When a public electric bus breaks down in India, three agencies get notified.

None of them can actually fix it.

The buses don't belong to the cities that run them. The contracts sit with central agencies. The warranties belong to manufacturers.

When a four-year-old bus stalls because its battery management system glitched, the city logs a complaint, calculates a fine for the manufacturers, and takes the bus off the route. Commuters are left slim pickings.

And India's about to deploy thousands more using the same model.

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.

India is building data centres at unprecedented speed to support cloud services, AI, and digital growth. At the same time, cities across the country are struggling with water shortages and repeated contamination of drinking-water supplies. 

A new United Nations report describes this condition as water bankruptcy. It is the stage where water systems continue to function, but only by drawing down reserves that cannot recover fast enough.

In this episode, host Snigdha Sharma looks at how India’s data centre push fits into that reality, drawing lessons from cities abroad where similar tensions have already surfaced.

So as India builds for a digital future, the question is simple: who decides how much water that future can afford?

Sam Altman called ads a "last resort" in late 2024. That day has arrived.

OpenAI just announced ChatGPT is running ads—personalised ones based on your conversations. The company spent $8 billion in 2025 alone with zero profit, and an essay predicted they'll burn through cash by 2027.

Meanwhile, Google's Gemini is betting on staying ad-free, preserving user trust while ChatGPT strains it.

We break down the enshittification playbook, why OpenAI's "code red" memo signals desperation, and whether ads can actually save a company hemorrhaging billions.

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.

India has become one of the world’s largest electronics manufacturers, powered by scale, assembly lines, and global contracts. But much of the design, components, and technology still sit elsewhere.

In this episode, we look at why the government is now backing electronics components, what India’s EMS firms built first, and what they postponed.

As India pushes deeper into the supply chain, the question shifts from volume to ownership. What does it take to move from assembling electronics to truly building them? Also, how did China get it right?

Tune in.

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.

For over a decade, Indian startups have chosen to be incorporated in Delaware and Singapore when raising venture capital.

Now India wants to change that with Gift City—a financial enclave designed to compete globally. But can it?

We explore why founders still choose Delaware's speed and legal certainty, what Gift City offers to funds but not startups, and the structural gaps that need fixing.

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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.

AI is learning healthcare from systems that are stretched and uneven.

In this episode, hosts Snigdha Sharma and Rachel Varghese discuss what tools like ChatGPT Health and Claude for Healthcare could mean in India.

We talk about how people already use AI to understand symptoms and reports, how hospitals deal with data and paperwork, and how bias and privacy shape these tools.

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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.

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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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.

Four months after India's nationwide ban on online gambling ads, Meta platforms were still running them—140 in December alone. 

A Reuters investigation into leaked internal documents reveals this isn't an oversight. Meta made specific calculations about how much enforcement it could afford, and governments worldwide are hitting the same wall. 

From Malaysia to the Philippines, removal requests pile up while the ads keep running. What happens when a platform decides compliance is negotiable?

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.

Investing extra money can be confusing, no matter how big or small the amount. What works for someone with Rs 1 crore is very different from what suits someone with Rs 1 lakh or Rs 10 lakh. Experts say everyone should first take care of basic needs before investing.

There are many simple, logical, and even unconventional ways to invest.

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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.

India's Fund of Funds for Startups 1.0 is winding down this March—but it's falling short of its goals.

Of the ₹10,000 crore mandate, only ₹6,500 crore has been disbursed, and just ₹3,200 crore has actually reached startups. Meanwhile, FFS 2.0 remains stuck in limbo with no guidelines released yet.

Despite catalyzing India's startup boom—from 3,000 startups in 2016 to over 200,000 today—the program faces criticism over cheap terms for fund managers, delays, and transparency issues. As the government prepares FFS 2.0, fixing these operational inefficiencies will be crucial.

Tune in.

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.