Daybreak

On August 27, 2025, U.S. tariffs on Indian exports doubled to 50%, slamming nearly $60 billion worth of goods from textiles and gems to furniture and leather. Industry groups warn shipments to America could plunge by more than 40%, with job losses running into the hundreds of thousands. But behind the headlines lies a deeper story.

For decades, Indian exporters leaned on the predictability of the U.S. market. But it was a comfort trap that left them dangerously exposed. Now, that comfort has snapped. Factories are idling, the rupee is weakening, and growth forecasts are being cut.

And yet, this shock could also be the push India needs to diversify and build resilience into its export ecosystem. Can a crisis this severe become the catalyst for transformation?

Tune in.

More on Trump's tariffs:
1. US consumers may not notice the ‘Made in India’ tag, but after Trump's tariffs, their wallets will
2. Biden said 'please' till 2024. Trump's saying 'penalty' in 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.

Back in 2017, Google published the research that sparked the entire generative AI boom. But when OpenAI launched ChatGPT in 2022, Google was caught off guard.

Fast forward to 2025, and Google’s own AI, Gemini, is no longer a rushed response. It’s a full-grown product, one the company is pushing hard by bundling it with Workspace and Google Cloud. In India, that strategy is already visible. Enterprises are adopting Gemini for everything from customer service to search to creative media.

But here’s the twist: India’s cloud market is big on adoption but light on innovation, which means price matters. And Google is betting Gemini will give it the edge.

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.

In March this year, a software developer that goes by Pea Bee online published a blog rather ominously titled ‘Everyone knows all the apps on your phone’. 

He found that several Indian app-based startups are flouting rules of Google Play—Android’s app store—to access people’s data.  In particular, some apps use a workaround to scrutinise the names and usage patterns of other apps on people’s phones. In real time.

Now, the fact that apps have a lot of your data may not be a surprise to you. We’ve been pretty cavalier about our data for some time now. Remember Digi Yatra? 

But the scary thing is that Indian companies are equally nonchalant about the user data they collect. The result? Data-security breaches have been on the rise. 

So what is a data conscious Indian customer to do? 

Tune in.

*This episode was originally published on May 13 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.

One channel. Every show. No more switching feeds. Follow The Ken on Apple Podcasts or tune in on The Ken app.

Even though GLP-1 drugs have helped nearly 20 million people shed weight across the world since 2021, Indians had to wait until 2025 to get in on the action legally.

To be fair, the country wasn’t entirely in the dark. Semaglutide—the molecule behind pharma giant Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster drugs Ozempic and Wegovy—was already available for diabetes treatment. But this March, Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro (which uses a different molecule, tirzepatide) entered the market. In July, Wegovy arrived. And suddenly, India went from “we know GLP-1” to “we want the skinny shot”.

Since then, the GLP-1 market in India—across diabetes and weight loss—has grown from Rs 531 crore to Rs 628 crore. And now, depending on the vantage point, things are about to get much bigger. And much cheaper.

And naturally, pretty much every major Pharma major wants in on the action.

Tune in.

Do you work in IT? Take our survey
Want to join The Ken's team? Fill this form. 

Lenskart is gearing up for a nearly $1 billion IPO after closing FY25 on a strong note with ₹6,652 crore in revenue and ₹297 crore in profit. What’s even more impressive is that almost 40% of that revenue now comes from its more than 600 stores outside India, rare feat for an Indian consumer brand.

Unlike peers such as Zomato and Ola that stumbled in global markets, Lenskart has taken a slow-and-steady approach, leaning on selective acquisitions, smart investments, and joint ventures to expand abroad.

At the heart of its success is a vertically integrated supply chain that gives the company pricing power, agility in launching new products, and the ability to deliver consistent quality no matter the geography.

Tune in.

Want to join The Ken's team? Fill this form.

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 Online Gaming Bill, 2025 has sent shockwaves through India’s booming fantasy sports industry. Within hours of its passage in the Parliament on Wednesday, Dream11, the country’s first fantasy sports unicorn with over 200 million users, found itself on the chopping block. Smrita Singh Chandra, a former VP at Dream11, called the ban on real-money online games 'deeply unjust' and 'unethical,' warning of devastating economic fallout.

At stake is the fantasy sports industry valued at nearly $2 billion and projected to hit $5 billion by 2030. But the government isn’t just worried about gaming addiction. It cited money laundering, tax evasion, and even national security risks.

In this episode, host Snigdha Sharma unpacks the storm around Dream11: how the platform works, why Indian courts have long defended it as a 'game of skill,' and why critics and now the government, insist it is actually just gambling in disguise.

Tune in.

Want to join The Ken's team? Fill this form.

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.

OpenAI has just launched a special, India-only plan for ChatGPT. It makes access cheaper here than almost anywhere else in the world. At first, it looks like a win for millions of Indians who’ll get to try cutting-edge AI at a fraction of the cost.

But for India’s AI startups, it may be a different story. Competing with global giants that have billions in capital, access to compute, and a head start on scale is already tough. Add aggressive pricing, and the playing field gets even steeper. After all, if Indians aren’t paying with money, they’re likely paying with something else: data and usage.

So where does that leave Indian AI? Can startups like Sarvam, Krutrim, and others still carve out a niche through language, verticals, or local trust or will they be reduced to distributors for the biggies?

Find our last episode on Sarvam here.

Want to join The Ken's team? Fill this form.

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.

On paper, 360 One Wealth and Asset Management looks flawless: a ₹42,000 crore market cap, among India’s largest pools of assets under management, and a co-founder CEO with a near-mythical reputation.

But beneath that shine, the cracks are widening. Within a year, three of its most influential leaders—including co-CEO Anirudh Taparia—walked out, with over 100 employees following. Promoters and insiders are offloading stock, and even early backers like Bain Capital are quietly easing out.

Officially, 360 One insists attrition is low and the fortress is intact. But industry insiders say otherwise—that the real impact of these exits is only beginning to play out.

In this episode, we dig into the unraveling of an industry darling. Why are star rainmakers leaving? How deep does the unease among shareholders run? And what does it say about the future of wealth management in India as younger, more nimble rivals rise?

Tune in.

Do you work in IT? Take our survey
Want to join The Ken's team? Fill this form. 

IIMs are increasingly counting on students opting out of the placement process to maintain their 100 per cent placement facade.

The playbook is simple, really. If too many students remain unplaced by the end of the cycle, send them an email suggesting they opt out. Or, like IIM Amritsar, just inform students that if they’re not placed, they will be considered as having “opted out”.

Of course, it’s all just to keep up appearances. When 40 out of 45 students get placed, and 5 opt out, the 100% placement claim becomes a technical truth.

Turns out, that’s the unfortunate byproduct of a tough and constant competition to get the best talent.

Tune in.

Listen to the latest episode of 90,000 Hours on Apple or The Ken app

Want to join The Ken's team? Fill this form. 

India’s startup boom has lost its spark. Venture capital funding in the first half of 2025 dropped to just $3.6 billion—the lowest since 2016. Fresh ideas are scarce, and investors are stuck with fewer bets to make.

So who’s still getting the money? Familiar founders. Even those with messy track records. Pharmeasy’s co-founders, whose healthtech giant crashed from $5.6 billion to $460 million, raised fresh funds for All Home. Whitehat Jr’s Karan Bajaj, criticized for misleading ads, secured $16 million for his new venture.

Why are VCs are backing baggage over breakthroughs?

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.