UpStreamVoice

In this episode with Pavan Sharma, the partner of BCL India, an advisory and audit firm, we decode India by the numbers just as the elections are underway. Please download the report (https://tinyurl.com/yxykv3pv) for you to understand what Pavan is analyzing. All data sources mentioned in the PDF.

We analyze the Centre versus State tax conflicts, climate change, income growth, rise of the middle-class, jobs and the conflicts within youth employability.

Part 1 - Tax bouts, realities of freebies and Consumption.

00:00 - Introduction
02:50 - The heart of the conflict between India States and the Centre.
05:35 - The formula for tax sharing between States - the fair or unfair ask.
08:30 - The opposition narratives when it comes to Tax.
13:00 - The Human Development index, tax incentives for States.
15:25 - No freebies to youth please - differentiate between necessity and needs.
16:33 - The narrative of freebies - where will the money come from.
21:55 - Income Classes in India: the real truth.
24:35 - What do our income classes own - 92 million Indians earn Rs 12 lakh per year and this is growing. This is what capital loves.

Download our analysis: https://bclindia.in/indeco-apr24/

Part 2: 

28:49 - Household consumption and its interesting numbers - India is spending and is typical of a growing economy.
31:40 - Unhealthy nation: falling cereal and vegetable consumption, rise of packaged product consumption.
38:10 - The new billionaires who earn Rs 13 lakhs per day.
41:00 - Indian disparities.
42:12 - Where is India's wealth locked up?
43:20 - Analyzing India can be daunting - different reports, different analysis and the future of wealth creation.
45:38 - Unemployment in India - 45 percent of graduates are unemployed and the need to invest in training or reskilling.
52:22 - Climate change, lack of water and more.
54:30 - Who pays in India to keep things moving?
58:45 - Our energy sustainability

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In this episode theUpStreamLife.com's speak with Zinnov's President, Globalisation Excellence, Nilesh Thakker who talks about how India has become the place for setting global capability centres or some may even call it excellence centres or innovation centres.

00:00 - Introduction.
01:20 - Globalisation is about innovation and leveraging talent.
02:08 - A bit of history, the cost arbitrage era.
05:30 - How Zinnov builds globalisation excellence.
08:30 - Productivity in excellence centres is higher.
10:15 - Looking at business within India.
11:40 - How India became a global product hub?
19:34 - Indian leadership is global.
22:30 - Staying close to the American time zone.
26:16 - IT Services have to add value going forward.
31:14 - The war for talent in India 
38:10 - Nilesh's personal story.

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In this episode we speak to Gagan Agarwal, the co-founder of Planet Electric. Their speciality is to work modular but create a centralised IP for vehicle manufacturing. As an EV OEM in the commercial vehicle industry they have to take on the Mahindras and the Tatas. Check out the podcast to know their aspirations.

00:00 - Introduction.
01:35 - From space to an OEM.
03:46 - Starting up Planet Electric and the modular approach.
10:00 - The economics of Planet Electric'd light weight EV.
16:25 - Second life of an EV.
22:13 - Pricing of the vehicle.
30:00 - Designing a functional vehicle.
35:41 - What would you do with the data generated from the EV?
39:40 - The early supporters of Planet Electric.
44:30 - EV first policy in India.
48:00 - Gagan's inspirations.

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In this podcast we talk about how CIEL-HR became a large business in nine years and is preparing for an IPO.

00:00 - Introduction
01:30 - The business of CIEL-HR
10:25 - Building end to end solutions for modern organisations.
15:55 - Early customers and value propositions.
23:40 - Managing the business in the early days.
27:00 - Going after the EV & manufacturing industry.
33:20 - AI and the HR function.
36:22 - Funding raising and IPO plans.
40:30 - Being in touch with Hindu philosophy.

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In this episode you will discover the skill of the Minus Zero engineering team in building world class software for the automotive world. If the world of AI led driving is real, then Minus Zero is building such technologies from India to the world's best automotive companies. They have already signed a couple of large commercial vehicle companies to use their platform. Discover the thoughts of the co-founder Gagandeep Reehal in taking his business to a market where automobile makers have to stay relevant.

00:00 - Introduction
01:27 - The early days of Minus Zero.
06:40 - The paradigm shift in the automotive world.
10:41 - Democratising the tech for all automotive.
15:45 - LLMs and hallucinations in the automotive world.
20:07 - Why Large Language Models are big in India.
21:10 - Talent for this tech in India
26:37 - Natured inspired AI
34:34 - GPUs in the automotive world
42:52 - Partnering with OEMs

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In this episode Anil Achyuta, Managing Director of TDK Ventures, speaks with Arun Vinayak, the founder of Exponent Energy, a company whose tech has enhanced fast charging capabilities to increase value for commercial vehicle fleets in India. Their 15-mins fast charge technology has allowed them to create an ecosystem for fleet operators exclusive to Exponent. Arun talks about the future of the charging ecosystem in India and why his company is poised for Exponential growth. 

00:00 - Introduction to Exponent Energy by TDK Ventures.
00:40 - The business of Exponent Energy. 
04:00 - The aha moment for Arun and team - fast charging in 15-mins.
07:36 - Belief in the idea & an ecosystem for Commercial Vehicles.
10:53 - Being cell agnostic, working with partners and a data led play.
14:49 - Providing value to Exponent's ecosystem of partners.
17:53 - The benefits of Exponent to the small business.
20:23 - Managing engineers to solve problems.
23:09 - The future in the energy game and the upstream.
28:48 - The importance of story telling for a startup founder.
29:46 - What would Arun change if he has to build Exponent again.
35:21 - The future for Exponent.

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In this episode of theUpStreamLife.com you will discover Indian tradition or "traditional" certified methods of treating musculoskeletal conditions and the impact of nutrition in making one return to form. It's all about the diet and lifestyle.

I speak with an experienced nutritionist, Arti Balse, and an experienced medical doctor, Deepa, from the Ayurveda tradition who together at Zveta (https://zveta.health) , a startup that wants to make Indians live pain free,  enlighten us about managing three types of arthritic conditions without being subject to heavy medication. They talk about how the startup Zveta is making patients take control of their lives.

Zveta aims to improve quality of life with comprehensive and and reliable treatment at the convenience of home. 

00:00 - Introduction to Zveta
03:00 - What is a musculoskeletal condition?
04:00 - Types of arthritis, contributing factors to arthritis and more.
06:35 - Treatments at Zveta.
09:00 - Treating arthritis with diet.
17:40 - Treating spondylosis with Zveta’s experts.
29:30 - Treating osteoporosis with Zveta’s experts.

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Think about this - Indian farmers were struggling with low yields for generations so much so that a country like Netherlands had more yield per acre. India has the technology skills to enable farmers to improve the yield, predict the yield and plan the supply. You would wonder why this change is yet to happen at scale.

Fasal, a startup in agritech, has proved that Indian farmers can not just improve yields, but, make sustainability a core factor in the business. 

By significantly reducing the use of chemicals and water Fasal has truly enabled a new age of agritech in India. Watch this interview with Shailendra Tiwari and TDK Ventures Managing Director, Anil Achyuta.

TheUpStreamLife is proud to be presenting this podcast for the Indian deep tech community.

This podcast is part of TDK Ventures India Deep Tech Series.

00:00 - Introduction to the podcast by Anil Achyuta.
01:00 - Creating a new language for Indian farmers by Fasal.
02:21 - Going beyond conventional wisdom, the Netherlands way.
06:42 - Ability to absorb failures as a founder, obsession with the problem.
11:28 - Journey through mistakes and getting better at execution.
16:00 - Managing teams and enabling the team.
21:00 - The challenge with managing the farm.
24:20 - India's horticulture story and Fasal's role in the supply chain.
29:30 - Fasal's work in the value chain for an economically rising India.
34:43 - Fasal's moat in the business.
37:16 - Enabling farmers to embrace tech and learning from mistakes
42:00 - Closing in on the Netherlands yield per acre.

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In this episode of theUpStreamLife.com you will discover the internal values that are necessary to inculcate and execute in order to build a long term business. 

You will hear the story of K Pandiarajan, the founder of MaFoi who sold the business in 2008. MaFoi was one of the top HR firms in India at the time. After a decade long break and a long stint in politics Pandiarajan is now back to doing what he does best, which is starting up. 

His firm “CIEL HR” is rapidly growing and the stakes are high for Pandiarajan as his business is now placed in the eighth position, in India, and there is an opportunity to get back to the top. 

He has already built CIEL HR to a Rs 1000 crore plus business in sales and he wants to make it an end-to-end HR tech and services firm. Will he win? He can because this industry whose size is Rs 1,76,000 crore and CIEL HR can grow with acquisitions and win businesses across industry vertical. Watch the podcast to know more. 

00:00 - Introduction to Mr K Pandiarajan.
00:55 - Pandiarajan talks about his early days in Tamil Nadu.
01:36 - Starting MaFoi and the HR play in liberalised India.
02:50 - Managing a recruitment firm in the pre-social media days.
05:56 - Handling more than 250 investors, talking to VCs and being successful.
10:05 - Building a company for the long term.
13:17 - Handling vulnerabilities as an entrepreneur and growing.
16:55 - Managing the exit in 2008.
19:00 - CIEL HR and its growth to become a major leader.
26:00 - Tech and integrative systems in HR
27:28 - Anchorage around OKRs where tech is blended with human results.
33:57 - Reverse mentoring and why it’s important in an organisation.
38:55 - How fast can one scale a company today? It’s easier today, grow by acquisitions.
39:44 - Never regretted being in politics, it is macro-HR.
43:00 - The mentors and inspirations that guided Pandiarajan.

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In this episode meet Gagana Ganesh, the founder of Grab Me, who has defied conventional wisdom. She has expanded to modern retail first even while others go for a D2C concept. Don't get us wrong she has also built a "brand".com D2C store, but has expanded to over 100-retail stores. This podcast covers her journey and her efforts to build India's first long lasting brownies and more.

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