TRANSFIN. Podcasts: Banter On All Things Worthy: Recent Episodes
Transfin.
Thoughtful Conversations with Practitioners, Professionals and Entrepreneurs
Demystifying Market Realities :: Breaking Business Models :: Pushing the Envelope
Welcome to LongShorts!
A TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora (https://twitter.com/Nikhil26A) and Sharath Toopran (https://twitter.com/SharathToopran) .
Produced by TRANSFIN. (https://transfin.in/) | MAKING FINANCE WORK FOR YOU | Bringing intelligently curated financial news & expert advice at your fingertips
In this episode, we sit down with Swati Bhargava, co-founder of CashKaro, India’s largest cashback website with over 20+ million downloads and EarnKaro, India’s no. 1 deal distribution platform.
Swati walks us through the innovative business models and strategies that have positioned these platforms at the forefront of India's cashback and affiliate marketing ecosystem:
- Personal Journey: Origin story starting from her childhood in Ambala, higher education in Singapore and London, followed by her stint as an investment banker to creating a cashback business in the UK and then building India’s first VC funded cashback website raising over $30m from reputable names such as Affle, Korea Investment Partners, Kalaari etc.
- Model Unpacked: Swati provides an in-depth look at how CashKaro and EarnKaro operate, detailing their unique approaches to cashback and affiliate marketing by onboarding lucrative categories and e-commerce platforms/brands to empower Indian internet users save more money while shopping online
- Hustle of Category Creation: Hacks to approach category creation, role of customer education, and the importance of recognizing and engaging with champion users
- Changing Dynamic of Internet Shopping: Perspectives on the broader e-commerce and cashback ecosystem in India, discussing demographic trends, shift of wallet shares from Tier 1 to Tier 2/3/4 cities, role of social media in shopping choices, and opportunities for growth
- Future Aspirations: What’s next for CashKaro and EarnKaro as Swati outlines her vision for scaling these platforms while maintaining customer engagement
Join us for an enlightening conversation that not only highlights Swati's entrepreneurial journey but also offers valuable insights into the future of online shopping in India!
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other. The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
Join us for an insightful conversation with Anish Srikrishna, CEO of TimesPro, an education initiative by The Times Group which aims to revolutionize professional education in India.
TimesPro serves as a Higher Education Technology (H.EdTech) platform, offering a wide range of courses and training programs across various sectors, including Post Graduate Programs (PGPs), Master's degrees, and specialized training in finance, banking, e-commerce, technology, and more.
TimesPro has a tech enabled educational offering encompassing both classroom and online/live interactive learning, including collaborations with prestigious institutions such as IIMs, IITs, XLRI, and Ivy League universities, as well as building customized learning solutions for businesses to empower talent and drive business transformation.
Over the past three years, the company has achieved an impressive 75% CAGR in net revenues, surpassing ₹850 crore in revenue for FY24. TimesPro anticipates a 5X growth in the next three years, highlighting its robust business model and commitment to democratizing access to quality education and skills through technology.
Whether you're an educator, a student, or simply curious about the EdTech industry, this conversation promises to be both enlightening and inspiring.
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other. The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
We spoke with Winny Patro, CEO & Co-founder of Recordent, a pioneering SaaS-based platform aiming to tackle the significant issue of unpaid dues that MSMEs encounter, which is estimated to be around INR5L cr across the sector.
Recordent provides a technology platform designed to help SMEs manage their credit and collections more effectively. The company offers a suite of services that includes: Payment Reminder Automation: Automating reminders for payments to ensure timely collections. * Invoice Management: Streamlining the invoicing process to reduce delays in payments. * Credit Registry Reporting: Similar to a CIBIL report, it allows businesses to report defaults and track credit history. * Collections Analytics*: Providing insights to make informed decisions regarding collections and credit risk management.
Recordent has made significant strides in helping SMEs improve their cash flow and reduce collection cycles. For instance, manufacturers using the platform have reportedly reduced their collection cycles by 40 days and converted a substantial portion of previously non-paying customers into paying ones.
The company has effectively facilitated the resolution of outstanding dues for SME/MSME entities, enabling the clearance of INR4699 cr out of a total of INR5657 cr. With over 8.75L+ customer dues submitted on the platform, Recordent caters to the likes of Furlenco, Guarented, Bigsams, Udaan, RateGain and many others.
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
We spoke with Manikanth Challa, Founder & CEO of Workruit, an AI/ML assisted career and recruitment platform catering to the B2B, B2C and B2G segments.
Offering a suite of solutions like an i) AI-assisted Resume, CV, and Cover Letter Builder with a ii) Job Search and Matching Play, Workruit has built an interactive dating app-like interface where employers/recruiters and job seekers can match with each other.
Manikanth speaks about his personal journey from the US to India, throwing light on how he struggled to find developers and engineers in 2016 via traditional solutions out there. This pushed him to combine his prior product learnings from online dating and fintech industries to create an end-to-end career development platform like Workruit.
Workruit has generated more than 2M+ resumes and has 25M+ industry specific templates. They have raised over $500,000 in pre-Series A round led by the family office of Kantamaneni from the US and is now aiming to raise more in 2024 to expand their business in the Middle East.
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
We spoke with Balaji Subramaniam, Head of Global Sales and Strategy at Sattrix Group, a pioneer in cyber security solutions offering AI-driven managed security services to small, mid, and large scale enterprises.
Founded in 2013, Sattrix’s core focus is to protect critical assets and sensitive information from cyber threats. Sattrix stays ahead of the curve by leveraging emerging trends like AI and machine learning, Zero Trust Architecture, and cloud security to address the evolving threat landscape...further aiming to deliver top-notch cybersecurity managed and professional services to businesses globally.
We explore the cyber security market dynamic in India and abroad, how customers view their potential impact, consolidation trends, role of multiple technologies, client staging, use cases, and competitive differentiation.
In an environment where cyber security is a "board room decision" - an assessment of such a business is very timely.
Sattrix Information Security, has recently filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the BSE SME for an IPO. The issue involves a completely fresh equity sale of 18 lakh shares, with the company aiming to raise around Rs 20 crore. With the IPO, it seeks to further enhance its capabilities and expand its reach.
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
We chat with Ramanathan RV ("Ram"), co-founder of Hyperface - a cutting-edge Bengaluru based company pioneering contextual banking solutions.
With a particular focus on streamlining the credit card experience, Hyperface's "Credit-Cards-as-a-Service" platform simplifies end-to-end program management for credit cards, pay-later, and prepaid cards.
Hyperface offers a comprehensive suite of products designed to launch impeccable Credit Card programs within a matter of weeks. With a focus on simplifying complex technology, Hyperface has developed robust APIs, PWA, and SDKs, empowering businesses to effortlessly integrate instant card issuance, real-time rewards, and other innovative financial features.
We speak extensively on the sectoral forces shaping credit cards and the payments industry at large, notably emergence of creative and innovative technology enabled use cases thanks to lack of traditional revenue pools due to stringent regulations and price caps.
Hyperface has secured a substantial seed funding of $10.9 million, led by 3one4 Capital, with participation from existing investors like Global Founders Capital, Better Capital, and new investors including Flipkart Ventures, Groww, and Rebalance Angel Community.
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
We spoke with Sandesh Chitnis, CEO of Core Integra, a regulatory technology company offering labour law compliance, payroll processing, permanent hiring, staffing, and employee benefit solutions to its clients.
Ctrl F is Core Integra's flagship ERP-based software tool whose core features include automated statutory compliance management, risk management, regulatory compliance, and audit software to optimize business performance. Additionally, the platform has a comprehensive library of Indian laws and acts, facilitating easy search and indexing.
Sandesh shares his take on how technology can play role in digitizing and cracking labour law compliances in a complex country such as India with multiple jurisdictions and vernacular elements, taking into account the rising role of AI driven automation.
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
We spoke with Shiv Parekh - Founder of hBits - a fractional ownership platform focused on democratizing Commercial Real Estate.
Grade A Commercial properties, typically leased to multinational corporations and institutions, can potentially offer stable, secure, and relatively high yielding rental incomes to investors.
hBits grants retail investors access to such high-value assets by aggregating demand on its platform, and on the way reduces average ticket size needed to participate.
With rising investor appetite for Real Estate linked financial instruments in general, and SEBI's recent interventions to regulate the fractional ownership industry in particular, hBits' product offering and Shiv's insights are very timely.
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
We speak with Veer Mishra, Founder of Plus, a Bengaluru-based fintech platform aggregating and digitizing "jewellery savings schemes" in India.
Veer gives us a primer on this interesting asset class and describes Plus' offering which includes facilitating discovery of 270+ jewellers nationwide while allowing its customers to plan and save for their next significant jewellery purchase with ease.
Available over Google Playstore, Plus is free-to-use and offers an attractive 10% IRR along with exclusive discounts of up to 15% to its customers.
Approximately 25% of total gold and jewellery sales transpire through various jewellery savings schemes in India, yet the market remains predominantly offline and fraught with challenges. Plus addresses critical hurdles such as exorbitant making charges and the lack of discoverability.
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
We speak with Alankar Saxena, CTO of Mudrex, a platform which has simplified the journey of crypto investors in India and abroad with innovative retail oriented product offerings like coin sets, vault, and now coins.
This conversation is very timely considering the revival of crypto within mainstream narrative thanks to rising regulatory clarity (MiCA, UK Parliament, US SEC etc.) and the approval of Bitcoin ETFs within the US.
Alankar shares his take on how 2024 may pan out for crypto within global markets and whether this may be the inflection point everyone's been looking for when it comes to this exciting and highly volatile asset class.
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
We speak with Krish Ramineni, Co-founder & CEO of Fireflies.ai – a Canaan and Khosla Ventures backed startup whose flagship AI meeting assistant takes notes, transcribes, and analyses Meetings.
Used across 200,000+ organizations, Fireflies is on a mission to transform work conversations into actions with its voice assistant, transcription tools designed to automate your team’s workflow. The idea is to unlock the treasure trove of knowledge buried inside voice conversations by creating a searchable and shareable knowledge base.
Fireflies integrates with all leading video conferencing platforms such as Zoom, GMeet, and Teams along with popular CRMs and ERP applications like Salesforce, Hubspot, Zoho, and Slack.
Aside from covering Krish’s journey at Fireflies and how he sees AI power future productivity tools, we try to understand the evolution of generative AI, early customer adoption, ethical and regulatory concerns and how the industry hopes to navigate these complexities.
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
We spoke with Peuli Das, Chief Insurance Officer at Future Generali India Life Insurance Company, a leading life insurance company headquartered in Mumbai offering total life insurance solutions across individual and group front.
Peuli earlier served as MD, Actuarial, Insurance Analytics, and Artificial Intelligence at Accenture and as the Chief and Appointed Actuary in IndiaFirst. Her prior experiences include working in India and abroad for leading brands such as, Reliance Life, Exide Life, HDFC Life, New York Life, and Deutsche Bank.
We gain a basic primer on insurance, what new-to-insurance policyholders should think of when they are buying life insurance, product innovation, mis-selling, inherent risks, role of technology, and regulatory developments which support insurance penetration, policyholder education, and changing customer preferences.
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
We spoke with Prashant A. Bhonsle, founder & CEO of Kuhoo, a Mumbai based fintech unlocking finance for Indian students. Kuhoo aims to become the first port of call for all Indian middle class students thinking about higher education, whether in India or abroad, premium college or not.
Kuhoo leverages advanced technologies, data science and analytics to customise lending solutions for students and enable them to get loans without concomitant worries. Their approach involves evaluating loan applications based on a student's potential to secure employment and income, rather than relying solely on traditional factors such as parental income.
In addition to conventional educational paths such as Engineering and MBA, Kuhoo offers products for non-traditional certificate courses as well as online education programs. Kuhoo allows students to apply from anywhere, check eligibility, upload documents, and monitor loan status in real-time through its user-friendly mobile application. The platform also provides flexible and customized repayment options, empowering borrowers with the ability to obtain loans without co-borrowers or collateral.
Kuhoo is backed by Westbridge Capital, and has established partnerships with ICICI Bank, offering additional products such as Forex and Insurance, and has introduced skill development programs for Engineering and MBA students.
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
We spoke with Rajesh Shet, Co-Founder & CEO of SahiBandhu, a trailblazing gold loan aggregation platform leveraging existing infrastructure, reach, and cost competitiveness of scheduled commercial banks to disrupt the traditionally NBFC-led gold loan sector.
SahiBandhu aims to offer very convenient assisted customer journeys giving borrowers multiple gold loan products from best-in-class banks in line with their precise requirements and with a focus on underpenetrated semi urban and rural areas.
SahiBandhu has rapidly expanded its presence across Tier-3 cities (600+ locations), taking advantage of low competition outside major metropolitan areas. With offerings such as gold-backed credit cards and gold-backed investments, the company aims to now expand into Tier-1 and Tier-2 markets.
Founded in 2019 and backed by The Manipal Group, SahiBandhu was established by industry experts including Mr. Rajesh Shet, Mr. Anuj Arora, Mr. Vijay Malhotra, and Mr. Virendra Yaduvanshi.
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
We spoke with Bibhu Prasad Das, CEO & Co-founder of Propelld, a Series B funded Bengaluru based fintech specializing in providing personalised education loans to students and families in Tier 2/3 cities.
Propelld bases their lending decisions on selected course’s end-use, deep borrower underwriting, and by taking a partner-led model. Backed by marquee investors such as Westbridge Capital, Stellaris, and India Quotient, the company was founded with the mission to make education financing more accessible and affordable for Indian students.
Propelld leverages technology and ventures deep into its target segment (i.e. supplementary/out of school education and higher education) by collecting alternate data points to determine a student's forward looking capabilities and motivations.
Listen in to this fascinating chat where we touch upon inherent underwriting challenges within education lending, how Propelld has tackled them to unlock the potential of this market as a large-TAM-low loss segment, and the perspective needed by institutional investors looking to take exposure in this space.
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
We spoke with Sonam Motwani, CEO of Karkhana.io, a custom manufacturing platform helping OEMs source the right MSME manufacturing suppliers and high-quality components for their projects.
Karkhana.io has emerged as a new age tech-enabled managed marketplace, providing a wide range of manufacturing services catering to the needs of businesses for small to large volume production, product assembly, product localization, and contract manufacturing.
Their capabilities include CNC Machining, Injection Moulding, Vacuum Casting, Forging, Electronics Integrations, Casting, 3D Printing, and more.
Backed by Vertex Ventures and Aureolis Ventures, and with a track record of manufacturing over 2.5 million components for more than 300 customers all through a network of 400+ suppliers, Sonam and Karkhana.io have set ambitious goals for themselves with the company aspiring to achieve a topline of INR1,500cr ($187.5m) by FY2026.
Listen in to this fascinating chat where we touch upon the structural challenges around "custom-built highly engineered" manufacturing in India coupled with wider issues around fragmentation, low state of digitization in the ecosystem at large, along with the perspective needed by institutional investors looking to take exposure to this space.
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
We spoke with Anuj Rajain CEO of Soteria, India's largest home grown integrated security, facilities management, remote monitoring, and video surveillance company offering its solutions to multiple industries like BFSI, retail, healthcare, construction, logistics, F&B, corporate offices etc.
Anuj explains - through examples - how surveillance and remote monitoring are becoming more of a ROI driver than just a cost center. He walks us through the broader tech transformation underway converting surveillance into an automated workflow via sensor alert-based monitoring - thereby allowing Soteria to showcase its solutions as a SaaS based offering to clients.
Listen in to this fascinating chat where we touch upon a wide range of topics ranging from the supply chain challenges faced by gold loan companies to why supermarkets in the US are being robbed left, right, and center!
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
We spoke with Subhrangshu Kumar Neogi Co-founder of Escrowpay, a pioneer in digital escrow solutions enabling smarter, faster and safer transactions for businesses.
Escrowpay is a trailblazer in the world of B2B escrow solutions, by digitizing a predominantly non-linear escrow mechanism involving multiple stakeholders including legacy regulated financial institutions, into an integrated single window platform.
Escrowpay's stack includes secure banking infrastructure, trusteeship services, instant identity verification, digital contracts with e-sign capabilities, payment gateway services, integration with various payment methods, digital ledgers, real-time reporting, and seamless transaction processing and management. Their platform caters to a wide range of industries and use cases, making it easy to establish digital escrow accounts in a matter of minutes.
Through this chat with Subhrangshu, we discover the typical pain-points faced by MSMEs and how tech-enabled solutions like Escrowpay could go a long way in overcoming transaction inertia and unlocking growth.
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
We spoke with Vikrant Singh, Co-Founder of BATX Energies, who recycles used Lithium-ion batteries to extract critical metals chiefly Lithium, Nickel, Cobalt, and Manganese.
BATX subsequently supplies these extracted raw materials as inputs to battery cell manufacturers to create a closed-loop Circular Economy for Lithium-ion Battery Manufacturing and Electric Vehicles.
With a R&D center in Gurgaon and an industrial unit in UP, Vikrant lays the brass tacks behind India's energy storage supply chain and how various extraction processes, ranging from mechanical, metallurgical, and chemical processes can play a crucial role in serving an energy starved and raw material deficient region such as ours.
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
We spoke with Sudhir Kunder, Chief Business Officer at DE-CIX India, a leading carrier and data center neutral interconnection platform with organizational roots in Frankfurt.
By offering a reliable and low-latency interconnection platform, DE-CIX India enhances internet performance and optimizes network traffic flow between internet service providers (ISPs), content providers, and network operators. This exchange plays a crucial role in improving the overall internet experience for users and businesses by enabling faster and more efficient data exchange among digital entities in India's rapidly growing online ecosystem.
In this podcast we deconstruct some basic concepts:
- Primer on the internet and role of an Internet Exchange
- On DE-CIX and its background
- Business model of an internet exchange
- Quick explainer on DE-CIX's offerings
- Navigating data privacy on the internet: impact of AI, newer challenges, consumer recourse?
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
We spoke with Rahul Khetawat, Head of Offline (Sales) at Property Share, India’s first and largest tech-enabled investment platform for commercial real estate.
Property Share allows users to access investments in pre-leased institutional-grade commercial real estate in India and the UK - allowing them to diversify their portfolios and benefit from rental income and property appreciation. The company also provides property management services and resale support to ensure ongoing liquidity.
Launched in 2016 to democratize real estate investing, Property Share is now a Series B company having raised $52 million to-date and with marquee investors on its cap table, including the likes of WestBridge Capital and BEENEXT. With over $200 million in assets under management, Property Share has attracted 200,000+ registered users and 2500+ investors from over 20 countries.
Tune in to an incredibly captivating conversation as you discover how Property Share sits at the confluence of finance and real estate, attempting to establishing a unique ecosystem in the process.
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
We speak with Saurav Ghosh, Co-Founder of Jiraaf, a digital platform unlocking and democratizing high yield fixed income investment opportunities for retail investors.
Jiraaf offers individual investors access to a wide array of alternate investment products beyond the usual suspects like listed stocks, mutual funds, real estate or gold, all via an easy-to-use convenient digital platform. The investment opportunities are spread across a great mix of asset classes, risk profiles, yields, and tenors, including the likes of corporate debt, venture debt, invoice discounting, and asset backed leasing, which are traditionally often accessible only to institutional players.
Tune in to an incredibly captivating conversation as you discover how Jiraaf skillfully navigated and pioneered an emerging industry, attempting to establishing a unique ecosystem in the process.
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
We spoke with Ritesh Srivastava, Founder & CEO of FREED, India’s 1st Comprehensive Debt Relief Platform.
FREED was founded with the goal to provide an affordable and comprehensive debt relief solution to India's retail borrowers.
Ritesh has been a serial entrepreneur for over 20 years and thanks to his background in Debt Relief in the US, he was naturally attracted to this segment in India. He understood the pain points of debtors in India and set out to solve the big problem. So far under his leadership, FREED has counselled over 45,000+ customers and enrolled over INR300 crores in debt and has constantly strived to make the entire debt relief journey as seamless and painless as possible.
Tune in to an incredibly captivating conversation as you discover how FREED skillfully navigated and pioneered an emerging and fragmented industry, potentially establishing a unique micro-monopoly in the process.
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
We spoke with Nishith Gupta, Director Sapana Carpet-Mats - a leading brand with a market share of 50-55% among branded plastic mats in India.
Considering the lower propensity to spend on home décor among Indians vs. the west, Sapana decided to explore the world of plastic mats as they were much more affordable than conventional carpets.
The company operates through an omnichannel distribution model with over 30,000 retail stores across India and a robust online presence. The 100% family-owned business recently clocked revenues of INR135cr.
Listen in for a super interesting chat to understand how Nishith, a 2nd generation entrepreneur is navigating and scaling a business in a rather traditional industry through rapid technological and distribution disruptions.
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
We spoke with Sameer Aggarwal, Founder and CEO at Revfin, a specialist lending company focused on underwriting electric vehicle (EV) loans.
Last we chatted with Sameer was in December 2019 (link to the episode) when Revfin was taking initial steps in its journey. The world has changed a fair bit since then, with the company having financed over 25,000 vehicles across 19 states, disbursed INR300cr in loans, and raised capital from a bunch of marquee investors including the likes of Green Frontier Capital (GFC), LC Nueva Investment Partners, and debt from the US International Development Finance Corp.
Sameer's view on EV financing has a "ecosystem" flavour. We found his insights that the challenge to underwrite against EVs, a relatively new asset class, can be hedged by piggy backing on manufacturers, dealers, distributors, and charging infra providers extremely insightful.
He firmly believes that as this ecosystem evolves - it is only about time when EV financing would become as commoditized an offering as internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle loans.
Listen in for a super interesting chat to understand how Revfin navigated and broke ground through a rather disjointed and nascent industry to create a micro monopoly of sorts.
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
Saurabh Tyagi is the Co-Founder and CEO of PropChk, India's fastest growing tech-enabled home inspection company.
An Electrical Engineer from IIT Roorkee, Saurabh started PropChk to help homebuyers and homeowners gain visibility around potential construction defects within a home before they purchase/invest in the asset. The company operates on a B2C business model that covers home inspection, dampness detection, area measurement, and multi-stage inspection for ready to move in properties. They also provide B2B solutions, including commercial properties, project audits, RWA project takeover audits, and multi-stage inspections.
Once inspections are completed, a comprehensive report enlisting all the defects and supported with photographic evidence is submitted to the client.
Listen in for a super interesting chat to understand how PropChk navigated and broke ground through a rather opaque real estate industry to bring transparency to the overall construction process.
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
Abhishek Sharma is the Co-Founder & COO of Fashinza, a tech-enabled platform that solves manufacturing for fashion brands.
Started initially to improve experience while dealing with suppliers, Fashinza takes a value chain approach to support brands, acting as a one stop shop for their sourcing requirements, from the placement of orders all the way to fulfilment, including design, pattern making, sales forecasting and even colour on latest trends and styles.
Fashinza is able to do this by digitising the entire production flow at the supplier's end.
Listen in for a super interesting chat to understand how various cogs work and fit within the global fashion supply chain and how Fashinza is attempting to formalize and optimize this flow.
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
Piyush Gupta is the CEO of VOSMOS, connecting brands to customers through immersive, engaging and easily accessible virtual experiences.
VOSMOS is helping companies create virtual and hybrid events, immersive DIY virtual stores, and transforming online customer interactions through creation of tailormade and realistic digital environments.
Piyush takes a pragmatic take towards the evolution of digital commerce, blending arguments in favour of metaverse/related immersive technologies with on-ground structural realities such as low adoption of hardware beyond mobile (i.e. VR/AR headsets etc.).
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
Anuj Parekh is the Co-Founder and CEO of Healthysure, an employee benefits insurtech company enabling comprehensive group health coverage for employees of SMEs, startups, and enterprises.
Healthysure offers digitized policy and claims experience with curated health and wellness offerings, including an industry-first flexi top-up insurance product which allows employees to personalize & upgrade their corporate health covers and enjoy continuity benefits post-employment.
Riding the post pandemic spike in insurance penetration in general, Healthysure helps SMEs build customized benefits suite, receive proposals from 20+ insurers, lock plans, and simplify/automate the entire experience for employees including visibility on claims etc. Albeit insurance has traditionally been a push product, Anuj believes that the cat is out of the bag and these trends are there to stay.
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
We chat with Narinder Mahajan CEO of ODN Digital Services (short for ‘Open Doors Now’), a market leader in ‘Shop Now’ strategies, enabling brands and e-commerce
platforms to sell successfully online.
Narinder is a consumer-retail and e-commerce specialist, and has over 20 years of industry experience. During his corporate journey, he worked with various game-changing organizations across diverse industries and formats of consumer retail.
In 2015, he turned entrepreneur and co-founded ODN. At ODN he assists 200+ consumer brands across 20+ product categories meet their ecommerce and digital conversion goals.
In this chat we touch upon:
- Understanding ODN's business model and monetisation
- Differentiation/USP - explain the "Shop Now" strategy
- Thoughts on evolution of D2C - threat of rising CACs, shift towards offline, risk off perception of investors etc.
- Trends to watch in ecommerce e.g. the role of AR, metaverse etc.
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
We chat with Shivam Bajaj CEO of Avener Capital, an investment bank offering bespoke PE Advisory, M&A Advisory, structured finance advisory and debt syndication services. Being on the same side of the fence we reflect upon:
- State of Venture Capital investments in India
- View on unsecured credit as a new and emerging source of capital for SMEs
- Next in line for REITS and InVITS in light of recent taxation norms
- Dynamics of deal making in India
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
We chat with Shreyans Nahar CEO of Chennai based Finsire who is building infrastructure to aggregate and secure digital assets so that Banks, NBFCs, and Fintechs can lend against them.
Their solution allows creditors and asset-holding brokers to maximise their lending capabilities and create an additional source of revenues by lending against earned income (for salaried employees) or digital assets (such as life insurance). This is done by permitting the lenders to leverage Finsire’s infrastructure that connects with employers and asset originators (i,e Life insurance companies, and CAMS) to enable secured credit to individuals.
In India, there are 1bn people who own an account at a bank or at other financial institutions, out of which 810m are credit eligible. However, only 50% of the country's working population of 400 million people is credit active, having at least one loan or credit card. Rest end up going through a tedious process of pledging their hard assets. And that's the gap companies like Finsire aim to plug.
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
We chat with Satyajeet Kunjeer, Founder of Deciml, who is working towards building and automating a micro investing and savings culture in India.
Deciml is a micro-investing and micro-savings app that enables young Indians to auto-invest their spare change (as low as Re 1/-) from online transactions into Mutual Funds or Fixed Return Funds. The company recently raised launched its product and raised capital.
Within three months of its introduction on the Android PlayStore, Deciml received 25,000+ downloads with a total of ₹20,00,000+ being invested through round-ups, as well as daily investments. Currently, an average user of Deciml is investing close to ₹1,859 per month through these small round-up amounts. With an ambition to add at least 1% more young investors to India’s investment ecosystem, the company has onboarded partners that include Lend Box, Motilal Oswal, as well as Yes Bank.
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
We chat with Nageen Kommu, Founder and CEO of Digitap.AI, whose work has largely revolved around solving the problem of information asymmetry for lenders.
Majority of BFSI players in the country are dependent on bureau data while c. 400mn Indians have low bureau scores, making formal credit inaccessible to them.
Digitap.AI provides alternative data and scoring models to underwrite such borrowers, thereby reducing the risk of NPAs. An early stage fintech platform, the company offers AI and ML based Credit Underwriting, Digital Customer Onboarding, Automated Risk Management and Big Data enabled solutions, including Risk Analytics and Customized Scorecards. The company is a certified TSP on the Sahamati platform.
Clients comprise 70+ organisations, including new age fintechs like Bharatpe, Navi, Incred, Lendbox, Kreditbee, as well as more traditional players such as Motilal Oswal, Piramal Finance, and Northern Arc, among others. For FY 2022, the company's revenue stood at INR63mn ($0.8mn) and EBITDA stood at INR25mn ($0.3mn). Targeting an ARR of $20-25mn in the next 5 years, alternate use cases such as marketing, fraud detection, and identity management and development of a personal finance management suite along with the existing solutions should act as key growth catalysts for the business.
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
We chat with Adarsh Chokhani of Assurekit, a Mumbai-based Insurtech startup aiming to make insurance commerce simple.
Adarsh is building a technology enabled interface between manufacturers of insurance products i.e. insurance companies, and distributors who want to sell insurance, either as part of their core business or as a value added service.
Think of someone who enables Make My Trip to sell travel insurance directly on its App, or an auto financer sell car insurance through its website, and so on and so forth. And doing this in a country where 99% of policies are still sold face-to-face, right or wrong!
Assurekit promises to be a super interesting B2B2C business, pushing us to delve deeper into the very model which makes it worth noticing.
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
We kick off our new season with Pankaj Parwanda of goSTOPS, a hospitality startup targeting young people (sub INR1,000 average daily rate beds) via tech-enabled creation and formalization of the youth hostel inventory pan India.
Leveraging benefits of sharing economies and community living, goSTOPS is run by Pallavi Agarwal & Pankaj Parwanda, a very strong founder team who operate 30+ properties comprising 2,500+ available dorm beds spread across the country.
A super interesting business with great potential - being asset light and possessing strong execution capabilities, we delve deeper into the very model that makes goSTOPS great, and which has resulting in them building a solid brand within their TG in a relatively short period of time.
Hope you enjoy this TRANSFIN. Podcast with Nikhil Arora and Sharath Toopran, where we converse with entrepreneurs and business operators running successful startups, profitable SMEs and family promoted firms on one end, and top investment professionals representing VC/PE/credit funds on the other.
The objective is to bring out an "actionable" perspective converging the world of business and investing.
If you're a founder and if you'd like us to drill down your model, feel free to drop us a line at edit@transfin.in
We speak to Priyank Shah, Co-Founder and Director of Renee Cosmetics, an up-and-coming player disrupting the Indian makeup and cosmetics industry. He walks us through the challenges of creating a phygital commerce company with a differentiated offering in a very competitive sector. Moreover, Priyank walks us through his experiences of building Beardo, his former venture, and how it shaped his journey at Renee. Innovation is the key to success in the beauty and personal care segment, he says, as it helps product experiences resonate with the users. Cultivating on these insights, he aims to lead Renee to newer heights of success, building upon the remarkable growth the company has witnessed recently.
Listen in for an enlightening conversation.
We speak with Saket Agarwal, Founder and CEO of Onnivation, a firm that invests in deeptech Israeli SAAS companies and drives their business for India. Onnivation's partner companies bring Israel's deeptech ecosystem to India's largest corporations. As someone who christened himself on social media as #YourIsraelGuy, Saket reflects upon the ideas and motivations which drove his journey to-date.
Listen in for a thoughtful conversation.
We speak with Raj Neervannan, Co-founder and CTO, of AlphaSense - a leading market intelligence and search platform focused on the financial services sector. AlphaSense helps its clients make better business decisions by collecting data, analysing information, and contextualising findings through its AI-powered products and solutions. Raj sheds light on market research's most significant challenges i.e. information overload, asymmetry, non-standardisation and the roles that technology can play in solving them.
Listen in for an insightful conversation!
We speak with Badal Malick, Co-founder and Chief Business Officer at KarmaLife.AI, a platform building financial solutions for India's growing gig economy. Motivated by the pain points of gig workers, including cashflow volatility, exposure to shocks and limited career progression due to a low skill base, Badal talks about how KarmaLife.AI serves their financial requirements. Drawing from his own experience and interest towards financial inclusion, Badal explains how KarmaLife.AI combines work data and technology to accurately underwrite customised credit and build trust in order to empower gig workers and support lenders.
We speak with Harsh Bhuta, Partner at Bhuta Shah & Co. LLP, a Mumbai-based premier Chartered Accountant and Law firm, which deals closely in audit, taxation, advisory and corporate finance.
Harsh shares his insights on the way cryptocurrency regulation - in particular, taxation - is taking shape in India. As a seasoned tax consultant, he breaks down the new rules and implications for Indian crypto investors as the country takes a (supposedly) accommodative approach towards regulating this enormously popular asset class. Despite commending its merits, Harsh is rather circumspect and feels that the framework is currently very tight, out-of-touch with global precedents and would not be conducive to attracting institutional volumes - unless regulations evolve fast enough. Will India miss the bus?
Listen in for an enlightening conversation.
We speak with Mohan Krishnan, the co-founder of Mphasis, one of India's largest listed IT and BPO company. He is also the founder of Global PayEx, a B2B fintech company focused on improving working capital efficiencies through optimisation of a company's Account Receivable and Account Payable cycles.
Having over 30 years of rich experience in financial services-focused information technology, Mohan explains how traditional banking channels are ill-equipped to give a complete and contextualised picture of one's working capital situation, and the need to combine one's AR/AP cycle in real time with value-added lending solutions. From this, we go on to discuss the uniquely India-specific challenges afflicting our unsecured lending markets and why.
Listen in for a super-fascinating and nuanced discussion.
Anshuman Panwar is the Co-Founder of Creditas, a tech startup which specialises in delinquency management. He speaks at length about his business and the ways in which one can combine the elements of gamification, personalisation and financial literacy to build a robust technology-enabled debt collection layer.
While LongShorts has traditionally focused on the lending side of things, chatting with Anshuman, and his take on the not-so-glamorous albeit phenomenally important area of collections and the role played by technology to make borrower experience as frictionless as possible, has been a breath of fresh air. Anyone can lend but getting your money back is the key.
Listen in for this fascinating conversation.
We speak with Milan Ganatra, CEO & Founder of 1SilverBullet. His platform's core offering includes building API-based digital interfaces to help financial institutions, consumers and developers talk with each other.
Milan speaks about how 1SilverBullet acts as the bridge between manufacturers of various financial products including investments, lending, and insurance with the wider marketplace (brokers, intermediaries etc.). He takes a nuanced view towards digital adoption, saying physical stores, storefronts and physical advice would always be there.
Listen intently for a brilliant conversation.
Does your child struggle with instructional learning? This week in LongShorts, we speak with Sonia Notani, the co-founder of BrainGymJr - a technology startup that aims to teach children how to think and apply their school-based knowledge from a young age. Focused specifically on Mathematics, English and real-world skills, BrainGymJr is gamifying learning by presenting simple concepts (e.g. ratios) within a problem-solving framework (e.g. ratios of a pizza) - one game at a time!
Choosing not to identify strictly as an edtech company, Sonia talks about the complex value chains underlying education, the various stakeholders at play and the critical inputs needed to create a product such as hers.
Listen in for an engaging conversation!
Insurance is one of the world's oldest industries. It’s also an industry “waiting to get disrupted by technology” according to Sanchit Malik, our guest this week on LongShorts.
Sanchit is the Co-Founder and CEO of Pazcare, a seed-funded insurtech startup that is aiming to disrupt the delivery of employee health benefits.
We discuss how Pazcare aims to address the challenges around employee benefits and group health insurance plans.
We also delve into the Indian insurance sector in general, the heated price competition among the players, and why the country's health insurance market remains hospitalisation-driven as opposed to day-to-day healthcare-driven.
Tune in for some valuable insights!
India recently created a framework to tax crypto assets in a move that is being seen as bold and progressive by one of the largest economies of the world.
But does a crypto tax necessarily confer legitimacy on an asset class that is long distrusted by traditional financial systems due to its novelty, volatility and notoriety?
Join us as we discuss these nuances and much more with our guest Edul Patel, the Co-founder and CEO of Mudrex.com, an automated crypto trading platform. As a self-proclaimed "crypto enthusiast first and Mudrex founder later", his take on the Government's move is largely optimistic just like his take on cryptocurrency which he believes is "going to stay here for the next 30-40 years".
Tune in for a riveting conversation on all things crypto as we discuss the details of the crypto tax, Mudrex's business and the state of the crypto market in India while also sharing a laugh or two on the "mematic elements" of this ever-savvy and impossible-to-ignore financial asset.
The gap between technology and investing is growing ever so narrow. Algorithmic trading already accounts for the bulk of market activity in Western countries, and it is slowly but surely taking off in a big way in India (case in point: SEBI's recent consultation paper).
Our guest this week is Kanika Agarrwal, co-founder of Upside AI, a Mumbai-based PMS that aims to build "India's first tech-led AMC".
Ms. Agarrwal argues that machines make trusty market companions and portfolio advisors, since, unlike humans, they are "unbiased, unemotional and unaffected by market euphoria and panic". There may, however, be a few terms and conditions involved.
Join us as we discuss the promise and limitations of tech-led investing, how it compares to conventional trading, and why "smart" money is not that smart!
It’s the new year and we’re back with a brand new episode of LongShorts!
Our guest is Karan Mehta, the Co-founder and CTO of Kissht, a digital lending platform that offers BNPL and merchant level credit in India. Backed by his profound technological insights, Karan walks us through Kissht's journey and at the same time, gives us an account of the different models of Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) and consumer durable finance which are at play in the market.
Karan is a fintech veteran and offers a bird's eye view into digital lending, the technological possibilities when it comes to better underwriting and fraud detection and the immense opportunities and potential that lie in the field.
If data is the new oil, then data centres are the new-age high-tech hubs of this critical fuel.
India's data consumption has seen a sharp 38% uptick YoY in FY21. This has unsurprisingly piqued the interest of global and domestic data developers who are rushing to invest, establish and develop data centres across the country.
ST Telemedia Global Data Centres India (STT GDC India) is a Mumbai-based co-location service provider that reportedly commands a 33% revenue market share in the country's data centre segment. Our guest this week is Jatinder Singh Pabla, Vice President - Sales & Marketing at STT GDC India.
Together, we delve into this up-and-coming market: its capacity, growth potential, investment cycles, geographic distribution in India, how the pandemic augmented change in its dynamics, what the entry of big players bodes for the sector going forward, and much more.
With its enormous business, energy and environmental implications, the rise of data centres in India is a topic worth deep-diving into. So sit back and join us for an insightful discussion!
We are back with a brand new episode and our guest today is Milind D. Shinde, the founder and CEO of 88 Pictures - the studio behind great animated shows such as Troll Hunters Trilogy and Fast & Furious.
We discuss all things animation as Milind (formerly at DreamWorks) offers his insights on the global value chain and where homegrown companies such as 88 Pictures can fit.
A big proponent of merging India-based content with Western style of storytelling and visualisation, Milind takes us on a fascinating practitioner's journey through an industry that is fast-evolving with newer ways of content creation and consumption day-by-day.
Listen in for an insightful explainer on the dynamics of the industry along with the people and technology supporting it.
We're back with another episode of LongShorts, and this week we delve into the world where agriculture and technology collide.
Our guest is agritech expert Anjami Nayyar, the CEO of Knowledge Network Solutions, who has also been associated with crop nutrition company Yara International in an advisory capacity.
Anjami opines that digital technology can be the game-changer for Indian farmers, who continue to struggle with high levels of poverty and low levels of productivity. And startups can be at the forefront of bringing about this change.
Anjami, who says financial inclusion is the key component of her work, is driven by social impact. She explains the complex value chain of food in India, which begins with the farmer (who requires credit and agri inputs), proceeds through multiple intermediaries after the harvest, and finally reaches the consumer after packaging via an array of distribution channels.
We also discuss the ways to calculate the credit-worthiness of a farmer, the effectiveness of farm loan waivers, the farm laws, and how the agritech sector at large is suddenly enjoying a veritable boom wherein it is receiving VC money as opposed to just CSR or grant-based funding.
Listen in for an insightful discussion!
Madhusudanan R, the co-founder of M2P Fintech, who made an appearance last year, joins us again to talk about how his business has changed since then and what future he sees in the fintech space.
Our guest discusses his journey from YAP to M2P, the firm's unique proposition, the competition it faces, its successful run in raising capital and investor perception when it comes to fintech. We also talk about the changing roles of regulators, banks and fintechs (especially neobanks) within the Indian financial system.
Listen in for a highly informative and engaging conversation!
It's a new week, a new episode and time to explore some new verticals here at LongShorts! (And surprisingly, without a mention of COVID-19 for a change!)
Our guest this time around is Chaith Kondragunta, CEO of AIRA Matrix. Chaith heads the Mumbai-based company and provides artificial intelligence-based solutions for life sciences and healthcare applications with particular focus on the pharmaceutical drug and discovery side of things.
Together, we delve into the fascinating world of AI - how it works, its applications, how it compares vis-a-vis human intelligence, and whether it can actually pose a threat to human jobs in the future.
Listen in for an insightful discussion!
Shared workspaces might just hold the key to revive community experiences in the aftermath of the pandemic.
With the Second Wave of COVID-19 wreaking havoc across India and showing no signs of abating, one business trend that is likely to remain intact in the near-term is working-from-home.
Our guest this week, Amit Ramani, is the Founder and CEO of Awfis Space Solutions, a homegrown flex workspace provider.
Amit gives us his take on why and how remote working will evolve post-COVID as more companies embrace the concept. He explains why he thinks the "hybrid model", where companies may strike a balance between working from and working from a "base" office, may be the future.
We also delve into the business side of things i.e. if the startup-centric co-working culture may be welcomed by big MNCs too and the infrastructure side of things (all the more relevant since you get the insights of not one but two people with architecture degrees!).
Tune in for an insightful discussion!
With the Coronavirus pandemic showing no signs of retreat anytime soon, businesses in India and around the world are being led to reinvent the ways they conduct themselves.
With that in mind, we speak to our guest, Mr. Manoj Kalra, Senior Vice President and Head of Group Business Services of DSM, a global science-based company with focus on nutrition, health and sustainable living.
We discuss matters related to the ongoing changes in the mode of global businesses operations. He throws insight into the evolution and adaptation of technology, automation, best HR practices and management of day-to-day operations that helps sustain business growth. We delve into questions on how the work-from-home modelled jobs may reconstruct the ways we think of office establishments and how we ought to normalise remote professional dealings.
Listen in for a fascinating conversation!
In our first episode in three weeks - and in the middle of the Second Wave! - we delve into how the real estate sector in India is doing.
Our guest is Saurabh Runwal, Associate Director at the Runwal Group, one of Mumbai’s premier real estate developers. He explains how the pandemic impacted the sector in a unique manner and why demand for residential properties in a society like India may never really die down. Saurabh also extends this argument to opine why he is bullish about commercial spaces even though it may seem as if the era of social distancing may never end.
We also discuss the behavioural considerations that go into buying real estate in India, supply pressures on property prices, impact of work-from-home (and whether it can be a long-term model), and how the Second Wave (and the restrictions that are coming with it) might affect Indian real estate and the economy as a whole.
Listen in for an insightful discussion!
In sight of the neobanking explosion (of sorts) to have taken place post-COVID, it becomes important to differentiate between the many emergent models under the “neobanks list.
Suman Gandham, as the founder and CEO of Finin - a new and upcoming neobanking platform, interestingly characterises Neobanks as Fitbits of Finance. Though one may remember him from his interview on Transfin. last year. This time Mr. Gandham pours into the structural nuances of various neobank models, illustrates how being consumer first can be a differentiator, and his take on RBI's directional thinking in terms of regulating this space.
With a recovery-focused Budget and equity markets in parallel heating up, plenty seems to have transpired for Indian economy in the first two months of 2021.
The elephant in the room however is the country's comatose credit cycle. Hence it is only fitting to evaluate the problem of capital starvation in India Inc. - where there's excess and where there's shortage. And joining us today is Divakar Vijayasarathy, Founder of DVS Advisors - a professional services company focused on cross-border Tax, Legal, Risk and M&A Advisory.
Divakar, having engaged in active lending himself, brings his unique perspective towards the deep-rooted structural challenges afflicting India's credit markets in general, and cross-border capital flows in particular.
He however sees the winds of change at bay, and feels the Government is proactively trying to reform and create a framework which should alleviate these pain points soon. He is, in particular, optimistic of the anticipated role to be played by GIFT City in Gujarat, being involved in the requisite stakeholder conversations for some time now.
All in all, it was a pleasure chatting with Divakar, who brought nuance and granularity to this fascinating debate sitting on the crux of international taxation, law, regulations and finance.
Our guest this week is Tushar Aggarwal, the Founder and CEO of StashFin, a digital lending platform offering flexible loan products in India.
Digital lending has enjoyed a meteoric rise during recent years, propelled by credit starvation in non-conventional cohorts, rising spends, and changing consumer behaviour thanks to a rapidly expanding digital footprint bringing in newer aspirations.
A seasoned financial services professional and entrepreneur with a CV that includes the who's who of global investment banks, Tushar takes us through StashFin's online lending business model, how the space has evolved in recent years, the challenges companies face in convincing customers to hop onto the digital bandwagon, and what lies ahead for the sector.
In the end of the day, we learn that while online lending may seem like a relatively simple financial product, it has its fair share of nuances, complications and levers that can be pulled.
PS - This isn't the first time we've had someone from StashFin on LongShorts. Click here to listen to our earlier discussion with Parikshit Chitalkar, Co-Founder of StashFin.
It's about time we speak of neobanks, no?
Guess we were just waiting for the right person. :) Well now that's no longer an excuse.
Presenting a super interesting chat with Jitin Bhasin, Founder and CEO of SaveIN - a neobank "aimed at simplifying Finance, Banking, Investments."
A former senior fintech leader with stints at BankBazaar.com and RupeeRedee, Jitin distills over a decade of experience in fintech and banking industry to walk us through the web of data, business models, and regulatory nuances afflicting India's fintech industry. We cover a fair amount of ground here, from the rise of neobanks in India and what they are exactly to how fintech can develop its own independent niche within the banking sector.
Tune in for this and many more riveting insights!
FYI: SaveIN is soon to launch its offering and has already been featured as one of Startup Pill's 101 picks for the best Banking startups worth a follow, globally.
Our guest this episode is Jitesh Agarwal, with whom we discuss how startups and SMEs in India are functioning and the challenges they continue to face in the wake of COVID-19. The pandemic has brought about a lot of changes in management and investment attitude, and this has no doubt forced the SME sector to adapt accordingly.
Jitesh is the co-founder of Treelife Consulting, a Mumbai-based multi-disciplinary business consulting firm for startups and SME companies in India. Its pitch is simple: To offer tailor-made solutions in legal and financial areas to new entrepreneurs and to support them in their growth story.
Listen in for a riveting conversation on all things SME and startup!
We do a deep dive into Factor Investing with Hersh Tolani. Factor investing, a purely mathematical framework, can add much needed discipline and structure to your investing process.
Segued (as expected) into a wider discourse around investing - touching many facets ranging from quantitative vs. qualitative approaches, deep value school to more traditional philosophies.
Investing is an ocean (assume the cover art would now make more sense!) with often no right or wrong answers. The key is to understand the traps and opportunities and form your own path.
Hersh runs Tolani Investment Partnerships, an investment fund for select ultra-high net worth families who have the patience to invest for the long-term. He has previously worked with Standard Chartered as a corporate banker and has 15 years of experience in Indian markets. He is also the co-founder and CEO of InvestingHub.in - a video platform where India’s best fund managers present their highest conviction stock picks.
Vivek Mashrani is a proud value investing and financial freedom proponent. He believes that both Technical Analysis and Fundamentals bring their own set of unique perspectives to the investing process and would rather combine them through a "TechnoFunda" route.
In this super interesting chat, we challenge Vivek on value investing's recent perceived loss of relevance within contemporary financial markets. While agreeing with us in principle, Vivek takes a more nuanced approach towards how popular perception of value investing in India often fails to represent its underlying strength as a method, and how and where he draws the line in this own investing philosophy.
Spanning from the rise of big technology companies, challenges in valuing technology based "platform" plays, to how to square Indian equities lucrative growth outlook with sensible price actions - we cover a lot of ground here, while having a lot of fun. Hope you enjoy it as well.
We speak with Madhusudanan R, reflecting upon the evolution of fintech in India over the past decade - starting from the initial hype around peer to peer lending platforms and e-wallets to how this new age sector has, naturally and by regulations, gravitated towards the traditional banking sector.
As founder and CEO of YAP, an API platform acting as a technology layer connecting businesses with banks, he shares his thoughts on the interesting marriage between public infrastructure and private innovation within Indian fintech and why it excites him.
We're still "scratching the surface" in terms of what fintech can deliver, as per Madhusudanan - be it in verticals such as digital lending, payments or horizontals such as blockchain, big data and Artificial Intelligence.
That surely got us excited.
Shachindra Nath looks at SMEs loans through a uniquely granular sectoral lens.
As Executive Chairman and MD of U GRO Capital - a listed SME lender with a loan book of c. INR850cr, Mr. Nath has been busy deploying his vision over the last three years to serve this challenging and grossly underpenetrated segment.
In today's chat he shares his thoughts on: - How to view SME lending/SME financing through U GRO's model - The role of digital infrastructure in pricing risk - Information asymmetry: real or not? - Strengthening U GRO's footprint as a tech enabled lender vs a pure-play fintech operator
Happy listening!
It has been nearly ten years of printing money and near-zero interest rates in most developed markets. Thanks to COVID, the phenomenon is now spreading to the emerging world as well. What was envisaged to be an emergency maneuver has now become the status quo.
How has this central bank approach worked? Where did it come short? How should one think about the side effects of Quantitative Easing on the world economy?
We chat with Colin Lloyd, a markets veteran (plus writer behind In the Long Run, a Top 100 Economics Blog) as he reflects upon difficult questions around rising debt build up and frothy asset prices over the last decade.
On the way we also touch upon his take around COVID responses (across countries) and the big macro trends and questions facing us.
This is a follow up chat with Dr Arun K Chopra on Covid-19. We spoke six months ago (remotely) when Coronavirus had just struck India to gain his early perspective on the challenges at play.
As a Senior Cardiologist and member of Fortis Amritsar's Covid-19 response team, he now shares a refined view under the framework of what we now know vs what we thought we knew.
From Covid's starting perception as a plain pneumonia-like condition to its evolution into a complicated disease spanning through multiple organs, organ systems, and immune responses, we chat with Dr Chopra across dimensions to understand what has changed in our understanding of: - Coronavirus Disease Transmission
-
Coronavirus Disease Progression
-
The Wide Variety of Symptoms
-
Care Needed Post Disease
-
Current Treatment and Potential Future Vaccine Fix
Viram Shah has been helping Indians invest in the US stock markets through Vested Finance, a company he started in 2018.
We (at TRANSFIN.) have always found this theme rather interesting, considering US equities' global leadership when it comes to innovation and market dominance (exhibit A). Aside from the obvious diversification and foreign exchange market benefits (in most cases), listed US companies often set the tone for the rest of the world when it comes to superior disclosures, liquidity, and price discovery.
Hence in this chat we walk through Viram's take on this opportunity, as well as throw light on the constraints facing Indians who want to broaden their equity exposure and risk exposure beyond borders, ranging across operational, regulatory, or taxation domains.
On the way we also take stock of the ebbs and flows characterising markets at-large especially in a post Covid paradigm.
Hope you have fun listening in.
Vivek Bajaj is a third generation Financial Markets participant and co-founder of StockEdge, a research and analytics platform aiming to become the 'Bloomberg' for retail investors in India.
We talk about the wide range of things like: - How Indian stock markets have been technology challenged - How price is as good as the quality of data backing it - High conviction themes / sectors when it comes to buying Indian equities post Covid - The importance of 'selling' discipline - Why investors prefer stocks with high promoter holdings
...and more...
...a lot more.
Hope you enjoy the banter!
Avinash Godkhindi comes from an interesting vantage point overlooking both traditional Finance and modern Technologies.
The former probably got ingrained during his stint heading product for Citi's PremierMiles credit cards. The latter most definitely came from his present tenure as CEO of Zaggle, a B2B fintech company digitising spends.
We started with a conversation on the evolution of his business, but quickly segued into a wider chat on the contemporary evolution and challenges within fintech.
From mis-aligned perceptions of Venture Capitalists to what makes spends, payments and credit super interesting in digital India...hope you enjoy the banter.
In this one we talk with Kinner, CEO at Knorish, an online education platform to create your own online store to sell courses and content.
Before the lockdown, Knorish had around 500 content creators, a number which has now skyrocketed by over 12x to 6,500, illustrating how Covid has accelerated the transition of content monetisation away from the offline world to online.
Kinner shares fascinating case studies on several "academies" created on Knorish, be it by chefs, yoga instructors, psychotherapists, and even fishermen. On the way we discuss how the wider shift of learning, teaching and training to the online world will disrupt the status quo in legacy education-driven business models, as well as market perceptions when it comes to talent or qualification.
This isn't Kinner's first podcast with us. Here's the link to our previous conversation: http://bit.ly/LongShorts65
The embrace of technology by fields of learning and education has transpired on an accelerated basis during COVID-19, allowing startups in India with a strong edtech core, including equipment for virtual online classes and smart classrooms, to be well positioned to benefit from this behavioural shift.
Testbook.com - an end-to-end learning platform with a focus on Government job entrance exams, is one such company. Luckily we had a chance to catch up with Testbook's Co-Founder and CEO Ashutosh Kumar, whose unique vantage point makes him naturally appreciative of the dichotomy between tremendous potential and significant complexity, when it comes to cracking solutions for education problems in India.
Listen in to hear his thoughts on how edtech has fundamentally changed over the last six months...and how he views this evolution in the education startup ecosystem.
Mukul Malik runs Asset Yogi, a Finance focused YouTube channel with over 1.45 million subscribers. We try to understand his secret sauce to crack video content on finance and his take on the Indian markets in a post-COVID world through this fascinating chat.
Mukul talks about his journey to-date, his strategy on content and business, the market pain points when it comes to financial awareness, and the commitment it takes to figure out one's audience.
As fellow content creators, we loved every second of this conversation! Hope you like it too.
Aneesh Jain runs an agricultural value chain services business which serves over 150,000 Indian farmers across six states.
With a front row seat to the impact of recent agriculture reforms announced by the Government...he's a credible sounding board to talk of the so-called rural revival narrative resonating in mainstream business media in the months after the coronavirus pandemic struck. Aneesh brings to light the complex undercurrents making agriculture in India what it is, thus preferring a cautiously optimistic take.
We talk of the Government's interventions during COVID to ensure food supply chain continuity, reforms in agriculture marketing in India, financial inclusion, pricing challenges, and the layered role played by APMC mandis.
Abhijeet Awasthi's LinkedIn page describes him as a Corporate Dealer (FX & Interest Rates) at FirstRand Bank...but it is his ability to write great emails that got us in touch.
He sends a fascinating email to his clients each morning, with commentary and his take on significant happenings affecting world markets. Wanting to put a differentiated spin to this rather tedious morning ritual, he took an unconventional approach when it came to structuring and positioning his content. Over time, the humble emailer helped him engage with his clients more effectively plus gain additional business.
Serendipity...as he puts it.
In an age of information overload and content clutter, we catch up with him to understand his philosophy when it comes to financial writing...on the way making expected segues to learn his views on post pandemic market trends playing in India and the United States.
Before you plan to kick off your next email or content marketing project, listen in to catch some pearls.
Bonus: If you'd like to get on Abhijeet's rather selective Global Markets Update Email List, share your details here.
Baptiste Robert (aka Elliot Alderson aka @fs0c131y) has developed somewhat of a cult personality and following in India i.e. ever since he flagged data security and privacy issues within COVID-19 contact tracing Aarogya Setu app and the much wider Aadhaar ecosystem.
We catch up with Baptiste to learn his take on the Government's tricky relationship with citizens' data, the philosophy (and process) behind his work as an ethical hacker, and his thoughts on the privacy debate raging within India and the world.
We definitely enjoyed having a conversation on this much important subject.
Hope you find it insightful as well. Listen in.
In the latest "work-from-home" episode of LongShorts, we catch up with "serial entrepreneur" Yatin Thakur, probably one of the most positive speakers we've ever had on our Podcast!
As the Managing Director of Global Entrepreneurship Network India and Founder of coworking office space startup CoworkIn (which incidentally happens to be where we at TRANSFIN. have set shop), Yatin is no stranger to startup ventures.
He began his entrepreneurial journey when he was only 16. So, back in 2003 when the words "entrepreneurship" and "startup" were still alien in India and the business psyche was still dominated by the desire to join and work for big companies instead of starting your own thing. Yatin charts his professional growth and trajectory of the startup ecosystem since then, from India being a startup "dust bowl" to today, when there seems to be a new independent venture or idea in every nook and corner of the country.
Well...at least before COVID hit.
Speaking of the pandemic...of course we speak of the pandemic and how it might impact the business ecosystem (interestingly, Yatin has a positive take on this).
We catch up with Professor Madhu Viswanathan, Assistant Professor of Marketing from ISB Hyderabad to discuss his journey - starting as an engineer to a gig as a CAT/GMAT instructor to working in software to becoming a B-School Prof! On the way we touch upon the ever changing shades of News and Entertainment content through the lens of product, brand building, business models, and pricing.
Madhu was previously an Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona, and has a Phd from the University of Minnesota. He has done a fair bit of work on B2B relationships and strategies, pricing models and sales mix, distribution channels across a range of verticals.
Clearly a marketing & strategy person, he brings his unique insight and authority to this conversation - which comes at a ripe time when there's a paradigm shift in content be it through shrinking theatrical windows or cord-cutting users away from subscription Television to video-on-demand with the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Hotstar.
Who would win, and who'll miss the boat? Listen in.
With Covid-19 unleashing an economic crisis at an unprecedented scale, the role of new age Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile (JAM) infrastructure with India's legacy Public Distribution System (PDS) in providing much needed relief to the poorest of the poor, be it in cash or in kind, cannot be understated. In that backdrop it was a real pleasure to pick the brain of Astha Kapoor, Co-founder of the Aapti Institute, to hear her views on the government's INR1.7Lcr relief package.
As a public policy consultant, Astha closely looked at the interface of technology within delivery of government welfare services. She brings unique insights to the discussion by insisting that in the age of digital, whilst it is natural to overestimate the ability of JAM, one also mustn't underestimate the reach of PDS.
We spend some valuable time with Dr Arun K Chopra, a Senior Cardiologist at Fortis Escorts Hospital Amritsar, who is part of his hospital's Covid 19 response team, to understand India's strategy behind its handling and response against the Coronavirus outbreak, starting from the stringent lock down to the rationale behind targeted testing. Dr Chopra gives a medical perspective to the disease and its mechanics (e.g. did you know about "nasal shedding" which allows an infected person to continue transmitting even after recovery?), along with thoughts on the immediate challenges facing our country, be it the role of testing to determine an exit strategy or lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for front line health care workers. He also shares some handy tips on how to manage one's health during this lock down, both from the perspective of diet and exercise. A regular health & fitness commentator, here are some of his articles which he points towards during this podcast: On body weight exercises: https://transfin.in/guide-to-exercise-how-to-incorporate-resistance-training-into-our-workout On healthy diet: https://transfin.in/what-is-nutrition-guide-to-healthy-diet-and-effective-weight-loss-exercise
All his other works: https://transfin.in/author/dr.arun.k.chopra
Dr Chopra's profile: https://www.fortishealthcare.com/doctor/dr-arun-kumar-chopra-1753
Professor Shashwat Alok from ISB Hyderabad is the perfect person to throw light on what drives corporate governance issues in India. Well, the country has been an excellent breeding ground for corporate governance, or shall we say corporate misgovernance case studies, be it Satyam, IL&FS, DHFL, ICICI, and now Yes Bank.
Prof Alok discusses why corporate governance often fails to translate from rules and processes to actual execution, touching upon a multitude of themes be it risks of promoter-led shareholding, lack of market reforms, to inadequate and opaque disclosures. A proponent of the power of free markets, Prof Alok strongly feels if transparency and accountability is enhanced, the market will take care of the rest, without needing an overkill on regulations.
Tune in for this mighty-interesting chat.
Welcome to our WFH podcast season opener where we bring Anuj Dayal, a Credit Markets commentator, and look at the new paradigm faced by Indian banks in a post Covid-19 world. Anuj brings his rich experiences from the world of structured credit and private equity and deconstructs the manifold challenges (i.e. rising NPA, depressed growth, liquidity and funding crunch) faced by Indian financial institutions and lending at-large in this hour and half long conversation. We talk of the ills unleashed on the Indian banking sector through bad underwriting, corporate governance lapses, and mis-selling (a fair bit on the Yes Bank crisis, essentially), analyse the implications of RBI's recent moratorium on lenders, and also briefly catch up on how Covid-19 has affected the startup ecosystem and big tech.
Anuj straightaway picks up from our last conversation with him in May 2019, where we spoke of hot private capital (in light of the then upcoming Uber IPO) and the dynamics of lending. For a blast from the past, you can listen to that episode here: http://bit.ly/2YBKlcZ
P.S.
Anuj and we support Eko, a fintech co with a focus on remittances for migrants in their fight against Covid-19.
Eko, thanks to years of data on its large base of 17 million customers, has identified distressed migrant families who could use our generous financial support.
Donate now*: https://eko.in/donate
*Only corporate donations accepted
The world has changed a fair bit since our last episode. The Covid-19 outbreak has been a wrecking ball disrupting health care, supply chains, economies, and lives all over the world! We, like most people, are working from home, which makes it an ideal opportunity to shoot a podcast and talk to you all. Listen in as we do a run through and make sense of recent economic policy announcements (i.e. the Finance Minister and Reserve Bank of India’s packages) in the aftermath of this unprecedented crisis, in addition to other rather humble issues. Take care and be safe!
PS - To send an email with any comments/concerns, feel free to contact nikhil@transfin.in.
We know the next season of LongShorts is yet to officially come out but what’s the harm in another “In Between Seasons” special?
Like we said before, we take our breaks rather seriously!
An English novelist once wrote, “There are three sorts of lawyers – able, unable and lamentable.” Our guest this week is of the fourth sort: commendable.
Sonali Malhotra comes from a family of lawyers, and this helped her get a foothold in the profession at an early age. In this episode of LongShorts, she breaks down legal jargon and processes and explains the nitty gritties of the world of Law.
Everything from how civil dispute resolution works (did you know that court fees are separate from lawyers' fees?) to what a day in the life of a lawyer looks like (it involves a "rainbow" of activities).
Tune in for an insightful discussion!
While gearing for LongShorts and Adda's upcoming season with brand new podcast equipment, we just couldn't resist an opportunity to chat with Divya Gupta, Founder & CEO at Dialogue Room.
Yes we take our breaks rather seriously.
Talking with Divya was an absolute pleasure. A corporate lawyer by training she launched Dialogue Room to target business, finance, and life knowledge gaps by leveraging on conversations with expert networks, value add events and one on one coaching.
Today we chat about Dialogue Room's interesting business model, the value of niche audiences, media monetization, and the challenge of curating differentiated events which go beyond "cliched networking over bagged coffee."
In our season finale, we catch up with Shivam Singla, Founder of Leegality - an eSign, eStamping, and document workflow platform. Shivam is a lawyer by training graduating from the National Law School of India University in 2016.
He straight up got bit by the entrepreneurship bug, kicking off Leegality for helping businesses "digitize and optimize documentation workflows, enabling them to execute and manage 'paperwork' 100x better - without paper".
Describing Leegality as "we are to agreements what email has been to postcards", Shivam gives a fascinating account of his company's business model, product, and differentiation.
He is a passionate proponent of the role of digitization in our lives and has chosen a domain often seen as most resistant to any change i.e. legal paperwork!
Enough said, now listen :)
In our final episode of this season of Transfin. Adda, we journey back in time to understand why the RBI's accounting year is different from the Government's fiscal year, and why that is different from our calendar year. The answer takes us to 12th century Europe and Rome in the 1st century BCE!
Then, we travel back to the present and discuss how Google has one leg in the future. The tech giant is engaged in a unique experiment to use architecture and aesthetics to encourage its employees to eat and live healthy. What is it doing right and what can we learn from its endeavour?
PS: Transfin.'s Virtual Seminar on "Investing Essentials: Where Should I Invest?" will be held on Saturday, February 22nd. Sign up here if you haven't already: bit.ly/TransfinSeminar
Nakul Jain heads Inverted Prism (https://www.invertedprism.in/about-us/) and has been designing and executing career exploratory programs for more than five years.
In his own words, he's an "on paper" Mechanical Engineer who found his true calling in the world of education, realising how travel experiences can be powerful in shaping one's views around academic and professional choices.
In this fascinating conversation, we reminisce on our own journeys and how the Indian educational system often misses the point when it comes to helping kids plan their future, the sensitive considerations for parents and teachers, and the merits of a cash generative quality business.
PS: We're kicking off a new virtual seminar series (via YouTube Live Stream) called Investing Essentials - starting with the question: "Where should I Invest?"
It will be a free online live session followed by Q&A which can be participated in virtually. Register on this link http://bit.ly/TransfinSeminar to receive the streaming link when it goes live!
Day, date: Saturday, February 22, 2020
Time: 12:30pm
Venue: Anywhere!
RSVP: http://bit.ly/TransfinSeminar
Also if you know someone who would be interested in this, feel free to share the registration link (http://bit.ly/TransfinSeminar) with them too :)
This week, we begin our chat by discussing why bullet trains' engines are elongated, why airplanes are shaped like bats, and what sharks and professional swimmers have in common. We do this by delving into the colourful world of biomimicry - the science of finding solutions to human problems by searching nature's designs for answers.
And then we take a wide detour into the world of sports - specifically, the controversy surrounding the Nike Vaporfly shoes in the run-up to the Tokyo Olympics. Listen in for some fun facts and insights!
PS: You can sign up for Transfin.'s Virtual Seminar on "Investing Essentials: Where Should I Invest?" by filing this form: bit.ly/TransfinSeminar
We touch on two topics today. First, the counterfeit goods industry- how big it is, how powerful, how damaging, and how we can ensure that the things we buy online are real and original. (Spoiler alert: Simi says she'll go home and smell her shoes to make sure they're not fake!)
And then we discuss the gaming industry, which is bigger than you may think. We delve into its often-ignored dark side - overtime, no extra pay, cyclical lay-offs, and generally dubious labour conditions.
We catch up with Ravi Kaushik, Partner at WaterBridge Ventures, an early stage Venture Capital (VC) firm, as he reflects on his philosophy to identify disruptive VC opportunities.
From spotting great Founders, going deep dive when it comes to addressable markets, to the value of primary research during diligence, Ravi is "inherently excited by India's consumer opportunity" and looks out for any product that passes the "tooth brush test".
He also shares his take on what filters can make more sense of the Indian market story, dynamics of startup exits, and the potential role played by policy makers in shaping the ecosystem.
If you're keen to understand a first-hand "VC perspective" towards startup funding, listen in.
Kinner Sacchdev has been closely tied with the knowledge economy for close to a decade now. From education consulting, crafting stories for brands and products, to creation of Knorish (https://knorish.com/), Kinner is a firm believer in the power of learning.
In the gig economy where content can be one's single biggest differentiator, Knorish enables hobbyists, professionals and experts to create and monetize their content.
And while chatting about different models at play in this space, we also manage to put in the usual digressions, discuss a bit of Netflix, Spotify, Razorpay, and strangely Account Aggregators (on related and rather unrelated notes).
To understand how diverse content use-cases can be integrated and cross-sold via technology, listen in.
Did you know that pandas are more than just cute, squishy animals? They're also symbols of China's geopolitical ambitions and diplomatic outreach. This week in Transfin. Adda, we delve into the dark underbelly of China's "Panda Diplomacy" to panda-stand (sorry) Beijing's motives.
And then, we take a sharp turn and discuss something very different happening on the other side of the world. Silicon Valley's tech giants are joining hands with healthcare institutions (like hospitals and research centres) to monetise people's personal health data. What does this mean for privacy rights and how is this the epitome of Big Tech gone bad? Listen in for thought-provoking insights!
We're joined by Umang Jain, Co-Founder of StudyPad (makers of Splash Learn), a company of "hard-working and slightly nerdy people who are passionate to change the way an entire generation of kids learn".
Umang started his journey as an EdTech entrepreneur almost a decade back, and having scaled up SplashLearn from being a Math-focused learning product for kids in the US, to now expanding to other geographies, new subject matter and broader age groups, he has had a front row seat of how technology is and can transform the world of Education and Pedagogy.
He reflects on the Indian EdTech ecosystem with its homegrown challenges, differentiates between Education-led and Entertainment with a "dash of education" models, and shares his philosophy on the role of wider stakeholders, be it schools, teachers, and parents in refining how we see and perceive learning as a whole.
All in all a super interesting chat to understand the Education value chain, the growth levers at play, and the innovations which future EdTech entrepreneurs should watch out for.
One of the biggest trends of 2019 was the rise of the Influencer industry. Approached by virtually all sectors for brand marketing and charging by the millions, Influencers are the ambassadors of the zeitgeist. What drives this unique industry, why is it experiencing a sudden boom, and how big is it really? These are some questions we tackle in this week's Adda.
Second, we talk about skin whitening (or skin lightening or the more Indian sounding fairness creams) - an industry that is objectively racist and colorist, but also an industry that is lucrative and growing swiftly. But being morally dubious isn't the only issue with this industry - skin whitening products are also dangerous for our health. Listen in to know more!
This episode is very different from our usual routine. We will not talk about Business or Finance.
Because let's face it...nobody's talking about it right now! Even with the United States conducting air strikes against Iran, no one in India seems to notice.
What is being noticed is the ongoing sense of disillusionment, rage, and confusion that has gripped many Indian cities and academic campuses thanks to Article370-Ayodhya-CAA-NRC-Jamia-JNU in the age of WhatsApp and Twitter.
It is the Elephant in the room.
So we thought, let's dig in.
Nevertheless, this is a one-off break from our weekly ritual. We shall continue to fanatically (wrong choice of word maybe!) ignore political content...until the next elephant shows up. Enjoy the show!
We begin the first Adda episode of the New Year by discussing what could be the overarching theme of 2020 - the shifting sources of news. We live in an online world, in an age of Instagram Stories and WhatsApp Universities, where social media has become a news platform on its own. How will this affect the dissemination and reception of news? And how are teenagers driving this tectonic shift?
Then, we chat on what we do - i.e., podcasts! How and why has this medium blossomed in recent years and why do people like listening to podcasts? Listen in to our conversation for some riveting insights!
We hear a lot about solar energy and how it can help the environment. But as retail customers does that pitch really work? What if we rather start looking at solar energy as an investment opportunity?
Well...Pranesh, our guest this week, has made a viable business out of it, so we thought its best to ask him ;)
Pranesh (Chaudhary) has worn many hats. From the world of analytics at Capital One to transformation strategies for large financial institutions - more than three years ago he decided to move away from his rather "desktop" origins to the tech/operations heavy realm of installing solar rooftop systems for homeowners.
Starting ZunRoof with his IIT Kharagpur batchmate Sushant Sachan, Pranesh now wants to broaden ZunRoof's focus from being India's largest Solar Rooftop provider to a wider Home-IoT solutions company. While sharing his story, he talks about ZunRoof's model and differentiation, the task of communicating the solar investment idea to a customer, and wider comments on the dynamic and myths around residential solar energy sector at-large.
If you're remotely keen to understand the solar energy sector from the grass-root level up, this podcast episode is for you.
Ankit Agarwal is the spokesman for Digital. His journey, which started from setting up a personal finance blog (Getting Money Wise https://gettingmoneywise.com/) to heading Digital Media & Performance Marketing at Uber India is fascinating.
Sitting on the crux of content, product, and marketing, Ankit reminisces on how the internet has permanently changed the way we consume and perceive brands.
We go deep into content monetization and changed customer narratives, discuss the overlaps between Fortnite and Star Wars, and wonder why it makes sense for pure play Indian digital brands to opt for offline advertising.
A mighty interesting chat. At least for those of us who claim to be digital-first ;)
P.S. You know we have neat website, right (https://transfin.in)? You folks may have chanced upon it through these podcasts...making you a rather special lot ;). But most discover us through Google. Precisely why we’re looking for a rockstar SEO Specialist and equally rocking Full Stack Developer. If that's you, apply here:
SEO Specialist: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/1578805399
Full Stack Developer: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/1581971130
Nevertheless, if you know someone who may fit the bill, feel free to spread the word.
Hello, folks! We're back with another episode of Adda!
This week, we dwell on the global security camera industry and the implications of facial recognition technology. Both have serious privacy and security implications, and different countries are dealing with them in different ways. We delve through the data points and points of view to find out what the future of surveillance looks like.
And then we make a turn to discuss the growing significance of vocational courses - and how, contrary to what one might have assumed, they are more financially rewarding than many engineering or MBA degrees.
Happy listening/learning!
When Sameer Aggarwal moved back to Delhi after working in credit for almost a decade (HSBC, Oakam - UK), he saw many Indians missing the financial inclusion boat. This in his view is part thanks to non-availability of data and part because of poor data.
He kicked off RevFin (as the name indicates) as an attempt to Revolutionise Finance and especially lending, starting by going deep into the consumer Electric Three Wheeler (e3W) segment.
We caught up with Sameer to understand the fundamental mechanics of the lending business i.e. lending itself and the role that can be played by technology. He walks us through RevFin's model, which combines innovative biometrics and psychometrics oriented approval processes while building an ecosystem for borrowers via gamification.
And we would never miss an opportunity to learn his take on the stressed NBFC sector and the much discussed ongoing economic slowdown.
We’re back with the fourth episode of Adda! This week, we discuss two evergreen topics – traffic on Indian roads and innovative ways to preserve our environment. First, we talk about the latest trick the Bengaluru traffic police have pulled out of their hats to ensure that commuters follow traffic rules on the city’s eternally-congested roads.
What’s the trick, you ask? Life-sized, policeman-attired mannequins on the streets! (No, really.) And then we discuss Ecosia, a search engine on a unique mission – to plant trees as you browse the web. Listen in for some fun facts and insightful discussions!
The Reserve Bank of India to the surprise of economists (and by extension consensus) keeps repo rate at hold.
But economists are hardly right these days.
Nor do they drive economic narratives.
Onions however, do. That's topic number one.
Second is the recent woes of the online pharmaceutical industry, at one time touted as a INR25,000cr market opportunity, now facing the wrath of an erratic regulator. With it comes the oldest questions when it comes to tech. Should they be treated as the principal or just an agent?
This week we engage in an insightful discussion on what happens when a country grows old before its grows rich.
Following this, we talk about the up and coming trend of everyday wear rental in the fashion industry.
Today...we go dark! No kidding.
Post a comparatively benign routine around Ola and Uber toing-and-froing with the regulator, we delve deeper into recent mis-steps within India's financial sector.
Today's TOC includes:
- Commission and surge pricing caps on Uber/Ola
- Creating a bad bank and why it may not work
- The weirdly unnoticed fraud besotting Karvy
With the Indian economy jumping from one fraud after another, did we really have a choice?
One choice we did have was to use this space to broadcast our hiring woes ;)
Translation: we need a solid full stack developer and a SEO guru - as soon as possible. Interested folks/friends of folks please apply here:
Full stack developer: http://bit.ly/34y3MXk
SEO specialist: http://bit.ly/34GJ8Vn
We are back with the second episode of Adda! This week, we spend some time discussing what could possibly be the biggest IPO ever - energy giant Saudi Aramco's $100bn public listing and the hue and cry around the $2tr valuation Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is eyeing. Thereon, we move on to discuss why almost all maps you've ever come across were perhaps wrong.
Plenty to catch up following Supreme Court's marathon run of closing corporate matters.
We however focused our energies deconstructing * The ongoing stress affecting India's telecom sector. Translation: AGR dues * The 1st major settled case under the nation's nascent bankruptcy law i.e. ArcelorMittal acquiring Essar
With 10 of the 15 telcos liable to the government (post SC's judgement) no longer in existence, the former can hardly be considered as "settled". And the corporate drama accompanying the latter can make your streaming service blush. Enough said. Tune in!
Welcome to Adda's very first episode! Today we talk on two topics that caught our attention through the week. First is the growing influence of China on Hollywood of all places. Second, is the curious case of the shoe that grows. Listen in for some riveting ice-breakers!
From a finance buff and a corporate lawyer to the founder of a secret club and a policy researcher, Season 3 has seen a rather eclectic mix of guests. The season finale has been equally exciting.
This week we catch up with Vatsal Gaur, a M&A/PE and VC lawyer with over 8 years of experience behind him. After having previously worked with leading law firms such as J. Sagar Associates, Khaitan & Co and Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan in senior roles, Vatsal is currently working with HSA Advocates as an associate partner, looking after the PE and VC practice.
In this week’s episode, we touch upon:
- Major Challenges (Legal and otherwise) faced by Indian startups wrt Early-stage Funding
- (Conflicting) Perspectives of Startup investors, Founders, Policy makers
- Thoughts on why having a good lawyer is important for negotiations
- Blurring lines between VC and PE
- Overall economic headwinds
Stayed tuned to LongShorts because there are many more to come.
After a three week hiatus (a bit of summer travel to recharge), we are back with a new episode of LongShorts. Number 47 starts with a chat on the sector which strangely but not surprisingly transformed itself from being the darling of the Indian stock market to its bane within twelve months! Yes, the Indian Auto space! However, the Mahindra-Meru discussion is only deployed as a crafty (real or imagined) segue to a wider commentary on the depressed Indian Economy.
Plenty of things have transpired over the last few days, be it RBI's gift to the government, mega bank mergers, or FM's non-stop economic tinkering, each event being significant in its own right. We try to look at this through the lens of Irving Fisher's (American Economist who lost most of his wealth during the Great Depression) debt-deflation theory and analyse whether a Keynesian approach of enhanced public spending is the answer. Plus there's a shrewd observation on statues ;)
We’ve had an eventful few weeks here at LongShorts. We chatted with a long line of guests from various backgrounds with whom we conversed about a wide-ranging portfolio of topics. In this episode, we take a breather and go back to the good ol’ days when it was just us two chatting about the heavy-duty news developments of the week. There’s been a lot in the news, therefore there’s a lot on our minds. Some things we discuss:
- Killing two birds with one debt-laden stone – RIL’s much-talked-about deal with Aramco.... and their flashy AGM
- Slowdown, slowdown, slowdown – in domestic consumption across sectors
- A pair of rate-cuts - The RBI and the Fed react to macro headwinds!
- The Viacom-CBS merger - yet another roll up in the dynamic media landscape as streaming wars intensify
Surrounded by "heavy duty" political news and a bit of rain - we take a breather to catch up with Parikshit Chitalkar.
Parikshit is Co-Founder and head of Tech and Product at StashFin, a digital lending platform offering flexible loan products through their Credit Line Card.
He shares his story, including formerly building and exiting a business in Canada, the origin of StashFin, the room for innovative use cases in lending, and how they have managed to grow at a pace difficult to crack in the West.
And in between, we also find room to chat about building teams, deploying products, NBFC stress, regulatory pulls, generalist bureaucrats, big data, privacy debates, and more!
A computer engineer by training, Aneesh Jain briefly dabbled in consulting at McKinsey and TechnoServe before he found his calling in the development sector, leading to the inception of Gram Unnati, a not-for profit set up working for the improvement of farmers' lives.
In yet another gear-shift from the series of guests we have had this season, Aneesh talks about how something that intuitively looked like a brilliant idea, with everyone posed to benefit, was in fact laden with multiple challenges.
Against the background of a lighter monsoon this year, this week's chat adopts a free market-oriented view about:
-
The Indian agricultural value chain
-
How the Indian Farmer is caught between the devil and the deep blue sea
-
The good and evil of intermediated agriculture
-
Building risk-free supply chains
-
How diversification can help
-
Push for Zero Budget Natural Farming in Budget 2019
Vatsal Srivastava has the rare distinction of being a Markets Participant...as well as a Markets Commentator. Between a B.A. Mathematics at St Stephen's and an MBA from INSEAD, he caught the trading bug when he speculated on L&T while interning at a Business TV channel.
But he's kept writing on Finance close to his heart, frequently publishing columns on major financial papers, aside from recently serving at Reuters as their Asia Markets Correspondent.
In this mighty interesting chat, Vatsal shares his thoughts on how "momentum with quality" tends to dominate over fundamental narratives when it comes to the Indian markets. He discusses where India's Financial Media goes wrong, shares his concern around policy confusion, the fuss about crypto, among other things.
Samant Sikka is the Founder and Chief Dreamer at Sqrrl, a new age personal finance platform helping young Indians re-align their experiential lifestyle and consumption focus with the counter-intuitive objective of saving money.
An industry veteran with asset management stints at Axis and Goldman Sachs behind him, Samant is a passionate proponent of the idea that in the age of platforms it is the modern consumer use-case which will emerge as the winner.
Our chat covers many interesting topics, some of which are:
- The Democratization of Finance
- Modern Use Cases
- The Constraints of Fintech
- How Young Indians Spend and How Can They Save
- The Importance of Financial Literacy
Aashish Khullar is the first (now former) elected official on our Podcast though he doesn't fit its usual definition. He works with the UN system on global governance for sustainable development, specifically on environmental and economic issues.
He formerly represented the United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth at various intergovernmental and multistakeholder processes.
Extremely passionate for sustainable development, the importance of intergovernmental cooperation, and ecological economics, Aashish believes in multilateralism's power to solve global problems.
In this cross-dimensional conversation, we touch upon (among other things):
-
The Mechanics of United Nations
-
Ecological Economics and Why Limits to Growth Isn't Such a Bad Think
-
Degrowth
-
Stranded Assets and Ecological Risk
-
Inertia and How Political Will Depends on Perspective
-
The Future of Climate Change within Global Governance
Land Rights constitute one of the most complex and controversial policy issues afflicting Modern India. And Ankit Bhatia, an alumnus from IIT Kharagpur, from the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) has had a front-row seat while trying to deconstruct the problems at hand to make them part of mainstream discourse. Ankit and folks at CPR Land Rights Initiative started their journey over four years ago by analyzing 1,200 plus historical Land Acquisition-related Supreme Court cases to identify the biggest and most urgent structural problems at bay.
In a country where 60% of the population directly depend on land for their livelihood, and who find themselves daily at the receiving side of its rapid economic transformation, Ankit walks us through some of the most significant land-related issues out there, including:
- Why Land Digitization has Been a Half Measure?
- The Many Laws Governing Land
- Land's Overwhelming Burden on India's Legal System
- The Missing Political Dividend in Streamlining Land Governance
A thoroughly interesting chat to listen through for anyone keen to understand how historical baggage and legal hoops are affecting the contemporary realities of millions.
Disclaimer:Views expressed are personal and not that of the CPR/ Land Rights Initiative.
When Mayank Kachhwaha initially dabbled with India's credit market as a wannabe entrepreneur (back from a six year stint at Capital One), he was keen to explore peer-2-peer lending. Thus started IndiaLends in March 2015. But soon the realization dawned upon them that India doesn't really have a credit supply problem. Rather, it is the structural issues in the customer cycle itself which need fixing. Be it the high cost of origination or the technological capabilities to adequately price risk. With that as its core mandate, IndiaLends has metamorphosed to become one of the country's rising digital lending platforms.
In this super interesting chat, Mayank shares an in-depth view of the lending space at-large, especially in light of recent concerns around its stressed dynamic.
He deconstructs the underlying value sitting in various customer segments, stresses the importance of risk management, and throws light on how data can indeed play a powerful and precise role, if correctly leveraged.
He also shared his rather optimistic take on the quality of stakeholder engagement within the Indian Fintech space, be it within industry or with the regulator.
Dr Arun K Chopra, Director Cardiology (Fortis Amritsar) is a DM from AIIMS where he also served as an Associate Professor. He's a passionate student and practitioner of nutrition and fitness, having lost over 100kg (10 kg 10 times) of weight in his lifetime, while developing an almost encyclopediac knowledge on the subject. Our chat touches upon something so harmful when taken out of control, but unfortunately also so ubiquitous, that we hardly notice it. Sugar.
Dr Chopra deconstructs man's biggest rival in his battle against obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. In this hour long conversation, we touch upon:
- Why is Sugar so Popular?
- Is it Really Ubiquitous?
- What Does Sugar Actually Do Once Ingested?
- Sugar Lobbies and their Bizarre Fight for Legitimacy
- Lifestyle vs. Genetic Predisposition
- How Human Evolution has a Geography
Dr Chopra is a Fellow of many respected International Medical Bodies as well as a regular contributor to reputed Medical Journals. He also writes a weekly column by the name of Ship Shape on Transfin.
Taponeel Mukherjee (Formerly at Citi & UBS, presently CEO of Development Tracks, an India-focused advisory and investment business) took some time out to chat on India's recent infrastructure journey, his key takeaways from last five years wrt infra policy, capital, and execution, and everyone's favourite - potential lapses, reflections and areas of improvement for the future.
A firm believer of the India story, Taponeel emphasizes the need for patience, the presence of robust feedback loops involving all stakeholders, and shows a clear preference for iterative reforms instead of a heavy handed approach.
In this wide-lens podcast, we touch upon:
- What Went Right for India's Infrastructure?
- Problem, Solution, Problem, Solution
- Stress to Power
- Roadblocks to Long Dated Capital
- Aviation and Why Failure May be Good
Our podcast with Arjun Guleria (of Beam & Words, a Delhi-based brand communications & brand strategy firm) started with a conversation on Brands, but gradually changed course to reflect on his personal journey as an entrepreneur, the human element which is key for creative solutions, and the blessing that is his accountant!
P.S. He also humoured our usual digressions towards AI/ML, the myriad evolutions of consumer tech, for better, and for worse!
When Arjun started with his co-Partners, Beam & Words wanted to look at "Communications as a Whole", avoid siloes, and not become a hostage of platforms. 7 years later, seems not much has changed.
The TOC:
- Why Brands First, Platforms Later?
- Starting Business with a Clean Slate
- Can AI get Creative?
We sip Coffee with Shreya Soni, CEO & Founder of Delhi Secret Supper Club (DSSC) - India’s first-of-its-kind platform with a vision to enable "like-minded people to get together without an agenda". More than 6 years since inception, DSSC is now a leading curator of immersive experiences for the country’s most exclusive member base.
A former London-based Consultant, Shreya walks us through her journey as an Incognito (yes!) CEO and shares how Secrecy, even for herself, created the very hook and moat differentiating DSSC. Her thoughts on the value of curated discovery, the changing ebbs and flows of online/offline marketing, and her admirable forbearance for food and water allergies makes for a mighty interesting chat!
The Agenda:
- Deploying Secrecy in Business
- From Experiences to Experiential Marketing
- Return of the Offline (and Authentic Regional Cuisine)
We chat with Kushan Chakraborty, as he gives us a crash course on India's dynamic but over-burdened Judicial System, and Legal Services at-large. Kushan is a Corporate Lawyer from Cornellia Chambers (a Gurgaon-based Law Firm), a product of Christ College Bangalore, a Podcast enthusiast, and most importantly a passionate proponent of the law's power to transform society. Today he gets candid on:
- His journey as a Lawyer i.e. The Why?
- The Question of Judicial Access
- The Legal Ease of Doing Business in India
The cliffhanger unveils!!!! Too dramatic? So what's the long and short of it?
For starters, our Podcast party just got bigger. All thanks to our very first guest for this Season. It was a real pleasure to chat with Mr. Anuj Dayal, a perpetual finance buff, former structured credit (Deutsche Bank, Och-Ziff - London) slash private equity professional (HPS - London), and all in all a great person to banter finance with.
The agenda:
- How hot private capital can skew Business Models (hint: Uber's IPO)
- Finance and its love-hate relationship with "I told you so!"
- The oft misunderstood dynamics of lending money
Bonus: _Anuj definitely made these proceedings livelier and more unpredictable than usual, setting a nice bar for the future :)_
Tracking the wide range of news & analysis out there, cross-sector and often cross-geography, is a fun albeit intense way to make a living. It's no wonder one gets even more excited going voice-borne, courtesy our Weekly Podcast i.e. LongShorts. Through a few data points, lots of insights, and even more banter...we typically aim to cover narratives and nuances which we "feel" are important. We started slow, but with 32 episodes and two seasons behind us, LongShorts has so far been a delight. Many more to come.
Today’s episode or ‘season finale’ touches on…
- Paytm Mall’s size-able $150-$200 million cash burn over Diwali season, our views on cash-backs and discounts as a viable growth strategy.
- Rich domestic market valuations and thoughts on the presence or absence of corresponding underlying credit growth.
- Tesla and Robo-taxis. Enough said!
_Bonus:_ Electric Vehicles are not a Panacea for Climate Change (CES)
Saudi Aramco may buy part of Reliance. Reliance may buy Hamleys. Xbox no longer has discs :( All this and...
- The Moral Questions Thrown by Jet Airways
- Cred's Credible Valuation?
- Does Hotstar's Success Validate the Power of Freemium?
Today we get cynical. Bigly. The headers:
- What Makes Ola Unique?
- The Road from Online to Offline Retail
- The Ubiquity of Reliance Industries
_Reference: Read More on Differential Voting Rights in India by clicking here._
We've diverted from our usual "process", with pressing engagements forcing us to record this one a day in advance. Hope we didn't miss too much:
- How much of Sensex / Nifty's recent rally is noise? How much of it is Fundamental?
- Saudi Aramco and The Way the Kingdom Does Business
- IPO Season in the US: Lyft, Pinterest, Uber, Levis
_Bonus: Watch out for the Up-to-Date "PULL" and "Snapper" Reference..._
Two of today's topics shriek "I Told You So!?". But let us describe them all:
- Why RBI Finally Coming Around a Regulatory Sandbox is Good News!
- The US Yield Curve is Inverted, Again.
- Why Oprah Shouted "Apple!" this Week?
We open this Episode on a slightly different note. It is Holi after all ;) While you're hopefully resting post celebration...listen in to know of:
1. The Victims of PUBG
2. The Worthwhile Aspect of Index Funds/ETFs
3. Elon Musk's Potential India Plans
Sunday kicked off the Festival/Dance/Carnival (you get the point!?) of Democracy. But we spent our time discussing:
- The Troubles of Boeing
- How RBI's Rate Cut Not Hitting your Loan has Something to Do with Your FD
- YouTube's Two Pronged Indian Foray
More on the Comet Aircraft: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Comet
Silver Jubilee Banter. Woah! Mind...Blown! Its a Big Day as very evident from this emphatic Podcast description! Ok, let's calm down now. Today we talk of:
- How India Showed Up for America's Trade War; Can China Serve as a Lesson?
- Is Paytm First Really First?
- CCR5 and Chronicles of the London Patient (i.e. the Second Person to get Cured of AIDS, allegedly.)
While introspecting over India's change of stance for its Westward Neighbour, we assess:
- Implications of the Draft National Ecommerce Policy
- Accounting Rants from Warren Buffett's 2018 Shareholder Letter
- What Bernstein Red-flagged with regard to Reliance Jio
_Link to Warren Buffett's Letter: http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2018ltr.pdf_
_India's Counterforce Temptations - Strategic Dilemmas, Doctrine, and Capabilities: https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/full/10.1162/isec_a_00340_
While Sachin Bansal is out shopping, our capabilities are limited to talking. We wonder:
- Why IndiGo and India Have Difficulty Hiring Pilots and Air Traffic Control Personnel?
- What's the point of Manipal's Redeal, Now for Medanta?
- How Govt is Managing its Deficit via Buybacks and Divis from PSUs/Regulators?
_Bonus: Check out this super interesting ATC recording between Air India 101 and JFK Airport which resulted in a successful landing after the Aircraft faced multiple systems failure. _
While briefly touching on RBI's rate-cut philosophy and then questioning on what 'Customer Acquisition Cost' encompasses, we throw our take on:
-
Qatar's LNG Strategy and It's Push for a GST Catalyst
-
Swiggy's Chase for Top-Line Growth
-
Paytm's Pole Position in a Three-Horse Race
Between WhatsApp & Walmart's "plans" to leave India (yeah, right!?) and chatting on the Super Bowl, we also touch:
- RCom's Attempts to Game the System
- The Politics of Jobs Data
- The Dove has Returned to Mint Road
With one day to go before the 2019 Union Budget, some airtime on:
- The Return of Farmers. Also the Middle Class
- Zee and Subhash Chandra's Debt-Asset Mismatch
- How Diversification Fails when Stretched too Thin
While looking forward to the Republic Day weekend, we throw our take on:
- The Interim Budget, and its Scope
- What Ola can bring to Lending?
- John Bogle is Gone...but Index Funds will stay
Jet troubles, India eases, Germany slows down. But we rather talk of:
-
With Theresa May's Brexit Plan Out...What Next?
-
Did Huawei's Woes push China to seek Retribution?
-
Hotstar digs in Original Programming. But to what extent?
_Also: The Fabulously Useless Share Price Chart of Jet Airways at https://twitter.com/Nikhil26A/status/1084765047593807872 _
Welcome to Season Two! There is already too much ground to cover; but let's dig straight into:
-
Apple's China Problem, China's America Problem et al
-
WeWork is a Real Estate Co After all. Duhh!
-
How to Measure RBI's Reserve Adequacy?
_Also: Check out the Funky Reserve Benchmark Chart we spoke of at https://twitter.com/Nikhil26A/status/1081445348302831617_
Welcome to the Season Finale! To make this one really special - today we have a guest with whom we'll discuss:
- The Bare-Bones (slurrp!) of Good Nutrition
- Fitness 101
- What's Wrong with India's Healthcare?
In Conversation with Dr Arun K Chopra, Director Cardiology, Fortis Amritsar.
Dr Chopra is a DM Cardiology from AIIMS where he also served as an Associate Professor. He's a Fellow of many respected International Medical Bodies as well as a regular contributor to reputed Medical Journals.
He's a passionate student and practitioner of nutrition and fitness, having lost over 100kg of weight in his lifetime, while developing an almost encyclopediac knowledge on the subject on the way. He also writes a weekly column by the name of Ship Shape on Transfin.
_While you're at it, do check out: _
_Dr Chopra's author profile on Transfin. (with a repository of all his writings): https://transfin.in/author?url=dr.arun.k.chopra _
_His 5 Most Popular Articles: _
- _Combining Exercise with Healthy Diet for Weight Loss, Bodybuilding, Endurance and More: https://transfin.in/healthy-diet-exercise-weight-loss-tips-bodybuilding-strength-endurance_
- _Why HIIT is the Ultimate Resistance Training Routine: https://transfin.in/why-is-hiit-workout-ultimate-anaerobic-exercise-resistance-training-for-weightloss_
- _Intermittent Fasting vs. Frequent Small Meals: https://transfin.in/what-is-nutrition-intermittent-fasting-small-frequent-meals_
- _Your Guide To An Effective Keto Diet: https://transfin.in/what-is-nutrition-your-guide-to-an-effective-keto-diet_
- _Fixing The Healthcare Industry in India: https://transfin.in/health-care-insurance-medical-center-doctors-death-cancer-treatment-AIIMS-Max-Hospital_
What a week! News flow reached its zenith with drama unfolding through RBI, Elections, Mallya et al. But we focus on:
- What's Next for India's Central Bank?
- Is the Huawei Arrest Only About US Sanctions?
- Is Referendum Number 2 the Answer to Brexit?
Bonus: Don't forget to tune in next week for our Season Finale where we bring a Special Guest!
Wow Factor: Yes we do "Season(s)"...how classy is that!?
One week in and Spotify faces its first Contender. Macro themes otherwise dominate:
-
How JioSaavn Makes Music Streaming an Open Game
-
The GDP Back-series Conundrum, Q1 Numbers and More
-
Qatar Exiting OPEC & Does it Really Matter?
Cherry on Top: How WhatsApp Payments Makes the Likes of Paytm etc. Nervous?
_On a related note, do check out:_
_Spotify's entry into India (listen in from 0.55-5.23): https://audioboom.com/posts/7102074-high-end-let-go-thin-ice_
_India's New GDP Series: Understanding The Reduced Growth Rate Under the UPA Govt: https://transfin.in/india-gdp-back-series-reduced-growth-rate-upa-nda_
_Qatar Exiting OPEC & Understanding the Causes and Plausible Implications to Global Crude Oil: https://transfin.in/qatar-opec-exit-impact-on-global-crude-oil-focus-on-natural-gas_
We use Spotify's entry into India to set the scene for a discussion on:
1. How Airtel, Vodafone-Idea are Positioning Themselves Against Jio
2. Why the Turmoil Around General Motors a Crisis for America
3. What Would a No Deal Brexit Look Like
With some notion of truce being achieved between India's Central Bank and the Government, we revisit:
1. How did the RBI and the Government Move On?
2. Why Did Amazon Find its Love for Sports, and Apple for Movies?
3. Why is there So Much Noise Around Theresa May's Brexit Solution?
While wondering about the Singles' Day, we talk of:
1. Myth of the Great Indian Middle Class**
2. The Policy Charging Up India's Electric Vehicles
3. What Constitutes RBI's 'Surplus' and Why is it Important?
**References:
-
RBI's Annual Report (pg. 202) https://bit.ly/2PMN3c4
-
"India’s missing middle class", published in The Economist https://econ.st/2LFWNkQ
We first head West to discuss:
1. The US Midterms and their Implications for Trump and the Markets
2. Why are Central Bankers Obsessed with Inflation?
3. How Video Games Evolve and Why We're Too Old for Them?
Today we go full circle on:
1. RBI vs. Government
2. IL&FS's "Plan for a Plan"
3. Why ByteDance Should be Watched Closely
Plus a rather intense discussion about how regulators can spite innovation.
While discussing how Tesla got the better of short sellers this time, we talk on:
1. Reliance Jio buying pipes (duhh, its a metaphor)
2. The lost aura of MbS
3. Uber and its numbers
Today's conversation is Long-er than usual. Its a special day after all. Listen in while we discuss:
1. Netflix's Q3 Domination
2. RBI's goes Tough on Data
3. Can Buyers move Crude Oil?
Diversity Day (for topics, silly). A conversation on:
1. The Google+ Data Breach
2. Sovereign Gold Bonds
3. White Knight for NBFCs
Ok, we got carried away. A wee bit "technical" chat on:
1. Urjit Patel's Dilemma
2. The Inverting Yield Curve?
3. New Crew at IL&FS
Today we chat on:
1. The Facebook-Instagram Heartburn
2. How essential is government's list of 'Non-essential imports'?
3. How is RBI deciding the fate of Indian Bank CEOs?
Today's discussion centers around:
1. The Alleged Flipkart-Hotstar Deal
2. What's Wrong with IL&FS?
3. The Five Plus One Point Economic Review
A "productive" discussion around:
1. Rising Petrol Prices
2. India Post Payments Bank
3. Rise of Video on Social Media
Join us as we chat on three of this week's key stories:
1. Indian Rupee Woes
2. Fortis and The Singh Brothers Fallout
3. Coke's Coffee Play