The Working Life

Our host Devina spent a week in Kota this July. When she last visited in 2022, the city was so packed, that there was hardly any space to stand. Today, the streets carry a shutters-down look, reflecting the economic hardship of a community once thriving on the influx of students. There's palpable anger and frustration among business owners and locals because they made the critical mistake of depending solely on students for survival. Now that the student population has dropped by nearly half, it has created a ripple effect—loan defaults are on the rise, and rental contracts are being renegotiated or abandoned.
Devina Sengupta delves deeper into the issue in a conversation with Pramod Maheshwari, Founder & CEO of Career Point Ltd., as they explore the impact of this demographic shift on Kota's economic landscape.