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When it comes to debit cards and ATM networks, no one can beat the State Bank of India. But being the market leader of debit cards in India is actually turning out to be a problem for the public lender.
With Indians becoming more open to credit cards and UPI swamping the market, debit cards are dying a slow death. In fact, a lot of industry experts agree that debit cards, in their current physical form, may actually become obsolete in the coming decade. And by being the biggest player in this market that is fading away, SBI is also taking the largest beating from its decline.
But instead of cutting its losses, SBI is still doggedly trying to save this dying product.
Why?
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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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With increased competition within the country, the world leader of Ayurveda brands, Dabur, is looking to acquire and expand. It wants to change its story and focus on a new target consumer.
For example, the company's toothpaste brand Dabur Herb'l Charcoal recently collaborated with Disney for its Star Wars franchise and hired Darth Vader as its chief innovative officer. Just last year in October, it also acquired a 51% stake in Badshah Masala, one of the country’s leading spices companies.
But why is the over-hundred years old established company trying so hard to change its narrative?
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.
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Aditya Birla Fashion is arguably one of India's most complex listed retailers.
It has dozens of really diverse fashion brands and retail formats under it.
On one hand it has high-end luxury labels like Sabyasachi and Tarun Tahiliani, and on the other, it also owns the retail chain Pantaloons and labels like Allen Solly, and Louis Phillip — names that we all know because they are accessible to most people.
Now, you would think this we-have-something-for-everyone strategy must be working out great for Aditya Birla Fashion, right?
Turns out, that’s not quite true. In fact, it's having this opposite effect. Experts in the industry say it’s almost like the company has an identity crisis.
What's going on at Aditya Birla Fashion?
Tune in to find out.
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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A few years ago, Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy had set a target of 40% growth across all categories for Flipkart. But in 2023, it was still stuck at 20%. So the company is now on a mission. It wants to push growth, gain market share, and turn a profit.
So in January this year, Flipkarts top execs along with the CEO came together for a meeting to outline a roadmap for 2024. Krishnamurthy wanted Flipkart to introduce a loyalty programme for top spenders, give out more incentives to ensure customer loyalty, push up transaction numbers and average order sizes, and also focus on brands.
In the same meeting he also admitted that the company had faced quite a few hurdles the previous year but he was sure they’d make a comeback and hit profitability before the IPO.
But here’s the thing, prepping for an IPO often has long term effects on a company’s culture. And the cracks are already beginning to appear inside Flipkart.
Tune in.
Also listen to: What Swiggy's IPO prep means for its employees
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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Even though EV sales just make up a fifth of the Tata Motors’s overall sales, the automobile-maker is still the reigning giant of India's growing EV ecosystem. It is also leading the cab industry’s shift to EVs.
Over the next 3 to 5 years, it has promised to sell at least 50, 000 EV four wheelers to cab companies. Based on the deal made over a year ago, half of them are meant for Uber. But it's been over a year since the deal with Uber and only 4000 Tata EVs are up and running in Uber's fleet?
Did Tata Motors make a miscaculation?
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. -
Nearly half of India’s 200 million workforce that is over the age of 45 suddenly has the sword of an involuntary retirement hanging over their heads. These are loyal employees from sectors like pharma, retail, manufacturing, and banking who are dealing with shorter career spans but for whom retirement is not a voluntary choice.
Those aged between 40-60 years are facing long periods of joblessness after quitting or losing a job. But finding a job has become increasingly difficult for them and it is leading to a lot of stress and financial issues.
In a nutshell, their career span has shortened from more than 40 years to just 20 or 25 years.
Why is this happening?
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. -
In the last decade or so, French retailer Decathlon has managed to completely change how most of us shop for anything sports and fitness related.
It replaced mom and pop sports stores by becoming a one-stop shops for all things sports and fitness related. Cult.Fit wants to pull off just that with the help of its in-house athleisure and fitness equipment brand, Cult.sport.
But it doesn’t help that it’s been a pretty rocky ride for Cult.Sport this far. The brand hasn’t really taken off the way Cult had hoped.
So with its heart set on an IPO, is Cult’s retail project a good idea? Or could it just end up being a distraction?
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.
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More people switching to Electric Vehicles (EVs) is not just great for our environment, it's great for hackers too. As EVs become more popular, hackers are constantly looking for opportunities to exploit the widening network of digitally connected vehicles. Between 2018 to 2021, incidents related to breach of cybersecurity in the auto industry rose by more than 200%. And it is only going to get worse in the coming years.
In India though, it is not much of a concern yet due to the low penetration of EVs so far. But it won’t remain that way for long without proper safeguards in place.
The Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act 2023 is a step in the right direction, but it is not enough.
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.
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A damning investigative report about Swiggy recently revealed how the foodtech giant has been depriving its delivery workers of their health insurance coverage if their ratings fall.
It comes at a time when the company is prepping to make its stock market debut to raise more than a billion dollars. Earlier this week, Swiggy also got the official green flag for the IPO from its shareholders.
But so far, only its food delivery business is profitable. So now, the company is running on overdrive to hit profitability before it goes public.
And Swiggy employees are bearing the brunt.
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.
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A few weeks ago, retail chemists got together to draw BJP's president JP Nadda's attention to the dangers of e-pharmacies. AICOD urged BJP to promise to include this ban in their election manifesto, along with a ban on discount advertising. They said e-pharmacies should be done away with nationwide to protect public health and prevent drug abuse among the youth.
However, this isn't the first time that offline chemists have approached the government to express their woes against e-pharmacies. In fact, they have been lobbying so hard for that the government was forced to shelf the much-required policy on the online sale of drugs saying the matter was "sensitive."
But e-pharmacies aren't taking this lying down either. What can bring an end to this long-drawn battle?
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.
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When you think of the average unicorn-status startup, PocketFM — a homegrown audio streaming platform — is somewhat of an anomaly. Its main claim to fame? Very dramatic, borderline NSFW Hindi fiction audio series’.
Its content can best be described as ‘masala’ entertainment. And yet, millions of listeners tune in every day to listen to stories like ‘I love you monster’, or ‘Karan Arjun reloaded’, or ‘Millionaire Ghar Jamaai’. While all this may not be your cup of tea, it has really worked for PocketFM. So much so that the company is now just inches away from a $1 billion valuation.
Ever since it was launched in 2018, PocketFM has taken some pretty risky business decisions. Like in late 2021, when it decided to enter the US market.
But even though most of its big, bold bets paid off overseas, there is one thing PocketFM has been struggling to do. And you’ll surprised to hear this: Despite such an enviable user base, and investors buzzing around it, in India, PocketFM is struggling to get users to actually pay for its content.
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.
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In the last few years, companies like Everest that manage cab fleets have become the silent battalion in Uber’s army of cabs. In fact, 90% of Everest’s fleet is with Uber.
This, of course, has helped Everest grow its revenues and both seem to have found their relationship to be mutually beneficial. Everest gets to run its assets on a high demand platform. And for Uber, it become so much easier to manage its cars.
So Uber is deepening its ties with Everest, especially with Uber Green in mind. But as Uber gives more control to the fleet management company, the basics of the ride hailing business could change forever.
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.
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Last month, the Reserve Bank of India directed credit card issuers or banks to not sign exclusive contracts with card networks, like Visa and Mastercard, that restrict them from using other networks. The RBI did this because it said consumers deserve to have the freedom of choice.
This new rule will be effective from early September and it will change the credit card game as we know it.
For starters, the American card network giants Visa and Mastercard who together have been dominating 90% of the market for forty years now will no longer be sitting easy. The directive is also bad news for co-branded credit cards, one of the most popular products in the financial-services market.
But for home-grown Rupay, this is great news. It's almost like the government has created a fast lane for it. But will Rupay take it and win?
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.
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In 2021, Campus Activewear took away the top spot in India's athleisure-footwear market from Puma, thanks to its affordable and trendy sneaker offerings. And by May 2022, it became a publicly listed company. Within a span of five months after its listing, its valuation shot up to a staggering US$2.2 billion.
However, two years later now, its market capitalisation has nosedived to under US$890. The reason is a combination of factors including the slow down in demand and also, an ever-increasing number of competitors with similar offering.
But out of all its rivals, there is one that stands out–Abros. And it was co-founded by a man who worked with Campus for nearly three decades.
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.
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Just like every Lok Sabha election in the last 72 years, millions of people will vote for a new government over the next couple of weeks.
But there is one thing that really sets this election apart. Never before have political parties actively used Generative Artificial IntelIigence at this scale. It is a turning point in India’s electoral evolution.
Some AI startups in India have been developing hyper-personalised voter experiences for political parties. This comes at a time when Gen AI tools like deepfakes have become very sophisticated — to the point where even experts often struggle to tell what is real and what is not.
In the run-up to the election, when you are being bombarded with political content, videos and images, this can be very dangerous. Yet, there are barely any rules in place to regulate the use of this technology during the election process.
What does this mean for the world’s largest democracy?
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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In January, the RBI, more or less killed Paytm Payments Bank. But Paytm Bank was the backbone of its loan business, the same business that helped it recover from its post-IPO bloodbath.
Now, Paytm’s lending partners, on whom its loan business is dependent, are spooked They dont know if they should continue working with Paytm. Meanwhile, Paytm is doing its best to save what it can but Paytm Payment Bank is currently in limbo. Last week, Survinder Chawla, the MD and CEO of Paytm Payments bank also put in his papers.
So far, we don't know what is going to happen but there’s one thing we know for sure: Paytm is doing everything it can to separate itself from Paytm bank, which was once an integral part of its business.
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.
**Paytm’s founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma is an investor in The Ken
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Phone calls from Bajaj Finance offering loans are almost inescapable and lately, the non-bank has faced quite a backlash for it. But telecalling has been an enduring sales channel for the company which boasts of a loan book worth $28 billion. And despite the massive size of its loan book, it’s been growing at 30% for years. Now this rate is seeing a dip through.
Bajaj needs to maintain a 26-27% growth rate. Meanwhile, shifting its loan sourcing to its digital assets is going to take a while.
So those pesky calls are unlikely to stop anytime soon.
In this episode, we take a closer look at this Bajaj Finance’s annoying but successful system of tele-calling.
**This is a repeat episode since April 11 was a public holiday
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It's been over a year since the govt launched Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC). The idea was to build the world largest e-commerce platform to check the monopoly of giants like Amazon and Flipkart. From ride-sharing and food delivery, to groceries, the platform can be used to buy and sell anything.
The platform is close to hitting the 50 million transactions mark now. And what stands out about it is its fascinating pricing strategy that makes ordering food on it as much as 45% cheaper than a Swiggy or a Zomato. Could ONDC make the two food delivery giants redundant?
While there is no easy answer to the question, what made us more curious was this: Do we want ONDC to win? And if it does then what could be the consequences?
Tune in to find out.
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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Lat week, the struggling edtech giant Byju's laid off another 500 of its employees. This came along with a salary delay of three consecutive months. In his email to employees two months ago, Raveendran had written, “I have been moving mountains for months to make payroll, and this time, the struggle was even bigger to ensure that you receive what you rightfully deserve."
With the latest round of layoffs though, the employee count at Byju’s has gone down from 15000 at the end of last year to around 13,000 now. This is the same company whose founder would boast about how Byju's was the largest startup employer in the country with a headcount of 55,000. The Ken had investigated what all of this means for Byju’s employees last year and we understood how they got the worst end of the stick. They told us they had been fired arbitrarily without any notice. In fact, some were being forced to resign.
Even this time, according to reports by The Economic Times, they were laid off without any notice. And like that wasn't enough, we also learnt companies have specifically been telling recruiters to avoid hiring Byju’s employees.
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.
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In January this year, Tata Digital's BigBasket announced its rebranding for slotted delivery service to “Supersaver”, promising to deliver products in under two hours. Back when Tata had acquired the BigBasket at a reported valuation of $2 billion in mid-2021, the company was loss-making.
But for those at BigBasket, it was an opportunity to shift their focus back to the company’s core business: doorstep grocery delivery.
While it was a bit too late when Tata realised its new acquisition was left out from the quick commerce game, there was one game that BigBasket seemed to be clearly winning.
Tune in to find out.
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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