hippoBrain

Why is India poor? Who is the reason for the lack of prosperity in India? What is the single activity that can help change the story?

You’ll have to listen to this week’s hippoBrain conversation with Ajay Shah, Economist and Author of the book ‘In Service of the Republic’, to find out the reasons for India's rampant poverty and lack of prosperity. Ajay also explains how things changed through the eras—across the post-independence era under Jawaharlal Nehru’s rule, in and around the Emergency in the 80s, pre and post the 1991 LPG reforms, and after 2011.

Interestingly, he speaks about why all hope lies in India’s private sector to eliminate poverty, the mistakes that he—and others with him—made during their time in the Ministry of Finance, and the disturbing signs he sees for India’s near future.

P.S.: To those who are wondering if Jawaharlal Nehru was great or made grave errors, you’ll probably find a nuanced answer at around 27 minutes.

Choosing to go from creating CD-ROM content to digital media

Serendipity (n): Finding something good without looking for it.   That’s how Rachmat Kaimuddin, the CEO of Bukalapak, Indonesia’s largest e-commerce company, describes his journey from engineering and technology to banking and corporate finance, and back to a tech-based sector like e-commerce—all this when the world witnessed crises like the 9/11 attack, the Asian crisis in 1998, the dot com bubble in the 2000s, and Indonesia’s own transition from the old economy to the new economy.  But is it really that simple? Nothing more than fate and chance?   Watch the episode and find out the other value mechanisms at play here than mere serendipity. Here’s a trailer: He says, “I go to school and study because I want to know, not because I want to pass.”

In a wide-ranging conversation with Rajesh and Jaimit, Ramesh discusses about how India can become a manufacturing power, why strategy is about making choices, how to get the best from consulting firms and his philosophy on giving back.

Public service vs private sector. Economic thinking vs political thinking. Every changing politicians vs (almost) never-changing bureaucrats.   Watch opposites reconcile in this week’s episode as Rajesh Jain and Jaimit Doshi speak to Akhilesh Tilotia, the author of the book ‘The Making of India’. He talks about how he experimented with his career and journeyed from the world of private sector to get an inside view of public service, when he took the post of ‘Officer on Special Duty’ to the then Minister of State for Civil Aviation for the Government of India. He also speaks about his experience with policy-making for the UDAAN initiative; how the two different aspects of public and private life come together; the idea about power ‘highs’ and seamless transfers in a functioning democracy; and the other dynamics involved in the running of the Indian government.   P.S.: Look out for what it means to have flowers replaced daily in a bureaucrat’s premises! You won’t regret it.

In this episode, Rajesh and Jaimit speak to Ashwini Asokan! Ashwini talks to us about her journey from Chennai to Carnegie Melon to California and back to Chennai to start up Mad Street Den, and takes us deep into the world of AI.

What do romantic English poetry, law, business school, tennis and investments have in common? You wouldn’t know but when you mix them together, you can see the magic happen. If you want to know how to invest $4Bn, watch Navroz, the co-founder and Partner at Falcon Edge, talk about his mentality and discipline as he unravels a keen understanding of the fundamentals of investing and picking markets along with which entrepreneurs to back. Lamenting on the valuations in search of business, he instead tries to chart a path of investing by focussing on US, China and India markets. It amazing to see the differences in each as he focuses by identifying segments and markets that are characterised by a terrible buying experience and a fragmented supply, allowing for innovation to work. Understand how ecosystems are getting created in India, how the unit economics are brutal and how the unique demographic and cultural spread of India is creating an opportunity like no other. This is masterclass by the person who pummels his days with a desperate daily desire to compete, but having an aim to one day, give it back to society. The drive is almost terminator-esque but the power still comes from the heart beating, feeling and pushing him forward. Listen to a hippoBrain like no other.

In this episode, Rajesh and Jaimit speak to Neha Barjatya, CEO of Rajshri Entertainment. Neha tells us about her inspirational journey as she transformed from being a home-maker to becoming the CEO of one of India's largest multi-format entertainment platforms.

Jayesh Ghatge talks about his journey over two decades – which mirrors the evolution of Indian IT, and also outlines how to do digital transformation right.

As India celebrates 25 years of the Internet, Ramaraj takes us down memory lane -- how he led Sify to an IPO on Nasdaq at the height of the dotcom boom in 1999 and how Sify built a world-class Internet  Internet company with its entrepreneurial energy.