From DS Group's FMCG gambit to GE Aerospace's India mission, here are our most-read stories of the week

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1) FMCG gambit
DS Group has bought Viceroy Bangalore Hotels, stitched a partnership with Radisson Hotel, owns dairy brand Ksheer, has a presence in salt, spices and pepper sprinklers with Catch and Kewal, and is the biggest player in the hard-boiled candy market with Pulse. With the acquisition of LuvIt, the DS Group will have to take on big boys such as Cadbury to make a dent in the world of chocolates. Currently, the conglomerate gets over 70 percent of its sales from the pan masala brand Rajnigandha. Why is the group–which has an estimated Rs5,500 crore in revenue–aggressively diversifying its portfolio? Find out here

2) Flight plan
Speaking of gambits, Vinay Dube, founder and CEO of Akasa Air, is playing a big one. India is expected to add over 2,200 aircraft in the next 20 years as travel demand grows on the back of a thriving economy. And Dube is banking on his three-decade experience in the aviation industry to make things happen for him. Back in the day, with his brothers in arms, he had set up SNV Aviation Limited which owns India’s newest airline. He has the former president of IndiGo, Aditya Ghosh, as a co-founder, and investments from the late Rakesh Jhunjhunwala to exploit the potential of air travel in India. Since its launch 10 months ago, Akasa has already cornered a five percent market share. So it’s going to be exciting to see what lies in Dube’s unprecedented flight plan. Read more

3) Spreading wings
Indian skies are not limited to aeroplanes anymore. The blue vastness changed significantly when the Ministry of Civil Aviation implemented the liberalised Drone Rules in 2021. And Agnishwar Jayaprakash’s Garuda Aerospace took full advantage of the opportunity it presented. When the founder and CEO of the drone-tech startup began in 2015, his only aim was disruption through emerging technology. Today, the startup counts farmers, the defence sector, and companies such as Tata, Godrej, Adani, Reliance, Swiggy, Sail, IOCL and many more among its clients. Here’s the story of how Garuda Aerospace is spreading its wings. Read more

Discover

1) Gearing for change
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has fundamentally changed the nature of retail transactions in India. It commands more than 75 percent of the overall transactional volume in retail digital payments. But that might change soon. The Reserve Bank of India might have warmed up a little late to the idea of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), but it has since taken big strides towards making the e-rupee a real possibility. RBI’s CBDC retail pilots are quickly expanding in scope, participation and reach. And we bring you a closer look at the action. Read more

2) Bad business
Siddharth Vij, Chaitanya Rathi, Siddharth Rastogi, and Shubham Agarwal started bijnis, a B2B platform for the unorganised retail segment in 2015. But since its inception, there was not a single fiscal year of operations where the revenue was more than the company’s losses. The bottom line was always much bigger than the top line. But VCs were not worried because the founders were operating in a $100 billion industry with ample room to grow. Come May 2023, Info Edge wrote off its entire investment in bijnis. What changed? Let’s find out. Read more 

3) Engineer in-charge
This week we have quite a few stories about the Indian aviation sector. And not without reason. After all, the thriving economy is experiencing increasing demand for air travel. GE Aerospace wants a piece of this pie as well. Mohamed Ali, vice president of engineering at GE’s aviation wing, believes India is where the action is. In one of this week’s Daily Tech Conversation episodes, Ali shares his experiences from his long tryst with India, and talks about the globally integrated role GE Aerospace's 1,200 staff in India play in developing the company's next generation of products. Listen here 

4) Lessons from legacy entrepreneurs
What does it take to build a legacy and ensure generations of people benefit from your work? Are there leadership lessons old industrialists can offer young founders of today? These are some of the questions that family business historian Sonu Bhasin attempts to answer through a series of books called ‘Entrepreneurs Who Built India’. The latest book is on Lala Shri Ram, who built Delhi Cloth and General Mills (DCM) into a conglomerate and market leader, and founded various educational institutions, including the Lady Shri Ram College. For the latest edition of ‘From the Bookshelves of Forbes India’ podcast, Bhasin also talks about women in the workforce and how family businesses can attain longevity. Listen here