Daybreak

Yesterday, Netflix announced that it will be starting password sharing restrictions in India. The OTT giant will only allow users on the same internet connection to access a particular account. Anybody who is not a part of what its calling "Netflix Household" will not be able to access  content.While move did not come as a surprise since Netflix has already implemented it in many countries like the USA already, that it is using the same strategy in India, a market it has been struggling with for a while, is interesting.Will this new move help Netflix get more subscribers in India?Tune in.RecommendationsNetflix’s last growth marketSpotify adopts Indian habits to avoid the ‘Netflix problem’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.

Pharmeasy, once the highest-valued Indian healthcare startup, is planning to raise money in a new round of funding at a 90% markdown from its previous valuation.From $5.6 billion to $500 million. All because Pharmeasy had to take another debt to pay off its previous debt. The second time though, interest rates were not zero. What's going on?Tune in.RecommendationByju’s is looking like a hedge fundThe tail of acquisitions wagging India’s funding dogDaybreak 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 Rs 400 per piece in 2019, the shares of Reliance Retail, went up to Rs 4000 by 2021 in the unlisted market. Reliance Retail is India’s largest operator of supermarkets, apparel outlets, and electronics stores. And its shares were the hottest cake in the grey market for a while.Many investors expected it go go for a public listing until a little more than a week ago when Mukesh Ambani threw in a surprise. The company said it would effectively cancel the holdings of its minority investors and offer them Rs 1,362 per share. Basically, Reliance Retail had cancelled its shares held by minority investors leaving them shocked and confused.What made the company take this decision? And what should retail investors learn from this?  Tune in.RecommendationWhy investors are buying what Reliance Retail is sellingDaybreak 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.

Delivery partners who work for Swiggy or Zomato are paid per order. The fee which includes variables like base fee, surcharge, etc, depends on how many kilometers they’ve travelled from pickup to delivery destination. These payments though, are never consistent and gig workers, who make our lives so convenient, struggle with earning a stable income. So when Zomato says on their bill under the delivery partner fee, 'fully goes to them for their time and effort,' we appreciate it thinking the money we've paid has gone to the delivery partner.Except, it doesn't.Tune in.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.

Ad scams in India using tech platforms like Google, Meta, or even e-marketplaces such as Olx are becoming increasingly common and dangerously creative. People have been losing anything from a few thousands to even a few crore rupees to cyber crime syndicates who have  proficient, tech-savvy members.The amount of money consumers have reported losing to fraud that originated on social-media platforms has skyrocketed since 2017. Last year alone, people reported losing more than $1.2 billion to fraud that started on social media.What are the likes of Google and Meta doing to prevent these crimes? Is it enough?Tune in.RecommendationOn Google and Facebook’s watch, cybercrime syndicates flourish by Pratap Vikram SinghDaybreak 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.

For many years, finfluencers have been enjoying an almost no-holds barred party in the Indian market since they operate outside Sebi's regulatory ambit. While there is no doubt about the importance of their role in combating India's rampant financial illiteracy, many often give advice that is generic, underplaying risks, and overplaying returns. After reviewing several complaints, two weeks ago, Sebi Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch was asked about Sebi's views on regulating influencers once again. This time she did put India's financial influencers on notice. A SEBI circular seems to be on its way and finfluencers have good reason to be worried.Tune in.RecommendationSebi’s Madhabi Puri Buch and the art of keeping market players on tenterhooksDaybreak 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.

Credit card companies, in their rush to sell more and more cards use a whole gamut of attractive offers—the most popular one being free access to airport lounges. Thanks to this and the sharp rise in domestic air travellers, last year, airport lounges saw of football of over 8.5 million people.What was once an exclusive service became a top-selling feature, even for non-premium cards issued by banks. Lounge access became overused and an expensive bill to foot for credit card issuers. Earlier last month, Axis Bank, the country’s fourth-largest credit-card issuer, revised its lounge policy. But retracting the freebie altogether is not a risk banks can afford to take.What are they doing then?Tune in.Recommendation:Credit-card issuers can’t bank on their most profitable users 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.

Since November 2022, when Paytm shares dropped to an all-time low, the fintech giant has been on a steady recovery path. If all goes well, its share price may cross Rs 1000 soon.But what's even more interesting is the sharp jump in its loan distributions in FY23. In the March quarter of the same year, Paytm distributed nearly 12 million loans worth over 1.5 billion dollars.And last Friday, Paytm’s parent company even announced a partnership with Shriram Finance, an NBFC that's known for its deep understanding of risk and more importantly, its collections capabilities.  What's driving this prolific growth and how is Paytm growing its loan business in the post-FLDG era?Tune in.**Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma is an investor in The Ken  RecommendationPaytm’s results hint at a turnaround. But loan-collection hacks drive it by Gaurav Noronha, Arundhati RamanathanPaytm IPO tells, and tells a lot, but doesn’t show by Arundhati RamanathanDaybreak 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.

On Thursday, Kotak Institutional Equities, released a note and turns out, Zomato managed to maintain its lead over Swiggy with a 55% market share in the year 2022. Swiggy is at 45%.Swiggy and Zomato have been constantly win the bigger share in India’s $5 billion food delivery market. But it was Swiggy that had the portion share just three years ago. Inherently, both the food delivery companies are quite different from each other. And it is this difference that's been giving Zomato an edge lately.Recommended reading:Why Swiggy is building a Shopify for local brandsDaybreak 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. 

ICICI's stock has tripled since 2018—the year when ICICI’s current CEO Sandeep Bakhshi took over. Loans and deposits are growing strong, margins are healthy, and investors can’t seem to get enough of the blue-chip company. Bakshi joined at a time when the bank was reeling from the after-effects of his predecessor Chanda Kochchar's controversial exit.The bank was experiencing a high rate of attrition and employees needed reassurance and stability. Bakshi gave them just that. He revamped the bank's HR policy, bringing about a democratisation with decisions like the standardisation of appraisals and tenure-based promotions.All these moves made him quite the favourite amongst many current and even former employees.  But it has also led to the creation of a faction of young disgruntled high-performers who feel they are not incentivised enough. And they are resigning. Tune in.Recommendation:At ICICI Bank, Sandeep Bakhshi’s people-first strategy costs top people by Rounak Kumar GunjanDaybreak 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.