India Business
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India Isn’t Spending Less. It’s Spending Differently – Part 3
India’s Fitness Economy Heads Outdoors In the last two episodes, we looked at the cricket economy and live events. Today, we turn to another corner of the experience-led consumer economy: fitness. For a long time, fitness in India meant two things: gyms and yoga. Both are still going strong. What’s changed is how people engage… Continue reading
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India Isn’t Spending Less. It’s Spending Differently – Part 2
Continuing our series on shifting consumer spend in India – let’s move from cricket to another beneficiary of that trend: live entertainment. This is a tough business in India. Multiple permissions, high taxes, unclear regulations, poor infrastructure and uncertain demand deterred many. But that equation appears to be changing. Post-COVID, consumers – especially younger ones… Continue reading
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India Isn’t Spending Less. It’s Spending Differently.
We’ve grown up in a world where consumer spending meant FMCG. So when FMCG growth slows, we instinctively conclude that consumers are not spending. But that’s a lazy conclusion. The Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) 2023-24 provides a clue – the share of food has fallen sharply, while non-discretionary spending has risen. However, generic words… Continue reading
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Your Moat Has an Expiry Date
Warren Buffet and other gurus have long argued that the best businesses have “moats” or durable competitive advantages. But moats too, have a shelf life, especially with technology disrupting every industry. In an earlier article, we saw how the powerful distribution advantages of large FMCG companies are being breached by D2C players leveraging e-commerce and… Continue reading
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You can run, but there’s nowhere to hide
The current Middle East crisis is not merely about oil and fuel, but a massive inflation shock rippling through the global economy. Reduced supply has triggered price spikes in petrol, diesel, aviation fuel, gas, fertilisers, and downstream chemicals. It’s not just oil derivatives—critical industrial inputs like aluminium, helium, methanol, sulphur and ammonia are hit as… Continue reading
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Banks Are Not Dinosaurs — Yet
I recently read an article claiming that fintechs and NBFCs will use AI to dominate lending, while traditional banks fade into irrelevance. It sounded plausible at first. But the more I thought about it, the less convinced I became. The essence of the argument is as follows: Today’s consumer wants speed and convenience (i.e. instant… Continue reading
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Why Blaming Gen Z Is a Lazy Diagnosis
Marketing and management conversations often turn complex ideas into neat labels, and segmenting people into categories is a favourite tactic. We now have labels like aspirational, digital native, purpose-driven, urban millennial, and so on. It makes managers sound knowledgeable and helps create neat stories – and even neater PowerPoint slides. These classifications can make sense… Continue reading
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Devyani and Sapphire – merging to survive?
Desi cuisine strikes back Some years ago, foreign-branded quick-service restaurants (QSRs) were hot favourites among investors, including institutions. The hypothesis was simple: Under-penetration, a growing middle class, and proven international brands. Initially, the hypothesis appeared to play out – and these companies expanded rapidly, opening hundreds of outlets across India. However, in recent years, same-store… Continue reading
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An inflection point for e-commerce and quick-commerce
Quick commerce redefined Indian retail in 2025. Blinkit, Instamart and Zepto delivered explosive growth, pushing incumbents like Flipkart and Amazon to (reluctantly?) launch rival formats. Blinkit, Instamart and Zepto all doubled revenues in FY25, with momentum continuing through 2025. In a single quarter (Q2FY26), Blinkit delivered a net order value of ₹11,679 crores, up 137%… Continue reading
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Ten Predictions for 2026
Most (all?) predictions are useless, but they’re fun to make – so why not join the party? Here’s my list, in no particular order of importance. Trump will continue to create mayhem, while getting richer: This is a given. Stealing oil tankers, arbitrary tariffs and sanctions, fights with institutions and friends will no longer be… Continue reading
