menu_open Columnists
Tapanjana Rudra

Tapanjana Rudra

Inc42

We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

Inside Zypp Electric’s Bold Diversification Drive Beyond India’s Tier I

With Zepto, Blinkit, and Instamart sprinting to win the doorstep-delivery race, EV startups are emerging as the real winners. And…

12.11.2025 3

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

Amazon Vs Perplexity: Who Holds The Edge In This AI Battle?

In what appears to be a high-stakes battle unfolding in the global AI landscape, tech giant Amazon has sued Perplexity.…

07.11.2025 10

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

AI Data Centre Boom Unfolds A $18 Bn Battlefront For India

As the world races to harness the power of artificial intelligence, a new kind of war is beginning to unfold…

05.11.2025 3

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

Investors Keep Waiting, Swiggy Yet To Deliver

“India Hates To Wait” — Swiggy’s letter to its shareholders for the September quarter declared boldly, splashed in Instamart’s signature…

03.11.2025 3

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

How Tally Strikes A Balance Between Enabling AI Adoption And Growth

The ‘killer app’ of the early days of computing, Lotus 1-2-3, withered away in three decades after Microsoft Excel bloomed.…

31.10.2025 10

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

Inside DeHaat’s INR 3,000 Cr Scale And Its Long Road To Profitability

For any farmer, the harvest is the moment of truth. After a long season of work, you finally see what…

30.10.2025 10

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

Away From The Buzz: How Moglix Built A $700 Mn Global B2B Marketplace

India’s ecommerce narrative has been dominated by consumer marketplaces and D2C brands. From record-breaking festive sales and the rise of…

21.10.2025 10

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

The Ather Energy Upshift

If you ask auto experts about Ather Energy overtaking Ola Electric in the EV two-wheeler race, they’d say, “It’s been…

13.10.2025 6

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

India’s AI Funding Paradox: Investors Show Caution But Deal Activity Sees Momentum

India’s enthusiasm for AI is evident. From the government to enterprises and academia, everyone is eager to showcase their vision…

08.10.2025 10

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

Zappfresh’s Stuttering IPO

From the second half of this year, it seems like every week, at least one new-age Indian startup is lining…

06.10.2025 3

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

Ultraviolette Changes Its Premium Pitch; Will It Accelerate Sales?

“It’s time for us to say: ‘let’s unsubscribe to the construct of labels’,” Ultraviolette cofounder and CEO Narayan Subramaniam exclaimed…

26.09.2025 8

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

Swiggy’s Unbundling Spree: Revisiting The Profitability Question

Yet another app, a host of promises, and a whole new catchline. The result is a 9.8% sprint in Swiggy…

22.09.2025 10

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

The Dawn Of The TPU Era: Can India’s AI Ecosystem End GPU Dependency?

Remember the bike racing game back in your school days? Life was offline then, toggling between Road Rash and Solitaire…

19.09.2025 4

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

GenAI Gives Smart Glasses New Hope, But Is The Indian Market Even Ready?

Have you heard the whispers in the corridors of the tech sphere?  Smart glasses have turned smarter. In fact, they’re…

15.09.2025 10

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

Has Ola Electric Turned The Corner?

After months of sputtering in neutral, Ola Electric seems to have found its ignition key again — the bulls are…

08.09.2025 4

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

EaseMyTrip’s Wrong Turn

“In the short run, the market is a voting machine, but in the long run, it is a weighing machine.” …

01.09.2025 9

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

Kissht’s INR 1,000 Cr IPO: Fundamentals Remain A Sticking Point

Even as digital lending in India is going through a transition phase with shrinking revenues for major lending apps, Mumbai-based…

31.08.2025 6

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

Nazara’s INR 1,000 Cr RMG Question

What a week for India’s gaming industry! From ‘fun’ to ‘fraud’ and even ‘financing of terrorism’ — real money gaming…

25.08.2025 10

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

The Gaps In RBI’s “Build It All, But Responsibly” Vision For AI In Fintech

Like the computer revolution, which brought sweeping changes to the Indian banking industry, AI threatens to rewrite the rules of…

22.08.2025 9

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

Of India’s Quantum Computing Dream And Funding Fallacies

“By 2100, our destiny is to become like the gods we once worshipped and feared. But our tools will not…

20.08.2025 4

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

OpenAI’s GPT-5 Lands Amid Accelerating India AI Race

Last week was nothing short of a whirlwind for AI enthusiasts. From Google DeepMind’s Genie 3 launch to Anthropic’s Claude…

10.08.2025 10

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

India-UK FTA Sets Stage For Next-Gen Trade Ties, But What’s In It For Startups?

As India navigates through the roiling waters of geopolitics, its free trade agreement (FTA) with the UK has come as…

03.08.2025 9

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

Is India’s Satcom Dream Finally Taking Off?

Much has been talked about the tragic events of April 22, when 26 civilians were murdered in Pahalgam, which led…

24.07.2025 10

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

India’s Deeptech Gambit Has Begun, But Nobody Knows The Rules Of The Game

Better late than never — a sentiment blazing across the Indian deeptech ecosystem — and at the centre of the…

19.07.2025 10

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

Will Wakefit Wake Up To A Blockbuster IPO?

Peak XV-backed Wakefit has become the first new-age furniture and mattress brand to file for an initial public offering (IPO).…

12.07.2025 30

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

YourNest VC On Finding The Patient Capital Fuel That Indian Deeptech Needs

How deep is deeptech in India, really?  Going by the government line, it’s too shallow for a strong IP-led ecosystem…

03.07.2025 10

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

Desh Wapsi & IPOs: SEBI Catches Up With Startup Reality

In a recent move, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has announced two major relaxations in the shareholding…

30.06.2025 10

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

China’s Rare Earth Ban: Indian OEMs Say All Bark No Bite

Geopolitics is evolving, and it is evolving fast, unpredictably and more ruthlessly than ever. However, this time the global power…

23.06.2025 20

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

Inside India’s High-Stakes Bet To Build Its Own GPT

With a collaborative push from the Centre and four generative AI startups — Sarvam AI, Soket AI, Gnani.AI, and Gan.AI…

22.06.2025 10

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

Ola Electric’s Missing Pieces

Ola Electric is going through the toughest period in its seven-year lifetime. That’s no exaggeration as even the most ardent…

09.06.2025 10

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

Will Operation Sindoor Propel India’s Drone Tech Ecosystem?

India’s manufacturing push is gradually bearing fruit, if the drone tech ecosystem’s role in Operation Sindoor is any indication.  In…

05.06.2025 10

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

Glance AI Looks To Usher In Aspirational Ecommerce; Will AI Shopping Take Off?

Didn’t you envy Monica Barbaro in that spectacular satin pink Dior gown when she graced the Oscars Red Carpet this…

28.05.2025 8

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

Operation Sindoor: How AI-Powered Air Defence System Akashteer Shielded India

On the midnight of May 7, the Indian armed forces launched ‘Operation Sindoor’, targeting terrorist infrastructure at nine locations in…

17.05.2025 30

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

Can CleverTap’s Deep AI Roots Withstand The GenAI Tide?

When you idly tapped on the food delivery app the other day, did you have cold coffee on your mind?…

14.05.2025 10

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

The Log9 Collapse: How The Battery Tech Startup Fell From Glory

Amid the BluSmart-Gensol saga, which has become the new focal point for the debate around startup corporate governance lapses, the…

02.05.2025 50

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

Why AI-First Strategies Will Decide The Winners In India’s $40 Bn Quick Commerce Market

India’s quick commerce market is shifting rapidly — from a race for speed to a competition for intelligence and personalisation.…

29.04.2025 7

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

Do Indian EV Startups Stand A Chance Against The Legacy Players?

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal’s comments last month that Indian startups were doing very little in the realm of…

25.04.2025 20

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

Trump Tariffs Uncertainty Forces Indian VCs To Rethink Fundraise Plans

Economies around the world aren’t currently enduring the best of times, thanks to US President Donald Trump, who announced reciprocal…

21.04.2025 10

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

How Whatfix Is Going All-In On AI As It Eyes A $150 Mn ARR Milestone

Amid the accelerating adoption of AI across sectors, the CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, is quite vocal about the end…

15.04.2025 10

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

Inside MakeMyTrip’s GenAI Play — How The Travel Giant Has Revamped Itself For The AI Age

Last month, Nasdaq-listed Indian travel tech giant MakeMyTrip launched a GenAI-powered feature, Collections, on its platform to make hotel and…

03.04.2025 6

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

Can Nexizo Be The AI Moat For OfBusiness?

At a time when an increasing number of new-age tech ventures in the country are launching AI platforms for various…

30.03.2025 20

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

Inside Licious’ High-Stakes Bet On Quick Commerce & The Omnichannel Game Plan

Licious has hoisted its sail for the D-Street voyage. With this, the Bengaluru-based startup, which almost defined and shaped the…

06.03.2025 20

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

Stellaris’ Alok Goyal On How SaaS Bets Are Evolving In The AI Boom

In the past three years what we have come to realise is that AI is set to bring in sweeping…

27.02.2025 10

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

From Zomato To Infosys: Why India’s Biggest Companies Are Betting On Agentic AI

Proactiveness. That’s how Enver Cetin, an AI expert at global Experience Engineering firm Ciklum, described Agentic AI in a Harvard…

22.02.2025 10

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

India’s Push For Green Fuel Unravels Gold In Ethanol

The year 2070 may appear a long way, when India has pledged to go net-zero on emissions, but the country…

15.02.2025 10

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

Flexible Work, Fixed Returns? Breaking Down WeWork India & IndiQube’s Public Listings

It’s raining IPOs in some of India’s most exciting new-age sectors, from fintech to travel tech and foodtech to enterprise…

13.02.2025 10

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

Budget 2025: India Goes For Manufacturing Gold

As anticipated by experts, the manufacturing industry received a significant boost from the central government during the Union Budget 2025-26…

01.02.2025 3

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

Budget 2025: What Can We Expect On The Deeptech, Manufacturing Front?

India’s vast manufacturing industry, which contributes around 17% of the nation’s GDP, is expecting the central government to make some…

31.01.2025 8

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

growX ventures’ Deeptech Bet: Building A Playbook For Patient Capital

India’s burgeoning deeptech — spacetech, AI, semiconductor, robotics and IoT — sector is calling for more venture capital (VC) money…

30.01.2025 9

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra

Budget 2025: Chip Makers, Designers Demand Higher Outlay, Lower Tax Load

An expansion of the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, particularly a higher allocation for the sops, tops the wish list of…

30.01.2025 8

Inc42

Tapanjana Rudra