The Morning Brief

Woochong Um, CEO of the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet, leads clean energy financing and pilot projects like utility‑scale battery storage in India. He discusses India as a testing ground for large-scale storage, the Kilokari battery pilot that cut blackouts, scaling storage across states and countries, AI‑enabled digitized grids, and how coordinated public‑private action can unlock jobs and reliable power.

T Krishnakumar, a 40-year FMCG veteran who built Reliance Consumer Products' affordable-mass-market play, discusses targeting India’s 500–600 million middle-class shoppers. He talks startup agility inside a conglomerate. He outlines resurrecting heritage brands, national rollouts, AI-powered food parks, de-seasonalizing beverages, and plans for global pilots in the next few years.

Aditi Goyal, tax partner at Trilegal who advises on income tax policy and litigation, breaks down India’s 2026 tax overhaul. She discusses the sharp cut in unexplained income tax rates, the shift to a unified tax year, expanded HRA and allowance changes, and the balance between automated scrutiny and trust-based filing.

Eric Stallmer, Executive VP at Voyager Space and a decorated U.S. combat veteran, discusses commercializing low Earth orbit and the plan for Starlab as the ISS successor. He covers how smaller firms now win big defense work, growing India-US space ties, and the role of private capital and AI in shaping orbital research and infrastructure.

David Sax, author and journalist who documents the revival of non-digital culture, talks about why Millennials and Gen Z crave tactile experiences. He explores how social media ironically amplifies analog hobbies. He considers AI and screen fatigue as drivers of the trend. He describes practical ways people reclaim physical books, records, and hands-on creativity.

Rajan Anandan, Managing Director at Peak XV and head of the Surge accelerator, former Google and Microsoft exec and early-stage AI investor. He discusses India’s AI trajectory, why localized, ultra-affordable models matter, bets on AI infrastructure and developer tooling, Peak XV’s post-split strategy and governance guardrails, and predictions like 50 Indian AI unicorns by 2030.

Edward Alden, a U.S. trade policy expert, and Abhijit Das, an international trade and WTO negotiator, unpack a sudden U.S.-India trade announcement. They discuss the deal’s structural imbalance, risks to Indian agriculture and generics, digital trade and WTO implications, enforcement gaps, and the constitutional and political limits of U.S. emergency tariff powers.

Sumanth Raman, political analyst steeped in Tamil Nadu politics, unpacks whether superstar Vijay’s TVK can upend the DMK-AIADMK balance. He weighs TVK’s likely 15% vote pull but limited seat conversion. Conversation touches on caste math, alliance deals, the Karur incident’s impact on leadership image, and why 40% vote share is the decisive threshold.

Puneet Gupta, Partner in People Advisory Services–Tax at EY and labour‑law and payroll expert, breaks down India’s new labour codes. He explains the new common wage definition and why statutory costs spiked. He discusses retrospective gratuity recalculations, which sectors are hardest hit, and whether firms will reshuffle pay or slow hiring. Short‑term shock versus long‑term formalisation is a recurring theme.

Aashish P. Somaiyaa, CEO of WhiteOak Capital Asset Management, shares market and asset-allocation views. Homi Mistry, Partner at Deloitte India, explains taxation and regulatory shifts. They discuss unchanged capital gains and market tax impacts. They unpack a six-month amnesty for undisclosed foreign assets. They also cover sovereign gold bond rule tweaks and buyback taxation changes.