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Morning Brief Podcast
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Morning Brief Podcast
Love, Inheritance & the Second Innings11:28 MIN | August 23, 2026, 06.24 AM IST
Love can arrive at any age. But when it arrives after 60, it often comes with decades of accumulated wealth, grown-up children and expectations about inheritance. As more Indians seek companionship, remarry or choose live-in relationships later in life, families are confronting difficult questions around homes, wills, trusts and succession. Based on Lijee Philip’s report, this episode explores India’s emerging world of silver romance—and the financial negotiations that accompany it. Can older Indians build a new life without unsettling the families and fortunes built in the old one? And can love and inheritance peacefully coexist? Lijee Philp reports, Anirban Chowdhury narrates.
Host: Anirban Chowdhury
Brent above $90 doesn’t tell the full story of India’s oil bill. Tight physical supplies have pushed some Gulf crude to a hefty premium, while the Russian discounts that helped Indian refiners after the Ukraine war have largely vanished. Disruptions in West Asia have also forced India to source more oil from farther-flung suppliers, adding freight costs. Anirban Chowdhury speaks to ICRA’s, senior VP and Co-Group Chair Prashant Vasisht about why the physical crude market has diverged from benchmark prices, what it means for refinery and marketing margins, whether consumers could eventually feel the pain, and what could bring India’s crude costs down. Listen in
Morning Brief Podcast
Who Must File Their ITR by August 31?August 20, 2026, 06.03 AM IST
LISTEN 17:48
India’s tax calendar looks different this year. While most salaried taxpayers wrapped up their returns by July 31, taxpayers with certain business or professional income have until August 31. But who exactly qualifies? What happens if you earn a salary alongside income from F&O trading, consulting, freelancing or content creation? Which ITR should you file, and how is F&O turnover calculated? In this episode of The Morning Brief, ET Wealth’s Preeti K talks to with Aarti Raote, Partner, Deloitte about ITR-3 versus ITR-4, presumptive taxation, reconciling AIS and brokerage statements, and the expensive mistakes taxpayers should avoid before the deadline.Listen in.
Morning Brief Podcast
EB-1A, Explained: The Green Card Route That's Closing on IndiansAugust 18, 2026, 06.21 AM IST
LISTEN 09:44
For Indian professionals chasing a US green card, even the fast lane is getting harder. Approval rates for EB-1A — the category reserved for people with extraordinary ability — have fallen sharply, from 49% to 35% in a year. That compounds an already punishing green-card backlog for Indians on H-1B visas, many of whom face waits stretching decades. So what is driving the tougher scrutiny? Can legal challenges change the trajectory? And are Canada, the UK or the investment-linked EB-5 route credible alternatives? On The Morning Brief Swathi Moorthy joins Anirban Chowdhury to unpack America’s tightening immigration maze.
For 75 days, an Indian oil tanker captain and his 23-member crew were stranded in the Strait of Hormuz as war raged around them. Missiles flew overhead. Explosions shook the ship. Supplies dwindled, families waited anxiously and the crew faced pressure to carry out a risky cargo transfer. Through it all, the tanker remained loaded with 110,000 tonnes of cargo. This episode is a first-hand account of life aboard a merchant vessel caught in a conflict it had no part in — and of the seafarers who keep global trade moving while remaining largely invisible, unarmed and vulnerable. Raman Kapoor’s first person account, narrated by Anirban Chowdhury.
Morning Brief Podcast
What Chandra Leaves for Tata’s Next ChairmanAugust 14, 2026, 06.19 AM IST
LISTEN 15:19
N Chandrasekaran’s decision not to seek another term as Tata Sons chairman brings an extraordinary year of tensions inside the Tata Group to a head. Behind the succession question lies a deeper struggle over how Tata Trusts exercises control over Tata Sons, how much capital the group should commit to businesses such as Air India, digital and semiconductors, whether Tata Sons should remain private, and how the Shapoorji Pallonji Group gets liquidity from its stake. Anirban Chowdhury speaks to governance experts Amit Tandon, founder and MD IiAS and Shriram Subramanian, founder and MD, InGovern about what Chandra leaves behind and the problems awaiting Tata’s next chairman.Listen in
Indian exporters are facing a fresh shipping squeeze. Congestion at major transhipment hubs such as Singapore and Colombo is delaying cargo, disrupting schedules and pushing up costs, just as global trade routes are being reshaped by geopolitical tensions and shifting freight demand. But the disruption exposes a deeper weakness in India’s export infrastructure. Despite its vast coastline — and the arrival of the Vizhinjam transhipment port — much of India’s cargo still relies on overseas hubs before heading to global markets. Anirban Chowdhury speaks to ET’s Twesh Mishra about what’s causing the jam, what exporters are losing, and whether India can finally bring its transhipment business home.
Morning Brief Podcast
ET Deep Dive: The Auto’s Electric MakeoverAugust 09, 2026, 06.22 AM IST
LISTEN 11:37
India’s humble autorickshaw is getting its biggest reinvention in decades. Electric three-wheelers are surging because the economics work: lower running costs, less maintenance and better predictability for drivers and fleets. But the real disruption goes deeper. As Bajaj Auto defends its turf and Mahindra, TVS and others push harder, competition is shifting from price and mileage to range, comfort, software, financing, service and uptime. Lijee Philip reports, Anirban Chowdhury narrates how electrification is rewriting the rules of India’s three-wheeler industry—and why the winners may be those who rethink the autorickshaw itself.
Morning Brief Podcast
IT Secy on ISM 2.0, Social Media Regulation & India's AI RaceAugust 07, 2026, 06.22 AM IST
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In this candid interview, ET's tech editor Surabhi Agarwal and Subhayan Chakraborty sit down with India's IT Secretary to discuss ISM 2.0, the government's $13 billion second phase of the India Semiconductor Mission. He breaks down lessons from ISM 1.0's 12 approved projects, the new market-linked funding model for chip design startups, and why silicon fabs now get differentiated incentives over other packaging units. The conversation also covers the government's approach to regulating social media platforms under the IT Act, recent friction with Meta and X over content takedowns, and where India stands in the intensifying global AI race between the US and China. Listen in
Prashant Kishor has spent years shaping election victories for others. Now, he has delivered one of his own. In this episode of The Morning Brief, Nidhi Sharma speaks with Economic Times’ Kumar Anshuman to unpack Jan Suraaj Party’s stunning victory in Bankipur, a BJP bastion for more than three decades. How did Kishor engineer a massive electoral swing just months after his party failed to win a single Assembly seat? What does this upset reveal about the BJP’s vulnerabilities, the RJD’s shrinking space, and the changing political mood in Bihar? And should this bypoll be seen as an anomaly—or an early warning?
Morning Brief Podcast
No Place To Hide (Part 2): Why India’s Food Industry Is Cleaning Up Its ActAugust 04, 2026, 06.58 AM IST
LISTEN 21:55
In the second part of the series, Ratna Bhushan, ET's FMCG Editor, brings in two industry voices to dissect the impact of FSSAI and Maharashtra FDA's crackdowns. Anjan Chatterjee, founder of Speciality Restaurants, argues surprise audits are overdue but says license suspension should be a last resort, not a first response. Ashwin Bhadri, founder of Equinox Labs, backs the enforcement push while calling for improvement notices before suspensions, faster novel-ingredient approvals, and mandatory food-safety education in schools. With the Cricket Club of India already in Bombay High Court challenging its suspension, and more legal disputes brewing, this episode asks: can India's food and drink industry clean up fast enough, without the crackdown becoming counterproductive? Listen in.
Morning Brief Podcast
The New Kids' Table: Private Equity Goes to SchoolAugust 02, 2026, 06.19 AM IST
LISTEN 12:51
Private equity is expanding into India’s K-12 school sector, following the same playbook it used to reshape private hospitals. Since Indian schools must legally operate as not-for-profit trusts, PE firms like KKR, Blackstone, and Kedaara invest indirectly through separate for-profit “OpCo” service companies that charge trusts for management, infrastructure, and operations—mirroring hospital structures. The appeal: predictable, long-term cash flow from families who rarely withdraw children mid-cycle, rising fees, and unmet demand for quality private education. Regulatory hurdles, fee caps, and mandated free seats for low-income students complicate profitability. Unlike hospitals, no major PE-backed education platform has yet achieved a successful exit, leaving the model’s long-term viability untested. Alenjith K Johny and Mohit Bhalla report; Anirban Chowdhury narrates for audio.
Morning Brief Podcast
No Place to Hide: Inside Maharashtra’s Food & Drug Crackdown (Part 1)July 31, 2026, 06.38 AM IST
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Since late May 2026, Maharashtra has been in the middle of one of its most aggressive food and drug enforcement drives in years — adulterated prasad seized near Shirdi, synthetic milk units shut down, the license of Mumbai’s Parsi Dairy Farm suspended, hospitals pulled up for forcing patients to buy from in-house pharmacies, and over 1,100 raids conducted statewide in just two months. The trigger: a widening gap between food safety standards on paper and enforcement on the ground, rising antimicrobial resistance from unchecked antibiotic sales, and a regulator willing to finally use the full force of the law.This is the first of a two-part series on that crackdown. In this episode, ET’s pharma editor Vikas Dandekar speaks to the man driving it: Tukaram Mundhe, Commissioner of Maharashtra FDA. A 2005-batch IAS officer transferred 25 times in 21 years, Mundhe is known for his uncompromising style. They discuss what’s fueling the crackdown, whether it can survive political pressure, and if this enforcement is sustainable.Listen in
Morning Brief Podcast
Google Cloud CEO on India's $15 billion bet, sovereign AI push, and moreJuly 30, 2026, 06.22 AM IST
LISTEN 18:12
In this conversation with ET's editor technology Surabhi Agarwal, Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian discusses the company's expanding footprint in India, including bringing Gemini Flash 3.5 and Gemini Enterprise to sovereign infrastructure, and scaling local engineering talent through forward-deployed teams and partnerships like Mission Karmayogi. Kurian addresses the $15 billion investment with Adani and Airtel, India's growing role as an AI export hub, and ambitions around server manufacturing. He also weighs in on sovereign AI becoming a global norm, Google Cloud's $460 billion order backlog, competition with AI-native challengers, and how the company plans to strengthen its position against larger rivals like Microsoft and Amazon. Listen in
Morning Brief Podcast
Cockroaches, Courts & Committees: What Did India’s GenZ Really Win?July 28, 2026, 06.40 AM IST
LISTEN 31:42
We look back at the Jantar Mantar protests through the lens of media, technology and youth agency. What began as a Chief Justice’s jibe calling unemployed young Indians “cockroaches” turned into a movement that forced a Union minister’s resignation — powered by satire, memes and a 26-day hunger strike, and a social media following that outgrew the ruling party’s own. As the government rolls out fast-track courts, a tougher anti-cheating law and a Nilekani-led task force, the question is whether this marks a genuine break from the past or a repeat of 2024 — when a similar paper leak led to the Radhakrishnan committee's 101 recommendations, many of which remain only partially implemented two years on. Anirban Chowdhury speaks to Dr Anindya Kundu, sociologist, best-selling writer, Assistant Professor at Florida International University, Dr Usha Raman, former professor,Dept of Communication, University of Hyderabad and ET’s Anubhuti Vishnoi on virality, power, protest and reforms.
For decades, Northeast India was seen mainly as a corridor for drugs flowing out of Myanmar’s Golden Triangle. That has changed. The transit route is becoming a destination. In this episode of ET Deep Dive, we travel to the Assam–Arunachal Pradesh border, speaking to recovering heroin users, anti-drug volunteers and communities confronting a crisis that is quietly tearing families apart. From schoolchildren drawn into addiction to tribal justice systems stepping in where institutions struggle, this is a story of shifting narcotics networks, broken lives, and remarkable resilience. The battle against drugs is no longer only at the border—it is inside homes. Shantanu Nandan Sharma reports, Anirban Chowdhury narrates for audio.
Glenmark Chief on Cracking the Multi-Specific Code
Glenmark Chief on Cracking the Multi-Specific CodeJuly 24, 2026, 12.06 PM IST
LISTEN 31:22
Glenmark Chairman and Managing Director Glen Saldanha joins Vikas Dandekar and Rica Bhattacharyya to discuss the company’s 25-year innovation bet, and why it’s finally paying off. At the center is ISB2001, a tri-specific antibody partnered with AbbVie, born out of Glenmark’s IGI platform after fifteen years of R&D. Saldanha talks through the platform’s pipeline, why Glenmark stays out of ADCs and CAR-T, how it’s building “Glenmark 3.0” across oncology, dermatology and respiratory, and why he still rates the US well ahead of China on innovation. The conversation also covers India’s licensing deals with Chinese biotechs, AI in drug discovery, and the GLP-1 market.
Morning Brief Podcast
ISRO's Exodus: Space Crisis, Staff CrisisJuly 23, 2026, 06.23 AM IST
LISTEN 21:03
ISRO is losing people faster than it can hire them. Around 100 scientists and engineers have resigned or taken voluntary retirement recently, with the bulk of the exits from URSC, ISRO's satellite hub, and VSSC, its rocket-making centre. More worryingly, the agency's on-roll strength is now lower than it was in 2001-02, even as its workload has multiplied with Gaganyaan, Chandrayaan-4 and-5, and Venus and Mars missions on the table. TOI's Chethan Kumar, who broke both stories, joins Anirban Chowdhury to unpack what's really driving the attrition, why the private space boom is only part of the story, and what it means for India's space ambitions.
On the first day of Parliament’s Monsoon Session, two very different upheavals converged in Delhi. Outside Parliament, young protesters demanding accountability over examination failures faced barricades, detentions and police force. Inside the political establishment, the BJP was pursuing a quieter but equally consequential project: building the numbers needed to reshape India’s constitutional and electoral future. One conflict is being fought through slogans, crowds and public anger. The other through alliances, arithmetic and long-term strategy. Anirban Chowdhury speaks to Jatin Takkar and Pratishtha Bagai to examine the pressures confronting the government and ask whether India’s future will be shaped by the unrest on its streets or the numbers inside Parliament.
ET Deep Dive
The Pyramid Problem: Why AI Is Breaking Indian IT’s Winning FormulaJuly 19, 2026, 06.26 AM IST
LISTEN 14:26
Indian IT built its empire on one formula: throw armies of low-cost engineers at repeatable work, and scale relentlessly. That formula survived Y2K, the dot-com crash, and cloud computing. But AI attacks the model’s foundation itself — the cheap, standardized labor that made the industry’s pyramid structure work. In this episode, we trace how Indian IT industrialized itself, why its biggest strength is now becoming a liability, and what happens when top AI talent refuses to work inside rigid, hierarchical systems. We hear from industry analysts and former CEOs on whether IT giants can rebuild their culture fast enough — or whether this disruption is one wave they can’t ride out. Jochelle Mendonca reports, Anirban Chowdhury narrates for audio.
Morning Brief Podcast
Smart Glasses, Blind Spots: How Meta's Wearables Are Watching YouJuly 17, 2026, 07.10 AM IST
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Virat Kohli's slick Oakley Meta ad made smart glasses look effortless. But behind the "Hey Meta" voice commands lies a growing privacy crisis. From Nairobi outsourcing workers reviewing graphic footage to women being filmed without consent on beaches and in stairwells, the harms are real and disproportionately gendered. Host Dia Rekhi talks to Dr Milica Stilinovic, Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Sydney, and ET's tech expert Suraksha P, who break down how these devices erode democratic privacy norms, Meta's controversial pilot with the Gujarat government to aid visually impaired citizens, and why experts call it closer to coerced consent than genuine choice.
India rolled out E20 ethanol petrol five years ahead of schedule, and consumer complaints followed just as fast: mileage drops, rusted tanks, replaced parts. But how much of that is the fuel, and how much is old fuel systems never built for it? Government and industry voices point to savings, farmer income, and lower emissions; consumers point to unchanged prices and vague warranty coverage. Neither side fully answers the other. What's missing is clarity: who tested what, who pays when parts fail, and whether the timeline moved faster than the safeguards meant to accompany it. In this episode of The Morning Brief, ET's energy and auto experts Kalpana Pathak and Shally Seth Mohile speak to Randheer Singh, former Director at NITI Aayog and CEO of ForeSee Advisors and Bharati Balaji, Deputy Director General of the All India Distillers Association about the concerns, economics, trade-offs and future of India's ethanol programme.
Morning Brief Podcast
When Algorithms Push Harm, Who's Liable?July 14, 2026, 06.20 AM IST
LISTEN 23:33
When a recommendation system pushes child sexual abuse material to a user, who answers for it: the algorithm or the company behind it? Host Anirban Chowdhury speaks with Supreme Court of India lawyer Sajan Poovayya, who breaks down India's evolving liability framework for platforms, from the strict liability standard around CSAM ( Child Sexual Abuse Material) to the tricky question of proving corporate intent through POCSO, the IT Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. He unpacks the Supreme Court's take on constructive possession, why safe harbor may not apply when engagement-driven design pushes harmful content, and how India's dark pattern penalties could offer a blueprint for regulating platform accountability.
Gold has always been India’s emotional anchor — heirlooms passed down for weddings, festivals, and hard times. But soaring prices are rewriting that relationship. This episode looks at why Gen Z and millennials are increasingly selling or exchanging inherited jewellery: a Mumbai couple who funded their first home, a Bengaluru banker who redirected proceeds into equities, a family that turned gold into a son’s US master’s degree and his father’s new business. We unpack the data behind the shift — jewellery demand falling as investment demand in bars and coins rises — and ask who really benefits when old gold gets recycled: the customer, or the jeweller. Lijee Philip and Shantanu Nandan Sharma report, Anirban Chowdhury narrates.
Morning Brief Podcast
Why Every Influencer Has a Lawyer on Speed DialJuly 14, 2026, 09.52 AM IST
LISTEN 14:44
Influencer marketing has exploded into a serious revenue stream, but legal awareness hasn't kept pace. Hosts Anirban Chowdhury and Rajesh N Naidu speak to Ishan Johri, Partner, Khaitan & Co, who breaks down who actually bears responsibility when a promotional post goes wrong: the brand, the influencer, or the agency in between. He explains why disclosing a free product matters just as much as disclosing a cash payment, why beauty and health content attracts the most legal complaints, and how SEBI is cracking down on unqualified finfluencers. From copyright grey zones to what a legal notice actually looks like, this is a masterclass in the risks creators overlook.
Morning Brief Podcast
Why Foreign Money Loves Indian Debt, Not StocksJuly 07, 2026, 06.23 AM IST
LISTEN 10:51
Foreign capital is back in India — but not the way it used to be. In June, overseas funds poured a record Rs 41,773 crore into Indian government debt, even as they pulled nearly Rs 49,340 crore out of equities. What's driving this split? A stabilising rupee, tax breaks on bond returns, and hopes that India will finally enter Bloomberg's global bond index. But risks remain — a hawkish Fed, a deferred index decision, or weak Q1 earnings could change everything fast. ET's Rozebud Gonsalves breaks down what this debt-versus-equity divide really means for India's markets and the rupee.
Five young mothers in Kota died within twelve days after a routine oxytocin shot. The vials meant to stop bleeding after childbirth had no drug in them at all, just water. What followed was an investigation that tore open a Punjab manufacturer's records: fabricated test data, tampered machines, missing safety checks, and a company that had been ordered to stop production three years ago and simply ignored it. Reported by Teena Thacker narrated by Anirban Chowdhury this epiosde traces the deaths, the daily-wage families left behind, and how a tiny, poorly regulated oxytocin market let a repeat offender keep supplying hospitals until it turned fatal.
The Indian government has issued a notice to Meta over WhatsApp’s planned username feature, warning that it could fuel impersonation and online fraud. Meta maintains usernames are a privacy feature designed to let users connect without sharing phone numbers. But the dispute runs much deeper. In this episode, host Anirban Chowdhury talks to Apar Gupta, co-founder, Internet Freedom Foundation about the government’s concerns, Meta’s response, the first-originator rule, end-to-end encryption, the limits of India’s IT Rules and DPDP Act, and why the bigger question is whether governments will ever lead—rather than merely react to—the future of digital identity.
Morning Brief Podcast
The Heat Dome Files: What Europe Can Learn From IndiaJuly 02, 2026, 06.15 AM IST
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Europe's latest heatwave is expected to leave behind a staggering human toll. But beyond the immediate crisis, it is raising a broader question: are countries prepared for a world where extreme heat becomes routine? While much of the conversation around climate change focuses on emissions, a parallel challenge is emerging around adaptation. From city design and public health systems to early warning mechanisms and heat action plans, governments are being forced to rethink how they prepare for rising temperatures. In this episode of The Morning Brief, Anirban Chowdhury sits down with Karsten Haustein, a Research Scientist at Leipzig University, and Vishwas Chitale, Chairman of the GHHIN South Asia Heat Health Hub. Together, they discuss the science behind Europe's heatwave, why humidity and warm nights are making heat more dangerous, and what lessons other countries can learn from India's growing experience in managing extreme heat."
Morning Brief Podcast
Tracxn Co-Founder on India’s Startup Paradox: More Money, Fewer BetsJune 30, 2026, 06.25 AM IST
LISTEN 14:32
India’s startup ecosystem is sending mixed signals. Funding deals are at a decade low, yet tech IPOs are breaking records. Investors are writing bigger cheques but backing fewer companies, while deep tech, AI and space tech are quietly reshaping the next phase of innovation. Host Anirban Chowdhury talks to Tracxn co-founder Neha Singh about what the data really reveals: why average deal sizes have doubled, whether the era of growth-at-all-costs is over, why India’s AI funding still lags global peers despite its talent pool, and what founders, investors and policymakers should watch as the country’s startup ecosystem enters a more disciplined phase. Listen in:
Morning Brief Podcast
ET Deep Dive: Can India’s Firecracker Capital Go Global?June 28, 2026, 06.18 AM IST
LISTEN 14:33
Nestled in Virudhunagar district of Tamil Nadu, Sivakasi is India’s undisputed firecracker capital. What began as a humble cottage industry thrived in the region’s hot, dry climate — conditions too harsh for agriculture but perfect for manufacturing matches and firecrackers. Over decades, this unlikely desert town grew into a Rs 6,000 crore industry, supplying the bulk of India’s fireworks. Now, the newly elected Vijay government has set its sights higher, pushing Sivakasi to compete on the world stage and challenge China’s dominance in global fireworks. But transforming political ambition into industrial reality is a challenge that remains to be seen. Dia Rekhi reports and narrates for audio.
Morning Brief Podcast
Can Regional Aviation Finally Take Off in India?June 26, 2026, 06.24 AM IST
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For decades, regional aviation in India has been a story of false starts, grounded ambitions and struggling airlines. But that may finally be changing. India makes more than 4 billion intercity trips every year. Yet only 3% happen by air. That gap may be the single biggest untapped opportunity in Indian aviation — and airlines like Fly91 and aircraft maker ATR believe they are perfectly positioned to capture it. In this episode of The Morning Brief, Anirban Chowdhury and ET's Forum Gandhi speak with Alexis Vidal, Chief Commercial Officer of ATR, and Manoj Chacko, Managing Director of Fly91, about why regional aviation has historically failed to scale, what has changed in India's smaller cities, and whether the economics finally work. From eliminating check-in entirely and operating with fuel costs at just 22% of revenue, to filling flights with business travellers in places few expected, the conversation explores the opportunities, bottlenecks and big bets shaping India's next aviation frontier.
Morning Brief Podcast
Dr Ramakanta Panda On Why Bankers, Techies Most Susceptible To Heart DiseaseJune 25, 2026, 06.25 AM IST
LISTEN 28:33
Eighty percent of Dr Ramakanta Panda's young cardiac patients — below 35, below 40 — work in IT or finance. Late nights, processed food, 2 AM pizza, secondhand smoke, and a generation that doesn't sleep before midnight. The Padma Bhushan awardee and Chairman of Asian Heart Institute, Mumbai has performed over 30,000 cardiac surgeries with a 99.8% bypass success rate and zero MRSA in his ICU — all from one hospital he has refused to franchise, refused to debt-finance, and refused to sell to private equity. Every week, he says no. In this episode of The Morning Brief, ET's pharma editor Vikas Dandekar and Rica Bhattacharyya sit down with Dr. Panda on why India cannot fix its healthcare issues by solely relying on private healthcare — and whether one hospital built on culture can set standards an industry built on capital never will.
Jio Platforms is set to file what could be India's largest-ever IPO. But the story goes far beyond the listing. Senior telecom consultant Kalyan Parbat joins host Anirban Chowdhury to break down what the DRHP really signals. From prepaying debt to funding a sovereign LEO satellite constellation, building a homegrown AI agent called Hey Jio, and exporting its indigenous 5G stack to global operators, Jio's ambitions are staggering. But questions remain. Competition pressure, privacy concerns around AI on mobile networks, net neutrality risks from network slicing. This is a deep dive into what Jio's public market debut means for India's digital future.
A revolution is underway in cancer diagnosis. A gene-based test called next-generation sequencing can identify precise mutations in a patient’s DNA, which can then be treated with targeted therapies instead of painful chemotherapy. For an 80-year-old woman with stage 4 lung cancer, it meant walking again. For a 24-year-old with breast cancer, it meant a normal life. But since NGS tests can cost up to Rs 4 lakh, a unique collaboration called LuNGS Alliance is making it free for lung cancer patients across India — offering a glimpse of how medical breakthroughs can be made accessible and affordable for all. Vikas Dandekar and Arijit Barman report. Anirban Chowdhury narrates for audio. Listen in.
India's media and entertainment industry is actively exploring new frontiers in AI. From JioHotstar's dedicated AI content division to Kishore Lulla's $150 million Eros Innovation play, the country's biggest streaming and production companies are building AI studios from the ground up. The economics are hard to ignore, production costs down 60-70%, delivery timelines cut by half. But beyond micro dramas, the ambition stretches to web series, animation, and films. Host Anirban Chowdhury, ET's in house entertainment journalist and film critic Rajesh N Naidu and JioHotstar's chief architect Vijay Seshadri explains the three pillars powering the platform's AI strategy.
Morning Brief Podcast
Mythos Blocked: When AI Becomes a Weapon of StateJune 18, 2026, 06.22 AM IST
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On June 12, the US government forced Anthropic to shut off its most powerful AI models Fable 5 and Mythos 5 for every foreign national on earth, citing national security. The trigger was a claimed jailbreak. The fallout was immediate. India, which had only just gained access to Mythos through Project Glasswing, was suddenly cut off. Host Anirban Chowdhury talks to Dr Rumman Chowdhury, co-founder CEO of Humane Intelligence and Nikhil Narendran, partner at TMT Trilegal and president of ITechLaw Association about if AI access the new arms race? What does this mean for Indian startups, critical infrastructure and digital sovereignty? And when Indian data trained these models, but Indian users can't use them, who really owns artificial intelligence?
Morning Brief Podcast
Killed in America’s War: The Indian Sailors Nobody Apologised ForJune 16, 2026, 06.20 AM IST
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Three Indian mariners are dead, killed by US Navy strikes on a commercial tanker in the Gulf of Oman. Host Anirban Chowdhury talks to Abhijit Singh, a retired naval officer and former head of the maritime policy initiative at ORF, to break down what we know and what remains contested about the MT Settebello incident. Was it a legitimate blockade enforcement or an unprovoked attack on a stationary vessel? And does the timing make it worse? A US-Iran truce and deal was reportedly already in the works when the precision strikes hit. Abhijit examines India's structural vulnerability in global shipping, the limits of diplomatic protests, and what New Delhi must demand now before this becomes just another forgotten episode. Listen in.
From the hills of Nagaland, once rattled by insurgency, comes an unlikely revolution — specialty coffee. In this episode of ET Deep Dive, we trace how a state better known for decades of conflict is quietly reinventing itself, one arabica bean at a time. From smallholder farmers in the mist-covered hills of Wokha to young entrepreneurs who studied abroad and came home to build brands, Nagaland’s coffee story is as much about identity as it is about agriculture. With government backing, global ambitions and a target of fifty thousand hectares by 2047, could this be India’s next great coffee country?
Every month, millions of Indians put money into mutual funds through SIPs without really knowing how long to stay invested or what happens when markets crash. ET Wealth's annual SIP study with Crisil Intelligence finally puts hard numbers to these questions. Host and editor ET Wealth Kayezad E Adajania talks to Piyush Gupta, Director at Crisil Intelligence about what 15 years of data across 120 schemes actually shows — the magic of a 10-year SIP, what the COVID crash revealed about short versus long-term investors, why higher returns and more predictable returns are not the same thing, and the basic housekeeping every SIP investor should be doing right now.Kayezad E Adajania
The rupee has been on a sharp slide, moving from 90 to nearly 97 in just a few months. On Friday, the RBI stepped in with two major measures a concessional FCNR deposit window for NRIs and a subsidised swap facility for ECB borrowings by PSUs effectively absorbing the hedging costs to pull in foreign capital. But how much of a difference will it make, and for how long? Host Rozebud Gonsalves speaks with Sakshi Gupta, Principal Economist at HDFC Bank, on the rupee's initial reaction, expected capital inflows and the forward book.
Morning Brief Podcast
The Gold That Wasn't There: Inside SEBI's Case Against Rajesh ExportsJune 09, 2026, 06.33 AM IST
LISTEN 17:55
SEBI has accused Rajesh Exports and its promoter Rajesh Mehta of one of India's most brazen alleged financial frauds — inflating revenues by fifteen lakh crore, claiming ownership of African gold mines that don't exist, and siphoning funds through a web of overseas entities while auditors looked the other way. On this episode of The Morning Brief, Anirban Chowdhury, N Sundaresha Subramanian, and JN Gupta of Stakeholders Empowerment Services break down how the alleged scheme worked, what investors actually stand to lose, and whether a company that has already shed eighty percent of its market cap has any reason left to come clean..
India's locker economy is booming — and buckling. Bank vaults remain the default choice for storing gold, heirlooms and family documents, but chronic shortages, inheritance disputes and a trust deficit are cracking the system open. Private vault operators are muscling in with biometric access and extended hours. Home-safe manufacturers are selling the idea of keeping wealth closer. And regulators are struggling to keep pace. As gold prices soar and household wealth rises, the question of who safeguards India's physical assets has never been more urgent — or more contested. This is the story of India's locker economy, and the battle to control it. Lijee Philip reports, Anirban Chowdhury narrates. Listen in:
Morning Brief Podcast
Anthropic Goes Public: Can Markets Justify a $1 Trillion Value?June 05, 2026, 06.18 AM IST
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As Anthropic files confidentially for an IPO with a reported valuation nearing $1 trillion, markets are watching closely. Host Anirban Chowdhury talks to Daniel Newman, CEO at data intellegince, research and advisory firm The Futurum Group to break down what investors should really scrutinise from enterprise attrition data to compute cost commitments. They unpack the revenue optics inflated by cloud credits, the profitability timeline that could stretch years, and why buying on Day One may be a risky bet. Newman also weighs in on whether going public will force Anthropic into a tension between quarterly expectations and long-horizon research and what OpenAI can learn from watching Anthropic go first.
Morning Brief Podcast
Four Economists on ‘Will The Rupee Cross 100 To The Dollar?June 02, 2026, 06.18 AM IST
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Is the psychological 100-to-the-dollar mark now inevitable? In this episode of The Morning Brief, Rozebud Gonsalves speaks to economists from leading financial institutions–Gaura Sengupta, chief economist at IDFC First Bank, Kanika Pasricha, chief economic advisor, Union Bank of India, Madhavi Arora, chief economist, Emkay Global Financial Services and Dhiraj Nim, economist and FX Strategist, ANZ–about where the rupee is headed, the role of oil prices, tariffs, geopolitics and capital flows, who benefits from a weaker currency, and whether the RBI can slow the slide. Most importantly, is this depreciation a warning sign—or simply the cost of India's integration with a changing global economy? Listen in.
Operation Octopus is Hyderabad Police’s ambitious multi-phase crackdown on the infrastructure behind cyber fraud — not just the small fish, but the entire ecosystem. From mule accounts and rogue bank employees to ghost SIMs and crypto networks, each phase peels back a new layer of a sprawling criminal enterprise spanning multiple states and international actors. Commissioner VC Sajjanar estimates four hundred crore rupees is lost annually in Hyderabad alone. Yet kingpins remain at large. Based on Shilpa Ranipeta’s ground investigation, Anirban Chowdhury narrates how a single Facebook scam unravelled into one of India’s most complex cybercrime investigations.
Morning Brief Podcast
Why Doesn't India Know What To Do With Its Stray Dogs?May 29, 2026, 05.59 PM IST
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India has 80 million stray dogs and accounts for 30 percent of the world's rabies deaths. The Supreme Court's latest judgment proposes capturing and relocating strays from schools, hospitals, religious and tourism sites but the experts on this episode argue it may do more harm than the problem it set out to solve. Host Anirban Chowdhury sits down with Gauri Maulekhi, Trustee of People for Animals, Alokparna Sengupta, Managing Director of Humane World for Animals India, and Luke Gamble, Founder and CEO of Mission Rabies, on why India's animal birth control programme collapsed despite 25 years of policy, what Malawi's rabies elimination model teaches us about structural solutions, and whether a judgment meant to protect citizens is quietly pushing India toward a less humane future.
Morning Brief Podcast
Physical AI Is Here: So Are The Data Collection RisksMay 28, 2026, 06.13 AM IST
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Physical AI is being seen as the next frontier of artificial intelligence. Not AI that lives on screens. But AI that can navigate and operate in the real world — from humanoid robots and warehouses to factories and homes. But these systems need enormous amounts of real-world human activity data to learn movement and physical tasks. And increasingly, India is emerging as a low-cost training ground for that data collection. In this episode, Host Anirban Chowdhury talks to ET’s Puran Choudhary and Disha Acharya on wearable cameras, AI data pipelines, privacy risks, regulatory gaps and the hidden human layer powering the next AI boom.
Morning Brief Podcast
Cockroach Janta Party: Did a Meme Just Become a Movement?May 26, 2026, 06.21 AM IST
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When the Chief Justice of India Surya Kant called young professionals “cockroaches,” he likely didn’t anticipate a political uprising on social media. Host Dia Rekhi speaks to Sudhanshu Kaushik, president and CEO of the Centre for Youth Policy and author of The Future is Ours: The Political Promise of India's Youth and Rajat Sethi, founder QuBeats about the party— a meme-turned-movement that amassed 20 million followers, outpaced the BJP on Instagram, and triggered a government crackdown. Is this genuine youth disillusionment or chronically-online noise? And what does it signal for India’s political future? Listen in.
Dr Charlie Cherian has spent decades building St Thomas Hospital in Malakkara, a small town in Pathanamthitta, Kerala. He has never taken a foreign holiday. The farthest he has travelled is Bengaluru — and that was for work. Now KKR and Blackstone have pumped nearly nine hundred million dollars into Kerala's hospitals in just two years, acquiring chains, adding beds, and reshaping a system long run by independent doctors and families. For Cherian, the question is no longer whether private equity will change Kerala's healthcare — but whether doctors like him can survive it. Reported by Alenjith K Johny, narrated for audio by Anirban Chowdhury.
Morning Brief Podcast
Corner Office Conversation: HP India MD Ipsita Dasgupta on AI PCs & Creator EconomyMay 22, 2026, 06.18 AM IST
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HP’s MD and SVP for India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka Ipsita Dasgupta joins ET’s Anirban Chowdhury in the latest Corner Office Conversation to discuss why India’s PC story is still in its early stages — and how AI PCs, creators, SMEs and students could drive the next wave of growth. She explains why HP sees “a PC in every child’s hands” as a national opportunity, how AI-powered computing could change productivity for enterprises and creators alike, and why India may emerge as a critical manufacturing and innovation hub in the global tech supply chain. She also speaks candidly about women in leadership, risk-taking, workplace culture and building communities that help women succeed in tech.
Morning Brief Podcast
TCS Nashik, NCW's Findings & The POSH FailureMay 21, 2026, 06.20 AM IST
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The TCS Nashik case has become one of the most disturbing workplace harassment scandals in India’s recent corporate history. The NCW’s findings point to systemic intimidation, leadership failure, weak POSH implementation and a culture of silence inside a major listed company. In this episode, Anirban Chowdhury speaks to Aparna Mittal, Founder of Samāna Centre for Gender, Policy and Law, about governance deficits, fear-driven workplaces, misuse of authority, whistleblower failures and why younger employees remain especially vulnerable. Listen in:
India grows 40% of the world’s mangoes. Yet exports less than 1%.So where does the rest go?In this episode of The Morning Brief, Anirban Chowdhury and Forum Gandhi talk to T Damodaran, Director, ICAR-CISH, Jyotsna Kaur Habibullah, founder of Lucknow Mango Festival, Kaushal Khakhar, CEO, Kay Bee Exports and mango farmers to unpack the hidden economics of India’s favourite fruit — from climate change destroying flowering cycles and farmers battling middlemen, to irradiation rules, export bottlenecks and fake Alphonsos flooding markets.The episode travels from Ratnagiri orchards to American supermarket shelves, from mango diplomacy to mango kombucha.At stake is far more than a summer delicacy.Listen on
Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh's under-construction capital, is still a landscape of earthmovers and iron poles — but its Quantum Valley is already drawing scientists and engineers from across India and abroad. Young engineers have left metro jobs, postdoctoral researchers have returned from the US, and retired scientists are converging on this unfinished city to work on quantum computing — technology that promises to transform drug discovery, artificial intelligence and beyond. Built around nine theme-based precincts, Amaravati is Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu's grand vision. Quantum Valley is its economic anchor — and its earliest settlers are already betting their careers on it. Nidhi Sharma reports and narrates.
Morning Brief Podcast
Can Bollywood's Big Boys Play The Microdrama Game?May 15, 2026, 06.17 AM IST
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India's biggest production houses are moving into micro-drama — but entering a format is very different from mastering it. In this episode of The Morning Brief, host Anirban Chowdhury, ET's in house film journalist and critic Rajesh Naidu and AI-native micro drama platform Dashverse founder Sanidhya Narain examine three defining tensions in the micro-drama space: whether the format can genuinely serve as an IP testing ground for films and series, whether legacy studios have the structural DNA to compete in a high-volume, low-cost game, and whether China's ad-dominant revenue model can work in India's market. Listen in.
When a Prime Minister asks a billion people to stop buying gold, something has already broken. In this episode of The Morning Brief, host Anirban Chowdhury sits down with Suvankar Sen, MD and CEO of Senco Gold, Atmadip Ray, Senior Editor at The Economic Times, and Madan Sabnavis, Chief Economist at Bank of Baroda — on what actually happened to consumer demand the moment Modi spoke, why India's ₹16 lakh crore gold loan market is now under RBI's scanner, and whether a rupee at 95, a crude bill of $123 billion and a $38 billion drop in forex reserves adds up to a crisis — or careful management. The numbers are stark. The question is whether the policy response is early enough.
Morning Brief Podcast
Parachute to Popcorn: Marico CEO on Acquisitions, Ambition & AttritionMay 12, 2026, 06.16 AM IST
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Social media has handed health influencers and activist consumers a megaphone and consumer brands are firmly in the crosshairs. Host Ratna Bhushan talks to Saugata Gupta, MD & CEO, Marico Limited as he addresses the growing tension between brand reputation and online scrutiny, arguing that while some criticism is unfair, the solution lies in authentic manufacturing practices and smarter regulation not defensiveness. Drawing a parallel with landmark financial influencer regulation, it makes the case for a similar framework in the food and wellness industry.
How Chinese pharma helping Indian patients with cutting edge therapies
How Chinese pharma helping Indian patients with cutting edge therapiesMay 10, 2026, 06.35 AM IST
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A quiet revolution is underway in Indian oncology. Chinese-origin cancer drugs, brought to India through a growing number of pharma partnerships, are dramatically cutting the cost of immunotherapy — making treatment accessible to patients who previously had no options. Doctors are prescribing them, patients are responding well, and Indian companies — from Glenmark to Dr Reddy’s to Intas — are signing billion-dollar deals to expand access further. Western immunotherapy can cost up to five lakh rupees per session. Chinese-origin alternatives are bringing that down to fifty thousand. This episode explores how the India-China pharma axis is reshaping who gets treated, and how
When an AI system can autonomously find and exploit vulnerabilities at scale — who controls the risk? In this episode of The Morning Brief, host Anirban sits down with Gary Marcus, AI expert, scientist and author to examine Anthropic's Mythos — a frontier AI system built for defensive cybersecurity that has rattled governments, central banks, and security researchers worldwide. The conversation unpacks why the dual-use dilemma at Mythos's core is so difficult to resolve, how India's financial and digital infrastructure sits squarely in the line of fire, and what RBI, MeitY, and Indian banks are quietly preparing for. From Anthropic's Project Glasswing to the limits of regulatory readiness, the episode probes whether the institutions meant to protect us are moving fast enough — and whether a defensive tool, in the wrong hands, is a defensive tool at all.
Morning Brief Podcast
India's Biggest Trade Partner Is China, Now what?May 07, 2026, 06.18 AM IST
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China just surpassed the US as India's largest trading partner, with bilateral trade hitting $151 billion and a trade deficit that has ballooned to an all-time high of $112 billion. Beijing has also rolled out sweeping new supply chain rules that could penalise companies moving manufacturing out. So what does this mean for India? John Quelch, American President, Executive Vice Chancellor and Distinguished Professor of Social Science, Duke Kunshan University argues the deficit isn't the real story. China plays a long, calculated game — on tariffs, on technology, on geopolitics. India needs to learn to read that game, not react to it. From the Trump-Xi summit to robots, rare earths, and the untapped potential of two ancient civilisations — this conversation reframes everything.
Morning Brief Podcast
Polls on my Pod: Bengal Flips, Vijay Disrupts, Kerala ResetsMay 05, 2026, 08.18 AM IST
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A political script has been torn up across India’s key states. Tamil Nadu sees actor Vijay’s TVK disrupt decades of Dravidian dominance. West Bengal delivers a stunning power shift as BJP ends a 15-year Trinamool rule. Assam doubles down on continuity, handing Himanta Biswa Sarma a third term and deepening BJP’s hold. And Kerala returns to its classic anti-incumbency cycle, giving Congress a crucial win. In this episode of Polls on My Pod, Nidhi Sharma and ET's Dia Rekhi, Kumar Anshuman and CL Manoj decode the deeper story—fracturing vote banks, new social coalitions, and what these mandates signal for national politics ahead. Listen in:
Desc: She’s dressed in designer labels at a high-profile party. She runs a beauty parlour in northeast Delhi. She has a pistol in one hand and a social media following in the other. Meet India’s new women gangsters — educated, visible, and deeply embedded in the country’s most feared criminal networks. From Rajasthan to Delhi to gang bosses operating out of Portugal, this is a story about crime, glamour, broken homes, and a society in rapid transition. ET Deep Dive, based on Shantanu Nandan Sharma’s ground report, goes inside the world they’ve built. Anirban Chowdhury narrates.
Seven Rajya Sabha MPs quitting together is a structural rupture inside Aam Aadmi Party. From Raghav Chadha’s distancing to the exit of key organisational architects like Sandeep Pathak, this episode traces how AAP moved from a high-moral insurgency in 2015 to a party battling credibility, governance questions, and leadership centralisation. Anirban Chowdhury and ET’s Nidhi Sharma examine its real delivery—schools, clinics, welfare—alongside its biggest missteps: Sheeshmahal, Yamuna, and the excise policy. With Punjab now its last stronghold, the question is stark: can AAP still course-correct, or is this the beginning of a slow political unravelling? Tune in. Credit: Hindustan Times.
Morning Brief Podcast
Sun–Organon: The scope, risks, and future of India's biggest pharma dealApril 30, 2026, 06.21 AM IST
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India's largest drugmaker, Sun Pharma, has announced the acquisition of US-based Organon in a landmark $11.75 billion all-cash deal, the biggest overseas purchase by an Indian company since Tata-Corus in 2007. The move effectively doubles Sun Pharma's size, vaulting it into the top 25 global pharmaceutical companies with combined revenues of $12.4 billion. Host Anirban Chowdhury talks to ET's pharma expert Vikas Dandekar and associate editor Arijit Barman about why this deal gives Sun Pharma an instant foothold in biosimilars, a dominant position in global women's health, and a portfolio of established brands across 150 countries. With $2.5 billion in combined pre-financing free cash flows, the company looks well-positioned to tackle Organon's inherited debt burden.
Morning Brief Podcast
Polls On My Pod: Fish, Faith & the SIR Fear: Can Mamata Hold Bengal?April 28, 2026, 06.34 AM IST
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West Bengal's 2026 elections should be a contest of ideas but on the ground, something far darker is unfolding. What emerges from ground reporting is not voters debating whom to choose, but fearing whether they'll be allowed to vote at all. Booth capturing, voter list manipulation, and intimidation have replaced genuine democratic exercise. While TMC faces anti-incumbency after 15 years and BJP pushes hard, is the real casualty democracy itself? Host Nidhi Sharma talks to ET’s Jayatri Nag, Kumar Anshuman and a prominent senior journalist and columnist, Shikha Mukerjee why Bengal isn't just testing political loyalty, it's testing whether free and fair elections still exist in India.
Online dating has always been a grueling hustle, but a new, invisible third wheel has entered the chat: Artificial Intelligence. In this episode of ET Deep Dive, we explore how AI has quietly wedged itself into modern romance. From perfectly crafted opening lines to entirely automated textationships, lonely daters are now outsourcing their emotional labor and linguistic charm to chatbots. But what happens when witty banter online translates to an underwhelming stranger offline? We unpack the fatigue, the growing mistrust, and the psychological rupture of discovering your perfect match is merely an algorithm. Are we losing our basic human connection? Nupur Amarnath reports, And Dia Rekhi narrates.
Morning Brief Podcast
Polls On My Pod: TN and the Thalapathy FactorApril 23, 2026, 06.34 AM IST
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Tamil Nadu heads to the polls with its familiar two-party battle DMK vs AIADMK facing an unprecedented challenge. Actor-turned-politician Vijay and his party TVK are injecting fresh uncertainty into a state that has ritually voted out incumbents since 1967. With law and order, corruption, and drugs dominating voter anxieties, MK Stalin's "Dravidian model" faces a tough stress test. Vijay's caste-neutral identity and populist promises are drawing the youth away from established loyalties. In 120 seats won by razor-thin margins, even a vote-splitter can rewrite history. Host Nidhi Sharma talks to ET’s Dia Rekhi and Krishna Kumar how April 23 could be one Tamil Nadu's most consequential elections.
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India's Medical Tourism Slips Off the TableApril 21, 2026, 06.21 AM IST
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India's medical tourism industry is in a quiet downturn. Foreign patient arrivals have fallen roughly a third since 2019 from nearly 700,000 visitors to around 500,000 dragged down by strained ties with Bangladesh, visa processing times stretching up to 60 days, and aggressive competition from Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. A tax incidence on medical referrals threatens to push costs higher just as global insurers remain largely unempanelled with Indian hospitals. The silver lining: average revenue per patient is rising, as high-value procedures like oncology and cardiac surgery now dominate. Host Anirban Chowdhury talks to ET’s Forum Gandhi and pharma editor Vikas Dandekar about the problem, its reasons and fixes. Listen in:
Morning Brief Podcast
ET Deep Dive: The Van That Ate the SUVApril 19, 2026, 06.13 AM IST
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India's wealthy are quietly trading flash for function. The luxury MPV — long dismissed as a hotel shuttle or family hauler — has become the unlikely status symbol of the country's new-money elite. Founders close funding rounds from reclining rear seats. Executives hold confidential meetings behind privacy partitions. Celebrities vanish into near-silent cabins. The Toyota Vellfire, Lexus LM, and Mercedes-Benz V-Class are rewriting what luxury means: not the car you're seen stepping out of, but the private world you inhabit inside it. In a city where traffic consumes hours, the rear seat has become the new boardroom. Narrated by Anirban Chowdhury, this episode of the new TMB series ET Deep Dive is based on a story by Lijee Philip.
The government has just hit the ultimate political reset button, and the electoral math is ruthless. By tethering the historic 33% Women’s Reservation Bill to a sweeping 50% flat increase in parliamentary seats via the Delimitation exercise, the ruling dispensation is drawing up a radically new political map for India. But behind the necessary veil of gender parity lies a fierce geographical tug-of-war. Southern states are up in arms, bracing for a severe dilution of their political weight - effectively penalized in the legislature for their own demographic success. Meanwhile, the opposition finds itself cornered in a political masterclass: oppose the contested 2011 census-backed delimitation and risk being branded undeniably anti-women just as the electorate prepares to vote. In this episode of The Morning Brief, host Nidhi sits down with ET's news correspondent Jatin Takkar and Sanjay Kumar, professor at Centre for the Study of Developing Societies to dissect it all.
Quantum computing is here — and it's reshaping the global technology order faster than most realise. India is making its boldest move yet with a dedicated National Quantum Mission backed by ₹6,000 crore. On World Quantum Day, it unveiled the world's first open-access, Made-in-India quantum ecosystem at Amaravati. Host Nidhi Sharma join CV Sridhar, Mission Director of the AP State Quantum Mission, and Prudhvi Pinnaka, Founder and CEO of Qubitech to unpack the vision behind Quantum Valley — what's being planned, what's being built, and what it could mean for India's technological future. — from solving real-world challenges to training 64,000 students. The scale is striking. But is the ambition truly keeping pace with the ground reality?
Morning Brief Podcast
Indian Aviation’s Biggest CEO Shake-UpApril 14, 2026, 06.19 AM IST
LISTEN 22:56
In a single month, India's two largest airlines lost their CEOs. Pieter Elbers was pushed out of IndiGo following a catastrophic December 2025 meltdown that stranded 300,000 passengers and wiped 78% of profits. Campbell Wilson chose a more dignified exit from Air India, a planned departure from a carrier still bleeding billions, scarred by a fatal Ahmedabad crash, and hamstrung by a decades of legacy issues. Two expats, two very different tenures, two very different endings. In this episode, host Anirban Chowdhury talks to ET's aviation tracker Arindam Majumdar and John Strickland, a global aviation expert and founder of JLS Consulting to break down what went wrong, where both airlines stand today, Air India’s top-level void and the task ahead for Willie Walsh, one of global aviation’s toughest leaders slated to head IndiGo.
For generations, Indian women moved through perimenopause and menopause in silence — misdiagnosed, dismissed, or simply left to figure it out alone. That's changing. Driven by social media, celebrity candour, and a growing wellness economy projected to hit $24 billion globally by 2030, menopause is finally becoming a public conversation. But with awareness comes noise — supplements, coaches, and brand tie-ins are flooding a space where women are looking for genuine answers. This episode of ET Deep Dive is based on Nupur Amarnath’s story tracing how menopause went from stigma to storytelling, who's driving that shift in India, and what still needs to change.
India wants manufacturing at 25% of GDP — will AI in factories help?
India wants manufacturing at 25% of GDP — will AI in factories help?April 12, 2026, 07.59 PM IST
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What does it take to move India's manufacturing from 16% to 25% of GDP? Two industry heavyweights, Vinod Kumar, Partner & Leader – Manufacturing, PwC India and Srihari Kaninghat, Group Chief Digital Officer, JSW Group sit down with host Anirban Chowdhury to cut through the hype and get real about AI on the shop floor. From blast furnaces to boardrooms, they break down how AI is quietly revolutionising steel production, slashing material costs, predicting machine failures before they happen and why none of it matters if you can't get past the pilot stage. But here's the twist: they're not worried about robots stealing jobs. They want AI to make manufacturing cool again, attractive enough to pull India's brightest engineering minds back from IT cubicles and into the heart of industry. This one's for anyone who thinks AI is just a chatbot. Think again.
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For India’s Exporters, It’s One Battle After AnotherApril 10, 2026, 06.22 AM IST
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As global tensions ripple through trade, Indian exporters are beginning to feel the strain. In this episode of The Morning Brief, host Anirban Chowdhury speaks with exporters of leather products, textile and gems and jewellery as well as Dr. Arun Singh, Chief Economist at Dun & Bradstreet, India to unpack how the Middle East crisis is impacting business realities. From rising input costs in leather to shrinking demand in knitwear and a sharp drop in gems and jewellery exports, the conversation traces the widening impact across sectors. With supply chains under pressure and the Strait of Hormuz still in jeopardy, the moot question is: how resilient are India’s export industries in the face of prolonged global instability?
Morning Brief Podcast
Two Women Fought to Change India's Maternity Laws... and SucceededApril 09, 2026, 09.58 AM IST
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When Hamsaanandini Nanduri brought home two siblings — aged two and five — in 2017, she had six weeks of maternity leave, and a few of those were already gone. The law hadn't considered what it actually takes to settle a child who has known loss, institution walls, and then a new home overnight. Hamsa could manage. She knew many mothers couldn't. Four years later, she and her friend and lawyer Bani Dikshit quietly began to challenge that. In 2026, the Supreme Court ruled in their favour. This episode is about that journey — the patience it required, the gap between law and lived experience, and why this change in rules should be the starting point for a more gender-neutral, empathetic legal transformation for parents.
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Polls On My Pod: Himanta's Assam - But For How Long?April 07, 2026, 06.22 AM IST
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A decades-old rivalry simmers beneath Assam's 2026 elections. When Himanta Biswa Sarma, once a loyalist, walked out of Congress after being sidelined for Tarun Gogoi's son Gaurav, he took 58 MLAs with him and never looked back. Today, Sarma is a fiery incumbent Chief Minister seeking a hattrick, while Gaurav leads Congress into battle to reclaim his father's throne. On Polls On My Pod, ET’s host Nidhi Sharma talks to her northeast correspondent Bikash Singh to unpack this deeply personal contest. From shifting alliances and delimitation to illegal immigration and cash transfer promises with just 0.83% separating the two sides in 2021 will legacy or development ultimately decide Assam's fate?
Is AI in pharma just hype or a full-blown revolution? In this episode, ET's pharma editor Vikas Dandekar sits down with three industry heavyweights Sujay Shetty, Partner & Leader - Health Industries, PwC India, Phanimitra B, Chief Digital and Information Officer, Dr. Reddy’s and Ramesh Swaminathan, ED, Global CFO, Head of IT, Lupin to unpack how artificial intelligence is transforming drug discovery, clinical trials, manufacturing, and even org design. From AlphaFold collapsing years of R&D into weeks, to Lupin deploying Gen AI across 90+ data repositories, this conversation goes deep into what's actually working, who's winning, and why the companies without an AI roadmap risk being left behind. Listen in.
ndia is ageing faster than it can care for itself — and the cracks are already showing. From missed diagnoses to absent support systems, the silver economy is full of invisible gaps. But this isn’t just a story of decline. Today’s seniors are more aware, financially independent, and unwilling to fade into irrelevance. They want agency, purpose, and dignity. Into this space, a new generation of startups is stepping in — blending technology, empathy, and design to reimagine ageing itself. Narrated by Anirban Chowdhury, the first episode of the new TMB series ET Deep Dive, is based on Lijee Philip's story that explores the tension between unmet needs and emerging solutions — and what it will take to grow old without fear.
What does it take to lead when the stakes are high and everyone's watching? In this episode, Vikas Dandekar sits down with Sanjiv Navangul, MD & CEO of Bharat Serums and Vaccines, and cricketer Ajinkya Rahane — two leaders from opposite ends of the arena, with more in common than you'd expect. One builds companies around purpose and long-term resilience. The other has batted through some of cricket's most unforgiving scrutiny. Together, they make a case that real leadership is about discipline, humility, and the quiet consistency of showing up for others.
Morning Brief Podcast
Polls On My Pod: Pinarayi vs Pinarayi in KeralaApril 02, 2026, 06.30 AM IST
LISTEN 15:42
As the electoral bugle sounds across Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal, the nation braces itself for a whirlwind of political intrigue and upheaval. In the season opener of our special podcast series Polls on My Pod, host Nidhi Sharma is joined by ET’s CL Manoj to unpack Kerala’s fascinating crossroads. Long defined by its neat alternation between the Left Democratic Front and the United Democratic Front, the state now watches the LDF led by 80-year-old stalwart Pinarayi Vijayan defy history with a rare second consecutive term, only to confront the weight of incumbency. The conversation probes the gold theft scandal the UDF is capitalising on, Congress’s careful pivot to collective leadership, the BJP’s rising presence through star recruits like Suresh Gopi, and the subtle shifts in Christian-majority areas that could quietly redraw the state’s political map. As polling day nears, what trajectory awaits this historically progressive state?
Morning Brief Podcast
Tanay Kothari Wants To Kill The KeyboardMarch 31, 2026, 06.26 AM IST
LISTEN 16:16
Tanay Kothari has been building at the intersection of voice and AI since he was a teenager. His latest company, Wispr Flow, is a voice dictation tool that works across all your applications — learning your tone, cleaning your speech, and adapting to context. It's grown 30x in revenue over the past year, with Fortune 500 adoption accelerating and a strong India play underway. In this conversation with ET’s Tanishka Dubey, Tanay talks about what separates Wispr Flow from the crowded voice AI space, why Indian users are surprisingly strong paying customers, and his views on whether founders should be building foundational models at all.
As India approaches its self-imposed deadline to end Left Wing Extremism, host Nidhi Sharma speaks with ET’s internal security editor Rahul Tripathi, SHantanu Nandan Sharma, and Vijay Sharma, Deputy Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh. Ground reports from Bastar reveal a conflict in transition shrinking, yet not fully extinguished. Security operations have led to mass surrenders, reducing insurgent strongholds to a handful of districts. However, the deeper challenge now lies in rehabilitation and reintegration. Former militants, many still ideologically conflicted, are being trained in state-run camps under tight surveillance. As infrastructure and governance finally reach long-neglected regions, the question remains: can development outpace decades of distrust and radicalization, or is this merely the quiet before another cycle of unrest?
As the Iran war enters its fourth week, global markets are scrambling to price in shocks. The impact is rapidly deepening for India. Goldman Sachs has already revised its outlook twice, flagging rising oil prices, a widening current account deficit, and slowing growth. Host Anirban Chowdhury talks to Santanu Sengupta, managing director and chief India economist and warns that Brent could average $85, with spikes worsening inflation and forcing RBI rate hikes. India’s reliance on Middle Eastern crude places it at the epicentre of risk, raising a critical question: how much pain can be absorbed before it reaches consumers?Listen in.
Morning Brief Podcast
Markets May Be Misreading This War: UBS’ Chief StrategistMarch 25, 2026, 06.13 AM IST
LISTEN 27:46
A deepening geopolitical conflict in the Middle East is forcing markets to confront a far more structural shock than recent crises. Host and ET markets editor Nishanth Vasudevan talks to Bhanu Baweja, Chief Strategist at UBS Investment Bank who warns that investors may be underestimating the scale of disruption, particularly in oil, where potential supply losses dwarf the Russia-Ukraine impact. While markets remain anchored to a “short shock” playbook, the risk of prolonged volatility looms large. More critically, he flags a cascading threat where an oil shock morphs into a liquidity crunch and eventually disrupts AI-driven growth. For India, the real vulnerability lies not in foreign flows, but in the resilience of domestic investors. You can follow our host Nishanth Vasudevan on his social media: Linkedin & Twitter. Check out other interesting episodes like: How Will a Volatile ₹ Impact You in 2026?, How Quick Commerce is Triggering a Health Crisis for Gen Z, India’s Labour Law Reboot, Viral to Valuation: Building Women’s Cricket as a Brand and much more. Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Youtube.
Morning Brief Podcast
HDFC’s Governance Ghost: What Triggered Atanu Chakraborty’s Exit?March 24, 2026, 06.18 AM IST
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HDFC Bank, long seen as India’s gold standard in banking, is facing rare questions on governance. The sudden exit of chairman Atanu Chakraborty—backed by a cryptic letter citing “values and ethics”—has triggered market jitters and investor unease. Host Anirban Chowdhury talks to ET’s Saloni Shukla and Sashidhar Jagdishan, CEO, HDFC Bank about what India's banking world is afraid to answer: Was this one man's exit or an entire institution's warning signal?
Morning Brief Podcast
From Doer to Director: The LinkedIn Playbook for the AI AgeMarch 20, 2026, 06.27 AM IST
LISTEN 17:07
A billion professionals. Eighteen years of data. And a skills gap that's widening as AI tools multiply. Mohak Shroff has watched LinkedIn evolve from a professional network into what he calls, at its core, an AI matching engine. That vantage point gives Shroff, SVP Engineering at Linkedin, a clear read on what's actually happening inside organisations right now. Not the boardroom narrative, but the messy reality of workers who don't know which skills to build, recruiters who can't find candidates despite better tooling, and companies confusing access to AI with genuine AI readiness. Listen in
Morning Brief Podcast
Semaglutide Goes Generic: Big Pharma’s Moat BreaksMarch 19, 2026, 12.46 PM IST
LISTEN 30:31
India's semaglutide moment has arrived. As Novo Nordisk's patent expires on March 20th, over fifty generic brands are poised to flood the market potentially slashing monthly costs from ₹10,000 to ₹3,500. But this is no ordinary generic wave. Semaglutide is a complex peptide, cold chains are unforgiving, and patient adherence remains fragile. Host and ET’s pharma editor Vikas Dandekar talks to Sheetal Sapale, Vice President, Pharmarack, Dr. Rajiv Kovil, Diabetologist, Saurabh Agarwal, Director at HAB Pharmaceuticals and Research, Dr. Saurabh Jain, Vice President - Global Delivery Centers, Indegene and Vijay Charlu, President of Domestic Business, Corona Remedies to dissect who survives the shakeout, what it means for a slew of weight loss drugs in India, whether it will revolutionise metabolic treatment and whether India is truly ready for its statin moment.
Anthropic refused the Pentagon unrestricted access to its Claude AI, and the fallout reshaped the tech-defense landscape overnight. OpenAI rushed in to fill the void, signing a classified deal that triggered internal resignations and a user exodus toward Claude. Host Himanshi Lohchab talks to Abishur Prakash, Geopolitical Strategist, to unpack the fierce power struggle between governments demanding unrestricted AI and companies defending their ethical red lines. They also examine sovereign AI, battlefield automation, and whether Big Tech can or should stay out of warfare. The age of AI geopolitics has arrived. Listen in.
Morning Brief Podcast
India Opens the Door to China Investments…a LittleMarch 13, 2026, 06.07 AM IST
LISTEN 15:26
Five years after slamming the door on Chinese investments, India has quietly amended Press Note 3. With FDI stagnating, institutional investors pulling billions out, and Western capital stretched thin, New Delhi is making a hard-nosed economic calculation. The amendment signals cautious optimism. welcoming Chinese capital into startups and tech sectors, while keeping telecom and security-sensitive industries closed.Host Anirban Chowdhury speaks to Biswajit Dhar, retired Professor, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, JNU and Amitendu Palit, a global trade expert at the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. Questions on indirect investment and security concerns remain. Also, will this signal India as a more conducive, predictable investment environment to the global investor?
Morning Brief Podcast
SPRs to LPG: How Far Will History’s Biggest Oil Shock Reverberate?March 12, 2026, 06.13 AM IST
LISTEN 28:34
A once-in-a-generation oil shock is unfolding. Host Anirban Chowdhury speaks with Amrita Sen, Founder of Energy Aspects, Bob McNally, founder of Rapidan Energy Group and former White House energy advisor, and ET’s Puran Choudhary on a crisis triggered by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. More than 10 million barrels of crude a day have been disrupted roughly twice the scale of the 1956 Suez Crisis and for the first time there is virtually no spare production capacity to cushion the blow. Brent has surged past $110, LNG cargoes face force majeure, and Asian refineries are cutting runs. Strategic reserves offer only limited relief. In India, the shock is already visible on the ground, with LPG shortages, rationing and black-market price spikes spreading across multiple states. The bigger question: what happens to the global energy order if this disruption persists and what kind of Iran emerges from this war.
Morning Brief Podcast
Banned But Booming: How The Money Gaming Crackdown CreatedMarch 10, 2026, 06.52 AM IST
LISTEN 14:46
"Despite a sweeping government crackdown, India's offshore real money gaming industry is not just surviving, it's booming. Offshore platforms like Parimatch and 1xBet exploited regulatory blind spots, processing 5.4 billion visits from Indian users by mid-2025. Using mirror sites, regional language interfaces, seamless UPI payments, and shadowy mule account networks, these platforms rendered the ban largely ineffective. Meanwhile, the domestic industry haemorrhaged 7,000 jobs lost, $840 million in asset writedowns, and $4 billion in tax revenue evaporated. Host Anirban Chowdhury talks to ET’s Disha Acharya and Ajay Rag about the story and raises an uncomfortable question: did the ban protect consumers, or simply hand the market to unregulated foreign operators? Listen in."
Morning Brief Podcast
Women Bank Better, Still Remain a $700 Billion Blind SpotMarch 09, 2026, 06.17 AM IST
LISTEN 28:39
Mary Ellen Iskenderian, President and CEO of Women's World Banking, joins host Anirban Chowdhury to explore five decades of progress and persistent gaps in women's financial inclusion. From the $700 billion opportunity financial institutions are leaving on the table, to India's BC Sakhi model and the Jan Dhan transformation, to the urgent link between women's financial access and climate resilience, this is a conversation on why banking women is not just the right thing to do, it is the smartest economic bet of our time.
Morning Brief Podcast
Wendy Hall: One Woman's Voice in a Room Full of AI Tech BrosMarch 06, 2026, 06.15 AM IST
LISTEN 15:54
She shares rooms and stages with the gods of AI...and is often the only woman there. Dame Wendy Hall, pioneering computer scientist and co-founder of Web Science, has watched the internet reshape the world. Now she's watching AI do the same. And she's worried we're repeating the same mistakes, faster. In this Women's Day Special, she pulls no punches: on why "AGI" is meaningless hype, why governance can't wait, why the Global South matters, and why an industry dominated by alpha males is building systems that reflect exactly that. This is essential listening on Women's Day, for every day.
Morning Brief Podcast
What the Iran War Means for Indians’ Money, Jobs and Homes in the UAEMarch 05, 2026, 06.12 AM IST
LISTEN 28:46
Dubai's "safe haven" image took a direct hit this week as missile debris fell near the Burj Al Arab and Palm Jumeirah following military escalations involving Iran, the US, and Israel. For Indian HNIs, family offices, and startup founders who had parked billions in Dubai real estate, the question is no longer about returns, it's about risk. Indian buyers, who account for 20-30% of prime property purchases, are hitting pause. Markets plunged. Host Dia Rekhi talks to ET’s Sobia Khan and Dilasha Seth aboutSovereign wealth funds if they are being watched closely. With nine million Indians working across the Gulf and remittances at stake, the Iran conflict isn't just a West Asia story, it's an India story too.Listen in.
Morning Brief Podcast
US–Israel vs Iran: The War That Could Ignite the Middle EastMarch 03, 2026, 06.12 AM IST
LISTEN 25:33
The Middle East stands at a precarious crossroads as the United States and Israel intensify strikes against Iran, framing the campaign as a decisive push to curb Tehran’s regional ambitions and possibly reshape its leadership. Iran, however, is not Venezuela or Libya; it is a system built on layered religious authority and strategic patience. Retaliatory missile and drone strikes signal that escalation remains firmly on the table. Host Anirban Chowdhury and ET’s Pranab Dhal Samanta discuss wether the next few days will be critical: whether Gulf states absorb the pressure, whether oil routes remain open, and whether unrest stirs inside Iran will determine if this remains a contained confrontation or spirals into a wider regional war .
Morning Brief Podcast
AI has entered the classroom and your child's mindFebruary 27, 2026, 12.27 PM IST
LISTEN 36:45
What if AI companions are inserting themselves between children and the very people meant to guide them? In this episode of The Morning Brief, host Anirban Chowdhury speaks to Dr. Sonia Livingstone, Professor of Social Psychology, Department of Media and Communications, The London School of Economics and Political Science and Dr Usha Raman, former professor,Dept of Communication, University of Hyderabad about the uncharted territory where generative AI meets childhood development. The conversation explores why AI systems sometimes offer dangerous advice to young users, how class and language create disparities in AI access across India, and whether the assumption of ""inevitable"" tech adoption overshadows critical ethical discussions.
Morning Brief Podcast
Stuart Russell and Yoshua Benjio on Why AI Could Make us Irrelevant, then ExtinctFebruary 26, 2026, 06.15 AM IST
LISTEN 29:16
The existential alignment problem sits at the heart of the AI revolution — and the consequences of getting it wrong could be irreversible. What happens when superintelligent systems pursue fixed objectives that don’t fully capture human values? How do we govern machines that may soon outperform us across domains? And who decides what level of risk humanity should accept? The conversation spans AGI timelines, the concentration of economic and political power, democratic resilience, liability-based regulation, and whether governments can realistically regulate frontier AI amid an intensifying global race. From extinction-level risk estimates cited by AI CEOs to experimental evidence of systems resisting shutdown, this is no longer speculative science fiction — it is a live governance crisis unfolding in real time. On this episode of The Morning Brief, ET’s Swathi Moorthy sits down with AI scientists and pioneers Stuart Russell and Yoshua Bengio for a candid, high-stakes discussion on the trajectory of artificial intelligence and the choices that will shape humanity’s future. As capabilities surge and geopolitical rivalry sharpens, one defining question remains: are we building tools to serve humanity — or systems that could ultimately outmaneuver it?
Morning Brief Podcast
Arvind Krishna: Cutting Through the AI NoiseFebruary 25, 2026, 06.20 AM IST
LISTEN 28:38
In a wide-ranging conversation with host Surabhi Agarwal, IBM's chairman, president and CEO Arvind Krishna addresses the questions every technology leader and IT professional in India is wrestling with right now. He pushes back on AI doomsday narratives for software services, makes a compelling case for why hybrid cloud and mainframe architecture remain indispensable, and shares his candid take on job displacement, quantum computing's commercial horizon, and what India's sovereign AI strategy must focus on. He also offers a measured reading of global economic uncertainty, tariffs, and why 2026 could surprise on the upside for technology spending.
Morning Brief Podcast
Court Says No. Trump Says Watch This. What Should India Do?February 24, 2026, 12.57 PM IST
LISTEN 15:03
The US Supreme Court just handed Trump a legal defeat and it barely slowed him down. In a landmark ruling, the court struck down tariffs imposed under emergency economic powers, only for the White House to pivot instantly to alternative legal pathways. For India, caught just before a trade deal that had finally brought some clarity, the timing couldn't be worse. Host Anirban Chowdhury talks to Bipin Sapra, Partner and Indirect Tax Policy Leader, EY India about an 18% tariff rate that once looked certain is now up in the air. Tax structures, transfer pricing, corporate margins all recalibrating in real time. As one expert puts it bluntly: wait, watch, and don't sign anything just yet.
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Iran discovers over 7.5 tcf gas reserves despite US sanctions
