India’s packaged-food bigwigs ignored spices for a long time. Not anymore.

Since 2020, everyone from ITC to Tata Consumer Products, from Dabur to Wipro, has been scrambling to cement their place in this essential corner of the Indian kitchen. They’ve pounced on spice brands, sometimes paying top dollar for them, all while their investors cheered them on. In fact, the stocks of Tata Consumer and ITC have both outperformed the S&P BSE FMCG index over the last five years.

Turns out, this was all the vindication that Norwegian conglomerate Orkla needed to go public

But this isn’t just another public listing. It’s the opening salvo in what industry insiders are calling the “great spice wars”. And here’s where it gets even spicier: though the category offers some of the highest margins in FMCG products—with pure spices commanding 30–35% gross margins and blended spices going up to 60%—they come with their own unique challenges.

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*This episode was originally published on July 22nd 2025

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.

It takes 150 crocus flowers to make just one gram of saffron. For comparison, a spice like cumin, gets you hundreds of kilos per acre whereas saffron yields barely two.

Despite getting a prestigious GI tag from the Indian government and even a National Mission dedicated to its revival, Kashmir’s saffron production has plummeted:from 8 tonnes in 2011 to just 2.7 tonnes in 2024.

So what’s going wrong? And can India learn something from Iran, which currently dominates 90% of the global saffron market?

Reporters Mehroob Mushtaq and Numan Bhat, traveled deep into saffron country, met the farmers, walked the fields, and came back with a story that’s rich in detail, visuals, and hard truths.

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*This episode was originally published on July 21st 2025.

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India’s soda shelves have changed almost overnight. Coke and Pepsi now sell zero-sugar versions of their drinks at prices as low as 10 rupees. The move came after Reliance launched Campa Cola with its own budget zero-sugar option. Now, they are taking over in big cities and small towns alike.

But what looks like a health trend is really a business strategy.   

What is really inside those bottles? And what does it mean for consumers?

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Swiggy, once the dominant force in India’s quick-commerce market, is now struggling to keep pace. Since its IPO, Instamart’s share has slipped to about 25%, well behind Blinkit’s commanding over 50%. 

To engineer a turnaround, CEO Sriharsha Majety is driving sweeping changes at the company—fuelled by a wave of ex-Flipkart hires, including Amitesh Jha as Instamart’s new chief. The shake-up marks a cultural pivot from Swiggy’s meticulous “doc culture” to a harder-edged “move fast, fail fast” ethos. 

But with Blinkit and Zepto racing ahead, whether this reset can restore Swiggy’s edge or leave it further behind in the quick-commerce race remains to be seen.

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What happens when a woman writes the cheques in venture capital?

In India fewer than 5% of VC partners are women and Archana Jahagirdar, founder of Rukam Capital, is part of that rare group. Since 2019, she has backed Sleepy Owl, Burger Singh, Pilgrim and Beco—bets that reveal how India’s middle class eats, shops and aspires.

In this episode Archana talks to host Snigdha Sharma about why copying Silicon Valley often fails here, how VCs shape culture, what she looks for in founders, and why consumer trust can be the ultimate advantage.

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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.

Blinkit now controls more than half of India’s quick commerce market, a sector long thought too competitive, too crowded, and too expensive for anyone to dominate.

From its ever-expanding network of dark stores that powers its 10-minute deliveries to the recent, bold pivot toward an inventory-led model, Blinkit’s rise is built on a mix of speed, scale, and risk.

But rapid expansion also brings higher costs and greater exposure. Has Blinkit created a sustainable advantage, or has it built a fragile empire that could be tested soon?

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Vinfast, Vietnam’s ambitious electric vehicle maker, is making its last-ditch global play in India after racking up billions in losses in the US and Europe. But its strategy is unlike anything the market has seen before. Instead of competing with giants like Tata and Mahindra in big metros with flashy showrooms, Vinfast is starting in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities like Coimbatore and Shimla—using car workshops as sales hubs.

It’s betting on a country that is invested in EV adoption, rising middle class families who value range over power, and robust charging grid. The question is whether this unconventional approach will help it carve a space in India’s crowded EV market, or mark another costly failure.

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For decades, every Amazon meeting began in silence with employees reading six-page memos that shaped the company’s biggest innovations like Prime and Alexa. Jeff Bezos banned PowerPoint in 2004 to build a culture of truth-seeking through crisp writing and messy discussions.

Now, that tradition faces disruption as internal AI tools like Amazon Q and Cedric draft, summarise and analyse documents in minutes. Some employees are embracing the speed while others fear a loss of originality and rigour.

Is AI strengthening Amazon’s culture or quietly dismantling the practice that once defined its success?

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IRMA was never just another B-school. Born out of Verghese Kurien’s (the father of Operation Flood movement) mind, it built a one-of-a-kind management program for rural India—training managers for cooperatives, NGOs, and grassroots institutions, far away from the IIM playbook.

Now, Delhi has other plans. An Act of Parliament is folding IRMA into a vast new central university, the "Tribhuvan" Sahkari University, with hundreds of affiliates. On paper, it’s about scaling cooperative education nationwide. But the shift is sparking anxiety over placements, faculty, and whether Kurien’s vision will survive in a system built for size.

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India’s millionaire households have jumped 90% in just four years, and a gold rush for wealth managers has begun. Firms like Nuvama, Kotak, and 360 One are in a race for high-net-worth clients—deploying relationship managers, slashing rates, and dangling exotic products to stay ahead.

But the old playbook of generous distribution fees is colliding with a new reality. Today’s wealthy are savvier, fee-sensitive, and increasingly leaning on advisory-first models or even building in-house family offices. That’s left pure-play firms in a difficult spot, even as VC-backed challengers chase growth at all costs.

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P.S. Are you a manager, recruiter or founder who has been part of a hiring process in the last year? Rahel from 90,000 Hours  wants to hear from you. Take our survey.

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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.