Program for Trent Executives

We are doing an extremely interesting training program. It is an exciting blend of marketing, operations and finance for store managers and merchandisers/buyers of Tata Trent which is into fashion retailing, along with a few more product categories in their department stores.

Organised retail in India has had a chequered growth compared to its global counterparts, because of consfusion over its impact on small conventional stores selling similar goods. Government policy has also further muddled the issue, and FDI in multi-brand retail is still frowned upon.

The situation is made even more interesting by the disruptive e-commerce players in India, such as Flipkart, Amazon and Jabong, which are making losses but increasing sales rapidly.

An enthusisatic group of participants and a lot of senior management visiting to keep everyone on their toes is another unique feature of this program. To more such programs at IIM Indore....

Obama, India, Fog and Storms

Quite a diverse set of topics to deal with. If Obama makes it to the White House again, he would be the longest Black president to live in the White House. How's that for a new take on the elections? I think he is a smart guy being ed astray by the 'establishment' which is into routine things like finding the next country to bomb and so on. No novelty, or out-of-the-box thinking.

India has elections going in the state of Himachal Pradesh, and I have no clue about the issues there. FDI in retail appeared shortly in TV debates, but disappeared just as quickly. Prices of apples, maybe?

Delhi had a few fogged-out days, which was the result of some unusual weather, and it was not a reflection of our fogged-out brains. The Chennai storm Nilam had something to do with it, plus other things.

Now, if only we had something more interesting on the anvil- actually, there is. The old classic Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro is re-releasing. Should do a world of good in a humourless world. Go see it at a theatre near you. I somehow don't feel enthused by the new Bond.

Bogeys

The bogeyman is useful to scare your kids in childhood. But the problem is that he does not go away in adulthood. We as individuals, society, nation have our favourite bogeymen. FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) seems one such to me. It is occupying undue share of talktime on our airwaves and print waves right now.

Wal-Mart if it comes into India, is painted as a monster which will eat up people. Far from it. They will make products available cheap for you and me. In fact, any Indian retailer could be as big a monster under existing law. So what is the big deal if another monster joins them?

Similarly, we have the bogey of religion, terrorism, and so on. Nothing has happened to India in centuries of invasions that could not be reversed. Our resilience is amazing, and will not be easily disturbed by blips on the radar of time. So, chill madi (Kannada version).

FDI in Retail and Education

Let's try and separate the truth from the lies. The lies are everywhere for all of us to see. I feel as if I was back in the 1960s, or 1980s, where licensing was the norm, and supply was artificially constrained, to help a select few- among them were the traders and the license holding manufacturers. All strangled by a massive red tape.

We seem to be back at square one. This time, though, the opposition parties have got it completely wrong. Don't know if they genuinely believe what they are saying- hope not, because it is anti-consumer, and it is utter nonsense.

For instance, this stop Wal-Mart business is ridiculous. Would you be OK if an Indian retailer becomes as big as Wal-Mart with the same effect on the categories of people (small trader, blah, blah...) that are supposedly threatened by it? Because nobody under the current law can stop an Indian Wal-Mart from happening. So what's the big deal about Wal-Mart?

Most importantly, what if the consumer benefits? Does anyone care for him? DR. Manmohan Singh is absolutely right that it is good for the country if competition increases. I would not have dreamed of flying or making 5 phone calls a day in the license Raj those days.

Better choices in education, anyone? Let the foreign universities in. Half the guys won't need to go to the U.S. anymore. And, the Indian Universities will improve-because they won't have a choice.