menu_open Columnists

The Ken

We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

If VCs won’t fund defence, India’s wealth and asset managers will

If VCs won’t fund defence, India’s wealth and asset managers will

360 One’s defence fund, among the first of its kind in the country, is backing the makers of modern war’s eyes and brains. But too much capital...

latest 9

The Ken

Valli Vikram

Meta to get the world’s longest internet cable to India. It’s 100% exposed

Meta to get the world’s longest internet cable to India. It’s 100% exposed

India's internet runs on cables it cannot protect, repair, or regulate—in spite of knowing exactly how to go about it

yesterday 10

The Ken

Mrunmayee Kulkarni

The retirement shield against Trump’s war and market meltdowns

The retirement shield against Trump’s war and market meltdowns

Your retirement may not survive its first bad year. This number could help

previous day 10

The Ken

Anand Kalyanaraman

Adani’s think tank flexes its muscles in Delhi

Adani’s think tank flexes its muscles in Delhi

Chintan Research Foundation, just two years old, is already claiming a role in shaping policy—while staying tethered to a powerful patron

tuesday 10

The Ken

Inderpal Singh

Maruti, Tata caught between war, EV delays, and emission rules, find an unlikely fix

Maruti, Tata caught between war, EV delays, and emission rules, find an unlikely fix

A fuel that emits 19% less CO₂ and costs far less than oil imports is buying carmakers time

06.04.2026 10

The Ken

Suprita Anupam

Most podcasts end with a transcript. Ours didn’t

Most podcasts end with a transcript. Ours didn’t

Intermission is The Ken’s most ambitious project. The first episode is over six hours long, and its microsite offers its standalone experience

03.04.2026 4

The Ken

Ritika sanikere

Why Google, ITC Hotels, Titan are suddenly taking interest in alumni networks

Why Google, ITC Hotels, Titan are suddenly taking interest in alumni networks

It’s a safe and sensible bet.

03.04.2026 10

The Ken

Debanjali Biswas

Will Ronnie Screwvala and Gaurav Munjal agree on how Unacademy is run?

Will Ronnie Screwvala and Gaurav Munjal agree on how Unacademy is run?

With Upgrad’s impending acquisition of Unacademy, two companies that had different outlooks on the edtech ecosystem are now sharing a vision

02.04.2026 10

The Ken

Atul Krishna

India has two sovereign-AI programmes. One is official, the other isn’t

India has two sovereign-AI programmes. One is official, the other isn’t

Neysa took a $600 million debt to build sovereign AI even as 22% of India’s chips are lying unused, and the market is running into Big Tech’s arms

01.04.2026 10

The Ken

Mrunmayee Kulkarni

Bain Capital bet Rs 4,000 crore on gold. The RBI just walked all over it

Bain Capital bet Rs 4,000 crore on gold. The RBI just walked all over it

The regulator’s new rules that come into effect on 1 April undercut the country’s largest private-equity bet on gold-lending to date

31.03.2026 20

The Ken

Mutasim Khan

A royal family’s billion-dollar bet on Indian startups—without a winner

A royal family’s billion-dollar bet on Indian startups—without a winner

VC firm Lightrock used the Liechtenstein dynasty’s fortune to prop up Waycool, Pharmeasy, and Dunzo. Then it slid into irrelevance

30.03.2026 10

The Ken

Arundhati Ramanathan

Ranjan Pai’s grand unified IPO theory for Manipal Hospitals: small is boring

The most aggressive acquisition strategy in Indian healthcare has bruised Manipal’s margins, but some essential metrics could surprise the critics

27.03.2026 20

The Ken

Seema Singh

Airlines can no longer charge you for most seats. They will make you pay anyway

The government’s attempt to protect flyers is a case of one hand giveth, the other taketh away

26.03.2026 20

The Ken

Aakriti Bhalla

Who pays when Reliance falls short of its promises? Not Reliance

The oil-to-telecom giant promised to transform India’s energy landscape. But its underdelivery in KG-D6 has proven costly for the country, and...

25.03.2026 30

The Ken

Anand Kalyanaraman

Why the man who built Practo to find doctors is now using AI to find disease first

Reliance on pre-existing tech and a dearth of data dim Cent’s otherwise laudable goal of AI-aided early detection

24.03.2026 20

The Ken

Sudeshna Ray

India wants a chip-design hub—without the founders who can make it happen

An “Indian ownership” clause, funding limits, and IP concerns are deterring the very startups the country wants

23.03.2026 20

The Ken

Priyal Mahtta

Discovery was never broken. It was working as designed

News websites had every reason to make search and recommendations work against you. We had every reason to fix them

20.03.2026 30

The Ken

Sushmita vavilala

What does Razorpay know about agentic AI that OpenAI, Amazon, Ebay don’t?

The same week OpenAI rolled back its in-chat shopping agent, Razorpay launched what it called the biggest disruption to payments since UPI. But is it...

20.03.2026 20

The Ken

Mutasim Khan

Inside Bihar’s plan to disrupt VC-fuelled farm advisory

India is laying down public digital farm-advisory infrastructure that could complement or rival agritech firms. And Bihar is showing the way

19.03.2026 20

The Ken

Inderpal Singh

‘It’ll be a digital Unilever’: Ananth Narayanan insists his rebranded Mensa isn’t a roll-up

IPO-bound Brnd.me wants to be profitable and stay far away from being called a “roll-up”. And so it’s shifting its focus from acquiring dozens...

18.03.2026 10

The Ken

Nuha Bubere

Yoga over Python: how India’s new college curriculum rewards the easiest skills

The new credit framework for higher education was introduced to solve the employment crisis in universities, but students found shortcuts

17.03.2026 20

The Ken

Atul Krishna

How Urban Company turned the tables on Snabbit

It now has to convince investors that the brutal economics of Instahelp will improve soon enough

16.03.2026 20

The Ken

Suprita Anupam

Who is Jio Blackrock’s Rs 350 investment advice for? Clue: not investors

India’s latest investment advisory promises accessible wealth management for small investors. What it doesn’t promise is a wide range of options...

14.03.2026 20

The Ken

Valli Vikram

Bengaluru’s fix for the water-tanker “mafia”: yet more tankers. What could go wrong?

Even as summer rolls around and demand for water begins to peak, Bengaluru isn’t embracing the public utility’s cheaper alternative to the private...

14.03.2026 20

The Ken

Mutasim Khan

The Ken’s Journalism Leadership Programme 2026

We are seeking curious, self-driven, and ambitious graduates who want to kick-start their journalism careers in a vibrant, dynamic, AI-resilient...

14.03.2026 40

The Ken

Arundhati Ramanathan

Ronnie Screwvala’s answer to Upgrad’s profitability woes? Buy a loss-making company

After a four-year hiatus in acquisitions, the company has turned to Internshala to bolster both customer acquisition and course creation

14.03.2026 20

The Ken

Debanjali Biswas

Jio, Airtel’s fight with airports has a third winner

As airports, malls, and office towers build their own 5G networks, telecom operators are losing control of indoor connectivity

14.03.2026 20

The Ken

Priyal Mahtta

AI just broke brands’ Google ad strategy. The answer is the ad

As the way people search evolves, companies like Flipkart, Mamaearth, and The Whole Truth must go from getting clicks to being the answer—which is...

14.03.2026 20

The Ken

Suprita Anupam

Novo is losing India’s weight-loss market to Eli Lilly. How does it redeem itself?

As Novo prepares to lose market exclusivity in India, it sets its sights on the healthcare system, partnering with Healthifyme, buying hospitals, and...

14.03.2026 30

The Ken

Sudeshna Ray

IBM, Infosys, and Wipro entered Kochi. Only one emerged unscathed

IBM’s focus on AI-related products shows that tier-2 cities can go from low-cost delivery hubs to global software frontiers

14.03.2026 30

The Ken

Mrunmayee Kulkarni

India is running out of gas. Why is Adani Total Gas running up?

Despite being among the worst-affected by the crisis in West Asia, this city gas distributor’s stock is soaring, and how. It’s not because of...

14.03.2026 20

The Ken

Anand Kalyanaraman

How Forest Essentials chose ‘anti-growth’ to thrive in beauty

And found a suitor in global major Estée Lauder

14.03.2026 30

The Ken

Aakriti Bhalla

Uber knocks at a new door as Rapido shuts many others

13.02.2026 30

The Ken

Debanjali Biswas

Accel to Antler: how VCs are reining in India’s AI startups

12.02.2026 10

The Ken

Inderpal Singh

Gen Z’s hunt for the elusive ‘cheap’ home of their own

11.02.2026 20

The Ken

Priyal Mahtta

Crashes reveal the hidden costs of India’s private-jet boom

10.02.2026 20

The Ken

Nuha Bubere

Voice AI has gone from whisper to commotion. Can the market get any louder?

09.02.2026 20

The Ken

Mrunmayee Kulkarni

How Softbank-backed Emergent is scripting a vibe-coding playbook by taking on AI giants

06.02.2026 10

The Ken

Arundhati Ramanathan

Chinese stocks look hot and cheap. Should you invest, and how?

05.02.2026 10

The Ken

Anand Kalyanaraman

Turtlemint’s anti-Policybazaar idea heads to the market

04.02.2026 10

The Ken

Valli Vikram

NEET PG built this rare profitable edtech. Now the exam may change

03.02.2026 20

The Ken

Atul Krishna

Hyperpure rode Blinkit’s coattails to the top. Until Blinkit shrugged it off

02.02.2026 10

The Ken

Nuha Bubere

What can you look forward to from The Ken in February?

01.02.2026 20

The Ken

Praveen Gopal Krishnan

Maruti’s E Vitara is here (almost) but feels strangely alien

30.01.2026 20

The Ken

Suprita Anupam

A Dmart playbook that’s making Cult.fit sweat

29.01.2026 40

The Ken

Aakriti Bhalla

Narayana Health’s Viren Shetty on learning ‘how much insurance is about selling and how little about health’

28.01.2026 20

The Ken

Seema Singh

Shadowfax pays today’s nosebleed prices for Delhivery’s old advantage

27.01.2026 10

The Ken

Priyal Mahtta

Should Phonepe be worth more than Paytm’s $7.9B?

26.01.2026 30

The Ken

Arundhati Ramanathan

Why is Cognizant so keen to list in India at the worst possible time?

23.01.2026 30

The Ken

Debanjali Biswas

Hosur powered India’s EV boom. So why are companies heading to Sambhajinagar?

22.01.2026 30

The Ken

Mrunmayee Kulkarni