The Morning Brief

Ajinkya Rahane, composed international batsman and quiet leader who champions agriculture and social causes. Sanjiv Navangul, healthcare turnaround chief focused on R&D and public health. They talk leadership under pressure, rebuilding organisations, translating sports lessons to business, handling criticism with humility, and driving purpose-led change across teams and communities.

CL Manoj, political reporter and analyst at the Economic Times, breaks down Kerala’s shifting electoral terrain. He explores Pinarayi Vijayan’s incumbency challenge and leadership quirks. He examines scandal-driven turmoil, Congress’s pivot to collective leadership, and the BJP’s rise via star recruits and local gains. Short, sharp, and rooted in on-ground reporting.

Tanay Kothari, founder building at the intersection of voice and AI and creator of Wispr Flow, explains why voice can replace typing. He discusses designing for small habit shifts, how Wispr cleans and personalizes speech across apps, and what sets his product apart from simple transcription tools. He also covers India’s strong voice-first market and strategies for enterprise growth.

Vijay Sharma, Deputy CM of Chhattisgarh focused on surrenders, security deployment and rehab plans for Bastar. Shantanu Nandan Sharma, ET reporter who spoke with villagers and former militants about schools and local livelihoods. Rahul Tripathi, internal security editor with on-ground reportage and interviews of surrendered Naxalites. They discuss mass surrenders, state-run camps and training, expanding security footprint, and the challenges of reintegration and development.

Santanu Sengupta, MD and Chief India Economist at Goldman Sachs, offers concise macro analysis. He explains why Middle East oil shocks hit India harder. He highlights which exports and remittances will shift. He outlines risks to gas, fertilizers and food inflation. He describes fiscal cushions, crude sourcing shifts, and likely central bank rate moves.

Bhanu Baweja, Chief Strategist at UBS Investment Bank with 20+ years tracking global markets. He warns markets may be treating Middle East conflict as a short shock. He compares potential oil losses to Russia‑Ukraine, explores long‑term energy security, and examines how an oil or liquidity shock could threaten AI investment and India’s domestic investor resilience.

Saloni Shukla, banking reporter at Economic Times, offers sharp journalistic analysis of HDFC Bank’s governance turmoil. Sashidhar Jagdishan, CEO of HDFC Bank, speaks on merger integration and board dynamics. They discuss the chairman's abrupt exit, Dubai onboarding and 81 bond complaints, market panic and RBI reassurance, and potential board and management reshuffles.

G.V. Prasad, Co-Chairman and Managing Director of Dr. Reddy’s with 30+ years steering pharma and manufacturing, talks candidly about the company’s past crises and missed bold moves. He discusses India's innovation gap, plans to build biologics and new modalities, the realistic role of AI, funding strategies beyond generics, and a ten-year target to shift a large share of revenue to innovation.

Mohak Shroff, SVP Engineering at LinkedIn with 18 years shaping its systems, explains how LinkedIn acts as an AI matching engine. He discusses AI-native jobs versus AI-augmented roles. He talks about redesigning roles for AI fluency, building adaptable skill frameworks, and using AI tools as productivity partners while keeping human judgment and accountability central.

Sheetal Sapale, VP at Pharmarack who tracks pharma market and pricing in India, and Dr. Rajiv Kovil, diabetologist and weight‑management expert, unpack semaglutide’s patent expiry. They discuss the incoming generic surge and steep price drops. They debate cold‑chain and manufacturing hurdles, patient adherence and education, shifting treatment pathways, and who might scale up or falter in the shakeout.