Daybreak

Yesterday, Netflix announced that it will be starting password sharing restrictions in India. The OTT giant will only allow users on the same internet connection to access a particular account. Anybody who is not a part of what its calling "Netflix Household" will not be able to access content.While move did not come as a surprise since Netflix has already implemented it in many countries like the USA already, that it is using the same strategy in India, a market it has been struggling with for a while, is interesting.Will this new move help Netflix get more subscribers in India?Tune in.RecommendationsNetflix’s last growth marketSpotify adopts Indian habits to avoid the ‘Netflix problem’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.

Pharmeasy, once the highest-valued Indian healthcare startup, is planning to raise money in a new round of funding at a 90% markdown from its previous valuation.From $5.6 billion to $500 million. All because Pharmeasy had to take another debt to pay off its previous debt. The second time though, interest rates were not zero. What's going on?Tune in.RecommendationByju’s is looking like a hedge fundThe tail of acquisitions wagging India’s funding dogDaybreak 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.

From Rs 400 per piece in 2019, the shares of Reliance Retail, went up to Rs 4000 by 2021 in the unlisted market. Reliance Retail is India’s largest operator of supermarkets, apparel outlets, and electronics stores. And its shares were the hottest cake in the grey market for a while.Many investors expected it go go for a public listing until a little more than a week ago when Mukesh Ambani threw in a surprise. The company said it would effectively cancel the holdings of its minority investors and offer them Rs 1,362 per share. Basically, Reliance Retail had cancelled its shares held by minority investors leaving them shocked and confused.What made the company take this decision? And what should retail investors learn from this? Tune in.RecommendationWhy investors are buying what Reliance Retail is sellingDaybreak 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 kilometers 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.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.

Ad scams in India using tech platforms like Google, Meta, or even e-marketplaces such as Olx are becoming increasingly common and dangerously creative. 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 the likes of Google and Meta doing to prevent these crimes? Is it enough?Tune in.RecommendationOn Google and Facebook’s watch, cybercrime syndicates flourish by Pratap Vikram SinghDaybreak 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 many years, finfluencers have been enjoying an almost no-holds barred party in the Indian market since they operate outside Sebi's regulatory ambit. While there is no doubt about the importance of their role in combating India's rampant financial illiteracy, many often give advice that is generic, underplaying risks, and overplaying returns. After reviewing several complaints, two weeks ago, Sebi Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch was asked about Sebi's views on regulating influencers once again. This time she did put India's financial influencers on notice. A SEBI circular seems to be on its way and finfluencers have good reason to be worried.Tune in.RecommendationSebi’s Madhabi Puri Buch and the art of keeping market players on tenterhooksDaybreak 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, last year, airport lounges saw of football of over 8.5 million people.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. Earlier last month, Axis Bank, the country’s fourth-largest credit-card issuer, revised its lounge policy. But retracting the freebie altogether is not a risk banks can afford to take.What are they doing then?Tune in.Recommendation:Credit-card issuers can’t bank on their most profitable users 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 November 2022, when Paytm shares dropped to an all-time low, the fintech giant has been on a steady recovery path. If all goes well, its share price may cross Rs 1000 soon.But what's even more interesting is the sharp jump in its loan distributions in FY23. In the March quarter of the same year, Paytm distributed nearly 12 million loans worth over 1.5 billion dollars.And last Friday, Paytm’s parent company even announced a partnership with Shriram Finance, an NBFC that's known for its deep understanding of risk and more importantly, its collections capabilities. What's driving this prolific growth and how is Paytm growing its loan business in the post-FLDG era?Tune in.**Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma is an investor in The Ken RecommendationPaytm’s results hint at a turnaround. But loan-collection hacks drive it by Gaurav Noronha, Arundhati RamanathanPaytm IPO tells, and tells a lot, but doesn’t show by Arundhati RamanathanDaybreak 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, Kotak Institutional Equities, released a note and turns out, Zomato managed to maintain its lead over Swiggy with a 55% market share in the year 2022. Swiggy is at 45%.Swiggy and Zomato have been constantly win the bigger share in India’s $5 billion food delivery market. But it was Swiggy that had the portion share just three years ago. Inherently, both the food delivery companies are quite different from each other. And it is this difference that's been giving Zomato an edge lately.Recommended reading:Why Swiggy is building a Shopify for local brandsDaybreak 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.

ICICI's stock has tripled since 2018—the year when ICICI’s current CEO Sandeep Bakhshi took over. Loans and deposits are growing strong, margins are healthy, and investors can’t seem to get enough of the blue-chip company. Bakshi joined at a time when the bank was reeling from the after-effects of his predecessor Chanda Kochchar's controversial exit.The bank was experiencing a high rate of attrition and employees needed reassurance and stability. Bakshi gave them just that. He revamped the bank's HR policy, bringing about a democratisation with decisions like the standardisation of appraisals and tenure-based promotions.All these moves made him quite the favourite amongst many current and even former employees. But it has also led to the creation of a faction of young disgruntled high-performers who feel they are not incentivised enough. And they are resigning. Tune in.Recommendation:At ICICI Bank, Sandeep Bakhshi’s people-first strategy costs top people by Rounak Kumar GunjanDaybreak 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 decades, the 60 year old BITS Pilani, one of the most prestigious science and engineering institutions in the country, has been second to India's crown jewels–the IITs.Now, the institute is on a mission under the leadership of its Group Vice Chancellor, V Ramgopal Rao. A syllabus revamp after a decade, a US$100M endowment fund from alumni, 10% of faculty from industry, allowing a year off for startups—BITS has taken some major leapsIt wants to be on the top with the IITs.Tune in.Recommended reading: BITS Pilani is tired of playing second fiddle to IITs by Alifiya KhanDaybreak 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.

Starting April, major non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), including Avanse Financial Services, Aditya Birla Finance, and Fullerton India, which lend to Byju’s’ customers, suspended loans for the edtech. These play an important role in allowing Byju's to make its sales to its customers via zero-interest EMIs. With sales slowing down, the edtech desperately needs these financing options because its one year courses range from anything between Rs 20,000 to Rs 1.4 lakh. Not all its customers can afford to pay it all in one go. This is why Byju’s tied up with these NBFCs in the first place. But now that the non-banks have left the building, what is the ailing giant doing to survive?Tune in.Recommendations: Byju’s has one escape route Indian lenders cut off Byju’s air supply by not lending to its usersDaybreak 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 evening news broke that Deloitte, the biggest audit firm in the world, has resigned as Byju's statutory auditor. This couldn't come at a worse time for the edtech giant. Just hours before this, three of its key board members also tendered their resignations over differences with the company's founder. It was in September last year when, after a long delay that raised many eyebrows, Byju’s had finally released its financials for the year 2021. The delay was because Deloitte was not satisfied with what Byju’s was presenting to them as a fair picture of their accounts. It gave it an "adverse opinion."Months have passed since and there is still no sign of Byju's financials for FY2022. Worst still, the company's own projection of a Rs 10,000 crore revenue for the same year seems to be incorrect.Tune in. Recommendations: The seven things you need to know about Byju’s FY21 financials WTFinancials is going on at Byju's? Byju’s is looking like a hedge fund Indian lenders cut off Byju’s air supply by not lending to its usersDaybreak 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.

Despite being called ‘the pharmacy of the world,’ time and again, the Indian pharmaceutical industry has received criticism for substandard quality. Last year, the deaths of children in Gambia and Uzbekistan were allegedly linked to cough syrups manufactured in India.Yesterday, the WHO flagged seven more Indian-made cough syrups for containing toxic chemicals. Why does Indian Pharma still struggle with quality control?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.

When Tata acquired the e-grocer, BigBasket, at a reported valuation of $2 billion in mid-2021, the company was loss-making. For those at BigBasket, it was an opportunity to shift their focus back to the company’s core business: doorstep grocery delivery. While it was a bit too late when Tata realised its new acquisition was left out from the quick commerce game, there is one game that BigBasket seems to be clearly winning.Tune in to find out.Recommended reading: Torn between growing competition and Tatas’ ambitions, $3.2B BigBasket is at a crossroadsDaybreak 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 Indian Railways exclusively provides travellers a 10 lakh rupees worth insurance cover on booking train tickets online for less than half a rupee. Despite this, a large majority of Indian travellers are not covered by any form of travel insurance.Just a little more than 30 crore lives were covered by general and health insurers for domestic travel, according to the annual report of India’s insurance regulator IRDAI. Why?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.

Over the years, the more health conscious we became, the more cooking oil-markers pushed different variations of words associated with 'health' in their branding. But they've been burying the caveat in the fine print. For example, Adani Wilmar’s refined soybean oil goes by the brand name ‘Fortune Soya Health’ in bold letters on the front of the pack. But if you turn the pouch around, you'll notice at the back, in small tiny letters, it reads: “The word ‘health’ is only a brand name and does not represent the product's true nature.” Tune in to find out how cooking oils brands available in the Indian market have been knowingly misleading consumers and how bad refined oils can be for you health. Recommended reading: Fortune Vivo oil meets its inevitable sticky 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.

In the last few years post-pandemic, fleet-management companies like Everest have become the silent battalion in Uber's army of cabs. In fact, 90% of Everest's fleet is with Uber.This, of course, has helped Everest grow its revenues by 150X. Both seem to have found their relationship to be mutually beneficial. Everest gets to run its assets on a high demand platform. And for Uber, it become so much easier to manage its cars. No need to deal with hiring and training drivers.Now, Uber is deepening its ties with Everest, especially since it wants to roll out EVs. But as Uber gives more control to the fleet management company, the basics of the ride hailing business could change forever.Recommended reading: Blusmart wants ride-hailing glory by saying no to Uber, Ola’s scaleDaybreak 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.

Just two years ago, quick commerce became all the rage. Now, it's slowly becoming a relic of the pandemic. The biggest names in the business have been tumbling over in the past few months. They've either been shutting down their quick delivery businesses or they're rolling back the number of their dark stores.Meanwhile, Zepto, one of the leading quick delivery platforms that made ten minute deliveries a thing, is among the first in the Indian quick-commerce space that hasn’t had layoffs or store closures in recent times. Nor has it pivoted to new verticals. In fact, its founder Aadit Palicha who spoke to The Ken told us he sees no reason to turn away from delivering groceries in minutes.Tune in.Recommended reading: Zepto is looking for a chairDaybreak 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 week, edtech giant Byju's saw its valuation come crumbling down from $22 billion to $8 billion. And June 5, 2023 happened to be the last day for the company to pay off a $40 million instalment on its highest unrated loan.This is, of course, only a part of Byju's problems which range from bad press to a growth slump and a lot more. To say that Byju's is in a precarious position right now would be an understatement. The question to ask is: will it sink or swim?There is one tiny glimmer of hope.Tune in to find out.Recommended reading: Byju’s is looking like a hedge fund 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 the advent of plastic in the 1980s, the once-flourishing jute industry of India saw a slow demise. But lately, the tables seemed to have turned.Countries are implementing more stringent ESG rules forcing global retailers like Ikea, Walmart, Tesco, etc to look for alternatives to plastic bags. India being the largest producer of jute is suddenly in focus. More than $120 million worth of jute bags were exported in the last financial year alone.However, neighbouring Bangladesh, also one of the leading producers of jute is quickly catching up.Tune in to find out more.Recommended reading: Walmart and Ikea are why a British-era industry is back in vogueDaybreak 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 the govt launched Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), the idea was to build the world largest e-commerce platform to check the monopoly of giants like Amazon and Flipkart. You could think of ONDC as the UPI of e-commerce. From ride-sharing and food delivery, to groceries, the platform can be used to buy and sell anything. Lately, ONDC has been doing some interesting things with pricing. For example, someone ordered food on it for a price that was 45% lower than Swiggy. This, obviously, got thinking. Could ONDC kill the likes of Swiggy and Zomato and others?While there is no exact answer to that because of a bunch of factors, what made us more curious was this: Do we want ONDC to win? And if it does then what could be the consequences?Tune in to find out.Recommended reading: Why everyone wants a piece of India’s open e-commerce platform 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 government of India launched a $3 billion dollar production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for automobiles to boost manufacturing, especially EV manufacturing, within India in 2022.It was a win-win for both—EV makers had been eagerly waiting for beneficial subsidies and the government could use it to push domestic private investments and create jobs in the sector. But more than a year has passed and the funds remain untouched. Not a single company selected under the scheme has qualified for the incentives, let alone received them. Tune in to find out what's going on.Recommended reading: Rajiv Bajaj has the last sigh on EV subsidiesDaybreak 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 almost two decades, India was a stagnant market for one of the leading tech companies of the world. But in 2021, things changed and Apple's sales graph in India began to rise upwards.By 2022, Apple sole over 7 million iPhones in the country. And then in April, Apple CEO Tim Cook inaugurated India’s first Apple retail store in Mumbai. But compared to markets like the US and China, Apple's numbers in India are far from substantial. Yet, the company is looking to give Its Indian customers a premium experience, even if the sales don’t yet justify it. Tune in.Recommended reading: Indians’ love for the iPhone is stronger than ever. But Apple retailers are not happy 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.

A year and a half ago, Sony’s India unit—Sony Pictures Networks—announced a merger with rival Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. 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, now threaten to change the pecking order of the country's OTT sectorTune in.

Not long ago, being a fintech company in India meant having a promising future. Because people would always needed to make payments which is why it was assumed that building better products around these needs would ensure good business.But it was not how things panned out. And the story of Instamojo, a promising fintech company is testament to that.After 11 years of being in the business, it has decided it does not want to be a payments company anymore.

In 2016, Jio invested more than $50 billion to roll out a 4G network across India. The move disrupted the telco sector leaving Airtel down at the second place. The other rivals didn't make itThe telecom sector was left in the hands of a duopoly. Now, there is a new war between these two giants and it is over home broadband.In fact, the crown they’re fighting for is to be the go-to service provider for not just broadband but the whole works—a complete suite of entertainment, gaming, and home-surveillance services. What are they up against and how are they prepping to win?Tune in.Recommended reading: Jio, Airtel brace for another epic price war. And it’s not for mobile usersDaybreak 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.

From amazing salary hikes and other perks being served on a silver platter just a year or two ago to now, when companies are using salary benchmarks to figure out whether they have overvalued employees—the startup ecosystem in India is going through a churn.In fact, as many as a quarter of startup professionals might be what HR and hiring professionals are terming as 'unhireables' at this point.Former overvalued startups that had gone on hiring sprees are now doing all they can to correct their mistakes while employees are resisting, waiting for things to settle with fingers crossed.Tune in.Recommended reading: India’s startup workplaces confront the rise of the ‘unhireables’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.

What makes Dunzo unique is that one could never imagine a company its size to have the kind of influence it does.In 2022, a $200 million funding from Reliance Retail sent the quick-commerce startup flying high. It began expanding its dark stores and even ran advertisements in IPL.But the IPL led boom did not last long. The same year, the number and volume of orders began to decline.Dunzo was forced to recalibrate its focus and rethink its 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, analytical business stories.

India's youngest detect 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:India’s youngest edtech unicorn Physics Wallah is making an audacious gamblePhysicswallah 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.

Last year in October, the Karnataka government banned Ola and Uber autorickshaws after they were caught overcharging. A month later a new app was launched and it was almost antithesis of Ola and Uber. It charged zero commission from drivers and no cancellation or surge charges from riders. Plus, the government supported it by saying it would be listed on its e-commerce behemoth, ONDC.Yet, eight months later, Namma Yatri is not growing as much as expected in terms of registered drivers and users. Tune in to find out more.Recommended reading: Your Namma Yatri auto driver may still be on Uber, OlaAlso, listen to: Gaurav Munjal of Unacademy on being confrontational, paranoid and transparentDaybreak 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.

Freshworks, one of the most successful SaaS companies that was listed on Nasdaq in 2021, wanted to hit $1 billion in annualised revenue by 2023. What made it stand out was also its employee-first approach.That it took the company just 5 years to climb from $1 million in ARR in 2010 hit $100 million indicated that the target could've been achieved. but it's 2023, and Freshworks is only halfway towards the goal.How is the company planning to pursue its profit goals?Tune in to fine out.Recommended reading: How Freshworks is going from being a ‘people-first’ to a ‘profits-first’ companySubscribe to The Ken for more exclusive, deeply-reported, analytical business stories.

The pandemic worsened the nursing crisis in India. If 35 nurses were required for every 10,000 people, India only has 25. Exploitative work conditions and poor pay are making nurses migrate in huge numbers to other countries for better jobs. It is an exodus.The government on its part its trying to solve the crisis by building more nursing colleges. But this is akin to a doctor treating the symptom instead of the disease.Tune in to find out why.

India’s nutraceutical market is estimated to be worth $4-5 billion and the government expects it to be worth almost five times more in the next two years. As important as it is to monitor the rapidly growing market, regulations have not really kept up.And in a post-Covid world where preventive healthcare has become all the rage, a dangerous situation is being created. Health supplement makers are flouting RDA guidelines and consumers have been paying little attention.Tune in to find out why you need to read the fine print before you buy your next dose of multivitamin gummies.Recommended reading: How healthy are health supplements? India’s food regulator wants to find outDaybreak 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.

Last week, a full search and seizure operation was carried out by the Enforcement Directorate on three offices of edtech giant Byju's. The $22 billion startup is being investigated under the Foreign Exchange Management Act.The move comes at a terrible time for Byju's since it is already struggling with a long list of troubles including a potential debt crisis. The company still hasn't filed its financials for FY 2022.In this episode, not only do we look back at Byju’s missteps, we also go over what it did right, and how it still did not matter.Tune in.Recommended reading: The seven things you need to know about Byju’s FY21 financialsSubscribe to The Ken for more exclusive, deeply-reported, analytical business stories.

The launch of Chinese video content platform Tiktok in 2017 changed the social media landscape forever. The short video format became all the rage. Despite TikTok being banned in 2020, the format stayed and a range of Indian short-video apps came up.Content creators from small towns and cities joined such platforms and for many it became a dependable source of income. Some were making as much as Rs 1 lakh a month.But now, with advertisers slashing their budgets, platforms such as Moj and Josh are ending their exclusive deals with content-creators.What seemed like a viable career option for thousands across the country is no longer the same.Tune in.

The initial public offering ((IPO) of Mankind Pharma Ltd opened for subscription on 25th April and closed just yesterday. The pharma major is reportedly eyeing a valuation of over $6.7 billion.But in recent years, the Indian stock market has not been very kind to pharmas that have been listed. Since 2010, 17 of them have had IPOs, but four have delisted. Of the remaining, half are trading below their listing price.Amidst this and the current economic state that is making many postpone their IPOs, Mankind still went ahead with its plan. Why?Tune in to find out.

In February this year, Vodafone Idea gave away a 33% stake to the Indian government and the government converted a part of its dues into equity. Many analysts though think even this cannot save the sinking telco.Because the company still owes the government $23 billion and banks $1.5 billion. And it also needs $6 billion for an all-India network upgrade to roll out 5G.Vodafone Idea has too much to deal with—a towering mountain of debt, a ruthless giant of a rival, and the merger with Idea that turned out to be a bad decision. In today's episode, we look at the possible outcomes of how the saga of the struggling telco could end.Tune in.

Ever since they came up a little less than a decade ago, e-pharmacies have been fighting a constant battle. On one hand there is the severe pushback from traditional pharmacy lobbies and on the other, the lack of a regulatory mechanism.It was only in 2017 that the government officially acknowledged their existence. It was a small win, but a win nonetheless. But the draft e-pharmacy rules that the government came up with a year later were never notified.Despite this, e-pharmacies continued operating and their importance was only highlighted further during the pandemic.But in February this year, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) sent show-cause notices to 20 e-pharmacies. These included Tata 1mg, Amazon, Flipkart, Reliance Retail-owned NetMeds, MediBuddy, Practo and Apollo.However, e-pharmacies are here to stay.Tune in to find out more

In 2020, Google invested $4.5 billion in Reliance's Jio Platforms for a 7.7% equity. The flagship product of this alliance was a budget friendly 4G smartphone priced at Rs 6500 called JioPhone Next. The idea was to make the internet more accessible to millions of more Indians.When it was launched, the telco was expected to sell at least 20 million devices in a year. But so far, it has sold only 2 million.A tech giant and a telco giant coming together to make a pocket-friendly smartphone--the plan sounded perfect. What could've gone wrong?Tune in to find out.

The Blinkit delivery workers' strike that began last week has brought the spotlight back on the delivery personnel crisis in India. Just last year in July, Swiggy’s delivery partners in Bangalore too had gone on strike. Their issues range from wages to the lack of basic employee benefits.With an IPO scheduled for 2024 and its 1000 plus crore rupee investment in the bike-taxi company Rapido, the stakes were high for the food delivery platform. It had to find a solution and it had to be soon. So, it came up with a plan.It gave its delivery personnel the option to double as bike-taxis during non-peak hours. This was to incentivise them for doing more work in a day and also retain them during peak hours. But can a food delivery rider deliver meals and also ferry people? Tune in to find out.(Edit note: Earlier, we mistakenly said Swiggy's investment in Rapido was 100 crore rupees instead of 1000 crore rupees. The error is deeply regretted)

BookMyShow has its share of testing times since its birth back in 1998. The last one came as the pandemic and brought the platform down to its knees. Year-on-year revenues fell to one seventh in FY21 and it had to cut down its employee size from over 1500 to just a little over 500.To everyone's surprise, however, BookMyShow managed to not only survive but also recover quite swiftly.But now, the company wants to become more than just a movie ticket-selling platform. It want to win the live events game. Tune in!

After its listing, investors were almost bullish about Nykaa shares. And for good reason. The company has been a pioneer in normalising buying beauty and cosmetic products online. It showed profitability that the other listed tech companies were nowhere close to.So in 2018, it decided to venture into fashion.But things have been a bit shaky since last year. A week ago, Nykaa gave its investors a “revenue update” for the last quarter and it did not paint a very pretty picture. The company blamed the pullback in discretionary spending for the subdued growth in its fashion business.This, however, is not the first time fashion has been the source of concern for the beauty and personal care e-commerce giant.Was Nykaa's foray into fashion worth the risk?Tune in to find out.

Phone calls from Bajaj Finance offering loans are almost inescapable and lately, the non-bank has been facing quite a backlash for it.But telecalling has been an enduring sales channel for the company which boasts of a loan book worth $28 billion. And despite the massive size of its loan book, it's been growing at 30% for years. Now this rate is seeing a dip through.Bajaj needs to maintain a 26-27% growth rate. Meanwhile, shifting its loan sourcing to its digital assets is going to take a while.So those pesky calls are unlikely to stop anytime soon.In this episode, we take a closer look at this Bajaj Finance's annoying but successful system of tele-calling.

According to a survey by S&P, more than 75 per cent of Indian adults do not understand basic financial concepts. The gap is more when it comes to women. 80%. 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.

With the digital streaming rights to IPL gone and the recent losses it posted, India's undisputed OTT leader is trying to figure out a new strategy to stay on top of the game.As other OTT platforms around the world are consciously choosing to spend less on original programming, Disney+Hotstar is doing the opposite in India.But is it enough to make up for the 30 million viewers it would get on average every day when the IPL was on?Tune in to find out.

India’s patent office decided to reject pharma giant Johnson &Johnson’s appeal to extend the patent for a life-saving TB medicine called bedaquiline which is used to treat those with drug resistant infections. But for a long time before this, Johnson & Johnson was enjoying a monopoly in India. Generic manufacturers could not make this life-saving medicine. The Indian government too, at the time, had decided to protect the pharma giant.Not just that, Johnson & Johnson was also conveniently projecting itself as a charitable organisation through its health programmes.What does the Indian govt’s decision mean for TB patients in India now?

If you had to compare all the online payment methods available to us, digital wallets like Paytm have gone through the roughest of waters. From being the life-saver during demonetisation to being left behind by UPI, digital wallets haven't had it easy. But last week, UPI parent NPCI released a circular about the use of digital wallets that brought a ray of hope albeit after a bit of confusion. It had to do with certain charges being levied on transactions over Rs 2,000.How could it work as a shot in the arm digital wallets and who is actually going to pay these new charges?Diclaimer:*Paytm’s founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma is an investor in The Ken.*The Ken has been part of multiple programmes initiated by GPay parent Google for news organisations globally, including, most recently, its 2022 APAC Innovation Challenge.

With the IPL set to begin today, a few days ago Jio announced a move that many say could be the next big disruption. The Reliance Group, which has the digital rights of the event, is streaming the games for free on its OTT platform, JioCinema.The main goal is to get people to switch the traditional way of viewing cricket, especially IPL, from TV to digital streaming.So on 27 March, Jio launched its most affordable fixed broadband plan yet. The plan offers unlimited data at 10 Mbps for Rs 198 per month. Before this, Jio was giving fixed broadband customers 30 Mbps bandwidth for Rs 399 a month. Will the new broadband plan get enough viewers to switch to digital streaming? Tune in.

The Indian government has set an ambitious goal with the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) program for mobile-phone manufacturing. By 2026, it aims to push the country's annual exports to a whopping $300 billion.The idea is 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?Tune in to find out.