Bangalore as a city is known for its pleasant weather. That wasn't the case since at least February — staying on the top floor means the roof got baked, and I had to live with sweltering heat. Thankfully, this week brought with it rains – Mango showers – that led to the pleasantness that the IT hub is known for 🌧

Another thing that the city is known for? Traffic. That has only gotten worse with the rise in election fever. Every successive political rally being held in the city has set the mercury soaring and traffic into a tizzy. As I write this, the Prime Minister has arrived in Bengaluru, set to waltz through the city in a two-day roadshow. Bengaluru and its surroundings account for 28 of the 224 seats in the Karnataka assembly. Winning seats here, even in the typically apathetic urban constituencies, adds up to a lot. Anyway, the politics aside, I am inundated with traffic police's messages telling me which routes to avoid 🚦

🗳 Karnataka's state elections are coming up on May 10. The race is tighter than ever — anti-incumbency is a huge factor against the BJP this time around. The rallies and the promises extend all over; Mint's senior editor N. Madhavan traveled around the state's 'Old Mysore' region and measured the on-ground pulse.

🛵 Because of the traffic, I've chosen to use public transport a little more often. One app that does work to book autos in Bangalore is Rapido. Rapido's rise to fame happened because it introduced the concept of bike taxis in India. But due to a slew of legislative actions and policy paralysis, bike taxis aren't a thing in other states. Mint's national editor Sumant Banerji details the rising woes of Rapido.

🚘 You don't always get an auto or a cab, and especially during peak traffic hours. So if you're thinking of buying a car (as a couple of my friends have been), hold on for a couple of months. Carmakers are set to introduce a mind-boggling 81 new models in this financial year. As more and more people prefer SUVs to smaller hatchbacks, car companies are responding accordingly — and how!

But prospective car owners, I must warn you: annual maintenance on a car will burn a massive hole in your pocket. I've to pick up my car from the garage tomorrow, and I'm not looking forward it 🫣

✈️ Like me, the Wadia Group also had problems with paying high maintenance bills, repeatedly. Of course, while I drive an old hatchback, the conglomerate's headaches stemmed from its fleet of 54 aircraft. It finally filed for insolvency this week, blaming its US-based partners who didn't do a good job of repairing their aircraft. Mint's aviation correspondent Anu Sharma spoke to lenders and industry professionals, none of whom were shocked that the airline is currently grounded.

🛬 Anu also wrote a neat explainer on the topic, explaining why the airline flew into troubled skies.

🔌🧾 What you need for your car maintenance, perhaps can be saved in your electricity bill (I don't think Go First had that option, though). One avenue to do that: Buy home appliances with 5-star ratings, which consume lesser electricity. Mint Money's special correspondent Shipra Singh crunches the numbers to find that while higher ratings leads to less consumption, the upfront cost is also more. Read her story before buying your next fridge or AC!

💸 Another set of people dealing with rising costs are IT companies. As the hikes roll on, manpower costs rise as well. The share of wages for the top IT giants is more than 50% of their revenues, pointed out data journalist Manjul Paul and deputy editor Devina Sengupta. As these costs grow, others may need to come down. One main area where budgets have been slashed? New hires.

💰 All this spending leads to more transactions. Transactions mean tax, so it makes sense that the government collected a record high GST tax of ₹1.87 trillion in April. That is a 12 percent increase from April 2022, reports Mint's senior editor Gireesh Chandra Prasad.

📊 Theoretically, high GST collections translate to a thriving economy. But something doesn't add up. Mint's data journalist Pragya Srivastava compared this month's collections to previous years figures, trying to understand if there was a pattern. She helps you understand what the record GST revenue means, illustrated in 5 succinct charts.

🧑‍💼 GST collections will only increase in the future, thanks to the growing numbers in our workforce. As India overtakes China as the most populous nation, it does so with more workers than ever before. Mint's columnist Vivek Kaul writes on how India can capitalise on this, as China's working population continues to grow older.

That's all for this week. I hope you have a weekend free of traffic and high expenses.

If you have any thoughts, ideas, or feedback on our journalism (or subscription), please feel free to write to me  We're a perpetually evolving news product, so any and every input is appreciated!

Best,

Shashwat Mohanty

Assistant Editor

Subscriber Experience Team