The Signal Brief

A, a 25, has an elaborate AI system to apply to jobs. One AI agent finds openings. The other rewrites her resume. And a third writes her cover letters. Now, candidates like A are not the only ones using AI. Recruiters are using it too. To go through applications, to rank candidates as well as to conduct interviews using AI avatars. So, if both recruiters and candidates are using AI, how has that c...

More people are turning to AI for emotional support. The appeal is obvious. It's available 24x7. It's free. And unlike humans, it never tells you it's too busy to talk. But critics say there's a darker side. Chatbots can be sycophantic. They can reinforce unhealthy beliefs. They can hallucinate. And in some cases, they may even cause harm. So, can AI really be your therapist? Or ar...

Why don't more Indians carpool? On paper, it seems obvious. Our cities are congested, fuel prices are volatile and pollution remains a major problem. But, despite repeated pushes, carpooling never really took off in India. For this week's episode of The Signal Brief , I spoke to commuters who loved carpooling, commuters who swore never to do it again, and experts who believe shared mobilit...

Mihir Joshi, a singer and talk show host, showed me his sneaker collection over video. More than a 100 pairs. Some Indian sneakers too. But most of his collection consists of global heavyweights like Air Jordans, Onitsuka Tigers and ASICS. Some other sneakerheads I spoke to don't own a single Indian sneaker. That’s surprising, because right now, there’s a real sneaker wave in India.  So, why’s...

Today, almost all of us have some form of a digital presence. But have we thought about what happens to our instagram profile, our youtube account or our crypto assets when we are no more? Experts say most people are unprepared. In fact, less than 10% of Indians even have a regular will. So, what happens to our digital lives when we die?  To find out, I spoke to a will-making expert, a tech lawyer...

Last week, I walked into an aesthetic clinic in South Delhi for a consultation. Now, I walked in a pretty secure person, but walked out wondering about my “masculine jaw,” as the person-in-charge pointed out. She suggested that I get botox to fix it.  India’s medical aesthetics market, that includes injectables like botox and fillers, is booming.  So, what’s behind this growth? Hear from consumers...

Artificial sweeteners took off in India in the mid-2010s, driven by rising diabetes rates as well as people wanting to become fitter. Now, Indian consumers are consuming sugar-free biscuits, sugar-free cookies and even diet sodas. However, recent research suggests that these compounds might be harming our gut microbiome and impacting insulin sensitivity and cardiovascular health. So what’s the ver...

Joseph’s two sons, aged 11 and 9, were doing well in school. Until COVID hit. Their grades started plummeting. Then, Joseph brought up an unusual idea: homeschooling. And Joseph is not alone. More Indian parents are choosing to take charge of their children’s education. According to the Ministry of Education, 72,000 Indian families homeschooled their children in 2023-24. But homeschooling can come...

Kunal’s uncle paid his health insurance premiums for decades. But during COVID, when serious complications from his diabetes struck, his insurance refused to pay a single rupee. Today, the health insurance industry in India is booming. In FY25, it was worth over 1.2 lakh crore rupees.  Premiums are rising but so are complaints.  So how does health insurance really work? And what can you do to prot...

More people in their 50s and 60s are making living wills. These are documents that essentially communicate what you want when you can no longer speak.  One such person is Sarita, a 62-year old retired corporate professional. Her son Anmol supports her choice to make a living will.  So what are living wills? Why are more people getting them and what is the process of getting a living will? To learn...

India has an abundance of sunlight. In fact, the government said that by March 2027, it wants a crore homes to go solar. But, by March 2026, we were only about a quarter of the way there. What’s going on here?  To learn more about installing solar and why some consumers may or may not want solar, check out the latest episode of The Signal Brief. The Core produces The Signal Brief. Follow us wherev...

Today, 1 in 68 children in India are likely on the spectrum, according to studies . Awareness around neurodivergence and autism has grown. There are even schools that accommodate.  And yet, many parents feel alone. Support and infrastructure has not adequately kept up.  What does it really cost–financially and emotionally–to raise a child on the spectrum?  Hear from parents, experts and doctors on...

One time when I was 23, I was hanging out with my friends. One of the guys said, “Hey, don’t get too late, find someone to marry soon.”  I was stunned.  I thought I was young. But was my time already running out? Yes, the biological clock is real. According to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, fertility declines meaningfully in your mid-30s. And now, this modern tension has a modern...

Back in 2018, a wave of Indian brands bet big on mock meat. GoodDot launched its vegan mutton. Then Blue Tribe followed, bringing on Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli as investors and ambassadors. Even mainstream companies like ITC, Tata and Licious jumped on this bandwagon. This was supposed to be the plant-based meat revolution. But, years later, it seems that this revolution has stayed on the supe...

On Wednesday, March 25th, the Delhi Police seized over 20,000 counterfeit books from a printing press in Rohini. Soon after, Penguin Random House India published a statement saying that it had helped the cops with information. Online, the reaction was mixed. Some appreciated this step, calling it a necessary crackdown on piracy.   Others, however, had a totally different opinion. They said that bu...

Normally, the line outside the UAE embassy in Delhi is long, and stretches all the way to the main road. But these days, there are a lot fewer people. That’s because the US-Israel war on Iran has been impacting Gulf countries like the UAE too. Flights there are getting cancelled and there’s just a lot more uncertainty. Recruitment agents say that they are seeing business as usual. Only a small dip...

Last year, over 2 lakh people attended Coldplay’s Ahmedabad show. This year, even more global stars are coming to India. There’s Shakira, Kanye West and Calvin Harris.  Estimates peg the live events organised market as between Rs 12,000 and Rs 20,000 crore. In short, India’s concert economy is booming. But, we don’t have the infrastructure to support shows of this scale. Fewer than ten venues acro...

India is minting millionaires faster than any other country on Earth. Today, roughly 86,000 individuals have over Rs 80 crore in investable assets. Ultra-high-net-worth people? Growing by 50% by the end of the decade. All this new wealth needs managing. Enter: India’s booming wealth management industry—it’s already worth over a trillion dollars, set to double in the next five years. These young ad...

If you live in India, you probably get two or three spam calls a day. A credit card you didn’t apply for. An investment opportunity you’re not interested in. In fact, Truecaller’s reports consistently rank India one of the highest countries for spam.  That’s despite the fact that we actually have regulation to stop spam. In fact, early this year, the TRAI or the Telecom Regulatory Authority of Ind...

Last December, Australia became the first country in the world to ban social media for users under 16.  Now, reports suggest that in India too the central government and some states are considering banning social media for teenagers.  The concerns are simple: endless scrolling, addictive design, online bullying, depression as well as rising anxiety.  India has over 460 million social media users....

India ranks one of the highest in the world for antibiotic resistance--meaning when bacteria learn to outsmart the drugs designed to kill them. And, modern medicine depends heavily on antibiotics.   Doctors use them to cure everything from UTIs to even more serious illnesses like pneumonia.  If antibiotics stop working, modern medicine regresses.  So what exactly is antibiotic resistance? Why is t...

Nikhil, who The Signal Brief spoke to, started losing his hair at 24. He says it damaged his confidence and changed how he showed up on camera. He tried oils, treatments and medication like Minoxidil, but nothing worked. After months of deliberation, he chose a hair transplant. He paid around Rs three lakh and says he does not regret it. But hair transplants carry real risks. Poorly regulated clin...

After the December 31st strike by gig workers, India’s labour ministry asked platform companies to stop promoting the 10 minute delivery deadline. These companies have, on paper, complied.   On the side though, another version of the quick commerce economy has been growing–instant house help. Need someone to help you cook? Need someone to help you clean you home? Tap a button. And a worker arrives...

Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal recently went viral for wearing a device called ‘Temple', which measures blood flow. That’s an example of ‘biohacking’. Biohacking involves using lifestyle changes, supplements and wearables to take control of one's health. In India, the biohacking market was worth over a billion dollars in 2024 and could triple by the end of the decade.  But, doctors are ske...

According to IRDAI, almost a crore Indians bought travel insurance in FY 2025. That’s a 91% jump from FY 2019.  But although many more people are buying travel insurance, they’re actually not getting their claims approved. The ICR, or the incurred claim ratio, in this segment is particularly low. Just about 45% in the overseas segment and about 10% in the domestic segment. This means that for ever...