The Morning Brief

For decades, Indian family businesses have operated on trust, tradition, and unwritten rules. But as generational transitions approach, and as businesses scale or seek external capital, these legacy structures are coming under pressure. Succession in Indian family businesses is no longer a backroom conversation, it's becoming a strategic imperative. And as new voices emerge in old rooms, the quest...

Havas Group, the world’s fifth-largest advertising network, counts India as one of its most successful markets. In this special Corner Office Conversation, Yannick Bolloré, Chairman and CEO of Havas Group, talks to Ratna Bhushan about why Indian branding and advertising is a “completely different world”. With several big accounts such as Reckitt Benckiser, HUL and Tata Ste...

The Trump-Harvard tussle over international students has aspirants and their parents in a bind.  In this episode of The Morning Brief, host Prachi Verma explores the ripple effect of the clash and what it signals for the future of American higher education. With its federal certification temporarily stripped, Harvard now has less than 30 days to prove it complies with the Student and Exchange...

From Steve Jobs’s design obsession to Cold War-like entanglements in China, Apple’s supply chain story is as much geopolitical as it is operational. In this episode of The Morning Brief , hosts Anirban Chowdhury and Dia Rekhi speak with Financial Times’ lead Apple reporter, journalist and author Patrick McGee, whose new book explores how Apple’s reliance on China helped bui...

Malta’s golden passport scheme once ranked #1 globally for citizenship-by-investment has been declared a violation of EU law by the European Court of Justice, signaling a major turning point in global wealth migration. As the EU cracks down on fast-track citizenship programs, high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs), including thousands of wealthy Indians, are reassessing their options for second...

India has recently witnessed a dramatic decline in net Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), sparking concerns across economic and policy circles. In this episode, we explore the key factors behind this unexpected fall and what it could mean for the country’s growth trajectory. While foreign investment continues to come in, a surge indisinvestments and capital outflows as part of the  IPO wa...

Today we break down the big clash between PVR Inox, India’s largest cinema chain, and Maddock Films, the production house behind the Stree franchise, Chhava and now Bhool Chuk Maaf. Just days before the latest film was supposed to hit theatres, Maddock decided to skip the big screen and release it straight to Amazon Prime Video, citing the ongoing military conflict between India and Pakistan...

Last week, Donald Trump made headlines once again.. this time by issuing veiled threats to Apple CEO Tim Cook over the company’s expanding operations in India. But despite the political noise, Apple is pushing full steam ahead with its India strategy, with Foxconn reportedly set to double iPhone production in the country this year. As Apple positions India as a key manufacturing hub and a po...

From Guns n Roses shredding in Mumbai to Coldplay slaying it in Ahmedabad, India is grooving to a new and potentially massive business. In this episode of The Morning Brief, host Anirban Chowdhury speaks with Raghav Anand, Partner at EY-Parthenon, and Naman Pugalia, Chief Business Officer at BookMyShow, to decode India’s live entertainment boom. With global icons like Travis Scott, Dua Lipa,...

What does it take to develop and actually settle a new capital city? On May 2nd, PM Narendra Modi launched Amaravati, the proposed capital of Andhra Pradesh. But this wasn’t its first unveiling. Back in 2015, then CM Chandrababu Naidu had launched the same greenfield dream with the PM by his side. Now, after a political hiatus and a resounding mandate, Naidu is back and so is Amaravati. In t...

From a modest Silicon Valley garage to a global creative powerhouse, Adobe's journey has been nothing short of transformative. In this episode of The Morning Brief, ET’s Surabhi Agarwal & Annapurna Roy engages with Adobe Chairman & CEO Shantanu Narayen to discuss how the company is integrating AI with design to redefine digital creativity. Narayen reflects on India's burgeoning creat...

From Carnegie Mellon classrooms to a global cultural phenomenon, this episode of The Morning Brief  traces the journey of Luis von Ahn, math prodigy, inventor of CAPTCHA, and now the CEO and co-founder of Duolingo. Hosts Anirban Chowdhury and ET’s Deputy news editor Himani Kothari explore how Luis’s early work fighting bots evolved into a business to democratize education through...

In the early hours of Wednesday, May 7—well past midnight—India launched a precise, 23-minute military operation targeting nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. These locations were reportedly strongholds of two of the world’s most notorious terror groups: Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed. Indian Rafale jets deployed SCALP and HAMMER missiles in the strike...

As the UK and India inch closer to sealing their most ambitious bilateral trade agreement post-Brexit, the stakes have never been higher. In this episode of The Morning Brief, host Anirban Chowdhury speaks to Pallavi Joshi Bakhru, Partner and UK Corridor Leader at Grant Thornton Bharat to unpack the long-awaited deal poised to reshape £43 billion in annual trade between the two nations.&nbsp...

As trust in domestic examinations falters, interest in studying medicine abroad is gaining momentum. In the wake of NEET-UG 2024’s credibility crisis marked by paper leak allegations, grace marks controversies, and a perplexing spike in perfect scores many Indian medical aspirants are rethinking their future. In this episode of The Morning Brief , host Neil Ghai speaks with Akshay Chaturvedi...

India once seen as a tea stronghold is emerging as a dynamic market for premium coffee. One brand leveraging this pivot is Costa Coffee. The British coffee house has a strange business arrangement in India. Owned by Coke, its outlets are operated by Pepsi’s biggest Indian bottler. Nevertheless and unfazed by growing competition from premium coffee names like Blue Tokai and Tim Hortons, Costa...

In this special edition of The Morning Brief, hosts Anirban Chowdhury and Dia Rekhi chat with three of the world’s most dynamic content creators, Mark Rober (a former NASA engineer turned YouTube star), Mayo Japan (a Hindi-speaking Japanese creator bridging Indian and Japanese cultures), and Brandon B (a VFX expert and viral storyteller). From viral Halloween costumes to high-budget STEM exp...

As global tensions intensify from tariffs to terror the question arises: Are India-China relations quietly warming beneath the surface? Despite diplomatic frost after the Galwan clash, trade tells a different story. In 2023, bilateral trade reached a staggering $136.2 billion, with China remaining one of India’s top partners. From telecom to pharma, Chinese components power critical sectors...

India’s move to hold the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance marks a watershed moment with far-reaching consequences is the starkest example of weaponizing the natural resource in recent times. The IWT, critical to both countries and a lifestream for Pakistan, has survived 6 decades of hostilities and 4 armed conflics. But it has been marked with disputes and disagreements. The Pahalgam at...

India has responded to the terror attacks in Pahalgam that claimed at least 25 lives of innocent tourists. A quick probe has been followed by a 5 point onslaught that strikes at an age-old water sharing agreement, infiltration,  visas and diplomatic representation. Is a war imminent? Host Anirban Chowdhury is joined by ET’s defence expert Manu Pubby and diplomatic editor Dipanjan Roy Ch...

Once an idyllic, tourist-friendly destination nicknamed “mini Switzerland,” Baisaran Valley is now the site of a devastating and unprecedented terrorist attack, which has claimed 26 lives yet. As scenes of gunshots and helpless victims reverberate and replay through news channels and the internet, host Nidhi Sharma asks Hakeem Irfan Rashid, ET's Kashmir expert, to explain the whys, how...

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion three words that seem anything but controversial. Yet today, DEI stands at the heart of a global debate. With the Trump administration actively rolling back DEI initiatives across U.S. federal agencies, the question arises: what ripple effects might this have internationally, especially in India? Has DEI truly taken root in Indian workplaces, or does it remain larg...

As global trade faces one of its most uncertain chapters yet, India and the U.S. are negotiating what could become a defining economic agreement of the decade: a bilateral trade deal aimed at scaling their trade volume to $500 billion by 2030, a fourfold increase from its value in 2024.  But behind the diplomatic handshakes lie tough negotiations and clashing economic priorities. In this epis...

What if the very reason Indian students choose the U.S. for higher education suddenly disappeared? No, it’s not the allure of Silicon Valley or Ivy League labels we’re talking about OPT: Optional Practical Training. For years, it’s been the launchpad for STEM grads to gain real U.S. work experience after their degree. But that pathway is now under serious threat. In this episode,...

SaaS giant Salesforce has always been a disruptor in the tech industry. But it now stands at a point where the future of this industry is being completely reshaped by AI. In this episode, Marc Benioff, the man behind the CRM major, talks to ET’s tech editor Surabhi Agarwal about Salesforce’ origin, its core ethos, present and future..the last two driven largely by AI. He elaborates on...