Aditya Maurya

Aditya MauryaSep 26, 2026

Aditya Birla Capital is entering gold loans with 1,000 branches over three years. The NBFC arm will open 200–300 dedicated branches by March 2027, targeting urban and semi-urban markets. Why this makes sense for Aditya Birla: The company frames it as a “natural extension of secured lending strategy”. Its NBFC business already has scale — AUM grew 28% YoY to ₹1.67 lakh crore in Q1 FY27, with disbursements up 34%. Gold loans are secured, liquid, and fast-growing, unlike unsecured retail credit where stress has been rising. The market they’re entering: NBFC gold loan credit surged 69.3% YoY to ₹3.42 lakh crore as of June 2026. ICRA projects the organised gold loan market to cross ₹30 trillion by FY28. The competitive reality: They’re up against Muthoot and Manappuram, who dominate the space. Tata Capital and Godrej Capital entered recently too, and yields are already compressing. Muthoot’s yield fell 300 bps sequentially in Q1. The bet isn’t just gold loans. It’s whether a customer pledging jewellery becomes an Aditya Birla banking, insurance, or investment customer next.

Aditya MauryaSep 25, 2026

Unacademy had ₹900 crore in cash and profitable businesses. It sold for 94% less than its peak anyway. Here's what makes this story fascinating: The numbers: • Peak valuation (2021): $3.44 billion • Sale price (2026): ~$200 million • Cash on balance sheet: ₹900 crore (~$108M) • Topline: ~₹400 crore Gaurav Munjal was unusually candid: “We raised at a peak, but sold at a fraction of that. I'm not going to dress these facts up.” But here's the uncomfortable part for founders: Profitability ≠ Valuation. Unacademy didn't sell because it was dying. It had options. It had cash. Most businesses were profitable or close to it. The gap between surviving and winning is brutal. Look at the math: · Unacademy's revenue: ₹826 Cr (FY25), down 16% YoY · Upgrads revenue: ₹1,569 Cr (FY25), up 5.5% · Combined: A full-stack learning giant from exam prep to upskilling The real signal? Distribution beats standalone scale. Unacademy had online test prep + Airlearn (10M+ users, 150+ countries). upGrad had offline education at scale. Together, they cover the entire learner lifecycle. Sector context matters here: • EdTech funding: $4.3B (2021) → $214M (2026 YTD) • Median round size: 2x higher than previous years • Fewer deals, bigger cheques, consolidation is king Valuation was never a certificate. It was always a bet on how big the market believed the future could be. When that belief shifts, the same company, same team, same products are worth a fraction.

Aditya MauryaSep 26, 2026

In 2013, Suzlon owed Indian banks ₹13,000 crore. By FY25, it had more cash than debt. Here's how Tulsi Tanti built India's wind empire, nearly lost it all, and why his family finished what he started. It began with a problem no one would call a business idea. His family's textile unit in Gujarat kept losing power. So he put up 2 windmills — just to keep the looms running. Then he noticed something strange: the wind was making more money than the cloth ever did. In 1995, he started Suzlon Wind Energy Corporation (SWECO) to build wind turbines. In 2005, Suzlon went public and the stock exploded. Almost overnight, Tanti became one of the richest men in India. Then 1 mistake nearly ended it all. In 2007, Suzlon bought German turbine maker REpower for around $2 billion — funded by a mountain of debt. Right at that moment, the 2008 crisis hit. Orders around the world dried up overnight. What followed was a slow, painful decade: → By the early 2010s, Suzlon owed banks over ₹13,000 crore → A full restructuring in 2013 — and another in 2020 → Meanwhile, wind lost ground in India as cheaper solar took over Tulsi Tanti passed away in 2022, before the recovery fully arrived.But his family kept the reset going. And slowly it worked. By FY25, Suzlon had more cash than debt. It was finally safe again and as Suzlon steadied, Indian wind found its feet with it. Today: → Suzlon clocks nearly ₹16,700 crore in revenue → It powers roughly one-third of India's installed wind capacity → India just added over 6 GW of wind in a single year — its highest ever → Close to 700 GW still sits untapped Suzlon spent years trying to get bigger — and almost lost everything.Its comeback only began when survival mattered more than size.