‘It happened in India’ is an amazing business book that is real, and inspiring. It takes its readers though the thinking process, strategies and most importantly the details of execution that went behind one the fastest growing Indian businesses, the Future Group, in the new millennium. MBAUniverse.com is privileged to present extracts from this important management book - It Happened in India: The story of Pantaloons, Big Bazzar, Central and the great Indian consumer.
Read on:
“The most challenging and exciting time to live in, is on cusp of this change wherein a huge, multicultural India is transforming from a socialist economy to a consumption-led economy. However, we have not yet been able to comprehend the scope and depth of this change. Often, we do not even accept it. That’s why we are taken off-guard when anentirely new set of people get added to the consuming class. Earlier, we used to stand in queues at the bus stop or at the railway reservation counter. Now, we stand in a queue at the airport, because no one could conceive that so many people will choose to fly. Earlier, we used to drive ordinary cars to office, but it takes more time because road conditions have deteriorated. The roads were built keeping in mind that only a small elite will be driving cars.
Yet the fact remains that changing demographic profiles, increasing income levels, urbanization, technology, globalisation and a free flow of ideas from within and outside the country, is bringing about dramatic shift in consumer tastes and preferences. Customer segments are maturing faster than ever.
Few can deny that India today provides the single biggest consumption opportunity in the world that is yet largely untapped. Given the new era of growth we are entering, the per capita income is almost set to double in the country. By 2010, almost half of our citizens will be in the working age group of twenty to fifty-four years. A youthful, exuberant generation, bred on success will not only drive productivity but also set a spiraling effect on consumption and income generation. A young nation is willing to work harder, earn higher and spend more on buying goods and services.
In fact, this change is no longer restricted to the large cities. Today it’s fashionable to talk about the booming mid-size cities like Nagpur, Surat, Vadodra, Vijaywada and Indore. But our experience in running modern retail outlets in even smaller towns like Sangli, Panipat, Palakkad, Durgapur or Ambala shows that this change is far more conspicuous at these places.
And this is a trend that is evident not only at shopping malls. If one considers Bollywood, cricket and prime-time television to be the barometer of change and popular culture in India, this trend is far more apparent.
Underlying these trends, I feel, are two undercurrents that are sweeping through young India - confidence and change. Confidence, that lends itself to self-belief and a total lack of inhibitions to achieve any dream; and a willingness to change or the desire to rise above one’s origins. And it is the young generation of Indians who are playing a pivotal role in driving these trends.
My parents were born in a nation that was about to gain independence. I was born in a nation that was experimenting with socialism. The new generation has grown up in a liberalized economy and has seen India winning in every arena. Be it in business, information technology, sports, or beauty pageants, they have been witness to the era where India is emerging as global powerhouse. The current generation is therefore simultaneously more proud about being Indian, and, more modern when it comes to their lifestyles, than their predecessors. In essence, they are far more confident of their place in the world. This is a generation that feels that everything is within their reach and aspires for it. And this is true for everyone, whether they live in large metros or small towns.
It is this age group that is setting off the virtuous cycle of consumption-led growth and prosperity in our country. I call this paradigm shift, the 3-C theory: Confidence and Change bringing in an unprecedented era of Consumption.
Increase in consumption is driving manufacturing, thereby creating more jobs and income for the entire population. The change is far more dramatic when one considers that with the popularity of modern retail, the market for packaged and value added food products are expanding at a fast pace. This is providing the much needed boost to value creation in agro-products. In turn there is more wealth-creation and rise in consumer demand even in the smaller towns and semi-urban centers.
However, to leverage on this trend, marketers and retailers in India have to understand and interpret the Indian consumer accurately. This wave of change, confidence and consumption cannot be compared with anything that has happened in any country region in the world. India is developing in a way and in an era that has no parallel in the world. Indian consumers are far from converting into copies of their western counterparts, as many would like to believe. A few similarities may surface as they are continually exposed to modern retail, global media and transitional trends. But our experience in retailing suggests that Indian consumers - particularly the younger generation –will continue to embrace the values of family and community and live the Indian way. Consumers here, unlike others, demand ideas and solutions that are uniquely Indian. We have to understand, interpret, attract and deliver to the Indian consumer in a way that takes into account the Indian context. The concept of ‘Indian-ness’ has to be understood if one wants to attract the maximum numbers of consumers.
When we started this company, we believed in this core value of Indian-ness. For us, Indian-ness is not about swadeshi, it is about believing in Indian way of doing things. We wanted to understand and interpret India in a way that no one else had done. We wanted to rewrite the rules of catering to Indian consumers. Our stated objective from day one was: Rewrite Rules, Retain Values.”
(For more details, visit the book website at www.ithappened.in)
