The sleepy world of mattress production might not to be the sexiest of business models. Yet mattresses are no longer viewed solely as consumer staples; they are a sign of comfort and quality of life. And in recent years we've seen the explosion of mattress innovators and startups from all over the world. In India, where mattresses such as the ones we know here in the western world, are still very much perceived to be a luxury item, the growth of the mattress market is skyrocketing. This is primarily attributed to factors, such as rising income levels, growing health consciousness, and growth of the real estate and hospitality industries. There has been a visible shift in consumer perceptions where the main focus is now on comfort and functionality as incomes increase. Adapting to the changing times, mattress manufacturing companies in India have adopted innovative technologies and products to ensure customer satisfaction and improve sleep quality that sways the upper middle class in India.

In today’s episode of Inside India, Ben Hayward is joined by Rahul Gautam, the Chairman and Managing Director of Sheela Foam, one of the largest manufacturers of mattresses and foams in India. Rahul is the man behind the success of Sheela Foam, a company founded in 1971 by his late mother, Sheela Gautam who required a government license to manufacture foam. The business has scaled great heights under their leadership as they've sold hundreds of thousands of mattresses on the Indian subcontinent over the last four decades. With the 1993 launch of their flagship brand Sleepwell, the company embarked on a remarkable journey of manufacturing and producing mattresses and other foam related products and has now branched out beyond India with factories and manufacturing hubs in Australasia and Europe. Join us as we hear from one of India’s most popular and experience CEOs in this quirky yet vital sub sector of consumer stapels.

The use of credit is ubiquitous in American society and we have seen explosive growth in consumer credit over the last decade, as rates have remained low. However, as credit has been more widely available, it has also resulted in indebted households sinking into trouble jeopardising their financial security. Millions of families across America are burdened by this debt with many spiralling into monetary destruction. The economic wellbeing of an individual would be considerably improved if they were able to effectively manage their debt and make informed financial decisions.

In today’s episode of Inside India, Ben Hayward is joined by Avi Patchava, CEO and Co-Founder of Bright Money, a mission driven consumer FinTech company, dedicated to helping everyone reduce their debt burden and build wealth. Bright Money, which was founded in 2019, promises to assist customers, to take control of their debt and start developing real wealth by handling all of their data crunching calculations and financial planning on their behalf. Customers allow Bright Money to thoroughly examine their banking credit card transactions and help them make financial decisions through the use of big data and analytics. Its mission is to help every American double their wealth by enabling better financial decisions, powered by data sciences and behavioural design. It is yet another example of the increasingly popular - Build in India, Sell in the Western world business model, with more than 95% of their workforce based in India, yet all of their customer base located in the US. Avi spends this episode telling us what it is about India that makes it such a right destination for building a 21st century tech business with product that can be exported around the world.

India, a country that is always synonymous with tea, also happens to be one of the world’s major coffee producers. Despite its tea-loving heritage, India’s coffee culture continues to slowly evolve thanks to the changing consumption habits of the rising middle class, growing brand awareness as well as the emergence of specialty coffee startups. Specialty coffee, which provides customers with coffee freshly brewed per their preferences, is driving the growth of the Indian coffee scene. Moreover, the effort to build a dosmestic Indian coffee market is enabling farmers from the bottom of the supply chain to be connected to Indian consumers who have traditionally thought of coffee as a luxury item. Blue Tokai, named after an ancient South Indian term for the tail of a peacock, is a coffee startup that wants to popularize India’s vast coffee growing plantations and connect Indians to western style speciality coffee culture.

In today’s episode of Inside India, Ben Hayward is joined by fellow coffee enthusiast and the Co-Founder of Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters, Matt Chitharanjan. When Matt and his wife, Namrata moved to India from the U.S., they missed drinking speciality coffee and began sourcing high-quality coffee from farms and roasting it at home. They soon discovered an immense customer base for speciality coffee. And as a result, in 2013, Blue Tokai was born. Blue Tokai’s vision is to bring great quality speciality Indian coffee to the mass affluent urban population of India. Over the years, the company has evolved and expanded its operations with standalone cafés and roasteries across the country. In less than a decade, Blue Tokai has roasted more than 1000 tons of coffee, served close to 3 million cups, from it’s network of over 50 cafes and remains India’s most fastest growing F&B start-ups. What started as a hobby back in 2013 has now turned into a thriving, fully fledged coffee business.