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PODCAST

Daybreak

Business news is complex and overwhelming. It doesn’t have to be. Every day of the week, from Monday to Friday, Daybreak tells one business story that’s significant, simple and powerful. Hosted from The Ken’s newsroom by Snigdha Sharma and Rachel Varghese, Daybreak relies on years of original reporting and analysis by some of India’s most experienced and talented business journalists.

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All Episodes

12:02

India’s innovation engine works. About 5% of the time

Daybreak ·

2025/12/09

India's Atal Incubation Centres promised to be the backbone of government innovation. With 500 crore rupees in initial funding and support from Niti Aayog, these 72 centres were supposed to nurture startups with grants, mentors, and infrastructure.Nearly a decade later, the results are sobering. Of 3,500 incubated startups, fewer than 5% have raised external capital. Most centres lack basic websites or outcome metrics. No external audits. No unicorns.Now the government wants to double

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9:43

Free cricket was Jio’s big play. It’s also why the...

Daybreak ·

2025/12/08

Yesterday, the Economic Times reported that JioStar has told the ICC it wants to exit its India media rights deal for cricket events, even with two years still left in the cycle. The company also doubled its provisions for expected losses suggesting the rights may cost more to deliver than they can earn back. It all started in late 2024 when Jio came in and flipped the script by streaming cricket tournaments for free and leaning towards a more ad-heavy model. For viewers, it felt like

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14:07

How TISS became IIM-lite

Daybreak ·

2025/12/07

Manoj Kumar Tiwari had a tough job: transform the Tata Institute of Social Sciences into something that looks more like a management school. In his two year term? Mission accomplished.TISS now uses the same entrance exam as IIMs. It's hiring faculty from business schools instead of NGOs. Management courses are in, social science programs are struggling to fill seats. Over 100 staff were laid off in 2024.This isn't just about TISS. It's part of a larger pattern where institutions like JNU

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13:23

The stress test that IndiGo failed

Daybreak ·

2025/12/04

IndiGo had one of its worst weeks ever with hundreds of flights cancelled across major airports. New pilot rest rules kicked in on November 1, 2025 and the airline’s tight schedules and lean crew planning could not absorb the change. Thousands of passengers were stranded. What really happened and why did India’s biggest airline struggled so suddenly? In this episode, we look at what this means for the country’s fast growing aviation system. Because when one rule change can bring the busiest

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10:55

How Physicswallah avoided the typical startup...

Daybreak ·

2025/12/03

Physicswallah grew with almost no funding kept most of its ownership and built a huge following around its founder Alakh Pandey. Then it shifted gears and started buying companies expanding offline and spending more to grow faster. The numbers changed the risks changed and the company itself changed. Investors still showed up for the IPO but the real question is what comes next.What happens when a company built on frugality and founder energy suddenly tries to scale like a giant?Daybreak is

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11:36

The Government wants to be on your phone. It's not...

Daybreak ·

2025/12/03

The Indian government quietly mandated that all smartphones sold in the country must come pre-installed with Sanchar Saathi, a state-owned cybersecurity app that users cannot delete or disable.The app tracks lost phones and blocks stolen devices. But it requires deep permissions. It can read messages, access phone data, make calls, and view photos. Privacy advocates warn these permissions could be expanded overnight to scan for banned apps, flag VPN use, or monitor SMS patterns.The

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12:17

Zepto isn't just faster anymore. It's also something...

Daybreak ·

2025/12/01

Zepto is getting cheaper and everyone has noticed. But the real story is what the company is trying to fix behind the scenes. Aadit Palicha wants Zepto to feel like Dmart for quick commerce: lower prices, better availability, and more value each time you open the app. But this shift comes with big questions. The company is burning more cash. Competitors are calling it out. Senior leaders are leaving. And the IPO clock is ticking. Today, we look at why Zepto is changing its strategy now and

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13:09

India's e-bus ambitions are running on borrowed power

Daybreak ·

2025/11/30

India wants 50,000 electric buses on the road by 2030. It's a clean mobility revolution that should clear the air in crowded cities.But there's a problem: the power grid wasn't built for this. Cities are plugging bus depots into the same 11kV lines that serve homes and corner shops. In some areas, the strain is already showing: voltage drops and flickering lights in residential areas.So, the country is racing to electrify its transport without electrifying the infrastructure beneath it

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11:02

Your phone number is at the center of a fight between...

Daybreak ·

2025/11/27

India's restaurants just won a four-year battle for customer data access from Zomato and Swiggy. But here's the twist: this "victory" comes precisely as the industry becomes more platform-dependent than ever. While the NRAI celebrates phone number sharing, investors are pouring billions into QSRs and cloud kitchens—business models that assume permanent platform capture. With delivery platforms extracting 16-30% commissions and controlling discovery, logistics, and customer acquisition, data

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13:25

Big AI is writing India’s startup rules faster than...

Daybreak ·

2025/11/26

There's a quiet tension underlying India’s AI boom. Startups are swiftly building bold products on foundations they don’t control. From synced ride-hailing fares to the regulator with only a single office, we look at the strange mix of innovation, vulnerability, and policy catch-up shaping the space. What happens when the platform you rely on starts competing with you?Tune in.Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe

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12:25

The price Havells paid to become a household name

Daybreak ·

2025/11/25

Eight years ago, Havells acquired Lloyd to become a household name in consumer electronics. Today, that dream has become its biggest headache.Lloyd's revenue dropped 18% in the September quarter. Warehouses are jammed with unsold air conditioners after an unusually short summer. And, in January, new energy-efficiency rules will make clearing old stock costlier.Despite tripling revenue, Lloyd's operating margins collapsed from 17% to -7% in four years. Lloyd has consumed over 3,000 crore

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12:28

Who wants instant fashion more? You or Myntra and Ajio?

Daybreak ·

2025/11/24

Instant fashion is everywhere now. Open Myntra or Ajio and you will see the option to get clothes delivered in minutes. But who is this really for? Are shoppers truly demanding 30 minute outfits?In this episode, we dive into what is driving the push for instant fashion, how it works behind the scenes, and why it has become such a high stakes bet for India’s biggest fashion apps.Take this survey to share your best prompt. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first

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15:16

India's farmers got faster loans. Then the prices...

Daybreak ·

2025/11/23

Arya.ag helped India's farmers escape the grip of moneylenders. They could now store their grain in proper warehouses, get loans in seven minutes, and wait for better prices instead of selling at harvest-time lows. But there's a problem: agricultural prices have crashed to five-year lows. Wheat that sold for Rs 4,000 per quintal two years ago now fetches just Rs 2,600. For farmers like Himanshu and Neetu, the math is brutal—saving Rs 18,000 on interest means little when revenue has dropped

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12:47

The AI running India isn't Indian. Can that still...

Daybreak ·

2025/11/20

India is using more AI than ever. But most of that intelligence is not Indian. OpenAI, Google and others are expanding in India fast. They already shape how millions work, learn, and search. Meanwhile, India’s own sovereign AI model is only expected in 2026. Other countries like South Korea and China have already built and deployed theirs. What does sovereign AI actually mean, why does it matter for everyday users and why is India is still struggling to build the full stack. And most

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12:37

Why foreign stents still rule Indian hearts

Daybreak ·

2025/11/19

A cardiologist in Nagpur performs two similar angioplasties. But the stents inside his patients tell two very different stories. One gets Indian-made devices under a government scheme. The other insists on an imported brand. This contrast is now common across India. Price caps pushed foreign stent makers into a corner in 2017. But they never left. And now, they’re back with new valves, pacemakers, and high-margin cardiac devices. Domestic players, meanwhile, grew fast but still struggle

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13:33

Why PVR Inox wants to run its cinemas like hotels

Daybreak ·

2025/11/18

India’s largest cineplex chain, PVR INOX, has pulled off a major financial reversal, posting a ₹100 crore profit this quarter, a drastic recovery after bleeding nearly ₹12 crore last year. Over 40 million people showed up—but occupancy ratios are still struggling to cross 30%.To fix this, PVR INOX is expanding into new, non-metro markets like Gangtok and Raipur. But there's a major twist: the company is no longer footing the bill for expansion.Taking a page from hospitality giants like

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13:15

How Trump became Indian apparel makers’ unlikely saviour

Daybreak ·

2025/11/17

Tiruppur, Tamil Nadu, India’s knitwear capital, has long depended on massive U.S. orders that shaped its factories, products, and growth. But when the Trump administration imposed a 50% tariff on Indian garment imports, the town’s export engine received a long-pending shock. Turns out, the crisis became a turning point. Manufacturers are now scrambling for discounts, shifting production to Sri Lanka and Kenya, reorienting toward Europe, and overhauling product lines from mass-market basics

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12:33

India wants third graders to learn AI. The teachers...

Daybreak ·

2025/11/16

India's largest school board, CBSE, has announced that students as young as Class 3 will begin learning Artificial Intelligence.This isn't the first time. The board rolled out an AI elective for Class 9 in 2019, long before generative AI was a household name. Now, the goal is to make "AI thinking" as fundamental as grammar.We dive into this massive national experiment, exploring what "learning AI" means for a third grader—it’s less about building chatbots and more about "computational

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39:47

Olympic swimmer Nisha Millet on why some goals should...

Daybreak ·

2025/11/13

What does it take to perform at your best — not once, but over and over again? Olympian Nisha Millet has spent her life answering that question.In sport, as in business, success isn’t about one big win — it’s about showing up, even when it’s hard. From the pressures of competing at the Olympics to building a career as a coach and entrepreneur, Nisha shares what the pool taught her about focus, resilience, and managing performance under pressure.In this episode, we explore how elite athletes

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13:01

SoftBank’s Nvidia move amid the AI frenzy is bringing...

Daybreak ·

2025/11/12

SoftBank just sold about $5.8 billion worth of Nvidia shares earlier this week. The move frees up cash for new AI bets and comes as AI stocks power most of this year’s market rally. Nvidia’s rise has been spectacular but so have the warnings about overheating. Some analysts see a rotation coming: money could move from pricey tech giants to steadier markets. And that’s where India enters the picture. It’s grown slower, but on stronger fundamentals like broad demand, digital momentum, real

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