From Groww Vs Zerodha battle to debutants on India's 100 Richest list, here are our most-read stories of the week
Rising cases of sexual harassment at workplaces, Ravi Venkatesan's take on entrepreneurship, and cricket's entry into the Olympics are some of the stories that piqued the interest of our readers this week
Image: Shutterstock
1) Risk of being employed
Ravi Venkatesan has held quite a few titles in his career. Former chairman of Microsoft India and Bank of Baroda are some of them. Now, the founder of the Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) is promoting entrepreneurship in India and believes it is the country's future. According to Venkatesan, the concept of a stable job is endangered, and the closest thing to stability is starting a business. In this exclusive conversation with Forbes India, Venkatesan discusses the state of entrepreneurship in India and the state of women entrepreneurs and makes a case for why a mass movement would benefit. Read more
2) Rise of sexual harassment cases
Compliance has become the latest buzzword for corporates in India and the world since big names in the startup world saw a public fall over not meeting the standards. Everyone is scrambling to tighten disclosures, compliance and governance norms so investors can be attracted to the promise of clean and transparent business. Does this also include creating a safe working environment for employees? The answer might be no. Because according to the data compiled by anti-sexual harassment advisory firm Complykaro.com, there is a massive backlog of pending sexual harassment cases at workplaces in India's most prominent companies—it shows an alarming rise of 101 percent in the year ending March 2023. Here is the analysis of the concerning data and its effect on ESG ratings. Read more
3) Changing the pecking order
Nithin and Nikhil Kamath are the poster boys of bootstrapped startups since they revolutionised discount broking in India with their venture Zerodha. Last week, their throne got a little jolt. This movement also surprised the investing community. Groww, a seven-year-old financial services platform, usurped Bengaluru-headquartered Zerodha to become the largest brokerage in India in terms of the number of active investors. In just a year, Groww’s active user clientele jumped 35 percent from 4.9 million to 6.63 million in September. While both companies control about 40 percent of the stock broking industry together, this race to the top has gained a lot of significance. Let's take a look at the hows and whys of the situation. 
Cricket was once part of the Olympic games—in 1900, just a single match when Great Britain defeated hosts France to win the gold medal. Since then, the Gentlemen's Game has not made the cut to be part of one the biggest sports extravaganzas on the planet. It changed on Monday when the International Olympic Committee members overwhelmingly voted to include the sport in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. If the International Cricket Council's proposal is approved, cricket fans can see a six-team T20 competition for women and men to win the coveted Olympic gold medal. This win is good for the game and a way to crack into one of the world's biggest sports markets—the US. 
Two young chartered accountants in their twenties charted an unconventional path to set up a stock broking firm. Almost forty years later, the brokerage has expanded to become one of the country's leading financial conglomerates. The duo's journey captures the evolution of modern stock markets and the rise of India's global economic heft. Those young ones are now known as Motilal Oswal and Raamdeo Agrawal. In a very rare interview together, the founders of Motilal Oswal Financial Services talk about how they made their first million, what keeps their partnership strong, why they are excited about the organisation's future, and the legacy they want to leave. They also discuss investing themes, strategies for long-term wealth creation, and more in the next edition of Pathbreakers. 
Delhi's Khan Market is known for its high-end luxury shops, hip cafes, gourmet restaurants, and quaint lounges. But standing out in one of Delhi's most expensive pin codes is the Bahrisons book store. Balraj Bahri started the shop in 1953, and his son Anuj Bahri Malhotra has been running it for 44 years. In 1979, 16-year-old Malhotra wanted to do more than handle the cash counter of his father's bookshop. The ambition led him to expand the shop's footprint beyond Delhi, start a publishing house, and begin a literary agency--Red Ink. Bahrisons Booksellers is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, and Malhotra is ever so eager to improve the physical presence of books in the digital age. Watch him talk about his ambitious plans with enthusiasm. 
