The $10 Trillion Prize - Panel Discussion at IIMB

 IIM Bangalore along with Harvard Business Publishing (HBP) and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) hosted a panel discussion titled “The $10 Trillion Prize: Captivating the Newly Affluent in China and India” today evening.   

Panel Members included:

1.       Ms Vinita Bali, Chief Executive Officer, Britannia Industries Ltd

2.       Mr Srivatsa Krishna, IAS

3.       Professor J Ramachandran, IIM Bangalore

4.       Mr Michael J. Silverstein, Senior partner and managing director at The Boston Consulting Group

5.       Mr David Wan,  Chief Executive Officer, Harvard Business Publishing

 The panel discussion was moderated by Mr Abheek Singhi, Partner and Director at The Boston Consulting Group.

The auditorium was full. The participants were welcomed on stage with thunderous applause.

Abheek presented a brief about the purpose of the book The $10 Trillion Prize on which the panel discussion was based on and some interesting tidbits about how unprecedented growth opportunities in India  and China have changed the life expectancy, disposable income and hope, aspiration, dreams and energy of its people.

After that presentation, the panel discussion was opened with 3 questions. 1) Are there any reasons to be bullish/bearish in these markets and what are the risks involved 2) What does it take to win in China and India. 3) If you look at the government and societies in these countries, what either of them have to do in order to improve the hurdles?

Ms. Bali first spoke about the market and that given the high level of consumption due to population, there is no question that the opportunities are huge and that for huge markets like India and China, at every price point there is a large base of consumers. Be it a Re 3/5 packet of biscuits or BMW/Audi/Mercedes, there is a large consumer base. Hence the absolute numbers add up and make the businesses worthwhile.

Mr. Srivatsa started with a humourous anecdote and went on to talk about entrepreneurship in India and about the opportunities in both countries.

Mr. Silverstein talked about the 'paisa vasool' and the exuberant experience of a consumer when they get a product at a great price point.

Prof. J Ram talked about education and the part it plays in shaping up a nation. Also that the level of importance given by parents in investing their money in education with the hope that the children will have better future. But the challenge is tht there are millions to reach out to. Elitist education is not enough.

Mr David Wan said that the demand is so high that few institutions can not fulfill the requirements of high quality education. And that the HBR blogs and forums get 30% traffic from India where the commentaries are of the highest quality.

After opening comments by each participant, the discussion focused about 2-3 specific topics:

1) Education: What is the way forward for India? Prof. J Ram pointed out that we have a policy issue and that we are focused towards elitist education. IITs, IIMs are not enough. We need faculty coupled with knowledge, hence our PhD programs should be strengthened. Our primary schooling system is broken and it has to be rectified. Only then as a nation, we can be ready for the future.

Mr Silverstein said that India is seriously disadvantaged in terms of education. India is under funded. He specifically said "YOU TOLERATE. You tolerate that 70% of your schools are sub-standard."

China on the other hand directs graduates to study what it wants them to study and it is a global competitor as a category killer.

2) Entrepreneurship: What prevents India from being entrepreneurial? Both Vinita and Srivatsa had the opinion that India doesn't have the ecosystem for the entrepreneurs to flourish and is not conducive. For being entrepreneurial, one needs some beliefs and attitude which is missing. Here even those who are entrepreneurs are  only to meet daily requirements. And one doesn't drive at excellence here and we encounter "CORRUPTION" every step of the way which is a huge deterrent to growth.

Prof J Ram mentioned that an ambition of different order is required to scale entrepreneurial heights and one thinks about the cost of NOT doing while starting a venture here.

 Also significant points were that we should strive for excellence. We Indians tolerate nonsense. And that kind of permeates into accepting less than the best. We must showcase more and unleash the energy (like Olympic athletes strive for excellence). Our education system should be invested in and we should be unwilling to accept less.

Mr Silverstein concluded that the next decade is for India and China. Both must put in the resources and provide access to capital for the nation to grow and the most critical resource for the next decade would be 'water' and that we should strive to improve water access, power, and other natural resources. Corruption costs India and China 2GDP points per year and hence the governance should be put in order and corruption must be reigned in.

Key takeaways:

1) No questions that the opportunity is huge in India and China

2) In India, policy issues must be tackled. Primary and PhD education system must be strengthened.

3) Corruption eats up 2 GDP points every year. Must be handled.

4) An ecosystem conducive to entrepreneurship must be encouraged

5) India must invest in agriculture; in seeds, technology, machinery. It will free up 100 million hands to do some other productive work.

6) We must strive for excellence. "Chalta hai" attitude won't do. We must not accept anything less than the best.

7) Key question: Will India fix its governance first or China fix its politics first?

Rise and Raise your voice against Corruption

I have been gone for a whole six months now. Now that I am back, I will tell you a story.

It was Aug 2007. My family had just moved to our new flat in a very calm and quiet area of Bangalore (yes, there exists such a place!). We were the first occupants in our 70+ flats apartment complex. Having moved from Jayanagar, where everything was a stone's throw away, we thought it was only matter of days to get our BSNL connection transferred and installed at our house and get Internet connection in the new house. Little did we know that we would be fighting a long battle against the system and against corruption.

My brother, father and I started making routine visits to the nearest BSNL office for connection. We gave an application and were told that they were short of cables and couldn't service our request and that we had to wait. My brother went to the Regional BSNL office and met the officer and told him how important it is to have a phone connection, since Airtel, Reliance hadn't started their service in our area back then and he needed Internet connection for his study related activities and his sister is a software engineer and needs to work from home. After couple of months, the update was that BSNL didn't have permission for road cutting in order to lay down the cable, hence we had to wait. Adter some more time, it was back to 'no cable' and 'no BBMP permission for road cutting'. We asked them give it in writing.

1 year had passed. After going from pillar to post, we were thoroughly harassed. Bangalore is the IT capital, the Silicon Valley of India with all amenities and services. It was ridiculous that we couldn't get a BSNL connection for our home. We consulted our uncle who is a prominent lawyer in Karnataka High Court. He asked us to provide him with all the documents and he got the case ready. Finally we filed a case against BSNL in the consumers forum. When the case was to come for hearing, we posted an RTI application to BSNL asking for status of the work(asked specific questions seeking answers). In a month, we got a lame reply from BSNL. Our uncle included that in his arguments and the judge fined BSNL and asked it to pay us Rs. 7,500 for the delay. Within a week, we got our BSNL connection.

RTI application is truly empowering. We didn't bribe the officials with a single rupee(maybe that's why they didn't give a connection for more than a year). Our complaints had fallen on deaf ears. No action was taken on erring officers. If a powerful Jan Lokpal bill was there, maybe our  voice would have been heard sooner.

Friends, it's truly a fight for our rights. Right to get a phone connection without having to bribe someone. Right  to get a gas connection, a ration card and documents from government offices without having to face harassment. And if harassed it is our right to be heard. These officers are people working for US. Let us show solidarity in our fight against corruption and fast once a day.

P.S.: Prof J Ram asked us in class today, 'how many of you are fasting?'. No one answered. He said, 'guys, it's not bad to skip a meal to show support. It's even healthy'. I was ashamed. Now on, I am involving myself in the fight against corruption. Maybe once we get a bill of the people, for the people and by the people, our country might be a better place to live.

SVYM and Dr Balu, a unique Social Entrepreneur

There are several moments in a person’s life that some stark truths stare him/her right in the face. What the person decides to do about it determines what he/she will accomplish in life. The fact that Dr. Balu did decide to take some action, dedicated his life to it and made a huge social impact is truly remarkable. It also struck me that one always starts in a small way and then builds on the foundations of his work and extends it to include a larger section of the society. That is how social changes and improvements come about.

SVYM is not-for-profit, non-religious, non-political, voluntary organization. It was started by a group of young medical students led by Dr. R. Balasubramaniam at the Mysore Medical College in 1984, who were starting to feel that the career in medicine they dreamt of pursuing was very different from the practice of medicine around them. They believed they had in them to make a difference and make a positive impact on the lives of the poor & the marginalized. And so, they started the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SVYM). Dr. Balu shared with us how he was deeply influenced by the writings of Swami Vivekananda at the tender age of 17 and the touching incident about the death of hypertensive patient which prompted him to start community service.  

The breadth and depth of activities SVYM have been able to cover in these 25 years is astounding and is a testament to their dedication and commitment towards making a difference in the lives of the poor.  SVYM undertakes community based Health and Education projects and several Community Development Initiatives, catering to a populace of about 300,000 comprising both tribals and non-tribals. SVYM is working on hundreds of projects in Health, Education, Community Development and trains the rural youth to be self sufficient, self confident and guides them to lead a dignified way of life.

“If you measure success by the number of children who have become doctors, engineers and MBAs, perhaps I can be considered as a failure”, announced the nonchalant speaker. He also gave us instances where young tribal boys aged 5-6 knew precisely how to hunt, to identify leaves of 160 types, even mention that the honey released by a tree is toxic and can make one go mad. It again reminded me that what we need in India is an education system that helps us take “Indian way” of life forward. It must help us revive the art, crafts, cultures and native wisdom that have been present for generations together. It must encourage experimentation, practical experiences rather than the rote system we have become so accustomed to. Like Dr. Balu mentioned, one shouldn’t force the tribals to conform to the standards of civilized society; they live in harmony with the nature and protect the ecosystem. Reckless modernization destroys the environment and their way of life. Deforestation, indiscriminate mining have made them abandon usage of traditional wisdom, natural instincts, but they don’t fit in today’s world anymore. Exactly this reason has made youth in one third of the country to take up weapons and fight against the state. The work carried out by Dr. Balu and his team in rehabilitating the tribals is truly commendable.

    Dr Balu speaks on educational innovations of SVYM, at Harvard (Photo: http://blog.svym.net/)

One thing that intrigued me was that Dr. Balu referred to turning to Swami Vivekananda, Shankaracharya for inspiration. He also mentioned that great scholars have mentioned so many great things centuries before the western world came up with the theory. Our Vedas, Upanishads, Gita have propagated the ancient and righteous way of life thousands of years ago. Our mainstream education doesn’t try to propagate this wisdom in any way. This ancient knowledge is available only for those who go in search of it.  So it is good that he has continuously incorporated these Indian values in his work.

Attending Dr. Balu’s energetic lecture on 16^th Oct was a truly eye opening experience for me. It got me thinking on what I could do to serve my community. I have taken so much from the society, now I should be able to give back in a meaningful way that could make a great impact on the society. I have got a free education from Class VI till Class XII in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (set up under Ministry of HRD to provide quality education to the rural children). It has given me an all-round development, has made me what I am today. An idealistic middle class upbringing has inculcated just values that have made me take up volunteering activities in my spare time. Listening to and interacting with social entrepreneurs has been an enriching experience so far, it has made my resolve of trying to bring change stronger.  

Change will be more universal if we are to successfully amend the existing rules and regulations that hinder our society’s progress. NGOs are actively fighting for citizen’s rights and play a major role in influencing the policy changes. It is heartening to see more and more educated people getting into this sector and working towards positive change in the society.

Humara Paisa Humara Hisaab - The Power of Right to Information

Social Entrepreneurship in the 6th term has become one of the most interesting, thought provoking subjects I have taken at IIMB. OB classes made me take a look at myself, but SE on the other hand, is making me think how I should look at the world around me and how I can make a difference. In the journey called Social Entrepreneurship, we have come face to face with so many people who have selflessly dedicated their lives to making others lives less of a struggle.

One such person is Nikhil Dey. Founder of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghathan, a non-party peoples' organization, held a guest lecture at IIMB yesterday. MKSS famously used the right to information as tool to draw attention to the underpayment of daily wage earners and farmers on government projects, and more generally, to expose corruption in government expenditure. Initially, MKSS lobbied government to obtain information such as muster rolls (employment and payment records) and bills and vouchers relating to purchase and transportation of materials. This information was then crosschecked at Jan Sunwais (public hearings) against actual testimonies of workers. The public hearings were incredibly successful in drawing attention to corruption and exposing leakages in the system. They were particularly significant because of their use of hard documentary evidence to support the claims of villagers. 

We live in our sheltered world, have all the right answers to our problems, and think that our managers are our biggest problems in life. We think about how much more package can we get if we jump to another company. We want a bigger car, a bigger house. But what about the 60% of our population, which doesn't even get a Rs. 100 per day? What about them who have no money, no power, no education to guide them through? Take a look at this video and you will know what MKSS is accomplishing in Rajasthan. 

We are all political. Right from the way we treat womenfolks at house, the way we treat our domestic help, the way we see what is going on around us. We are deeply political. But when it comes to doing something about it, we raise our hands and say "what can I do?" or "Our country has gone to the dogs. Only God can save it". We have abstained from the political process all together and have left it to the gundas who are our so called 'leaders', who are only interested in making money for themselves and people who elect them are jokers to them. Have we tried to find out what our elected representatives have done for us? Have we tried to get information about what development works are going on in our area? Can we find out who laid our roads that develop potholes every 3 months, and who was the engineer who okayed it and passed the payments? Do we try to get information on why all the greenery of Bangalore is being sacrificed in the name of development? 

But can we really make a difference? 

YES, WE CAN. 

The right to information act is truly powerful. The government has never been accountable to the people so far. The government is ours, the MPs and MLAs are our servants. We chose them to do our work for us. RTI is that tool with which we can ask them what the hell are they doing, how they are spending our money. The money that we earn by travelling to the other end of the city - day in & day out, the money that we earn by slogging every weekday of the month.

Today, I invite all of you to give it a thought and to participate in our democracy. Try to get involved. If every informed citizen like you and me takes the responsibility to get involved in our democracy, we can make our society better. Especially at the time when our MLAs are ready to be sold for obscene amount of money due to their greed for power, position and wealth. Especially when the legislature is a place for goondas who have made a mockery of democracy. Especially when the elected MLAs have brought shame to the state.

Links: Longer version of the video is available here.
A video that every Indian should watch: Aruna Roy at IISC, Bangalore