Daybreak

CP Plus, a CCTV camera brand, procures 80% of its supplies for its parent company Aditya Infotech Ltd (AIL) from the Chinese security-equipment manufacturer Dahua Technology.   Dahua and Hikvision, another Chinese surveillance-tech firm, are facing sanctions in the UK, US, Australia, and other countries, for their connection to the Chinese government.But in India’s growing CCTV market, which is said to be worth Rs.5000 crores, both these companies are flourishing. Bringing them under control is turning out to be a huge policy challenge for the government.Tune in.

In 2015, the current government set an ambitious target. It said we would have 100 GW of solar capacity by 2022 and 40% of it would come from rooftop solars or RTS. Back then, the country’s solar capacity was just 3.7 GW.   But as of October 2022, this capacity rose to only a little over 60 GW. The main reason for this is the slow adoption of RTS. High transaction costs and lack of data about the long-term performance of RTS make it difficult to access loans for small-scale solar installations.Tune in to find out more.

Years ago, a tug of war began between tech companies including OTT platforms and telecom companies.Telecom and internet service providers believe that content and tech companies should pay them for disproportionate traffic. But tech and content companies argue that this would violate the principles of net neutrality.The debate has now reached India and telecom regulator TRAI is expected releasing a consultation paper on the matter soon.Will content companies like Google, Netflix have to compensate telcos in India?Tune in.

Hotstar has remained the undisputed OTT leader in India boasting of half of India's 90 million paid OTT subscribers. A part of this success has come via the IPL streaming rights and from bundling with telecom and DTH service providers like Jio and Airtel. But last year, Jio's Viacom 18 won the digital streaming rights of IPL, the largest cricket tournament in the world. Not just that Reliance's Jio also dropped Disney+Hotstar from most of its streaming bundles.Why did Reliance choose to end this partnership and what does it mean for Disney+Hotstar?Tune in to find out. 

From February 26, the Union Health Ministry will organise a two-day 'Chintan Shivir'  to explore ways to build trust on Indian drugs, cosmetics and medical devices.Despite being called 'the pharmacy of the world,' time and again, the Indian pharmaceutical industry has received criticism for substandard quality. The most recent such incident was when the deaths of children in Gambia and Uzbekistan were allegedly linked to cough syrups manufactured in India.Why does Indian Pharma still struggle with quality control?Tune in to find out.

With its phenomenal success, UPI has changed the way Indians interact with money. Now, the NPCI along with other fintech platforms are making efforts to launch UPI for international use.But the government needs to ensure UPI remains secure and reliable as it expands beyond the country's borders.Note: In the previous version of this episode, the host mistakenly referred to NPCI as NCPI. The error is regretted and has been corrected.

A few days ago, Zomato announced that it was withdrawing its services from 225 cities in India on account of "not so encouraging" performance.Last week, the food tech giant also reported its financial results for the last quarter of 2022. It saw its losses soar 5X to nearly 350 crore rupees.The volume of orders also declined during this period. But in these numbers there also lies hidden a glimmer of hope for the company.Tune in.

With increased competition within the country, the over-hundred years old Ayurvedic brand, Dabur, is looking to acquire and expand. It wants to change its story.Just last year in October, it acquired a 51% stake in Badshah Masala, one of the country's leading spices companies.But why does the world leader of Ayurveda brands need to reinvent itself?Tune in.

Whether it is to decide where to eat or what to buy, online reviews play important role. But fake reviews are turning out to be quite a menace.To bring them under control, the Indian government released a set of guidelines for e-commerce platforms.But they forgot to mention an important point.Tune in to find out.

Lately, Indians have been spending increased amounts of money on travelling to foreign countries. In the month of November last year, Indian travellers spent 1 billion dollars abroad. The government and even regulator RBI took notice of the new trend.And now, in the Union Budget 2023, a new tax has been added to overseas spending through the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LTS).