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A daily podcast that simplifies the biggest stories that are moving the Indian markets.

Zerodha


    • Mar 25, 2026 LATEST EPISODE
    • weekdays NEW EPISODES
    • 21m AVG DURATION
    • 455 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from The Daily Brief

    Amidst the ruins of Jaypee Group

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 25, 2026 25:49


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets: 00:04   Intro 00:28   Amidst the ruins of Jaypee Group 12:38   Mastercard's $1.8B crypto move 24:16   Tidbits We also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/ Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    The dance of oil and the US dollar

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 24, 2026 22:58


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets: 00:04   Intro 00:26   The dance of oil and the US dollar 11:27   The price of free water 21:55   Tidbits We also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/ Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    A little boy comes for India's monsoons

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 23, 2026 22:46


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets: 00:04   Intro 00:38   El Niño & India's economy 12:00   Auto industry vs CAFE norms 21:00   Tidbits We also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/ Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    Rob Hanna: Finding Market Edges with Data | In The Money by Zerodha

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 22, 2026 108:15


    Welcome to the In The Money Podcast by Zerodha, where we bring you the sharpest minds from around the world in trading, markets, and active investing.  In this episode, we sit down with Rob Hanna, founder of Quantifiable Edges and a widely respected researcher in systematic trading, known for his work on market seasonality, quantitative edges, and rules-based strategies. Rob managed his own private investment fund from 2001 to 2019 and today serves as a portfolio manager and investment advisor at Capital Advisors 360, where he continues to apply data-driven research to systematic investment strategies.  In this conversation, Rob shares how his trading evolved from pattern-based discretionary setups to largely systematic models, how traders can discover edges through observation and statistical testing, and why robustness matters when designing trading systems. We also discuss mean reversion strategies, overnight edges, market breadth, seasonality, and how he manages a diversified portfolio of systematic models while emphasizing risk management, position sizing, and adaptability in changing market environments.   

    Whither India's pilots?

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 20, 2026 22:49


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets: 00:04   Intro 00:26   A scramble for pilots? 11:06   Coal India's Brain Goes Public 21:15   Tidbits We also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/ Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    What FSSAI's new licensing rules actually change

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 19, 2026 23:31


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets: 00:04   Intro 00:30   FSSAI eases rules for food businesses 10:33   The Aluminium supply crunch 22:09   Tidbits We also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/ Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    The new rules of paying for electricity

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 18, 2026 23:25


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets: 00:04   Intro 00:26   The new rules of paying for electricity 11:39   A gas the world cannot live without 22:16   Tidbits We also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/ Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    India's SEZ policy

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 17, 2026 26:24


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets: 00:04   Intro 00:36   SEZ 2.0: Can India fix its export zones? 13:54   The return of section 301 tariffs 25:09   Tidbits   We also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/ Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    Trimming the Chinese Wall

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 16, 2026 24:09


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets: 00:04   Intro 00:38   India eases its border investment wall 11:09   The new economics of India's defence sector 22:30   Tidbit We also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/ Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    Niels Kaastrup-Larsen: Discipline, Drawdown and Trend Following | In The Money by Zerodha Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 15, 2026 76:11


    Welcome to the In The Money Podcast by Zerodha - where we bring you the sharpest minds from around the world in trading, markets, and active investing. In this episode, we sit down with Niels Kaastrup-Larsen, one of the most respected voices in systematic and trend-following investing. Known as the host of Top Traders Unplugged, Niels brings decades of experience studying how professional traders think about risk, drawdowns, and long-term survival. In this conversation, we discuss why drawdowns are often misunderstood, how real edges endure long periods of underperformance, and why discipline and robustness matter more than short-term results.  This episode is less about signals and more about mindset, process, and staying in the game when markets test your patience. You can check out our newsletter here: https://inthemoneybyzerodha.substack.com/

    What is oil, actually?

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 13, 2026 21:55


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets: 00:04   Intro 00:26   The many lives of crude oil 10:27   Maruti's tryst with EVs 20:44   Tidbits We also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/ Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    The Iran war and India's fertilizer problem

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 12, 2026 24:49


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets: 00:04   Intro 00:27   Hormuz crisis & fertilizer prices 11:42   Inside Apple's India ecosystem 23:29   Tidbits We also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/ Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    Pentagon, Anthropic, and the promise of Military AI

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 11, 2026 24:07


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets: 00:04   Intro 00:27   Anthropic vs the Pentagon 12:24   Why governments keep borrowing 22:48   Tidbits We also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/ Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    Inside India's Largest Highway InvIT IPO

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 10, 2026 25:11


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets: 00:04   Intro 00:27   Inside the ₹6,000 Cr Raajmarg InvIT IPO 11:38   India's inflation targeting explained 24:06   Tidbits We also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/ Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    What's up with tobacco consumption in India?

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 9, 2026 25:02


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets: 00:04   Intro 00:36   The Smoking Paradox 12:57   Who lends to the Indian government? 23:51   Tidbits We also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/ Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    Robert Carver: Robustness, Risk, and Systematic Trading | In The Money by Zerodha Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 8, 2026 88:50


    Welcome to the In The Money Podcast by Zerodha, where we bring you the sharpest minds from around the world in trading, markets, and active investing. In this episode, we sit down with Rob Carver, systematic futures trader, former hedge fund manager, and one of the most practical voices in quantitative and rules-based investing. Rob spent years building and managing systematic macro and fixed income strategies at AHL, one of the world's largest systematic hedge funds, after earlier roles in derivatives trading at Barclays and economic research at CEPR. Today, he trades his own capital, writes extensively on systematic investing, and teaches systematic trading strategies to finance students. In this wide-ranging conversation, Rob shares how real market understanding develops slowly over time, why trading your own money feels very different from managing institutional capital, and why starting simple is still the best advice for most traders. We dive deep into trend following, mean reversion, risk management, diversification, drawdowns, and the dangers of over-optimizing systems. We also discuss how the post-GFC world changed trend behavior, how to evaluate strategy performance beyond simple metrics, and Rob's strong views on AI, LLMs, and automation in trading systems. You can check out our newsletter here: https://inthemoneybyzerodha.substack.com/

    Why did global trade come to a halt?

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 6, 2026 22:39


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets: 00:04   Intro 00:28   When insurance stops trade 11:29   Why banks ignore rate hikes 21:22   Tidbits We also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/ Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    India prepares to invest in US stocks

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 5, 2026 20:02


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets: 00:04   Intro 00:26   India's new route to US stocks 09:49   Fixing India's rail freight 18:55   Tidbits We also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/ Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    A fifth of the world's oil is in danger

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 4, 2026 25:13


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets: 00:04   Intro 00:27   Middle East tensions and oil prices 11:34   Small models, big economics 23:16   Tidbits We also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/ Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    The conjurings of data center finance

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 2, 2026 25:12


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets: 00:04    Intro 00:38    How Data Centers Get Financed 12:00    SEBI's new fund rules 23:52    Tidbits We also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/ Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    Keytruda: The clone wars

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 27, 2026 23:39


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets: 00:04   Intro 00:27   The race to replicate Keytruda 13:21   How CBAM hits Indian steel 22:22   Tidbits We also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/ Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    India's metro ridership problem

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 26, 2026 22:20


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets: 00:04   Intro 00:25   The metro ridership gap 09:56   NBFC growth isn't uniform 21:12   Tidbits We also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/ Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    What's behind the Great Nicobar Megaproject?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 25, 2026 26:06


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets: 00:04   Intro 00:31   Behind the Great Nicobar megaproject 12:29   Pax Silica: The new chip bloc 24:43   Tidbits We also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/ Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.  

    How the US Supreme Court killed Liberation Day

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 24, 2026 24:29


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets: 00:04    Intro 00:34    US court stops tariffs 12:49    A banking scandal unfolds 23:09    Tidbits We also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/ Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    What it takes to move a city

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 23, 2026 24:11


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets: 00:04   Intro 00:37   India's growing metro network 10:35   The business of wood panels 22:50   Tidbits We also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/ Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    Why is global waste trade going down?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 20, 2026 24:36


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets: 00:04   Intro 00:26   Why is global waste trade going down? 11:32   A world in need of better jobs 23:19   Tidbits We also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/ Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    Can India's small businesses be paid on time?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 19, 2026 21:40


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets:00:04   Intro00:28   The MSME cash crunch story12:01   Record sales in India's tyre sector20:32   TidbitsWe also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    Why Is AC ownership so low in India?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 18, 2026 23:12


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets:00:04   Intro00:26   Rare conditioning11:49   The business of beauty21:56   TidbitsWe also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    India's DISCOMs posted a profit. How real is it?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 17, 2026 25:05


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets:00:04   Intro00:41   How DISCOMs turned profitable12:30   India prices banking risk23:43   TidbitsWe also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    Understanding Shipbuilding Industry from scratch ft. Ishmohit Arora

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 16, 2026 48:54


    We've spoken about shipbuilding a couple of times on The Daily Brief and we now got a chance to sit down with Ishmohit from SOIC, who's spent a lot of time thinking about this sector; it felt like the right moment to do a proper deep dive. You see, shipbuilding sounds industrial and boring until you look at the numbers. Nearly 95% of India's trade by volume moves through the sea, and most of it moves on ships we don't own. In FY20, India paid about $85 billion in sea freight, roughly $75 billion of which went to foreign shipping companies. That's not a one-time cost—that's a recurring forex outflow. Meanwhile, China, South Korea, and Japan produce about 95% of global shipbuilding output, with China alone crossing 50% of world capacity for the first time in 2024. When a country can build and deploy ships at that scale, shipbuilding stops being a sector and starts being strategic leverage. So in this episode, we broke the whole thing down. What a shipyard actually does and why it's not one business but several — factory, fleet-owner, niche builder, maritime services. Why commercial and defence shipbuilding run on completely different contract logics. What indigenization actually looks like when you move past the slogans — the shift from importing and operating to becoming a system integrator, and which parts of that staircase are doable and which are deep-tech hard. How to read shipbuilding financials without getting hypnotized by peak margins on long-cycle contracts. And the idea of proxy plays — buying suppliers instead of yards — and why that only works if shipbuilding is actually a meaningful chunk of their revenue. The big takeaway is that shipbuilding is a bet on whether India can build a real maritime industrial base — yards, suppliers, skills, financing — so we're not permanently outsourcing the pipes of our own trade. The world isn't getting calmer, and in that world, this capability is less about pride and more about resilience. If you have made it this far, you will enjoy the full conversation for sure. And if you prefer video, check it out here: https://youtu.be/tmt5UAWb0bo?si=880lSL7a7PU1L0MI

    The age of electricity

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 16, 2026 23:37


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets:00:04   Intro00:26   The age of electricity12:02   How are roads built in india?22:14   TidbitsWe also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    Between industrial policy and trade imbalances

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 13, 2026 24:53


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets:00:04   Intro00:28   The hidden costs of industrial policy11:57   Can RBI fix India's bond market?23:21   TidbitsWe also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    What's behind record PSU Bank profits?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 12, 2026 23:15


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets:00:04   Intro00:29   PSU banks in top gear11:24   Wires & Cables break records22:05   TidbitsWe also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    Heads, US wins, tails, India loses?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 11, 2026 25:08


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets:00:04   Intro00:29   A deal under pressure12:05   Fixing India's bond market23:50   TidbitsWe also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    The three forces shaping Indian autos this quarter

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 10, 2026 20:57


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets:00:04   Intro00:29   Auto demand up, supply strains09:58   Inside a ₹4 crore stock manipulation19:45   TidbitsWe also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    Another robust quarter for India's midcap IT firms

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 9, 2026 23:32


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets:00:04   Intro00:29   Midcap IT's AI led growth streak11:25   The dollar comes in waves22:17   TidbitsWe also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    Is AI cannibalizing smartphones and laptops?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 6, 2026 25:24


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets:00:04   Intro00:29   AI boom, costlier devices12:23   Inside Fractal's AI business model23:50   TidbitsWe also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    There isn't enough copper in the world

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 5, 2026 22:03


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets:00:04   Intro00:52   Copper is the new oil10:50   How India splits tax money21:01   TidbitsWe also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    Murali Srinivasa on how PCBs are made and why India lags

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 4, 2026 65:08


    As you all know, at The Daily Brief, we have been writing about electronic components like semiconductors, PCBs, and a lot more for some time now. When we wrote about the manufacturing of printed circuit boards (PCBs), Murali Srinivasa from Lion Circuits replied. We thought it would be nice to learn from him about how PCBs work. See, everyone talks about chips, but every chip needs something to sit on, something to connect it to other components, something to carry electrical signals from one place to another. That something is a printed circuit board. Everything from your phone to your laptop, to your TV remote, and even the engine control unit in your car, has at least one PCB. The simplest way Murali explained it was through an analogy with a building's electrical system. You have a main control panel, bulbs on different floors, and you have wires running from the panel to each bulb. A PCB does essentially the same thing, except it shrinks the whole setup by a factor of a thousand or more. The wires become copper tracks etched onto a surface, the bulbs become LEDs or sensors, and the control panel becomes a semiconductor chip. But here's what surprised us. The PCB inside your phone is less a flat board with some tracks running across it, and more a skyscraper. Murali said that a typical smartphone PCB is about one millimetre thick, roughly the thickness of a credit card. But inside that one millimetre, there are fifty to sixty layers stacked on top of each other. Each layer is like a floor in a building, with its own copper tracks, its own electrical connections. A signal can start at the bottom and travel to the top through tiny plated holes that act like staircases between floors. So when you're holding your phone, you're holding a sixty-floor building compressed into the thickness of a credit card. Not all PCBs are sixty-layer skyscrapers, of course. There's a whole spectrum. Your TV remote has a simple single-layer board. Some devices use double-layer boards, with tracks on top and bottom. Then there are multi-layer boards with four, six, eight, or twelve layers, the kind you find in car engine control units. And at the extreme end, you have phones and smartwatches with fifty or sixty layers. The more layers you have, the harder it is to make. When you're making a multi-layer board, you manufacture each inner layer separately, then press them all together like a sandwich. After that, you drill holes through the stack to connect the different floors. The problem is that once you've pressed all the layers together, you can't see the inner ones anymore. You're drilling blind, trusting that everything aligned perfectly. And how perfect does it need to be? He told me that if a layer shifts by just fifty microns during pressing, the entire board becomes scrap. Fifty microns is half the thickness of a human hair. You're building something with sixty floors, compressing it into one millimetre, and if any floor is off by half a hair's width, the board goes in the bin. This kind of precision is why PCB manufacturing isn't just about having the right machines. He used a phrase that stuck with me: tribal knowledge. It's the knowledge that exists only within people who do the work, year after year. It's not in any manual, it's not taught in college, and it can't be bought from a consultant. It lives in the hands of people who've spent years figuring out why the same machine, same chemical, same process produces different results on different days. He said if someone gave him ten thousand crore rupees today and asked him to build a jet engine in six months, the same timeline Boeing uses, it would be impossible. Not because of the money, but because that kind of knowledge doesn't transfer through bank accounts. It transfers through people, slowly, over the years. This is also why China is so far ahead of us in PCBs. In the early 2000s, American companies didn't just move orders to China. They moved engineers who taught Chinese factories how to build things. The tribal knowledge that had accumulated over decades got transferred, person by person. India, focused on IT and services, missed that transfer almost entirely. There's a lot more in our conversation - how India was actually ahead of China in the 1980s, why we became a net importer of copper, what it takes to go from making 150-micron tracks to 25-micron tracks, and what needs to happen for India to build a real PCB industry. If you have made it this far, you will enjoy the full conversation for sure. Check out the newsletter here: thedailybrief.zerodha.com If you prefer a video format, check it out here: https://youtu.be/z4ppHtHR4fg?si=7A0LxPesOCGE1jmk Disclaimer: Some image(s) may have been created using AI, no copyright infringement is intended. Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    India's biggest challenges, according to the Economic Survey

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 4, 2026 24:57


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets:00:04   Intro00:29   India's Biggest Economic Fault Lines12:36   Liquor companies bet on premium24:01   TidbitsWe also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    Can PhonePe build a profitable payments business?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 3, 2026 21:12


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover a major story shaping the Indian economy and global markets: 00:04 Intro 00:28 PhonePe IPO: Scale vs Profits 11:09 Fast Delivery, Slow Profits? 20:10 Tidbits We also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/ Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    Everything you need to know about the budget

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 2, 2026 24:47


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover a major story shaping the Indian economy and global markets:00:04   Intro00:23   The Daily Brief budget breakdownWe also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    India, Europe, and the art of the deal

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 30, 2026 26:14


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover 2 major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets:00:04   Intro00:30   India–EU trade pact12:30   E-Waste to critical minerals24:45   TidbitsWe also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    In mining, uncertainty rules over all else

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 29, 2026 22:21


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover 2 major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets:00:04   Intro00:31   The risky math behind mining10:54   What this quarter reveals about banks21:05   TidbitsWe also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    India's new electricity policy tries to switch lanes

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 28, 2026 21:35


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover 2 major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets:00:04   Intro00:31   India's big power sector overhaul11:48   Digital India's manufacturing problem20:25   TidbitsWe also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    The world hunts for copper

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 27, 2026 21:37


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover 2 major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets:00:04   Intro00:29   Why copper prices are surging11:19   A nightmare quarter for Indigo20:43   TidbitsWe also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    The cycle of capital goods twists and turns

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 23, 2026 24:19


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover 2 major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets:00:04   Intro00:29   Machines That Move the Economy12:28   The Limits of Central Bank Power23:07   TidbitsWe also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    How the Indian Railways became electrified

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 22, 2026 20:52


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover 2 major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets:00:04   Intro00:29   The electrification of Indian Railways11:39   Inside Reliance's latest results19:39   TidbitsWe also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    Indian IT tries to fight the rising tide of uncertainty

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 21, 2026 24:43


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover 2 major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets:00:04   Intro00:31  Taking the Pulse of Indian IT11:54   Why India's solar manufacturing is stuck23:19   TidbitsWe also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    Can Shadowfax deliver?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 20, 2026 24:23


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover 2 major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets:00:04   Intro00:30   Shadowfax's Unusual Journey11:11   The end of the Mauritius tax route22:36   TidbitsWe also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

    Just (can't) do it?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 19, 2026 24:45


    In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover 2 major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets:00:04   Intro00:28   Just (can't) do it?12:03   India's drug quality problem23:18   TidbitsWe also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

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