Avsnitt
-
For nearly a decade, Swiggy and Zomato have fed our hunger and dominated prime real estate on our phone screens, leaving very little room for any serious challengers.
Most who tried to break in got their fingers burnt before they even got started. But now, a new player has decided to throw its hat into the ring.This is a player that has some experience taking on titans, though the last time around it was in a completely different space. Rapido – the Bangalore-based startup that quietly muscled its way into India’s ride-hailing market – is all set to launch its own a food delivery platform called 'Ownly'.
Sure, Rapido’s mission of zero commission, equal pricing in offline and online, and meals as low as ₹150 looks compelling,
but the real question is: how will Rapido make money?Tune in.
Want to attend The Ken's next event on health, fitness and wellness? Buy tickets here. Here's your chance to help us shape the conversation: https://theken.typeform.com/to/bZhqWl2g
-
The luggage industry seems to have undergone quite a makeover in the last few years. Back in the day, VIP and Safari were synonymous with the plain black and grey suitcases. But now, luggage is as important as the clothes you wear–it’s part of the whole airport look.
Startups like Mokobara, Nasher Miles, Assembly, and Uppercase have turned luggage into an aspirational lifestyle product with smart social-media marketing and a vibrant aesthetic.Also, important to note is that travel changed after Covid pandemic. The duration of trips has shortened, but the frequency of general travel has increased from once every three months to once every 45 days.The suitcase now has to fit in with the instagram aesthetic so it has gone from being functional to a style statement. As of now, VC-backed, new-age luggage brands only have a tiny slice of the market.
But that slice has been growing quickly, and that’s enough to get the old guard nervous.Tune in.
**This episode was first published on Feb 3, 2025
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.
We are on WhatsApp at +918971108379. Text us and tell us what you thought of the episode! -
Saknas det avsnitt?
-
Last month, The Ken set out on a quest to understand how deep AI’s roots have grown in Indian companies. We asked India’s employees across industries and experience levels the extent to which they were using AI tools on a day to day and how it had changed workplace dynamics for them.
Nearly 500 people took our survey. Nine out of 10 of them said they had begun using AI tools, even if it meant paying for them out of their own pocket.
Once we got a sense of how employees were feeling about AI, we turned the lens on some of India’s biggest companies. What were they doing to help their employees keep up?
Turns out that’s something the likes of Razorpay, Phonepe, Cars24, Homelane and Zerodha are actively working towards.
Tune in.
Want to attend The Ken's next event on health, fitness and wellness? Buy tickets here. Here's your chance to help us shape the conversation: https://theken.typeform.com/to/bZhqWl2g
-
The Indian wealth-management industry is booming and everyone wants a piece of the action. But here’s the twist: as the industry explodes, the people managing all that wealth have become the real prize.
In a business that caters not just to the top 1%, but the top 0.01% of India’s elite, having the best wealth managers on your roster isn’t just important—it’s everything.And one four-year-old upstart got that memo early. Neo Group has been on an aggressive hiring spree, planning to add at least 70 new wealth managers this financial year.
But why are we talking about a relatively small, young firm and its recruitment plans?Because the strategy is working. Big time.
Tune in.
Want to attend The Ken's next event on health, fitness and wellness? Buy tickets here. Here's your chance to help us shape the conversation: https://theken.typeform.com/to/bZhqWl2g
-
Elon Musk’s Starlink is just months away from launching in India. Amazon’s Kuiper will follow in 2026. The satcom green light is finally here — the regulator’s long-awaited guidelines are out, and the Department of Telecom has drawn up its strict new rulebook. Surprisingly, the satellite players aren’t blinking. Even more surprising? After years of resistance, Jio and Airtel have suddenly struck deals with Starlink.
But here’s the twist: behind the scenes, neither telco seems eager to actually sell Starlink terminals. So why the sudden handshake? And what’s really going on under all this satellite sparkle?
Tune in to find out how India’s broadband future is being reshaped.
Tell us what you thought of this episode. You can text us your feedback on WhatsApp at +918971108379
Apply here to join The Ken as a product designer
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.
-
Like much of the world, India is heavily reliant on China for its rare earth supplies. In FY25 alone, we imported 870 tonnes of rare earth magnets, worth over ₹300 crore. China controls about 60–70% of global rare earth production and around 90% of the world’s refining capacity.
Decades ago, while other countries hesitated over environmental and social costs, China made a ruthless, calculated bet — sacrifice land, people, and air to dominate the rare earths future.
Now we are in that future and China has thrown a spanner in the works. It has imposed fresh restrictions on magnet exports, threatening to bring India’s EV ambitions to a grinding halt.
Indian importers are caught in a bureaucratic maze. Chinese suppliers now demand end-use declarations. That kicks off a long certification process — multiple approvals from Indian authorities, and even sign-off from the Chinese embassy in Delhi.
And after all that, final clearance must come from China’s commerce ministry. That’s the bottleneck. Several Indian auto component makers have jumped through every hoop — yet they’re still waiting.
So, where does that leave us?
Tune in.
Tell us what you thought of this episode. You can text us your feedback on WhatsApp at +918971108379
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.
Want to attend The Ken's next event on health, fitness and wellness? Buy tickets here. Here's your chance to help us shape the conversation: https://theken.typeform.com/to/bZhqWl2g
-
Protein is having a moment in India. Once reserved for gym-goers and bodybuilders, it’s now showing up in everyday foods like idli, rotis, chips, lassi, even kulfi. And consumers are buying in.
Behind this craze is a $1.5 billion strategy that’s reshaping how India eats. Food brands saw a gap in a country where nearly two out of three households are protein deficient. And they turned it into a goldmine. Now, protein is everywhere, and the market is only getting bigger.
But here’s the twist: while the labels scream '50g protein' and 'fuel for champions,' reality is far more complicated. Many of these products include additives, sugar, and misleading serving sizes. Some even contain toxic substances. Meanwhile, your body can’t store excess protein—it just turns it into fat.
So is this really a health revolution? Or just clever packaging?
Tell us what you thought of this episode. You can text us your feedback on WhatsApp at +918971108379
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.
Want to attend The Ken's next event on health, fitness and wellness? Buy tickets here. Here's your chance to help us shape the conversation: https://theken.typeform.com/to/bZhqWl2g
-
Indian finserv is no koi pond. It's a shark tank. And now, some of the biggest sharks in the tank – payment aggregators like Phonepe, Razorpay, Cashfree and Paytm – are all narrowing in on the aggregator of aggregators, Juspay.
In this episode, we go behind the scenes of one of the biggest fintech standoffs of the year. On one side are the aggregators, who power payments for millions of online merchants. And on the other side is “aggregator of aggregators” Juspay, who’s worked as an extension of merchants’ payments teams, helping them coordinate payments across aggregators, for over a decade.
Tune in.Check out our latest episode featuring Soumya Rajan, founder and CEO of Waterfield Advisors, India’s largest multi-family office and wealth advisory firm.
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.Listen to the latest episode of Two by Two here
-
Of the 5,000 graduates offered jobs in 2022—the majority of whose joining was delayed by two years—755 have been laid off so far for failing to clear tests.
The assessments this time were tougher than usual, said five trainees and ex-employees The Ken spoke to. The threshold for passing was raised from 50% to 65%. On top of this, new material was added, and the number of questions was increased.
Then again, the times are changing. India’s IT-services industry has been a driver of economic growth for over two decades, contributing 7% to the country’s GDP and employing over 5 million people in FY24. But over the last three years, growth has stagnated—the ongoing tariff uncertainties being just the latest setback. But the real existential threat in this scenario is AI.
The pressure is already on. Clients want quicker turnarounds on smaller budgets. Companies, in turn, have found the perfect patsy: pre-trained freshers, compelled to jump into projects from the get-go.
Tune in.
Check out our latest episode featuring Soumya Rajan, founder and CEO of Waterfield Advisors, India’s largest multi-family office and wealth advisory firm.
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.Listen to the latest episode of Two by Two here
-
Tesla’s story in India has been more like a stalled engine than a roaring electric debut—despite years of headlines, high-level meetings, and hopeful tweets. While the Indian government did slash import duties on premium EVs from a staggering 110% to a friendlier 15%, it wasn’t enough. Because for Tesla, this isn't just about taxes. It is about suppliers, standards, scale, and most importantly, timing. But India wants Tesla.
Prime ministers have courted the company. Officials have tweaked policies. Showrooms are being prepped. And yet, eight years after the Model 3 opened bookings in India, those cool-looking cars are nowhere to be seen on our roads. In fact, buyers have been canceling and Tesla’s India leadership is quitting.
What is going on?
Tune in.
**Correction: The host mistakenly referred to Hyundai Ioniq car model as Iconiq. The error is regretted.
P.S The Ken’s podcast team is hiring! Here’s what we’re looking for.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.Listen to the latest episode of Two by Two here
-
In this special episode, hosts Snigdha Sharma and Rahel Philipose are joined by Soumya Rajan, founder and CEO of Waterfield Advisors, India’s largest multi-family office and wealth advisory firm. The conversation begins with a simple but important question: what does financial empowerment actually mean for women with wealth?
Over her decades in the world of wealth management, Soumya began noticing a consistent blind spot—traditional financial systems weren’t designed with women’s realities in mind. Even wealth advisory firms, she found, were falling short. That led her to launch HERitage, a specialized arm within Waterfield, focused on serving the financial needs of women more intentionally and effectively.
Soumya explains a framework she developed called T.O.U.C.H to outline how women tend to invest differently from men: they trade less, invest with clear goals, prioritize sustainability, and are more conscious and diversified in their approach. These patterns aren’t just preferences, they reflect a fundamentally different way of thinking about money.
The episode also draws on insights from Waterfield’s Women of Wealth survey, which looked at the investment behaviors of over 100 high-net-worth Indian women. The findings challenge a lot of conventional thinking: women are deliberate and strategic investors, but they still face barriers when it comes to financial literacy, access, and decision-making power.
Soumya also talks about how women in India are creating wealth—whether through inheritance, entrepreneurship, or leadership roles in corporate India—and how they’re using that wealth not just for security, but for impact. The conversation touches on growing trends in philanthropy, interest in global markets, and the rise of “passion investments” in areas like art, wellness, and legacy building.
Tune in
Soumya recommends —
TV Show: Lioness
Book: The OutsidersTell us what you thought of this episode. You can text us your feedback on WhatsApp at +918971108379. You can also write to us at [email protected]
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.
-
Electric two-wheeler maker, Ather Energy, listed on the bourses on earlier in May, but its IPO was subscribed just 1.4X—a modest showing for a company once seen as a premium EV pioneer. The lukewarm response reflected investor fatigue, sparked by Ola Electric’s volatile stock performance, the Blusmart funding controversy, and global supply chain headwinds. Despite a strong product portfolio and a reputation for in-house innovation, Ather faces an increasingly crowded market and mounting pressure to scale.
IPO proceeds will fund a new manufacturing plant in Maharashtra, expanded R&D, and marketing—moves aimed at boosting capacity and competitiveness.
Yet, with subsidies shrinking and profitability still out of reach, Ather’s long-term success hinges on its ability to grow sustainably, reduce costs, and prove it’s more than just another EV startup riding a fading wave.
Tune in.
P.S The Ken’s podcast team is hiring! Here’s what we’re looking for.
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.Listen to the latest episode of Two by Two here
-
Pyng, launched on 15 April, is quite a departure from Swiggy’s core food-focused business. The service marketplace, uncharted territory for Swiggy, is offering services of “verified professionals” (think therapists, chartered accountants, and even energy healers).
No, it’s not a modified version of Urban Company. At least, not yet. For one, the latter offers standardised services comprising blue collar workers.
But why exactly is Swiggy, a company with a market capitalisation of over Rs 80,000 crore, diversifying its business?
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.Listen to the latest episode of Two by Two here
Have a question for The Ken's next event on health, fitness and wellness? Here's your chance to help us shape the conversation: https://theken.typeform.com/to/bZhqWl2g -
The landscape is pretty bleak. In the race to produce more Ivy League-worthy students, Indian schools are selectively opting to teach IB. Teachers, in turn, find themselves shifting between the Cambridge and IB syllabi, often trying out things they aren’t trained for. Students and parents, meanwhile, are running in circles trying to find an able tutor after spending Rs 5–20 lakh on their child’s education. It helps no one that there are just a handful of dedicated, IB-trained teachers in the whole of India who can help students with the demanding curriculum.
Enter Sparkl Edventure.
With Sparkl, the former CEO of Aakash Institute is betting on these schools' inadequacies and our obsession with private tutoring.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.Listen to the latest episode of Two by Two here
Have a question for The Ken's next event on health, fitness and wellness? Here's your chance to help us shape the conversation: https://theken.typeform.com/to/bZhqWl2g -
When Rohan, a 35-year-old software engineer, signed up for a Rs 1 trial on a learning app called Seekho, he thought he had nothing to lose. He cancelled the subscription within weeks but money was still being deducted from his account months later.
UPI Autopay, the rising star of India’s subscription economy is quietly letting apps to keep charging users long after they think they've cancelled.
From overlooked SMS alerts to sneaky terms hidden in fine print, we find out how widespread this problem really is and why so many users are only waking up to it now.
Tune in.
P.S The Ken’s podcast team is hiring! Here’s what we’re looking for.
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.Listen to the latest episode of Two by Two here
-
Nearly a decade ago, Hotstar, Netflix, and Amazon Prime entered the scene and positioned themselves as the anti-TV. No fixed showtimes. No endless ad breaks. No re-runs you had to sit through just because nothing else was on. For the first time, we were in control. TV became personal. It became on-demand. And best of all—it was ad-free. It felt like there was no going back.
But now something has shifted. Subscriber growth is stalling, and that’s making streaming platforms nervous. Really nervous. Their answer? Bring back ads. Amazon Prime Video is the latest to jump into India’s ad-supported streaming game, also called ad supported video on demand or AVOD. And Netflix? It’s reportedly toying with the idea of a free, ad-supported tier here—just like it’s doing in a few other markets. In other words, OTT is starting to look a lot more like the very thing it was supposed to replaceHave we come full circle? Or is this just the natural evolution of an industry growing up? Daybreak hosts Snigdha and Rahel speak to Swati Mohan, the former head of marketing at Netflix India, to find out
Tune in.
P.S The Ken’s podcast team is hiring! Here’s what we’re looking for.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.Listen to the latest episode of Two by Two here
-
Back in 2016, the Internet and Mobile Association of India set up an all new club for what was then a very small cohort of digital leaders in corporate India. It was called the all-India Chief Digital Officer club.
Back then, there were only about five-six CDOs that were members. The point of the initiative was to give legitimacy to this new, emerging role. But soon enough, the initiative fizzled out. Not because the role didn’t take off or anything. Actually, the opposite. The initiative became redundant because the role became even more popular than they had anticipated. So it started with 5-6 members, but within the next four years its membership rose to 50 and then doubled the next year.
You see, digital transformation has become THE buzzword for corporate India. And in the process, the CDO has become part of the companies top leadership.
But the question is — where does that leave the CIO?
Tune in.
*This episode was originally published on 18 December, 2024
P.S The Ken’s podcast team is hiring! Here’s what we’re looking for.
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.Listen to the latest episode of Two by Two here
-
For decades, the whole process of getting a loan approved was infamously painful and long winded. But now things have changed. Getting a loan is a whole lot faster than before. And that’s because of the disruptor to end all disruptors — artificial intelligence.
A bunch of companies have entered the scene with specalised AI tools to speed up different aspects of the loan-approval process. In fact, Indian AI startups have managed to raise nearly 750 million USD in 2024 and the banking and financial sector was one of the top drivers of this growth.
Now at first glance, it seems like a win-win for both the borrower and the bank. But there’s a catch. This surge has come with a lot of scrutiny from the RBI.
Tune in.
*This episode was first published on Jan 15, 2025
Tell us what you thought of this episode. You can text us your feedback on WhatsApp at +918971108379Daybreak 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.
-
Family offices—the ultra-rich who used to hand over their money to VCs and wish them well—are now wondering why they ever bothered. Why did they pay someone to do what they could do themselves, on their terms?
Their primary gripe? The funds are not returning money.
Of course, the so-called middlemen in this scenario aren't too pleased. After all, they are losing a substantial amount of business in the process.
But it all boils down to one thing – who’s running the money.
Tune in.Daybreak is looking for a talented audio journalist with at least two years of experience. Check out the role 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.
-
At first glance, things seem to be really looking up for India’s very own budget-friendly hotel chain Oyo. It’s had some pretty big wins in the last few months.
So why then is its eventual IPO still the subject of such widespread speculation?
The Ken's Deputy Editor Seetharaman G put it quite well in the latest edition of his newsletter on the Indian stock market, ‘Long and Short’. He said – ‘few companies are as good as Oyo Hotels at not going public’.
Its listing has been a few years in the making. It first filed in 2021. Then again in 2023. And then it was just about to give the share sale another shot when its largest shareholder, Softbank, threw a spanner in the works.
Here's the thing — between the delayed IPO, top notch rivals, and demanding investors, things will only get harder for Oyo.
Tune in.
If you have any thoughts or questions about this episode, send them to us as texts or voice notes on Daybreak’s WhatsApp at +918971108379.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.
- Visa fler
