Our top reads of the week

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Every week, catch up on the best long form stories from Forbes India. Often peppered with our binge-worthy podcasts, videos or infographics too.


1) Endangering privacy
For Justice BN Srikrishna, who led the committee that came out with the first draft of India’s Personal Data Protection Bill in 2018, the latest amendments proposed by the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) 'enhance' the danger to the fundamental right of privacy. This version does not pass the three-step proportionality test defined by the Supreme Court in the 2018 Puttaswamy judgement, he says. In a conversation with Forbes India, Justice Srikrishna gets into the details. Read more


2) Losing the race
Maruti Suzuki has made a habit of selling one out of every two cars in the country and has been doing that for over two decades now. But things are changing. There is a bigger dilemma at play for Maruti Suzuki, which has admittedly missed the bus to India’s booming SUV market, dominated by its rivals Hyundai Motors India and Tata Motors among others. How will it overcome the struggle of making the inroads with models such as Brezza and S-Cross? Find out the answers here. Read more

3) Galloping meat unicorn
Vivek Gupta and Abhay Hanjura, co-founders of meat and seafood company Licious, know how to make real meat big in the country. In October 2021, India saw a unicorn emerge out of goat, fish and chicken when Licious raised $52 million (Rs 395 crore) in series G funding, to become the first direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand to enter the $1 billion valuation unicorn club. Can the meat unicorn keep up its gutsy run? Gupta and Hanjura say that they are happy with the validation of the unicorn tag, but they will stay aggressive. What's the plan, you ask? Read the story to find out. Read more

Discover

1) Wake up and manage water now
Climate change is arguably the greatest disruption of our time, and it speaks through water, writes Mridula Ramesh in her recent book ‘Watershed: How We Destroyed India’s Water and How We Can Save It’. An angel investor and founder of the Sundaram Climate Institute, Mridula talks about how water’s undoing has been because of its ubiquity and invisibility. The conversation sheds light on why most climate change talks are centred around carbon instead of water. How startups, industry and investors are responding to the urgent need for water management and sustainable practices. Read more


2) Spider-Man crawls up high
Superhero movies were breaking box office records as they were tiny chocolate brittles on the kitchen counter—easy and delicious. Then pandemic struck. Now when theatres are open, superheroes are back as well. Spider-Man: No Way Home has crawled up to the second spot of top 10 box office opening weekends of all times. Here's a look at the rest 


3)  Small to XXL
India's first lockdown during the pandemic exposed the chinks in Dabur's armour. While other FMCG companies got busy with an aggressive blueprint to meet the demand, Dabur's CEO Mohit Malhotra was only ruing the stark reality of not having any essential product. Now, from baby diapers to malted food drinks to cold-pressed cooking oils, Dabur is furiously plugging the gaps in its portfolio by expanding eight power brands into adjacent categories. Can the 'Ghar Ghar Dabur' gambit pay off? Read more

4) Go big or go home
Bain & Co, in its report 'M&A: Acquiring to Transform,' highlights that companies are using mergers and acquisitions as a tool more than ever before to transform their businesses for a post-Covid world. First-time buyers account for more than 80 percent of deals in the past two years (2020–2021), up from less than 70 percent in 2017–2019. Traditional companies are using it to acquire new-age companies and startups are undertaking acquisitions to bolt on to their existing capabilities and increase scale and expand to newer geographies. Karan Singh, managing partner of Bain & Company’s India offices and also a leader in the Healthcare and Mergers & Acquisitions practices, talks to Forbes India on key insights from the report. Listen here