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.
May 24, 2023•10 min•Ep. 71
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 it The 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-su...
May 21, 2023•13 min•Ep. 70
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 thei...
May 18, 2023•12 min•Ep. 69
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 newsr...
May 17, 2023•13 min•Ep. 68
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, crac...
May 14, 2023•12 min•Ep. 67
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...
May 12, 2023•14 min•Ep. 66
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. Recommen...
May 10, 2023•11 min•Ep. 65
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.
May 08, 2023•11 min•Ep. 64
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 yo...
May 05, 2023•11 min•Ep. 63
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...
May 03, 2023•13 min•Ep. 62
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 ...
May 01, 2023•11 min•Ep. 61
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 IP...
Apr 28, 2023•10 min•Ep. 60
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...
Apr 26, 2023•13 min•Ep. 59
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 oper...
Apr 23, 2023•12 min•Ep. 58
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 p...
Apr 21, 2023•11 min•Ep. 57
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,...
Apr 19, 2023•11 min•Ep. 56
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 even...
Apr 17, 2023•13 min•Ep. 55
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 blame...
Apr 13, 2023•10 min•Ep. 54
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 whil...
Apr 12, 2023•12 min•Ep. 53
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 ...
Apr 10, 2023•11 min•Ep. 52
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.
Apr 07, 2023•12 min•Ep. 51
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 conven...
Apr 05, 2023•11 min•Ep. 50
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 sh...
Apr 03, 2023•10 min•Ep. 49
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 p...
Mar 31, 2023•12 min•Ep. 48
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 o...
Mar 29, 2023•12 min•Ep. 47
2023 has been declared the International Year of Millets after India, the largest producer of millets in the world, moved a resolution in the UN General Assembly. The Prime Minister himself has been promoting the use of millets as a staple through various channels like Mann Ki Baat and the Global Millets Conference that was recently held in the national capital. But making what were once called 'coarse grains' as the next big food trend is riddled with challenges and will take more than declarin...
Mar 27, 2023•12 min•Ep. 46
After buying the digital rights for IPL for an eye-popping amount last year, Mukesh Ambani’s JioCinema wants to change the way Indians watch cricket. It wants to replace TV viewing with online streaming. In order to pull it off, it came up with an almost disruptive move. It decided to make IPL streaming free While viewership is expected to hit half a billion and ad impressions to quadruple after this, advertisers are skeptical about a host of unknown factors. What are they? Tune in to find out....
Mar 24, 2023•13 min•Ep. 45
The Indian Met Dept has predicted that 2023, especially between March to May, is going to be unusually hot for most parts of India. Air conditioners and electric fans account for nearly one fifth of the total electricity used in buildings around the world today. Naturally, electricity bills have skyrocketed and it's only going to get worse. Meanwhile, a fascinating technology has emerged that can save 30 to 40% in energy consumption but it's not being adopted as fast as it should be. Energy tran...
Mar 22, 2023•10 min•Ep. 44
Last week, Season 2 of one of the country’s most popular reality TV shows, Shark Tank India, came to an end. The show has given rise to a significant demand for startup investing. Investors are able to put in as little as Rs 5000 via online fundraising platforms like Tyke Invest and Infubiz. They offer investments in startups through Community Subscription Offer Plans. But these fundraising campaigns are not subject to securities laws and investors in these instruments do not have any shareholde...
Mar 20, 2023•11 min•Ep. 43
A few months ago, a whistleblower alleged that some of the top EV makers in India were misusing the FAME subsidy. The government began an investigation and withheld the subsidy for multiple EV manufacturers. Ever since, news stories have been reporting how the sale of EVs in India has declining and the FAME subsidy is under the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. But the government is only trying to correct a past mistake. The impact of the subsidy on the rising penetration of EVs in the countr...
Mar 17, 2023•11 min•Ep. 42
