u/AJ18-

I run a small F&B business in Bangalore. So when X spent days comparing an ice cream cart to SpaceX, I had thoughts.

The Ambanis own the largest refinery in the world. Jio restructured how a billion people access the internet. Walk into 1MG mall and count the Reliance brands — it takes longer than you'd expect.

One cart outside Jio World is not a statement about the limits of their ambition.

The frustration about Indian capital and deeptech underinvestment is a real conversation. But India's GDP per capita in 2024 was $2,697. The US sits at $85,000. That's a 30x difference. Comparing risk appetites across that gap as if they're equivalent is a category error.

In the Indian context, FMCG and consumer goods aren't consolation prizes. They're how you build wealth at scale in an economy where the mass market is enormous and the premium market is still developing. That's not thinking small. That's reading the market you actually operate in.

The one group whose frustration is actually legitimate — Corner House, Naturals, the independents who built something real through product and patience. When Reliance decides to scale this, they're not competing on product alone anymore.

Went to GK2 on a Monday afternoon looking for Benne — the Bengaluru butter dosa place that set up in Delhi. Benne was shut.

What followed was Libertario on the recommendation of a store manager I had just met, Perch because it was on the next road, and Sidecar because it had been on my list long enough.

I went in carrying a quiet confidence that Bangalore had figured out the bar scene in a way Delhi hadn't. A Mezcal cocktail and a bowl of peanuts at Sidecar put that assumption down. Still think about both.

The piece is also about what GK2 being Delhi's Indiranagar actually means — not the geography or the property prices, but the specific way a premium residential neighbourhood grows a commercial identity around itself.