IndianMaze

I have recently moved from NCR to Mumbai. I have spent a sizeable time living in Greater Mumbai for over 7 years earlier leaving the city about 12 years back. In these 12 years, India has undergone a lot of changes and so have her cities. I see that Mumbai has changed but at the same time retained some of her key characteristics. Public transport remains the backbone of the city and is not only easily available but has the customer convenience at its heart. Its a fact that Mumbai is the only city where a customer just hails an auto/taxi and just sits without asking about the readiness of driver to go to a particular destination. They will charge as per the tariff card and give you the balance in coins. Impressive. Bravo Mumbai. Equally what has not changed is the cleanliness levels of Mumbai and that is a disappointment. The city's professionalism stays but the difference viz other cities has narrowed down and unless Mumbai does something about it will have the danger of losi...

I was travelling in two different trains last week, each journey lasting about 5 hours but that is where the similarity ends. First was in the Executive coach of Shatabdi patronised by so called elite and the next one was in a secong class coach of an express train patronised by so called middle class. Shatabdi covered nearly 300 kms in the 5 hours whereas the express train covered nearly 100kms in the same time. The Indian consumer in Shatabdi was self indulgent - books, magazines, ipods, music on mobile, laptops and and occassional phone call or conversation within the family or work group. Her world was confined to self and inanimate objects. The Indian consumer in Express train was seeking similar knowledge and enjoying as much but with a big difference - it was all done in a community way. Source of music was a CD player/radio and the songs played were the choice of all and sundry in the compartment. Newspapers were split into 2-3 parts and shared. First time visitors shared appre...

Entrepreneurship is the new buzzword amongst Indian literati. However, the truth is that Indian Entrepreneurship has had a very long history and has always been flourishing. The only difference now is that this is turning into corporatisation and scaling up with external financing. There was a great 3 hour conversation I had with a 30 something entrepreneur who is into his 3rd business model. His acumen in keeping it low cost as well as taking risks has been phenomenal. As I have said earlier, Indians are one of the greatest value seekers and therefore, entrepreneurs also need to deliver extra value. This gentleman told me - he was 21 when he started - Gold interested him so he got in jewellery retailing in a large (1m+ city) - got fed up with customers spending a lot of time before buying and that even with aconversion rate of about 1.5% (mind you he rattled these statistics) - he started a new business after disposing off his assets in the shop being a supplier to shops in the same t...

It was 25 years ago to date that I started my journey in the corporate world. This journey has taken me not only through the dramatic changes in the way corporate world has changed but also through an unprecedented change in India and use of technology. India - 25 years ago - no mobile phones - no PCOs except in post offices. Calls to be booked for intercity connections. - no faxes (except in a few multinational company HQs) - no computers (except in universities and a few corporate HQs) - no organised couriers - no private universities - manual railway and airline bookings - Telegrams were still in use - there were 2 airlines in india - Delhi and Mumbai had about 6 flights a day (60 on the last count) - there were 3 car manufacturers and a total of 8 models - nobody had heard of CNG - maximum speed on highways was 40kmph I started with a monthly stipend of Rs 1650 with a very prominent multinational company. Amazing journey. I am looking forward to more amazement in the next 25 years ...

India has been a provider of brain power to the west for quite a long time. So much so that a lot of major positions in US/UK and many MNCs are held by Indians. In fact not only Indians but Asians and Africans have been adding to the brain power in the west leading to "browning" of "white west". Now a days, I can't help but notice two key developments. One, many professionals who went overseas (westwards) for studies/jobs and stayed back have started looking at India as a serious option. But additionally, many more westerners are looking at India as a destination for employment. "White" CEOs in India were common in the past amongst MNCs who wanted to have control from the people who were "close" to HQ country. Things have moved and now one can see many "white" CEOs for Indian companies. Not only that, there are a large number of professionals in C suite and lower positions who want to have India on their CVs. Malls in major cities a...

Last 20 years or so in Indian economy have been phenomenal not only in terms of economic growth but also - removal of licence raj in general - becoming adequate/surplus from a scarce economy (imports not withstanding) - rise of brands, and - rise of organised retail Above all have transformed the consumer life and also the decision making. The choices have widened beyond comprehension and still not reached a saturation point. My experiences over the last week(in Delhi) showed how spoilt we are with the choices available in various product categories. Tea - earlier it was 3 products (leaf - 3/4 brands, dust - 1 brand and Darjeeling - 1 brand). Now 13 products (leaf, dust, darjeeling, green, flavoured, tea bags, instant, instant flavoured, iced, packaged, packaged flavoured, infused) and each with at least 6 brands and 2pack sizes. Coffee - earlier 2 products (instant - 2 brands and filter - 1 brand). Now 10 products (instant, decaff, arabica, robusta, columbian, powder, granules, instan...

Interesting thoughts were evoked when in a conversation a renowned marketeer posed a question about segmentation on a consumption basis rather than sales basis. As we got further into discussions, we realised that how this was seen by many as same/similar and an issue of sementics though the concept, per se , is absolutely different. I was reminded of one of my own hypothesis that was subsequently tested positive in practice in the category of prestige alchoholic drink. The consumption of prestige products cuts across income levels. The difference is in the frequency of consumption. This was further complicated by the famous example of one red soap that had (at the time of limited survey) a phenomenally high penetration in a high income category and so was the case of a popular brand of tea. Of the recent examples, penetration of TVs amongst people is more consumption led than otherwise. This perhaps also explains the fact the penetration of DVD players is far more than refrigerators. ...