Intermission by The Ken, documenting the history of Indian businesses

India has a rich business history. Almost none of it has been documented. This apathy applies broadly, but especially to business, finance, and markets, and it’s something I’ve found genuinely frustrating for a long time.

So I’m really happy that the team at The Ken decided to take this on. I’ve been bugging them about it for years.

The way I consume content has changed a lot since AI. The internet is flooded with generated slop, and it’s made me much more deliberate. I actively seek out things where the effort and craft are obvious.

Their new podcast, Intermission, belongs in that category. The care, intention, and craft of the people behind it are immediately apparent. Real curiosity, real effort, real craftsmanship. That matters more now than ever; the internet is drowning in AI-generated slop, and it’s making high-quality, effortful work stand out more, not less.

The first episode is on Asian Paints, and it’s absolutely brilliant. Rohin, Seetha, and the rest of the Ken team have clearly poured a lot into it. One thing that stood out: Asian Paints had a deliberate strategy of hiring people at below-market salaries, and how genuinely they took care of those people once there was a real cultural fit and alignment with the company’s long-term vision.

The episode is free and live on YouTube and Spotify. Worth your time.

(Disclosure: Zerodha had a small role in making this happen, which I’m glad about, because I think it’s important for the history of Indian business to be documented and freely available.)

Links: Episode 1, Episode 2, Spotify.