As I think about the last decade, the defining moment for me was 2005 when I made the decision to return to India after 14 years of living in four cities and three continents. It turned out to be a momentous decision in several ways, but the most remarkable aspect, and the one I would like to share today, was the sense of vibrancy and confidence that was palpable almost everywhere . I had done that earlier too in the eighties when I left as a student and returned after three years, but there were almost no signs of any substantive change.
This time it was different — the India I left in 1991 and the India I returned to in 2005, was not the same in many ways. The signs of difference lay not just in the physical infrastructure of malls and coffee cafes, or the possession of cell phones, but in the confidence of people everywhere, from the metros and maha-metros to the smaller towns and villages.
Aspirational change and the self assurance that comes with success, or its possibility, certainly drove the behaviour of the large "middle of the socioeconomic pyramid" . Professions that were perhaps not even concepts in the early nineties were employing hundreds of thousands of people, like the large outsourcing business; service sectors were seeing big growths and even bigger opportunities, all of which contributed to a sense of well-being . It was now possible for young people in India, to get a job after graduation that paid well enough to increase overall spending on discretionary items of consumption.
But, the most significant of all changes was the pervasiveness of technology in the everyday lives of all people - from the booking of rail tickets over the internet to the connectivity offered by the cell phone. I cannot think of any other product category that has had as high and fast a rate of adoption and usage as the cell phone in India. What was absolutely brilliant from the consumer perspective were the features of accessibility, affordability and ease of use that the business model offered . In the India I grew up in, phones were something you 'booked' and waited endlessly to get.
It was not uncommon to give the number of your neighbour to your relatives and friends to call you. A phone at home was not common and a phone per person — unheard of! Railway tickets called for endless wait in serpentine queues and were not delivered to your doorstep. But, in the India of the latter half of the last decade all this was a reality.
With approximately 500 million cell phones in India we have become the global epicentre of this industry. But, what the industry — both equipment manufacturers and service providers — has exhibited in multiple ways is innovation , which is feature and benefit driven at prices or pricing options that are relevant and affordable: the success mantra of diffusion and consumer adoption in almost any business. The enviable combination of ease of use and the application of technology has truly democratised connectivity between people who are simply "an sms or a missed call" away.
It has also created a myriad other possibilities - access to information, access to entertainment and access to people. It is a fact that more music is consumed through downloads of one song at a time, than through any other gadget or media-vehicle.
The ease of the sms has made it possible for small businesses to stay connected with their consumers (I have at least one mithai shop sending me regular updates on specials that are delivered home at no extra cost) or solicit new business. The ability to cut through the clutter and reach the audience you want is a tremendous boost to communication, notwithstanding the flip side of the unsolicited calls and messages selling another credit card or pest control services
So what does all of this connectivity mean for companies like Britannia, which rely on a large volume and velocity of transactions every day?
The answer is: a lot. As an example, the cell phone has made it possible for us to get information real time from our sales people in any city or village in the country. It has enabled us to communicate efficiently with our distributors and wholesalers everywhere. Information on the go, travels both ways with great speed and can be uploaded, downloaded and analysed to make decisions . It has changed the way work gets organised and accomplished. In the case of our retail business like Daily Bread in Bangalore, it enables us to cut through the clutter and communicate directly with our customers, measure response to new initiatives quickly and keep alive the process of continuous improvement.
Above all, the mantra of accessibility and affordability - from the 'chota' prepaid to single downloads of songs, works across the board. There is nothing like a huge and competitive market to deliver that advantage to the consumer.