Daybreak

In the 2024 financial year, Apple sold products worth $8 billion in India. This was a third more than the previous year.  But how did a premium company like Apple that hates giving discounts sell products worth 8 billion dollars in a country as price sensitive as India? Apple obviously knew that its phones were unaffordable for most people in India? It found an answer was easy financing. After the...

With Swiggy set to go public soon, the quick commerce space in India is starting to look more and more like  a wrestling match. Going to head to head against Swiggy is the only listed quick commerce platform in the country, its arch rival Zomato. Both companies are doing exactly the same thing but somehow Zomato managed to leave Swiggy far behind. Swiggy’s  market share has dropped considerably in...

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...

About two months ago, something pretty bizarre happened at the India office of Great Place to Work. At about 2:30 am on May 28, the board of the organization was summoned for a Zoom call.  But the timing of the Zoom call wasn’t what was so alarming. At one point during the conversation, the founder, Prasenjit Bhattacharya, asked everyone to leave the call.  Everyone except for Yeshasvini Ramaswami...

Not so long ago, Birkenstocks were considered the antithesis of high fashion. For the longest time, the 250-year-old German brand’s characteristic chunky sandal was seen as nothing more than an orthopedic shoe meant for hippies and old people.  And then, everything changed. In the last decade or so, Birkenstock had a major glow up. It all started with the brand deciding not to settle for being jus...

Flipkart, the Walmart owned e commerce giant, is on an overdrive to achieve profitability to realise its dreams of going public. To do this, it has tasked its category managers in fashion and lifestyle with squeezing more business out of brand partners. In fact, Flipkart is also using its own Myntra to get better leverage with these brands. The list of brands Flipkart is negotiating with includes...

Have you ever heard of a 'f*** off fund'? Or better yet, do you have one? For the uninitiated, it is a sum of money that women should ideally set aside to get out of a difficult situation – think toxic job, abusive relationship or family situation, you get the drift.  The term was coined by freelance writer, Paulette Perhach, in 2016. We recommend that you read her powerful essay on financial inde...

According to the ICMR every individual should consume at least 48 grams of protein everyday. But in India, 8 out of every 10 of people dont meet their daily protein requirement. However, there is no denying the fact that awareness about the significance of what is often called the building block of life has increased after the pandemic. People are actively looking to include protein rich foods in...

Things were going really well for Paisabazaar, until the Reserve Bank of India stepped in and hit it where it hurts. The RBI told banks to clamp down on the unsecured loan segment – which happens to be Paisabazaar’s bread and butter.   The regulator has discouraged lenders from small-ticket collateral free loans. And of course lenders know better than to ignore the RBI’s directive.  So for Paisaba...

Students pay hefty fees for an alt MBA from Masters' Union with the confidence that by the end of the course, they will be one step closer to their dream job, and more importantly their dream salary.  Except, that isn’t what ended up happening for a majority of students in the batch of 2024. Classes ended a few weeks ago and most of the students are yet to land job offers. You see, it has been a t...

For a country that boasts of its digital public goods infrastructure like Aadhar and UPI, it is a wonder why telecom has been so ignored. After nearly 1500 crore rupees of was reportedly lost to digital fraud in the financial year 2024, the govt's TRAI is finally scrambling to catch up with CPAN or the Calling Name Presentation (CNAP) service, its own version of Truecaller. Truecaller, the Swedish...

More than 15,000 millionaires are most likely leave China for good this year, according to the latest report by Henley and Partners, a UK-based investment migration consultancy.  This largely has to do with the fact that being a multi-millionaire in China is almost like living with a target on your back. Multiple cases of the wealthy disappearing, the most well-known of which was Alibaba's Jack Ma...

For quick delivery apps like Zomato and Zepto that are often questioned for their carbon footprint, switching to electric vehicle or EV fleets is not just a matter of being environmentally conscious, it is also economically more feasible. But here’s the thing. While takes about four hours to charge an electric scooter from zero to full using a slow charger and approximately 15 minutes for a fast c...

Cult.fit backed Sugar.fit very boldly promises to completely “cure”  diabetes in as little as six months.  It also promises unlimited consultations with top doctors, daily fitness classes, the works. All for about Rs 30,000. That’s a small price to pay for a diabetes-free life. So of course, thousands sign up for it.  But if you ask a healthcare professional they will tell you that reversing diabe...

Demand for high-end living is on the rise and Nobroker's subscription plan just doesn't cut it anymore. So it introduced a new postpaid plan to entice wealthy property owners.  Funnily enough, the way it works is pretty much how traditional brokers earn their brokerage. This goes against the basic premise with which Nobroker was started almost a decade ago.  So why has Nobroker switched up its str...

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. Recently, it secured its biggest funding ever at a US$3.6 billion valuation, mainly from its existing investors. Venture Intelligence, a data provider told The Ken that the US$660 million funding is largest bet made by VC...

Four years, 15 cohorts, and roughly 1,500 students later, Stoa School has shut down. The poster child for alternative business-school education in India is no longer accepting new students.  What went wrong? And what does it mean for India's altMBAs?  Tune in to find out. P.S. While you are here, check out the latest episode of The Ken's careers podcast The First Two Years, where host Akshaya Chan...

The pandemic, as brutal as it was, forced a lot of businesses to double down on convenience and accessibility. Whether it was your online education or quick deliveries or at home blood tests. Just to be able to skip that dreaded visit to a hospital or a diagnostic centre meant so much to most people. Accredited labs popped up all over promising to come right to your doorstep and collect your sampl...

On June 3, about 200 employees of the American management consulting firm Bain and Company’s India division received a rather ominous calendar invite.  They each would have a 10-minute meeting with HR. But no one, other than the heads of the regional offices and the head of HR, knew what the meeting was about.  During the meeting, they were all told they were being laid off. The layoffs took the c...

Nothing about Nykaa is strictly its own anymore.  Back when it went public, it had no real rivals in the beauty space. But since then, things have changed.  Last year, India’s largest retailer, Reliance Retail, officially entered the beauty space. It launched an omnichannel beauty retail platform called Tira Reliance isn’t playing around. In the last year, it has made one thing clear: it wants to...

More than a decade has passed since Starbucks came to India. But the world’d biggest coffee chain has been struggling to achieve profitability. In the latest financials,  the company saw its slowest sales growth in India since the pandemic. So far, Starbucks has managed to open around 400 outlets across the country. Meanwhile, Third Wave, a much smaller specialty coffee startup that started around...

At the Worldwide Developers Conference, or WWDC, almost a week ago, Apple made a very important announcement. It launched what it calls 'Apple Intelligence', which is basically an umbrella term for all of the new generative AI features that will be available on certain models of the iPhone, iPad and Macbook. It was a revolutionary announcement because with it, Apple has finally entered the Gen AI...

The newest battle ground between Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jim is financial services. Airtel already has two thriving ventures. The first is the seven-year-old Airtel Payments Bank which happens to be one of the three profitable payments banks in India. And the second is new financial entity called  Airtel Finance which is mainly aimed at Reliance Jio’s fintech disruptor, Jio Financial Services. ...

Bluestone and Caratlane set out with the same dream. They both wanted to sell everyday fine jewellery online. This was a pretty alien concept in a country like ours, where gold and diamonds are seen more as an asset rather than just an accessory. And for a lot of people, buying gold and diamonds online is completely out of the question, even today.  But both these companies were committed to the i...

AI algorithms for cancer screening are being developed around the world.  Most medical professionals will agree that there is tremendous potential here. If developed properly, AI can potentially detect various cancers at very early stages – which would make it easier to treat cancer and possibly even increase chances of survival.  But all of that is great in theory. In reality, the general consens...