Daybreak

On 19 March, the Indian government slashed incentives for UPI transactions by more than half to Rs 1,500 crore for FY25.

After it launched in 2016, UPI very quickly became the backbone of India’s digital economy–thanks to demonetisation, and well, the pandemic. Most importantly, it was the radical decision to keep it free that fuelled its growth. No merchant fees. No transaction costs. But the zero-MDR policy came at a price because payment processors lost more than 2500 crore last year alone. And with the new budget cut, it will get worse.

The system is clearly showing signs of strain.

While UPI continues to post record volumes—18 billion transactions in March alone—many are asking an uncomfortable question:

Can India keep up its digital payments miracle without letting the infrastructure collapse under its own weight?

Tune in.

Do you think people will stop using UPI if there is a small fee involved?

*This episode was originally published on 21st April, 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.

On average, over 35 startups shut down every day in India. Employees move on to their next stint, but most founders find themselves unemployed, thanks to their high pay and a leadership attitude. 

Why? Think of it this way. What makes a good founder? Leadership, independence and a penchant for the unconventional. 

But what happens when these very strengths are seen as weaknesses when they're on the other side of the hiring table?

Tune in. 

It's been a tough couple years for E-commerce in India. And no one has quite borne the brunt of it like Amazon. 

Between tough competition from the likes of Meesho and Flipkart, not to mention the legion of quick commerce platforms that have completely changed the way we shop, and profitability pressures – Amazon is stuck between a rock and a hard place. 

But now it is trying to turn back the clock. 

Leading that endeavour is Samir Kumar, who took over and the new country manager in October 2024. Since then he’s been exploring new ways of working. 

Kumar has picked Prime as the chosen path to profitability. After all, Prime users spend nearly twice as much as their non Prime peers and contribute more than half of Amazon’ India’s business. 

The second emphasis is on speed: something the previous leadership thought wasn’t worth their time, per at least three managers. A couple of months ago, the company finally launched its quick-commerce service, Amazon Now, in select cities. 

But the timing could've been better. 

Tune in. 

The new Income Tax Bill 2025 was passed by the Lok Sabha without debate yesterday. It is a huge step towards simplifying and modernising India's tax system after six decades.

But what does this major reform mean for you, the average taxpayer?

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.

The Indian government is losing patience with consumer-tech platforms using dark patterns or manipulative design tricks.

In late May 2024, Consumer Affairs Minister, Pralhad Joshi, gathered the country’s biggest internet companies, Amazon, Google, Zomato, Ola Electric, etc to give them an ultimatum: clean up your user interfaces by September 5 or face the consequences.

From hidden fees on Amazon to guilt-inducing pop-ups on Indigo, these tactics push users into spending more money, sharing more data, or giving up more control, often without realising it.

And they’re deeply baked into how these companies grow, making them hard to remove without hurting the bottom line.

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.

Just a year ago, U.S. officials publicly encouraged India to buy discounted Russian oil to help stabilise global markets during the Ukraine war. But fast forward to 2025, and the U.S, under President Trump, has slapped India with the highest tariffs in the world: 50% on its exports. Trump has accused India of funding Putin’s war machine.

So what changed?

In this episode, we break down how India went from energy partner to trade target for doing exactly what the U.S. once asked. We also look at the double standards: America’s own imports from Russia and its backing of Israel in Gaza.

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.

Earlier this week, Andrew Tulloch, co-founder of Thinking Machines and one of the key engineers behind OpenAI's GPT-4, reportedly said no to a jaw-dropping $1 billion offer from Zuckerberg's Meta.

Why would anyone say no to that kind of money? The answer lies in a high-stakes conflict for the soul of AI.

From Microsoft crippling Inflection AI and Meta’s $200M poaching spree to a growing rebellion led by top AI minds like Mira Murati, Andrew Tulloch, and Dario Amodei, we look at big tech’s desperate bid to own AI by buying its creators.

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 just over a year, EY India has seen at least 10 partners from its tech consulting division quit. Many of them were pioneers of significant practices like data analytics, cybersecurity and SAP. 

What’s interesting is how they left. There were no public announcements, or farewell parties. It was almost like these senior partners vanished from some of the consulting giant's most prized divisions. And with them, they’ve taken full teams, clients and decades of institutional memory. 

Now, its not that senior people stepping down is out of the ordinary. It’s the fact that these resignations came in such close succession. They hint at a pattern. 

Tune in. 

Ankit Nagori and Mukesh Bansal may have started the fitness unicorn Cult.Fit together, but their journeys since then are a study in contrasts.

On one hand is Cult.Fit. It's been a little over a year since Mukesh Bansal stepped down as Cult’s CEO. When The Ken reached out to him asking why, he clarified that he still remains involved. But involvement, of course, is a spectrum – sometimes it means steering the company to an IPO. 

The catch is that while Cult.fit wants to go public next year, there is no DRHP yet. There is also no FY25 data on the Ministry of Corporate Affairs website. 

Then you have Nagori’s big bet – Cure.Foods. Under Nagori’s leadership, Curefoods went from 2 crore in revenue in FY21 to 775 crore in FY25. That’s according to its draft IPO documents filed in June. 

Yup, Curefoods is also looking to go public. But unlike Cult, Nagori has a DRHP, a valuation, and a business that sells things people eat. While Eat.fit was all about quinoa and millets, Curefoods evetnually became about what sells. After all, the focus was to scale. 

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.

India’s coffee scene looks like it is booming with new cafes, trendy menus, and big international names. But the truth behind is that almost no one is making money.

And then came along Zepto Cafe, the 10-minute coffee delivery, that wanted to change everything. In early 2025, it was clocking 100,000 daily orders and a $100 million run rate. But just months later dozens of its locations shut down.

Why did Zepto, with its speed, scale, and infrastructure, end up like every other coffee brand in India? It all boils down to brutal economics.

But if Zepto couldn’t make coffee profitable in India, can anyone?

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.