The Core Report

On Episode 619 of The Core Report, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj talks to Ashok K. Bhattacharya, Editorial Director at Business Standard. SHOW NOTES (00:00) Stories of the Day (05:48) Markets are just 2.5% away from September peak even as record highs are predicted (08:41) Rupee has best day in two years (10:03) Luxury EV sales are zooming (12:29) Are India’s PSUs really a source of value...

Can digital traceability transform India's agriculture and food exports?__________________________________________In this insightful episode of The Core Report Weekend Edition, host Govindraj Ethiraj talks to Mark Kaplan, co-founder of Wholechain, a global platform improving supply chain transparency across food and agriculture sectors — including India. From shrimp farms in coastal India to coope...

On Episode 617 of The Core Report, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj talks to Rishi Agrawal, CEO and Co-Founder of Teamlease Regtech. SHOW NOTES (00:00) Stories of the Day (01:10) The stock markets see 1,000 point jump (02:26) Bank stocks in vogue as HDFC Bank hits an all time high (06:02) Sales of houses drop 20% on year in top 7 cities (07:25) How running a solar power plant, a sector favou...

On Episode 616 of The Core Report, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj talks to Vikas Jain, Co-founder and Chief Investment Officer at Multipl. SHOW NOTES (00:00) Stories of the Day (00:50) Markets gain for second day on Israel-Iran truce (01:45) Oil prices stay down (02:54) How mutual investors are diversifying their holdings on the back of record SIPs (14:11) One in four Indians say they use...

On Episode 615 of The Core Report, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj talks to Sheetal Sapale, Vice-President (Commercial) at Pharmarack. We also feature an excerpt from our upcoming interview with Mark Kaplan, Co-Founder at WholeChain, part of our Build on Blockchain Series. SHOW NOTES (00:00) Stories of the Day (01:00) Markets shrug off middle east tensions, for now (04:33) Oil prices fall s...

On Episode 614 of The Core Report, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj talks to Amit Tandon, Founder and Managing Director at IiAS.  SHOW NOTES (00:00) Stories of the Day (01:09) Stock Markets unmoved by the Middle east war, for now. Iran launches missiles at Qatar (03:57) The rupee turns weak as the dollar strengthens (06:15) Oil prices recover from a steep drop as traders look at supply impac...

On Episode 613 of The Core Report, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj talks to Indrani Bagchi, CEO at Ananta Aspen Centre.  SHOW NOTES (00:00) The Take (05:38) Markets power up on Friday, brace for Monday (11:52) Tax collections are down (13:23) America returns to a middle east war ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.investing-referral.com/aff303⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For more of our coverage check out  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...

India’s dairy industry is quietly transforming and private players are leading the charge. In this episode of The Core Report Weekend Edition, Govindraj Ethiraj speaks with dairy industry veteran Rajiv Mitra about the rapid growth of India’s private dairy sector, which now handles half the country’s milk. From trade policy tensions with the US and UK to the challenges of exporting value-added dair...

On Episode 611 of The Core Report, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj talks to Vandana Hari, Founder & CEO of Vanda Insights.  SHOW NOTES (00:00) Stories of the Day (01:00) A Cloud of caution over the stock markets (02:08) A big rush of IPOs could dampen market activity (05:04) Oil prices rise again as analysts compute war risk premia (13:47) Global FDI flows falls a sharp 11%, China most...

  On Episode 610 of The Core Report, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj talks to Dipti Deshpande, Director and Principal Economist at Crisil. We also feature an excerpt from our recent episode of our podcast How India’s Economy Works hosted by Puja Mehra. SHOW NOTES (00:00) Stories of the Day (00:50) Analysts are scratching their heads over oil prices (02:01) War tensions pull down indices aga...

On Episode 609 of The Core Report, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj talks you through the top business news stories of the day. We also feature an excerpt from our extended discussion with Algorand’s Technical Lead for India, Nikhil Varma in our ongoing “Build On Blockchain” Series. SHOW NOTES (00:00) The Take (04:21) Markets slip as Trump warns Iran (06:44) No direct risk to India on Israel...

On Episode 608 of The Core Report, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj talks to Mahesh Balasubramaniam, Managing Director of Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Company (Kotak Life).  SHOW NOTES (00:00) Stories of the Day (01:00) Markets hold out against war fears (01:29) Gold prices hit an all time high, cross Rs 100,000  (04:34) Oil prices are in uncharted territory for now even as consolidation wa...

On Episode 607 of The Core Report, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj talks you through the top business news of the day. We also feature an excerpt from our recent weekend edition featuring Anshul Jain, Chief Executive – India, SE Asia & APAC Tenant Representation at Cushman & Wakefield.  SHOW NOTES (00:00) The Take (05:19) Markets take hit on Israel-Iran war, uncertainty returns  (08...

In this episode of The Core Report Weekend Edition, Govindraj Ethiraj speaks with Anshul Jain, Chief Executive - India, SE Asia & APAC Tenant Representation at Cushman & Wakefield, to unpack the sharp rise in commercial real estate demand across India — especially driven by Global Capability Centres (GCCs), domestic expansion, and post-pandemic workplace shifts. From Bangalore’s dominance...

On Episode 605 of The Core Report, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj talks to Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist and Head - Research & Outreach at ICRA, Safi Ahsan Rizvi, Advisor at National Disaster Management Authority as well as Captain Sam Thomas, President at ALPA India.  SHOW NOTES (00:00) Stories of the Day (01:48) Markets plunge suddenly by over 990 points (03:30) Retail inflation drops...

On Episode 604 of The Core Report, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj talks to Gopal Jain, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Gaja Capital.  SHOW NOTES (00:00) The Take: Cable TV’s Digital Disruption (06:17) Markets edge up once again, tracking Asia (06:39) US says it has a trade deal with China, the latter yet to respond (10:56) Dedollarisation is rising, differently from what was predicted e...

On Episode 603 of The Core Report, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj talks to G Chokkalingam, Founder at Equinomics Research & Advisory Pvt Ltd. We also feature an excerpt from our extended interview with Algorand’s Anil Kakani and Nikhil Varma in our ongoing “Build On Blockchain” Series.  SHOW NOTES (00:00) Stories of the Day (00:50) Markets take a breather as bank stocks see selling (03...

On Episode 602 of The Core Report, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj talks to Ajay Trehan, Founder and CEO at AuthBridge. SHOW NOTES (00:00) Stories of the Day (01:00) Nifty hits 2025 high as markets gather strength (03:41) How the froth in railway stocks highlights the valuations dilemma  (08:00) Big payouts by companies as dividends (09:34) Nvidia founder Jensen Huang gushes about the UK, s...

On Episode 601 of The Core Report, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj talks to Vivek Kumar, Economist at QuantEco Research as well as Ashish Modani, Senior Vice President and Group Head (Corporate Ratings) at ICRA Ltd for Infra. SHOW NOTES (00:00) The Take (05:29) The markets rise on rate cut news, strong macro fundamentals (06:51) Steepest interest rate cut in 5 years surprises bankers, marke...

How do you build a mobile payments network where banks barely function and cash is king? On this episode of The Core Report Weekend Edition, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj speaks with Nigel Pont, Senior Advisor for Humanitarian Affairs, HesabPay (Afghanistan’s leading mobile payments platform — now expanding into Syria) and the Algorand Foundation. From war zones to wallets, this episode d...

On Episode 599 of The Core Report, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj talks to Rohit Arora, CEO & Co-Founder at Biz2Credit & Biz2X as well as Manisha Kapoor, CEO and Secretary-General at the ASCI. SHOW NOTES (00:00) Stories of the Day (01:00) Markets break out of their losing streak (02:49) Rupee among the worst performing Asian currencies in recent periods (04:32) India’s census exerc...

On Episode 598 of The Core Report, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj talks to Nikhil Dhaka, Vice President, Primus Partners. We also feature an excerpt from our upcoming interview with Nigel Pont from our Build On Blockchain series. SHOW NOTES (00:00) Stories of the Day (01:09) Rich valuations put pressure on markets again (04:09) Oil prices are climbing once again, crossing $65 a barrel (05:...

On Episode 597 of The Core Report, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj talks to Ayaz Memon, veteran sports journalist and commentator. SHOW NOTES (00:00) Stories of the Day (01:00) Markets bounce in fag end of trade as they grapple with uncertainty (02:16) Foreign brokerages are still wary of high valuations (04:51) US Dollar Index will fall 9% says Morgan Stanley (07:17) Maruti wants the Govt...

On Episode 596 of The Core Report, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj talks to DK Joshi, Chief Economist at Crisil limited. SHOW NOTES (00:00) The Take (08:21) Markets lurch in continued search for bearings (09:53) GST collections cross 2 lakh crore again in May (10:43) India’s GDP growth comes in at 6.5%, what does a longer range picture for the Indian economy look like? (24:19) Another infla...

India’s Cancer Crisis: Why Thousands Die Without TreatmentIn this episode of The Core Report Weekend Edition, Govindraj Ethiraj speaks with Dr. KS Sharma, former senior anesthesiologist at Tata Memorial Hospital, about India’s cancer care infrastructure, the alarming mortality rate, and the urgent shortage of trained oncologists. India records over 1.5 million new cancer cases each year, yet 60% o...