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The Demand For Durability
The Weekend Playlist
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Good morning.
This week’s proceedings of US-Iran deal were another reminder that global stability can change overnight; the more useful question for India is what it can strengthen at home.
Ketan Dalal and Sudhir Kapadia examine why foreign investors still hesitate despite India’s large market. Renu Kohli explains why the rupee’s movement cannot be read only through oil, war or reserves. Gauri Shankar Nagabhushanam explains why real estate is no longer just a property story, but an institutional capital story.
The larger focus this week is durability: capital that stays, customers who trust, creators who endure and assets that compound.
WEEKEND EDITION
India’s FDI Problem Is No Longer About Open Doors
If India is open to foreign investment on paper, why is long-term capital still not flowing in at the scale the economy needs?
In this episode of Weekend Edition, Govindraj Ethiraj speaks with Ketan Dalal of Katalyst Advisors and Sudhir Kapadia, Ex- National Tax Leader, EY India about what is holding back foreign direct investment into India. They point out that investors still face harder operational questions: land, logistics, power costs, industrial clusters, dispute resolution, tax certainty, and the ability to run a business without constant friction. India’s FDI challenge is not only about attracting dollars. It is about creating the conditions in which serious investors can build, operate, expand, and stay.
They exclaim that India should not try to solve the FDI problem in a vague, all-purpose way. A sector-led approach may work better, including sectors of semiconductors, green energy, AI-linked infrastructure, manufacturing, auto, and other areas, where India can realistically become part of global value chains.
Key Insight
Foreign companies may first ask what more they can do domestically before looking abroad; meaning India has to work harder to attract investment.
SPECIAL EDITION
Why Banks Cannot Afford Bad Customer Experience Anymore
Why does banking still feel complicated when almost every other consumer service has become frictionless?
In this episode of the Special Edition, Govindraj Ethiraj speaks with Pratik Shah of EY India, who explains that in banking, products, pricing, and offers are now easy to copy. What is harder to replicate is how a bank treats a customer across the full journey: onboarding, servicing, complaints, closures, branches, apps, chatbots, and call centres.
However, Pratik also points out that digital banking does not render physical branches as irrelevant; as they still matter for trust, deposits, complex services, MSMEs, and older customers. Therefore, for banks, the real propeller of growth is making both digital and physical channels work as one system.
Key Insight
The next banking advantage may come from empathy at scale, where data, AI, and organisation design help banks anticipate customer needs before complaints arise.
REITs And The New Real Estate Playbook
Behind India's office parks and data centres lies a quieter financial story: the rise of professionally managed real estate.
In this episode of Special Edition, Govindraj Ethiraj speaks with Gauri Shankar Nagabhushanam of CapitaLand India Trust, about REITs, commercial real estate, data centres, logistics parks, and the institutionalisation of India’s property market. REIT’s purpose is not aggressive expansion, but to pool investor money into income-generating assets, collect rent from tenants, and distribute most of that income to unit holders.
The conversation also shows how India’s institutional real estate market is changing. Data centres have become a major growth area as cloud, AI, and digital infrastructure expand. CapitaLand’s own bet is not to abandon steady assets like IT parks, but to balance them with newer assets.
Key Insight
In real estate, disciplined entry at the right price, time and structure matters more than aggressive expansion.
THE CORE QUIZ
Where did the US and Iran sign the ceasefire agreement? |
THE MEDIA ROOM
When Everyone Is A Creator, Who Becomes The Filter?
In an age of endless content, is creation still the scarce skill, or is curation becoming more valuable?
In this episode of The Media Room, Vanita Kohli-Khandekar speaks with Roshan Abbas of Kommune, about the changing economics of creativity, live performance, nostalgia, AI, and the creator economy. The conversation asks what happens when audiences are flooded with content, attention is fragmented, and everyone is under pressure to produce constantly.
Abbas pushes back against the idea that more technology automatically means better creativity. He says that creators need feedback, rehearsal, curation, and human flaws as much as they need tools.
Key Insight
AI may reduce the cost of making content, but it increases the premium on taste, trust, and human imperfection.
HOW INDIA’S ECONOMY WORKS
The Rupee’s Reserve Problem
Can a country have enough foreign exchange reserves and still remain vulnerable to a currency shock?
In this episode of How India’s Economy Works, Puja Mehra speaks with economist Renu Kohli about why the recent weakness in the rupee reflects deeper structural issues rather than just short-term market volatility.
The conversation explores India's dependence on foreign capital, the slowdown in FDI, rising geopolitical risks, and why large reserves alone cannot offset persistent weaknesses in the balance of payments. Moreover, while the RBI can smooth currency movements and buy time through spot and forward market operations, it cannot replace durable capital inflows or solve structural external imbalances.
Why This Matters
India faces a challenge of attracting long-term investment and building an external account driven by exports and productive investment.
MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR
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