Ten years in the business and the custom furniture maker Wooden Street has left its older peers far behind. If you ask the company’s founder and chief executive Lokendra Singh Ranawat, he will tell you that the Covid pandemic was when the company's fortunes changed. Within two years of the pandemic, the company’s top line nearly quadrupled to Rs 130 crore. It also claims to have closed the 2024 financial year with a revenue of Rs 340 crore. The company has also managed to attract global investor...
Feb 27, 2025•12 min•Ep. 435
By now, we are all aware of the WeWork story. We know how the company grew to become synonymous with coworking spaces thanks to its lavish network of offices around the world. How these offices were once packed with young techies playing pool and sipping beer. And how, eventually, it all came crashing down. The company, once valued at 47 billion dollars, was brought to its knees. But here in India, the WeWork story has been playing out drastically differently. The workspace provider’s India busi...
Feb 26, 2025•10 min•Ep. 434
How do you sell diamonds to the ultra rich? Well, Zoya, the luxury jewellery brand from Tata-owned Titan Company can give you a masterclass. The Zoya playbook isn't focussed solely on designing and selling premium jewellery. Turns out, it’s all about the experience. From champagne brunches, to luxury cruises — the brand stops at nothing when it comes to nurturing its client relationship. For 15 years, Zoya, the ultra-luxury jewellery brand from Tata-owned Titan Company, wasn’t so much a business...
Feb 25, 2025•13 min•Ep. 433
In October 2024, the government of India launched the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, a health insurance coverage for all senior citizens aged 70 and over, regardless of income. This is big news for healthcare in India because for the longest time, this is exactly the age group that has pvt insurance companies have been ignoring. To give you a clearer picture, a person aged over 60 years pays anything between Rs 30,000–50,000 as annual premium for coverage as low as 5 lakh rupe...
Feb 24, 2025•13 min•Ep. 432
In November 2024, one of India's biggest FMCG companies, Hindustan Unilever, started getting a barrage of complaints from its consumers, who said they were seeing the same Dove and Surf Excel ads repeatedly on OTT platforms during a single watch session. Some of them were shown the same ads as many as 150 times within a week. Now, with the IPL around the corner, HUL—which spends nearly Rs 4,000 crore on ads annually—couldn’t afford to ignore these complaints. So what followed was a series of inv...
Feb 21, 2025•18 min•Ep. 431
Back in 2009, Tata launched an egg-shaped four seater hatchback that it was convinced would redefine mobility for the masses, Tata Nano. Initially priced at just Rs. 1 lakh, it was designed as the dream ride for the lower middle class. It was a bold and ambitious that unfortunately didn't quite take off. Auto experts say it was because of a combination of factors. But perhaps the biggest learning from the Nano fiasco was that car ownership in India isn’t just about wheels. It’s about status. Now...
Feb 19, 2025•13 min•Ep. 430
The global fashion industry is shifting dramatically. Brands like Zara that once ordered a minimum of 6,000 pieces per style, have dramatically reduced their orders to about 600 pieces. And it isn’t just a quantity thing, production timelines have shrunk from 150 days to less than half of that. The result? Well, fresh designs every two weeks. This shift in the industry was made possible because of middlemen like Groyyo, who get small factories to manufacture clothes in small batches in record ti...
Feb 19, 2025•13 min•Ep. 429
It has been a confusing year so far for the payment processor, Juspay. On the upside, it is one step closer to unicorn status thanks to a possible 150 million dollar funding round. But at the same time, it has also been getting the cold shoulder from several fintechs that once were a core part of its business. It all began just a few months ago, in December, when the Walmart-owned payment aggregator Phonepe said it would discontinue support from all third-party payment orchestration platforms. S...
Feb 17, 2025•12 min•Ep. 428
Last year’s heatwave was great for the AC business—demand was over the roof and inventories were wiped out. Voltas, which sells the most room air conditioners in India, saw revenue jump 60% in the March quarter. Contract manufacturers like Blue Star, Amber Enterprises, and PGEL made 50–100% more money. This year too is going to be a long, hot summer. Air-conditioner makers know this. But they also know that, despite all their efforts to prepare this time, they might run out of air conditioners b...
Feb 17, 2025•10 min•Ep. 427
Desi dating apps are vying for parental approval. And their strategy seems to be working. A couple months ago, Agrima Srivastava, a 29-year-old media professional from Lucknow, had an awkward conversation with her mother. She wanted to know if Agrima had ever heard of Indian dating apps, Aisle and Better Half. That was the first time Agrima had an open conversation with her mother about her love life. She told her that she was on dating apps, but homegrown ones like Aisle and Better half, were "...
Feb 13, 2025•31 min•Ep. 426
Last month, Netradyne, the logistics AI startup, became India’s first unicorn of 2025 after it raised 90 million dollars in series D funding. You see, it did not take it long to realise that its sweet spot is the long-distance trucking segment. It serves over 3,000 customers across eight countries, including the likes of Amazon, Shell, Indian Oil and Greenline Mobility. And it all began with one rather primitive prototype. Of course, now it has morphed into a compact device with a built-in GPU, ...
Feb 13, 2025•13 min•Ep. 425
It’s 2025 and the idea of “masculinity” has undergone a complete overhaul. You see, after several product life cycles, the men’s grooming business has reached a stage where brands aren’t just formulating shampoos and body washes exclusively for men. They are also coming up with compacts and concealers, and a bunch of other makeup products targeted at men. In fact, in the last decade or so, India has actually become the biggest market in the Asia Pacific region for beauty products for men. And ye...
Feb 11, 2025•11 min•Ep. 424
Over the next three to five years, Zepto wants to be known as the startup that created the most multimillionaires. Which is why these days, the standard pitch that people applying for VP-level roles at the startup get is as follows: "Would you like to create generational wealth? Think 50-100 crores in just four years." That’s what Zepto HR has been promising these applicants. They’ve been making it seem like bagging a job at Zepto is like winning a lottery ticket. And it’s not just bravado. By “...
Feb 10, 2025•12 min•Ep. 423
Indian startups are making the most of the increasing demand for surveillance by securing high visibility government contracts. But while these can boost a startup's profile, government projects are unpredictable and often difficult for smaller startups to win. As a result, there is a shift underway — private clients are becoming increasingly crucial for profitability. This divide between public and private contracts is forcing these surveillance startups to do a fair bit of monkey balancing. Ho...
Feb 10, 2025•11 min•Ep. 422
Nvidia’s dominance in the AI market is forcing Big Techs like Microsoft to produce chips of their own. So, the software giant is changing its tack in hiring from Indian colleges. The Ken reporter Abhirami G joins host Rahel Philipose in this episode. Tune in. Listen to 'One Billion in 10 Minutes', our new mini series based on The Ken's inaugural case competition. The Ken app Apple Podcasts Spotify...
Feb 06, 2025•15 min•Ep. 421
CIBIL or Credit Information Bureau (India) Ltd is one of only four credit information providers in the country that is licensed by the RBI. It is considered the oldest and the most reliable. It essentially calculates your credit score, a three digit number between 300 and 900, and provides it to banks so they can judge your creditworthiness. Usually, anything over 700 is considered good. But this whole process is anything but straightforward. In fact, it is shrouded in mystery. Each of these bur...
Feb 05, 2025•12 min•Ep. 420
*This episode was originally published on 17 September, 2024. Subway, the globally popular sandwich-eatery chain, is now grappling with sweeping changes in India—and not for the better. For one, the world’s largest quick-service restaurant (QSR) brand is moving away from the franchise model it has operated under for the past 25 years. In doing so, it’s also shedding the very thing that made it popular in the first place: choice. Tune in. Listen to 'One Billion in 10 Minutes', our new mini series...
Feb 04, 2025•14 min•Ep. 419
Back in 2016, the government launched a scheme called UDAN. It stands for Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik, which roughly translates to every ordinary citizen will fly. This was a scheme that promised affordable, hassle free air travel to tier-2, 3 and 4 cities across the country. But eight years later, flying in and out of smaller towns and cities could not be more cumbersome. Direct flights are rare, and cancellations and delays are constant. So, that prompts the question – where did Udan go wrong? A re...
Feb 03, 2025•11 min•Ep. 418
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 afte...
Feb 02, 2025•14 min•Ep. 417
'As the battle for winning 10-minute deliveries heats up, so do the stakes. Pick one of five quick commerce companies. Determine what winning looks like. Write your solution’ That was the challenge we threw at some of India’s smartest, most ambitious and creative students from top business schools across the country. In our brand-new mini series 'One Billion in 10 Minutes', you will hear their ambitious and creative pitches – all rooted in the real world and centred around five quick commerce pl...
Jan 30, 2025•21 min•Ep. 414
A new generation of designers is on the rise. These designers are expected to be a lot more than just “one trick ponies”. The new-age ‘Designer X’ is expected to bring a little bit of everything to the table. They understand the basics of sustainability, how their designs would impact things like climate change and culture. And they would also generally know a little bit of coding too. And that is because the whole perception of design has shifted. Just last month, IIT Delhi announced a new cert...
Jan 29, 2025•10 min•Ep. 413
Nothing can dampen a vacation like a chronic migraine. Sunayani Sarkar, a 22-year-old biotechnology student learnt this the heard way during a trip to the Andaman and Nicobar islands last year. A month of terrible migraines later, her doctor suggested she try out a wearable device called Nerivio, developed by Pharma major Dr Reddy's through a partnership with an Israeli bio tech firm called Theranica Bio Electronics. The device connects to an app via Bluetooth and controls the electronic pulses ...
Jan 28, 2025•13 min•Ep. 412
Welcome to the world of luxury-lifestyle management, where firms like RedBeryl, Indulge Global, and Quintessentially play the role of concierge for their ultra-wealthy clients, making the impossible possible. Now this sort of thing has become even easier for the rich. Because their wealth managers are also taking care of some of these requests. It isn’t a one -off thing. Companies like RedBeryl, Indulge GLobal, Quintessential – all of which play the role of concierge for their ultra wealthy clie...
Jan 27, 2025•11 min•Ep. 411
One of the largest deals to acquire a D2C brand took place last week. India’s largest manufacturer of consumer good, Hindustan Unilever acquired the skincare company Minimalist, a 90% shareholding for nearly 3000 crore rupees. Homegrown startup beauty brands have been on a roll in India. Scores and scores of new age skincare brands have cropped up since the pandemic and all of them harp on the science of it. And their whole appeal is transparency. Transparency about the ingredients that go into ...
Jan 27, 2025•11 min•Ep. 410
Property prices across Indian cities have gone through the roof, up by nearly 30% in the last two years. This along with ever increasing rent and general cost of living has made planning for the future quite challenging for those in their 20s and 30s. So has the idea of home ownership changed among the younger generations, like in many Western countries where more and more people are choosing to rent rather than buy? Or are we still attached to the idea of owning a home? And what's behind these ...
Jan 23, 2025•33 min•Ep. 409
FROM THE ARCHIVES (This episode was first published July 1, 2024) The Economic Times reported yesterday that Zepto, the quick-commerce startup, is in talks to increase the size of its initial public offering to $800 million-$1 billion. Zepto earlier planned to raise $450 million through the issue. Even when it entered the quick commerce scene for the first time in 2021, Zepto was a disruptor. Now, it is the third largest company in the market after Blinkit and Swiggy Instamart. Last year, it sec...
Jan 23, 2025•13 min•Ep. 408
A dialogue from Munnabhai has become the ultimate source of inspiration for Acko, a digital general insurer. "When someone’s dying, do they necessarily have to fill out forms?" The Ken spoke to multiple Acko executives who said that this line is frequently repeated in meetings of its 21-month-old retail health insurance business. The inspiration seems to be working. Despite being new to the retail health insurance game, the company was able to sell health insurance policies worth about Rs 51 cro...
Jan 21, 2025•12 min•Ep. 407
A bunch of startups are not entering the booming Indian e-bus ecosystem and becoming overnight successes. Just take the case of EKA mobility. Before 2023, EKA was barely a company. It was more the R&D wing of Pinnacle Industries, which is a major manufacturer of seating and interiors for legacy automakers like Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland. But when the government launched the PM E-Drive subsidy back in September, everything changed for Eka Mobility. The five-year-old startup turned into a f...
Jan 20, 2025•12 min•Ep. 406
Last week, Ola Electric’s shares saw a three-day slump after the Central Consumer Protection Authority asked the company for more documents for its investigation against it post receiving thousands of consumer complaints. But shares going up and down is regular stuff right? Not for Ola Electric. The company went public in August 2024 at a debut price of Rs 76 becoming the only startup that went public at a lower price. In his newsletter The Nutgraf, my colleague Praveen said it was a bold decisi...
Jan 19, 2025•10 min•Ep. 405
A couple years ago, quick commerce platforms were the place to be for up and coming brands across the country. Just a little sliver of real estate on a rapid delivery app was enough to put them on the map. But now, many of these brands are very quickly realising that success on a Blinkit or a Zepto is a double edged sword. With it comes high commissions, marketing fees, and the constant pressure to never run out of inventory. Some brands have now had enough. How did it get here? The Ken reporter...
Jan 16, 2025•24 min•Ep. 404
