Daybreak The Ken

When e-commerce giant Flipkart acquired online travel aggregator (OTA) Cleartrip back in 2021, the hope was that it would be able to turn things around. Cleartrip had hit rock bottom. And in many ways the only way from there on was up. 

But things haven’t quite played out as Flipkart and Cleartrip had hoped. One big reason is that Cleartrip under Flipkart may have veered too far away from what makes an OTA an OTA — the OG tried-and-tested strategies that made us keep going back to old school travel agents back in the day.
Tune In. 

Last year,  Indians collectively drank nearly 600 million litres of energy drinks. This was almost 30X more than 2018. Among all the go to drinks in India, lately energy drinks have become super popular. People seem to clearly be attracted to their appeal as stimulants.
And what’s crazy is that these drinks have become an alternative to chai at tea stalls for office goers. And even for daily wage workers who have to work in this insane heat, they are often a cheaper meal replacement. For the more privileged, they’re also cocktail mixers at parties. 
As of 2023, PepsiCo's Sting had 90% of the market share in energy drinks in terms of volume. It's been doing so well that Varun Beverages, the company that bottles and distributes for PepsiCo in India, became the hottest FMCG stock in the country. Its saw its share price rise by more than 1000% per cent in the last five to six years.
But the ones driving this growth are the country’s youth, who are often unaware of the contents of the drink and the heath risks that come along with 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.

Desi dating apps are vying for parental approval. And their strategy seems to be working.
A couple months ago, Agrima Srivastava, a 29-year-old media professional from Lucknow, had an awkward conversation with her mother. She wanted to know if Agrima had ever heard of Indian dating apps, Aisle and Better Half.
That was the first time Agrima had an open conversation with her mother about her love life. She told her that she was on dating apps, but homegrown ones like Aisle and Better half, were "just too serious". Funnily enough, the very reason Agrima was hesitant to get on an Indian dating app is why her mom approved of it.
And Agrima's mom isn't alone. Many Indian dating apps have positioned themselves as the perfect stop gap between casual dating and marriage. It allows people the autonomy to choose their own partner without their parents getting involved, while also connecting them with a pool of potential partners from similar communities and upbringings. It's like parent-approved dating.
How do they work? And do Indian dating app users need them? We speak to Chandni Gaglani, the head of Aisle and three dating app users to find out.
Tune in.
P.S. while you are here, why don't you check out The Ken's early careers podcast, The First Two Years. You can listen to it here. 

It has been a tough couple of years for India’s Chartered accountants. 

This was and to some extent still is one of the most sought after jobs in the country. 
But lately, the amount of risk involved in their work has been amped up considerably. 
And as a result, CAs have been resigning left, right and centre. 

The reason this is happening is because the auditing industry has been undergoing a major shake-up. 

And behind this shakeup is a relatively new, independent audit regulator called the NFRA, or the National Finance Reporting Authority. 

The NFRA has set all sorts of records in the last two years. Since 2022, it has debarred 78 auditors and imposed close to Rs 20 crore in penalties. 
Tune in. 

According to a survey by S&P, more than 75% of Indian adults do not understand basic financial concepts. The gap is 5% more when it comes to women.
So the rise of financial influencers who simplify complex financial jargon and provide investment advice is not really surprising. But often, they underplay risks  and overplay returns, and try to ride the market waves.
In fact, SEBI, the market capital regulator, has been receiving many complaints and is working on creating a framework of strict guidelines to bring them under its control.
But reining these ‘finfluencers’ in is a bit of a catch-22 situation.
Tune in.

Since 2021, Toyota and Maruti have been engaged in somewhat of a marriage of convenience. 

The terms were pretty simple. Toyota would share its hybrid technology with Maruti Suzuki. In exchange, Toyota would get to re-enter the pocket-friendly segment. 

So what this meant was that the non-premium Toyota cars sold were actually built by Maruti. And the fully hybrid cars sold under the Maruti label were built by Toyota. 
This arrangement has worked well for both companies for multiple reasons. The biggest of which is the growing popularity of hybrid vehicles in India in the recent past. 
But in the process, EV makers seem to be losing big time. 

Tune in.
P.S. While you are here, why don't you check out the latest episode of The First Two Years, The Ken's early careers podcast. It's a good one! Akshaya talks about how to network without seeming desperate. Check it out here.
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.