2023, India's year in biz: Apple debut, Adani's resilience, X's evolution

India got its first Apple store, Adani weathered the Hindenburg storm, and Twitter became X in the year that will still be remembered for AI

In 2023, India witnessed significant milestones in its business landscape. The year marked the arrival of the country's first Apple Store, a symbol of the growing tech appetite among Indian consumers. Meanwhile, Adani Group faced and overcame the turbulence caused by the Hindenburg research report. Additionally, Twitter underwent a major transformation, redefining social media dynamics in the country. Amidst these developments, artificial intelligence (AI) emerged as a pivotal force, influencing various sectors and driving innovation. Below is a glimpse of these defining moments in India's business journey in 2023:

The coveted fruit: Over two decades after Apple opened its first store, India got a double serving of the tech giant’s physical outlet — one each in Mumbai (pictured) and Delhi. CEO Tim Cook was there to greet Apple loyalists and the inauguration solidified the US-based firm’s India bet. It has ramped up iPhone production at its India plants in a shift away from China and may eventually make one in four phones here

Roller-coaster ride: The year began with short-seller Hindenburg Research accusing the group of firms run by Gautam Adani, then the world’s third-richest person, of accounting fraud and stock manipulation. The flagship’s follow-on public offering was derailed and the stocks crashed. The group denied the allegations and pressed pause on many investments. But, Adani is back adding firms to his empire and the stocks are soaring too

 

Back with a bang: When ChatGPT took over  public imagination, it installed a new demigod — Sam Altman. But in a dramatic boardroom coup, he was fired from his own company, OpenAI, only to be brought back stronger than before with a reconstituted board

House of cards: FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was the newest kid on the crypto block making billions. He had vowed to donate most of it to nonprofits, only to be convicted of fraud and using customer money to buy upscale real estate, and shore up the finances of his other firm, Alameda. He was arrested from his Bahamas residence and is currently facing trial in the US

Desperate times: Byju’s was once India’s most valued startup at $22 billion. This year, though, founder Byju Raveendran has had to pledge his house to keep the lights on. After the pandemic-fuelled growth and acquisition spree, the edtech firm has put two of its crown jewels — Epic and Great Learning  — on the block and is embroiled in a dispute with creditors over a $1.2 billion loan

Breaking bad: First came the new owner, Elon Musk, and then everything changed. Twitter became X — the blue bird and the name were torn down from the headquarters (pictured). As Musk courted controversies, reinstating people banned for hate speech and vaccine conspiracies, and reshared debunked theories, advertisers fled and the company’s valuation tumbled

Winds of change: After 22 years with TCS and six as its CEO, Rajesh Gopinathan (right) made a surprise announcement: He was quitting. The new man at the helm was K Krithivasan, a Tata group veteran of 34 years who earlier headed one of its most crucial verticals, BFSI. One of Krithivasan’s first moves was to roll out a new operating structure for 

the company

Headwinds & tailwinds: A year-old Akasa Air battled pilot desertions, Go First came to a grinding halt and entered bankruptcy court, and Jet Airways’ dreams to fly again remained just that. Meanwhile, sector leaders IndiGo (pictured) and Air India placed two of the biggest orders at 500 and 470 planes, respectively, with eyes on the next chapter — more long-haul flights

Better together: It was a year when US lenders like Silicon Valley Bank, First Republic, and Signature Bank collapsed after customers made a run for deposits and the banks struggled with liquidity. In Europe, storied yet troubled Swiss major Credit Suisse was bought by larger peer UBS (pictured). In India, a banking mammoth was born as mortgage lender HDFC Ltd completed its merger with HDFC Bank

Licence Raj scare: Laptop makers had some anxious moments as it seemed the government would ban imports, unless they had a licence (remember the pre-1990 years?). Later, the government said it was planning just an ‘import management system’. Meanwhile, export of non-basmati rice, wheat, and onion was banned. And tomato prices shot up to Rs 300 a kg



Market matters: It’s not over till the Fed Chair has spoken. And Jerome Powell (pictured) indicated that the US Fed might cut rates three times next year, which led to a relief rally. It capped off a busy year in which the BSE Sensex crossed the 70K mark, and Tata Technologies made its market debut — the first from the Tatas in two decades. India emerged as the global leader in the number of IPOs with 170 firms listing on the bourses

Board games: Mukesh Ambani, who heads the $200 billion Reliance empire, intends the transition to gen-next to be smooth. His children, Akash, Isha,  and Anant Ambani (pictured left top to bottom), were inducted as non-executive directors on the board of Reliance Industries. The Birlas, too, inducted Ananya and Aryaman (below) on the board of Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail