What happens when you put Indian business on a 2x2?

Snigdha Sharma (0:00)

Hello, dear listeners. As you know, on this podcast, most of the time, we pick one business story every morning, and we try to make sense of it before your day begins. And I know, because this is true for me as the host as well, some of those stories stay with us much longer. My colleague, Praveen Gopal Krishnan, or PGK as we call him at The Ken, has a show exactly for this. It is called Two by Two, and once a week, he takes one big Indian business story, sits with it for an hour or more sometimes, and lays it all out on a two by two matrix. It's like having a very sharp friend explain to you who is winning, who is losing, and why it matters to us. At the end of every episode, you come out thinking about the whole market in a very different way. This week, Two by Two wrapped up its second season after more than 100 episodes. And for the finale, I took the host's chair and turned the questions on to PGK. Quick commerce, UPI, Indian IT, AI, careers have all come up on both of our shows. So I asked him to connect the dots and tell us what is really going on underneath it all. Think of today's episode as a crossover of Daybreak and Two by Two. So here's the conversation. Enjoy.

Hi, I'm Snigdha and you may know my voice from Daybreak, The Ken's Daily Podcast. Two by Two here has been on air since July 2024

Two seasons, more than 100 episodes. Every week, you take one Indian business story and then you put it on a two by two matrix. And this is season two finale.

And the show is going to take a break. Before season three starts in...

Praveen Gopal Krishnan (2:04)

November.

Snigdha Sharma (2:05)

PGK, thoughts, feelings?

Praveen Gopal Krishnan (2:09)

First of all, I'm wondering how many people who started listening to this episode heard your voice in the beginning. And they were like, what?

Did I get into the right podcast? What's going on here?

Yeah, we decided to do a season finale. We don't generally do season finales at two by two. I think we've been doing it continuously. I went back and checked. So it was like one episode after another episode after another episode. I think at the end of the first year, we did like a recap. And then after that, after the hundredth episode, we did like a special episode. But literally been a constant treadmill.

Snigdha Sharma (2:39)

So season two just started without a break.

Praveen Gopal Krishnan (2:41)

Season two just started without a break. So I thought that maybe I can take a slight break. It's not going to be a long break. It's just going to be like a few weeks. Maybe like three four weeks max.

Snigdha Sharma (2:49)

I think you deserve it.

Praveen Gopal Krishnan (2:51)

Yeah, even I think so too. That's what I get really really nervous when I take breaks, especially on podcasts or newsletters because I feel like everybody is going to forget me.

Snigdha Sharma (3:00)

I really doubt it PGK.

Praveen Gopal Krishnan (3:01)

I really, it's very nice of you to say. But you have been doing Daybreak for how long now?

Snigdha Sharma (3:06)

Almost four years now.

Praveen Gopal Krishnan (3:08)

Four years. Have you ever taken a break?

Snigdha Sharma (3:10)

No.

Praveen Gopal Krishnan (3:11)

Wow!

You have not taken a single season break. Do you have a season at all?

Snigdha Sharma (3:16)

No, we don't have seasons. It's a daily news podcast. So, the show has to go on every day.

Praveen Gopal Krishnan (3:21)

Now my imposter syndrome is getting worse now. I'm sitting with you. You've been doing this for four years continuously. Every episode and here I am taking a three week break.

Snigdha Sharma (3:30)

No, PGK. But you really deserve this. So, PGK, I listened to both of the seasons, multiple episodes from each one of them. And very interestingly, some stories keep coming up again and again. Some themes keep coming up and this I noticed even on my own podcast Daybreak, right? Because we cover daily news, we cover the same companies.

The most interesting one I found was how duopolies are under attack. Then there was another theme that emerged which was listed companies that keep changing direction. Then you have your old companies like HUL, Bajaj Finance, which are either reinventing themselves or completely failing to do that. Also, there's the question of who gets to fund these companies.

Then you have the regulators, the whole thing that's happening with UPI and merchants having to pay right now. Regulators stepping in the middle of the game and changing the rules. Then of course, there's AI and how careers are changing, what jobs are getting affected, and also very fascinating, a new kind of urban Indian who's emerging from all of this. So, I want to go over each of these with you through this episode.