The Morning Brief

In a candid, unscripted exchange, India’s pharma titans peeled back the mythology of overnight success to reveal a harder truth: conviction compounded over decades. What began as two products and a bet on neglected therapy areas evolved into a multibillion-dollar enterprise riding India’s epidemiological shift. Innovation, they argued, is a long game—scarred by failed trials, investor backlash, and capital droughts—yet redeemed by landmark deals and scientific persistence. In this episode, host Vikas Dandekar talks to Dilip Shanghvi, Chairman of Sun Pharma and Glenn Saldanha, Managing Director at Glenmark Pharma about regulatory reforms, AI acceleration, and a renewed policy push, the message was clear: India stands at the cusp of a pharmaceutical inflection point—if it dares to back its pipeline as boldly as its past.Listen on:Listen to Corner Office Conversation: Corner Office Conversation with Sridhar Vembu, CEO, of Zoho Corporation, Corner Office Conversation with Gunjan Soni, Country Managing Director, Youtube India, Corner Office Conversation with Elizabeth Reid, Head of Search, Google, Corner Office Conversation with Rajan Anandan, Managing Director, Peak XV & Surge and much more. Catch the latest episode of “Corner Office Conversation” on: Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts,and wherever you get your podcasts from.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Artificial intelligence is concentrating power, profits and infrastructure in the hands of a few. Mistral AI's co-founder and CEO Arthur Mensch stands for dismantling it. In this episode Mensch talks to ET’s tech editor Surabhi Agarwal about why excessive US dominance in AI creates economic and geopolitical imbalance, and how open-weight models, sovereign cloud partnerships and efficient computers can redistribute innovation. He argues that AI must function like public infrastructure, competitive, accessible and locally controlled, not a gated utility. Listen in: You can follow Surabhi Agarwal on her Linkedin and XCheck out other interesting episodes like: AI Impact Summit: Amazon's Bet on India's AI Future, Anthropic’s India Play, India AI Impact Summit: Microsoft’s Brad Smith on Sovereignty, Scale and Skills,  and much more. Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Youtube.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What if every Indian had a personal doctor, a PhD agronomist, and a world-class tutor all free, all AI-powered, available tomorrow? Hosts Surabhi Agarwal and Swathi Moorthy talk to entrepreneur, investor Vinod Khosla on why he doesn't traffic in hypotheticals; he calls this India's most urgent opportunity. In a wide-ranging conversation, Khosla maps the turbulent decade ahead predicting political chaos between 2030 and 2040 as AI-driven job disruption collides with policy while arguing that curiosity and agency matter more than capital. He dismantles MAGA, challenges wealth inequality narratives, and delivers a sharp verdict: India's real constraint isn't talent or technology. It's investors who think too small.You can follow Swathi Moorthy on her social media: X and LinkedinYou can follow Surabhi Agarwal on her Linkedin and XCheck out other interesting episodes like: AI Impact Summit: Amazon's Bet on India's AI Future, Anthropic’s India Play, India AI Impact Summit: Microsoft’s Brad Smith on Sovereignty, Scale and Skills,  and much more. Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Youtube.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As AI agents begin to outnumber humans 80 to one, who's truly accountable when things go wrong? In this episode, Host Suraksha P talks to Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora about the noise on what securing an agentic future actually demands from mandatory agent registries to real-time breach detection that must outpace an eight-minute attack window. He challenges India to pursue a hybrid sovereign AI strategy, warns that AI companies are racing ahead without reckoning with consequences, and offers entrepreneurs a sharp directive: stop building features, start solving problems. The cybersecurity frontier, Arora argues, belongs to those who own the data.You can follow Suraksha P on her social media: X and Linkedin Check out other interesting episodes like: AI Impact Summit: Amazon's Bet on India's AI Future, Anthropic’s India Play, India AI Impact Summit: Microsoft’s Brad Smith on Sovereignty, Scale and Skills,  and much more. Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Youtube.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Can a $17 billion bet prevent India from repeating the Global South's century-long technology lag? In this episode of The Morning Brief, host Surabhi Agarwal speaks with Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith about the company's AI-ambitious vision for India as a "land of digital opportunity." The conversation explores Microsoft's infrastructure and skilling investments, the challenge of bridging the digital divide that mirrors historical electricity gaps between North and South, and how digital sovereignty tensions shape multinational strategy. From navigating India's thoughtful privacy regulations to addressing AI's impact on job dynamics through productivity enhancement, Smith examines whether equitable AI adoption can succeed where past technologies failed. As India's vast developer community positions it uniquely at the intersection of AI infrastructure, platforms, and applications, the episode questions whether collaborative frameworks between nations like India and the US can balance open markets with security—or if digital sovereignty will fragment the very ecosystem needed for India's transformation.You can follow Anirban Chowdhury on his social media: X and LinkedinYou can follow Surabhi Agarwal on her Linkedin, X profiles and read her Newspaper Articles.  Check out other interesting episodes like: How Will a Volatile ₹ Impact You in 2026?, How Quick Commerce is Triggering a Health Crisis for Gen Z, India’s Labour Law Reboot, Viral to Valuation: Building Women’s Cricket as a Brand and much more.Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Youtube.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is Anthropic late to India's AI party—or perfectly timed? In this episode of The Morning Brief, host Anirban Chowdhury speaks with ET’s Disha Acharya and Puran Choudhary about Anthropic's strategic entry into India's rapidly maturing generative AI market. The conversation explores why the company prioritizes enterprise clients over price-sensitive consumers, how its partnership with Infosys positions it within India's multi-million dollar IT ecosystem, and what makes Claude's focus on Indic language support a genuine differentiator. From hosting developer days and hackathons to building datasets for long-tail languages through nonprofit collaborations, Anthropic’s India stack is significantly large. This episode examines whether India serves as an innovation ground or simply a data mine. As pilots transition to full-scale deployments with governance frameworks solidifying, the episode questions whether widespread IT service integration and public sector adoption will cement Anthropic's leadership.Tune in You can follow Anirban Chowdhury on his social media: X and LinkedinCheck out other interesting episodes like: How Will a Volatile ₹ Impact You in 2026?, How Quick Commerce is Triggering a Health Crisis for Gen Z, India’s Labour Law Reboot, Viral to Valuation: Building Women’s Cricket as a Brand and much more.Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Youtube.Credit @moneycontrolSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Infrastructure or applications where should India place its AI bets? And does Amazon, with $75 billion committed across data centers, logistics, and cloud, already have the answer? In this special episode of the Morning Brief's from India AI Impact Summit, host Suraksha P speaks to David Zapolsky, Chief Global Affairs & Legal Officer at Amazon, about the company's deepening India strategy.The conversation explores Amazon's data center expansion in Hyderabad and Mumbai, India's pragmatic privacy legislation versus restrictive European frameworks, and how tax certainty until 2047 is reshaping hyperscaler confidence. From navigating India-US geopolitical complexity to the ten-minute quick commerce challenge, Zapolsky examines what building for a billion-plus users genuinely demands.You can follow Anirban Chowdhury on his social media: X and Linkedin You can follow Suraksha P on her social media: X and LinkedinCheck out other interesting episodes like: How Will a Volatile ₹ Impact You in 2026?, How Quick Commerce is Triggering a Health Crisis for Gen Z, India’s Labour Law Reboot, Viral to Valuation: Building Women’s Cricket as a Brand and much more.Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Youtube.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Can India become the blueprint for the world's clean energy transition? In this episode of The Morning Brief, host Anirban Chowdhury speaks with Woochong Um, CEO of Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet about why India serves as the crucial testing ground for affordable, reliable renewable energy solutions. The conversation explores the groundbreaking Colloquy Battery Storage Project in Delhi which slashed blackouts and attracted global interest from Vietnam to Nigeria and how AI-optimized "Grids of the Future" could cut emissions by 30%. From creating 2.2 million jobs in India by 2030 to navigating land aggregation challenges through digitization, Woochong examines whether radical collaboration among governments, private sectors, and philanthropy can overcome entrenched fossil fuel dependencies. As battery storage advances and stakeholder awareness grows, the episode questions whether India's lessons both successes and failures will inspire similar transformations globally, positioning the nation as a pioneer in sustainable energy infrastructure.Tune inYou can follow Anirban Chowdhury on his social media: X and LinkedinCheck out other interesting episodes like: The Return to Analog, How Will a Volatile ₹ Impact You in 2026?, Why Are Labour Laws Denting Corporate Profits?, India’s Labour Law Reboot, Why are Music Labels Buying Into Film Companies? and Much More.Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Youtube.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In a market long dominated by premium playbooks, Director of Reliance Consumer Products, T Krishnakumar is scripting a different FMCG story. Handpicked by Mukesh Ambani to build Reliance Consumer Products from scratch, he talks to host Ratna Bhushan about his strategy: targeting India's 500–600 million middle-class consumers, Krishnakumar is betting big on affordability at scale—a counterintuitive move in an inflationary environment. From resurrecting legacy brands like Campa to building Asia's largest AI-powered food parks and expanding to five million outlets, RCPL blends startup agility with conglomerate resources. As inflation eases and consumption revives, the critical question emerges: can an unwavering focus on value disrupt incumbents and influence India's consumption landscape for the next decade?Listen to Corner Office Conversation: Corner Office Conversation with Sridhar Vembu, CEO, of Zoho Corporation, Corner Office Conversation with Gunjan Soni, Country Managing Director, Youtube India, Corner Office Conversation with Elizabeth Reid, Head of Search, Google, Corner Office Conversation with Rajan Anandan, Managing Director, Peak XV & Surge and much more. Catch the latest episode of “Corner Office Conversation” on: Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts,and wherever you get your podcasts from.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

India's 2026 income tax overhaul marks a pivotal transformation from compliance heavy bureaucracy to trust based governance. The dramatic cut in unexplained income tax from 78% to 39% signals a strategic pivot toward voluntary disclosure and broadening the tax base. Simultaneously, the unified tax year concept eliminates decades of confusing nomenclature, aligning India with international standards. Expanded HRA benefits for metro cities and inflation adjusted thresholds provide relief for middle class workers. Yet concerns persist: aggressive cash monitoring, faceless proceedings, and retrospective amendments risk creating new litigation cycles. Host Anirban Chowdhury talks to Aditi Goyal, Tax Partner at Trilegal, about whether this framework genuinely reduces complexity or signals sharper, data driven state scrutiny.You can follow Anirban Chowdhury on his social media: Twitter and LinkedinCheck out other interesting episodes like: How Will a Volatile ₹ Impact You in 2026?, How Quick Commerce is Triggering a Health Crisis for Gen Z, India’s Labour Law Reboot, Viral to Valuation: Building Women’s Cricket as a Brand and much more. Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Youtube.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From Sputnik’s shock to Silicon Valley’s surge, the space race has been reborn, this time driven not just by governments, but by agile startups and bold private capital. In this episode, host Puran Choudhary talks to Eric Stallmer, Executive Vice President at Voyager Space and a decorated US combat veteran who unpacks how Starlab aims to succeed the ISS, why smaller firms are winning billion-dollar defense contracts, and how AI could redefine orbital research. As the U.S. pours $25 billion into missile defense and India nurtures 300+ space startups, a new transnational corridor is emerging. Space is no longer symbolic prestige; it is infrastructure, security, commerce and collaboration, shaping the next frontier of global power and innovation.You can follow Puran Choudhary on social media: Linkedin & X Check out other interesting episodes like: How Will a Volatile ₹ Impact You in 2026?, How Quick Commerce is Triggering a Health Crisis for Gen Z, India’s Labour Law Reboot, Viral to Valuation: Building Women’s Cricket as a Brand and much more. Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Youtube.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From twin bell alarm clocks to vinyl records, why are Millennials and Gen Z ditching screens for tactile experiences? In this episode of The Morning Brief, host Dia Rekhi speaks with David Sax, author of "The Revenge of Analog" and "The Future is Analog," about the curious resurgence of analog living in our hyper-digital age. The conversation explores whether this trend is mere Y2K nostalgia or genuine digital disillusionment, how social media paradoxically fuels analog hobbies like knitting and pottery, and why vinyl sales surged the year Spotify launched. From Google employees taking drawing courses to escape software constraints to the pandemic revealing digital life's limitations, Sax examines what defines an analog lifestyle beyond aesthetic choices. As AI matures and screen fatigue deepens, the episode questions whether our craving for physical books, face-to-face interactions, and hands-on creativity signals a fundamental reassessment of technology's promises—and whether balance, not rejection, holds the answer.You can follow Dia Rekhi on social media: Linkedin & XCheck out other interesting episodes like: How Will a Volatile ₹ Impact You in 2026?, How Quick Commerce is Triggering a Health Crisis for Gen Z, India’s Labour Law Reboot, Viral to Valuation: Building Women’s Cricket as a Brand and much more.Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Youtube.Credits@brittanyyharmon Kingavriel @MotheringHappily @Brynneanika @CelynHaf @Westendstore @skypescoop @VidhuVinodChopraFilms @slushSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

India's AI revolution demands strategic vision beyond enthusiasm. Host Anirban Chowdhury talks to Rajan Anand, Managing Director of Peak XV and Surge a former Microsoft India head and Google VP shaping India's venture landscape. With 120 unicorns and 300 IPOs last year, India is poised for transformation. Anand's thesis: India needs localized, hyper-affordable AI models—not trillion-parameter ones. Predicting fifty AI unicorns by 2030, he advocates computational sovereignty through infrastructure investments in firms like Sarvam. Rajan also talks about Peak XV’s path after its split with Sequoia Capital, past governance issues at its investees and guardrails to avoid them and the recent spate of senior level exits in the company. Listen in:You can follow Anirban Chowdhury on his social media: Twitter and LinkedinListen to Corner Office Conversation: Corner Office Conversation with Knight Frank’s William Beardmore-Gray and Shishir Baijal, Corner Office Conversation with Sridhar Vembu, CEO, of Zoho Corporation, Corner Office Conversation with Gunjan Soni, Country Managing Director, Youtube India, Corner Office Conversation with Elizabeth Reid, Head of Search, Google and much more. Catch the latest episode of “Corner Office Conversation” on: Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts,and wherever you get your podcasts from.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On February 2nd, Trump announced a trade deal with India via a social media post, with no signed agreement, no formal text. Trump says India has committed to stop buying Russian oil, purchase $500 billion in American goods, and grant zero-tariff access while the US merely reduces tariffs from 50% to 18%. India is quiet on specifics. Host Anirban Chowdhury examines this imbalanced framework with International Trade Policy and WTO Expert Abhijit Das and Edward Alden, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Subsidized US agriculture threatens Indian farmers, pharmaceutical patent pressures undermine generic drug makers, and Trump's emergency powers bypass Congress entirely. Unlike India's comprehensive EU FTA, this deal has no legal enforceability and can be renegotiated through Trump's next social media post.Listen in.You can follow Anirban Chowdhury on his social media: X and Linkedin Check out other interesting episodes like: How Will a Volatile ₹ Impact You in 2026?,Capital Pains: Budget 2026's Loud Silences, India’s Labour Law Reboot, Viral to Valuation: Building Women’s Cricket as a Brand, Why are Music Labels Buying Into Film Companies? and much more. Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Youtube.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tamil Nadu's 234-seat assembly election hinges on an unprecedented question: can superstar Vijay's TVK disrupt the established DMK-AIADMK duopoly? Host Anirban Chowdhury talks to political analyst Sumanth Raman, who dissects the math Vijay polls around 15% vote share but may win zero seats, potentially acting as a spoiler splitting anti-DMK votes. The AIADMK-led NDA gains ground after securing PMK and TTV Dhinakaran's crucial Thevar community votes, while DMK battles anti-incumbency yet holds firm thanks to Stalin's personal appeal. The magic number: 40% vote share. With caste equations and celebrity politics injecting chaos, Tamil Nadu's outcome remains defiantly unpredictable.You can follow Anirban Chowdhury on his social media: X and Linkedin Check out other interesting episodes like: How Will a Volatile ₹ Impact You in 2026?,Capital Pains: Budget 2026's Loud Silences, India’s Labour Law Reboot, Viral to Valuation: Building Women’s Cricket as a Brand, Why are Music Labels Buying Into Film Companies? and much more. Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Youtube. Credits: TheHinduOfficialSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

India's new labor codes just cost three companies in corporate India over ₹4,373 crore in a single quarter. TCS, Infosys, and HCLTech are reeling from retrospective gratuity provisions that go back decades. The government says it's modernizing—one unified wage definition, digital compliance, formalized workforce. Companies say it's a compliance nightmare with twenty-four states at different stages of implementation. In this episode, host Anirban Chowdhury asks Puneet Gupta, Partner, People Advisory Services-Tax, EY to break down why your basic salary just became 50% of your paycheck, how a twenty-year employee's gratuity calculation changed overnight, and whether this reform will create seventy-seven lakh jobs or simply tax the ones that already exist. Short-term pain or structural transformation? Listen in.You can follow Anirban Chowdhury on his social media: X and Linkedin Check out other interesting episodes like: How Will a Volatile ₹ Impact You in 2026?,Capital Pains: Budget 2026's Loud Silences, India’s Labour Law Reboot, Viral to Valuation: Building Women’s Cricket as a Brand, Why are Music Labels Buying Into Film Companies? and much more. Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Youtube.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

No big changes—but does that hide the biggest shifts?  Budget 2026 surprised few with bold moves, yet its quiet continuity may reshape how India's investors and taxpayers think about stability. In this episode of The Morning Brief, host Kayezad E Adajania, editor, ET Wealth, speaks to Homi Mistry, Partner, Deloitte India, and Aashish P. Somaiyaa, ED & CEO, WhiteOak Capital Asset Management, to unpack what an unchanged tax landscape truly signals. The discussion navigates the old versus new tax regime's evolving future, untouched capital gains structures and their impact on India's global competitiveness, and a new amnesty scheme encouraging disclosure of undeclared foreign assets. From a strategic pivot toward semiconductors, AI, and data centers to revised sovereign gold bond rules and rising STT concerns, the episode examines whether Budget 2026's stability is genuinely reassuring—or simply a pause before inevitable change as India braces for an uncertain global economic landscape.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As India’s quick-commerce frenzy collides with labour unrest and tightening economics, the race for ever-faster deliveries is being forced to slow down. Earlier this year, mass protests by gig workers exposed the hidden costs of the 10-minute promise. One logistics company, however, argues it anticipated the reckoning. In this episode, Host Anirban Chowdhury speaks with DTDC CEO Abhishek Chakraborty about why the 35-year-old firm stepped away from the dark-store arms race and instead backed what it calls “rapid commerce”: 4 - 6 hour deliveries powered by co-located dream stores. Now back to profitability after years of investment-driven pressure, DTDC is betting that operational discipline can outlast headline-grabbing speed. Abhishek unpacks early BCG research that flagged an impending labour crunch, the rise of AI in customer operations, the rapid consumption growth of tier-2 and tier-3 cities, and the hard realities of EV adoption and overseas expansion beyond tariff-hit US markets. In logistics, winning may depend on knowing when not to race. You can follow Anirban Chowdhury on his social media: Linkedin & X Check out other interesting episodes from the host likeIran On The Edge, BRICS at the Helm: India’s Moment, and Its Multilateral Test, ET in the Valley: Apoorva Pandhi, MD at Zetta Venture Partners Silicon, India's Mega QSR Merger Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Youtube.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Are music labels about to dictate the terms of Indian cinema? What began as strategic investments—Saregama's ₹325 crore stake in Sanjay Leela Bhansali Productions and Universal Music's acquisition of 30.8% in Excel Entertainment—has sparked questions about consolidation, control, and the future of India's entertainment ecosystem. In this episode of The Morning Brief, host Anirban Chowdhury speaks with ET’s film journalist Rajesh N Naidu and Nirmika Singh, founder of MOX Asia, former Editor, Rolling Stone India to decode the financial mechanics behind these deals.The discussion explores whether this signals industry consolidation or smart cost control, how music labels are securing IP at cheaper rates while expanding global reach, and what differentiated strategies—Universal's premium content scaling versus Saregama's long-haul domestic focus—reveal about competitive dynamics.  You can follow Anirban Chowdhury on his social media: X and LinkedinCheck out other interesting episodes like: How Will a Volatile ₹ Impact You in 2026?, How Quick Commerce is Triggering a Health Crisis for Gen Z, India’s Labour Law Reboot, Viral to Valuation: Building Women’s Cricket as a Brand and much more.Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Youtube.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

India's precious metals explosion defies gravity as equities stumble. While the Nifty crawls at 10.5% and bleeds 4% this year, gold has rocketed from $2,700 to over $5,000. Silver from $28 to $100. That's a 200% surge in twelve months. Geopolitical chaos, tariff wars, and safe-haven demand are fueling this unprecedented rally. In this episode, host Kairavi Lukka talks to Naveen Mathur, Director - Commodities & Currencies, Anand Rathi Share and Stock Brokers Ltd, who warns: gold remains your portfolio anchor, but silver's volatility demands caution. With targets eyeing $5,500 for gold and ₹3.45 lakh/kg for silver, the question isn't whether precious metals outshine stocks, but whether investors can stomach the wild swings ahead. The metals revolution is here.You can follow Kairavi Lukka on his social media:X and LinkedinCheck out other interesting episodes like: When Grinch Almost Stole Gig Workers' Christmas, How Will a Volatile ₹ Impact You in 2026?, How Quick Commerce is Triggering a Health Crisis for Gen Z, India’s Labour Law Reboot, Viral to Valuation: Building Women’s Cricket as a Brand and much more. Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Youtube.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.