Episodes

Send us Fan Mail Comedy in India can make you famous, have you cancelled, or even arrested. In this episode, Shutapa Paul sits down with comedian Arvind Sunder to explore the changing landscape of stand-up in India. From censorship and ‘cancel’ culture to social media outrage and the pressure of being politically correct, Arvind Sunder shares his honest take on what it really means to be a comedian in India. The conversation also dives into the business of stand-up, regional humour, the r...

Send us Fan Mail India spends just 0.7% of its GDP on research and development, compared to 2.5%-5.5% in countries like the US and China. What will it take for India to move from catching up to leading? In this episode, Shutapa Paul speaks with Dr. Jogin Desai, CEO & Founder of Eyestem, as they explore the structural challenges in India’s innovation ecosystem, from limited private risk capital to the gap between research and real-world impact. They also discuss how India...

Send a text India is projected to become a $110 billion semiconductor market by 2030. But can the country move beyond being the world’s back office and build a true deeptech and hardware innovation economy? In this episode, Shutapa Paul sits down with tech industry veteran, BV Naidu, Chairman of the Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM), to discuss India’s transition from a software services powerhouse to a deep tech and hardware innovation economy. Tune in to hear BV Naidu’s insights fr...

Send a text Only 27% of Indians have basic financial literacy, and that gap becomes dangerous as more people enter the stock market and rely on digital financial tools. In this episode of ‘What India Needs’, Shutapa Paul speaks with Karthik Rangappa, Chief of Education at Zerodha and Curator of Varsity, India’s largest open-source financial education initiative. Together, they discuss why financial literacy remains low in India, how digital scams are becoming more sophisticated with AI, a...

Send us a text India’s past has many versions. Which version of history do you believe? In this episode of What India Needs, Shutapa Paul deciphers bygone times with historian and acclaimed author Dr. Vikram Sampath. From Mahatma Gandhi and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar to Jawaharlal Nehru and B R Ambedkar, the conversation touches upon many controversial Indian leaders. They also discuss the realities of being a contemporary historian in India, challenges of writing biographies amid political p...

Send us a text 36% of India’s tech workforce is women, but only 8% reach senior leadership. What’s keeping women from leading the future of work? In this episode of the What India Needs Podcast, Shutapa Paul speaks with Shreya Krishnan, Managing Director - India, of AnitaB.org, a global non-profit working to advance women in technology. Together, they explore how India can build equitable workplaces where inclusion drives innovation. Join the conversation as we unpack the numbers, the sys...