Perplexed. Agitated. Vaibhav Aggarwal just wanted to talk.

Only a few days back, he’d received word that MakeMyTrip (MMT) might be contemplating throwing FabHotels out of the aggregation website. Not because of any fault of his or his company’s. Simply because MMT wanted a deeper relationship with Oyo, one of FabHotels’ competitors. And through that, with SoftBank. And through that, access to money from an investor with billions of dollars who is out to upend industries and business models around the world.

AUTHOR

Ashish K. Mishra

Ashish edits and writes stories at The Ken. Across subjects. In his last assignment, he was a Deputy Editor at Mint, a financial daily published by HT Media. At the paper, he wrote long, deeply reported feature stories. His earlier assignments: Forbes India magazine and The Economic Times. Born in Kolkata. Studied in New Delhi – B.Com from Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University. Works out of anywhere, where there is a good story to be told.

View Full Profile

Available exclusively to subscribers of The Ken India

This story is a part of The Ken India edition. Subscribe. Questions?

MOST POPULAR

Annual Subscription

12-month access to 200+ new stories and our archive of 800+ stories from our India edition.

Rs. 2,750

Subscribe
 

Quarterly Subscription

3-month access to 60+ new stories with 3-months worth of archives from our India edition.

Rs. 1,750

Subscribe
 

Single Story

Instant access to this story for a year along with comment privileges.

Rs. 500

Subscribe
MOST POPULAR

Annual Subscription

12-month access to 150+ stories from Southeast Asia.

$ 120

Subscribe
 

Quarterly Subscription

3-month access to 35+ stories from Southeast Asia.

$ 50

Subscribe
 

Single Story

Instant access to this story for a year along with comment privileges.

$ 20

Subscribe

So much journalism in India is superficial.

Articles are generic, almost cookie-cutter in their approach. And they don’t provide enough context on the issues they cover. The Ken is different. I don’t always agree with everything they say but I appreciate their commitment to publishing deeply reported narratives and investigations. Their reporters find new ways to analyze tech among other industries. And that’s always worth a read.

Sid Talwar / Co-Founder and Partner / Lightbox Venture Capital

As entrepreneurs, we thrive on being in the know at all times.

A personal subscription to The Ken was a no brainer. But as startup founders, this isn't enough. Team members also need to be in the know, for everyone handles customer-facing responsibilities and an ecosystem change that impacts customers also impacts us

Kiran Jonnalagadda / Co-founder / HasGeek and Internet Freedom Foundation

This is a brilliant piece. Very well researched and explained.

The policy & execution is in quite a mess. the flip flops on KYC, the insidious use (& abuse) of consent, the hopeless competition with zero-balance Jan Dhan accounts - all brought out starkly. Congratulations!

Ajit Ranade / Chief Economist / Aditya Birla Group

Thanks to The Ken, we have articulate, original & relevant stories

that shape our understanding of businesses around us. With placements around the corner, Ken is a great resource to prepare and ace our interviews.

Sandeep Ganesh / Student Body President / ISB 2018

An article from The Ken has become an intrinsic part of my daily news diet.

Nandan Nilekani / Former Chairman / UIDAI

I look forward to Ken's incisive reporting, rigorous research, and contrarian but always logical viewpoints

Deep Kalra / Group CEO / MakeMyTrip

The Ken is my daily guide to intelligent business journalism like never before.

Kapil Chopra / Former President / Oberoi Hotels

Questions?

What is The Ken?

The Ken is a subscription-only business journalism website and app that provides coverage across two editions - India and Southeast Asia.

What kind of stories do you write?

We publish sharp, original and reported stories on technology, business and healthcare. Our stories are forward-looking, analytical and directional — supported by data, visualisations and infographics.

We use language and narrative that is accessible to even lay readers. And we optimise for quality over quantity, every single time.

What do I get if I subscribe?

For subscribers of the India edition, we publish a new story every weekday, and a newsletter on Saturday.

For subscribers of the Southeast Asia edition, we publish a new story three days a week, and a newsletter on Friday.

The annual subscription will get you complete, exclusive access to our archive of previously published stories for your edition, along with access to our subscriber-only mobile apps, our premium comment sections and several other gifts and benefits.

Does a subscription to the India edition grant me access to Southeast Asia stories? Or vice-versa?

Afraid not. Each edition is separate with its own subscription plan. The India edition publishes stories focused on India. The Southeast Asia edition is focused on Southeast Asia. We may occasionally cross-publish stories from one edition to the other.

Do you offer an all-access joint subscription for both editions?

Not yet. If you’d like to access both editions, you’ll have to purchase two subscriptions separately - one for India and the other for Southeast Asia.

Do you offer any discounts?

No. We have a zero discounts policy.

Is there a free trial I can opt for?

We don’t offer any trials, but you can sign up for a free account which will give you access to the weekly free story, our archive of free stories and summaries of the paid stories. You can stay on the free account as long as you’d like.

Do you offer refunds?

We allow you to sample our journalism for free before signing up, and after you do, we stand by its quality. But we do not offer refunds.

I am facing some trouble purchasing a subscription. What can I do?

Please write to us at [email protected] detailing the error or queries.