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When the Monsoon Moves In: Reflections from the Uttarakhand Himalayas

Every year in early July, news platforms announce the advance of the southwest monsoon into North India, as meteorologists explain its progress with weather maps and rainfall forecasts. Those reports, no doubt, are scientifically precise, but they say very little about what the arrival of the monsoon actually feels like in a Himalayan town. I was reminded of that around a week ago. It was around 2 am. It had already been raining heavily for a few hours. Unlike the scattered pre-monsoon showers of previous weeks, this was continuous, determined rain. The kind that settles in rather than merely passing through. Then came the siren.  Living close to the Ganga, we occasionally hear warning sirens whenever heavy rainfall upstream causes the river to swell. Their purpose is to warn people to stay away from the riverbanks. That night, however, the experience was unlike anything I'd had before. The first long siren echoed across the valley. Before it faded, another siren farther along the ...
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Beyond Transactions: Why Fintech's Future Lies in Financial Intelligence

Fintech Has Matured. What Comes Next? India's fintech sector has been one of the country's most remarkable digital success stories. Built upon a strong Digital Public Infrastructure comprising Aadhaar, UPI, e-KYC and several other digital public goods, fintech has expanded financial inclusion on a scale that would have been difficult to imagine even a decade ago. Millions of individuals and businesses now make digital payments, invest in financial markets, purchase insurance, access credit and manage their finances through digital platforms. The sector itself has grown rapidly. Today, India hosts one of the world's largest fintech ecosystems, encompassing payments, digital lending, WealthTech, InsurTech, RegTech and numerous other specialised segments. As the ecosystem matures, the conversation is also beginning to evolve. Investors increasingly speak about profitability and resilience rather than simply user growth. Regulators continue to strengthen consumer protection whi...
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Beyond Jobs: Why India Should Build GCC-Anchored Industrial Ecosystems

I. Beyond the GCC: Rethinking India's Next Phase of Industrial Development . NASSCOM's annual report on India's Global Capability Centre (GCC) landscape, released on 3 July, marks an important milestone in understanding how these centres are evolving. The report says that India's GCCs are no longer simply executing global mandates but are increasingly shaping them. The report identifies four structural shifts driving this transformation: the growing responsibility of Indian GCCs in leading enterprise AI adoption; the shortening journey from operational centres to strategic hubs; the migration of enterprise authority towards India; and, perhaps most significantly, the need for GCCs to move beyond managing partners towards co-creating with them. Taken together, these shifts reflect a profound change in the role of GCCs within multinational enterprises. As Artificial Intelligence (AI), cloud computing, digital engineering, enterprise software, and advanced analytics reshap...
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From Logistics to Orchestration: Why India Needs Business Network Orchestrators

On 2 July, Flipkart-backed agritech startup Ninjacart said it has raised $6 million from existing investors Accel, Fundamentum, and Tiger Global, marking the first tranche of a larger funding round, as it prepares for a public listing over the next two years. Founded in 2015, Ninjacart operates a full-stack fresh produce supply chain connecting farmers with retailers, quick commerce platforms, modern trade chains, hotels & restaurants, and exporters.  According to the company, its business has grown threefold over the past year. This may be read as just a another e-commerce development. But, I argue, it points to a shift underway across the Indian economy: some of the country's most strategically important businesses no longer sell to consumers. They help other businesses function. This shift deserves more attention than it gets. For over a decade, India's startup narrative has been dominated by consumer internet — food delivery, ride-hailing, payments, e-commerce — platfor...
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