Best Rahel Podcasts (2024)

1
Once the beginning and end of brand building, CMOs are now fighting irrelevance 14:37

28m ago14:37

14:37

Chief Marketing Officers, or CMOs, are a dying breed. Last year, Nykaa decided to reshuffle its marketing structure. You see, the company’s previous chief marketing officer, or CMO, had exited Nykaa. But strangely enough, the company didn’t immediately fill the spot. Instead, it decided to break the role apart. So now it would have two marketing he…

1
Indian govt's free senior health cover exposes the dark side of private insurance 13:04

3h ago13:04

13:04

Last month, in October 2024, the government of India launched the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, a health insurance coverage for all senior citizens aged 70 and over, regardless of income. This is big news for healthcare in India because for the longest time, this is exactly the age group that has pvt insurance companies have bee…

1
What does it take to launch a budget skincare brand today? 30 days and a penchant for marketing 26:34

8h ago26:34

26:34

Ever since the pandemic, the world of skincare has witnessed nothing short of a revolution. Almost overnight, that jar of Ponds cold cream that had stood the test of time on dressing tables across the country was replaced by elaborate six-step skincare routines. The legacy brands we grew up with – the likes of Loreal, Ponds, Johnson and Johnson – w…

1
How India's young millionaires are defying family norms to create new sources of wealth 31:08

1d ago31:08

31:08

Lately, new breed of millionaire heirs have been dabbling with family offices in India . These are entities that exist solely to manage the fortunes of these ultra-rich families. While these offices have been around in some of the world’s biggest financial capitals for a long time now, in India, they are catching on now . What’s really interesting …

1
Youtubers are dominating Indian living rooms by taking a page out of the TV playbook 10:44

3d ago10:44

10:44

Here’s a riddle inspired by true events. We all know that pay TV subscribers have been declining for a while now. But at the same time, overall TV viewership has only been increasing. How can that be? Well, for that we have Youtube to thank. In the first half of 2024, Indians spent 8 trillion minutes watching videos. More than 90% of this was on Yo…

1
In India’s IPO market, this small city in Gujarat calls the shots. Just look at Hyundai 11:29

6h ago11:29

11:29

Last month, India’s second largest automaker – Hyundai – went public. But this was not your run of the mill IPO. This was widely speculated to be the largest public listing ever seen in the Indian stock market. So there was naturally a lot of hype around it. But on October 17, just hours before Hyundai’s public issue was set to close, most stock ma…

1
Can the designer who made your mobile phone addictive also make you use your phone less often? 9:43

7h ago9:43

9:43

A new generation of designers is on the rise. These designers are expected to be a lot more than just “one trick ponies”. The new-age ‘Designer X’ is expected to bring a little bit of everything to the table. They understand the basics of sustainability, how their designs would impact things like climate change and culture. And they would also gene…

1
Daybreak Special: What do women really want? A 'f*** off fund' 36:40

8m ago36:40

36:40

*This episode was originally published on July 12, 2024 Have you ever heard of a 'f*** off fund'? Or better yet, do you have one? For the uninitiated, it is a sum of money that women should ideally set aside to get out of a difficult situation – think toxic job, abusive relationship or family situation, you get the drift. The term was coined by fre…

1
Why Apple and HDFC Bank decided to break up their exclusive relationship 9:15

6h ago9:15

9:15

In the 2024 financial year, Apple sold products worth $8 billion in India. This was a third more than the previous year. But how did a premium company like Apple that hates giving discounts sell products worth 8 billion dollars in a country as price sensitive as India? Apple obviously knew that its phones were unaffordable for most people in India?…

1
Rapido is taking on the Ola-Uber duopoly by being everything they are not 12:49

12h ago12:49

12:49

For a whole decade, Ola and Uber dominated the cab-hailing market. But cut to 2024 and that scenario is shifting. Both these companies are drifting. And a third contender – Rapido – is making the most of it. Both homegrown Ola and US-based Uber are dealing with a unique set of problems. The whole ride-hailing business seems to have taken a backseat…

1
From luxury cars to lunch with celebs — wealth managers are going all out to woo the ultra-rich 11:18

1d ago11:18

11:18

Welcome to the world of luxury-lifestyle management, where firms like RedBeryl, Indulge Global, and Quintessentially play the role of concierge for their ultra-wealthy clients, making the impossible possible. Now this sort of thing has become even easier for the rich. Because their wealth managers are also taking care of some of these requests. It …

1
Is Zomato declaring war in the quick commerce space? 9:33

2d ago9:33

9:33

Zomato planning to raise 8,500 crore rupees again. This comes just three years after its grand IPO where it had raised almost the same amount. The company's stock prices have doubled in the last ten months. Interestingly, this fundraise is going to be through a qualified investment placement or QIP when a listed company raises capital from domestic…

1
Successful women are freezing their eggs. And that’s on men 45:24

5d ago45:24

45:24

If all the women of the world had a collective wallet where we could put in a penny for every time we heard the words “your biological clock is ticking,” we could move to Venus and run our own planet. But as unfair as it may be, it is true. There is an ideal time period in a woman’s life when she can have a baby. Or when she is the most “fertile.” …

1
Truecaller beat Trai to the punch with spam-call fix 25:28

6d ago25:28

25:28

For a country that boasts of its digital public goods infrastructure like Aadhar and UPI, it is a wonder why telecom has been so ignored. After nearly 1500 crore rupees of was reportedly lost to digital fraud in the financial year 2024, the govt’s Trai is finally scrambling to catch up with CPAN or the Calling Name Presentation (CNAP) service, its …

1
How NRI quota became the golden ticket to med school for rich Indians 9:35

15d ago9:35

9:35

Late last month, the Supreme Court made a very strong statement about NRI quotas at medical colleges. It essentially said that the whole thing was a fraud. But the thing is, since the Supreme Court called it out, the practice has only gotten murkier. So The Ken reporter Alifiya Khan conducted an investigation. She scoured several social networking …

1
Why the RBI's two-year-old Innovation Hub is intimidating fintechs 11:54

8d ago11:54

11:54

There is an unusual one-of-kind competition brewing within the Indian fintech space. It is so disruptive that its leaving founders and chief executives of some of India’s biggest fintechs feeling pretty intimidated and also helpless. The funny thing is, the brains behind this new competitor that’s left the whole industry feeling pretty blindsided i…

1
What makes Cred an 'unusual' fintech? 9:56

9d ago9:56

9:56

Earlier this month, CRED, released its financials for the year ended March 2024 at a press conference. Cred claims to have about 13 million monthly active users. For the financial year ended March 2024, it saw revenue rise more than 60% to nearly $300 million, and losses shrink by around 40% to about U$70 million. Plus, its monthly transacting user…

1
You don't need a prescription to buy an i-pill. What if that changed? 41:35

13d ago41:35

41:35

A little more than a week ago, we read a really strange piece of news. Apparently, an expert committee recommended the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to ban the over the counter sale of emergency contraceptive pills like i-pill and Unwanted 72. They suggested women should be only allowed to access it with a doctor’s prescription because o…

1
Theobroma's dilemma: how to continue scaling while staying true to the 'artisanal' identity 20:48

14d ago20:48

20:48

Back in 2004, two sisters, Kainaz and Tina Messman, decided to turn their life-long passion for food and baking into a full fledged business. They set up Theobroma, a small cafe tucked away in a corner of Mumbai’s posh Colaba. Today, there are more than 200 Theobroma outlets in over 30 cities across the country. The bakery chain’s evolution has bee…

1
Are two struggling denim brands enough to build a poor man's Reliance brands? 12:12

15d ago12:12

12:12

Today, most conventional or slow clothing brands like Lee, Wrangler, United Colours of Benetton, Pepe Jeans and Levi’s are facing a tough new reality where they aren’t just trying to outperform each other. They are also up against fast fashion brands that are now dominating the industry. In the process, many of these slow brands have lost relevance…

1
Zomato is on a collision course with India's largest ticketing platform — Bookmyshow 11:45

16d ago11:45

11:45

Earlier this year, Zomato acquired ticketing platform Paytm Insider. With this, Zomato was able to take its 'going out' strategy to the next level. Since 2018, Zomato has been holding live events. You have probably heard of its its massive carnival-style event called Zomaland. The idea behind it is simple: a big part of going to a movie, or a music…

1
Why the PM's internship scheme is stressing out corporate India 10:09

17d ago10:09

10:09

The PM’s internship scheme wants to provide 10 million internships to freshly minted students over the course of the next five years. Students from premier institutes like IITs and IIMs or students with professional degrees like CA, CMA or masters are not allowed to apply. The idea is to address India’s problem of youth unemployment by making stude…

1
Is turning into a B-school the natural next step for liberal arts pioneer Ashoka University? 21:54

1M ago21:54

21:54

Back in 2014, Ashoka University introduced India to the concept of a liberal arts education. The private research university, tucked away in Sonipat, Haryana, came along at a time when the cracks in India’s higher education system were starting to become pretty glaring. It positioned itself as everything a conventional Indian college was not. Ashok…

1
Reliance wants to combine Hotstar and JioCinema into one mega app. Is it really a good idea? 24:03

28d ago24:03

24:03

About a month ago, news broke about Reliance's plans to merge Disney+ Hotstar with JioCinema after their Star-Viacom18 merger. While the merger is pending approvals from the Competition Commission of India, data from Google Play Store data shows Disney+ Hotstar had over 500 million downloads while JioCinema had over 100 million downloads. While the…

1
Guess who is helping the government keep drug prices in check 12:20

28d ago12:20

12:20

So far, buying medicines in India has been a complete minefield. Allow me to elaborate with the help of a completely plausible hypothetical scenario. Say you catch the flu one day and need 75 mg of the antiviral drug Oseltamivir. More often than not, we don’t really check the price tag of these drugs. But what if I told you the prices can swing any…

1
Why Doon School and Mayo College are no longer the obvious choices for India's elite 9:47

1M ago9:47

9:47

Back in the day, being from one of India’s prestigious boarding schools – the likes of Doon or Mayo – was the ultimate stamp of honour. Most of these schools were established close to a century ago, during British rule. And for the longest time, they were infamous for taking that legacy pretty seriously. In fact, that was exactly why they remained …

1
All you need to know about India's most-hyped GenAI company 11:49

29d ago11:49

11:49

Sarvam, a generative AI startup based out of Bangalore, managed to raise more than $50 million from investors like Peak XIV and Khosla Ventures, in less than 6 months after it was launched last year. Last month, Sarvam released a range of new multilingual products—Al agents, voice and text models, and a workbench aimed at legal professionals. Enter…

1
Can cheap seats come with extra legroom? We ask the man behind India’s first budget airline 30:10

1M ago30:10

30:10

Every time you take a domestic flight and don't have to break a fixed deposit to buy a ticket, you have Captain GR Gopinath to thank. In 2003, he launched Air Deccan, India's first budget airline. Before that, only the rich and powerful could afford to fly. So, planes were like mini 5-star hotels – you would be waited on hand and foot, would have a…

1
India's largest non-bank is a prisoner of its own growth 12:00

1M ago12:00

12:00

Phone calls from Bajaj Finance offering loans are almost inescapable and the non-bank has been facing quite a backlash for it. But telecalling has been an enduring sales channel for the company which boasts of a loan book worth nearly $30 billion. And despite the massive size of its loan book, it’s been growing at a phenomenal rate. But now, Bajaj …

1
How Birkenstocks went from being a clunky, orthopaedic sandal to the new it-shoe 11:12

1M ago11:12

11:12

Not so long ago, Birkenstocks were considered the antithesis of high fashion. For the longest time, the 250-year-old German brand’s characteristic chunky sandal was seen as nothing more than an orthopedic shoe meant for hippies and old people. And then, everything changed. In the last decade or so, Birkenstock had a major glow up. It all started wi…

1
Meet the unlikely winners of India's quick commerce boom. Local brokers. 12:19

1M ago12:19

12:19

India's biggest quick commerce players — Blinkit, Instamart, and Zepto — are on a mission. They are frantically hunting for properties they can convert into dark stores. Dark stores are an integral part of any quick commerce strategy. Especially now, that the lines between quick commerce and e-commerce are very quickly blurring. People aren't just …

1
Why half of India's young doctors are drowning in debt 12:44

1M ago12:44

12:44

Young independent doctors in India are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Take F M, a 32-year-old psychiatrist who has a clinic in South Mumbai. She’s spent a third of her life slogging through medical schools and internships to finally earn her super-specialised degree. But two years into her private practice in a posh South Mumbai area, she w…

1
Daybreak News Wrap: Musk vs Brazil; why we can't trust online news; and Meta's cool new sunglasses 31:20

2M ago31:20

31:20

In this episode of Daybreak, hosts Snigdha and Rahel try something new — instead of the usual monologue or interview, they cover three of the biggest social media stories from around the world. The first is Brazil's ban on the Elon Musk-owned microblogging platform, X. The feud between Musk and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes traces back …

1
Why replicating China's iPhone city model in India is a short-term fix for a long-term problem 25:10

2M ago25:10

25:10

What put iPhone city on the map is that it produces more than half of the world’s iPhone’s every single year. The global demand for the Apple iPhone has only increased over the years. To keep up with that demand Foxconn hires up to 200,000 workers – a mix of migrants and college students – to make sure that the assembly lines keep running. Especial…

1
Is Flipkart bringing a knife to the fintech gun fight with Super.money? 11:03

2M ago11:03

11:03

Back in 2022, e-commerce giant Flipkart’s 35 billion dollar universe was left with a gaping fintech hole after the payments app Phonepe was spun off. There a brief period, after that, when it wasn’t clear whether Flipkart would ever try to dip its toes in consumer payments play again. But then again, this is Flipkart. Here is a company that has a f…

1
You can buy an EV in China. But can you afford to insure it? 10:49

2M ago10:49

10:49

Half of the world’s electric cars are on China’s roads, thanks to a wave of smart incentives for both consumers and manufacturers, such as tax breaks and purchase subsidies. The payoff is tangible: the smog that once shrouded some major cities has lifted, and road noise has dropped significantly. But it brought unexpected costs and challenges that …

1
Inside Flipkart: a high-pressure workplace thanks to its IPO dreams. And Walmart 10:21

2M ago10:21

10:21

A few years ago, Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy had set a target of 40% growth across all categories for Flipkart. But in 2023, it was still stuck at 20%. So the company is now on a mission. It wants to push growth, gain market share, and turn a profit. So in January 2024, Flipkart's top execs along with the CEO came together for a meeting to ou…

1
How a cab driver from Hyderabad became the face of India’s 8 million gig workers 26:06

2M ago26:06

26:06

Meet Shaik Salauddin, a 38-year-old cab driver from Hyderabad, who is fighting for the rights of eight million gig workers from across the country. While India's gig economy is burgeoning, the workers on whose backs it is built barely enjoy any rights or legal protections. Salauddin realised this early on and in 2019, after five years of relentless…

1
A new Indian startup is ditching the sportswear playbook to score a Puma-sized win 27:42

2M ago27:42

27:42

For nearly two decades, Abhishek Ganguly worked as the managing director of Puma, the German athleisure brand in India. In that period alone, the brand’s revenue shot up from Rs 20 crore to close to Rs 4,000 crore. Under Ganguly, Puma even managed to beat its longtime rival Adidas to become a market leader. In 2023, Ganguly decided to quit and star…

1
Bajaj Finserv wanted to make waves in healthcare. So, it bought a wobbly ship. 13:22

2M ago13:22

13:22

Back when it was launched in 2020, Bajaj Finsev Health had a clear plan: it wanted to provide a complete healthcare package to its consumers. And it did that by happily playing a supporting role in India’s booming healthcare industry. Here's what Bajaj Finserv Health does. It is essentially a health management platform. So it facilitates things lik…

1
Subway is slowly doing away with what makes it Subway. Choice. 13:01

2M ago13:01

13:01

Subway, the globally popular sandwich-eatery chain, is now grappling with sweeping changes in India—and not for the better. For one, the world’s largest quick-service restaurant (QSR) brand is moving away from the franchise model it has operated under for the past 25 years. In doing so, it’s also shedding the very thing that made it popular in the …

1
Why the Big Billion Days sale can make or break Flipkart's quick-commerce dreams 10:59

2M ago10:59

10:59

Last month, a Twitter post a Bengaluru-based IT professional about getting a laptop delivered from Flipkart went viral on social. The reason? Flipkart’s quick delivery arm called Minutes that went live in select cities had delivered it to him at a Starbucks cafe in 13 minutes. But Minutes is Flipkart’s third attempt at quick delivery. And the real …

1
What happens when you sell education like shampoo? Byju's knows 42:25

2M ago42:25

42:25

Back in the late 2000s when Byju's was founded, it was best known for teaching students how to 'hack' competitive examinations like the CAT. They taught students how to work backwards from the answer and use a bunch of shortcuts to get the highest score possible. The art of 'hacking' examinations was something that the company's founder, Byju Ravee…

1
Sky-high real estate prices in Delhi NCR are making even the well-off feel broke 21:19

2M ago21:19

21:19

The real-estate market of Delhi-NCR is an anomaly. The Ken spoke to a bunch of potential homebuyers who are looking for premium apartments with budgets of up to 2.5 crore rupees. Real-estate experts are telling them to give up on their dreams. Lately, the national capital has been facing an acute supply crunch of new housing projects, especially in…

1
How do you get JEE aspirants to stay in school? Hire 200 IITians. 12:53

2M ago12:53

12:53

India's tuition republic came into the picture to fill the gaps in the education system. First and foremost: they promise to get you into the college of your dreams. That simple but powerful promise has made this a Rs 58,000 crore industry. But there is a flip side to this. It puts traditional schools in a rather precarious position. Students start…

1
What has two wheels, runs on electricity, and is Ola Electric's next big bet? 13:31

2M ago13:31

13:31

On Independence Day this year, just six days after it went public, Ola Electric launched three new electric motorbikes. This was a bold move, especially considering that electric vehicles haven’t really clicked with the Indian audience yet. The exception to that rule has been electric two and three wheelers, which had some unexpected success in tie…

1
India's newest unicorn, Rapido, is betting on a subscription model 12:46

2M ago12:46

12:46

Three days ago, Rapido, the bike taxi company, became India’s latest unicorn after it raised $200 million at a valuation of over $1 billion. The funding round which was led by WestBridge Capital also saw new investors put in their money into the company. In an interview to the ET, CEO Aravind Sanka said that the funds will be used to expand Rapido'…

1
Red tape and lawsuits: Big tech has a big problem 48:58

2M ago48:58

48:58

"Google is a monopolist and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly." Last month, Judge Amit P Mehta of of US District Court for the District of Columbia delivered a historic ruling against one of the biggest technology companies in the world. Google was accused of abusing its dominance by paying the likes of Apple and Samsung billions of doll…

1
What happened to Dunzo? 27:37

2M ago27:37

27:37

Dunzo, the Reliance Retail-backed quick delivery company, let go off 75% of its workforce in fresh round of layoffs earlier this week. But for the longest time, Dunzo has been an anomaly. Its a small company that has managed to make its name a verb. Like Google but Google is a giant. Its revenue was just $7 million dollars in the year that ended in…

1
It made perfect sense for Zomato to go down the fintech route. Until it didn’t. 9:14

2M ago9:14

9:14

There was once a time, not very long ago, when every company wanted to be a fintech. Food delivery, ride hailing, e-commerce – companies that you would not otherwise associate with financial services. And when you think about it, it does add up. A couple years ago, fintech was where the money was at. Indian fintechs received nearly 9 billion dollar…

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Rahel Podcasts

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