The Indian Dream

Masterclass on how investing in Research & Development (R&D) can lead to compounding... 

I sat down with Mr. Rishi Aggarwal, Managing Director at JCBL Limited to talk about the multi-decade journey of expanding the manufacturing business. From Buses to Trucks, from Tractors to Defense Armored Vehicles, JCBL is now a key manufacturer of all types of vehicles. 

From starting out as a contract manufacturer of...

We're back with Season 2 of The Indian Dream Podcast 

This season going to be all about talking to founders who have built manufacturing or manufacturing related businesses in India! 

On this episode, we have Swagatika Das, the founder of Nat Habit joining us to talk to us about how they built a Manufacturing & D2C business together! 

Nat Habit is a beauty and personal care brand that took a diff...

Make In India. 

The three words that will define the future of the country. 

We have a trade deficit of close to $100 Bn with China. That's Rs. 83,000 Crores that leaves the country and isn't used for our own development. 

Virtuoso Optoelectronics is a manufacturing company that started in 2015 with the idea of making electronic products in India. Started with circuit boards, then manufactured L...

Movie Production. It's something that most of us don't know much about. I host Ashi Dua, Founder of Flying Unicorn Entertainment to talk about her work in producing movies like Lust Stories, Bombay Talkies, Paava Kadhaigal and More! 

Episode Timeline: 
(01:09) - Introduction of Ashi Dua

(03:39) - Why did Ashi move to Bombay?

(07:12) - Ashi’s introduction to movie production

(10:10) - Anurag’s role in Ashi’s care...

India has 64 Million Micro, Small & Mid Sized Businesses (MSMEs) in India. However, only 12% of them have access to formal credit. There's a massive $530 Billion Credit Gap in this market. In simpler terms, the total demand for formal loans by MSMEs in $819 Billion, out of which $530 Billion is unmet. 

The problem is that banks don't have the right products and the right business model to serve the MSMEs. Tha...

Influencer Marketing. A rapidly growing Industry. I sit down with Pranav, Founder of OpraahFx, one of the first Influencer Marketing Agencies in the country to talk about the rise and evolution of Influencer Marketing. We talk about how Influencer Marketing campaigns get executed, how much do creators get paid, his decision to focus on Gaming Creators and the future of creator led brands! 

If you like the Indian Dream&apos...

About time that Indian Direct to Consumer Brands make a global impact...

I talk to Akshay Ghulati - Co-Founder of Shiprocket, who is currently working with many Indian D2C Brands to help them go global!

Episode Timeline:

(00:00) - Introduction to ShiprocketX & Indian D2C brands going global
(03:01) - Why should Indian brands go global now? 
(07:21) - Experience of taking a Indian brand global....

Artificial Intelligence will change the way our food is grown. Want to know how?

In this fascinating conversation with Dr. Pratik Desai, a Computer Scientist and Artificial Intelligence Expert, we talk about his startup KissanAI and how it's helping the farmers in India get much needed information about all aspects of farming - from fertilisers to crop diseases to ideal crop to grow given soil conditions. 

If...

Artificial Intelligence will change the way how we live. 

In this episode, I host Prayank Swaroop, Partner at Venture Capital firm Accel, who invests in AI startups in India. We talk about how AI will have a massive impact on Agriculture, Education,  Healthcare, Infrastructure Development and more and fuel India's journey towards a $10 Trillion GDP. 

This isn't a technical episode, it's an episode f...

Learn how DrinkPrime, an innovative water purifier company in India, is tackling the country's water crisis. With millions suffering from waterborne diseases, DrinkPrime offers IoT-enabled purifiers that adapt to varying water quality. Trusted by over 200,000 households in three cities, they are scaling profitably with support from leading investors Alteria Capital, Surge, and Omidyar Network India.

Timestamps for Eas...

If you're building a D2C Brand or want to build one, do NOT miss this episode! Take my word for it, this will be time well spent!

In the last 5-7 Years, we've seen some great D2C Brands scale up to become large profitable businesses. One such brand is Pilgrim, that operates in the Beauty and Personal Care segment, which is estimated to be $25 Billion Dollar Market in India.

I speak to Anurag Kedia, Co-...

The Pet Care Industry in India... 

It is estimated to be a Rs. 4000 Crores Market in India, growing annually at about 20% which makes it a great industry to start a new business as there is double digit growth! 

The industry can be roughly broken down into Pet Foods which is about 60% of the market, Pet HealthCare (20% of the market), Pet Toys and Accessories (15%) and Pet Day Cares and Hostels about 5% 

...

On this episode, we talk to Prateek Shukla, Co-Founder and CEO at Masai School

Prateek is an IIT Kanpur Graduate, a Teach for India Alum and Ex-Founder of Grabhouse, a real-estate tech startup that was acquired by Commonfloor and subsequently by Quikr. He’s a second time entrepreneur who is picking up his first love of teaching. 

India has 444 Million People that are in the 0-18 Years Age Bracket. That’s 400 Milli...

Mysore Deep Perfumery House (MDPH), popularly known for their brand Zed Black has built an Rs. 800 Crore+ Agarbatti Business from India. 

We talk to Ankit Agarwal, Partner at MDPH about how he has scaled the business profitably over the last 17 years on this episode of The Indian Dream Podcast. 

We talk about the following things on the Podcast: 

(00:22) - Agarbatti or Incense Sticks Market in India &...

In this episode, we talk to Mathew Joseph. He's a 3rd Generation Entrepreneur who was the Marketing Director at Duroflex before he started a D2C Mattress Brand called Sleepyhead.

So, mattresses. It’s one of those ‘boring’ and ‘unsexy’ industries and as we’ve often discussed on the podcast, it’s perfect for building a large, profitable business. The mattress industry in India is estimated to be 12,000 Crores Industry ...

In this episode, we host Kavita & Anand (Co-Founders at Voiro) to talk about Ad-Tech Industry.

Technology has fundamentally changed how we can consume and interact with Sports Content. And that has resulted in a meteoric rise in the value of Sports Leagues and Sports Celebrities.

IPL, Formula 1, NBA, NFL, all these leagues have seen tremendous growth in their revenues over the last decade thanks to rising med...

In this episode, we host Kavita & Anand (Co-Founders at Voiro) to talk about Ad-Tech Industry.

We’re all familiar with how big the Digital Ads market has grown over the last decade. To put some numbers, in 2012, the Global Digital Ad spend was close to $100 Billion. Today, that stands at more than 600 Billion dollars - a healthy 20% growth every year. In the next few years, $1 Trillion dollars will be spent on Digital...

This is Part 2 of the series where we discuss India's Digital Infrastructure.

Here are our Research Notes for the episode.

Open Network for Digital Commerce or ONDC has been in the news lately. 

Currently, online marketplaces (Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal) follow a platform model. In this model, they have end-to-end control over the entire e-commerce transaction process, right from seller on-boarding,...

The Indian Education System needs an overhaul, especially college education. The current system produces students that barely have the necessary employable skills.

In this episode, we talk to Aditya and Raj of Stoa School to talk about the Indian Education System, the problems that exist, how they can be solved and their insights from building Stoa over the last two years.

If you haven't already, do subscri...