Party has not been formally registered with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Gaining ballot access across states will be a major challenge.
Also Read: Elon Musk’s America Party: Challenging the political status quo
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Bombay HC directs fresh review of Rs 170 crore GST demand on Go Digit
Kamesh Goyal, chairman, Go Digit
The Bombay High Court has set aside a Rs 170 crore tax demand against Go Digit General Insurance and asked tax authorities to review the case.
The details: The demand included Rs 154.8 crore in GST ( goods and services tax) and Rs 15.48 crore in penalties for the period between July 2017 and March 2022. The court noted that the GST Council had issued circulars clarifying this issue and directed officials to reconsider the demand within three months.
What Digit said: The company called it an “industry-wide issue” and is evaluating the legal implications. It hasn’t yet received the formal order.
Go Digit’s financials:
- Q4 FY25 net profit: Rs 116 crore (up 119% YoY)
- FY25 net profit: Rs 424 crore (up nearly 3x YoY)
- FY25 gross written premium: Rs 10,282 crore
Big picture: This pause gives the Fairfax-backed insurer some breathing room just as it’s coming off a strong third straight profitable year. The final outcome will be key as Digit scales further.
Amazon Now expands quick commerce offering in Delhi after Bengaluru
Amazon’s quick commerce business, Amazon Now, has been expanded to a few pincodes in Delhi after the service went live in Bengaluru in June, two company executives told ET. The ecommerce giant will be scaling the service across these two cities over the next few months before expanding the network to other cities in the country.
Expansion into Delhi: “It’s a large part of western Delhi right now, but it’s a very rapidly evolving network, so you’ll very soon see it live across Delhi,” said Abhinav Singh, vice president of operations for India and Australia at Amazon.
Growing competition: The company’s move into quick commerce comes at a time when the space has seen aggressive growth led by players like Eternal-owned Blinkit, Swiggy’s Instamart, Zepto, along with other new entrants like Tata Digital-backed BigBasket, Flipkart Minutes, and Reliance’s JioMart.
Strong traction: Akshay Sahi, Amazon’s director for Prime, deliveries and returns in India, said that within Delhi and Bengaluru, the pilots will turn into full-scale operations very soon. “Wherever we’ve kind of launched, we’re seeing tremendous responses from Prime members. And hence, you will see this expand fairly quickly,” he added.
Tech professors turn startup founders, VCs take note
India’s top tech professors are swapping classrooms for cofounder titles. Startups launched by faculty at IISc, IITs, IIITs, and BITS Pilani are up 20–30% year over year.
Why the shift? For decades, professors stuck to research papers over pitch decks. Now, success stories like Ather Energy and Agnikul Cosmos are inspiring a new generation to build, not just teach.
VCs are watching: Investors love these deep tech ventures. “We’ve backed about eight or nine professor-led startups, it’s a growing trend,” says Ashwin Raghuraman of Bharat Innovation Fund.
Big names jumping in:
- Manoj Gopalkrishnan left IIT Bombay to launch Algorithmic Biologics after his Covid research took off.
- IIT Madras’s Satya Chakravarthy has co-founded six deep tech startups.
The takeaway: Profs know their tech inside out and with campus incubators stepping up, they’re finally taking the leap. Investors see them as a gold mine for IP-heavy, globally competitive plays.
