businessline's State of the Economy Podcast

Direct-to-Consumer or D2C gained popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic when governments issued lockdown orders to stop the spread of the virus. As a model, D2C brands deliver products to their customers directly via digital channels and without a middle distribution channel. This is one of the reasons why D2C brands became the darling of customers during the pandemic.

In this episode of State of Economy, we explore whether D2C brands that are digital natives are managing to hold on to the advantage they gained during the pandemic thanks to their speed, agility and innovation. Big mass brands have caught up now and the old traditional channels are back. Can these D2C brands still hold their own? 

Well-known management thinker Shiv Shivakumar, former CEO of Pepsico India and Nokia India and Shankar Prasad, founder of D2C beauty brand Plum share their thoughts with businessline’s Chitra Narayanan. And even coin a new definition for D2C - Discovery to Consumption. Tune in.

(Host: Chitra Narayanan, Edit: Jayapriyanka J, Producer: V Nivedita)

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About the State Of The Economy podcast

India’s economy has been hailed as the bright spot amid the general gloom that seems to have enveloped the rest of the world. But several of its sectors still stutter about even while others seem set to fire on all cylinders. To help you make sense of the bundle of contradictions that the country is, businessline brings you podcasts with experts ranging from finance and marketing to technology and start-ups. Tune in!

With digital markets growing exponentially around the world in the last two decades, different countries have looked at regulating them in different ways. India is no exception. The government is expecting India’s digital markets (value of goods and services through digital channels) to touch $ 1 trillion by 2025-26 and the stakeholders demand an effective regulatory mechanism that would help nurture this growth and propel overall economic growth.

businessline’s Senior Deputy Editor K R Srivats spoke to Nisha Kaur Uberoi, Partner and National Head of Competition Law Practice at Trilegal, a law firm, on what could be a suitable approach for Indian policymakers to adopt on this front. She felt that the current Competition Act 2002 is “more than adequate” to take India through the challenges posed by the growing digital economy. 

In this episode, the panelists discuss the Digital Competition Law and whether it is time for India to have a separate law focused on regulating Competition in digital markets like the European Union. Should India too like the EU go in for an ‘ex-ante framework’ for regulating the anti-competitive conduct of Big Tech and introduce this through a separate law? 

Listen to the podcast for more.

(Host: K R Srivats, Producer: Jayapriyanka J, Siddharth MC)

_______________________

About the State Of The Economy podcast

India’s economy has been hailed as the bright spot amid the general gloom that seems to have enveloped the rest of the world. But several of its sectors still stutter about even while others seem set to fire on all cylinders. To help you make sense of the bundle of contradictions that the country is, businessline brings you podcasts with experts ranging from finance and marketing to technology and start-ups. Tune in!

Padma Bhushan awardee Kirit Parikh feels that it is imperative that CNG and PNG consumers get natural gas at affordable rates, as it not only supports efforts to reduce CO2 emissions but is also economically viable in many cases compared with other fossil fuels such as petrol and diesel. A government-appointed committee headed by Parikh recently submitted a report to the Oil Ministry on fixing the fair price of gas.

In this podcast, Senior Assistant Editor Rishi Ranjan Kala speaks to former Planning Commission Member Kirit Parikh about India’s clean energy transition, the country’s aim to promote the use of natural gas in the economy, and more.

(Host: Rishi Ranjan Kala, Producer: Nabodita Ganguly)

_______________________

About the State Of The Economy podcast

India’s economy has been hailed as the bright spot amid the general gloom that seems to have enveloped the rest of the world. But several of its sectors still stutter about even while others seem set to fire on all cylinders. To help you make sense of the bundle of contradictions that the country is, businessline brings you podcasts with experts ranging from finance and marketing to technology and start-ups. Tune in!

We fill out a lot of forms, there are so many KYC procedures we go through, we share our phone numbers today, pretty much with everybody, whether it’s to buy a toy at the toy store, opening a bank account, to a diagnostic center for a blood test. Our ID’s are also sort of sought out from hotel booking to anything related to GST, bank statements, and so on. Where does one draw the line with respect to what data we can share?

In this podcast, Senior Assistant Editor Hamsini Karthik speaks to Sanjay Katkar, Joint Managing Director & Chief Technology Officer at Quick Heal Technologies on data and privacy in the financial space, the darknet, and common tips that consumers can follow while accessing financial services online and more.

(Host: Hamsini Karthik, Producer: Nabodita Ganguly, Siddharth MC)

_______________________

About the State Of The Economy podcast

India’s economy has been hailed as the bright spot amid the general gloom that seems to have enveloped the rest of the world. But several of its sectors still stutter about even while others seem set to fire on all cylinders. To help you make sense of the bundle of contradictions that the country is, businessline brings you podcasts with experts ranging from finance and marketing to technology and start-ups. Tune in!

The Centre is pushing for regional air connectivity of smaller towns that are of importance. However, one of its policies could stop the industrial town of Hosur in western Tamil Nadu and bordering Karnataka of being deprived of having a new airport.

The current policy does not allow new airports within a 150 ­km radius of an existing airport. Unfortunately, Hosur is just 74 km from Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport. Tamil Nadu has already started work on developing the airport by recently issuing a tender calling for consultants to prepare a report for the project.

However, if the Centre refuses permission for the new airport at Hosur, it could lead to a confrontation between Tamil Nadu and the Centre as Hosur is a major revenue-earning region for the State, and in future an airport could help its development.

We spoke to aviation expert B Govindarajan of Tirwin Management. He is championing the cause of national or Desi air cargo capacity and increased air connectivity to understand the need for an airport at Hosur?

Listen in!

(Host: T E Raja Simhan, Producer: V Nivedita, Jayapriyanka J)

_______________________

About the State Of The Economy podcast

India’s economy has been hailed as the bright spot amid the general gloom that seems to have enveloped the rest of the world. But several of its sectors still stutter about even while others seem set to fire on all cylinders. To help you make sense of the bundle of contradictions that the country is, businessline brings you podcasts with experts ranging from finance and marketing to technology and start-ups. Tune in!

The last 12 to 13 months have been tumultuous for the wheat market, particularly in India for many reasons.The procurement of wheat by the Food Corporation of India was as low as 47% of the 43.44 million tonnes it procured in 2021. How is the current fiscal playing out for the flour mills in India and what is the outlook for the next fiscal?

In this podcast, Subramani Ra Mancombu speaks to Pramod Kumar Jain, President, Roller Flour Mills Federation of India, to understand how the current fiscal has been for the industry.

Listen in!

(Host: Subramani Ra Mancombu, Producer: Jayapriyanka J)

About the State Of The Economy podcast

India’s economy has been hailed as the bright spot amid the general gloom that seems to have enveloped the rest of the world. But several of its sectors still stutter about even while others seem set to fire on all cylinders. To help you make sense of the bundle of contradictions that the country is, businessline brings you podcasts with experts ranging from finance and marketing to technology and start-ups. Tune in!

The recent 5G rollout marks another turning point for India’s telecom market. However, the telecom sector has been going through a major financial crisis. With a combined debt of around Rs 5 lakh crore, the operators are finding it tough to keep up the investment needed to roll out a network. While the operators have increased tariffs to mop up cash, this has led to services becoming unaffordable for the lower sections of the consumers. 

In this podcast, businessline's Thomas K Thomas examines the critical issues facing the telecom sector with Sanjay Kapoor, former CEO of Airtel, who has been closely associated with the sector for the last two decades and has deep insights into the functioning of the sector.

About the State Of The Economy podcast

India’s economy has been hailed as the bright spot amid the general gloom that seems to have enveloped the rest of the world. But several of its sectors still stutter about even while others seem set to fire on all cylinders. To help you make sense of the bundle of contradictions that the country is, businessline brings you podcasts with experts ranging from finance and marketing to technology and start-ups. Tune in!

It is widely believed that small towns will power India's growth story in the future and that tier II and III towns are aiding the economic recovery from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. This shift from urban areas to rural areas poses a set of new challenges for marketers - how can brands reach out to their customers? What are the best means to do so? 

In this episode of State Of The Economy -Marketing podcast, businessline's Chitra Narayanan speaks to Shiv Shivakumar, who is a noted author and management thinker, and Tanvi Gupta, who is an Associate Professor at IIM Udaipur and the co-chair of the Consumer Lab at the premier institution. Listen in to understand the different dynamics marketers must address while pitching their products to a diverse audience.

Host: Chitra Narayanan, Producers: Jayapriyanka J, V Nivedita.

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About the State Of The Economy podcast

India’s economy has been hailed as the bright spot amid the general gloom that seems to have enveloped the rest of the world. But several of its sectors still stutter about even while others seem set to fire on all cylinders. To help you make sense of the bundle of contradictions that the country is, businessline brings you podcasts with experts ranging from finance and marketing to technology and start-ups. Tune in!

The macroeconomic conditions have made it difficult for Indian startups to secure funding, with private equity (PE) and VC investments declining by 63% year-on-year in January 2023. To navigate this funding crunch, startups have had to resort to cost-cutting measures, like shutting down business verticals, employee layoffs and much more. Further, as VCs adopted a more cautious approach, several cases of corporate governance issues have been found at venture-funded startups. To delve deeper into these topics, businessline's Yatti Soni spoke to Arun Natrajan, the founder of Venture Intelligence, a private market intelligence company. 

(Host: Yatti Soni, Producer: Jayapriyanka, Nivedita)

About the State Of The Economy podcast

India’s economy has been hailed as the bright spot amid the general gloom that seems to have enveloped the rest of the world. But several of its sectors still stutter about even while others seem set to fire on all cylinders. To help you make sense of the bundle of contradictions that the country is, businessline brings you podcasts with experts ranging from finance and marketing to technology and start-Ups. Tune in!

Over the past week, the Indian government has released data on several fronts on how the economy is performing. However, the data does not reveal any set pattern -- some figures look encouraging, while others don’t. So, what is the big picture?

In the first episode of the State of the Economy podcast, businessline’s Associate Editor Shishir Sinha talks to Rajani Sinha, Chief Economist, CARE Ratings to decode how different sections of our economic engine are functioning. Listen in!

Host: Shishir Sinha, Producer: Nabodita Ganguly.

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About the State Of The Economy podcast

India’s economy has been hailed as the bright spot amid the general gloom that seems to have enveloped the rest of the world. But several of its sectors still stutter about even while others seem set to fire on all cylinders. To help you make sense of the bundle of contradictions that the country is, businessline brings you podcasts with experts ranging from finance and marketing to technology and start-Ups. Tune in!