Marcellus’ Portfolio Updates & Insights – February 2026
marcellus.in From Our CIO’s Desk RBI’s Report Flags Indian Consumer’s Debt Trap For the past year, we have warned that the Indian middle class is financing its lifestyle through a precarious reliance on debt. The RBI’s latest Financial Stability Report (FSR) has now validated these concerns, signalling that the “consumption story” is hitting a wall […]
Short read: Inside the mind of Eileen Gu, Winter Olympics superstar — and so much more
Beyond AI, the changing world order with the ascent of China as a rival superpower to America is shaking up geopolitics and is now playing out in the sports arena too. The Winter Olympics doesn’t get great coverage here in India but its latest superstar Eileen Gu was at the receiving end of the American […]
Short read: While corporate America stayed silent, a small wine importer risked his business to challenge Trump’s tariffs
In vibrant democracies, power – in both political and business life – is contested by rival constituencies every single day. It gives the rest of the world plenty of newsflow to cheer and jeer about but however ugly that might look, the financial returns that the world’s mightiest democracies produce can’t be matched by other […]
Short read: Brad Pitt vs Tom Cruise? No, it’s AI-generated fight that raises replacement fears in Hollywood
In our forthcoming book, “Breakpoint” we have provided several case studies of how AI is disrupting careers which until a year ago were thought to be impervious to disruption eg. attractive young people who appear as models in advertisements, lighting experts who work in the film industry, film directors. Last week Bytedance introduced new AI […]
Long read: How Korea’s President Turned Its Market Into the World’s Best Performer
When we talk about corporate governance issues in Indian companies with foreign investors, they say we look squeaky clean compared to our East Asian peers including the much-developed economies such as Japan and Korea. Indeed, it wasn’t until recently when the late Japanese PM Shinzo Abe drove corporate governance reforms, that attracted governance focused foreign […]
Long read: THE 2028 GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE CRISIS
Earlier this week, global markets went into turmoil on the back of research from a little known research firm called Citrini in collaboration with Alap Shah, the CIO of an investment management firm. What did the research say that spooked the market? To begin with, the title: The 2028 Global Intelligence Crisis. Over the past […]
Long read: Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses by Althusser- Explained
Thanks to the detailed coverage of political and economic decisions of world leaders in this age of information overload, we are not only able to get multiple perspectives on their decisions but also study the reaction of voters to these decisions. As we do so, the most interesting aspect of what we see is that […]
Profiting from the Global Upsurge in Electricity Demand
Thanks to a remarkable surge in power demand, the world needs an extra 400 gigawatts of electricity each year. For supply to keep up with this demand surge means $600 billion per year of capex for the next five years. This explains why major industrial firms across the world are currently experiencing record or multi-year […]
Short read: How to get power naps right
Several cultures across the world have an afternoon nap native to them, most famously the Spanish siesta. Whilst this may not be a practical option for many in today’s corporate life, this article looks at studies which show the benefits of napping during the day. “A randomised controlled trial in 2023 found that nappers woke […]
Short read: 9 In 10 Indians Do Not Exercise
Our Prime Minister said last year that obesity is becoming a grave crisis for our nation. And yet, Indians are not taking notice. As Vijay Jadhav notes in this article: “Only one in 10 Indians exercised on a given day in 2024, according to the Time Use Survey by the National Statistics Office (NSO). Exercise […]
Short read: How social protection can free India’s lost Einsteins
One of the most perplexing aspects of India’s development over the past two decades is that inspite of now having a large university system (ranking in size only behind the three large economic blocks in the world: USA, China and Europe) and inspite of receiving $40-50 billion of Venture Capital and Private Equity funding every […]
Long read: The Cult of Busyness
The cult of busyness refers to a cultural mindset where being busy is treated as a virtue or status symbol. People often equate a packed schedule with importance, productivity and personal worth. In this Substack, Tamara rants about this contagion: “Once upon a time, “busy” was merely descriptive. You could be busy milking cows, busy […]
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