The Year When Everything Happened,
EVERYWHERE,
ALL AT ONCE.
to
AZ
2025 Edition
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A light-hearted recap of everything that
shook, shocked, and shaped 2025.
F oreword
“There are years when nothing happens, and
weeks when decades happen.”
2025 was one of those years. To be fair, so was 2024.
With the world changing at breakneck speed, geopolitically,
technologically, and financially, this quote might soon lose its charm
from overuse. But if there’s one thing certain, it’s that 2025 was a
roller coaster!
As we put this together in the middle of December, we can only hope
the rest of the month doesn’t surprise us with more unexpected
twists.
This short yearbook is our attempt to capture the A to Z of 2025 —
everything that mattered, told in a light-hearted and easy-to-read
way.
We truly enjoyed creating it. And if it brings a smile to your face, do
share it with someone who might enjoy it too.
Thanks!
Disclaimer: This Yearbook is meant for educational purposes (and to make
you smile). It does not constitute investment advice or recommendations of
any kind.
01
A
A rtificial
Intelligence
If 2025 had a main character, it was AI.
After years of steady progress, this was the year it accelerated, taking over
boardrooms, political debates, investor portfolios, and yes, even this
yearbook. We honestly could’ve filled the entire book with AI buzzwords
alone.
The sheer scale of money being poured into AI is staggering, leaving
analysts wondering where all of it will come from. And if it feels like half of
LinkedIn is AI written, you’re not imagining it.
And in case you’re wondering, no AI was mis-used while making this
yearbook.
A QI
Same script every winter.
Protests got louder, but
clean air remained elusive
and India continues to be
the capital of air pollution.
02
B ubble
Is the AI boom the biggest financial bubble of our times? Some believe so.
AI might be the most transformative technology we’ve seen, but for
investors, the math doesn’t always add up. We’ve seen this movie before,
when optimism races far ahead of reality.
The last time it happened? Around the year 2000, during the dot-com
bubble.
Blusmart & Gensol
The Jaggi brothers’ fraud was a harsh reminder that not every ‘green’
story is actually clean.
Buybacks
US companies spent nearly $1 trillion in 2025 buying back their own shares,
proving America still dominates both real and financial engineering.
Bihar Elections
The political thriller of late 2025 that promised fireworks but delivered an
anti-climax!
Biosecure Act
The US ban on Chinese biotech firms creating a far more promising long-
term runway for Indian pharma CDMOs (Contract Development and
Manufacturing Organizations).
03
C hip Wars
The chip war of 2025 accelerated like never before. Washington pushed
hard to block chip exports to China, viewing semiconductor technology as
the new frontier of national security.
The U.S. tightened export controls on cutting-edge semiconductors and
chipmaking tools, blacklisting or requiring special licenses for many
Chinese firms.
China + 1
No longer just a buzzword, ‘China + 1’ is becoming more real. The
highlight being Apple ramping up local iPhone production to nearly 20%
of its global output. Supply chain diversification was finally more than
talk.
Copper
Copper neared $12,000 per ton to its all time highs as AI, EVs, and green
energy demand collided with disrupted supply.
04
D ata Centres
If Data is the King, then Data Centres are the Castles.
With investment forecasts reaching nearly $7 trillion by 2030, everyone
from private equity giants to utility companies is rushing to be a part of this
value chain.
In 2025, it became clear that the AI boom isn’t just a software story. It’s also
concrete, steel, power grids, and cooling systems.
De-Dollarization
A fallout of the US ‘weaponizing’ the dollar, central banks hoarded gold
like dragons, buying over 1,000 tonnes a year for the third straight year.
De-Globalization
The world is quietly shifting from ‘Just-in-Time’ to ‘Just-in-Case,’ with
companies and countries ‘reshoring’ and ‘friend-shoring’ like never before.
Defence Boom
The peace dividend expired. In a fractured world, fear became the
ultimate asset class, pushing global military spending to a record $2.7
trillion.
DOGE
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) launched by Elon
Musk to cut $2 trillion and named after his favourite meme coin, fizzled
out almost as quickly as it appeared.
05
E merging Markets
The party was loud, but India stood in the corner.
2025 was a surprisingly wonderful year for Emerging Markets, even with
the looming shadow of tariff and trade uncertainties. While the broader EM
index surged 25%+ in 2025, India decided to take a gap year, ending as the
stark outlier.
Expensive valuations finally met a time correction, while China’s stimulus
bazooka sent beaten-down stocks flying with South Korea, Brazil, and
Taiwan also joining the party.
Elon Musk
Chief Entertainment Officer. From leading the DOGE charge to slash $2
trillion, to his public love-hate wrestling match with Trump, a fresh feud
with Sam Altman over the Stargate AI project, and the biggest pay
package in human history, Musk proved he still has the ‘X-factor.’
06
F oreign Institutional
Investors (FIIs)
FIIs tried to leave the party, but DIIs refused to let the music stop.
Foreign ownership of Indian equities slid to a 13-year low of just 17% as FIIs
sold nearly ₹3 lakh crore worth of stocks in 2025. Yet, every exit found a
buyer.
Powered by relentless SIP inflows, Domestic Institutional Investors stepped
in as the market’s shock absorbers, pumping in almost ₹7.5 lakh crore and
keeping the indices remarkably steady.
Finfluencer Crackdown
The ₹546 crore “tuition fee”: SEBI’s crackdown on unregistered & loss-
making gurus like Avdhut Sathe showed that these gurus can’t even
practice what they preach.
Factor Funds
Math is the new fund manager. Algorithms are replacing gut feel fast as
factor strategy funds finally gain momentum.
07
Gold
The ‘Indian households’ finally beat the Fund Managers.
Gold didn’t just shine in 2025, it outperformed almost every asset. Crossing
₹1.34 lakh per 10g and delivering ~70% returns in 2025, it comfortably beat
Nifty’s sluggish single-digit performance. As central banks stocked up and
uncertainty ruled, gold reclaimed its crown.
The world’s best-performing hedge fund managers may just have been
Indian mothers.
GST Cuts
Diwali bonus came early! Four GST slabs were merged into two, with
many products seeing lower rates, a welcome shot in the arm for Indian
consumers.
GCCs (Global Capability Centres)
As global firms tap Indian talent, we’re moving beyond BPOs to become
MNCs’ Knowledge Centres. If commercial real estate has someone to
thank, it’s the GCCs.
GIFT City
With Exchanges reporting robust trading volumes and Funds launching
domestic and global schemes, GIFT City is finally evolving from a ‘ghost
town’ into a bustling financial centre.
08
H 1B Visa
The ‘American Dream’ got a hefty price tag: $100,000. With the Trump
administration mandating this hefty entry fee for new H-1B petitions, the
era of cheap tech labor seems to have ended.
Hindenburg Research
I quit! Many companies with less than desirable corporate governance
would be breathing a sigh of relief as Hindenburg exits the scene.
HFTs (High Frequency Traders)
While retail traders were busy drawing trendlines, Jane Street’s
algorithms were allegedly minting millions in milliseconds, until SEBI
pulled them up for market manipulation with a historic ₹4,800 crore
disgorgement order.
Humanoid Robots
2025 was the watershed year when
robots like Tesla’s Optimus and Figure
03 finally walked out of YouTube
videos and into real factories.
Companies can now think about
‘Humanoid Resources’ teams. We
don’t yet know what the future of
work looks like when both brawn and
brain go artificial.
09
IPO Rush
2025 was the best year of IPOs till date. Not necessarily for investors but
for Promoters and early VCs who cashed out at sky-high valuations. One
top fund manager famously termed these IPOs as a ‘Systematic Wealth
Transfer’, where money moved efficiently from hopeful retail savings into
the pockets of smart founders.
IThencomeFinanceTax Minister
Cuts
played Santa in February, tweaking the slabs so
generously that a taxpayer could save around ₹1 Lakh a year!
IAnflation
tale of two worlds: While Trump’s tariffs sent prices soaring in the US,
India stayed surprisingly cool, proving that for once, we didn’t import the
West’s headache.
IAftersrael-Iran-Palestine
years of volatility, 2025 finally offered a fragile but welcome pause
in the Middle East, allowing oil prices to stabilize.
IThendigo‘December Meltdown’ was a harsh lesson in monopoly economics:
when the only reliable ride in town breaks down, the whole country gets
grounded.
IInvestors
nte nationa In estin
r l v g
learned that patriotism isn’t for portfolios; with the US markets
rallying hard, the smartest money in 2025 had its passport stamped
‘USA’.
10
Japan Rate Hike
The ‘free money’ tap technically turned off in 2024 and the rate hikes
continued in 2025. As the Bank of Japan continues to normalize policy
rates in response to rising inflation, the ‘Yen Carry Trade’ is unsettling
investors. While a contagion looks unlikely, it will definitely cause some
volatility.
Job Cuts
Whether it's really AI led efficiency, or just an excuse to boost profits,
jobs have been under pressure with the US leading in layoffs.
Jerome Powell
Despite heavy public pressure
from Trump to cut rates, Powell
and the FOMC stuck to their
data-dependent stance. While
resisting aggressive easing,
they still delivered a couple of
cautious ‘insurance cuts’ in
September and December to
keep the economy steady.
11
K eir Starmer
Starmer’s government spent the year raising taxes to fix the budget,
discovering that painful but necessary is a tough sell for a Prime Minister.
With his approval ratings hitting record lows by November, he leaned
heavily on a reset with Europe to again become friends (with trade
benefits).
L abour Codes 2025
After years of debate, India’s long-awaited Labour Codes finally went live in
2025, replacing 29 old laws with four simpler ones. The reforms promised
easier compliance for companies, clearer rules on wages and safety, and
wider social security, even for gig and platform workers. Take-home pay
will take a small hit, but long-term security quietly got a boost.
12
M agnificent 7
The ‘Mag 7’ didn't just lead the market; they became the market, swelling
to account for over 34% of the S&P 500 by year-end. While the S&P 493
fought for scraps, these seven giants delivered a return of ~25% (vs. the
broader index's 16%), proving that in 2025, diversification was just a fancy
word for lower returns.
Mahakumbh
The ‘Mother of All Gatherings’ in Prayagraj redefined scale, hosting a
staggering 66 Crore devotees, double the population of the USA. It was a
logistical marvel where a temporary tent city functioned better than most
permanent ones, handling a sea of humanity that was visible from space.
The Mag 7
13
N vidia
Nvidia treated the $5 Trillion milestone like a speed bump, smashing
through it just months after crossing $4 Trillion. But while the stock price is
skyrocketing, the ‘circular economy’ is raising eyebrows as Nvidia invests in
the very startups that are buying its chips. With unsold inventory also piling
up, some investors are wondering if the music is about to pause.
NSE
NSE was the hottest unlisted stock of 2025. While the exchange made its
listing ambitions clear, all eyes remained on SEBI for the final green light. If
approvals come through, this cash-generating monster could well deliver
India’s biggest IPO in 2026.
14
O peration Sindoor
Following the tragic Pahalgam terror attack in April, ‘Operation Sindoor’
was the perfect answer to cross-border aggression, a calibrated military
response that prioritized precision over panic. The ensuing standoff was so
tense that it didn't just rattle the markets; it grounded the nation’s favorite
pastime, forcing an unprecedented postponement of the IPL.
Ozempic
The Cadbury of weight-loss drugs. Ozempic and its peers are reshaping
how obesity is treated. Purists dismiss them as shortcuts, but consumers
seem convinced that the pros comfortably outweigh the cons.
Onshoring
The trend of "Onshoring", "Reshoring", "Friend-shoring" accelerated in 2025
as companies diversify their supply chains due to combat new tariff
regimes and geopolitical instability.
15
P ower
AI’s favorite food isn’t just data, it’s also electricity. The world is frantically
rediscovering that you can't have a digital revolution without a physical
power plant. Tech giants are chasing energy with the same urgency they
once chased talent and suddenly nuclear power has become attractive
again. Because even the smartest code is helpless in the dark.
Predictive Markets
Betting got a rebrand allowing everyone from hedge funds to teenagers to
wager billions on everything from Federal Reserve rate cuts to who wins
the IPL.
Premiumization
The ‘cheap and value’ era is on the wane in India, where consumers are
increasingly swapping hatchbacks for SUVs and local spirits for premium
malts, proving that rising aspirations are the ultimate economic stimulus.
16
Q uick Commerce
The battle is on. While the OGs, Blinkit, Swiggy, and Zepto, spent the year
fighting for dominance, giants like Amazon, Flipkart, and BigBasket finally
gave in to FOMO and entered the ring. With everyone burning cash to
deliver a single lemon faster than you can slice it, the sector has become a
race (to the bottom?)
17
Rupee
The Indian Rupee spent most of 2025 searching for a bottom, only to find
new historical lows and eventually reaching India’s country code (+91).
Battered by relentless FII outflows and the weight of new US tariffs, it
became one of Asia’s weakest currencies. Exporters smiled, but for
importers and overseas travellers, the pain was very real.
Real Money Gaming (RMG)
The government finally decided that ‘real money gaming’ was often just a
euphemism for ‘digital gambling’. It launched a massive crackdown that
protected household savings but wiped out thousands of tech jobs,
advertising revenues and celebrity endorsement deals overnight.
Rare Earths
The RBI cut rates to supercharge growth in a low-inflation economy. The
Fed delivered cautious ‘insurance cuts’ to keep the US engine going, with
Japan being the only major economy to hike.
Rate Cuts
The RBI cut rates to supercharge growth in a low-inflation economy, while
the Fed delivered cautious ‘insurance cuts’ to keep the US engine going,
with Japan being the only major economy to hike.
18
S ilver
2025’s Gold Medallist! With industrial demand from solar panels and AI
chips colliding with a massive supply deficit, silver pulled off a ‘squeeze’
that sent prices vertical, delivering a stunning 100%+ return in 2025. It was
the year silver stepped out of gold’s shadow, proving it’s not just a precious
metal, but a high-voltage industrial asset.
SIP
The mutual fund world’s three-letter equivalent of ‘I Love You’. SIPs flows
surged to nearly ₹30,000 crore a month, becoming the single biggest
reason FII selling didn’t hurt investors as much
Sovereign AI
Nations realized that relying on Silicon Valley for intelligence is a national
security risk, sparking a global race where every country wants its own
‘Homegrown GPT’.
Stargate
OpenAI’s $500 billion AI project, with investors and partners like Oracle,
Microsoft and Softbank, effectively aiming to build the ‘brain’ of the future
in the middle of the US desert.
19
T ariff
The second most popular word of 2025 (after ‘AI’) was basically a global
tax bill sent from Washington. With the US imposing punitive duties on
everything, ‘Tariffs’ became the reason why all countries including India are
trying to cut a deal with the US. It was a harsh reminder that in a trade war,
the consumer is usually the first casualty.
Trump
The ‘Bully of the Global Playground’ returned with a bang, and his second
term has been anything but quiet. Markets initially cheered his pro-business
moves, but the mood quickly turned as aggressive tariffs disrupted global
trade, turning it into a messy game where the rules kept changing at his
whims.
Trillion Dollar Pay Package
Elon Musk unlocked the ultimate achievement: a compensation plan worth
a staggering $1 trillion. Shareholders voted ‘Yes’ to the biggest paycheck in
history but to earn it, he has to pull off many miracles.
20
U S Govt. Shutdown
Washington staged its annual ‘will they, won't they’ drama, but this time the
curtains stayed down for a record-breaking 43 days. It was the longest
shutdown in history, proving that while American innovation moves at the
speed of light, its Congress moves at the speed of a snail.
V aluations
Valuations, as always, split opinion. While the headline numbers of Indian
indices looked decent, it was mainly because cheap PSU stocks did the
heavy lifting, masking the froth built up elsewhere. The Lenskart valuation
debacle showed that new-age startups continued to demand fantasy
valuations that defied gravity (and logic).
21 02
W arren Buffett
The ‘Oracle of Omaha’ finally decided to trade his CEO desk for a
retirement chair at the age of 95, announcing his departure from the helm
of Berkshire Hathaway at the end of 2025. Buffett's final year was a
masterclass in his ‘cash is king’ philosophy, as he sat on a record-breaking
pile of nearly $380 billion while waiting for the rest of us to figure out
valuations. At least he’s leaving us with enough wisdom to last a lifetime.
Weekly Options
SEBI’s ‘one exchange, one weekly expiry’ rule finally shut down the daily
gambling den, hitting broker profits, exchange revenues and traders’
adrenaline rush.
22
Xi Jingping
Xi Jinping proved that China is far harder to bully than Trump would have
thought. He defied Trump’s massive tariffs by matching them tit-for-tat with
125% retaliatory duties and weaponizing China’s rare earth minerals,
effectively forcing a ‘trade truce’ by late November.
Xiaomi
The smartphone giant proved it could become an auto giant with its SU7
sedan becoming a top-10 global EV bestseller just months after its launch.
23
Y ear Of
Nirmala Sitharaman
The Santa Claus for all Indian tax payers.
Jensen Huang
The single most important individual shaping
the AI economy.
Z elensky & Putin
As the war approached its fourth year in late 2025, the narrative shifted
from the battlefield to the ‘Workable Peace Plan’ being brokered in Berlin,
though both sides remained locked in a high-stakes poker game over the
final map of Ukraine.
24
