IndianMaze

Over the last couple of weeks I had a chance to travel by road in five north Indian states. What a pleasure? The road network is becoming really fantastic. I started on National Highway 8 and then on to NH 1, 21, 22, 70,72 and 88 apart from many state highways. It is not the roads only that impressed me but also the new flourishing enterprises it has generated alongwith is the key to the trip. Many a voillages and towns that were cut off from nearby larger places are now well connected. Movement of people and goods is leading to a greater economic involvement and is helping in the inclusive growth mantra. I was also witness to an amazing incident - towns of Rahon and Samrala are barely tens of kilometers apart but could take upto 5 hours by road a few years ago and now less than half an hour. I could see a stretch limousine (a genuine one and on top of it a Lexus) in a small village wedding in the prosperous "Doaba" region of Punjab. On being generously invited (despite being...

It has been quite some time that I penned any thoughts. It has been a busy schedule, some real rest forced and sometimes meaningless. On to other things. I am just back after a four country tour and have realised how lucky we are in India not to face the real heat of recession. I am going to stick my neck out now. Worst is behind us. Talent shortage still exists. All the companies that went overboard will have serious answers to give as talent hunting is going to be a real pain. Worse than before the dreaded R word hit us. Fear will prevent people from taking "logical" decisions. दूध का जला छाछ को भी फूँक फूँक के पीता है. (Once bitten twice shy) I feel sorry for those who lost their jobs and those freshers who could not manage a placement from campus but I can safely say that they will be first ones to encash the change. The real HR work will start now. Finally, sticking my neck out further, I think it all will start happening by September/October. I will write again on this ...

I may not agree on some points of the author but a worthy reading none the less. Sandipan Deb Fri, Feb 6 04:35 AM What does it feel like to be on the way home from work one evening, preparing yourself to tell the family that you don't have a job anymore? I have friends who have been through this, yet I can only vaguely imagine what goes through a man's mind in the moments before the inevitable confession to wife, child, parents. No one who hasn't gone through that moment possibly can more than vaguely imagine the feelings: the anger, helplessness, guilt, shame, fear. If one had a choice, one wouldn't want anyone to go through that experience. But I am also a person who has personally sacked perhaps two dozen people during my career. In the last three months, I have let three people go, on grounds of incompetence. But today, we know what the reality is, what the rules that run a market are. I have known young software engineers switching jobs thrice a year just for...

I could not but put this great quote that may have been heard a number of times but as relevant now as anytime before. Yesterday is a cancelled cheque; tomorrow is a promissory note; today is the only cash you have, so spend it wisely. - Kim Lyons Good luck

It was an interesting chat at home while making a shopping list before going to a local supermarket. My better half, as usual, was in command and said "we need to be careful in spending money as there is a slowdown in the economy". I politely nodded my head and toed the line. Men are very impulsive buyers and I got lured by an attractive offer on bathing soaps. On putting the same in the shopping basked she looked at me as if I was the biggest fool in the world. "Are you even aware that how many soaps are lying at home?" There was a serious message in there. Most households (by and large in India) hold a lot more than required at home. This, in my opinion, emanated from old experiences of shortage. I dug a few old notes and my past experiences from FMCG market visits. On doing a bit of survey (to camouflage inefficiencies of our house), the results were startling: On an average (of 4 households that I checked in Metroplitan, nuclear family with two kids, uppermiddl...

It was an interesting time at Holi last month. This festival is celebrated with full involvement of participants but with two view points. There are ones who celebrate it with a religious fervour and so wear new clothes etc. Then there are the ones who play with colours with same amount of intensity but use old clothes as clothes need to be discarded after all the colours that are used. This led to a clear thought as to how Indians are apt at recycling almost everything at home. This is not accounted for the carbon credits but is quite a phenomenon in both urban and rural India. It has become a part of the social norms as well. In a random manner, I recall instances where this has become a thread in Indian fabric. - ALL Indian households are visited by a कबाड़ीवाला ( a trader in discarded goods). Old newspapers, magazines, clothes, utensils, plastic goods are all sold and subsequently recycled - Every city has specialist tailors who have mastered the art of making clothes of children fr...

India has always been a country where the spread of wealth is skewed. Last decade or so made middle class become richer at a rapid pace. Interestingly, it is this very "rich" middle class that is treating the downturn differently. In my travels across the country this week combined with visits to some shopping malles on the last weekend have given me this insight. The shopping trip to a mall and supermarket saw very thin crowd and the long queues were missing on the checkout counters. This was the case at Spencers, Big Bazaar and Reliance. Even Bikanerwala that is always buzzing with activity was quiet. PVR and DT cinemas have started a Rs 50 cinema ticket that was unthinkable for a multiplex till recently. Airlines claim that low fares in January did not entice anough travellers. Contrasting this with a monday morning flight of Kingfisher to Mumbai and that was absolutely full. Airport terminal was rather busy in Delhi. I must hasten to add that Kingfisher has removed "...