Daybreak – Details, episodes & analysis

India's tuition republic came into the picture to fill the gaps in the education system. First and foremost: they promise to get you into the college of your dreams. That simple but powerful promise has made this a Rs 58,000 crore industry. 

But there is a flip side to this. It puts traditional schools in a rather precarious position. Students start trickling out of the system after class 10. Their parents transfer them to junior colleges or schools with integrated coaching models so they can focus on cracking competitive exams. 

One school has had enough of this. It's tackling attrition by taking on these coaching centres directly. The first step? Hiring 200 IITians. 

Tune in. 

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On Independence Day this year, just six days after it went public, Ola Electric launched three new electric motorbikes. This was a bold move, especially considering that  electric vehicles haven’t really clicked with the Indian audience yet. 

The exception to that rule has been electric two and three wheelers, which had some unexpected success in tier-2 India. But motorcycles are not scooters. People still prefer their 125cc ICE bikes. So, it’s a difficult space to break into. But if there is one thing we know about Ola Electric, it’s that the company does not shy away from making bold business decisions. 

It has its sights set on becoming the next Hero Splendor. Has Ola Electric bitten off more than it can chew? 

Tune in.

If you've been wondering what The Ken is all about and why our subscribers love us, here is your chance to find out. Check out our special 30-day trial curated just for you.

To apply for the latest job openings in The Ken's podcast team, click here.

There was once a time, not too long ago,  when you could walk into a young working professional’s rented home in a tier-1 city, and all the furniture would look pretty familiar. 

About a decade ago, everyone and their uncle was renting furniture from the two OG rental platforms Rentomojo and Furlenco. It just made sense. 

When Rentomojo and Furlenco were launched about a decade ago, they were like an answer to a lot of people’s prayers. It was a great deal – your fridge, washing machine, king sized bed and more would be delivered right at your doorstep. Use them for as long as you need, and return them when you are done. 

Cut to 2024, and things have changed. They are struggling to stay relevant.

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.
 

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.