Daybreak

In 2015, Bira 19 introduced India to craft beer. In the process, the brand started the conversation around taste and quality. It very quickly blew up and became the cool new beer to drink at a bar or a party. The craft beer brand also managed to become a hit among investors. It bagged $450 million in funding from the likes of Japanese beer and beverage company Kirin Holdings and venture capital giant Peak XV Partners, formerly known as Sequoia Capital. But somewhere along the way, the brand seems to have lost direction. In the last few years, Bira has been in short supply at liquor retailers and pubs. And to make matters worse, former Bira executives and industry insiders say that the company’s dealing with a major cash crunch and its supply chain is in a dire state. All of this at a time when the company is reportedly planning to go public. Bira CEO Ankur Jain recently said that Bira is planning its IPO in 2026. But will he be able to get his business in order by then? And more importantly, what went wrong?Tune in to find out.

In the 2024 financial year, Apple sold products worth $8 billion in India. This was a third more than the previous year. But how did a premium company like Apple that hates giving discounts sell products worth 8 billion dollars in a country as price sensitive as India? Apple obviously knew that its phones were unaffordable for most people in India?It found an answer was easy financing. After the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020, Apple made financing tie-ups with banks a mainstay. And one of the most important deals Apple made was with India’s largest private sector lender, and leading credit card issuer HDFC Bank. In fact, it was one of the costliest deals HDFC had. Thanks to it, HDFC customers have been enjoying exclusive cashbacks on Apple products ever since.Here's the bad news. The deal between Apple and HDFC is now over.What happened?Tune in.

With Swiggy set to go public soon, the quick commerce space in India is starting to look more and more like a wrestling match. Going to head to head against Swiggy is the only listed quick commerce platform in the country, its arch rival Zomato.Both companies are doing exactly the same thing but somehow Zomato managed to leave Swiggy far behind. Swiggy’s market share has dropped considerably in the last few years both in quick commerce and food delivery. Now, not only is Zomato listed, its share prices have been going through the roof and Blinkit has become the jewel in its crown. So does Swiggy, the OG of food delivery in India, stand a chance? To find out, hosts Snigdha and Rahel invite The Ken's Deputy Editor Seetharaman G to the studio.Tune in.P.S. – Check out the first episode of the latest addition to our podcast slate, Two by Two, where the speakers discuss the rivalry between Flipkart and Phonepe, on Spotify, Apple or YouTube!Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

For most Indians, a cup of good chai is a comfort that's accessible. Coffee chains, on the other hand, are mostly premium. And it all adds up when one considers the fact that Indians consume 20 cups of tea for every cup of coffee. But we live in a time when opulence and luxury makes us go google eyed. In the Indian consumer market, premiumisation is no longer a choice. Even chai cafes chains don’t really have an option but to take the premium path. But Chaayos, the largest tea cafe chain in India, has decided not to go where the wind blows. And Nitin Saluja, the 40-year-old founder of Chaayos, says that this decision is actually based on its customers. Over the last two years, nearly 200 of them have clearly indicated their unanimous opinion to the company: don’t become like Starbucks. Tune in.Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.P.S. – Check out the first episode of Two by Two, where the speakers discuss the rivalry between Flipkart and Phonepe, on Spotify, Apple or YouTube!

About two months ago, something pretty bizarre happened at the India office of Great Place to Work. At about 2:30 am on May 28, the board of the organization was summoned for a Zoom call. But the timing of the Zoom call wasn’t what was so alarming. At one point during the conversation, the founder, Prasenjit Bhattacharya, asked everyone to leave the call. Everyone except for Yeshasvini Ramaswami, the chief executive of the company. Just a few moments later, Prasenjit told her that she was being fired. You see, this isn’t the first time a CEO has been fired. But the way that this particular incident played out went against everything that Great Place to Work has stood for for so long.What's going on? Tune in

Not so long ago, Birkenstocks were considered the antithesis of high fashion. For the longest time, the 250-year-old German brand’s characteristic chunky sandal was seen as nothing more than an orthopedic shoe meant for hippies and old people. And then, everything changed. In the last decade or so, Birkenstock had a major glow up. It all started with the brand deciding not to settle for being just another comfortable but cringey sandal anymore. So to make Birks cool the brand began collaborating with high-end fashion designers like Rick Owens, Valentino and Dior. Very quickly celebrities and influencers caught on. They were suddenly being spotted walking out of the gym, or a cafe with a pair of birks on. And just like that, a trend was born. The orthopedic sandal, built more for comfort than for style, was the new it-shoe. Now, the Birk craze has found its way to India. Tune in.

Flipkart, the Walmart owned e commerce giant, is on an overdrive to achieve profitability to realise its dreams of going public.To do this, it has tasked its category managers in fashion and lifestyle with squeezing more business out of brand partners. In fact, Flipkart is also using its own Myntra to get better leverage with these brands. The list of brands Flipkart is negotiating with includes Nike, Adidas and Puma, Woodland, Casio, and the Indian fashion retail giant Aditya Birla Fashion Retail Limited (ABFRL).Brands are resisting but they can only do so much because the kind of reach Flipkart gives them is unmatched. It has a registered customer base of more than 400 million.Does this mean that these brands have to give in to Flipkart’s demands? Tune in.

Have you ever heard of a 'f*** off fund'? Or better yet, do you have one?For the uninitiated, it is a sum of money that women should ideally set aside to get out of a difficult situation – think toxic job, abusive relationship or family situation, you get the drift. The term was coined by freelance writer, Paulette Perhach, in 2016. We recommend that you read her powerful essay on financial independence. The idea is for it to give you enough power, confidence and control to literally be able to say “f*** off” and walk away. You are probably thinking, ‘great in theory, but how do I actually build one for myself?’. We have got you covered. In this special episode of Daybreak, Chaitra Chidanand, the co-founder of Salt, a financial services platform for women, demystifies f*** off funds and how you can get one. Tune inWe would also love to hear your take on f*** off funds. Please take our survey. Suggested readingA F*** Off Fund: the most important female prep, Reddit"The FOF has saved me and my kids a few times. Health crisis. Unemployment. Violence. S**t happens. But just as important—having a FOF means you can act from a position of power, not fear, not subservience." Warren Buffett Invests Like A Girl? Forbes"Buffett has always said that it’s temperament--not intellect--that makes you a great long-term investor. When you look at studies that have been coming out in the last 10 years about how men and women invest, what you see is that women tend to naturally have this temperament that creates long-term investing success."For Women With Money Issues, an A.D.H.D. Diagnosis Can Be Revelatory, NYT'But because activities like planning or budgeting don’t usually give people with A.D.H.D. a dopamine hit, they can find it harder than neurotypical people to get started or stick to accounting activities. This results in extra costs — paying cancellation fees for missed appointments or late fees for not opening a bill on time, or losing refunds because we missed the deadline for returning an unwanted purchase.'For feedback, write to us at [email protected]

According to the ICMR every individual should consume at least 48 grams of protein everyday. But in India, 8 out of every 10 of people dont meet their daily protein requirement. However, there is no denying the fact that awareness about the significance of what is often called the building block of life has increased after the pandemic. People are actively looking to include protein rich foods in their diet.Even the govt has pitched in. In 2020, the govt started an initiative to celebrate a National protein Day every year in February to increase awareness about the importance of protein in India And that’s where Amul wants to come in. The dairy giant wants to use a key dairy byproduct—whey—to sell protein to a population that is hungry for itTune in.**This episode was first published on 28 Feb, 2024Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories

Things were going really well for Paisabazaar, until the Reserve Bank of India stepped in and hit it where it hurts. The RBI told banks to clamp down on the unsecured loan segment – which happens to be Paisabazaar’s bread and butter. The regulator has discouraged lenders from small-ticket collateral free loans. And of course lenders know better than to ignore the RBI’s directive. So for Paisabazaar that meant its lending partners started shying away from unsecured loan leads. After a dream run, growth started slowing down. The company knew it had to do something and fast. Tune in

Students pay hefty fees for an alt MBA from Masters' Union with the confidence that by the end of the course, they will be one step closer to their dream job, and more importantly their dream salary. Except, that isn’t what ended up happening for a majority of students in the batch of 2024. Classes ended a few weeks ago and most of the students are yet to land job offers.You see, it has been a tough year for India’s business schools. Even the IIMs and ISBs of the world have struggled to get a majority of their students placed at top companies. And in this tough climate, Masters’ Union, which has always positioned itself as a challenger to the IIMS, is facing a bigger crisis than any of its peers. Because placing its students isn’t just a matter of pride for the company, it's also crucial to its financial model. Tune in.

For a country that boasts of its digital public goods infrastructure like Aadhar and UPI, it is a wonder why telecom has been so ignored. After nearly 1500 crore rupees of was reportedly lost to digital fraud in the financial year 2024, the govt's TRAI is finally scrambling to catch up with CPAN or the Calling Name Presentation (CNAP) service, its own version of Truecaller.Truecaller, the Swedish call-screening company, meanwhile, has been holding the fort for a while now. Users count on it to save them from spam and fraud calls. While TrueCaller maybe looking like a hero in this situation, it is a private company after all. It is using this opportunity to make money from both users and businesses. But its success in India is also built partially on how inadequate privacy laws are in India. It company has been accused of breaching data privacy norms in the past.Can TRAI replace Truecaller?Tune in.Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

More than 15,000 millionaires are most likely leave China for good this year, according to the latest report by Henley and Partners, a UK-based investment migration consultancy. This largely has to do with the fact that being a multi-millionaire in China is almost like living with a target on your back. Multiple cases of the wealthy disappearing, the most well-known of which was Alibaba's Jack Ma, are testament to this. Basically one can be rich but not too rich, especially when the Chinese economy is struggling with a slowdown. So if millionaires are not disappearing under mysterious circumstances, they are desperately trying to protect their assets at all costs.India too happens to be the third on the Henley list of top countries facing a millionaire exodus. It is expected to lose about 4,000 millionaires this year. But unlike China, this isn’t very concerning because this number has dropped since last year and also because India is also generating more millionaires than it is losing. In many ways, you could say, India stands today where China was 10 years ago. And that’s exactly why we need to understand what is happening in China. In this episode, Daybreak hosts Snigdha and Rahel speak to The Ken's Southeast Asia editor Brady NG about what's going on in our neighbourhood. Tune in.Brady’s book recommendation: House of Leaves Mark Z. Danielewski Artwork by Adhithi Priya RajagopalDaybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

For quick delivery apps like Zomato and Zepto that are often questioned for their carbon footprint, switching to electric vehicle or EV fleets is not just a matter of being environmentally conscious, it is also economically more feasible.But here’s the thing. While takes about four hours to charge an electric scooter from zero to full using a slow charger and approximately 15 minutes for a fast charger, battery swapping which literally takes two mins.Which is why delivery company drivers for whom speed means money, battery swapping is a better option than charging. Quick commerce companies have understood this and they’re partnering with these companies. For example, Zomato and Zepto have both partnered with Battery Smart, a Delhi-based network of battery-swapping stations for EVs. Plus, this comes at a great time because these battery swapping companies are attracting a lot of VC money despite the general VC funding crunch lately. And VCs are loving the fact that quick commerce giants are tying up with these battery swapping companies.So, you’d think that that government must be doing everything it can to give battery-swapping service providers support to expand right?Turns out, that is not really the case.Tune in.Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Cult.fit backed Sugar.fit very boldly promises to completely “cure” diabetes in as little as six months. It also promises unlimited consultations with top doctors, daily fitness classes, the works. All for about Rs 30,000. That’s a small price to pay for a diabetes-free life. So of course, thousands sign up for it. But if you ask a healthcare professional they will tell you that reversing diabetes completely just isn’t possible. So what is Sugar.fit up to? Tune in to find out P.S. While you are here, check out the latest episode of The Ken's careers podcast The First Two Years. Host Akshaya Chandrasekaran delves into how to transition from grunt work to real work.

Demand for high-end living is on the rise and Nobroker's subscription plan just doesn't cut it anymore. So it introduced a new postpaid plan to entice wealthy property owners. Funnily enough, the way it works is pretty much how traditional brokers earn their brokerage. This goes against the basic premise with which Nobroker was started almost a decade ago. So why has Nobroker switched up its strategy? And why is it going down the road it was so fundamentally against? Tune in to find out.

When it entered the quick commerce scene for the first time in 2021, Zepto was a disruptor. Now, it is the third largest company in the market after Blinkit and Swiggy Instamart. Recently, it secured its biggest funding ever at a US$3.6 billion valuation, mainly from its existing investors.Venture Intelligence, a data provider told The Ken that the US$660 million funding is largest bet made by VCs in Indian startups this year. And now, The Ken's sources say that Zepto is planning to raise another round from “top-tier global VCs” at a US$5 billion valuation.What did Zepto do to get all this attention from investors?Tune in.Also listen to:Daybreak: Why we date, marry, or breakup with Swiggy Instamart, Blinkit, Zepto & BigBasketTFTY: How to get people to listen to you when you have no authority or title?

Four years, 15 cohorts, and roughly 1,500 students later, Stoa School has shut down. The poster child for alternative business-school education in India is no longer accepting new students. What went wrong? And what does it mean for India's altMBAs? Tune in to find out. P.S. While you are here, check out the latest episode of The Ken's careers podcast The First Two Years, where host Akshaya Chandrasekaran delves into how to build trust with colleagues who don't trust you.

The pandemic, as brutal as it was, forced a lot of businesses to double down on convenience and accessibility. Whether it was your online education or quick deliveries or at home blood tests. Just to be able to skip that dreaded visit to a hospital or a diagnostic centre meant so much to most people.Accredited labs popped up all over promising to come right to your doorstep and collect your samples from the comfort of your home and that too for super affordable prices. Healthians, a testing lab startup has seen bookings triple since the pre-pandemic era. Now, the company handles 12,500–13,000 bookings daily, with nearly 75% of its business coming from home collections.But while home tests are gaining popularity, whether you can trust them 100% is still under question. Phlebotomists and runners hold the keys to a sample’s fate and accuracy. Tune in.Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

On June 3, about 200 employees of the American management consulting firm Bain and Company’s India division received a rather ominous calendar invite. They each would have a 10-minute meeting with HR. But no one, other than the heads of the regional offices and the head of HR, knew what the meeting was about. During the meeting, they were all told they were being laid off. The layoffs took the consulting community by surprise, because it just wasn’t a very ‘Bain’ thing to do. What's going on? Tune in to find out. P.S. While you are here, check out the latest episode of our careers podcast The First Two Years, where host Akshaya Chandrasekaran delves into how to build trust with colleagues who don't trust you.

Nothing about Nykaa is strictly its own anymore. Back when it went public, it had no real rivals in the beauty space. But since then, things have changed. Last year, India’s largest retailer, Reliance Retail, officially entered the beauty space. It launched an omnichannel beauty retail platform called TiraReliance isn’t playing around. In the last year, it has made one thing clear: it wants to completely shake up the country’s beauty segment. But even the Reliance legacy to back it up, Tira’s success in this space isn’t a given.

More than a decade has passed since Starbucks came to India. But the world’d biggest coffee chain has been struggling to achieve profitability. In the latest financials, the company saw its slowest sales growth in India since the pandemic.So far, Starbucks has managed to open around 400 outlets across the country. Meanwhile, Third Wave, a much smaller specialty coffee startup that started around eight years ago, already has more than 100 stores around the country. Its new CEO Rajat Luthra recently announced that that chain plans to open 50 new outlets in existing markets. Third Wave has more than doubled its operating revenue in the last financial year. In the year before that, it saw its revenue grew more than fourfold. It raised $35 million in a funding round led by private equity firm Creaegis in September last year.How far can a startup like Third Wave go against a a 50 year-old global coffee powerhouse with the backing of Tata?Tune in.Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

At the Worldwide Developers Conference, or WWDC, almost a week ago, Apple made a very important announcement. It launched what it calls 'Apple Intelligence', which is basically an umbrella term for all of the new generative AI features that will be available on certain models of the iPhone, iPad and Macbook. It was a revolutionary announcement because with it, Apple has finally entered the Gen AI race. What took it so long? 'Daybreak' hosts Snigdha and Rahel speak to The Ken co-founder Rohin Dharmakumar in this special episode. P.S while you are here, check out the latest episode of our early careers podcast 'The First Two Years', aka TFTY. In it, host Akshaya Chandrasekaran talks about how to fight for your next promotion.

The newest battle ground between Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jim is financial services. Airtel already has two thriving ventures. The first is the seven-year-old Airtel Payments Bank which happens to be one of the three profitable payments banks in India. And the second is new financial entity called Airtel Finance which is mainly aimed at Reliance Jio’s fintech disruptor, Jio Financial Services. The one year old Airtel Finance has already serviced loans worth $300 million. It seems do be doing pretty well. In fact, just last month, in an earnings call, the Airtel boss, Gopal Vittal talked about how Airtel Finance was shaping up really well. He said It served 400,000 car and loan products in FY24.The story is similar with Airtel Payments Bank. It registered its highest-ever annual revenue of more than $250 million in FY24 and also grew its deposits by 50% from the year-ago levels. The bank has been adding nearly a million new customers every month.But all of this comes at a time when India’s other fintechs are struggling with profitability.Apart from the fact that Jio is still leading, there is one more thing that sets the two of them apart from each other. Jio Financial Services’ focus is to lend to B2B players and engage in asset-management services. Airtel, meanwhile, is taking a different path. The company is using the oldest tool it has—SIM cards—to partner with lenders for consumer-centric products like loans and credit cards.But why SIM cards? The answer lies in the Airtels nearly thirty year old distribution network.Tune in.

Bluestone and Caratlane set out with the same dream. They both wanted to sell everyday fine jewellery online. This was a pretty alien concept in a country like ours, where gold and diamonds are seen more as an asset rather than just an accessory. And for a lot of people, buying gold and diamonds online is completely out of the question, even today. But both these companies were committed to the idea that there was space for fine jewellery online. And turns out they were right. Today, pretty much any major jeweller you can think of is selling their jewellery online. But somewhere along the way, they went on completely different trajectories.

AI algorithms for cancer screening are being developed around the world. Most medical professionals will agree that there is tremendous potential here. If developed properly, AI can potentially detect various cancers at very early stages – which would make it easier to treat cancer and possibly even increase chances of survival. But all of that is great in theory. In reality, the general consensus amongst the medical community is that AI-led cancer screening just isn’t there yet. When it comes to screening, accuracy is everything. And There’s a long way for this technology to go before it is able to detect cases of cancer with close to perfect accuracy.

Last week, Foxtale, an Indian D2C skincare company secured an $18 million funding in its series B round. Meanwhile, news also broke that the Deepika Padukone-led 82°E is planning to raise around $6 million from new and existing investors. Scores of new age skincare and beauty brands have cropped up since the pandemic and all of them harp on the science of skincare and their whole appeal is transparency.Among them one brand stands out: Minimalist. It is an active ingredients based skincare company that sells products named after the ingredients like niacianamide, retinol, glycolic acid, salicylic acid, etc. It launched around the end of 2020, and within a span of eight months, it built a 1000 crore rupees business. But for years, legacy brands like Ponds and Loreal have been selling products with similar ingredients. The only difference was they either didn't launch them in India or they kept the ingredient names hidden away in tiny fonts at the back of the bottles.Minimalist came around and changed that. And now, seeing the success of brands like Minimalist, legacy brands are rethinking their strategy.Tune in.Also listen to: Daybreak Special: Why aren't we scared of chemicals in our skincare anymore?

There is something really concerning happening to India’s 200-million strong workforce. Nearly half of them, who are above the age of 45, have reached a point in their careers where they may have to retire much earlier than they planned. Against their will.In a nutshell, the usual career span that would last anything between 40 to 50 years even has been slashed by half almost….. to just 20 or 25 years. But this isn’t something that a lot of 40 and 50 year olds are taking lying down. They are figuring out ways to hack the system so they can stay “forever employable”. And in the process, conventional career trajectories are starting to change. Like one 38-year-old CXO put it, “Growth—be it in a profession or in life—is not equivalent to moving up a single, well-defined ladder.” Daybreak hosts Snigdha and Rahel speak to The Ken reporter Vanita Bhatnagar about these new career trends. Tune in.

Zomato, the food delivery giant is all set to infuse more than $35 million into Blinkit. But not too long ago, Blinkit, the grocery delivery platform that was formerly known as Grofers, was on the verge of dying. It was the first year of the pandemic and the demand for quick commerce was at its peak. Grofers wanted to join the bandwagon but it didnt have the money.A year later in June 2021, it got its shot in the arm with a $120 Mn infusion from Zomato. A year later, in 2022, Zomato decided to go all the way in and acquired Blinkit for nearly $600 million. It was not been all smooth sailing even after that.But somehow, Blinkit has managed to crack the quick commerce market and become a leader. How?Tune in.*This episode was first published on March 6, 2024Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

When 29-year-old Deepa delivered a healthy baby boy six months ago, she thought her health insurance would cover her hospital expenses. But unfortunately, it barely covered 1/3rd of the Rs 1 lakh bill. So she ended up using her corporate health insurance that offered a higher limit. And this isn’t a one off. The Ken spoke to 13 women from six different cities who delivered babies in the last couple of years. Most of them had experiences just like Deepa. Seven of them said they got their maternity expenses covered by corporate health insurance, either their own or their spouses. And that’s despite having their own personal health cover in place. Luckily for Deepa and the seven women we spoke to, they had some form of corporate health insurance in place. But in a country like ours, that’s a luxury. Only about 200 million out of the 1.4 billion citizens of this country have access to it. That’s pretty abysmal. In this episode, we delve into what health insurers have against pregnancies. Tune In.

When e-commerce giant Flipkart acquired online travel aggregator (OTA) Cleartrip back in 2021, the hope was that it would be able to turn things around. Cleartrip had hit rock bottom. And in many ways the only way from there on was up. But things haven’t quite played out as Flipkart and Cleartrip had hoped. One big reason is that Cleartrip under Flipkart may have veered too far away from what makes an OTA an OTA — the OG tried-and-tested strategies that made us keep going back to old school travel agents back in the day.Tune In.

Last year, Indians collectively drank nearly 600 million litres of energy drinks. This was almost 30X more than 2018. Among all the go to drinks in India, lately energy drinks have become super popular. People seem to clearly be attracted to their appeal as stimulants.And what’s crazy is that these drinks have become an alternative to chai at tea stalls for office goers. And even for daily wage workers who have to work in this insane heat, they are often a cheaper meal replacement. For the more privileged, they’re also cocktail mixers at parties. As of 2023, PepsiCo's Sting had 90% of the market share in energy drinks in terms of volume. It's been doing so well that Varun Beverages, the company that bottles and distributes for PepsiCo in India, became the hottest FMCG stock in the country. Its saw its share price rise by more than 1000% per cent in the last five to six years.But the ones driving this growth are the country’s youth, who are often unaware of the contents of the drink and the heath risks that come along with it.Tune inDaybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Desi dating apps are vying for parental approval. And their strategy seems to be working. A couple months ago, Agrima Srivastava, a 29-year-old media professional from Lucknow, had an awkward conversation with her mother. She wanted to know if Agrima had ever heard of Indian dating apps, Aisle and Better Half. That was the first time Agrima had an open conversation with her mother about her love life. She told her that she was on dating apps, but homegrown ones like Aisle and Better half, were "just too serious". Funnily enough, the very reason Agrima was hesitant to get on an Indian dating app is why her mom approved of it. And Agrima's mom isn't alone. Many Indian dating apps have positioned themselves as the perfect stop gap between casual dating and marriage. It allows people the autonomy to choose their own partner without their parents getting involved, while also connecting them with a pool of potential partners from similar communities and upbringings. It's like parent-approved dating. How do they work? And do Indian dating app users need them? We speak to Chandni Gaglani, the head of Aisle and three dating app users to find out. Tune in. P.S. while you are here, why don't you check out The Ken's early careers podcast, The First Two Years. You can listen to it here.

It has been a tough couple of years for India’s Chartered accountants. This was and to some extent still is one of the most sought after jobs in the country. But lately, the amount of risk involved in their work has been amped up considerably. And as a result, CAs have been resigning left, right and centre. The reason this is happening is because the auditing industry has been undergoing a major shake-up. And behind this shakeup is a relatively new, independent audit regulator called the NFRA, or the National Finance Reporting Authority. The NFRA has set all sorts of records in the last two years. Since 2022, it has debarred 78 auditors and imposed close to Rs 20 crore in penalties. Tune in.

According to a survey by S&P, more than 75% of Indian adults do not understand basic financial concepts. The gap is 5% more when it comes to women.So the rise of financial influencers who simplify complex financial jargon and provide investment advice is not really surprising. But often, they underplay risks and overplay returns, and try to ride the market waves.In fact, SEBI, the market capital regulator, has been receiving many complaints and is working on creating a framework of strict guidelines to bring them under its control.But reining these ‘finfluencers’ in is a bit of a catch-22 situation.Tune in.

Since 2021, Toyota and Maruti have been engaged in somewhat of a marriage of convenience. The terms were pretty simple. Toyota would share its hybrid technology with Maruti Suzuki. In exchange, Toyota would get to re-enter the pocket-friendly segment. So what this meant was that the non-premium Toyota cars sold were actually built by Maruti. And the fully hybrid cars sold under the Maruti label were built by Toyota. This arrangement has worked well for both companies for multiple reasons. The biggest of which is the growing popularity of hybrid vehicles in India in the recent past. But in the process, EV makers seem to be losing big time. Tune in.P.S. While you are here, why don't you check out the latest episode of The First Two Years, The Ken's early careers podcast. It's a good one! Akshaya talks about how to network without seeming desperate. Check it out here. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Credit card companies, in their rush to sell more and more cards use a whole gamut of attractive offers—the most popular one being free access to airport lounges. Thanks to this and the sharp rise in domestic air travellers, airport lounges saw of footfall of over 8 million people in 2022.What was once an exclusive service became a top-selling feature, even for non-premium cards issued by banks. Lounge access became overused and an expensive bill to foot for credit card issuers.Now, one after the other, major banks are revising their lounge policy. But retracting the freebie altogether is not a risk banks can afford to take.Tune in.Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

In today’s special Friday episode, The Ken’s Praveen Gopal Krishnan (aka PGK) joins hosts Snigdha and Rahel to talk about India’s complicated relationship with 10 minute delivery apps. They talk about how these apps are shaping our economy and society at large, and more importantly how we, as users, are shaping them.Why do we pick a particular app, what makes us switch to another one and what makes us abandon them all together?PGK asked his readers just that in a recent survey he carried out in his weekly newsletter, The Nutgraf. You can check it out here.You can also check out the Bangalore floods edition Snigdha mentioned, here.Listen to Kabir Biswas talk about Dunzo and the quick delivery business on First Principles.If you're curious about the time everyone except Zepto assumed quick commerce was dying, click here.P.S Tell us what you thought of this episode. a) Was the subject interesting enough for you? b) Did you enjoy the conversation? You can write to us at [email protected] is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

At the time of demonetisation, the country was desperately seeking an alternative to cash. And a payments regulator called NPCI or the National Payments Corporation of India, was our unexpected knight in shining armour. The NPCI managed to launch UPI at just the right time. This was a revolutionary, once in a generation product that really put the NPCI on the map. Over the years, UPI also became a huge political asset for the Central Government. That’s evident from the fact that political leaders, including the PM, have made it a point to repeatedly endorse UPI. But nearly two general elections later, the pressure is on for the NPCI to come up with a new product, the next UPI. And the NPCI is really feeling the pressure. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

New-age D2C mattress brands like Wakefit and The Sleep Company have successfully made orthopaedic mattresses into a mass product. They are changing the landscape of the mattress market in India with their innovative science and tech based approach and clever marketing techniques. Wakefit, for example, literally offers a “sleep internship" where all you have to do is "sleep for 9 hours everyday for a hundred days and earn up to 10 lakh rupees."It's come to a point where even older and bigger mattress makers have had to adapt these changes and start selling these orthopedic mattresses.But is this really about the science or more about the selling?Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

A couple months ago, Xiaomi released a new product – the SU7. This wasn’t a smartphone, or any other gadget that you would have otherwise associated with the Chinese company. The SU7 is actually Xiaomi’s first-ever Electric Vehicle. Now, this is a major milestone for Xiaomi. It has become the first smartphone maker to successfully launch an EV. Funnily enough, this is something that many smartphone makers and technology companies – from Apple to Samsung – have tried to do but failed at. Until now. But what do smartphone makers have to do with EVs?Tune in to find out.Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.By the way, have you listened to The Ken's early careers podcast, The First Two Years? In the latest episode, the show's host Akshaya Chandrasekaran talks about how to navigate work friendships. You can check it out here.

Indians have really been warming up to credit cards lately. More than a 100 million credit cards are in circulation in India as of now. And this rise has a lot to do with the benefits customers get: cash back deals and reward points that you can collect and redeem for anything from flight tickets to stays at fancy resorts.But between the two, cashbacks are a more straightforward method of making the most of your credit card. Availing reward points, on the other hand, requires a combination of skill and patience. And between the two, there’s one that banks actually don’t like.Tune in to find out.Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

In this week's Daybreak Special episode, hosts Snigdha Sharma and Rahel Philipose speak to The Ken's Shivani Verma about her investigation into Pharmeasy's dubious business practices. The once IPO-bound company is under the scanner for its 'unethical' ways of upselling alternative medicines and supplements. Everyone – from Pharmeasy's own pharmacists, to the doctors who call behalf of the company to validate a customer's prescription – are under pressure to sell these supplements. The saga began with Pharmeasy’s 2021 acquisition of Bengaluru-based e-pharmacy Medlife, where former executives noted a similar trend of upselling alternatives and supplements. This comes amid ballooning losses and immense pressure from investors to show profitability. So what's the deal? Why is Pharmeasy going down this route? Tune in to find out. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.P.S. Daybreak episodes drop daily now :)

Thanks to Swiggy and Blinkit, it’s gotten to a point where getting everything – from your groceries to a literal water cooler – delivered to your doorstep within minutes has become pretty routine. Something we expect. But there is so much going on behind the scenes to make that delivery possible. Like one executive told The Ken, it’s a combination of solid logistics and precise inventory management.Pulling that off with just groceries that you can easily throw into a carrier and strap on to a bike is one thing. But then you go and add things like water coolers, mixer grinders, even iPhones to the mix. It sounds like a logistical nightmare. But it’s a nightmare that quick commerce apps like Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart and Zepto have dived headfirst into. They are becoming everything stores, almost like ‘mini Amazons’. And with that, the very nature of quick commerce is changing.

If you were flying sometime last month, you may have noticed, staff from Digiyatra, the contactless, biometric entry system at airports, were repeating the same thing over and over again to passengers at the entrance: “The old app is discontinued, please download the new app.” Passengers were only given this information at the airport. None of them received any notifications or SMSes.Apart from inconveniencing passengers, this also sent alarm bells ringing among some of them. Because, think about it. Usually you're asked to update an app, not delete it and download a new one, right?Anyway, most attributed it to some kind of a tech upgrade, which was also what Digiyatra Foundation (DYF), the company that runs the app said. Apparently, it was a part of their plan to expand to a larger user base.But you know what? That’s not the real reason. Behind it all, is a scam.Tune in.Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.P.S. Daybreak episodes drop daily now :)

No other payment aggregator has been able to pull off what Phonepe has in less than a year. Its nearly 50 per cent market share is obviously a huge draw for new merchants. And in the last couple years, its been able to onboard some pretty big names like Bharti Airtel and IRCTC. But the bigger the client, the more ruthless their demands. At the end of the day, they are only loyal to the aggregator that promises them the lowest prices and highest success rates. So how does PhonePe make sure that it stays on top? And where does that leave everyone else? Tune in.Correction: The host mistakenly referred to NPCI as NCPI towards the end of this episode. We apologise for the error.Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.P.S. Daybreak episodes drop daily now :)

The lure of appearing on the popular reality show on national television is so strong that even startups that already have been funded by VCs and institutional investors want to get on Shark Tank. In fact, investors themselves are asking their founders to go on the show.Money or funding is not the goal for these startups. It's the marketing opportunity they want.But Sony, the producer of the Shark Tank is trying its best to make sure that the show doesn't lose its real purpose: to be an investment platform.Tune in.Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.P.S. Daybreak episodes drop daily now:)

Contrary to its name, the US-based skincare brand 'The Ordinary' pulled off something pretty extraordinary when it was launched in 2016. From the beginning, it was all about transparency. It veered away from fancy packaging, instead opting for simple labels that list out all of the main ingredients, or 'actives', that were used to make the product.And just like that, the brand managed to demystify active ingredients for everyone!This kicked off somewhat of a skincare revolution around the world, including in India. Today, anyone who understands skincare knows what active ingredients are and which one is best suited for their skin. Suddenly, hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, AHAs and BHAs are all part of common parlance.But it took more than just 'The Ordinary effect' to get here.Daybreak co-hosts Snigdha Sharma and Rahel Philipose speak to Shamika Haldipurkar, the founder of premium skincare brand d'you, and Vasudha Rai, former beauty editor of Harper's Bazaar and skincare content creator, to unpack this change in perception.If you have already listened to this episode, please give us your feedback here.Correction: The host mistakenly referred to The Ordinary as a US-based company instead of Canada. The error is regretted.Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.P.S. Starting this week, Daybreak episodes drop daily :)

CP Plus, one of the most popular CCTV camera-makers in India, gets 80% of its supplies for its parent company, Aditya Infotech Ltd (AIL), from the Chinese security-equipment manufacturer Dahua Technology.Dahua and Hikvision, another Chinese surveillance-tech firm, are facing sanctions in the UK, US, Australia, and other countries, for their connection to the Chinese government.But in India growing surveillance tech market, both these companies enjoy more than a 50% market share. And bringing them under control is turning out to be complicated for the government.Tune in.Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

A few days ago Meesho closed the first tranche of its $600 million funding round by securing $275 million. The e-commerce unicorn has impressed investors lately thanks to its sustainded operating growth and the reduction in its monthly burn rate.Over time, the platform has built a kind of dominance in India’s smaller cities and towns that become the envy of its competitors —all thanks to its super affordable unbranded products.But now, Meesho wants to boost its profits. For it, it's relying on something that’s a bit out of character for it. It is betting big on Meesho Mall, a space dedicated to legacy and D2C brands.But with small-businesses and unbranded products embedded in to its very DNA, is Meesho ready to take the big brands route?Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.