Five things that moved India’s consumer economy this week.
India caps what selling insurance pays
IRDAI published a draft on September 23 proposing commission caps product by product and channel by channel. A life policy with a ten-year-plus premium term pays a corporate distributor 20% in the first year and an agent 25%. Individual health caps at 15% and 20%. Motor third-party liability, which every vehicle is legally required to buy, moves to zero commission for distributors. PB Fintech fell from Rs 1,886.30 to Rs 1,282 the next day, more than 30% in one session. The draft is out for consultation, and first drafts rarely survive industry comment intact. (Entrackr, Business Standard)
Meesho’s 2018 backer finally sold
RPS Ventures moved 3.86 crore Meesho shares at Rs 233 on September 23, a Rs 899.7 crore block priced 1.4% below the close, cutting more than 71% of a position it took in the 2018 Series C. It had not sold in the IPO. Y Combinator, Elevation Capital and Peak XV had already offloaded roughly Rs 970 crore each. The buyers were the Government of Singapore, Mirae Asset, Societe Generale, Morgan Stanley and BNP Paribas. The register is rotating from venture money into institutions that ask a different question every quarter. (Inc42, Business Standard)
Nykaa bought a shelf, not a hero product
Nykaa has launched Oribe in India as the brand’s only retail partner, opening with the Gold Lust range across shampoo, conditioner, hair oil, dry shampoo and treatment. A curated range rather than one headline product is a shelf a customer can stay on. It follows the Korean additions of Mise En Scene and RYO and a K-beauty festival in Bengaluru. Haircare is where Indian premiumisation has moved slowest, and exclusivity removes the price comparison that has flattened margin in skincare and makeup. (Indian Retailer, BestMediaInfo)
NEWME’s ninth month beat its third year
NEWME crossed 40 stores this week with openings in Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar and Jalandhar’s Model Town. Twenty-two of those 40 opened in 2026, against 18 in the three years since the brand started in 2022. The target is 50 by December and 60 by March 2027. Offline is now past 30% of revenue and growing 100% year on year off a base of 35 lakh customers. The city list runs through Jodhpur, Ludhiana, Visakhapatnam and Vadodara, picked off digital demand data rather than mall footfall. (Franchise India, Images BoF)
PhonePe’s first country outside India
PhonePe has in-principle approval from the Central Bank of UAE for two licences, Retail Payment Services and Card Schemes, and Stored Value Facilities. It intends to support Aani and Jaywan, the UAE’s own domestic rails, which makes this a build for local residents and merchants rather than a remittance skim. Indian travellers can already scan NEOPAY and Network International codes there through NPCI International. What does not travel is UPI economics: at home the transaction was free and the money came from everything attached to it. (PhonePe, Free Press Journal)
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