Bul'let' it run

Finally, there is a hope now that one day we will have bullet train running between Mumbai - Ahmedabad. This will reduce the time of travel from present 7 hrs to 2.07 hrs in case of limited stops and max 2.58 hrs in case it stops at all stations. With a maximum operational speed of 320, we are in for a real speedy treat! It not only promises punctuality (with a deviation of less than a minute), it also comes with a zero fatality record.

It is only once in a while that such game changers come our way. And every time such things enter the market they end up impacting the market they operate in a big way and also things in general. It will do to railways what Mumbai metro did to local transport. People were so frustrated with travelling locally, they started using cabs, pooling with friends etc. Metro brought them back to regular form of transport with the convenience and timely services that it offers. With more phases on the anvil, life of a Mumbaikar will only get easier in future. 

Similarly, people had started using flights for travelling between shorter distances to avoid delays and trains in general. With travel time getting reduced to an average of 2.5 hrs, you will have more people going for the bullet train option over flight as you also end up saving on check-in and check-out time in the process. They are expecting a fare of about Rs.2700-3000, with flights charging around Rs.3500-4000 presently, the airline route between Mumbai - Ahmedabad is certainly going to get a run for its money! Buses charge anywhere between 1500-2000 for the same route, not sure what will happen to them as punctuality and convenience is not something that we associate with them!

Fake it till you make it !

If one were to mention the name 'Datang', we would quickly recollect it as a town in the Zhuji, Zhejiang province of China, popularly known as the 'sock city', responsible for a third of world's total socks production! But the name 'Veles' wouldn't ring a bell unless put in context. Both of them produce something that we use everyday. The only difference being 'Datang' manufactures socks out of something and 'Veles' manufactures 'news' out of nothing! Recently I read some articles about a set of people in this town working tirelessly in producing fake news that had a major impact in US elections results, if these stories are correct. There is also a theory that they are backed by Russia but nothing has been verified as of now. Irrespective of whether this is true or not, just the thought of creating fake news out of thin air that has such drastic effect has all the ingredients to create a bestseller book or a blockbuster movie!

There is no debate about the fact that media forms and influences are opinions about issues in general. And there is so much access to information these days that people are over-informed. Worst part about quick sharing of information is the fact that they go viral so fast that we don't bother to check the facts before sharing, reposting, retweeting etc. And before we know that the news is fake, the damage is already done. 

In a scenario where everyone is trying to attract audiences' attention, the source of news is rarely verified. This combined with our innate desire to read sensational news and share it, feeds all those fake news creators, the fodder that they thrive on. While I write this, we could be reading/watching/sharing something which is completely untrue and we have no idea about it, just this thought can give us chills!

When US elections results were out and much before that, Ms. Hillary Clinton had shared her concerns regarding these fake news media outlets and their impact on voters in general. Eventually, she claimed such fake news as one of the factors responsible for her defeat in elections. It is amazing how one of the most powerful and popular person's fortunes could be influenced by a group of people in Veles, Macedonia, talk about globalization! All this while, we thought she was fighting elections with Donald Trump, not realizing the real challenge for her would come from a sleepy town in Macedonia. 

While i write this, I am beginning to doubt whether this news story is fake or not! One may argue here that all popular media is paid and that they lobby for a certain section of people which could be true also. Not just that, we also sometimes end up influencing people to suit our way of thinking. The only difference being we do it personally, popular media does it professionally on national TV with our permission and these group do it without anyone knowing it most of the times!

Patanjali versus FMCG biggies

While pursuing my management education, I was always fascinated with those case studies which talked about smaller companies taking on the bigger ones and that too successfully! Most of us enjoy the anecdotes where the underdogs beat the biggies. So I was very excited to know that Patanjali is giving a tough time to the established FMCG players in India which will certainly make Patanjali a part of management folklore in times to come! There is a news site which features an article everyday ‘what changed while you were sleeping’ which basically tracks news across the globe (in different time zones) that could have an impact on our lives in one way or the other. So this one goes out to all the FMCG companies: While ‘you were sleeping’ Patanjali became one of the fastest growing FMCG companies in India and the worst part is this is going to give you ‘sleepless’ nights in coming months. 

Couple of factors that may have worked in its favour: personally I am tired of seeing the superstars promoting FMCG products and trying to prove to the viewers that they owe their lives to the brands they endorse! While their acting talent is very much appreciated on big screens, the same acting in advertisements is not moving the viewers! I mean, it is so funny to see an actor say that a particular hair oil/soap/toothpaste is the reason for his silky hair/nice skin/shinier teeth! It just doesn’t connect. One will have to be really stupid to base his consumer products buying decisions on the brand ambassadors. If companies really think having a big star endorsing a daily use product will have a huge impact on sales, then they are insulting our intelligence. May be it worked in the past and may still work today in certain cases but thankfully it is losing relevance overall, courtesy consumers becoming more informed and the superstars becoming less popular due to their untimely dialogue delivery off screen! In case of Patanjali, the founder himself is the brand ambassador and we know for a fact that he does practice what he preaches so we believe him.

Also interesting to note is that Patanjali was one of the biggest advertisers last year. It just goes to reemphasize the fact that you may have a good product but it is equally important to market the same, especially when you are new in the industry. Patanjali may have won the race in the last few months but it will be interesting to see who wins the marathon in the long run.

Note: I have restricted myself to just a general view in this blog as this is a huge subject. Related and specific topics which are not part of this blog but interesting to follow could be ‘Patanjali creating newer product categories’, ‘Patanjali’s marketing strategies vis-à-vis rest of the FMCG players’ etc.

The resurgence of the people’s movement

The adage ‘United we stand, divided we fall’ conveys the power of unity and the failing of division like no other. For ages, the power hungry rulers (and of late the politicians) have used the truth conveyed in the second half of the proverb ‘divided we fall’ to their advantage but fortunately we have had some great people who, having united people, validated the first half of the maxim ‘united we stand’. And like we have seen, read and heard in our mythological stories, in the fight between the good and the evil the good may suffer initially but eventually it prevails over the evil

My fondness for NaMo is known by all my blog readers (read non-existing blog readers!) His life and particularly his attitude towards work has been modivating (read motivating). Hopefully, one day the word ‘modivating’ will officially become part of the dictionary and I will have my share of fame in the process! I remember him addressing an enthusiastic Indian diaspora at Madison square garden where he enthralled everyone present including the US Congressmen who were happy to act as cheer leaders for NaMo when he walked-in to a thunderous applause which was as deafening as a fighter jet! One of the points that he made there will be etched in my memory forever (like most of his other points!) His point was with regards to involving the people of India in every initiative that he would undertake, making it a ‘people’s movement’ 

Let me elaborate it as per my understanding. Hundreds of freedom fighters fought selflessly and gave up their lives for a nation wanting to free itself from the shackles of British rule. They fought and lost their lives for India but unfortunately their sacrifice went unnoticed. More fortunate freedom fighters managed to survive and fight long enough which ensured them a place in history books so that we could study and learn from them struggles for years to come. Both these kind of leaders; the ones whose struggle were recorded and found a place in history as well those whose sacrifices went unnoticed made immeasurable contribution towards India’s freedom movement with their intellectual as well as physical power. And then there was Gandhiji, who with his enormous work acquired the title of Mahatma. Coming back to NaMo’s speech at Madison square garden, what Gandhiji did differently was NaMo’s answer to challenges faced by India and world in general today. Gandhiji involved the common people in the freedom struggle at a scale which was unprecedented. Be it the conceiving of the idea of ‘Satyagraha’ in South Africa or the civil disobedience movement in India to protest against the salt tax or the non-cooperation movement urging people to say ‘NO’ to British goods, he took the freedom movement to the people making it a ‘people’s movement’ the results of which are well known.

Now compare that the point that NaMo made to his actions and you will realize (in case you have any doubt) that he is a man of his words. Before the elections, we saw all parties in their individual capacities doing TV ads, radio campaigns, hoarding etc to let the people know as to why they should be voted to power. One form of media that played a significant role in turning BJP’s fortunes was the digital media: social networking sites like facebook, Twitter and messengers like WhatsApp. If you think over this a little bit, you would realize by forwarding those messages talking about NaMo’s credentials and the rest of funny stuff floating around with regards the elections at that point in time, we became NaMo’s brand ambassadors! We were campaigning for NaMo without realizing that we had become involved in the people’s movement! (In hindsight, thank god we did!) And what happened after he became the PM? The people’s movement continues!

He got us involved in the ‘Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana’ by encouraging people to participate in the naming of the ‘yojana’ including deciding on the logo. He started a website mygov.in where he invites everyone to make suggestions on various topics which is then discussed online and vetted by the experts to check the feasibility of the same. He has instructed ministers to use social media extensively in reaching out to people at large for suggestions and feedback. ‘Swachh bharat abhiyan’ was another initiative where he got the entire country involved and made everyone the stakeholder. He wants to use the digital media in reaching out to those who are still deprived of basic education and then use the same media to create awareness about preventive health care. This is the kind of participatory democracy that we haven’t seen for a while; a democracy where everyone has a say and everyone has a responsibility towards making it a success. We have seen a lot of people who only claim to be Gandhiji’s followers but here is a man who is following him with his actions and how!     

When we united (people’s movement) under the leadership of Gandhiji, we gained independence and hopefully, when we unite under the leadership of NaMo, we will develop a better India!

Maha Elections Part II !

So the drama is over and the curtains have fallen. Maharashtra assembly elections, which were expected to be a cliffhanger, have not disappointed. The build-up to the elections was extremely exciting with old allies BJP-Shiv Sena parting ways which was followed by another break-up between Congress-NCP. It was these break-ups which made it a five-way contest with MNS expected to be a beneficiary but the results were more than an upset as far as MNS is concerned, more on it later

The campaigning prior to the elections was ruthless with NaMo again coming to the rescue for BJP, Raj Thackeray leading the charge for MNS, generally quite Uddhav Thackeray going extra mile for Shiv Sena and NCP head Sharad Pawar going aggressive as a lot of personal comments were made by everyone in order to get a one-up on another. The results have been equally exciting with BJP just missing the clear majority mark by few seats. The takeaways are as follows:

BJP, as expected, was the biggest gainer winning 122 seats, managing almost three times the seats won by them in 2009 i.e. 46. One must note that this is almost equal to the number of seats they were planning to contest from had the alliance with Shiv Sena not broken! A cynic may put forward an argument that despite NaMo personally addressing rallies, they were not able to cross the half-way mark and that whatever they won was due to anti-incumbency factors etc. But hey, three-fold increase is nothing short of a spectacular achievement especially when they have emerged as the single largest party. And considering the fact that they contested from a number of those seats where their ally Shiv Sena used to contest from for years, no one can deny the fact that it was the Modi wave that got them through without being actively present in lot of these regions. So if anyone had any doubt, let me again make it very clear that the Modi wave is alive and kicking! I am saying this as a voter. Let’s face it, people are voting for NaMo and not for the individuals or the party (which could prove dangerous in long term). This is the best time to be in BJP, everything seems to be going right for them

As far as Congress is concerned, this election was just a repeat of the general elections with them winning as many seats (42) as they lost compared to the last elections in 2009 (82)! They say in Cricket, if two batsmen go out of form, the one with better footwork and who is technically sounder is likely to come back in form quicker compared to the other one as he has his basics in place. And whenever nothing is going your way, the least you could do is get your basics right! Considering the negative publicity that the Congress party has been subjected to due to poor performance when they were in power, they are not likely to come back in form anytime soon
Shiv Sena would have realized by now that breaking-up with BJP was a mistake. You should not challenge the strongest guy around, especially when others are not expected to come to your rescue. Though they did extremely well in getting their tally to 63 as compared to 44 in 2009, they would have been better off going into the elections with the BJP. BJP-SS combine’s tally could have been bigger than the sum total of their individual tally. If one goes by the latest news, the two parties are on the verge of sealing a deal and tie-up again to give a stable government in Maharashtra  

I am still not sure as to how NCP position themselves before the electorate vis-à-vis other parties in Maharashtra, but considering the quantum of fall that Congress has seen in Maharashtra, NCP did well in winning 41 seats

MNS’s performance was the biggest shocker. To be honest, I expected them to play a very critical role in the post election scenario in case no party was unable get the simple majority, which is the case this time around. But the unfortunate part is MNS is nowhere in the picture. Whereas MNS managed to win only one seat, MIM making its debut in Maharashtra won two. Though the making of blueprint for Maharashtra was a good initiative, I guess it was their marathi versus non-marathi pitch that worked against them. Why it worked against them when local parties across various states in India are doing the same thing, i.e. appealing to a certain community, successfully?  I think it was because they mixed the same pitch (appealing to a community) with the blueprint for Maharashtra i.e. development pitch (appealing to everyone). If they wanted to appeal to Marathi manoos, which they have all the right to, they should have stuck to places where they were strong. There was no point contesting from 230 seats. I strongly believe had they restricted themselves to locations where they felt they had a good change and had they played to their strengths, they would have done better and not seen their tally go down to one from thirteen

Overall, I believe the elections have been a great equalizer. BJP falling short of majority is a signal that the strong regional parties can challenge even the party for which everything is going right and that no one can take the voter for granted 

Tale of e-tail, again!

Whenever someone decides to write a book on India's e-commerce story, flipkart will find a special mention in it. It is responsible for getting people, who were used to buying things after physically examining them, to shop online at a scale unprecedented in India's history. Personally speaking, all my limited online purchases have happened through flipkart only. So flipkart's 'big billion sale day' came as a huge respite for the masses planning their Diwali shopping! Snapdeal also announced its own version of the 'big discount day'. The sale started with a lot of fanfare with millions logging in to find the best deals. By evening both the marketplaces claimed to have sold about Rs.600 cr worth of merchandise each! 

But the good news ended just there. Number of people took to social media platform to vent out their anger against flipkart for reasons varying from technical issues preventing them completing transactions, cancellation of orders, for things getting sold out in no time, basically questioning the authenticity of the sale. 'The big billion sale day' turned into the 'the big goof-up watched by a billion plus population'. (It is amazing how the same social media which you use to create buzz about your upcoming launches can turn against you in case you fall short of expectations. It works either ways you see! Another element of social media worth noting is the speed at which news spreads. People knew something went wrong with the sale day even before the companies could announce their sales figures for the day!)

Whereas I do not question the authenticity of the overall theme of the discount day (who would purposely want to mess up their own special day), I think the only thing that could have gone wrong was the manner in which they approached it. My argument is as follows: from the day it started it has been in news for all the right reasons be it being responsible for bringing about path-breaking changes in how India shopped, to acquiring Myntra, to raising $1 billion etc. They were under pressure to make this day special. There were huge expectations from all quarters. A company which was already selling goods at discounted prices was expected to do something extraordinary. And of course the fear of competition: with snapdeal and amazon planning their own version of sale day/week, flipkart wanted to make theirs bigger, better and more memorable. 

All these factors combined made them go overboard with the sale and in the process they couldn't foresee the problems coming their way. Cynics may argue here saying the technical errors are understandable but the inventory levels could be better handled. In retrospect, we can say a lot of things but let us just give it to them for putting up such a great show as, I am sure, they would have put in their heart and soul to make it a memorable one. They were humble enough to issue an apology with clarifications. They surely have learnt their lessons (and the competitors too!)

Amazon may have had the first mover advantage in this business category worldwide; flipkart had the same honors in India. The 'sale day' first mover advantage again went to flipkart and snapdeal but it ended up saving the day for the second mover (amazon) in this case. Amazon would have become more cautious with their 'amazing week' campaign! (Please note the word play here!)

What this development has led to is even more interesting than the development itself! Future group has termed this exercise of ‘jaw-dropping prices’ as unfair saying the predatory pricing impacts the brick-n-mortar stores in general which tend to lose out. One would have thought this would lead to a court battle between the marketplaces and large retailers having brick-n-mortar stores but then came the news that future group has tied up with amazon to market its products, followed by another news where nerolac tied up with flipkart to sell their products online. Synergy is the way to go! And there could be many such possibilities where the marketplaces like flipkart/snapdeal could partner with the brick-n-mortar companies to capitalize on each other’s strengths. I just read yesterday: amazon has decided to open a brick-n-mortar store in USA! It will act as pick up and return store to start with but just the developments that have happened in last few months re-emphasises that we can expect the unexpected in future!

Maha Elections!

There are mainly two types of news. One: which we read/listen and forget. Basically the nonsense stuff which makes no difference to our lives but it somehow ends up on some form of media when there is dearth of worthwhile news. One can refer to it as useless stuff or (news)less stuff! The other type of news is the one which acts as a starting point of debates, the opinion makers. News that make views! Finally we have something to talk about and discuss: Maharashtra assembly elections

The BJP-SS (Shiv Sena) divorce has made this assembly election a five-way contest and it could give the general elections a serious run for its money on the ‘excitement quotient’! As if the four parties were not enough, now we have five major parties, other smaller parties and number of independents vying to represent us at the state level. Some of these independents could really come to the party in case of a close contest which is very likely as none of the parties are expected to get a clear majority. Agenda remains same as the general elections with little change in the overall positioning. BJP has decided to stick to the all-encompassing agenda concentrating on development, growth etc. with the great orator NaMo personally addressing rallies. (BJP, since the general elections, has become so much dependent on NaMo that it is hard to imagine them winning without NaMo’s presence. Their condition is quite similar to what the Indian cricket team used to experience years back, we couldn’t imagine India winning without Tendulkar) For the rest of the parties the agenda remains same as ever, target NaMo apart from the community based politics (this could also be because they do not have much to talk about on their performance or the development front) Some of the political pundits may have you believe that they are committing the same folly as they did the last time around but hey these are not general elections. Going by the by-elections results, what works at the national level may not necessarily work at the state level. 

There are various takeaways from all this: 

Firstly, if BJP does well, one could safely conclude that we have moved away from being an electorate that could be influenced by community based politics to an electorate which is only concerned with jobs, growth etc. This is not to say that BJP has a monopoly on growth and development related matters but going by how parties have positioned themselves it seems only they are interested in development and this is where I think other parties are committing a blunder. I am sure NCP, MNS, SS and Congress could be and are equally pro-development but they have chosen to position/brand themselves differently. At the end of the day, even if a party appeals to a certain community, it promises them a better life through jobs, growth etc. So the agenda for them is also same as BJP but the only difference being they want to only target a certain community. 

Secondly, I would really like all these parties to do well and have a universal agenda of development and growth which will be most idealistic situation. It will be interesting to see how parties which fight on the same universal agenda compete with each other.

Then there is another view that at state level you need to appeal to the ‘majority’ of people of that state. Unfortunately in case of our country the ‘majority’ only means majority of a community in a particular state. And there is a good reason why this has worked for years in India. One may think of himself as a secular individual but let us face it; we are not that secular as we may think of ourselves to be. A non-gujarati may have voted for a gujarati PM at the national level but he is very likely to vote for a fellow community member at the local level. Similarly, a gujarati may prefer a gujarati over another community member even at the local level. This is because of the environment that has been created over the past few decades by people with vested interests which has forced us into thinking that only our own community members can represent us. 

BJP has been lucky in this regard. As NaMo’s performance in Gujarat has allowed BJP to move from being a party that was majorly dependent on certain communities to a party which has a larger appeal. It will be interesting to see how people of Maharashtra vote this time as this election could change fortunes for some of the parties for times to come.