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17 Jun

When the monsoon fails, India's AI dreams fail with it

India's southwest monsoon is running 35% below normal. Mumbai's reservoirs are at 12% of capacity. And the rain that should have arrived by June 11th still hasn't. The same water and power systems that keep this economy running are now being asked to power India's AI future too — a $180 billion data centre bet that nobody is stress-testing against a failing monsoon and climate change. The groundwater is already over-extracted. The grid hit an all-time demand record in May. And the choice about who gets water first when there isn't enough has already been written into law in some states. But almost nobody wants to say it out loud. 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.

17 Jun

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13 min
7 May

Should young designers pay senior designers to teach them?

The old way to grow as a product designer meant doing the grunt work (button variants, banner sizes, edges cases) until your instincts calibrated. In the new world, AI does the grunt work, faster and cheaper than any junior designer ever could. And the numbers reveal this crisis : UX job postings fell 73% between 2022 and 2023. Less than 5% of tech companies hire entry-level design talent. Rapid changes are afoot and we need some reorientation So, Praveen met Jay Datta—founder of Designup, Southeast Asia’s largest design conference, and 25 years in design at Deutsche Bank, Adobe, Flipkart, and Makemytrip—and Shreyas Satish, founder of Ownpath, who has spent years trying to rebuild the apprenticeship model from outside the system to discuss that question to answer a big question: how does a 22-year-old build judgement now?

7 May

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1hr 15min
14/11/2024

How Swiggy prepared for its IPO

On November 13, food delivery giant Swiggy made its public debut. It listed with a 8% premium over its IPO price of Rs 390 on NSE at Rs 420 and was oversubscribed by nearly four times. While it's a bit early to comment, investors are not making strong bets on it yet. Hust to give you context, when Zomato went public, its IPO was oversubscribed by 38 times. This could be because the company is still posting losses on a consolidated level and is expected to be 2-3 years away from reaching profitability. It took Swiggy nine years till its food delivery business finally turned profitable last year. Today, we revisit an episode of Daybreak in which we’d talked about what was happening behind the scenes of Swiggy’s IPO preparation. Tune in. Daybreak is now on WhatsApp at +918971108379. Text us and tell us what you thought of the episode! 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.

14/11/2024

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10 min
14 May

Groww beat every odd to get here. What beats it next?

In 2017, four ex-Flipkart engineers made a bet to build a company that let anyone buy mutual funds directly, with no commissions or hidden fees. Nine years later, Groww is India’s largest stockbroker by active clients, its most profitable consumer fintech, and the first major Y Combinator portfolio company in India to go public. Rs 1,824 crore net profit in FY25. 83% organic customer acquisition. It even paid Rs 1,340 crore in taxes to move its holding company back from Delaware to India, then listed on Indian public markets at an IPO subscribed 17 times over. Every decision looked risky at the time and obvious in retrospect. But Groww in 2026 is not Groww in 2017. The company that built trust by doing one thing exceptionally well is now building lending, wealth management, insurance, and its own AMC. Praveen sits down with Anand Kalyanaraman, finance editor of The Ken, who has tracked Groww since its earliest days, and Avinash Luthria, founder of Fiduciaries and one of eight SEBI-registered investment advisors who charges only an hourly fee. Praveen comes in with a strong prior—that Groww is one of the most consequential Indian companies of the last decade. His guests are here to disagree and add context to his claim. Anand comes in with the perspective of whether the valuation is justified, and Avinash on whether the business models and incentives that brokerage companies have so far can help them go ahead. And the question everyone discusses: can the company that won by being simple stay trusted as it becomes everything? Additional reading: https://the-ken.com/podcasts/first-principles/lalit-keshre-groww/ https://the-ken.com/story/growws-ipo-pitch-we-are-more-than-a-discount-broker-investors-really-show-us/

14 May

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1hr 5min
21 May

Meta fires 8,000 on a record quarter. Unacademy sells for 90% less than its peak

On Wednesday, Meta began firing 8,000 people.This makes up 10% of its global workforce. The cuts started at 4am on 20 May, rolling across time zones. People found out by email. Meta's quarterly revenue that same week: $56 billion. It's capex guidance for 2026: up to $145 billion, almost all of it going into AI. This is the current trend in Big Tech: record profits, mass layoffs, redirect to machines, repeat. Then, closer home: Unacademy is being sold to upGrad for $218 million — over 90% below its 2021 peak of $3.44 billion. The edtech gold rush is over and what's left is the reckoning. 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.

21 May

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11 min
14/05/2025

Why Zara India needs to go solo or go home

Zara and Tata’s retail arm, Trent, have been partners for 15 years. But that relationship might be coming to an end because Zara’s not pulling its weight anymore. Its share of Trent’s overall sales has dropped from 28% to just 10% in six years. Its rivals like H&M and Uniqlo have moved faster, reached more cities in a much shorter time span. Meanwhile, Trent’s been busy. It used what it learned from Zara and built something better. Zudio, its budget fashion brand, just hit $1 billion in sales in FY25. It’s fast, affordable, and everywhere. Now, Trent’s planning to upgrade Westside into a premium brand to go head-to-head with Zara and H&M. How Zara lost its edge and what did Trent get right? Tune in to find out. If you have any thoughts or questions about this episode, send them to us as texts or voice notes on Daybreak’s WhatsApp at +918971108379. 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.

14/05/2025

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10 min
23/11/2025

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

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 by Rs 70,000. So, what's happening? Tune in. Take this survey to share your best prompt. 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.

23/11/2025

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15 min
14 Jan

How Reliance's price war made Pepsi and Coke love 'zero sugar'

India’s soda shelves have changed almost overnight. Coke and Pepsi now sell zero-sugar versions of their drinks at prices as low as 10 rupees. The move came after Reliance launched Campa Cola with its own budget zero-sugar option. Now, they are taking over in big cities and small towns alike. But what looks like a health trend is really a business strategy. What is really inside those bottles? And what does it mean for consumers? 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.

14 Jan

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9 min
29/07/2024

All you need to know about Ola Electric's IPO

On Friday this week, we’re going to see one of the largest IPOs of 2024 by a new-economy company. The Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola Electric is all set to make its debut in the stock market. The IPO which has been in the works for sometime is expected to value the company at a little over $4 billion. Aggarwal is due to sell almost 38 million shares as part of the offer for sale which is nearly 20% lower than what the company had indicated in its DHRP. The company is a leader in the two wheeler EV space in india with more than one third of the market share. Of course, getting here has been no cakewalk for Ola Electric. Just last month it was reported that the company was planning to let go of 400-500 employees to streamline its operations before the listing. In this episode we go over some of the highlights from the company's offer document. Tune in. P.S. Check out the most recent episode of Two by Two, our brand new business podcast, where the hosts ask: why has all the disruption and joy gone out of startups? Stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or other platforms! 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.

29/07/2024

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13 min
13 Mar

Uber knocks at a new door as Rapido shuts many others

Uber is one of the most recognised brands in the world. But in India, it's losing ground — to a government-backed taxi app, a newer competitor, and its own shrinking margins. So it's making a surprising bet: instead of fighting harder for your weekend ride, it wants to drive you to work. The B2B transport market it's entering has been run by specialists for decades. And those specialists aren't sure whether to be worried 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.

13 Mar

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13 min

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