The Ken

Daybreak

A Business News , News and Business podcast

#2 in Business News · 🇮🇳 #5 in News · 🇮🇳

About the show

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.

Newest episodes

Engineering profits are slipping and L&T Tech is going all in on AI

Nov 12, 2026 11 min

L&T Technology Services is making a big bet on AI to reverse a slide in its profit margins. The engineering services company has sold its Smart World and Communications business at a loss of Rs 350 crore, shifting its focus towards AI-led engineering projects. Meanwhile, AI agents are helping it automate software testing, process complex engineering data and cut project timelines. The shift is also changing how LTTS hires employees, structures teams and charges clients. But with competitors making similar moves and outcome-based billing bringing new risks, can AI deliver the profits LTTS is counting on? Tune in! Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Complan says it makes kids grow 2X faster. FSSAI wants to see the proof

Nov 11, 2026 12 min

Complan's pitch to Indian parents has long been simple. It helps kids grow taller, faster. Last month, FSSAI asked its maker to show the studies behind it's claim: "clinically proven 2x growth". Nestle got a similar notice for two of its baby formulas. So did several other brands, as the FSSAI swept the industry, hitting products like atta to infant formula. So, why is the regulator going after brands that have been around for so long, so aggressively, and why now? Tune in. This episode was edited by Arnav Prakash. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

India's jewellery makers are IPO-ing away to pay for gold

Nov 10, 2026 12 min

Eight jewellery companies have listed on India’s main board this year. Many of them are the behind-the-scenes makers who supply to big brands like Malabar, Kalyan, and Senco. Investors have lapped them up. One issue was oversubscribed a hundred times. On paper, it’s easy to see why, because their profits are soaring. But they have to pay for gold upfront and wait months for retailers to pay them. In the end, their bank credit is almost wiped out. So most of what investors handed over is going into repaying loans and buying gold. In this edition of Long and Short from The Ken newsroom written by Debanjali Biswas and read aloud by Snigdha, we look at what exactly investors are buying into. Tune in. This episode was edited by Arnav Prakash. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

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All episodes

The newest 50 of 876 episodes

Engineering profits are slipping and L&T Tech is going all in on AI

Nov 12, 2026 11 min

Complan says it makes kids grow 2X faster. FSSAI wants to see the proof

Nov 11, 2026 12 min

India's jewellery makers are IPO-ing away to pay for gold

Nov 10, 2026 12 min

How the security deposit became a landlord’s free working capital

Nov 10, 2026 11 min

This Diwali, gift The Ken!Tenants across India's six biggest metros have handed landlords Rs 1.26 trillion in security deposits, a new NoBroker study estimates. Around $15 billion of tenant money, refundable in name, sits in landlords' accounts earning interest for people it does not belong to. In this episode, host Snigdha Sharma ask what a deposit actually costs a renter, and arrives at a number: nearly a month's rent, every year. The same tenant who pays 2 months' deposit in Mumbai is asked for 10 in Bengaluru, and in Delhi NCR, about 4 in 10 never got their full deposit back. Renting was meant to be a phase. But with home ownership drifting out of reach, tenants may be extending this loan for decades. Tune in. Recommendations:It sucks to be a tenant in Bengaluru right now*This episode was originally published on July 17, 2026. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

A $12B R&D fund was meant to turbocharge startup funding. It did the opposite

Nov 8, 2026 11 min

India's RDI fund of Rs. 1 lakh crore was launched to give patient capital to deep-tech startups. A year later the cash, is barely flowing. Out of 162 alternate investment funds, only 2 government intermediaries have approved letters, and most of their startups are still waiting. Fund managers say that they've experienced radio silence after applications, allegations of conflict of interests, and return expectations that don't suit R&D focused companies. Meanwhile, overall startup funding is also down. So, why did the fund meant to speed things up end up slowing everything down? Tune in. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Why India’s airlines are flying less and charging you more

Nov 5, 2026 16 min

“Don’t travel by air.” That was a Supreme Court judge’s response on Monday, when a petitioner asked for an urgent cap on airfares before Diwali, Bhai Dooj and Chhath. Airlines blame jet fuel, and they have a point. Jet fuel in Delhi costs about 46% more than it did a year ago, and fuel now makes up nearly 40% of IndiGo’s costs. But fuel alone can’t explain a ticket that costs four times the usual price. Here’s the stranger part: fewer Indians are flying. Domestic passenger numbers have fallen for four months in a row. Instead of cutting fares to win flyers back, airlines have cut flights, and by more than passengers have fallen. In today’s episode, host Snigdha Sharma breaks down the airline maths behind fewer flights and costlier tickets and what could help. Tune in. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

At IITs, a long-brewing ‘culture war’ between engineering and humanities boils over

Nov 4, 2026 14 min

At India's premier engineering schools, the humanities and social sciences or HSS have become a put-down. "Oh, you're being so HSS" is what students say to anyone seen as too "woke". This tension has now surfaced again at IIT Bombay where the protests following the passing away of student Sahil Wakode, were largely lead by humanities doctoral students. Engineers describe a "hyper-apolitical" campus, while humanities faculty say that the division comes from a shallow idea of education. Critics outside the campus though, have questioned the need for humanities in these institutes in the first place, and have called for the departments to be shut, though humanities have been part of the plan for IITs since 1945. So, why does the IIT humanities student draw so much hostility, and why can't they talk it out? Tune in. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Gen Z wants to own a home. The math says inherit one

Nov 4, 2026 8 min

India’s homes cost 11 times annual income, more than double the affordability benchmark, and real wages fell 4% between 2012 and 2024. For Gen Z, buying a house on a salary alone barely adds up. Inheritance is filling some of the gap, with gift deed registrations rising sharply in Mumbai, Pune and Delhi. But family property often comes late, comes split, or comes with conditions. What happens to the much larger group with no property to inherit at all? Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Vodafone Idea’s losses are halving and its stores are buzzing. The hard part comes next

Nov 2, 2026 12 min

For years, Vodafone Idea (Vi) kept losing subscribers. Since February, that’s stopped, and the company is now pushing hard with unlimited data, family plans and stacked offers, even roping in Shah Rukh Khan. Its losses are shrinking, AGR dues are falling and margins are at a decade high. But Airtel and Jio are still growing far faster, and Vi’s market share keeps slipping. In this episode, we look at what’s changed on the ground, the ₹45,000 crore capex plan still awaiting funding, and whether Vi can hold on to the customers it’s winning. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Sacred Games put Netflix India on the map. Roadies is how it plans to stay there

Nov 1, 2026 15 min

Netflix paid 175 crore for the Hindi version of a single blockbuster. For a season of Roadies, the college-favourite reality show, it reportedly paid 18 and even agreed to share it with rival JioHotstar, something you wouldn't expect a platform built on exclusivity to do. Today, on our first video episode of Daybreak, we look at the platform that made its name on shows like Sacred Games and Lust Stories ended up here. The answer runs through the family living room, a growing fear of offending someone, and how often you open the app. The question is: is the pivot working? And, what does it cost? Credits: Host: Rachel VargheseJournalist: Debanjali BiswasDirection: Rajiv CNVideo Producer: Rajiv CN Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

How to ‘manufacture’ an Ivy League applicant

Oct 29, 2026 14 min

Getting into a top American university has become a mountain of research papers, social projects and competitions. And wealthy Indian families are now starting the climb when kids are 14. In this episode, host Rachel Varghese reads out Vishnu Prakash's piece from The Ken's newsletter, Make India Competitive Again: "How to 'manufacture' an Ivy League applicant". It looks at why premium consultancies more than Rs. 5 lakh a year are booming, even as Indian departures abroad fall, what an anxious parent's money actually buys, and who really does the work behind a student's "personal profile". Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

JioHotstar’s real overseas rival is a $10 per month pirate box

Oct 28, 2026 24 min

JioStar has taken JioHotstar to the UK, Canada, Singapore and the Middle East. It's chasing roughly 37 million Indians living abroad, and their taste for content from back home. But frustrated by geolocked content and a lack of accessibility for regional content, many of those viewers have turned to less legal options. One of them is an unlicensed box that can cost as little $10 a month, and come with 5000 channels and access to the libraries of major OTT players. We spoke to eight households about what they watch, why streaming rights and shared logins make things complicated, what the box offers that apps don't, and if what JioHotstar is offering instead can match up to it. Tune in. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

India's instant home help boom has a pricing problem

Oct 27, 2026 10 min

Investors are calling India's home-services market quick commerce's next big moment. Instahelp, Snabbit, and Pronto are betting big on it. They're sending trained workers to your door in under 10 minutes, at prices cheaper than a coffee. Orders, naturally, are in the millions. But the difference is that quick commerce eventually figured out how to make money. Here, on the other hand, 82% of consumers have already said they won't pay more than Rs 200 an hour. And on every order placed today, the market leader is losing twice what it earns. So who exactly is this boom working for? Tune in. *This episode was originally published on 29th April 2026Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Without a UPI, Africa pays a toll on cash. Airtel Money collects it

Oct 26, 2026 11 min

Airtel Money is now trading in London, valued at about $7 billion. The African mobile-money company made $373 million in profit last financial year. It is based on a simple model. Depositing cash is free. Customers pay mainly when they take money out as cash, and sometimes when they send it. In markets where most adults have no bank account, those fees add up. Bharti Airtel's Indian business, Airtel Payments Bank, takes a roughly similar cut. But it only made $12 million. Most of this difference comes down to UPI, which moves money in India for free. Now Airtel Money's own markets are building their versions of UPI. What happens to its toll on cash? Also listen to: Why your Diwali shopping is more important than implementing MDR on UPI Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Ajio wants to course-correct, but Reliance Retail’s shadow looms large

Oct 25, 2026 11 min

Reliance has a lot to celebrate. The bidding for Jio IPO closed on Friday, more than 20 times subscribed, and with India's biggest valuation ever; the shares will list on Wednesday. But the Ambani empire is bigger than just Jio, and not every member of the conglomerate is getting attention. Take Ajio, which is heading into the competition of festive season with falling traffic, trimmed marketing and discounts, and big brands focusing more on Myntra. The new CEO of digital business, including Ajio, is Sandeep Karwa. He has the right experience, but executives told The Ken that the investment necessary hasn't arrived yet, and Reliance's control on decisions and payments limit his freedom. In this read aloud of Nuha Bubere's newsletter edition of Trade Tricks by host Rachel Varghese, we look at whether Karwa can turn Ajio around. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Dogs have a nose for cancer. An Indian startup is betting on them

Oct 22, 2026 14 min

Less than 1% of Indians get tested for cancer, and with full body scans costing as much as Rs 25,000, it's not surprising. Dognosis, a Bengaluru startup, has a solution. It trains dogs to sniff out cancer early, runs their responses through a Bayesian model, and compares the results with patient history to assign a score. The co-founder eventually plans to have just 15 dogs screen 2,50,000 patients in a year. The company's first service, Breatheeasy, will launch early next year, and is being called a "triaging" tool. But experts wonder if animals can scale like this, and if dog noses could actually be the cheap, non-invasive screening that India needs. Tune in. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

India’s largest financial-sector FDI is coming. But what does the public get?

Oct 21, 2026 10 min

On 14 October, the Cabinet approved selling nearly 61% of IDBI Bank to the Canadian firm Fairfax for nearly ₹53,000 crore. Once completed, it will be the largest FDI in India’s financial sector. But IDBI was rescued with public money, largely through LIC. Now LIC stands to get back roughly what it put in. The government and LIC who will now hold roughly a third are set to hand over management control to Fairfax. IDBI employees, meanwhile, are planning a hunger strike against the sale. Was ₹81 a share fair? And what does the public get in return? Tune in. This episode is edited by Arnav Prakash Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Why your Diwali shopping is more important than MDR on UPI

Oct 20, 2026 12 min

Around mid-September, shops in parts of Ghaziabad started putting up signs: carry cash, because UPI wouldn’t be accepted. They were protesting a new 0.4% merchant fee on UPI payments above 2,000 rupees, which was due to start on October 15. Two days before that, NPCI, the body that runs UPI, put it on hold until after Diwali. On this episode, we look at what the fee is, where the money would go, why shoppers aren’t supposed to pay it, and whether that will stay the case once the festive season ends. This episode is edited by Arnav Prakash Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

After making a fortune at the dock, Adani's next bet is a fleet of 100 ships going offshore

Oct 19, 2026 9 min

In October last year, a ship owned by Adani Ports slowed to less than one knot near Malta. It held that position for over seven days, directly above the cables linking Malta to Sicily. It was no accident. India’s largest private port operator has quietly built a fleet of more than a hundred vessels across 12 countries. Their job is servicing the world’s offshore energy infrastructure. The business grew 134% in a single year. Ports made Adani rich. But there are only so many ports you can build. What the conglomerate does next may depend on waters far from any dock. Tune in. *This episode was originally published on 14th July Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Air India needs saving. Singapore Airlines is playing saviour

Oct 18, 2026 14 min

Air India's recent losses nearly doubled to 22,000 cr rs, and Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran keeps showing up at its Delhi Headquarters. Singapore Airlines, which owns over 25%, is inclined to put in more cash, but in return, it wants more control over operations, costs, safety and training. And it's already changing the way pilots, engineers and cabin crew work. Meanwhile, Air India's troubles lie somewhat out of its hands. Pakistan's airspace closure hit it the hardest, and compounding its now longer routes for certain flights are soaring fuel prices. There's also delayed deliveries of new aircrafts. And of course, the reputational damage from 2025 Ahmedabad crash. Singapore Airlines' is definitely the best chance for the company's turnaround. Tune in. Listen: The Government sold Air India to escape its problems. The fix is to buy back in This episode is edited by Arnav Prakash Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

What happens when you put Indian business on a 2x2?

Oct 15, 2026 1 hr 19 min

In this Daybreak x Two by Two crossover, host Snigdha Sharna turns the tables on Praveen Gopal Krishnan to look beyond individual companies and industries, and at the bigger patterns connecting them. From duopolies under attack and startups struggling to justify their valuations, to the rules regulators are rewriting, AI’s impact on jobs, and how Indians are changing the way they live, we explore what these stories reveal about where Indian business is headed. Which old assumptions are breaking down? Who stands to win or lose? And what should we be watching next? As The Ken's Two by Two wraps up its second season, we connect the dots and look ahead to Season 3.

India’s food inflation has layers. The onion is only the first

Oct 14, 2026 10 min

On October 12, government data showed India’s food inflation rose to 7.7% in September, led by onion prices that more than doubled from a year earlier. Back in May, onion growers in Nashik wore garlands of onions and tried to block the Mumbai–Agra highway because prices had fallen to ₹4 to ₹6 a kilo. The government says India grew almost as many onions as the year before, and it kept a stockpile for exactly this kind of spike. Prices rose anyway, and rural households are feeling it most. Why is it so hard to keep India’s kitchen affordable? Tune in. India’s LPG success story runs on a two-day buffer, March 15, 2026, 11 minutes. Listen India solved the wrong oil problem first, 31 Jul 2026, Listen The great Indian sugar trap: how a decade of surplus left India with nothing to spare , 28 Aug 2026, Listen This episode is edited by Arnav Prakash Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

7-Eleven promised "Everything essential". It still lost to India's corner shops

Oct 13, 2026 15 min

“Mile har cheez zaruri.” Everything essential, right here. That was the promise on the signs inside India’s first 7-Eleven, which opened in Mumbai five years ago, with India’s biggest retailer behind it. This September, the last 31 stores shut. In its last full financial year, the chain lost nearly ₹90 crore on just ₹92 crore of revenue. Analysts point to local competition like kiranas and quick commerce. But no one from the companies themselves have offered an explanation for why the stores are closing. Still, this is a chain that thrives next to corner shops in other countries. So what was missing here? Host Rachel Varghese explores. This episode is edited by Arnav Prakash Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Karnataka can’t fix its potholes. So it’s building an AI city

Oct 12, 2026 13 min

Every morning, a senior official in Mysuru’s city corporation swerves past the same potholes on his way to the office responsible for fixing them. Over three years, the money Mysuru gets from the state for everyday civic upkeep has fallen from Rs 25 crore to Rs 3 crore, leaving little for repairs. Just outside Bengaluru, Karnataka is borrowing heavily to build an Rs 18,000-crore AI city in Bidadi, backed by a state guarantee, before a single company has signed up to move in. Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are chasing similar projects as their own local bodies struggle for funds. In this read aloud of Mrunmayee Kulkarni’s newsletter edition by host Snigdha Sharma, we ask why states are betting big on new cities when the ones people already live in are grappling with crumbling infrastructure and lack of funds. This episode is edited by Arnav Prakash Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Bollywood wants to offend nobody. AI is happy to help

Oct 11, 2026 12 min

In India, even the phantom of the censor board is enough to make filmmakers rewrite scenese at the very last minute, including those making shows for streaming platforms the board doesn't cover. A startup from Bengaluru called Neuralgarage says it has a fix. It's AI solution changes a line according to the way in which actor's lips move. In this piece, Shiveka Bakshi looks at how it works, why well-known production houses are using it, and what it says about the film industry today. This is a read aloud of a newsletter edition of Trade Tricks, by Rachel Varghese on Daybreak by The Ken. 📖 Read the full story on The Ken: Bollywood wants to offend nobody. AI is happy to help Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Why your next IIT, IIM reunion will feel like a sales pitch

Oct 8, 2026 21 min

What happens when India's top institutes start treating reunions as fundraisers? The Ken's Santhom and Mutasim, both from IITs themselves, write about how one batch of alumni pledged Rs. 100 crores for a single idea, and look at the system growing around this kind of philanthropy like x-bankers that run development foundations, non-profit partners set in California taking donations in dollars. The result is that some alumni feel that donation floors are taking the sentiment out of reunions, making them feel less about the connection between students and campuses and more like manicured events. Host Rachel Varghese sits down with both reporters to explore what has changed with universities doubling down on this model, whether it will last and what both reporters are likely to do once their own 25th reunion comes around. Tune in. This episode was edited by Arnav Prakash Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Apple and Google's app stores are the next battleground for protests

Oct 7, 2026 15 min

On October 3, Jack Dorsey's Bitchat disappeared from Apple's App Store in India after the IT ministry demanded its removal. It vanished from Google Play too. Bitchat lets phones pass messages over Bluetooth, with no internet needed. That made it a lifeline in July, when the government switched off mobile internet around Delhi's Jantar Mantar during student protests. In one week, India accounted for 85% of the app's global downloads. Even an order to pull its code off GitHub didn't stop it spreading. So the government went after the app stores. In this episode, host Snigdha Sharma looks at the technology protesters reach for when the internet goes dark, and how governments are learning to keep up. Tune in. Also listen to: Delhi built a ‘safe’ surveillance city. It can now locate anyone in seconds This episode was edited by Arnav Prakash Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Nike needs India’s sneaker heads. But do they need Nike?

Oct 6, 2026 19 min

When the NBA complained about Micheal Jordan's black and red shoes, Nike turned the complaint into an ad, and sneakers ended up becoming a symbol of style and rebellion. In India, sneaker culture took longer to arrive. But last year, more than 200 people lined up outside a store in Bangalore for a limited edition shoe from Comet, a homegrown brand. And Nike could use that kind of enthusiasm right now. Its revenue fell 4% last quarter, and its losing ground in China, a major market, to local players. Which is why, its new Bangalore campus sounded like a bet on Indian sneaker heads. But other communications suggest that it's a "capability center", another back office, and this is after Nike has pulled away from India before. So, today we ask: is Nike fighting for the market that Comet, Gully Labs and Ten x You are carving out for themselves? And if it was, what would it take for it to win? This episode was edited by Arnav Prakash Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Delhi built a ‘safe’ surveillance city. It can now locate anyone in seconds

Oct 5, 2026 21 min

Your face caught on a camera, your vehicle number plate, a voter ID, a driving licence, even a police-clearance certificate—any of these can become part of a vast web of data that the police can search in Delhi. That matters especially now, as the capital sees mass protests and public demonstrations, raising questions around safety. surveillance, privacy and the right to dissent. The Ken's Pratap Vikram Singh spent a month investigating Delhi’s ₹857-crore Safe City Project, conceived in the name of women’s safety. Its mandate now extends far beyond that, to crime prevention, public-order surveillance and political and religious rallies. What exactly is Delhi building, who can access it, and what happens when a system designed to find criminals can find almost anyone? In this episode, host Snigdha Sharma reads Pratap’s report titled: Delhi’s mass surveillance: track 50 million faces, identify them in five seconds This episode was edited by Arnav Prakash Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

How Flipkart Minutes became the company's redemption arc

Oct 4, 2026 15 min

For years, Flipkart has tried and struggled to scale the vertical it began to sell groceries. But as quick commerce platforms started becoming successful, the e-commerce giant could not just stay out of the game. Today, around a quarter of its business comes from Minutes. What is driving the vertical is also an aggressive expansion of dark stores and in tier-2 and a change in management affecting selection on the platform. In this episode, we look at how Minutes has made it work so far, and why Flipkart's push into quick commerce is becoming a way for it to secure its future. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Adani’s think tank flexes its muscles in Delhi

Oct 1, 2026 10 min

A two-year-old think tank backed by Adani just got 14 of its suggestions, some of them word for word, written into a law passed by Parliament. That law opened India's nuclear sector to private players for the first time in history. Months later, Adani floated a new subsidiary to enter the same field. The think tank is called Chintan Research Foundation. It started in a South Delhi cafe. It calls itself independent. And it's now one of the more visible and contested players in Delhi's policy world. So what exactly does Rs 100 crore buy you in India's policy ecosystem? Also listen to: Friday Roundup: Adani goes nuclear and AI's talent exit ( https://the-ken.com/podcasts/daybreak... ) *This episode was originally published on May 6th 2026 Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

India is burning through its coal buffer

Oct 1, 2026 10 min

This September was supposed to give India's power grid a break. Instead, on some nights, the gap between the electricity people wanted and what the grid could supply reached almost 8 gigawatts, bigger than anything seen during this year's heatwaves. Kerala restricted power in the evenings. Near Patna, villagers blocked a highway after three days without electricity. And 82 power plants were running critically low on coal, with barely a week's worth left. Strangely, India isn't short of coal. About 76 million tonnes sits at Coal India's mines. But a weak monsoon drained the dams and flooded the coal belt at the same time. So how much breathing room is there between you and a power cut? This episode was edited by Arnav Prakash. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Ekta Kapoor built her own OTT app. Now she's betting on YouTube

Sep 29, 2026 15 min

In the 2000s, Ekta Kapoor's serials ruled Indian TV every night on weekdays. Then as, audiences moved from TV screens to smaller ones and streaming, her company, Balaji Telefilms followed. It bet on its own streaming app: ALTBalaji. For years, it lost money. Until finally, it shut down last year after a government ban in 2025. Now, Balaji is taking 5 new shows and a combined 200 episodes to Youtube. Premium, shot in 4k and free to watch. So why is India's queen of TV soaps, skipping the subscription model? We dig into her belief in an audience that no one is serving, the Pakistani drama effect and whether a bet on Youtube's ad model is enough for TV. This episode was edited by Arnav Prakash. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Can India build a ‘UPI’ for your cows and your gold?

Sep 28, 2026 12 min

Earlier this month, at the Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai, India's regulators and industry leaders rallied around one idea: tokenisation, which turns assets like bonds, gold and land into digital units that can be bought, sold and settled in seconds. Some of it is already underway, with three companies recently raising over Rs 1,000 crore through bonds that settled the same day. But the plan leans heavily on the RBI's digital rupee, which has seen little use four years after launch. And Indian banks have bet on blockchain before, without much to show for it. In this edition, Suprita Anupam examines whether tokenisation can do for financial assets what UPI did for payments. This is a read aloud of a newsletter edition of Ka Ching, by Snigdha Sharma on Daybreak by The Ken. 📖 Read the full story on The Ken: Can India build a ‘UPI’ for your cows and your gold? Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

AI is Bollywood's cheapest new hire

Sep 27, 2026 15 min

Bollywood has been seeing tough times since Covid. Theatre footfall still haven't recovered, even as box office numbers soar, and budgets for filmmakers are only getting tighter. AI seems to have a brought a glimmer hope for some in the industry, as it slowly makes its way into every stage of filmmaking. From identifying good concepts to writing scripts, storyboarding scenes, generating entire shots, to even replacing some VFX work. Studio heads familiar with the space project shrinking crews and are already seeing timelines grow shorter. Still, it doesn't make the trade-off any less real. Tune in. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

UPI is the trojan horse taking small banks into HDFC, Axis's credit-card empire

Sep 24, 2026 15 min

After two years of slow adoption, Credit-Line-on-UPI is finally taking off, but not with the big banks. Small banks and fintechs are leading the charge, while the big incumbents that dominate credit cards hold back. For HDFC and Axis, it's a really difficult choice. Should they compete on CLOU and risk cannibalising their own cards, or scale it through the very fintechs they're trying to outmatch? Meanwhile, a matured tech stack has turned CLOU into a full-strength card equivalent, complete with real-time underwriting. And while CLOU had promised inclusion for those who can't normally access credit, the promised inclusion has actually been flipped. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

How India's rich are finding returns in the country's court backlog

Sep 23, 2026 14 min

Make The Ken's Daybreak X First Principles Autumn Playlist here.India has roughly 54 million cases stuck in its courts. Inside many of them is money someone is owed but can't afford to chase. What if you could invest in that? Back the case, pay the legal bills, and take a cut if it wins. In the US and the UK, this is already a multi-billion-dollar asset class. In India, a handful of funders are trying to build it. But they've run into a strange problem. The same backlog that makes the idea so attractive is also what makes it so hard. Because here, of course you are betting on whether a case wins…but more importantly, you're betting on when. In a recent edition of our weekly newsletter Ka Ching, The Ken reporter Mutasim Khan looked at who's making this bet, who's putting up the money, and who it's actually helping. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Amazon’s quick-commerce win will be less about speed and more about Prime

Sep 22, 2026 16 min

Make The Ken's Daybreak X First Principles Autumn Playlist here.Amazon Now just crossed $1 billion in annualised gross sales, faster than Zepto did. But it's still miles behind Blinkit, still losing money in India, and still playing catch-up on scale. So why is its latest investment not focused on quick commerce? Because for Amazon, the real fight isn't about who delivers fastest. It's about who can afford to lose money longer, and who has more to sell you than just groceries. Today, host Rachel Varghese digs into Amazon's $300 million infrastructure bet, the food-safety raids exposing cracks in the dark-store model, and why Prime, and not 10-minute delivery, might be Amazon's actual edge heading into festive season. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

One year of GST 2.0. Who's it working for?

Sep 21, 2026 15 min

Tap here to help us make The Ken's Daybreak X First principles Autumn Playlist One year ago, GST 2.0 rewrote the tax on almost everything Indians buy — from soap to cars. It promised a simpler system and cheaper shopping. Twelve months on, we ask the obvious question: is it working? Tune in.

A cancelled peptide party, and the questions it raised that Indian sellers still can't answer

Sep 20, 2026 17 min

India was about to have its first-ever peptide party with fifty guests, a mystery venue marketed only as "not a hospital," and a menu of collagen, glutathione, and copper peptides. Then the Karnataka Food Safety and Drug Administration started asking questions, and the party was cancelled overnight. On this episode, The Ken's Sudeshna Ray joins host Rachel Varghese to unpack the peptide craze that's crossed over from Silicon Valley biohacking circles into Indian gyms, Instagram DMs, and D2C wellness brands, and the murky, largely unregulated supply chain, that runs through China, that gets these substances into the country in the first place. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Why Indigo went budget and premium at once

Sep 18, 2026 10 min

For two decades, an Indian air ticket told you what kind of airline you were flying. Low-cost meant cheap and bare. Full-service meant meals and baggage folded into the fare. That line is now almost gone. Indigo's new Lite fare strips economy down to a cabin bag, even as its Stretch cabin and BluChips programme reach for the premium flyer Air India once owned. Passengers are uneasy but investors, holding the only serious listed bet in Indian aviation, are not. What do Indigo's owners understand that its flyers do not Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

India's newest iPhone prices hurt the people selling them, buying them and even taxing them

Sep 16, 2026 16 min

Apple's newest iPhones landed in India with price hikes as high as 41%. And for the first time in years, there was no discount on older models to go along with it. The memes pretty much came immediately. From selling kidneys to choosing between buying a phone or an Alto, a Royal Enfield or a vacation. People also couldn't help but notice that Apple's first foldable, the iPhone Duo, costs a lakh more in India than it does in the US. But Apple is just a symptom of a larger problem. A global memory chip shortage is squeezing every phone maker and India's own tax structure is making it worse here than almost everywhere else. It's costing consumers, retailers and even the Government, which is slowly losing tax revenue to the grey market the price difference between India and elsewhere creates. On this episode, host Rachel Varghese explores why India got hit the hardest and what happens when the workarounds like cheaper 4G phones, secondhand devices, and EMI, run out of road as well. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

7.8% growth. So why doesn't India feel richer?

Sep 15, 2026 12 min

In February this year, India announced a sweeping overhaul of how it calculates GDP, fixing a measurement system the IMF had flagged as outdated just last November. It includes a new base year, better price data, and a wider net to count the informal economy. The number seems to be getting closer to reality. But that raises a harder question. For a country that has built its global identity around being the world's fastest growing major economy, what happens when the arithmetic changes? And does any of it actually reach 1.4 billion people? Host Snigdha Sharma explores. Tune in. (This episode is a re-run. It was originally published on 26 Feb, 2026) Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Your kids might be looting your bank account in the guise of gaming

Sep 14, 2026 12 min

Kids all over India are spending real money inside mobile games. And most of the time, they slip by the notice of the adults, until the bill or bank alert eventually arrives. Most of them are using their grandparent's or some other relative's phone, where UPI pins are usually already saved, and they're not watching so closely. In fact, Delhi's cybercrime cell has seen a rise in "fraud" complaints that turn out to be a child spending small amounts repeatedly on loot boxes and in-game stores. India's gaming law banned real-money games because but loot boxes slipped through, because it doesn't immediately count as gambling. But loot boxes don't have set items. You could spend Rs. 75 to open a box with a skin that's worth thousands, and it can even be resold for real cash. So, is it gambling, or not? Tune in. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

⁠India's data law has HDFC Bank, Amazon, Paytm, and others shopping for consent

Sep 13, 2026 12 min

India’s new data protection law is reshaping how companies talk to customers on WhatsApp. Messages that once felt routine now carry legal weight and are tied to consent, security, and user rights. Since the Digital Personal Data Protection Act became operational, businesses have begun reworking how they collect and manage personal data. That shift has created a fast-growing market for compliance tools, drawing startups and established firms into the same space. As companies rush to avoid heavy penalties, disagreements are emerging over who should manage consent and how independent they need to be. The bigger question is how much control users will really have over their data. Tune in. *This episode was first published on January 27th 2026.Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

This week in AI: activist robots, doom-laden researchers — so who's the good guy?

Sep 10, 2026 12 min

This week, a 27-year-old researcher quit Anthropic warning AI could "kill us all," and the company's own safety lead agreed. Meanwhile, OpenAI says it cracked a 200-year-old math problem — then got accused of muscling a rival's name off the credit. Also, the AI lab with a supposed conscience got caught building a watchlist of AI critics that files activism next to terrorism. And in Poland's Warsaw, 30 robots staged a protest to regulate AI. After all of this, who actually gets to be the good guy in the AI race? Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

India has more tourists than ever. So why is tourism in trouble?

Sep 9, 2026 15 min

India's foreign tourist arrivals slipped by about 8% from the year before to about 9 million in 2025, and a wave of recent reporting has finally made it a talking point. If you take out the business travellers and the diaspora visiting family, the number who came just to holiday in India may be closer to 3 million. And yet Indians have never travelled their own country more. Domestic trips have crossed 4 billion. The government is pouring thousands of crores into tourist circuits and temple towns like Varanasi and Ayodhya while spending almost nothing to bring foreigners in. In this episode, host Snigdha Sharma asks who Indian tourism is really being built for now, and what India loses if the foreign visitor drops off the itinerary. Tune in. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

The Government sold Air India to escape its problems. The fix is to buy back in

Sep 9, 2026 18 min

In 1967, Air India paid Salvador Dalí for a custom ashtray with a live baby elephant, flown all the way to Spain. (Yes, really! Here's the proof.) That was the airline. Flush with money, just about 14 years into nationalisation. Today, it's asking its owners for $1.5 billion after its biggest loss ever, at more than 2 billion dollars. Privatisation was supposed to fix Air India. Three years on, it still hasn't. But the real story isn't a failed sale. It's a fatal crash, a closed airspace, and an industry that runs on razor-thin margins everywhere. But the actual fix might be closer than you think. And already sitting on Air India's own cap table. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Nykaa cracked fashion at last. Myntra sees no reason to panic

Sep 7, 2026 8 min

After years of struggling to grow, Nykaa Fashion has finally found its footing. The past year brought a real resurgence. For a long time, the platform bet on building its own private-label brands, even pushing hard into ethnic wear. It leaned on discounts and backed small, up-and-coming labels. None of it delivered the growth it was chasing. So Nykaa Fashion changed course. That new strategy is at last starting to show results. What turned it around, and how long can it last? Tune in. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Rapido broke the ride-hailing duopoly. Now it's coming for Zomato and Swiggy

Sep 6, 2026 14 min

For over a year, India's restaurant association couldn't get Swiggy to return its calls. Then Rapido launched a food delivery app that charges restaurants zero commission — and Swiggy sent fifteen people to Bengaluru for an urgent meeting within days. The restaurants have a real grievance. On Swiggy and Zomato, commissions, ads, and discounts can eat up nearly a third of every order. On Rapido's platform, restaurants keep almost all of it. It's a good deal for restaurants. But even restaurant owners are wondering if it might be too good a deal to last. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

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Podcast details

Created by: The Ken
Status: Active
Latest episode: Nov 12, 2026
Episodes: 876
Release period: Daily
Avg. episode length: 14 min
Explicit: No
Language: English

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