Daybreak

Every year, nearly three lakh students flock to the city of Kota in Rajasthan, the coaching capital of the country. Almost half of them enroll themselves at Allen Career Institute, a 36 year-old pioneering coaching centre that was last valued at over 1 billion dollars.

Lately, Kota’s reputation has been under question because of the frequent student suicides.

This has obviously affected the number of students coming in and for the first time in its history, the coaching giant Allen is seeing a fall in its admissions. And its no small dip. Admissions have dropped by over 35% to around 80,000. But here’s the interesting part. This isn't restricted to Allen institute in kota alone. Its happening in other cities too.

Actually two years ago, VCl investment firm Bodhi Tree Systems came into the picture and Allen began expanding the number of campuses outside Kota. Now, in total, there are over 200 of them and at least, one-third are new. The company’s CEO Nitin Kukreja told The Ken that Allen entered 16 new cities like Patna and Lucknow last year alone. A senior teacher at Allen Kota told us that for a centre to be profitable, it needs at least 4,000–5,000 student enrolments. But right now, Allen is not even seeing half of this. At least half a dozen senior Allen staffers and competitors told The Ken that a big chunk of these new centers are losing money. Staff pays have taken a hit but Allen is also hiring staff in new cities with a possible plan of shifting base out of Kota.

In today’s episode we take a look at what’s happening inside one of the country’s latest test prep giants.

Tune into to Two by Two's latest episode, 'Delhi pricked the Bengaluru bubble' here

The search for an ideal workplace is a bit like finding El Dorado — that land of endless wealth and opportunities. Like El Dorado, 'the ideal workplace' also, well, seems like a myth. But that doesn't stop people from striving to find one. 

This is a conversation that goes right back to the birth of the modern corporation. From the civil rights movement in the US, to the evolution of trade unions in India – throughout history, people have fought for a fair and equitable workplace. One that has equal opportunities for everyone, where everyone feels seen and heard, and no one is treated differently because of where they come from or who they are.  

Eventually, the century-long battle for the ideal workplace finally boiled down to  three core values – diversity, equity and inclusion or DEI. But here’s the thing about DEI – it comes and goes in waves. And it usually takes an extreme incident to trigger the pendulum to swing towards DEI. 

And when the pendulum swings to the other side, DEI’s alter ego, that has been lurking in the shadows all along, finally makes its entrance. Lately, its been popularly known as MEI — merit, excellence and intelligence. 

Right now, we are bang in the middle of yet another wave of the DEI vs MEI debate. In the last few weeks, giants like Microsoft, Google, Meta have majorly scaled down their DEI initiatives. Some have even laid off entire DEI teams. Naturally, many are of the opinion\ that DEI is on its deathbed.

The repercussions of all of this are being felt here in corporate India where a watered down version of DEI was just about getting started. But now that it has hit a wall in the West, what does that mean for us? 

To find out hosts Snigdha and Rahel speak to two women who are trying to fix this broken system but in very different ways. Christina Dhanuja, author, DEI strategy consultant and the founder of Dalit History Month and Naiyya Saggi, the co-founder of The Good Glamm Group, a unicorn startup based out of India.

Tune in. 

For feedback, write to us at [email protected]

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.

From September 2, IDFC Bank’s credit card customers will only have to pay 2% of the total bill amount every month instead of the earlier 5%. The bank has reduced the minimum amount due (MAD). Even Axis Bank did this last year in November.

This means for customers, there are lesser chances of being tagged as a defaulters which hurts their credit score.  Why are banks doing this?

Two bankers told The Ken that the main reason why banks or lenders are reducing MAD is because of rising defaults. India has been warming up to the idea of credit. In fact, now its come to a point where debit card usage is declining. Online credit card spending in India rose by 20% in the last one year to reach more than ₹1 lakh crore in March this year. But for banks or lenders this also means that the associated non-performing assets (NPAs) have started to become a cause for concern. This is why lowering the limit for defaults will help banks. 

But for customers, there is more to it than meets the eye.

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The last nine years have been quite a wild ride for Cars24. It has gone from being a consumer-to-business auction platform for dealers to buy used cars, to becoming a consumer-to-consumer marketplace for used cars. 

It has seen its fair share of highs and lows along the way. Off late, once again, the business has been floundering. But Cars24 is dealing with it by undergoing its most intense and unexpected makeover yet. It seems to be transforming into a full-blown fintech. 

The startup got a non-bank license  to finance used cars half a decade ago. Back then, its financing arm was meant to be a lever to sell more cars. But now it is much more than that. 

Tune in. 

Last year, the central bank banned Razorpay and a bunch of its competitors, like PayTM, Cashfree and PayU, from onboarding new merchants until they were able to secure a payment aggregator license. Till then, they all had in principal approvals for the license. But the RBI stepped in and said they had to stop onboarding merchants until they actually got the license. 

It was only in December that the RBI lifted the ban after Razorpay finally received the license. 

Obviously, it was a big day for Razorpay. All of the employees who had already left for the day came straight back to office. They all knew exactly what they had to do because they had been planning for this day for months now. 

Razorpay had a big opportunity to gain marketshare. In the last seven months since the RBI lifted the embargo, it has been in recovery mode. And in the process, it has fundamentally changed as a company. 

Tune in. 

Jupiter, the Mumbai based neobank, went from a $70 million valuation in 2019 to a $700 million valuation in just two years. Venture capitalists, along with fintech founders, continue to believe in neobanks. A report by Statista predicts that the transaction value across neobanks in India is will cross $150 Bn by 2027.

Jupiter, a leader in the space, quadrupled its user base to two million in just a year in 2022. Thanks to its efficient user experience to access banking products like savings accounts or fixed deposits, many 20- and 30-year-olds are drawn to Jupiter. They use the platform to park their money, make small transactions, and invest with features like a sub-account to park funds for different saving goals or flexi-SIP payments.

But RBI clipped its wings, like it did for other fintechs. Since Jupiter realised the regulator also doesn’t like startups calling themselves a “bank” in any form unless they are licensed to be one, it began the journey of itself from a neo bank into a non-bank. And Jupiter had been trying to get its non bank license from RBI ever since it started operations but it only got last year.

But building its own loan book is turning out to be an expensive affair. And in the process of getting its finances in order, Jupiter may just about become another annoying bank app.

Tune in.

Listen to the latest episode of Two by Two, 'Is Zepto a gold medalist or a bronze medalist?' here.

"I am willing to take the risk and give this drug a shot, for I've tried and tested almost all anti-obesity means myself—and even failed at some. As a first step, I am banking on other Ozempic users’ experience."

Meet Alifiya Khan, a health and education reporter at The Ken. Last month, she published a story on Ozempic, the 'miracle' weight-loss drug, and how easy it is to procure despite not being officially cleared for sale by the Indian government.

But this isn’t just another health story. Alifiya herself has been suffering from obesity for more than a decade now. For her procuring Ozempic wasn't just to further a story. She needed it for herself. After trying every fad diet, weight loss pill, and non-invasive procedure, to Alifiya, Ozempic is the light at the end of the tunnel.

In this episode, she joins hosts Snigdha and Rahel to share her story.

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P.P.S. The Ken's podcast team is hiring! We are looking for a producer as well as a podcast host with at least 4-5 years of experience in the field. If you are interested or know someone who would be, please write to [email protected] with 'Application for The Ken Podcasts' in the subject line.

A few days ago, an X user shared a screenshot of Google Maps depicting how it would be faster to walk than drive from a particular place to another in Bengaluru. After all, the city is best known for two things: great weather and terrible traffic. The so-called Silcon Valley of India is the sixth slowest city in the world! How is it then that no one has come up with some innovative tech-based solutions?

Actually, they have.  But you’ll be surprised to know that one the key reasons why the city's traffic troubles never seem to end is because the focus has mostly been only on tech driven solutions.

Tune in.

**This episode was first published on 19 Feb, 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

Microschools are basically a modern twist on the concept of a one-room school house. So smaller classes, student-led learning, a flexible curriculum, the works.

So for instance,  if traditional schools teach the photosynthesis phenomenon through textbook readings, a microschool would nudge students to conduct interactive experiments with plants and light.

In most of these schools, there’s no fixed curriculum. Its personalised as per the needs of each student. Sounds ideal right? 

Except for the fact that they are way more expensive than a regular school. And then there's the question of higher education. Sure these kids may be able to think more critically than a CBSE student, but what happens when they go to college? Or if they have to transfer to a traditional school at some point?

Despite these questions, more and more parents are embracing this new school of thought. Could it really be the next best thing in education? 

Tune in. 

Craving a low-cal, zero-sugar, guilt free tub of ice cream? Well then, Hocco isn't for you.

The ice cream brand, founded by Havmor scion Ankit Chona, takes great pride in making and selling ice cream the old fashioned way. It's a brave choice considering low-cal ice cream is really having its moment. VCs seem to believe that ice cream is a dish best served cold...and sugar free. 

But Chona is sticking to his guns. And if the numbers are anything to go by, his bet seems to be paying off.  

Tune in.