Insider Today: Asia's superpower clash

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Welcome back to our Sunday edition. It seems everyone has their own brand of tequila or mezcal. The latest to get in on the act: Tesla, which is selling a $450 bottle of mezcal on its website.

On the agenda:

• Inside the spectacular rise, and fall, of a Texas bankruptcy court.
• Welcome to the golden age for rich renters.
• Goldman's star bankers reveal their plan to keep winning in M&A.
• Brave startups are trying to usurp Nvidia's AI throne.

But first: Shock election results in India will shake up the world's fifth-largest economy.

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This week's dispatch

Modi misses

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed a third term this week, but his Bharatiya Janata Party failed to secure an overall majority. He'll now have to rely on allies to form a government.

The election result was a blow to Modi, who has governed India for a decade with an increasingly firm grip. The rebuke arrived despite Modi's record of lifting hundreds of millions of Indians out of poverty, which won praise from business titans like Jamie Dimon. Indian stock indexes fell sharply on the election results before recovering.

India watchers expect the country's new government to move slower on some issues following the surprise election result. But experts believe Modi will be largely undeterred in his economic and foreign policy efforts.

One pain point is India's rising unemployment rate. That could see Modi supercharge his efforts to turn India into the new factory of the world. Apple is among those investing in manufacturing in the country.

He has also positioned India as a leader of the Global South, strengthening diplomatic ties with the US and pushing for a permanent position on the UN Security Council.

That puts India in direct competition with China, with Modi wasting no time in needling his rival shortly after claiming victory.

The fall of a bankruptcy juggernaut

New details have emerged about the tight-knit circle of attorneys and judges within one of the country's most powerful courts: the Southern District of Texas bankruptcy court.

Rampant conflicts of interest fueled the court's meteoric rise — and its spectacular fall.

Inside the court where conflicts of interest ran deep.

Rich and still renting

A wave of apartment construction has flooded metros like Salt Lake City, Nashville, and Atlanta with new studios and two-bedroom apartments. To lure tenants, landlords are hawking deals left and right, from comped parking to discounted rent.

The apartments are still expensive. But compared to the price of a down payment, they can feel like a bargain. And with amenities like pools and gyms, they are keeping wealthy Americans renting.

Why some Americans are sticking to renting.

Also read:

• I'm a multimillionaire who chooses to rent rather than buy a house. I'm glad I'm not wasting money on a mortgage.

Inside the Goldman deal machine

Goldman Sachs recently celebrated 25 years since it went public, and the bank's future has been a hot topic on Wall Street. Goldman's latest moves show its core business of advising companies and the ultrawealthy has retaken center stage.

A dozen Goldman insiders and bank watchers spoke to BI about how the bank is positioning itself to succeed in the long run and how it'll ultimately withstand recent top-partner departures.

How Goldman plans to keep winning.

Climbing Mt. Nvidia

Going up against Nvidia is generally considered a pretty bad idea for startups in Silicon Valley. "Betting against Nvidia is viewed as a very stupid investment," one VC said.

But Silicon Valley often thrives when true technologists keep hacking away at something they believe in, even if everyone else thinks it's dumb.

See the startups coming for Nvidia.

Also read:

• AI just catapulted Nvidia into the $3 trillion club at lightning pace

This week's quote:

"You just leave it alone, and you look up 40 years later, and it's a really nice number."

A 65-year-old retiree who saved $2 million for retirement.

More of this week's top reads:

• Jack Dorsey gave $10 million to an anonymous founder with a deep devotion to a fascist "guru."
• Six tips from Satya Nadella on how to run a company and manage your team.
• Why big musical acts can't sell out concerts anymore.
• An unchecked AI could usher in a new dark age.
• HR exec: If you get put on a PIP, find a new job as fast as possible.
• Microsoft is laying off hundreds in its Azure cloud business.

• Apple alerted Amazon about a potential cloud security risk, prompting a change in AWS's data-deletion process.

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  The Insider Today team: Matt Turner, deputy editor-in-chief, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York.