The Morning Brief

As India sends Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla into orbit on the Axiom-4 mission, we pause to meet his biggest cheerleader and strongest support system. Dr Kamna Shukla—Shukla’s wife, best friend since Class 3, a dentist and mother—opens up to TOI's Chethan Kumar about the daring, dedication and decisiveness that drives Shukla, his bonding with other astronauts, his goofiness and taking inspiration from Finding Nemo, their love across light years, parenting during countdowns, the quiet courage it takes to be grounded when your partner belongs to the sky..and why she never visualises his flights. 

The thumbnail is an AI generated reproduction of an image from Shubhanshu Shukla’s instagram account https://www.instagram.com/p/DLTF3b2yZA5/?img_index=1&igsh=MWRydTBoeGVxaHV0cw==
Tune in:

You can follow Anirban Chowdhury on his social media: Twitter and Linkedin

Check out other interesting episodes from the host like: Tariffs trump trade, Health Hazards in your Grocery Bag, Trump vs Harvard: India Impact, Explaining India’s Record FDI Freefall and much more.

Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on ET Play, The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Youtube.

Credits: Sandeep Vangala, Business Today

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What happens when long-simmering tensions between two regional powers erupt into a flashpoint for global concern? In this episode of The Morning Brief, host Anirban Chowdhury is joined by Barbara Slavin, distinguished fellow at the Stimson Centre to unpack the fragile but ferocious dynamic between Iran and Israel. Framed by the October 7th Hamas attacks and the Gaza War, the conversation traces the deeper history of Iran’s relationship with Israel and the rise of the so-called Axis of Resistance. From regime stability in Tehran to nuclear ambitions, Barbara offers insight into whether this conflict marks a shift in Iran’s regional strategy or simply a recalibration.
The episode also probes the role of the United States, questioning why it acts as a combatant rather than a mediator and whether its long-standing “maximum deterrence” doctrine still holds water. Is there still hope for peace? 

Tune in:

You can follow Anirban Chowdhury on his social media: Twitter and Linkedin

Check out other interesting episodes from the host like: Tariffs trump trade, Health Hazards in your Grocery Bag, Trump vs Harvard: India Impact, Explaining India’s Record FDI Freefall and much more.

Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on ET Play, The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Youtube.

Credits: Foxnews, India Today Global

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An Air India flight took off on June 12 and within seconds, it became one of the deadliest air crashes in recent memory. Only one of the 242 people aboard survived. The official investigation has been hamstrung by a severely damaged black box that had to be flown to the NTSB lab for decoding.  

Host Anirban Chowdhury speaks to Aurobindo Handa, former head of India’s air accident probe agency, to understand what it takes to uncover the truth after an air crash. Drawing on his years of experience including the Calicut crash of 2020 he also sheds light on what holds back India’s air safety investigations: low budgets and short-staffed teams.

You can follow Anirban Chowdhury on his social media: Twitter and Linkedin

Check out other interesting episodes from the host like: Tariffs trump trade, Health Hazards in your Grocery Bag, Trump vs Harvard: India Impact, Explaining India’s Record FDI Freefall and much more.

Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on ET Play, The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Youtube.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Seconds after taking off from Ahmedabad en route to London, Air India flight AI171 crashed, killing 241 of 242 people onboard, marking India’s worst aviation disaster in over a decade.
In this episode of The Morning Brief, host Anirban Chowdhury speaks with safety and flight ops expert Amit Singh, founder of Safety Matters Foundation as well as ET’s aviation experts Forum Gandhi and Arindam Majumder, to unpack the tragedy that has shaken the foundations of India’s aviation sector.
With the black box recovered and investigations underway, the episode explores what is known so far, the hard questions around airline accountability, and whether lapses in safety protocols played a role.

Tune in:

You can follow Anirban Chowdhury on his social media: Twitter and Linkedin

Check out other interesting episodes from the host like: Tariffs trump trade, Health Hazards in your Grocery Bag, Trump vs Harvard: India Impact, Explaining India’s Record FDI Freefall and much more.

Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on ET Play, The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Youtube.

Credit: Times Now

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As rare earth shortages disrupt global manufacturing, India’s auto sector is feeling the crunch. In this episode of The Morning Brief, hosts Anirban Chowdhury and Shally Seth Mohile speak with Ankit Somani (Co-founder, Conifer), Hemal Thakkar (Senior Practice Leader and Director, Crisil Intelligence), and Vinnie Mehta (Director General, ACMA) to unpack how China’s tightening grip on rare earth exports is sending shockwaves through India’s auto sector. With restrictions on critical elements and magnets used in EVs, defense, and electronics, Indian supply chains are strained.

Rare earth magnets up to 15 times stronger than steel magnets and power everything from regenerative braking and sensors to infotainment and battery systems. Yet despite having the world’s fifth-largest reserves, India lacks the refining capacity, magnet-making infrastructure, and policy clarity to compete. The result? Deepening dependence on China, which controls more than 85% of global processing.

As export approvals get entangled in a multi-agency licensing maze, Indian manufacturers are scrambling to respond from redesigning tech to lobbying for domestic capacity. This episode explores whether India can future-proof its clean-tech ambitions or stay magnetized to global risk.

Tune In

You can follow Anirban Chowdhury on his social media: Twitter and Linkedin

You can follow Shally Seth Mohile on her social media Twitter and Linkedin

Check out other interesting episodes from the host like: Tariffs trump trade, The Curious Case of IndusInd Bank, The Influencer Economy’s Quiet Reset, India’s Biggest Hospital has a Chronic Illness and much more.

Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on ET Play, The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Youtube.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

DHL Express, has made a strategic turnaround in the last 15 years to become a key revenue driver for the DHL Group. At the helm is its CEO John Pearson, a 40 year veteran at the logistics behemoth. But as geopolitical forces give new directions to global trade, DHL must find new anchors. In this Corner Office Conversation Pearson talks to Anirban Chowdhury, who joins him at DHL’s Dubai facility, and ET’s Forum Gandhi about how he and his company are navigating the shifting sands, air and waters of global trade and how India is playing a critical role in its recalibrated plans.

Tune in.

You can follow Anirban Chowdhury on his social media: Twitter and Linkedin

Check out other interesting episodes from the host like: Tariffs trump trade, The Curious Case of IndusInd Bank, The Influencer Economy’s Quiet Reset, India’s Biggest Hospital has a Chronic Illness and much more.

Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on ET Play, The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Youtube.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A bottle of mango lassi, neatly sealed and within its expiry date, erupts like a shaken soda—over-fermented and undrinkable. Delivered in 10 minutes from a quick commerce dark store, it should’ve been safe. But it wasn’t. And it isn’t an isolated case. As India’s quick commerce boom races ahead with 10-minute deliveries, dark stores—those invisible micro-warehouses powering your convenience—are quietly falling short on food safety. From broken packaging and stale bread to near-expiry edible oils and infestations, hygiene violations are slipping through the cracks. With fragmented regulations and overstretched operations, are we walking blind into a public health risk? Host Anirban Chowdhury speaks to ET’s Ratna Bhushan and Dr Arun Gupta, convenor, Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest, about the systemic hygiene failures inside dark stores, the medical risks of spoiled food, and whether consumer convenience is quietly compromising our safety.

Tune in:

Credits: kubbrasait

You can follow Ratna Bhushan on her Linkedin, Twitter profiles and read her Newspaper Articles. 

 You can follow Anirban Chowdhury on his social media: Twitter and Linkedin

Check out other interesting episodes from the host like: Tariffs trump trade, The Curious Case of IndusInd Bank, The Influencer Economy’s Quiet Reset, India’s Biggest Hospital has a Chronic Illness and much more.

Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on ET Play, The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Youtube.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For decades, Indian family businesses have operated on trust, tradition, and unwritten rules. But as generational transitions approach, and as businesses scale or seek external capital, these legacy structures are coming under pressure. Succession in Indian family businesses is no longer a backroom conversation, it's becoming a strategic imperative. And as new voices emerge in old rooms, the question is no longer if the change will come, but how prepared families are to manage it. Host Dia Rekhi talks to Falguni Shah, Partner at PwC and Srinath Sridharan, corporate advisor and author of Family and Dhanda about this shift. Why are more families writing constitutions? What role do generational gaps, investor pressure, and changing cultural attitudes play? And are these isolated cases or the early signs of a broader transformation? Tune in.

You can follow Dia Rekhi on social media: Linkedin & Twitter

You can follow Anirban Chowdhury on his social media: Twitter and Linkedin

Check out other interesting episodes from the host like: Tariffs trump trade, The Curious Case of IndusInd Bank, The Influencer Economy’s Quiet Reset, India’s Biggest Hospital has a Chronic Illness and much more.

Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on ET Play, The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Youtube.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Havas Group, the world’s fifth-largest advertising network, counts India as one of its most successful markets. In this special Corner Office Conversation, Yannick Bolloré, Chairman and CEO of Havas Group, talks to Ratna Bhushan about why Indian branding and advertising is a “completely different world”. With several big accounts such as Reckitt Benckiser, HUL and Tata Steel and a headcount that has grown 10X in eight years and poised to double in the next few, Havas is betting big on India's booming middle class, digital-first consumers, and world-class talent base. Bolloré shares how India’s digitisation story where digital ad spends have overtaken traditional media offers a blueprint for the future. He also explains why Havas embraced AI early, how it’s slashing production costs while enabling hyper-personalised campaigns and why he wants every Havas employee to be AI-trained. Bolloré also discusses how geopolitical uncertainty from Trump’s tariffs to regional tensions continues to have an impact on advertising.

Tune in.

You can follow Ratna Bhushan on her Linkedin, Twitter profiles and read her Newspaper Articles. 

If you like this episode, check out more Corner Office Conversations from the podcast: Adar Poonawalla, Sandip Patel, The Mega Listing Of Vishal Retail, Corner Office Conversation with Philippe Schaillee, Global CEO, Costa Coffee, Antonoaldo Neves, Rajesh Jejurikar, Srikanth Velamakanni, and more!

Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on ET Play, The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Youtube.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Trump-Harvard tussle over international students has aspirants and their parents in a bind. 

In this episode of The Morning Brief, host Prachi Verma explores the ripple effect of the clash and what it signals for the future of American higher education. With its federal certification temporarily stripped, Harvard now has less than 30 days to prove it complies with the Student and Exchange Visitor Program. While a federal judge has paused the enforcement, the uncertainty is real—especially for the nearly one-third of Harvard’s student population that comes from abroad, including 800 Indians.

As Indian families reassess their higher education plans, Prachi speaks to Naveen Chopra, founder of TC Global, and Deepak Ahluwalia, a U.S.-based immigration lawyer, to unpack what this means on the ground from admissions anxieties to long-term policy implications.  From curriculum and diversity to global enrolment strategies, the question lingers: in a decentralized and competitive academic world, can a single institution still lead or is the age of institutional bellwethers coming to an end?

Tune In

You can follow Prachi Verma on social media: Linkedin & Twitter

Check out other interesting episodes from the host like: Tariffs trump trade, The Curious Case of IndusInd Bank, The Influencer Economy’s Quiet Reset, India’s Biggest Hospital has a Chronic Illness and much more.

Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on ET Play, The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Youtube.

Credits: NBC News, tgla7

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.