Morning Brief Podcast: Can Modi Halt India’s Gold Rush?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged Indians to curb gold purchases, prompting an immediate dip in consumer demand. The appeal coincided with scrutiny of India’s massive gold‑loan sector, which totals roughly ₹16 lakh crore (about $193 billion). Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India flagged the market as it watches a $38 billion fall in foreign‑exchange reserves, part of a broader $123 billion stress scenario. Analysts debate whether a rupee near 95 per dollar and a crude‑bill‑of‑goods‑linked exchange rate can temper the ongoing gold rush.
Morning Brief Podcast: Mythos and the New AI Cyber Panic
Anthropic’s new AI system Mythos, designed to autonomously locate and exploit cyber vulnerabilities, sparked a fresh wave of concern among governments and financial regulators. In a 19‑minute interview, AI veteran Gary Marcus highlighted the dual‑use dilemma: a tool meant for...
Morning Brief Podcast: India's Biggest Trade Partner Is China, Now What?
China has displaced the United States as India’s largest trading partner, pushing total bilateral trade to $151 billion. The shift has driven India’s trade deficit with Beijing to a record $112 billion, highlighting a widening imbalance. Beijing’s new supply‑chain regulations threaten firms...
Morning Brief Podcast: Sun–Organon: The Scope, Risks, and Future of India's Biggest Pharma Deal
Sun Pharma announced an all‑cash $11.75 billion acquisition of U.S.‑based Organon, the largest overseas purchase by an Indian firm since 2007. The deal doubles Sun Pharma’s revenue to about $12.4 billion, propelling it into the top‑25 global pharmaceutical companies. It instantly gives...
Morning Brief Podcast: India's Medical Tourism Slips Off the Table
India’s medical tourism sector is experiencing a quiet decline, with foreign patient arrivals dropping about a third since 2019—from roughly 700,000 to 500,000. The slowdown is driven by strained Bangladesh ties, visa processing delays of up to 60 days, and...
Morning Brief Podcast: ET Deep Dive: The Van That Ate the SUV
India’s affluent are redefining luxury transportation by favoring high‑end multi‑purpose vehicles (MPVs) over traditional SUVs. Models such as the Toyota Vellfire, Lexus LM, and Mercedes‑Benz V‑Class now serve as private boardrooms, offering reclining seats, sound‑proof cabins, and confidentiality partitions. In...
Morning Brief Podcast: Indian Aviation’s Biggest CEO Shake-Up
In April 2026 India’s two flagship carriers saw their CEOs depart. IndiGo dismissed Pieter Elbers after a December 2025 operational collapse that stranded 300,000 passengers and erased roughly 78% of its profit. Air India’s Campbell Wilson resigned amid ongoing multi‑billion‑dollar losses and a fatal...
India Wants Manufacturing at 25% of GDP — Will AI in Factories Help?
India aims to lift manufacturing’s share of GDP from 16% to 25% by leveraging artificial intelligence on the shop floor. Industry veterans Vinod Kumar of PwC India and Srihari Kaninghat of JSW Group argue that AI can cut steel material...
Morning Brief Podcast: For India’s Exporters, It’s One Battle After Another
The Morning Brief podcast highlighted how the ongoing Middle‑East crisis is straining India’s export sectors, from leather to textiles and gems & jewellery. Exporters reported rising input costs for leather, a noticeable dip in knitwear demand, and a sharp contraction...
Morning Brief Podcast: Two Women Fought to Change India's Maternity Laws... And Succeeded
In 2026 India’s Supreme Court ruled in favor of a landmark maternity‑leave case brought by activist Hamsaanandini Nanduri and lawyer Bani Dikshit. The decision overturns the nation’s outdated six‑week entitlement, mandating a substantially longer, more inclusive leave regime. The ruling also...
Morning Brief Podcast: Pharma's AI Reckoning
The Economic Times podcast examined how artificial intelligence is reshaping pharma, highlighting AlphaFold’s ability to shrink protein‑structure projects from months to weeks and Lupin’s rollout of generative AI across more than 90 data repositories. Guests from PwC India, Dr. Reddy’s and...
Morning Brief Podcast: Can India Truly End Naxalism?
India is racing to meet its 2026 deadline to declare the left‑wing extremist movement, Naxalism, eliminated. Recent security operations have reduced armed encounters by about 40 % and pushed surrenders, limiting active insurgent cells to under ten districts. The government now...
Morning Brief Podcast: Markets May Be Misreading This War: UBS’ Chief Strategist
UBS chief strategist Bhanu Baweja warns that the escalating Middle East conflict could generate an oil supply shock far larger than the Russia‑Ukraine war, a risk markets are currently under‑estimating. He argues investors are applying a short‑shock mindset, overlooking the...
Morning Brief Podcast: India Opens the Door to China Investments…a Little
India has quietly revised Press Note 3, easing restrictions on Chinese capital in the country’s startup and technology sectors while keeping telecom and security‑sensitive areas closed. The amendment comes as foreign direct investment has plateaued and institutional investors have withdrawn billions,...
Morning Brief Podcast: SPRs to LPG: How Far Will History’s Biggest Oil Shock Reverberate?
The Morning Brief podcast examines an unprecedented oil shock triggered by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, cutting more than 10 million barrels of crude per day—about twice the 1956 Suez disruption. With virtually no spare production capacity, Brent crude...