IndianMaze

Yellow is a dear colour of Indians. More so for women. It denotes many things in different parts of the country: devotion, sacrifice, purity, meditation, abstinence, beauty, etc. But it is the colour of the dearest of all, GOLD. It is well known that Indians are the biggest consumers/buyers of gold in the world. Almost half of the world's gold sold every year is in India. All of 800 tonnes plus. In consumer spend terms it is INR 1 trillion or US$ 25 billions. Hey, that's hell of money and most of it is private. What is still hidden is the fact that there is another 100 tonnes that is recycled and consumer still spends another Rs 25 billion or US$ 625 millions. Hang on, on top of it the next layer of precious and semi precious stones that accompany the gold in making jewellery. It all adds up to more than US$ 30 Billions. India is home to world's 70%+ gold in raw/jewellery form and most of it is with individuals/families. That is one hell of assets. It all starts in a small

Indian consumers have a nasty habit of throwing us off balance once too often. No wonder it is a country of paradoxes. Here is an instance that is fresh in my mind from a first hand experience sometime ago. Lady of the house ordered on the mobile phone a range of exotic foods like celery, broccolli et al and not even once batted an eyelid on the prices or the total bill amount. Just then the door bell rand and there was this newspaper canvasser trying to push that extra newspaper at home. A major discussion followed as to why this extra expenditure (all of less than vegetable bill and that too for the full year supply of the newspaper) that is wasteful. But then boy knew a few tricks of the trade and clinched the deal with a masterstroke : "You will recover more than expenditure by selling the Raddi of the newspapers over the year". Bravo Indian consumer. Keep on surprising us marketers and throw us off balance.

It was an amazing experience to visit a small homely restaurant tucked away in corners of Khan Market in Delhi. Menu was exotic to say the least. Italian, traditional British, Mexican, Lebanese, Thai, Indonesian, Vietnamese et al. A delight to see such a choice and that too in a city where chaat rules. All this was enough for one to get excited. Food ordered - it was great. Speciality of the food was tampering with Indian spices and to please the Indian buds. Purists may call this "scxxxxxx" the recipe but I call this customisation. On asking, chef did say that he can offer authentic tastes only if you ask. And majority does not ask. Easy to lambast a small restaurant but look around what large multinationals have learnt from The Indian Maze. Aloo tikki burger Paneer Tikka Pizza Chinese Pizza Vegetarian Burger in KFC (I thought C stood for chicken only) Skin White Cream/Lotion by leading global players (Ponds, HUL, Loreal, Shiseido...) The great revolution is taking place. Ca

The great Indian shopper continues to amaze the marketeers. It was a leisurely sunday mid morning and I wanted to avoid the crowds in the shops. It was just an illusion. There were a large number of people, largely younger lot. Great, they were not shopping around the aisles of the large format super store on the Malls Road of Gurgaon. They were all enjoying some snacks and coffee from innumerable stalls within the store. It was a breakfast time, snack time and more importantly leisure time away from the daily chores. The other thing that caught the eye was the proliferation of localised media in the mall. Great outpout quality but poor content. Can we not have some nice stuff when sipping a coffee... Advertisers are few but surely will explore this very soon.