In November 2024,  one of India's biggest FMCG companies, Hindustan Unilever, started getting a barrage of complaints from its consumers, who said they were seeing the same Dove and Surf Excel ads repeatedly on OTT platforms during a single watch session. Some of them were shown the same ads as many as 150 times within a week. 

Now, with the IPL around the corner, HUL—which spends nearly Rs 4,000 crore on ads annually—couldn’t afford to ignore these complaints. So what followed was a series of investigations. And what they discovered has opened a real can of worms for not just JioHotstar, the platform that will be streaming the IPL, but OTT platforms in general. 

The big issue is a serious mismatch between what was promised and what’s actually being delivered for ad campaigns, according to seven insiders from HUL, Disney, and other industry rivals who spoke to The Ken. 

So what happens when a big spender starts feeling like it's not getting what it signed up for during the biggest streaming event of the year? The Ken reporter Rounak Kumar Gunjan speaks to Daybreak hosts Snigdha and Rahel. 

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Back in 2009, Tata launched an egg-shaped four seater hatchback that it was convinced would redefine mobility for the masses, Tata Nano. Initially priced at just Rs. 1 lakh, it was designed as the dream ride for the lower middle class. It was a bold and ambitious that unfortunately didn't quite take off. Auto experts say it was because of a combination of factors. But perhaps the biggest learning from the Nano fiasco was that car ownership in India isn’t just about wheels. It’s about status. 

Now, almost two decades later, Tata Motors has managed to dethrone India’s largest passenger carmaker, Maruti, to officially become the public’s favourite. And it’s all because of how it has positioned itself since the Nano. Take one of its most successful models, Tata Punch, for example. Last year, this compact SUV became the country’s best selling car. It managed to beat the iconic Maruti Wagonr and Swift which previously took the top spot for several years now.  

So how did Tata Motors get here? In this episode we dive into its journey from the Nano to the Punch. 

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.

The global fashion industry is shifting dramatically. Brands like Zara that once ordered a minimum of 6,000 pieces per style, have dramatically reduced their orders to about 600 pieces. And it isn’t just a quantity thing, production timelines have shrunk from 150 days to less than half of that. 

The result? Well, fresh designs every two weeks. This shift in the industry was made possible because of middlemen like Groyyo, who get small factories to manufacture clothes in small batches in record time.

The company’s strength lies in what other larger factories find challenging. When a brand places an order for 500 pieces to be readied in 60 days, large factories—those capable of producing batches of at least 2,000 garments—typically struggle to justify the operational adjustments required. 

 This isn’t the first time the textile industry has seen such moves. Other B2b Fasionplatforms like Geniemode and Fashinza also went down the same path but ended up burning over 100 million dollars trying to digitise this unorganised space. But Groyyo managed to recognise exactly what they were missing – a focus on international markets. 

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It has been a confusing year so far for the payment processor, Juspay.  On the upside, it is one step closer to unicorn status thanks to a possible 150 million dollar funding round. But at the same time, it has also been getting the cold shoulder from several fintechs that once were a core part of its business. 

It all began just a few months ago, in December, when the Walmart-owned payment aggregator Phonepe said it would discontinue support from all third-party payment orchestration platforms. Soon after, Razorpay and Cashfree followed suit and severed ties with Juspay.

So now merchants have to decide – do they stay the course with Juspay or jump ship? The stakes are at an all time high. Because their decision could reshape the very structure of the payments industry.

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Last year’s heatwave was great for the AC business—demand was over the roof and inventories were wiped out. Voltas, which sells the most room air conditioners in India, saw revenue jump 60% in the March quarter. Contract manufacturers like Blue Star, Amber Enterprises, and PGEL made 50–100% more money. This year too is going to be a long, hot summer. Air-conditioner makers know this. But they also know that, despite all their efforts to prepare this time, they might run out of air conditioners by mid-April.

The same thing that happened last year will happen in 2025.

You see, there are tiny but really important things that make an AC an AC like compressors, cross-flow motors. Suddenly, they were in short supply last year. Some manufacturers ended up airlifting emergency shipments—instead of regular shipping. You could think of this as the business equivalent of ordering from a quick-commerce platform at midnight: expensive, kind of desperate, but necessary. Overall the industry lost the sale of a million and a half units because of this.

And this year could be worse because AC sales are projected to jump another 20%, crossing 12 million units.

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Desi dating apps are vying for parental approval. And their strategy seems to be working.

A couple months ago, Agrima Srivastava, a 29-year-old media professional from Lucknow, had an awkward conversation with her mother. She wanted to know if Agrima had ever heard of Indian dating apps, Aisle and Better Half.

That was the first time Agrima had an open conversation with her mother about her love life. She told her that she was on dating apps, but homegrown ones like Aisle and Better half, were "just too serious". Funnily enough, the very reason Agrima was hesitant to get on an Indian dating app is why her mom approved of it.

And Agrima's mom isn't alone. Many Indian dating apps have positioned themselves as the perfect stop gap between casual dating and marriage. It allows people the autonomy to choose their own partner without their parents getting involved, while also connecting them with a pool of potential partners from similar communities and upbringings. It's like parent-approved dating.

How do they work? And do Indian dating app users need them?

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.

Last month, Netradyne, the logistics AI startup, became India’s first unicorn of 2025 after it raised 90 million dollars in series D funding. 

You see, it did not take it long to realise that its sweet spot is the long-distance trucking segment. It serves over 3,000 customers across eight countries, including the likes of Amazon, Shell, Indian Oil and Greenline Mobility. And it all began with one rather primitive prototype. Of course, now it has morphed into a compact device with a built-in GPU, up to four cameras, and a disembodied voice alerting drivers not to crash the vehicle.

The Ken reporter Abhirami G recently found herself in the backseat of one of Netradyne’s test cars in Bengaluru's Whitefield neighbourhood. The driver of the car was a Netradyne employee. And as he weaved through the traffic, the company’s signature always-on surveillance cameras didn’t just watch his every move, but also apparently “understood” and “analysed”. As he drove, he was generating the precious training data that powers the company’s bread and butter. Apart from making roads safer, this whole system also doubles up as a driver’s best legal defence in times of trouble. The company’s executive Vice president of Engineering Teja Gudena said that on multiple occasions, it has saved drivers from liability by proving their innocence in accidents. 

Apart from its new-found unicorn status, it reportedly managed to clock Rs 1,000 crore in revenue in 2023. It also currently has a stronghold in the US and other major global markets. Reaching all of these milestones within nine years is pretty remarkable. But despite all that success, Netradyne is now grappling with an existential crisis. Because now, driverless vehicles are no longer science fiction, they are a logistical inevitability. And that leaves Netradyne in a rather tricky spot. 

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It’s 2025 and the idea of “masculinity” has undergone a complete overhaul. You see, after several product life cycles, the men’s grooming business has reached a stage where brands aren’t just formulating shampoos and body washes exclusively for men. They are also coming up with compacts and concealers, and a bunch of other makeup products targeted at men. 

In fact, in the last decade or so, India has actually become the biggest market in the Asia Pacific region for beauty products for men.

And yet, nothing much has changed about how these brands pitch their products to men.

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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.

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Over the next three to five years, Zepto wants to be known as the startup that created the most multimillionaires. 

Which is why these days, the standard pitch that people applying for VP-level roles at the startup get is as follows: "Would you like to create generational wealth? Think 50-100 crores in just four years." That’s what Zepto HR has been promising these applicants. They’ve been making it seem like bagging a job at Zepto is like winning a lottery ticket. 

And it’s not just bravado.

By “generational wealth”, the company means offering Employee Stock Ownership Plans or ESOPs to senior executives, based on their performance.

But it comes at a price.

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Listen to 'One Billion in 10 Minutes', our new mini series based on The Ken's inaugural case competition.

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Indian startups are making the most of the increasing demand for surveillance by securing high visibility government contracts. But while these can boost a startup's profile, government projects are unpredictable and often difficult for smaller startups to win.

As a result, there is a shift underway — private clients are becoming increasingly crucial for profitability.

This divide between public and private contracts is forcing these surveillance startups to do a fair bit of monkey balancing. How are they pulling it off?

Tune in.

**This episode was previously published in December, 2024

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.