Best of the Week: From Primetime to Purpose

In the 2000s and early 2010s, before the internet took over our lives, television remained the dominant medium across Indian households. Nearly 48% of homes owned a TV, according to the 2011 census. From cities to villages, it was the nation’s window to the world. Bollywood stars often turned to TV, usually game or reality shows, to connect with the masses.

But one show stood apart: Aamir Khan’s Satyameva Jayate.

Unlike celebrity-led shows that revolved around prize money, this one tackled hard-hitting social issues like female infanticide, dowry, and honour killings, bringing experts and citizens together for frank, empathetic conversations. Khan used his stardom to start dialogue, not just draw eyeballs.

His latest film, Sitaare Zameen Par, carries that same spirit. Dubbed a spiritual successor to Taare Zameen Par, it’s an adaptation of the Spanish film Champions and features actors with developmental disorders like autism, Down syndrome, and Asperger’s.

The film opens space for honest conversation around disability. It avoids the “Rain Man syndrome”, a tendency to portray autistic characters as savants, and treats its characters with dignity, not pity. The syndrome is named after the 1988 film of the same name.

Mental health is still not talked about enough in India, especially in adults and women. As Mint Lounge’s Divya Naik reports, autism in women often goes undiagnosed because of long-standing gender biases.

Art may exist to entertain, but the best of it also pushes us to reflect. In that regard, Sitaare Zameen Par succeeds.

I’m no film critic, but I hope you take a moment to reflect on the issues it raises. Mental health affects children and adults alike.

And if you want to stay informed, well, you know we’ve got you covered.

How AI is helping India’s infants stay healthy

In rural India, ASHA workers are swapping weighing scales for smartphones. Using Shishu Mapan, an AI app that estimates a baby’s weight from a short video, frontline workers can now spot early malnutrition signs without bulky tools or the internet. Built by Wadhwani AI, it’s one of several new tools, like MAAP and Child Growth Monitor, helping track child growth more accurately in hard-to-reach areas. These offline-friendly innovations ease the load on health workers and improve data reliability. When integrated into public systems, they could transform child healthcare across India. 

India’s ambitious ₹2 trillion shipbuilding push

India is charting an ambitious course to become a global shipbuilding powerhouse, unveiling plans to establish eight shipbuilding clusters along its vast coastline. Five will be greenfield projects in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Maharashtra, while three existing facilities, in Gujarat and Kerala, will be expanded. The initiative, part of the Maritime India Vision 2030 and 2047, aims to boost India’s share of global shipbuilding from under 1% to 7% by 2030 and 69% by 2047.

Private equity giants circle Axis Finance

Blackstone, Kedaara, Advent, and Warburg Pincus are in talks to buy a 40–100% stake in Axis Finance, valuing it at $800 million–$1 billion. Axis Bank is selling to meet RBI rules that cap bank ownership in NBFCs at 20%. Earlier IPO and merger plans were dropped. Axis Finance had ₹36,962 crore in AUM as of December 2024, with 47% in retail loans. It posted ₹3,014 crore in revenue and ₹494 crore profit in nine months. 

Can UPI Autopay reshape the subscription economy?

UPI AutoPay is quietly reshaping the subscription economy in India. What began as a tool for easier bill payments has turned into a key growth lever for startups across edtech, wellness, fintech and entertainment. With Indians spending over 7 hours online daily, and mobile internet driving 58% of that time, recurring payments are becoming the norm, and AutoPay is making it seamless, even for ₹99-a-month services in tier-2 towns. But as millions sign up, concerns are emerging over tricky cancellations and auto-debits gone wrong. Can India's subscription surge stay user-friendly as it scales? 

How industries are transforming Tamil Nadu’s hinterland

From ghost hamlets turning livable to districts shedding decades-old social biases, Tamil Nadu’s industrial strategy is quietly rewriting its rural future. Factories from the likes of Tata, Ola, and VinFast aren’t just bringing jobs, they’re bringing back peace, delaying child marriages, and flipping old preferences for a boy child. Behind this shift is a deliberate push by the state to take industries away from Chennai and into the hinterlands. But convincing investors hasn’t been easy, as some deals were almost lost. And while this model has opened up new frontiers, it’s also bumping up against old challenges. So, what’s Tamil Nadu doing right, and what still holds it back? 

Could the weekly options party be coming to an end?

Is the index options craze finally forcing Sebi to tighten the screws? After several attempts to cool down the F&O frenzy, including higher lot sizes and stricter position limits, the regulator may now rethink the weekly expiry format altogether. A shift to fortnightly expiries and just one expiry per fortnight is being considered if volumes don’t fall meaningfully soon. This comes amid fears of fallout from the Jane Street episode, which rocked capital market stocks. But is this just a speed bump or the start of a structural reset? Retail participation remains strong, will that be enough to keep the options momentum going?

Is India tuning out of music streaming?

“What’s the price of a song if no one’s paying?” That’s the existential crisis hitting India’s audio streaming world. Big players like Wynk and Resso have bowed out, while Spotify slashes per-stream payouts. Why? Because Indians still love free music. Out of 192 million streamers, just 12 million are actually paying! The ad-supported model? It’s crumbling under poor monetisation and rising content costs. AI bots, cluttered indie scenes, and short-form content fads are adding fuel to the fire. But can this be a turning point? Could a unified push towards paid models save the tune? If we truly value music, maybe it’s time we stop freeloading and start subscribing.

Can we still trust the weather forecast?

What if the forecast you saw yesterday is no longer true today? That’s the new reality, says IMD chief Mrutyunjay Mohapatra. Thanks to climate change, predicting India’s weather is becoming a race against time, lead times have halved, and extreme, hyper-local weather is rewriting the rulebook. From freak heatwaves to flash floods, lightning storms to disappearing western disturbances, the chaos is real, and it's hurting lives, crops, and the economy. In just the first 9 months of 2024, extreme weather struck 93% of the time. Still, Mohapatra remains hopeful, citing a 40–50% rise in forecast accuracy. But the big question remains: in a warming world, how long before prediction becomes pure guesswork?

TCS hits a rough patch

Is India's tech bellwether losing steam? TCS kicked off the Q1 earnings season with a rare miss, marking its third straight quarter of declining revenue. Global jitters, cautious clients, and a cooling India business, especially the BSNL slowdown, hit hard. Revenue dropped to $7.42 billion, trailing analyst expectations, with local revenues plunging 31%. CEO Krithivasan flagged delays in project starts and decision-making. While net profit rose 5.3%, aided by tax perks, wage hike plans remain uncertain, hinting at margin management over employee morale. With GenAI creeping in and global demand cloudy, is this the new normal for India’s IT giants, or a temporary tech timeout? And what does this mean for peers reporting next week?

IndusInd Bank’s talent hunt

Is IndusInd Bank rebuilding, or firefighting? After a ₹1,959 crore derivatives fiasco and CEO exit, the bank has tapped headhunters to fill key mid-to-senior roles, including CFO and heads of risk, retail, and corporate lending. But here’s the twist—many are joining for the paycheck, not passion. With a 30% hike in demand and uncertain retention, is this a quick fix or a long-term strategy? Interestingly, the bank is also quietly building a CEO-ready succession bench, hinting at deeper leadership gaps. Will this shake-up steady the ship or stir more churn? And with RBI keeping a watch, will IndusInd’s next chapter be one of redemption or repeat risks?

That's all for this week, I hope you have a pleasant weekend!

If you have feedback, want to talk about food, or have anything else to say about our journalism, write to me at siddharth.sharma1@htdigital.in or reply to this mail. You can also write to feedback@livemint.com.

Best,

Siddharth Sharma

Community Editor

Subscriber Experience Team