

Daybreak
The Ken
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.
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.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jul 3, 2023 • 11min
Zomato has an edge over Swiggy. Here's why
On Thursday, Kotak Institutional Equities, released a note and turns out, Zomato managed to maintain its lead over Swiggy with a 55% market share in the year 2022. Swiggy is at 45%.Swiggy and Zomato have been constantly win the bigger share in India’s $5 billion food delivery market. But it was Swiggy that had the portion share just three years ago. Inherently, both the food delivery companies are quite different from each other. And it is this difference that's been giving Zomato an edge lately.Recommended reading:Why Swiggy is building a Shopify for local brandsDaybreak 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.

Jun 29, 2023 • 14min
ICICI Bank's 'too much democracy' policy is causing its top talent to quit
ICICI's stock has tripled since 2018—the year when ICICI’s current CEO Sandeep Bakhshi took over. Loans and deposits are growing strong, margins are healthy, and investors can’t seem to get enough of the blue-chip company. Bakshi joined at a time when the bank was reeling from the after-effects of his predecessor Chanda Kochchar's controversial exit.The bank was experiencing a high rate of attrition and employees needed reassurance and stability. Bakshi gave them just that. He revamped the bank's HR policy, bringing about a democratisation with decisions like the standardisation of appraisals and tenure-based promotions.All these moves made him quite the favourite amongst many current and even former employees. But it has also led to the creation of a faction of young disgruntled high-performers who feel they are not incentivised enough. And they are resigning. Tune in.Recommendation:At ICICI Bank, Sandeep Bakhshi’s people-first strategy costs top people by Rounak Kumar GunjanDaybreak 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.

Jun 27, 2023 • 12min
What can BITS Pilani do that the IITs can’t?
For decades, the 60 year old BITS Pilani, one of the most prestigious science and engineering institutions in the country, has been second to India's crown jewels–the IITs.Now, the institute is on a mission under the leadership of its Group Vice Chancellor, V Ramgopal Rao. A syllabus revamp after a decade, a US$100M endowment fund from alumni, 10% of faculty from industry, allowing a year off for startups—BITS has taken some major leapsIt wants to be on the top with the IITs.Tune in.Recommended reading: BITS Pilani is tired of playing second fiddle to IITs by Alifiya KhanDaybreak 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.

Jun 25, 2023 • 11min
Another knockout punch for Byju's. This time from NBFCs
Starting April, major non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), including Avanse Financial Services, Aditya Birla Finance, and Fullerton India, which lend to Byju’s’ customers, suspended loans for the edtech. These play an important role in allowing Byju's to make its sales to its customers via zero-interest EMIs. With sales slowing down, the edtech desperately needs these financing options because its one year courses range from anything between Rs 20,000 to Rs 1.4 lakh. Not all its customers can afford to pay it all in one go. This is why Byju’s tied up with these NBFCs in the first place. But now that the non-banks have left the building, what is the ailing giant doing to survive?Tune in.Recommendations: Byju’s has one escape route Indian lenders cut off Byju’s air supply by not lending to its usersDaybreak 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.

Jun 22, 2023 • 14min
Byju's auditor Deloitte says “I quit”
On Thursday evening news broke that Deloitte, the biggest audit firm in the world, has resigned as Byju's statutory auditor. This couldn't come at a worse time for the edtech giant. Just hours before this, three of its key board members also tendered their resignations over differences with the company's founder. It was in September last year when, after a long delay that raised many eyebrows, Byju’s had finally released its financials for the year 2021. The delay was because Deloitte was not satisfied with what Byju’s was presenting to them as a fair picture of their accounts. It gave it an "adverse opinion."Months have passed since and there is still no sign of Byju's financials for FY2022. Worst still, the company's own projection of a Rs 10,000 crore revenue for the same year seems to be incorrect.Tune in. Recommendations: The seven things you need to know about Byju’s FY21 financials WTFinancials is going on at Byju's? Byju’s is looking like a hedge fund Indian lenders cut off Byju’s air supply by not lending to its usersDaybreak 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.

Jun 20, 2023 • 12min
Indian pharma is in the news again. For all the wrong reasons
Despite being called ‘the pharmacy of the world,’ time and again, the Indian pharmaceutical industry has received criticism for substandard quality. Last year, the deaths of children in Gambia and Uzbekistan were allegedly linked to cough syrups manufactured in India.Yesterday, the WHO flagged seven more Indian-made cough syrups for containing toxic chemicals. Why does Indian Pharma still struggle with quality control?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.

Jun 19, 2023 • 12min
Tata needs BigBasket to fulfill its retail ambitions
When Tata acquired the e-grocer, BigBasket, at a reported valuation of $2 billion in mid-2021, the company was loss-making. 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 is one game that BigBasket seems to be clearly winning.Tune in to find out.Recommended reading: Torn between growing competition and Tatas’ ambitions, $3.2B BigBasket is at a crossroadsDaybreak 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.

Jun 16, 2023 • 11min
Why aren't insurance companies super busy after the Odisha train crash?
The Indian Railways exclusively provides travellers a 10 lakh rupees worth insurance cover on booking train tickets online for less than half a rupee. Despite this, a large majority of Indian travellers are not covered by any form of travel insurance.Just a little more than 30 crore lives were covered by general and health insurers for domestic travel, according to the annual report of India’s insurance regulator IRDAI. Why?Tune inDaybreak 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.

Jun 13, 2023 • 14min
No, your refined cooking oil cannot be heart-friendly nor can it control your diabetes
Over the years, the more health conscious we became, the more cooking oil-markers pushed different variations of words associated with 'health' in their branding. But they've been burying the caveat in the fine print. For example, Adani Wilmar’s refined soybean oil goes by the brand name ‘Fortune Soya Health’ in bold letters on the front of the pack. But if you turn the pouch around, you'll notice at the back, in small tiny letters, it reads: “The word ‘health’ is only a brand name and does not represent the product's true nature.” Tune in to find out how cooking oils brands available in the Indian market have been knowingly misleading consumers and how bad refined oils can be for you health. Recommended reading: Fortune Vivo oil meets its inevitable sticky endDaybreak 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.

Jun 12, 2023 • 12min
How many cars does it take to change Uber’s driver model? 10,000
In the last few years post-pandemic, fleet-management companies like Everest 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 by 150X. 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. No need to deal with hiring and training drivers.Now, Uber is deepening its ties with Everest, especially since it wants to roll out EVs. But as Uber gives more control to the fleet management company, the basics of the ride hailing business could change forever.Recommended reading: Blusmart wants ride-hailing glory by saying no to Uber, Ola’s scaleDaybreak 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.


