Daybreak

*This episode was originally published on September 24, 2024Half of the world’s electric cars are on China’s roads, thanks to a wave of smart incentives for both consumers and manufacturers, such as tax breaks and purchase subsidies. The payoff is tangible: the smog that once shrouded some major cities has lifted, and road noise has dropped significantly.But it brought unexpected costs and challenges that nobody saw coming. 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.

Remember that time in 2022 when India’s top digital payments companies Phonepe, Paytm*, and Bharatpe were in a no-holds-barred turf war? Looking back, it seemed like there was news almost every other day about some tiff between the three market leaders. In fact, former managing director of Bharatpe, Ashneer Grover, has spoken on record about “street fights” between companies’ employees over QR codes. A little more than two years later, there’s only calm. QR code scuffles are over. No one is beating each other up. Both the peer-to-merchant and peer-to-peer payments space have settled down into a tripartite peace. Phonepe, Google Pay, and Paytm—in order of market share—are the clear leaders. This raises some interesting questions: How many UPI apps do you have on your phone? And do you have a favourite one? We may have multiple, but only one of them is ever really used. No amount of cashbacks or fancy user experiences make people want to switch to something else. Is it brand loyalty that is preventing users from churning out of old platforms and into new ones? A former Paytm executive told The Ken recently, “There is zero brand loyalty for UPI payments apps…” Well then, what is happening?*Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma is an investor in The KenDaybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

As 2024 draws to a close, Daybreak hosts Snigdha and Rahel look back at some of their biggest hits and misses this year. Check out the episodes that made it to their round up. Hits —Rahel's choice: Successful Women are Freezing Their Eggs and That's on menSnigdha's choice: Why India's Biggest Employer of Female Gig Workers Refuses to listen to its own workforce Audience choice: What do women really want? A F*** off fund Misses —Rahel's choice: Are run clubs like rehab for the chronically online?Snigdha's choice: Why aren't we scared of chemicals in our skincare anymore?Audience choice: How India's 40-somethings are redefining career longevity?And that's a wrap! We will be back with new episodes next year. Stay tuned! 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 real-estate market of Delhi-NCR is an anomaly. The Ken spoke to a bunch of potential homebuyers who are looking for premium apartments with budgets of up to 2.5 crore rupees.  Real-estate experts are telling them to give up on their dreams. Lately, the national capital has been facing an acute supply crunch of new housing projects, especially in the mid-premium segment (80 lakh to 2 crore rupees) depending on the city.   Delhi NCR has witnessed the sharpest fall in inventory in this segment in the last few years.   Real-estate prices in turn have shot up far beyond the reach of most buyers. But it’s not like demand for housing has gone down because of these sky high prices.  People are still buying tens of thousands of these mid-premium houses in and around Delhi.   So the obvious question then is: why aren’t more residential housing units being built?  *This episode was first published on 12 Sept 2024

No one was surprised by Vishal Mega Mart’s stellar market debut last week. After all, institutional and retail investors oversubscribed 27X to the Rs 8,000 crore IPO. So when it listed at a considerable premium, most people saw it coming. But, how did the 23-year-old value retailer get to this point? Well, in the last few years, Vishal, which has 70 per cent of its stores in tier 2 and smaller cities, has managed to outpace its rivals in the same space, such as Vmart and V2 Retail. Today, it pegs itself in the same league as Dmart and Trent, despite the fact that the retailer is still much smaller in scale. But this comparison has given Vishal a compelling story to tell about itself. In this episode, we delve into Vishal Mega Mart’s current position in India’s retail landscape. 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.

For most Indians, a cup of good chai is a comfort that’s accessible. Coffee chains, on the other hand, are mostly premium. And it all adds up when one considers the fact that Indians consume 20 cups of tea for every cup of coffee. But we live in a time when opulence and luxury makes us go google eyed. In the Indian consumer market, premiumisation is no longer a choice. Even chai cafes chains don’t really have an option but to take the premium path.But Chaayos, the largest tea cafe chain in India, has decided not to go where the wind blows. And Nitin Saluja, the 40-year-old founder of Chaayos, says that this decision is actually based on its customers.Over the last two years, nearly 200 of them have clearly indicated their unanimous opinion to the company: don’t become like Starbucks.Tune in.** This episode was first published on 18 July 2024Daybreak 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.

This isn't your usual Daybreak Friday episode. Considering it's the end of the year, we thought we’d ask the reporters in our newsroom to talk to us about the stories they liked best. This week, we have DVLS Pranathi and Shristi Achar on the show.They share two of their favourite stories — First, Pranathi tells us about an unconventional new homegrown footwear company started by three former Puma executives. Next, Shristi speaks to us about why Karnataka’s EV battery making ambitions are stuck in low gear. Shristhi's recommendation: How the stock market is fuelling India’s grandest-ever wedding season  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

Category managers have shifted from routine e-commerce roles to powerful decision-makers in quick commerce. They now manage the limited shelf space in dark stores and decide which products get visibility on platforms like Instamart, Zepto, and Blinkit. Naturally, brands are aggressively courting them, with over 30,000 requests every month for just 150 slots. From hosting parties to taking them out for drinks, brands are pulling out all the stops. Meanwhile, category managers are urging brands to invest more in ads and marketing to stay competitive.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

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. 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 1949, XLRI introduced India to management studies.  Since then, it has managed to become one of the most sought after B-schools in the country. For decades, it was like the dependable elder statesman of Indian management education. But now, XLRI wants to be anything but just another business school. In the last two decades, there has been an explosion of MBA seats across the country.  Now, XLRI doesn’t want to simply add more management seats mindlessly. It wants to introduce programmes it thinks are relevant. Some of which, have nothing to do with management studies at all. What's going on? 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

India can't get enough of surveillance technology.Indian startups, meanwhile, are making the most of this trend 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 India’s surveillance startups to do a fair bit of monkey balancing. How are they pulling it off?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

The golden age of the Indian shopping mall is over. There are at least 400 malls across the country. But a growing proportion of them are either dead or on life support. A report by real estate consultant firm Knight Frank found that the number of ghost malls in the country rose from 57 in 2022 to 64 in 2023. That’s about 1 in almost six malls. The report estimates that between 2022 and 2023, the loss of value due to the rise in ghost malls was around 800 million dollars, so that’s close to 7,000 crore rupees. In this episode, Daybreak host Rahel Philipose is joined by Gulam Zia, senior executive director at Knight Frank and Abhishek Bansal, the Executive Director of Pacific Development Corporation to understand the ins and outs of the mall business — why some succeed and others fail.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

For a while now, some of the biggest players in India’s third-party logistics industry have been riding on the success of e-commerce unicorn Meesho. As of 2023, it accounted for over half of the 2.5 billion shipments that were being handled by third-party logistics players. Companies like Delhivery and Ecom Express happily rose to the occasion and partnered with Meesho to handle all its order deliveries. For logistics companies this was a dream come true because most of the other major e-commerce players in India – like Flipkart and Amazon – take care of all their logistics in-house. But earlier this year, Meesho announced the launch of Valmo, its own in-house logistics arm. Naturally, third party logistics partners are nervous. But no one is more shaken up than Ecom Express.Tune in.**This episode was first published on September 2, 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

A couple years ago the biggest challenge for an organic food brand was convincing consumers that their products were worth the premium they were paying for them. It was naturally a gargantuan task, particularly in a price sensitive market like India. But for the brands that stood their ground, believing that the Indian market would one day come around to organic eating, well, their moment has finally arrived. And how. There is a growing market for organic products, here in India. This space is actually more exciting than it has ever been before. In fact, big FMCG brands like Tata and ITC have now swept in for a slice of the vegan, cruelty free pie. On one hand, this helped the Indian organic food market to grow at an average rate of 25 per cent annually. But on the other, it has intensified competition in this space. And in the process, smaller, new-age brands seem to be getting the short end of the stick. Is there room for everyone? 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

It really isn’t a great time to be a smartwatch brand in India. Pun intended. You see, the market for smartwatches in India has gone from seeing dizzying highs to depressing lows, all within the span of one year. Just last year in September, at least 17 million people had placed orders for smartwatches across the country. Everyone seemed to want to get their hands on one. And the two brands that were largely credited for this new craze were Boat and Noise. But now, a little over a year later, all those people who were frantically buying smartwatches last year aren’t buying them anymore. What’s more is that the likes of Boat and Noise – brands that had dominated the market thus far and set all sorts of new records – are now losing their sheen. They have very steadily been losing market share to a handful of new entrants. What changed? 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

What put iPhone city on the map is that it produces more than half of the world’s iPhone’s every single year. The global demand for the Apple iPhone has only increased over the years. To keep up with that demand Foxconn hires up to 200,000 workers – a mix of migrants and college students – to make sure that the assembly lines keep running. Especially during the peak season which happens to begin right around now, from September to February. Iphone city is the perfect example of the China manufacturing playbook. It is what propelled China to emerge as the world’s manufacturing hub. It’s pretty simple – Foxconn and companies like it build these large facilities, pack millions of migrant laborers into dorms near their facilities, and get them to work long hours, in often tough conditions. But now things are changing. More and more global companies are adopting a China-plus-one strategy. And India is becoming a favoured alternative. And  as the focus shifts our way, manufacturers in India are pretty much replicating the same China labour model. But this model has an indigenous problem.Tune in**This episode was first published on September 26, 2024.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

This isn't your usual Daybreak Friday episode. Considering it's the end of the year, we thought we’d ask the reporters in our newsroom to talk to us about the stories they liked best. This week, we have Rounak Kumar Gunjan and Aakriti Bhalla on the show. They share two of their favourite stories — The first is a fascinating story by Rounak about how a tiny discount caused an uproar inside IRCTC or the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation. The second is by Aakriti about how Pepsico managed to make Sting the energy drink of India.Tune in. P.S. We want to know how and where you shop. When was the last time you went to a shopping mall? What did you buy? Write to us on WhatsApp. Our number is 8971108379Curious about the story Rounak mentioned on the show? Check it out 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.Listen to the latest episode of Two by Two here

It has been about four months since Minutes, Flipkart's all new quick-commerce service was launched in Bangalore. But Flipkart isn’t doing e-commerce the old fashioned way. It’s not taking on the likes of Blinkit or Swiggy Instamart directly by promising speedy grocery deliveries. Instead, its big focus is electronics. It is a space that quick-commerce giants like Blinkit, Swiggy and Zepto – have all dipped their toes in. But Flipkart wants to take things to the next level. Like one Flipkart manager told The Ken, the company is trying to increase the width rather than the depth of the electronics category. The idea is to give more options to customers, but in limited quantities. But while it may not be taking on Blinkit and Swiggy Instamart directly, Flipkart does have another major challenger – Croma, India’s second-largest electronics retailer. And courtesy a partnership with Big Basket, Croma is also getting into the quick commerce business. However, building the capability to deliver large electronics, that too in volume, is not an easy task. So how do they plan to do it? Tune.Listen to the latest episode of Two by Two hereDaybreak is now on WhatsApp at +918971108379. Text us and tell us what you thought of the episode!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

There’s a running joke at Hindustan Unilever's Mumbai Headquarters. If a new hire is assigned to the ice cream division, it’s immediately clear that they aren’t in the company’s inner circle. But if you’re handed Surf Excel, Brooke Brond, or Glow & Lovely, it means you are in the big leagues.Right now, that pecking order is clearer than ever. Just last month, the FMCG giant went ahead and decided to demerge its ice cream business. The decision has already received in principal approval from the company’s board. Assuming that it clears all the other approvals and procedures, it would mean that refrigerator staples like Magnum, Cornetto and Kwality Walls will all come under a separately listed entity. This at a time when the ice cream space has been heating up…not literally of course. New age players like Hocco, NIC and Noto have all entered the market and collectively contributed to a sort of ice cream renaissance. So, shouldn’t HUL be focussing on growing its ice cream business rather than isolating it?Tune in. Listen to the latest episode of Two by Two hereDaybreak is now on WhatsApp at +918971108379. Text us and tell us what you thought of the episode!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

Four years ago, India set up a new body to fix medical education. It was called the National Medical Commission (NMC) and it was meant to replace the Medical Council of India and bring reforms in this sector.  The goal, at the time, was to bring some order to the chaos. But so far, it seems like the body has only been able to do the opposite. Between vacancies, a series of poor decision and a general lack of coordination — the laundry list of criticism from people in the medical fraternity is only getting longer. It seems like the body that was meant to cure medical education in India, is dealing with a chronic illness of its own. But is it terminal?  Tune in. Daybreak is now on WhatsApp at +918971108379. Text us and tell us what you thought of the episode!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.