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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

21:43

When cricket and Koffee aren’t enough, JioHotstar...

Daybreak ·

2025/04/17

What happens when India’s biggest streaming platform decides it’s no longer satisfied with just airing Koffee with Karan and cricket? And it now wants to take on YouTube and Instagram?You get Sparks–an ambitious experiment by Jiohotstar that’s is set on winning over Gen Z viewers, one short video at a time.In February, right before the IPL kicked off, Jiohotstar launched Sparks. It is a free, creator-led platform of bite-sized episodes featuring the likes of Tanmay Bhat, Zakir Khan, Ranveer

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14:57

Lenskart built its empire on franchisees. Now it’s...

Daybreak ·

2025/04/16

In a little over a decade, Lenskart has gone from being just India’s biggest online eyewear retailer to becoming one of Asia’s biggest omnichannel eyewear giants. Needless to say, business has been booming. And the company is now inching towards its next big step – an IPO. But in the midst of all its success, it appears Lenskart may have rubbed some people the wrong way. The catch is that these are the very people who helped it get to this point in the first place – the franchise owners

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15:17

Scaler wanted to do for tech education what Masters'...

Daybreak ·

2025/04/15

Back in 2019, an ed-tech called Scaler Academy decided to do for tech education what Masters’ Union did for the traditional MBA. The tech-upskilling platform launched in 2019 with a simple pitch: take AI, machine learning, and data science courses, get placed at top tech firms, and make a lot more money. But five years later, that formula is breaking down. The very thing Scaler trained people in—AI—is making it redundant. Tune in. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s

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13:47

McKinsey, Bain, and BCG welcomed AI with open arms....

Daybreak ·

2025/04/14

Welcome to the world of consulting in 2025. AI is everywhere—from writing reports and making decks to crunching numbers. But you’d think the likes of McKinsey, Bain, and BCG would be worried about AI, right? Because AI reduces the knowledge gap between them and their clients. Turns out, instead of resisting it, they’re going all in.The ones feeling the heat are junior most employees—the consultants. Timelines are shrinking and expectations are going up. Creativity? Who cares about that

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15:03

‘Boys will be boys’ — Trump, tariffs and the...

Daybreak ·

2025/04/11

In this episode, we talk about the global trade war that stopped before it started. First, we talk about US President Donald Trump's decision to reverse the "reciprocal tariffs" on almost every country in the world, except one. Next, we talk about why India had little choice but to offer concession after concession to the US. Finally, we unpack the long term and short term impact of the tariffs on the Indian economy. Check out the newsletters and podcasts mentioned in this episode: The

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10:59

Minimalist was the glow-up Hindustan Unilever's...

Daybreak ·

2025/04/10

One of the largest deals to acquire a D2C brand took place in January this year. India’s largest manufacturer of consumer good, Hindustan Unilever acquired the skincare company Minimalist, a 90% shareholding for nearly Rs 3000 crores.Homegrown startup beauty brands have been on a roll in India. Scores and scores of new age skincare brands have cropped up since the pandemic and all of them harp on the science of it. And their whole appeal is transparency. Transparency about the ingredients

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11:47

From Medimix to Apsara Ice Creams — scions of...

Daybreak ·

2025/04/09

Indian family businesses contribute more than two-thirds to India’s GDP. 70 per cent. That’s amongst the highest in the world. And that number is expected to go up to as much as 85 per cent in the next 20 years. Yet, today a lot of these companies are at a crossroads. You see, many of them have realised that they can’t just carry on as they always have. Business as usual isn’t going to work anymore. Think of brands like Medimix, or Baidyanath syrups. Iconic names for sure, but they are

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14:19

Zerodha and Groww wanted to disrupt mutual funds. But...

Daybreak ·

2025/04/08

For a while now, the new kids on the block in India’s $750 billion mutual fund industry have been trying to really shake things up. The likes of Navi, Zerodha and Groww have been dreaming of a big disruption. And a couple years ago, they thought they had found the answer to their prayers. A playbook that would catapult their growth. They were convinced passive investing is the future. They had good reason to believe so. Last year, passive funds won the big game in the US, where—for the

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10:11

China built the solar energy empire. India’s building...

Daybreak ·

2025/04/06

Despite the recent upheaval in clean tech efforts, governments around the world are investing billions into green hydrogen. Analysts are calling it the missing piece in the clean energy puzzle, especially for industries that can’t run just on batteries or solar power.But the future of green hydrogen may not be decided in Silicon Valley or Europe or even China. It might come from a factory just outside Bengaluru where a little-known American startup called Ohmium is building sleek, modular

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12:53

Cult turned amateur gym rats into fitness fanatics....

Daybreak ·

2025/04/03

As fitness studios exploded across Indian cities after the Covid pandemic, Cult.fit rose to prominence on the back of its fun, accessible classes that appealed to sedentary urbanites. Meanwhile, doctors noticed a sharp rise in workout-related injuries. Majority of those injured fell in the "most vulnerable" 35-45 age bracket. What's going on? The Ken reporter DVLS Pranathi explains. Tune in. Question for listeners: Whose responsibility is it to make sure you don’t suffer from any injuries

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17:21

Groceries were just the beginning. Your 10-min...

Daybreak ·

2025/04/02

India's biggest quick-commerce apps, Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy, have become prime real estate not just for regular FMCG brands but also for financial services, stock-trading apps, and even real-money gaming platforms. The top three players are already making Rs 3 to 3,500 crore rupees in annual ad revenue. And that, dear listeners, is about half of what Amazon India made from ads in FY24, despite having way more users.In today’s episode, host Snigdha Sharma speaks to The Ken reporter

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12:44

India's AI mission could be transformative. But it's...

Daybreak ·

2025/04/02

Back in January, when China’s Deepseek R1 model stunned the world with its performance and low training cost, India was thinking only one thing – how do we beat it? How do we become a global AI superpower? But when it comes to the AI race, India has been stuck at the starting line for quite a while now. Its approach has largely been to throw things at the wall in the hope that something eventually sticks. Now, Deepseek has really amped up the pressure. India’s electronics and IT ministry,

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15:36

Private companies have stumbled upon a goldmine —...

Daybreak ·

2025/04/01

On January 29 of this year, Denta Water and Infra Solutions – a company that specialises in groundwater recharging projects – listed on the bourses. Three weeks later, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, or BWSSB, issued a set of guidelines to address what has become pretty much inevitable every summer in the city – a full blown water crisis. Now, those may seem like two completely random developments to you. But actually, there is a connection there. Because today, both the

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13:49

India’s EV cab trailblazer, BluSmart, is now...

Daybreak ·

2025/03/28

In this episode we fill you in on three standout stories from the past week. First, we talk about the unravelling of Blusmart, India's first EV ride hailing platform; Next, the private banking and wealth management boom in India; And finally how India’s ad agencies got raided over alleged price-fixing three days before country’s biggest marketing event, the IPL.Check out the stories and podcasts mentioned in this episode: Everyone’s looking for a private banker. Have you seen one?An IPL

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19:07

Hari Menon has to save Bigbasket from itself

Daybreak ·

2025/03/26

In January this year, nearly every single employee of the OG E-grocer Big Basket received an email from their CEO, Hari Menon. It was supposed to be a rallying cry. The Tata-owned e-grocery giant had finally—after much hemming and hawing—embraced quick commerce.For a long time, Bigbasket didn’t care much for quick commerce. Menon himself dismissed it in April 2023 as unnecessary and “thrust upon” consumers.But now the Tata board has had enough. Quick commerce isn’t just a fad anymore, it is

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12:21

With an IPO around the corner, Phonepe’s biggest...

Daybreak ·

2025/03/26

Phonepe is all set to debut in the public market in the second half of FY26. That perhaps seems like the natural next step for the fintech giant. After all, it commands nearly half of the market share in UPI transactions today. Between 2020 and now, it has gone from catering to one in five Indians to one in three. And yet, the path to its IPO isn’t quite as simple as you would think. In fact, it’s a tough road ahead for the company. And that’s precisely because of the one thing Phonepe is

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11:55

India's only listed credit-card company is a...

Daybreak ·

2025/03/25

Every two years, SBI Cards, India’s only listed credit card company, valued at $9 billion, appoints a new CEO. This time, it's going to be Salila Pande, a career banker who has been with SBI for over 30 years. On the 1st of April, she will take the reigns from her predecessor, Abhijit Chakravorty.However, it is going to be a tough few years for her. And the reason is like an open secret amongst SBI Cards executives. They just don’t get along with any of their CEOs in general.Tune in to find

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11:53

Could a cashback convince you to change your go-to...

Daybreak ·

2025/03/23

Remember that time in 2022 when India’s top digital payments companies Phonepe, Paytm*, and Bharatpe were in a no-holds-barred turf war? Looking back, it seemed like there was news almost every other day about some tiff between the three market leaders. In fact, former managing director of Bharatpe, Ashneer Grover, has spoken on record about “street fights” between companies’ employees over QR codes. A little more than two years later, there’s only calm. QR code scuffles are over. No one is

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17:39

Haldiram's vs Bikaji just got spicier

Daybreak ·

2025/03/21

In this episode we fill you in on three standout stories from the past week. First, why the fight between every Indian’s favourite namkeen brands Haldiram’s and Bikaji just got spicier; second, the controversy around Urban company’s newest pet project;and finally, the latest from Two by Two where our colleagues Rohin and Praveen discuss what the fourth wave of tech exports from India will look like.Check out the stories and podcasts mentioned in this episode: The latest edition of Long and

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16:40

How pharma companies are chasing newer, better,...

Daybreak ·

2025/03/20

Pharma is slow, complicated and tangled in regulatory approvals and compliances. But, consumer healthcare is fast moving, has far fewer rules and enjoys better margins. Under the umbrella of consumer healthcare you will find a plethora of categories and products – all of which claim to improve some aspect of health or well being. Think supplements, or over the counter medications like Crocin or Sanofi’s own Allegra, even things like protein bars. These are products that you can toss into

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