IndianMaze

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...

I was very happy to see today's newspapers in the Capital. In particular I am referring to the supplement on Luxury goods with Business Standard mentioning that tough times are good for true luxury products. But the more interesting one is in ET mentioning restaurant sales up significantly in the last 1 week. I had mentioned these two sectors as possible gainers in the slowdown time in my post of 12th November http://indianmaze.blogspot.com/2008/11/downturn-who-are-gainers.html? Incidentally the same question came up in an interesting lunch over panchratna dal, sham savera..... What is bugging top managers at this stage was the hottest topic over lunch and surely fresh green chillies added to the discussions. More on that later when I have some more time at hand. It's off to routine chasing the long to do list of mine.