The Morning Brief

Regulatory roadblocks, Chinese influence and ecosystem aspirations – Gautam Chhugani, Director - India Financials and Fintech, Bernstein and ET's Digbijay Mishra dissect the triggers behind Paytm’s tearing rush towards a $3 billion initial public offering by Diwali this year. Credits: Audio clips from Bloomberg Quint, ET Now, CNBC-TV18, Paytm, PhonePe and Google Pay. Music from Pink Floyd. See omn...

Ramp up vaccination by buying in bulk and including the private sector, Dr. Devi Shetty, founder of Narayana Health and head of Karnataka's Covid task force, tells the government. Dr. Shetty warns that we need to prepare for a third wave, not waste time discussing its likelihood. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Centre maintains that Big Tech needs to follow India's social media guidelines but Twitter, Facebook, Google, and WhatsApp are not going down without a fight. Is a ban on the cards, and what next for the tech giants? Raman Chima, APAC Policy Director at Access Now, Nikhil Pahwa, Founder, Medianama, and ET's Surabhi Agarwal discuss. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As brands tap social media influencers, covert ads were proliferating. The new ad guidelines now ask influencers to clearly label branded posts. Content creator Danish Sait, Manisha Kapoor, Secretary-General of Advertising Standard Council of India, and Lakshmi Balasubramanian, Co-founder of Greenroom discuss the business of social media marketing. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informati...

Parents are anxious and states are ramping up facilities but is there any actual evidence that a third wave might affect children disproportionately? Dr. Chandrakant Lahariya, Epidemiologist and Public Health Expert, Dr. Rakshay Shetty, Head, Pediatric Intensive Care, Rainbow Children's Hospital, and ET's Teena Thacker ease your worries. Credits: Audio clips from ABP News Hindi, NDTV, The Atlantic...

Lakshadweep’s residents have been protesting a series of changes brought about by administrator Praful Khoda Patel, who wants to make the idyllic islands a tourist hub. How will this affect the archipelago’s economics, ecology and culture? We find out from Ayshabi Kalpeni, Chief Medical Officer at Life Care Hospital in Kerala, who hails from Lakshadweep, M Rajshekhar, Independent Journalist, and K...

Blockbusters are moving from the big screen to smaller ones, OTTs woo movie audiences away from theatres. Will Covid kill the silver screen and make our home the new box office? Catch filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee and Bahubali producer Shobu Yarlagadda in a candid discussion. Credits: Eros Films, Colors Cineplex, Zee Cinema, Warner Bros, Jio, T-Series, Bollywood Hungama See omnystudio.com/listener fo...

Why are political parties battling over toolkits on social media? Pratik Sinha, Co-founder of Alt News, Raman Jit Singh Chima, Asia Policy Director and Senior International Counsel at Access Now, and ET’s Vasudha Venugopal help us understand what toolkits are, and how new regulations will impact social media and freedom of expression. News Clips from Vice (HBO), AajTak, Wellness Today. See omnystu...

In the throes of the pandemic, India now has another worry - the rising number of black fungus cases among Covid-19 patients. Dr. Shashank Joshi, an Endocrinologist, and Ophthalmologist Dr. Raghuraj Hegde decode the outbreak, its warning signs and why the treatment is so expensive. ET's Nidhi Sharma explains the steps taken by the government. News clips from Times Now, ANI News, CNA TV and NDTV. S...

Cairn Energy of the UK has moved to seize Air India’s assets to enforce a $1.2 billion arbitration award it won against a retrospective tax demand by the Indian government. Vyapak Desai, Partner at Nishith Desai Associates, Mukesh Butani, Managing Partner at BMR Legal Advocates, and ET’s Deepshikha Sikarwar explain what this could mean for India as an investment destination. Credits: News Clips fr...

"Health insurance during the pandemic is proving to be costlier as companies tighten restrictions in the wake of rising cases and deaths. Will this be the norm in a post-Covid world? Tarun Mathur, co-founder and CBO Policybazaar, and Mahavir Chopra, founder and CEO Beshak.org discuss this with ET's Riju Mehta and Ashwin Manikandan. The clips used in the episode belong to ICICI Prudential, Cred, LI...

Onerous restrictions on NGOs receiving foreign funds have made it hard for them to provide much-needed aid during the ongoing pandemic. Ingrid Srinath, Director, Centre for Social Impact & Philanthropy at Ashoka University, and Sachin Jain, Founder of Vikas Samvad Samiti, explain the ramifications. The news clip used in the episode belongs to Times Now. Priyanka Chopra's plea for donation for Indi...

With leading banks stopping payments for crypto-currency traders, will the blockchain entrepreneurs, exchanges, or investors be able to fight back? WazirX Founder and CEO Nischal Shetty discusses this with ET's Sugata Ghosh and Apoorva Mittal. Clips courtesy: Saturday Night Live, Coinswitch Kuber, India Today, TV 18. Music courtesy: Adhesive Wombat See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informati...

Covid-19 has struck the rural heart of India badly this time. The economic fallout is manageable so far – with some caution, according to Sunil Kumar Sinha, Principal Economist at India Ratings & Research, and K Ramakrishnan, MD - South Asia, Kantar Worldpanel. But Excel sheets may not be able to capture the distress, says Neelesh Misra, Founder of Gaon Connection. The audio elements used in this...

A waiver of intellectual property rights on Covid-19 vaccines and drugs alone may not benefit developing countries including India in the battle against the deadly disease. Murali Neelakantan, Former Global General Counsel of Cipla and Glenmark, and Vikas Dandekar, Editor, Pharma and Healthcare, ET Prime, explain what’s at stake for the patent holders and developing nations. The clip featuring Bil...

That’s the number to contact to help children orphaned by Covid-19, who are more vulnerable to unscrupulous traffickers, with social media Samaritans unwittingly worsening the situation. Sunil Arora of Bal Asha Trust, Sonal Kapoor from the Protsahan India Foundation and ET’s Devina Sengupta explain how children in this crisis can be helped. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This year’s IPL has been indefinitely postponed midway through the tournament after some players contracted Covid-19. Joy Bhattacharjya, Former Director, Kolkata Knight Riders, K Shriniwas Rao, the Times of India’s Senior Sports Journalist, and ET’s Gaurav Laghate tell us how the virus breached IPL’s bio-bubble and the impact of the postponement. The IPL theme music used in this episode belongs to...

The triumph of regional parties in the West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu elections was a setback for the BJP, which won only Assam and Puducherry. The Congress was marginalised. ET’s political reporters KR Balasubramanyam, Bikash Singh, Vasudha Venugopal and Dia Rekhi analyse the election results. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Several countries have come to the aid of India as it battles a devastating Covid-19 wave. How will this affect the global perception of Aatmanirbhar India? Ranjan Mathai, Former Foreign Secretary of India, Tanvi Madan, Director of The India Project at Brookings Institution, Washington, ET Columnist Seema Sirohi and ET’s Manu Pubby give us their insights. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy in...

India produces sufficient oxygen, but getting it to Covid-19 patients remains a challenge. How can we get out of this crisis? VR Sharma, MD, Jindal Steel, Rajeev Gupta, Founder Vinayak Oxygen and Sandeep Barasia, CBO, Delhivery tackle the logistical issues, while Pulmonologist Dr. Bornali Datta, and ET's Nabeel Khan recount their experiences in battling oxygen availability. See omnystudio.com/list...

Amid the raging second wave of the pandemic, some companies are trying to ensure the wellbeing of their employees by helping them get beds at hospitals, critical medicines and oxygen, among other things. Meeta Gangrade, COO at 1To1Help, and ET’s Rica Bhattacharyya tell us what more they can do. Also: tips on managing anxiety from psychotherapist Meghna Mukherjee. See omnystudio.com/listener for pr...

People from all over are stepping up to help individuals in distress as Covid’s second wave ravages the country. A few bravehearts like Fashion Influencer Amrita Thakur, Mazher Ramzanali of Khaana Chahiye, Ali Shariff of NGO Mercy Mission, and Samaresh Das share their experiences. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Allowing all adults to get vaccinated against Covid-19 from next month brings new challenges – from supply chain issues to the ethical dilemma of equitable distribution. Gagandeep Kang, Virologist and Professor at Christian Medical College, Vellore, and ET’s Nidhi Sharma discuss the hurdles ahead. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Class 10 and class 12 students are in a quandary with their board exams cancelled or rescheduled because of Covid-19 cases. Sushil Dhankar, Spokesperson of National Independent Schools Alliance, Adarsh Khandelwal, CEO of Collegify, Disha Nawani, Dean of Tata Institute of Social Sciences, and Anubha Shrivastava Sahai, President of the India Wide Parents Association, tell us how this will affect the...

Not enough drugs, beds and oxygen – that’s the state of affairs in this second and larger wave of Covid-19 that’s hit India. Vikas Dandekar of ET Prime gives us the lowdown on Remdesivir, the drug that’s in high demand for treating coronavirus cases. And we have ground reports from Krishna Kumar in Mumbai, Vatsala Gaur from Lucknow and Akshatha M in Bengaluru. See omnystudio.com/listener for priva...