Daybreak

Happy Republic Day, dear listeners.Today is a public holiday but if you're still tuning in, here is an older episode of Daybreak you might like:All the twists and turns in the journey of startups have been well-documented since VC funding began drying up over the past year or so. In the first half of 2022, Indian startups received more than $17 billion dollars. But a year later in 2023. they just got a little over $5 billion.What’s we’ve barely heard about, though, is what is happening to the funders of these startups and their foot soldiers—the VC analysts. With the slowdown, the day-to-day responsibilities of these analysts have changed and so has their approach towards dealmaking. Tune in to find out.

From giving an extra month for “good-faith” negotiations a little over two years ago, to accusing Zee of breach of contract…the Sony Zee merger deal has seen its fair share ups and downs. It was supposed to be the country’s biggest entertainment merger worth $10 billion—two media behemoths were coming together. Now though, the deal is buried six feet under. On Monday, Sony officially released a statement announcing the termination of the agreement. The next day, Punit Goenka, Zee’s CEO, was seen attending the Ram temple inauguration in Ayodhya where he told media: “I believe this to be a sign from the Lord. I resolve to move ahead positively and work towards strengthening Bharat’s pioneering M&E Company, for all its stakeholders." Sony, meanwhile, not only ended the deal, it also sought $10 million in damages on account of alleged breaches by ZEE. And to make matters worse, Zee shares have fallen by over 30 percentHow did things get here and what's next?Tune in**CORRECTION The host mistakenly said Sony is seeking $10 million dollars in damages on account of alleged breaches by ZEE instead of $90 million. The error is regrettedDaybreak 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.

The prime minister will be inaugurating the newly constructed Ram Temple in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh today. It's quite the event. In fact, PVR INOX, has even collaborated with a news channel to broadcast the ceremony live in more than 150+ cinemas in more than 70 cities across India. The who’s who of business, from Adani, Ambani, Tata, to Bollywood celebrities and sports stars like Tendulkar and Kohli are expected to attend the inauguration.I dont think we have ever seen anything like this before and neither has the stock market.The state govt of Uttar Pradesh has set aside about $10 billion for a decade-long redevelopment plan of the town. Ever since, it's almost like a gold rush amongst investors for stocks in big or small companies associated with Ayodhya. From Taj Hotels and IRCTC to Praveg, a small luxury tent company–some in the stock market believe these companies are in all set to become some of the biggest beneficiaries of this Ayodhya gold rush.But experts are warning investors against this kind of blind faith. According to them, buying into event-related market swings does not make for a sound long-term investment strategy.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.

It was 20 years ago when doctors first used the help of a robot in India to carry out a complicated heart surgery at Fortis Escorts, New Delhi. Ever since, more than 100,000 robot assisted surgeries have been performed in the country. Patients are embracing these type of surgeries now than never before and why wouldnt they?Who wouldn't want a less painful procedure, a shorter hospital stay, and most importantly lesser cuts?But they cost more than 3 or 4 times than normal surgeries. And it was only in 2019, that the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) asked health insurance providers to cover modern treatments, including robotic surgeries. And even after that, insurers are not keen on to covering them because they are expensive and the pricing is unregulated.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.

Have you noticed how easy it has become to get loans? Whether you want to buy a whole house or you want to buy a pair of shoes, you can take an EMI for whatever you want.And of course, in India, an aspirational country, this means we finally have a way to attain the standard of living we have dreamed of. In the year that ended in March 2023 household debt saw its second-highest surge since independence. It now makes up almost 6% of the country’s GDP. But as indebtedness is rising, so are cases of harassment by recovery agents. In fact, now, it's come to a point where it is giving rise to a unique type of mental health crisis–unique enough for mental health professionals to take up courses on the basics of banking and finance.Tune in.Also listen to: How Mahindra Finance dealt with the RBI curb on recovering loans via third party agentsDaybreak 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 100 Indian startups wrote to TRAI a couple of months ago urging it to maintain its unwavering support for net neutrality principles. This a tug of war began between tech companies including OTT platforms on one side and telecom companies on the other, began years ago.Telecom and internet service providers believe that content and tech companies should pay them for disproportionate traffic. But tech and content companies argue that this would violate the principles of net neutrality.Tune in to find out about this battle between telcos and content companies and how it affects net neutrality. 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.

Earlier this week, India’s biggest winemaker, Sula, saw its share price reach historic high. The winemaker controls more than half of the market share of India's domestic wine industry. When it went for an IPO at the end of 2022, it was successfully subscribed by almost two and a half times.So you might think the jump in the share price makes sense. Afterall, Sula dominates the wine market in India. But you see, India is not a wine drinking country in general. The share of wine in the country's total alcohol consumption is minuscule.Turns out, the global brokerage CLSA saying Sula could rise 50% in the next year sent its shares soaring. But this was not because Sula Indians suddenly have become wine drinkers or because Sula has entered the new market.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.

Paytm*, the fintech giant that was last valued at $16 billion would've never been able to get where it is now without its field agents. Field agents are to fintech payments companies, what delivery partners are to Zomato, Swiggy: their backbone.Out of the 70,000 odd fintech field agents in India, Paytm has about 35000 of these all around the country. The fintech giant boasts of nearly 40 million registered offline merchants now thanks to the work of its agents.But things are changing now. It's become very challenging for them to onboard new merchants, especially in urban areas, where there are barely any businesses left to tap. As for rural areas, which have a bigger share of untapped merchants, fintechs think its too expensive. Plus the growing competition amongst fintechs has made merchant loyalty difficult to maintain.The market has become saturated and of course, who could be feeling the most pressure but these agents.But what do fintechs expect them to do? Tune in.(*Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma is an investor in The Ken)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.

2023 turned out to be a landmark year for UPI (Unified Payments Interface) with the number of transactions crossing the 100-billion mark for the first time, according to the latest data released by the NPCI. The month of December alone saw more than 12 billion transactions. These numbers are testament to how UPI has revolutionized the way we use money. As of now, there are more than 300 million users in India are using UPI to freely carry out their financial transactions with each other. But did you know that your bank can block your account without a warning or any explanation based on your UPI transactions? And what's worst, you could even come under the radar of law enforcement authorities like the cyber crime police. Anyone who unknowingly makes a transaction, directly or indirectly, with a fraudster can be considered suspicious by authorities. Meanwhile, banks and law enforcement agencies still haven't managed to figure out a standard operating procedure in dealing with such matters. This had led them to adopt a ‘block first, ask questions later’ approach that's been making the lives of innocent victims of financial crimes even harder. 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.

Ever since it started, Rapido, the bike taxi company has consciously stayed away from venturing into the cab business. It was happy to stay in the bike taxi lane and beat Ola and Uber there even though that it managed to do it at the expense of customer safety.Now, though, eight years later, Rapido has finally launched its own cab hailing service. Over the last six months or so, it ran a pilot project in Hyderabad and ended up with almost a 25% share of the city’s cab hailing market so last month, it decided to launch in two more cities, New Delhi and Bangalore.What makes it different from Ola and Uber is that instead of commissions, it wants its driver partners to pay a subscription. Right now, Rapido only charges a subscription fee in Hyderabad, and drivers in the other two cities can use the platform for free for another few months. The idea is to disrupt the market by making it a more economic deal for cab drivers whose earnings from Ola and Uber have been on a free fall since the last few years.But disruption comes at a cost.Tune inAlso listen to: Is Rapido trading passenger safety for growth?Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, analytical business stories.

In 2023, more than 70 million new users downloaded the online shopping app Myntra. India’s leading fashion e-retailer owned by Flipkart has been on quite the discount giving spree lately. And we are not just talking about the year end and festive discounts. Since July, Myntra has 22 sales days every month. Its biggest rival, Reliance owned Ajio has no more than 14.So you might think, Myntra must be raking in some crazy numbers in sales right?Not quite.From onboarding hundreds of sellers a month to regular strategic changes, Myntra is trying it all. And its sales growth is still slumping. A former business executive told The Ken, “the past 15 months have been bad for Myntra.” In fact, Myntra’s net loss jumped over 30% in the financial year ended March 31, 2023. It posted a net loss of nearly 800 crore rupees.What is going on?Tune in.Listen to Anant Narayan talking about his stint as Myntra's CEO and more on First Principles hereDaybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, analytical business stories.

For the last week of December, we are taking you back to some of the most popular Daybreak episodes of 2023. We'll be back with regular programming from January 3, 2024.For a people who were quite averse to the whole concept of credit, Indians really seem to be developing a new found love for the piece of plastic and banks have been happy to ride the wave.But lately they’ve been left quite baffled because they are being being beaten at their own game. A growing community of people are constantly finding hacks to take advantage of the loopholes in credit-card reward systems. For some of them , in fact, it’s going so well that they’ve turned their secret operations into lucrative businesses. Turns out they can make more money from it than their 9 to 5 jobs.Meanwhile banks have realised they are being taken for a ride so some have taken extra security measures to keep such tricksters at bay.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, analytical business stories.

For the last week of December, we are taking you back to some of the most popular Daybreak episodes of 2023. We'll be back with regular programming from January 3, 2024.For the longest time public sector banks, as we know them, have been very reluctant about study abroad loans. And it was for good reason. They’ve suffered greatly because of education loans going bad.Meanwhile, its a whole different story that was going on with non-banks. Study abroad loans accounted for about US$4 billion in the year ended March 2023. These were almost fully funded by non-banks like Credila and Avanse Financial. Their staregy was simple—sanction collateral-free as fast as possible. Over time they gained experience and most importantly, years worth of data.Guess who is using all that data and experience gathered by non-banks to offer overseas education loans now?The banks!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 a year after the communication minister Ashwini Vaishnav had introduced a the draft version to the public, on Thursday, the Rajya Sabha passed the new Telecom Bill. Many hopes were pinned on it considering it was meant to replace the three archaic laws that had been governing India’s telecom sector. The journey until here, however, was far from smooth. The draft version of the bill had left the industry divided and it actually received a record 900 comments. After many revisions, the bill has been passed. And while it enables structural changes that will empower telecom users and simplify complicated processes such as licensing, it also raises a some serious concerns.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.

Two years ago, Sony’s India unit, Sony Pictures Networks, announced a merger with rival Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. It was supposed to be the country’s biggest entertainment deal. The combined entity would own more than 70 TV channels, two video streaming services and two film studios. Ever since, Sony Liv’s subscriber base grew from 18 million to over 33 million.With good original stories and unique non-fiction shows, alongside a strong partnerships strategy, Sony has been able to close the gap on market leaders such as Hotstar. Zee meanwhile has a formidable arsenal of regional content.The combined strengths of the two platforms, Sony and Zee, could turn out to be a serious threat to other OTT giants. But much to their relief, as temporary as it maybe, the merger may not happen after all. Because Sony it is yet to agree to Zee’s 21st Dec merger deadline extension request.Tune in.Also in this episode: X's EU troubles continue 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 Karthik Ayyar, the founder of an IIT Madras-incubated company that developed India’s first indigenous mobile operating system, BharOS, said his company is considering providing this technology for routers. BharOS is being launched as an alternative at a time when the tech giants like Google are under the scanner for anti-trust practices in India.However, this is not the first time India is trying to develop an indigenous operating system, both for mobile and computer devices.The failure of the OS projects in the past may hold some important lessons for anyone making a future attempt.Tune in for the details.Also in this episode: Jeff Bezos’ dream for the future of humanity.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.

Google has been facing fines totalling billions of dollars for abusing its dominance not just in the Indian market but around the world. So the antitrust investigations launched against it in India last year didn't really come as a surprise for the tech giant. The Competition Commission of India found Google guilty in two antitrust cases and asked it to pay close to $300 million in fines. More than half of this penalty was for exploiting its dominant position in the market for Android, which happens to power 97% of smartphones in India. Google did manage to get a breather in June this year when the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) quashed some key directives from the CCI. Google then approached the Supreme Court of India for the second time asking for all of CCI's directives to be withdrawn. While the case is still ongoing, Google lost a major anti-trust case in the US on Monday against Fortnite creator, Epic Games.Experts believe this could the outcome of the anti-trust investigation in India.Tune in.P.S New Segment on Epic vs Google starts at 8:17. 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 70% of fraudulent banking transfers in India are KYC-linked scams. A senior official at the Financial Intelligence Unit, a national agency responsible for analysing data on suspect financial transactions informed The Ken that KYC frauds amount to over Rs 900 crore ($108 million) per year.One such fraudster who spoke to us on the condition of anonymity said, "“KYC is an easy trick to pull off. People have heard about banks freezing accounts due to non-compliance with KYC norms. So they get convinced, particularly those in smaller towns and cities.” In a span four years, this fraudster's gang has stolen nearly Rs 50 lakh. But the whole point of banks carrying out the elaborate KYC process is to protect their customers from fraud. How is then that this very process accounts for nearly two-thirds of fraudulent banking transfers in India? Tune in.P.S Look out for our brand new segment in which we talk about Grok, Elon Musk's very own problem child.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 Thursday last week, the Telecom Minister of India, Ashwini Vaishnaw, declared during a press briefing that mobile phone manufacturing worth $50 billion will take place in India in the current financial year. He also said that the total exports from the category will reach $15 billion.A significant portion of this growth has to do with what the govt did three years ago. It launched a PLI scheme that aimed to make India the hub of mobile phone manufacturing. The idea was to boost large-scale manufacturing and to support domestic phone makers to become globally competitive.But of the six companies that made the cut to claim the scheme’s incentives, only two are Indian.Why is “Make in India” attracting more foreign phone makers than Indian ones?Also, there's a surprise for you at the end of the episode.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.

Recently, there was a study conducted by Hirepro called No résumés Please” where the firm went through 4 million CVs. They found nearly 85% of candidates were lying or exaggerating on their CVs in 2023.Employers and hiring managers are having a tough time dealing with it. Another study found that around 40% of HR professionals actually think using AI during the hiring process is a dealbreaker. And turns out, it's not very hard for recruiters to tell the difference between a CV written by the applicant and an AI-generated one.Should you stop using AI tools to write your CV then?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.

Foodtech giant, Swiggy, wants to raise more than $1 billion through its public offering that is scheduled for mid-2024. For this it is going by its last funding round’s valuation of nearly $ 11 billion. But why now? Because it is watching its biggest rival Zomato’s stock price finally recover this year with back-to-back profitable quarters. Earlier this year, Swiggy CEO announced in a blog post that Swiggy’s food delivery business has finally turned profitable after 9 years of its inception. And by March next year, the company as a whole aims to become profitable. But the company suffered losses with more than $ 500 million in FY 2023.How does it plan to become profitable by March 2024?Tune in to find out.RecommendationDay Zero: ISB welcomed a large batch last year. Now the scramble is on to get them all jobsDaybreak 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 Dec 1, 2023, Tata Consumer Products, Tata’s FMCG arm, announced a new CFO, Ashish Goenka. This hiring comes at a very interesting time because just about a month ago Tata Consumer Products or TCP approved the merger of 3 of its wholly owned subsidiaries—NourishCo Beverages, Tata SmartFoodz, and Tata Consumer Soulfull. Lately, the company has been on quite a roll. Its been launching out a whole bunch of new products by the dozens. And most importantly, its financials are looking quite good. In the September quarter, it reported a net profit of more than 350 crore rupees.But for the longest time, despite being a giant steel-to-software conglomerate, Tata’s consumer goods game was nowhere close to India's top FMCG companies. In fact, before 2019, it more or less stuck to selling just the essentials.But now its shares have more than tripled. How is the company managing things at this speed? Tune in to find out.RecommendationHow Tata Consumer’s Sunil D’Souza put product launches on steroids 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.

Nearly a 100 million cards are in circulation in India as of now, a 12% year-on-year rise. This rise has a lot to do with the benefits customers get: tempting cash back deals and reward points that you can collect and redeem for anything from flight tickets to staycations at luxury resorts.Cashbacks though are pretty straightforward whereas availing reward points requires a lot of effort compared to cashbacks. And between the two, there’s one that banks actually don’t like.Tune in to find out.RecommendationCredit-card whizzes outsmart banks at their own game 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.

The State Bank of India controls the biggest chunk of India's debit card market:. It also had the largest network of ATMs and CRMs (Cash Recycling Machines) spread across the country. And ATM withdrawals make up more than 80% of annual debit transactions so SBI seems to be clearly winning. But being the market leader of debit cards in India is actually turning out to be a problem for the public lender. Debit cards might be ahead of credit cards in terms of circulation but they are dying a slow death in the Indian market. In fact, a lot of industry experts agree that debit cards, in their current physical form, may actually become obsolete in the coming decade. So by being the biggest player in this market that is fading away, SBI is also taking the largest beating from its decline. But instead of cutting its losses, SBI is still doggedly trying to save this dying product. Why?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.

Tech platforms like Google, Meta, or even e-marketplaces such as Olx are increasingly becoming hotbeds of online advertising scams in India. People have been losing anything from a few thousands to even a few crore rupees to cyber crime syndicates who have proficient, tech-savvy members.The amount of money consumers have reported losing to fraud that originated on social-media platforms has skyrocketed since 2017. Last year alone, people reported losing more than $1.2 billion to fraud that started on social media.What are big techs like Google and Meta doing to prevent these crimes? Is it enough?Tune in to find out.FREE READEngineering grads haven't struggled this hard for a job in a decade 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 November 2021, *Paytm’s parent company One97 Communications went public with a $2.4 billion IPO. What followed was a bloodbath for the fintech giant. In a span of a year after the IPO, Paytm’s stock lost 75% of its market value. No other large IPO in the last decade had seen such a bad fall in stock value within the first year of listing.But last year, in a dramatic turnaround, Paytm saw its stock value go up by 90%. What could've Paytm possibly done to bring about this crazy turnaround?It was personal loans. They’re the reason Paytm saw a more than 60% jump in revenue in the year ended March 2023. But now, Paytm can't rely on it anymore.Tune in to find out why.*Paytm’s founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma is an investor in The KenDaybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India's first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, analytical business stories.

On Monday, Physics Wallah fired over 100 of its employees and also announced it was going to hire more than a thousand more in the coming months. India's only profitable edtech unicorn is on a relentless expansion spree. So much so that its investors want it to slow down.From establishing itself as the leader of NEET-JEE test preparation, Physics Wallah (PW) wants to dip its toes in a bunch of other areas—from banking and defence to civil services now. Not to forget short-term skilling courses and even tie-ups with schools.Despite this hyper growth phase coming after PW became the only profitable edtech unicorn in the last financial year, cracks are appearing on its armour now.Tune in.Recommended reads:Physicswallah vs the popstarDaybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India's first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, analytical business stories.

Varun Alagh, the CEO and co-founder the skincare company, Mamaearth, likes to think of his brand as an outlier. Just a day after Mamaearth’s parent company went public, on October 31, Alagh told The Economic Times that the company’s IPO was not going to meet the same fate as other new-age startups in the recent past. The public market has been quite hostile lately and investors are especially steering clear of digital companies and startups. But despite this Mamaearth went ahead with its plan and became the first D2C brand to go public. Unfortunately though, its shares have been falling ever since.What happened to Mamaearth is not isolated. It is the beginning of the end of the D2C gold rush.Tune in to hear all about it.Also listen to: Why retail investors showed little interest in Mamaearth's IPOFree Read: 1 to 1000: The high-stakes hunt for India’s next top product designersDaybreak 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 160 million people in five states will be deciding their political future this month in India. Out of them, two states, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, are set to go to poll today. In any democracy, the run up to the elections is a very sensitive period where misinformation can spread like wildfire. Take what happened recently in Madhya Pradesh for example. A video of the BJP CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan went viral where he can be heard saying that his party will lose the election this time because people are really angry with the BJP. Turns out, it was a fake video. Just imagine the potential of such fake content going viral with AI and deep fakes. It is a scary thought.So what is the government latest stance on dispelling fake news and misinformation especially during election time?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.

PVR INOX posted a blockbuster quarter with triple the revenue from a year ago. Nearly 50 million Indians flocked PVR INOX theaters in the September quarter. A huge part of it is of course thanks to this year's big releases like Barbie, Oppenheimer, Gadar 2, and not to forget, the record-breaking performance of Shahrukh Khan’s Jawan. Just last Sunday, Salman Khan’s much-awaited Diwali release Tiger 3 also hit the big screen. However, even though PVR INOX successfully crossed pre-pandemic revenues in the September quarter, there was one very important metric that it failed turn around: occupancy levels. So to solve the issue, it came up with a first-of-its-kind subscription plan called Passport. It allows movie-goers to watch 10 movies a month for Rs 699 only.But it turned out too good to be true. "Terms and conditions apply."Tune in to find out more.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.

Since last year, the edtech giant is facing the wrath of a group of creditors who had given it a $1.2 billion loan. They wanted it to immediately repay part of the loan.On Friday, a Delaware judge in the US concluded that the lenders had properly cited the default on loan when taking over control of a unit of Byju’s. Basically Byju’s lost the case. What could’ve triggered this lack of confidence amongst the creditors of the Edtech giant?FREE READJob hunt was once a skill test. Now, it’s a patience test tooTune 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.

Last Friday Apple reported the sixth straight record quarterly revenue from iPhone sales in India. Its FY2023 revenue from the country now stands at almost $6 billion. In fact, analysts say that by the end of this year, especially with the festive season around, it is very close to hitting $10 billion. Apple’s share in India’s smartphone market is now estimated to have touched 6%. CEO Tim Cook while speaking about Apple's performance called the Indian market extraordinary.But for over a decade since it launched in India, Apple's growth was sluggish to the point of being stagnant.What brought about this turnaround?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.

It has taken Swiggy almost ten years and a whole lot of strategically planned moves to become the indispensable app that it is for us today.But decisive moment for the delivery giant came three years ago in 2020 with the pandemic. Swiggy’s core food delivery business took quite the hit . It had no choice but to adapt quickly and branch out. It decided to build on its delivery experience and launched Instamart for groceries and Swiggy Genie for intra-city couriers.The company is now valued at just under $8 billion dollars and has seen its revenue double to almost $600 million in the year ended March 2022. Putting itself on the fast lane to growth while delivering convenience to the urban consumer has really worked out for the company. Or at least so it seems.Because in doing all of this, Swiggy might have forgotten the most important part of the equation- its 350,000 delivery partners.Tune in.Recommended background read:How Zomato, Swiggy, and Co can refill their delivery-rider tankDaybreak 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.

If you’ve been watching the ICC Cricket World Cup, youve definitely seen the PhonePe one too many times. The payments giant paid Rs 150 crore to get these advertising rights. It is the biggest UPI payments company in the country with a 49% of the market share. But why is a payments giant selling insurance and why health insurance to be specific?You see, as big as the PhonePe might be, and even with a giant like Walmart behind it, profit margins in the the payments business are pretty slim. And with a possible IPO in the works, PhonePe had no choice but to diversify and so it did.It launched its insurance vertical in 2020. However, three years have passed now and PhonePe’s insurance business has contributed just 1% to the company’s consolidated revenue for FY2023.And yet PhonePe continues to pour money into it, mainly on health insurance part. Is it a conscious choice or is it because it has no choice?Tune in.FREE READ for 24 hours:How an Indian IVF chain became a global giantDaybreak 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.

Yesterday, November 2, 2023, was the final day of Mamaearth-parent Honasa Consumer's IPO. The digital-first D2C sailed through with the price band fixed at Rs 308-324 per share.With this, Mamaearth has become the first digital-first D2C company to take the public route. It is also the first unicorn company to do so it the last 18 months. From 2020 to 2022, Honasa saw its revenues double every yea and in 2022 it also became profitable. Compared to other established beauty and personal care brands, it also stands out because of how "aggressively" it has been launching new products or SKUs. This year, it's already shown a 25 crore rupees profit. If we go by these metrics alone, things looked quite promising for Mamaearth.But its public issue was oversubscribed by 7.61X on the last day. And this was only because of the huge demand from qualified institutional buyers (QIBs). Retail buyers seemed quite uninterested in Mamaearth's IPO. Why?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.

Vivo, the Chinese smartphone maker, was in the news earlier this month for arrests of its associates after it faced ED raids last year.Despite this, Vivo became no.1 in India’s smartphone market, even ahead of Samsung and Xiaomi in the quarter ended June.What’s more, unlike Xiaomi, which saw a sharp decline in its market share after raids in 2021, Vivo is still going strong.But it can’t celebrate the victory just yet. Why?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.

The introduction of the contraceptive pill in the 1960s was one of the most significant events in the history of human society. It still left the burden of birth control largely on women.Now, however, things are changing. The demand for male contraceptives is on the rise. Last week, in a major breakthrough, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) finished clinical trials for the world's first injectable male contraceptive. The trial proved that it is safe and highly effective without any serious side effects.But why have big pharmaceutical companies not paid enough attention to the research on male contraceptives for all these years?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.

Delivery partners who work for Swiggy or Zomato are paid per order. The fee which includes variables like base fee, surcharge, etc, depends on how many kilometres they’ve travelled from pickup to delivery destination. These payments though, are never consistent and gig workers, who make our lives so convenient, struggle with earning a stable income. So when Zomato says on their bill under the delivery partner fee, ‘fully goes to them for their time and effort,’ we appreciate it thinking the money we’ve paid has gone to the delivery partner.Except, it doesn’t.Tune in.FREE READThe pandemic couldn’t kill Bookmyshow, but it definitely changed its faceDaybreak 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.

According to latest numbers, Ola Electric, the leader of two-wheeler EVs in India, is losing market share—from 40 per cent in July to just 29 per cent in September. Bajaj Auto, meanwhile, has gained the most market share. It started with just a 4% share in April and now it has gone up to 11%. Ola Electric maybe doing much better with more than 250,000 scooters sold so far but the discontent regarding its after sales services is getting louder. Bajaj, on the other hand, has had a more sustainable growth trajectory and it has a lot to do with its service first approach. Plus, there’s one more thing that Bajaj has going for it that Ola Electric doesn't—the power of nostalgia. In 2020, it brought out its iconic Chetak scooter out of an early retirement in an all-new, high-tech, electric avatar.How far can nostalgia and focus on service take Bajaj in the two-wheeler EV market?Tune in.(With script inputs from Diksha Munjal)RecommendationCharging up the Chetak: Bajaj’s path to new mobility 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.

Two days ago, on Tuesday, India’s most famous edtech was in the news again. Byju’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Ajay Goyal quit the edtech barely 6 months after joining. It had taken Byju’s 16 months to find Goyal after its previous CFO PV Rao quit in December 2021 .Goyal was hired only in April this year and had a tough task cut out for him: to help improve the company’s financial compliance is what Byju’s has been in a lot of trouble for. Goyal was to finalize the FY22 accounts and and issue the audited accounts as soon as possible. A little more than a week ago, we also heard news that Byju’s was expected to file the long-awaited financial results for FY22 later that week. But more than 10 days later there is no sign of the financials. Instead the edtech’s CFO who was incharge of getting those financials out has quit. Thankfully though, in its statement, Byju's said that Goyal will complete work on Byju’s audited FY 22 financial statement before leaving, which means, that the FYY 22 financials will be out sooner than later. So in today's episode we take you back to the edtech's botched up FY 2021 financials so you know what to look out for in the next one.Tune in.Free ReadKota’s Rs 6,000 cr coaching business may never be the same againRecommended listeningWTFinancials is going on at Byju's?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 October 14, a Saturday, Disney Hotstar set a world record: it saw the highest number of simultaneous viewers tune in for any format of cricket ever. The ICC World Cup match between India and Pakistan was streaming and it drew in 35 million viewers.A week later, on Sunday, it broke that record too with the India-New Zealand match when 43 million viewers tuned in. The timing of this couldn't be better for the OTT giant which lost 21 million subscribers since last year when it lost the rights to IPL. Ever since Disney Hotstar executives in India were on a mission to prove to their California headquarters that its OTT business in India could be turned around. But just a day later after hitting 43 million viewers, on October 23, Bloomberg reported Walt Disney may sell a controlling stake in the Disney Star business to Reliance Industries. While nothing about the deal is final yet, it does make one wonder about the timing of it all.What is in this deal for Reliance and more importantly is it enough for Disney to hold on to Hotstar for now?Tune in to find out.RecommendationDisney+ Hotstar’s last danceDaybreak 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.

It's going to be a year since the Reserve Bank of India launched its very own Central Bank Digital Currency or CBDC. In fact, just a few days ago, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das, who has been leading India’s transition into digital payments while speaking at an IMF event touted CBDC, popularly known as the e-rupee, as the currency of the future.Banks, and tech experts have said that it is an innovation that can drive financial inclusion, help digitise India’s economy, and simplify cross-border trade. After the launch, the RBI's aim was to hit 1 million retail CBDC transactions per day by December 2023.But now, just a little more than a month away from the deadline, CBDC is lagging far behind its goal with just 10,000–18,000 retail transactions a day.Is the e-rupee ready to be the currency of the future yet?Free ReadNo funds. No ads. Indian short-video creators face a new reality RecommendationCan India’s digital currency still be another UPI?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

With increased competition within the country, the world leader of Ayurveda brands, Dabur, is looking to acquire and expand. It wants to change its story and focus on a new target consumer. Just last year in October, it acquired a 51% stake in Badshah Masala, one of the country’s leading spices companies. But how is the over-hundred years old company planning to reinvent? Tune in. RecommendationDabur seeks Gen Z approval to shed boomer imageDaybreak 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

BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) is becoming popular in India because it offers short-term financing options, financial flexibility, affordability, and smaller credit lines. In fact, the BNPL market expected to reach $35–40 billion by 2026 from $3.5–4 billion in 2021.But unlike credit cards, BNPL services lack security and many customers are left vulnerable to vishing (voice phising) scams. Most of them are via Olamoney and Mobikwik ZIP. Meanwhile, more than two-thirds of cybercrimes in India are now online and vishing scams account for 5.3% of such crimes. To make matters worse, there is little recourse for defrauded BNPL customers because proper consumer-protection guidelines are not in place. And even though they were scammed, many of them are being forced to clear their dues for transactions they never made.Tune in.RecommendationFirst Principles Ep.27: Lalit Keshre of Groww on being far-sighted, intuitive and absolutely obsessed with your customer🎧Spotify🎧AppleDaybreak 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 March this year, the world's largest coffeehouse chain, Starbucks, finally crossed the Rs 1,000-crore rupee revenue mark in India for the first time. So far, it has 350 outlets in India. Now, carrying a cup of Starbucks around has almost become like a lifestyle statement.In many ways, Starbucks entered the Indian market with a huge advantage because India's undisputed coffee leader, Cafe Coffee Day (CCD), was already declining at the time.But while Starbucks is looking at the bigger picture and hasn't managed to become profitable yet, an Indian coffee startup, Third Wave, has entered the scene and is giving the global coffee giant a run for its money.Tune in.Free ReadThe invisible hand behind startups' crazy valuation runDaybreak 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

Beets are a superfood today. Tomorrow it’ll be lemons. The internet is rife with misinformation especially about food and health related stuff. There are hundreds of influencers on your feed telling you what’s good for you.But who’s telling you what’s bad and what doesn’t work? Maybe a keto diet worked for your friend but not for you. Take Dr Cyriac Abby Philips who goes by The Liver Doc on X or Twitter. Recently, he claimed there is no point in taking multivitamins.He is a de-influencer and there are many like him who work towards breaking down myths. Often they’re faced with legal action and threats, yet most of them continue their work.But what is really fuelling de-influencers?Tune in.RecommendationThe wild finfluencer party is finally coming to an endDaybreak 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

The NITI Aayog was created in 2015 to replace the decades-old Planning Commission. The idea was to adopt a more bottom-up approach to make India competitive in today's global economy. With CEO Amitabh Kant as the leader, the think tank progressed to become a thriving, open, and empowering space for public policy experts, including those from non-government backgrounds. But ever since Kant's stint ended at the think tank in 2022, the walls between the leadership and non-govt employees at the think tank are getting thicker. From what appears, NITI Aayog is going back to the top down approach, quite like the Planning Commission back in the day.This is making its non-govt employees quite unhappy. In fact 4 out of every 10 of them have quit this year.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

Losing IPL rights last year to Jio and then dropping HBO content has cost Disney+ Hotstar at least 21 million subscribers in just a year.The streaming giant though, decided that IPL or no IPL cricket is going to be its biggest customer acquisition funnel in 2023. And it looks like they are holding on to that strategy. The Asia Cup was streamed for free on Disney Hotstar. Now, the ICC Cricket World Cup is on and it's available on Disney Hotstar too. The OTT giant is offering free live streaming of the event to its mobile users.But a lot of the new survival strategy, put together by the Disney Hotstar's head honchos, depends on how India does in the tournament.Tune in.CORRECTION: In the episode, the host mistakenly refers to the ICC Cricket World Cup as ICC T20 Cricket World Cup. The error is regretted. Free Read:What airports really want to do with DigiyatraAlso listen to:Disney leaves Jio the keys to the kingdomDaybreak 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

Licious, the online meat delivery platform, was India’s first direct to consumer company or D2C that achieved the unicorn status. It was valued at $1.4 billion two years ago and it had enough money to grow to Rs 100 crore of revenue per month, but its revenue has remained flat from the last two years.Licious follows the premium pricing strategy. Its products are priced higher price than the average market but its customer base is ready to pay that extra amount because of the quality Licious delivers. But Licious is not being able to expand its user base to the larger meat eating population because of this very premium pricing strategy.But it needs to deliver on a growth rate worthy of its billion dollar plus valuation.Tune in.RecommendationWhy India won’t see a $100 billion internet company anytime soonDaybreak 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

It took Bajaj Finance over 15 years to become the most valued NBFC in the country. And then came along Jio Financial Services Ltd (JFSL) and took the no. 2 position in a span of just two months. It is currently valued at more than $17 billion.Its all set to take the top space. Currently, the company is on a serious hiring spree and it seems to have taken a particular liking to former ICICI Bank employees for its key executive roles. After all, a lot of its future success will depend on the team it builds.But this is not the first time Reliance has tried its hands in the finance sector. The last time it did, things didn't really take off. What's different this time?Tune in.Free ReadA job with McKinsey, Bain, or BCG trumps everything. Or it used toDaybreak 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