Posts Tagged ‘India’

Mobile Phone Subscriber base in India – Increasing or Decreasing?

December 21, 2010

LiveMint – one of the leading business newspaper in India carried an editorial article on December 10, 2010 titled – “Dialling the Wrong Numbers” which concluded or implied that India’s Cell Phone subscriber base may be on decline. Their inference on this seem to have been drawn from the recent press release from Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Telecom Subscriber Data (PDF link). LiveMint writes and I quote the following paragraph from the article -

According to Visitor Location Register data published by TRAI, only 70% of mobile phone connections were active at the end of September; i.e. out of 688 million subscribers, only 482 million were live on 30 September (2010).

When I read this – I instinctively felt that something was not right with this reporting from LiveMint. A drop of 30% decline in active subscribers (and that too within a month) should have started fire alarm bells ringing in the Mobile Service Providers – especially considering that they are currently getting challenged from the perspective of extracting more $/subscriber. So I took upon myself to decipher the data from the TRAI press release. My suspicions of misleading reporting from LiveMint came to be true.

Per the TRAI press release the news in terms of count of subscriber base seems to be quite contrary. The wireless subscriber base in India  increased by the routine 2.39%. India at the end of November 2010 had 688M wireless subscribers. The number 482M which LiveMint quotes is about Visitor Location Register (VLR) – this number is about tracking the user in a particular coverage area. This however is not about whether the subscriber is permanently active or not. (I have sent an email to the Editors of LiveMint for the clarification. Hopefully they will respond to that)

While we are on this topic – I just feel that the way TRAI calculates the tele-density seems to be very misleading. At the end of September 2010, the wireless tele-density in India seemed to be at 61%. For me this means that for 100 individuals, 61 of them would have access to wireless device. This just seems to be incorrect. Indians have a very unique habit of carrying multiple cell phones and with the advent dual/multiple SIM handsets - the whole definition of tele-density from a wireless perspective does not make any sense to me. (The same LiveMint article linked above mentioned that a report from KPMG indicates that 40% of all new cell phones sold in India would be Dual-SIM card phones. Not too sure if this is a correct number. Did not see a validation of the same anywhere else)

Thoughts and/or comments are welcome.

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Posted in Enterprise Mobility, Miscellaneous | Leave a Comment »

Technology Start-ups: Tips for India from the West!

February 11, 2010

[Sometimes back a journalist from a leading business publication had asked me if I can write a short essay with my thoughts on what differentiates Indian start-ups from US start-ups and also what were some good learnings which budding start-up industry in India can learn from their mature counter-parts in the West - so that he can file a story on the same. Unfortunately, it seems that the journalist had to move to another story and hence could not take this forward. So I am posting the same essay here for the wider audience.

While the article compares Indian start-ups with US (driven by the need of the Journalist); the comparison in here is valid with start-ups in general with the Western countries besides US too. Thoughts and comments are welcome!]

Startups - India vs. West

I recollect a quote from one of a renowned Management Speaker from United States wherein he had observed that he was amazed to see the entrepreneurial spirit in the current generation of India. “Strong Dollar! No problem!” An Indian entrepreneur seems to have told him. “I can now generate more for the same amount.” For the weaker dollar argument, the same entrepreneur was still bullish. “I can now go and think about buying out someone in US”.

I agree with the speaker. While the modern ways of counting number of self-started businesses a.k.a. start-ups may have a different approach to measure – entrepreneurial endeavors have been prevalent for generations in India. Be it a doctor starting his independent practice or a housewife at home deciding to start an embroidery business. However with technology start-ups (the focus of this article), the state of things in India seem to be slightly different from the other countries in the world. Assuming that in today’s world technology is a common denominator all across the world now, the number of successful technology start-ups in India are still handful.

Over the years having consulted and worked with more than a dozen start-ups – in India and outside India – I feel that I may have some thoughts on this low success numbers (as compared to countries like United States) followed by suggestions to improve those. Hopefully, this will also help to contrast Indian start-ups with their counter-parts in other parts of the world. The points listed below are from the perspective of what are some of the key differentiated learnings which Indian start-ups can take from their counterparts in US (besides some standard best practices for any start-ups).

  • Technology just enables a business; Value Proposition drives the business:

In comparison with the US start-ups, a large majority of Indian start-ups are driven by technologists. I am not surprised by this considering that science and technology has always been close to the heart of the Indians. In their passion for the technology, I have seen that many such entrepreneurs have inherent weakness of not being able to properly formulate the end-user value proposition. As an example – cell phones did not become popular because of the technology; but because of the convenience and accessibility they offered to its users. However, the same cell phone user may not be ready to pay for a video stream on his/her cell just because technology enables video streaming to mobile phone too. I have started to cringe when yet another entrepreneur’s focus is on technology which allows you to find the nearest X, say plumber, using your mobile phone. My question to them remains – is this a technology solution or a value proposition?

  • Focus on the early adopters:

Another difference between the Indian and US start-ups is their focus on who their potential customers would be. Compared to their US peers, Indian start-ups traditionally seem to have believed that their success is directly proportional to the wide range of customers they can attract at the start. One might think of this as a natural strategy; however in my experience it dilutes the value proposition and confuses the initial set of users. Start-ups are all about crisp and focused value proposition. Entrepreneurs should focus on the needs of early adopters of their value proposition. More users will naturally follow if these early adopters like what these start-ups have to offer.

As an example, we had worked with a start-up focusing on using social media streams for project management. It was a powerful concept and in their zeal they tried targeting all possible personas for the first release. Unfortunately, a late entry in this space with a small focus got all the attention when they could crisply explain their value proposition to a subset and people could make sense out of it. The first company sadly could never recover from that setback.

  • Focus on execution; Ideas are just temporary:

Majority of start-ups today are based on a value offering as compared to a new or ground-breaking intellectual property. Contrary to the popular belief, it is not the ‘idea’ of the start-up which is critical for the success. An all-round focus on execution which includes building a strong advisory and organization team, partnerships, software engineering, messaging, launches, etc. is what matters. Indian start-ups need to be sensitive to this aspect of achieving success.

  • Productization of the “offering”:

Whether the start-up has a product or a services offering – in today’s world the productization of what customers are buying from them is becoming increasingly important. By productization, I mean things like Messaging, User Experience, Packaging, Clear Pricing, Delivery, etc. US start-ups with their experience over the years typically have done a better job in this. Indian start-ups need to catch up on this in a faster way.

  • “If we build it, they will come!”:

This principle may have worked for Kevin Costner in the movie ‘Field of Dreams‘; but unfortunately this may not apply in real-world start-up scenarios. In the initial stages of the start-ups, the entrepreneurs have to think about from the perspective of earning each and every of their customer. And let me tell you from my experience that it is not easy. Entrepreneurs may have invested a lot in building their product; however if they cannot invest in the Marketing & Sales effort their success may not be guaranteed. Start-ups in India need to increasingly focus on this aspect of their go-to-market plan.

I am of the view that Start-ups/Entrepreneurship in India is booming, however it is in its end success rate where India might be struggling. The above suggestions are more from the learning of what the US counter parts are doing better. Compared to them, Indian start-ups probably also do not have access to the best of environments, infrastructure, or an ecosystem. However, I have also heard from many US start-ups envying business opportunities and possibilities that India offers and to which Indian start-ups have easy access to.

[Image Src - "Start-ups That Work" by Joel Kurtzman]

[Update|Feb. 24, 2010 - New York Times carried the news today about Intel's initiative to pump in about $3.5 Billion into technology start-ups in US fearing that America might be losing its competitive edge to countries like China and India. Interesting article which covers some interesting points as to how each country view's start-ups in the 'other' countries.]

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Posted in Startups | 7 Comments »

Healthcare System in India seems to be at a crossroad!

October 14, 2009

Over the last few months, I have had an opportunity to present my thoughts/views on the state of Healthcare Services in India in different types of people settings – big and small/formal and informal – including the one which I described in my previous blog post.

At a crossroad

At a crossroad

Based on my observations and my views (and after validation from various different sources), I had mentioned that I sincerely felt Healthcare Services in India is at a crossroad in its phases of evolution. Many had asked me why I felt that way. To explain my reasonings and arguments for such observations is the motivation behind writing this post.

Before I make my case, I hope you have had an opportunity to read various of my other previous blog posts about Healthcare in India. Hopefully, after reading those you would have realized that I am no medical practitioner nor do I have any association with any policy making organization. My views are more from my observations and experiences from Healthcare Consumer perspective.

‘Being at a crossroad’ for me means that the contrasts between the state of various things or options starts becoming so evident that people dealing with it (be it individuals or society or a country) have to very often face or deal with options and associated consequences of each option. In some sense it is about making a selection which potentially would determine the direction in which we as individuals or society would go. In the healthcare case, in some symbolic sense, I felt that the state of matters or the options provided by the Indian Healthcare Services seems to have started showing various different signs of contrasts. Hence my argument for Healthcare Services being at the crossroad!

Components of Healthcare System

Components of Healthcare System

To look at the contrasts one has to have an objective view. A view from a 10000 feet! From such a high view, IMO, if we were to look at the ‘state-of-the-union‘ of the healthcare system – I felt that we can see distinct two categories – the ‘good news‘ category and the ‘bad news‘ category. The ‘good news‘ bucket has the real progress which the country has made in comparison with the previous decade/s. And the ‘bad news‘ category contains the increasing developments which in some sense the dampens the ‘good news‘ category.

When you look at the baggage which India carries (over-population, years of apathy towards infrastructure development, traditional social lack of awareness towards health management, etc.)  and then put things into perspective – one cannot miss out the noticeable growth and progress being made in the last decade in the area of Healthcare. And it is continuing. At a national level, India is among the top contender for the destination in the area of Medical Tourism.

Medical Tourism Booming

Medical Tourism Booming

If I were to look at the local level – especially at my home town – the medical specialists and the treatments which were only available after traveling more than 400 miles to the West, is now available within miles. Indian Medical System seems to have gotten into a factory-like approach in churning out specialists in a recurring way.  The private hospital chains (Apollo‘s, Max‘s of India) seems to have started taking steps in providing healthcare management facilities (although still affordable to a subset of the population) which even the respected Government-run medical hospitals (AIIMS, KEM, etc.) seemed to have ignored over the years. Recent news about Max investing in Electronic Health Records (EHR) mechanisms or Apollo venturing into advisory services in helping other nations to open up the hospitals are some big validations of the progress. Investments in this field are coming from all corners with McKinsey predicting that the Indian Healthcare market would grow to about $52 billion in 2012 (from the current $35 billion) and to about $150 billion in the year 2017.

Spinning the Money

Spinning the Money

Indian government (possibly under pressure from World Health Organization too) have been increasing the number of medical colleges by more than 12-15% year-by-year since the last few years. Increasing population, increasing income, increasing reporting of medical ailments can only be good news to any investor (pun intended!). So in a sense there is a big air of optimism around which one can certainly feel if one looks around.

India Short of 6 Lakh Doctors

India Short of 6 Lakh Doctors

However along with the above sense of progress there are also instances or developments which are so visible around which makes one think that many things are also ain’t going the right way from the healthcare perspective in India.

Basic Doctor Mistakes

Basic Doctor Mistakes

Progress made in the healthcare options is not yet reaching to all in the society at the pace it should ideally be. 80% of the Healthcare providers and specialists are concentrating on the 20% demography located in the urban areas (hence the rural areas continue to suffer). Common basic mistakes in medical treatments which probably would be synonymous to the state of medical system in a third-world country are still being made (e.g. babies being declared dead only to found alive after couple of hours, incidences of some doctors refusing to treat HIV patients because of social taboos, etc.).

Indian Medical Journal of Medical Ethics

Indian Medical Journal of Medical Ethics

The relationship between the doctors and the patients have increasingly started coming under big strain (both ways) with increasing number of incidences where law-of-the-land have been broken by either parties.

Doctors protesting

Doctors protesting

Cases of medical malpractices which frequently comes to the fore typically leaves a stink and big blot with the progress. Accountability is a key component in any progressive system and Indian healthcare system continues to lack in that to a big extent. My personal confidence in the maturity of the Indian Healthcare system maturity also got shaken when I read that Indian Medical Association (IMA) itself came forward and said that they have lost track of number of doctors in the country in the recent years. I had also recently blogged about my apprehensions of the Indian Healthcare System during the H1N1 outbreak few months back.

More afraid of medical errors

More afraid of medical errors

I am not sure how many of you have also noticed this contrast the way I am seeing it. Please do not get me wrong here. My intention is not to paint a black or a white picture here. In my conversations with many on this topic – that is lot of contrasting opinions out there about the state of the things. And hence the extra motivation to my point of this post. Because of such visible contrast, my opinion is that India’s Healthcare System is at a critical crossroad as it continues to evolve fast. The steps it takes in the next few years would determine its long-term success. But the good news is also that such contrasts opens up lots of new opportunities too.

Your thoughts and comments are welcome.

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Posted in Healthcare in India | 2 Comments »

Is Paternalistic Model of Healthcare effective in Modern India?

July 20, 2009

I had mentioned in one of my previous blog about me writing on some of my thoughts from a Consumer perspective on the Healthcare scenario prevalent in India. This blog is a continuation along that line.

In this blog, I wanted to talk about the typical doctor-patient relationship model which I have seen being prevalent in India. Let me say on the onset that the purpose of the blog is no to opine on any one particular approach – but to lay forward the pros and cons and the factors governing them.

Almost everyone whom I have talked to (again from a Consumer perspective) are in common agreement that their typical experience of visiting a doctor in India is along the lines of following vignette -

“Mr. Patel is suffering from a disease which is critical but not life-threatening. This particular disease has several treatment options which Mr. Patel is not aware of. Mr. Patel visits a specialist Dr. Shah who is known to specialize in the area of this particular disease and is aware of all the treatment options available. Dr. Shah believes one particular treatment option to be in the best interest of Mr. Patel and prescribes the same to Mr. Patel with little or no discussion about the other options.”

Note that in the above scenario – I am not implying that Dr. Shah had any ill-intentions or Mr. Patel suffered because of the prescribed treatment. However, just wanted to mention that this particular approach where the patient typically plays a passive role is termed as Paternalistic Model of doctor-patient relationship. The foundation of this model relies on the values such as personal loyalty and unquestioning obedience from the patient’s side and un-ending benevolence i.e. disposition to do good from doctor’s side.

Plenty of studies have shown that the Paternalistic Model of Management or Interaction is highly prevalent in almost all kinds of disciplines in India – be it in a Corporate settings or an Academic settings or as in this case even the Healthcare settings. Similar studies have also shown that such paternalistic model has traditionally worked favorably in Indian/Asian context with all the parties involved showing preferences for it. Also, as a Society, I have always believed that Indians – who have always traditionally been part of the collectivistic culture – have found the safety in relying on the paternalistic leaders for care, support, and protection. This has led to high paternalistic values in Indians. As a society, India’s culture values respect for hierarchical relations, strong family, and personal relationships assuming that there would be an affective reciprocity amongst all. This also fueled into India’s inclination towards paternalism into work places and institutions.

I strongly believe that at the core, the success of Paternalistic Model requires an effective leadership. From that point of view, I like the triad model which B. S. Cheng and D. Y. Jiang (you will have to do a Google search on this) presented about Paternalistic Leadership after their study in China. Essentially, they conceptualized Paternalistic Leadership as a three-dimensional construct involving -

  1. Benevolence – Holistic concern for dependent’s well-being.
  2. Morality – Demonstrating superior personal values
  3. Authoritarianism – Authority and control over the subject matter or the dependents.

This now brings me to the main part of this blog – is an Paternalistic Model of Healthcare effective in Modern India? My answer to this is ‘yes‘ and ‘no‘ both. I think as a society, India will soon have to find a middle ground on this. Here are my reasonings for it -

  • Rampant Illiteracy or Reducing Illiteracy – One of the common reasoning given in India for paternalistic approaches in Healthcare is rampant illiteracy. There is a strong belief amongst Healthcare providers (and many a times rightly so too) that such patients are unable to understand the nuances of medical treatment, procedures, and drugs and hence are unable to make the right choices for themselves. Hence the paternalistic view is taken. The corollary of this then is that such view then should not be taken with sufficiently literate patients or such view should be on its way out as the illiteracy levels in India reduces over a period of time (which is true!)
  • Human Body is one complicated piece of Machinery – I am sure, like me, many of you would have gone through the enormous amount of brain scratching (and stress) with or without your mechanic to figure out what is the matter with your car for not giving the mileage you desire. And we are talking about a machinery as simple as a car here (pun intended!). Complexity of Human Body machinery increases to the n’th level as compared to the cars. Except the run-of-the-mill problems, majority of problems in human body are complicated and requires a joint partnership between a doctor (or several doctors together) and the patient. In my opinion, one individual (be it the doctor or even the patient) providing the authoritative leadership over the subject matter of human body is just not humanly possible. There are limits of healthcare alternatives. It is not an exact science. Neither patients should believe that nor should doctors make their patients believe that. Hence paternalistic model of healthcare has its inherent limitations, IMHO.
  • Benevolence from Doctors - In my experience, Indian Doctors are typically extremely stressed with the work overload. Keeping an expectations from them to continiously have an holistic view of the patient’s health (it does take substantial time to do a good checkup of a patient, BTW) is being extremely unfair to them. I am saying this with the deepest amount of respect to the doctors. This is where, IMO, patients have to play an equal role in their personal healthcare. Rather than simply playing a passive role, they need to be the facilitators to the doctors so that the doctors can suggest proper decisions. Doctors on the other hand also need to be open and honest about this kind of expectations with their patients.
  • Morality – Paternalism rides upon enormous amount of faith and trust in the leadership. In this model of relationship, the expectations of patients are similar to the ones as to what a son would have from his father. In the same way as parents make decision for their children, doctors are supposed to make the decisions for their patients. Unfortunately, in the recent times, this aspect of relationship and/or trust seems to have taken a major beating for the worse in India. Hence the role of complete paternalistic model might be under question in healthcare in India.
  • Finally, it is “my body” – Majority of the doctors will continue suggesting what is the best for your body in the same manner as banks/financial institutions would continue taking care of your earnings. But this should not imply that you or me – as the individual owner of our body or our financial investments – do not have any responsibility. In my personal opinion, patients too have to rise up to take up the responsibility of owning what in reality only belongs to them.

Several literature in the West have gone to the extent of terming Paternalistic Approaches in Healthcare as an endemic. I would not go so far in terming it in that way considering that there are enough valid reasons for its existance today. However, as the Society in India evolves, an hybrid approach has to make its way.  Even the Prime Minister of India has acknowledged about this need in his address to AIIMS few years back.

I would love to hear your thoughts, comments, and fires on this topic. Depending on which shoes you wear, I have seen that this topic does induce a lot of passion.

[Update] – To read a Doctor’s perspective on this topic – please refer to my new blog post – “Doctor’s View – Paternalistic Model of Healthcare in India!“

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Posted in Healthcare in India | 3 Comments »

iPhone Launch in India

August 26, 2008

Well, if you were in India last week you could not have missed the big news – the famous Apple iPhone has finally made its debut in India. Well, I mean atleast officially. This came after years of its debut worldwide. This after half the Indian population had already sneaked in the iPhone from all the surrounding countries. And this after even the endangered guerrillas in the Congo basin may have started owning one. So, Mr. Steve Jobs, welcome to India! Glad that you could finally find this country on the map.

Before I delve more into this post – please don’t get me wrong here. I like Apple and have always admired their products. There may be two thoughts about the quality of their products, however no one can deny they have always been different from their peers and have always stretched the boundaries of innovation. I own some of their products and long to own some more too. My only challenge with them is that I have always believed that Apple has always made suckers out of the consumers. And as consumers the unfortunate thing is that we have allowed Apple to do that honor on us!

To prove my point – take a look at the price range of the iPhones which were rolled out in India. It is somewhere around 35,000 Indian Rupees (this is nearly about 800 USD) with a forced service plan. The same phone in US, if I am not wrong, costs around 200 USD. I am assuming that most of the iPhones are manufactured somewhere in and around China. So it should be relatively cheaper to transport iPhones from there to India.

My argument here is not about India (or any other similar country) can afford it or not from an economic sense. (I personally believe that the count of people in India who can afford iPhone is much bigger than the population of United States). Also, I believe a lot in Capitalism where the seller should be able to decide their own price. Same thing holds true for the Consumers who can decide for themselves if they want to accept or reject the same price. However, my argument here is about what kind of view does Apple (and its associated business partners) have about Consumers in countries like India.

Here is my simple anology. I tried comparing the ‘affordability factor‘ of iPhone in US and India. A fresh under-graduate software engineer typically makes about 4500 USD/month in United States. (I am being location agnostic here). If he/she were to buy iPhone in US today that would be about 5% of his/her monthly salary – assuming the cost of iPhone to be around 200 USD. Counter-part of the same software engineer in India typically makes about 50000 Indian rupees. If he/she were to buy the same iPhone in India today at the cost of 35000 Indian rupees, that would be about 70% of his/her monthly salary. The difference between 5% and 70% is very telling here.

Now, if iPhones were to sell at the same price as it is sold in US and even if Apple (or its partners) decided to make a 20% markup on that – the same iPhone would be 20% of the monthly salary of the Indian Software Engineer. The difference between 5% and 20% between the two counterparts is reasonable IMO. However, difference between 5% and 70% says a lot on how Apple views the same consumer segment in two different geographies.

Once again, I am not trying to be a populist out here to say that Apple should do concessions. Indian consumers, IMHO, have a powerful buying capacity. However, my opinion is that they are getting sucked in a big scam here.

On the day of the launch, the providers who launched iPhone in India proudly published the photograph of a smiling young lady who they claimed to be the proud first owner of the iPhone. If I were in the shoes of that young lady today, I am not sure if I would be feeling good about getting duped as a ‘sucker’.

Thoughts and fires are most welcome!

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Documenting the Indian Partition History

March 12, 2008

An interesting article in Washington Post today which talks about the growing attempts and increasing urgency in documenting the history associated with Indian Partition in and around 1947. (Registration may be required for the link)

Partition is an extremely painful yet unwritten epic which is part of Indian History now. It is or it can certainly be counted as part of Top 5 modern-age worst human disasters. For ages, there seem to have been a tendency amongst many to keep mum about the subject rather than confronting the ghosts of the past. The generation which went through it and experienced it is now fast depleting. Hopefully this exercise will record their pain and encourage them to speak of their sufferings before they move on to the oblivion.

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Bajaj and Environmentalists – Part II

February 24, 2008

About a month back, I had written a blog associated with my views about I felt about Mr. Rahul Bajaj’s interview on a National Television Channel. Read more about the same here.

Within few days, to my surprise and pleasure, I saw that Mr. Bajaj himself had commented on the blog and expressed his views. (You can read the same by scrolling down on the above link)

I wanted to reply back to Mr. Bajaj’s comment; however I was keen in getting a third view on this debate – someone from the environmentalist’s side. My views came from the position of a common citizen. Mr. Bajaj, I think, was bringing in an industry view. So an Environmentalist’s view would have completed the triangle of opinions. I took the liberty of contacting Dr. Rajendra Pauchari’s (co-winner of Nobel Peace Prize for the year 2007 along with former US Vice-President – Al Gore) office to get his views. However, I did not get any reply from him as yet. I am assuming that he/his office is busy with more pressing issues associated with environment. While I will keep waiting for Dr. Pauchari’s reply, I wanted to reply to Mr. Bajaj’s comment.

In principle, I am in agreement with what Mr. Bajaj mentioned in his comment. There is not much one can argue there. However, the key lies in the implementation of that. This is where organizations like Bajaj Automobiles would be tested. I hope organizations like them are continuously questioning themselves (as part of their responsibilities towards society) whether they are pushing growth at the cost of environment. It can be a temptation for organizations to hide under the blanket of excuse that they are doing this for the economically deprived societies and no one should deprive them about their rights. Yes, no one should! However, I am sure any member from this section of the society would also tell any organization that they would prefer growth in affordable Healthcare, Food, Education, Housing, Sanitation, etc. I am not sure if Nano has a place in that preference.

Regardless, from the experience of this blog, I feel positive that India is certainly awake to the issue of Environment. I am thankful to Mr. Bajaj for his active participation in this debate. Two successful made-in-India international industry leaders commented on this blog. First, Rajul Garg, co-founder of GlobalLogic (with whom i have had the honor and privilege to work with) and second Rahul Bajaj – Founder of Bajaj Auto – one of the world’s largest two and three-wheeler maker (with whom i have had the privilege of having this conversation with). There is a lot we can be optimistic about now.

Here is to a wish that many more leaders follow on the similar steps!

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Bajaj and Environmentalists

January 15, 2008

I was listening to an interview of Rahul Bajaj (head of Bajaj Auto) on the Times Now News channel this weekend. Some views expressed by Mr. Bajaj shook me slightly and the hence the reason for writing this blog.

On the onset, let me say that I have always admired Mr. Bajaj as an industrialist. Mr. Bajaj mentioned in the same interview that he is keen in seeing Bajaj Auto to be the next Honda. I hope his dreams come true and full power to him and his organization. My respect for Rahul Bajaj also increased when he joined Rajya Sabha – the Upper House of Indian Parliament. To see a successful industrialist also contributing in the running of the nation was/is a momentous thing for Indian Democracy, IMHO.

Now to this interview! To explain the context of conversation in this interview, Rahul Bajaj was responding to the popular talk-of-the-town nowadays – Tata’s Nano. While Mr. Bajaj had his opinion on the economic viability of Nano, what flipped me was when he took a shot at the environmentalists (especially the ones who have had reservations against Nano). What he said next shook me! It was along the lines -

“If environmentalists have issues against Nano, they should go back to the Stone Age. That is where they would probably find the perfect environment and the ozone layer. Progress and Environment cannot happen at the same time.”

(Mr. Bajaj – if you are reading this and you think I mis-heard you, please correct me right now!)

With all due respect, Mr. Bajaj, I know that you have good opinions on almost everything (Cricket Down Under, Gujarat, etc.), but here you were way off. While I cannot claim myself to be an environmentalist, I can understand where they are coming from. I do not think they are expecting people to shy away from the pleasures and benefits associated with modern technology; however they are expecting organizations to value social and environmental responsibilities. Rahul Bajaj’s statement for me is equivalent to the Law & Enforcement Head’s message to the citizens – if they don’t like the crime in the city they should stay in their homes.

Since Mr. Bajaj opened the lid on his views on environment – let me also say that IMO one of the worst polluting vehicle in India is the Bajaj three-wheeler. I am saying this from the way I see them getting used on the roads by the end consumers (typically auto drivers, etc. for public transport). You may argue here that Bajaj Automobiles may not be responsible for the use once it goes off their showroom. I am not trying to hold Bajaj Auto responsible for how it is getting used by the common masses. However, I think we all should certainly hold them responsible, atleast partially, for not using technology enough to prevent such usage.

Remarks made by Mr. Bajaj were really unfortunate. For the sake of environment in India, I really hope that there is more to it then what I understood from those remarks. India is at a verge where it needs to decide as to how it wants to handle the Environment issue staring at its face. My feeling is that Governments/Politicians will take substantial time to take any actions on this. This is where respectable Indian organizations like Bajaj Auto will have to play a key role for the sake of society.

Comments/Feedbacks/Fires are most welcome!

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