A perfect storm is gathering over the country’s most dominant digital platforms. Over the last decade in India, billions of dollars have been spent by startups, venture capitalists and tech multinationals as they seek to rewrite entire sectors. In the process, they’ve managed market shares that took their “offline” or “old economy” peers decades to … Read more Indian marketplace unicorns are the new incumbents
Earlier this month, Niti Aayog, the Indian government’s think tank, held a high-level meeting, with the secretaries of all stakeholder ministries—including the Ministry of Health—present. The agenda was simple. Boost the local manufacturing of medical devices—currently a $10 billion market. India’s medical devices market is the fourth largest in Asia—after Japan, China and South Korea—and … Read more Make in India vs having made it in India: Skanray’s peculiar struggle
On 22 August, Amazon gained a yard on its peers in the grocery race in India. It launched Amazon Fresh, a hyperlocal grocery distribution chain which delivers over 5,000 items—including fruits, meat and dairy—within two hours. After rolling out the service in rival Flipkart’s home turf of Bengaluru, Amazon is now closer to cracking the … Read more From groceries to smartphones: Flipkart’s hyperlocal deliverance
August saw two major milestones for diagnosing and curing extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, or XDR TB—the most drug-resistant of TB strains. On 14 August, the US drug regulator approved a new drug—Pretomanid—only the third new antibiotic developed to fight TB in over half a century. It’s a ray of hope for some 2,700 people living with … Read more MedGenome has a silver bullet for TB diagnostics, but no gun
Aakash Chaudhry is in a dilemma. His 30-year-old coaching institute needs a revamp. But there’s no roadmap for what he needs to do. We’re sitting across a giant U-shaped table from Chaudhry, at the headquarters of Aakash Education Services Limited (AESL) in Delhi. As Chaudhry, the company’s chief executive officer, walks us through a presentation … Read more Crunch time: Aakash’s $150-million plan to stay relevant in a digital world