TRANSFIN. LongShorts with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran

We are back with a brand new episode and our guest today is Milind D. Shinde, the founder and CEO of 88 Pictures - the studio behind great animated shows such as Troll Hunters Trilogy and Fast & Furious.

We discuss all things animation as Milind (formerly at DreamWorks) offers his insights on the global value chain and where homegrown companies such as 88 Pictures can fit.

A big proponent of merging India-based content with Western style of storytelling and visualisation, Milind takes us on a fascinating practitioner's journey through an industry that is fast-evolving with newer ways of content creation and consumption day-by-day. 

Listen in for an insightful explainer on the dynamics of the industry along with the people and technology supporting it. 

We're back with another episode of LongShorts, and this week we delve into the world where agriculture and technology collide.

Our guest is agritech expert Anjami Nayyar, the CEO of Knowledge Network Solutions, who has also been associated with crop nutrition company Yara International in an advisory capacity.

Anjami opines that digital technology can be the game-changer for Indian farmers, who continue to struggle with high levels of poverty and low levels of productivity. And startups can be at the forefront of bringing about this change.

Anjami, who says financial inclusion is the key component of her work, is driven by social impact. She explains the complex value chain of food in India, which begins with the farmer (who requires credit and agri inputs), proceeds through multiple intermediaries after the harvest, and finally reaches the consumer after packaging via an array of distribution channels.

We also discuss the ways to calculate the credit-worthiness of a farmer, the effectiveness of farm loan waivers, the farm laws, and how the agritech sector at large is suddenly enjoying a veritable boom wherein it is receiving VC money as opposed to just CSR or grant-based funding.

Listen in for an insightful discussion!

Madhusudanan R, the co-founder of M2P Fintech, who made an appearance last year, joins us again to talk about how his business has changed since then and what future he sees in the fintech space. 

Our guest discusses his journey from YAP to M2P, the firm's unique proposition, the competition it faces, its successful run in raising capital and investor perception when it comes to fintech. We also talk about the changing roles of regulators, banks and fintechs (especially neobanks) within the Indian financial system.

Listen in for a highly informative and engaging conversation!

It's a new week, a new episode and time to explore some new verticals here at LongShorts! (And surprisingly, without a mention of COVID-19 for a change!)

Our guest this time around is Chaith Kondragunta, CEO of AIRA Matrix. Chaith heads the Mumbai-based company and provides artificial intelligence-based solutions for life sciences and healthcare applications with particular focus on the pharmaceutical drug and discovery side of things. 

Together, we delve into the fascinating world of AI - how it works, its applications, how it compares vis-a-vis human intelligence, and whether it can actually pose a threat to human jobs in the future.

Listen in for an insightful discussion! 

Shared workspaces might just hold the key to revive community experiences in the aftermath of the pandemic. 

With the Second Wave of COVID-19 wreaking havoc across India and showing no signs of abating, one business trend that is likely to remain intact in the near-term is working-from-home.

Our guest this week, Amit Ramani, is the Founder and CEO of Awfis Space Solutions, a homegrown flex workspace provider.

Amit gives us his take on why and how remote working will evolve post-COVID as more companies embrace the concept. He explains why he thinks the "hybrid model", where companies may strike a balance between working from and working from a "base" office, may be the future.

We also delve into the business side of things i.e. if the startup-centric co-working culture may be welcomed by big MNCs too and the infrastructure side of things (all the more relevant since you get the insights of not one but two people with architecture degrees!).

Tune in for an insightful discussion!

With the Coronavirus pandemic showing no signs of retreat anytime soon, businesses in India and around the world are being led to reinvent the ways they conduct themselves.

With that in mind, we speak to our guest, Mr. Manoj Kalra, Senior Vice President and Head of Group Business Services of DSM, a global science-based company with focus on nutrition, health and sustainable living.

We discuss matters related to the ongoing changes in the mode of global businesses operations. He throws insight into the evolution and adaptation of technology, automation, best HR practices and management of day-to-day operations that helps sustain business growth. We delve into questions on how the work-from-home modelled jobs may reconstruct the ways we think of office establishments and how we ought to normalise remote professional dealings. 

Listen in for a fascinating conversation!

In our first episode in three weeks - and in the middle of the Second Wave! - we delve into how the real estate sector in India is doing.

Our guest is Saurabh Runwal, Associate Director at the Runwal Group, one of Mumbai’s premier real estate developers. He explains how the pandemic impacted the sector in a unique manner and why demand for residential properties in a society like India may never really die down. Saurabh also extends this argument to opine why he is bullish about commercial spaces even though it may seem as if the era of social distancing may never end.

We also discuss the behavioural considerations that go into buying real estate in India, supply pressures on property prices, impact of work-from-home (and whether it can be a long-term model), and how the Second Wave (and the restrictions that are coming with it) might affect Indian real estate and the economy as a whole.

Listen in for an insightful discussion!

In sight of the neobanking explosion (of sorts) to have taken place post-COVID, it becomes important to differentiate between the many emergent models under the “neobanks list.

Suman Gandham, as the founder and CEO of Finin - a new and upcoming neobanking platform, interestingly characterises Neobanks as Fitbits of Finance. Though one may remember him from his interview on Transfin. last year. This time Mr. Gandham pours into the structural nuances of various neobank models, illustrates how being consumer first can be a differentiator, and his take on RBI's directional thinking in terms of regulating this space.

With a recovery-focused Budget and equity markets in parallel heating up, plenty seems to have transpired for Indian economy in the first two months of 2021. 

The elephant in the room however is the country's comatose credit cycle. Hence it is only fitting to evaluate the problem of capital starvation in India Inc. - where there's excess and where there's shortage. And joining us today is Divakar Vijayasarathy, Founder of DVS Advisors - a professional services company focused on cross-border Tax, Legal, Risk and M&A Advisory. 

Divakar, having engaged in active lending himself, brings his unique perspective towards the deep-rooted structural challenges afflicting India's credit markets in general, and cross-border capital flows in particular. 

He however sees the winds of change at bay, and feels the Government is proactively trying to reform and create a framework which should alleviate these pain points soon. He is, in particular, optimistic of the anticipated role to be played by GIFT City in Gujarat, being involved in the requisite stakeholder conversations for some time now.

All in all, it was a pleasure chatting with Divakar, who brought nuance and granularity to this fascinating debate sitting on the crux of international taxation, law, regulations and finance.