Indian business on the rise- Success stories part 1
The Success Story of Indian Market
India started to grow in consumer sector within the last couple of decade in the last century adapting to new business policies. In the process we achieved higher growth rate, better living standard, increased urbanization, Change in Foreign Direct Investment policies and a very high percentage of young population helped us achieved our target.
The retail market of India that stands at US$5 trillion at present is expected to touch US$7.5 trillion by the end of 2020 which will be a great achievement and probably the organized retail sector has played an important role in that within a period of last two decades. Further to this achievement story if believe the top consulting companies of the world India stands at 5th spot among the 30 fastest growing countries in the world at present and heading toward a growth at even faster rate.
There is a different school of thought that believes that our retail market has a fixed plan which has never changed and unlikely to change in the future also but only the format will change according to demand. They explain it in a simpler language giving an even simple example comparing the present retail module with our own old style when we used to have village markets with all commodities available at the same place. Now, the multiplexes have replaced our village markets but doing the same.
Let’s look at our success story
Our present marketing experts consider that beginning of the new era of organized sector began in 90s but the fact is it started well before 90s or you can take it right back to late 30swhen India saw the Public Distribution System started by British in Mumbai and it soon spread to rest of the country. By the time British left India the scheme had spread in almost 800 cities and towns of the country.
We can keep hand-loom development board (K.V.I.C.) in this category or maybe the army canteen, petrol and diesel retail chains, post offices etc were all parts of retail chains. But in private sector probably the shoes and clothes with brands like Bata and Raymond’s were the pioneers in the field. Finally the consumer market big boss the ‘Big Bazaar’ showed the way to others.
We have yet to do a lot in organized sector but the protest and under cutting by unorganized retail sector is a big hurdle for organized sector for the time being. However despite all the hurdles the retail sector in India is doing a good job and moving ahead at a rapid pace.
Growth Story of Indian Television Industry
Indian Television has come of age and left poles and antennas far behind, which were necessary for watching TV. The antennas on every roof have become story of the past which was a common scene until beginning of 21st century. Metros and bigger cities of India managed to get rid of antennas by the end of twentieth century but the rural and semi-rural area almost a decade more but now the Indian entertainment industry has entirely changed.
Indians viewers are now enjoying 24 hours of TV viewing through Internet or direct to home services provided by different players. It all started in early 90s with starting of satellite channels when economical policy reforms came into existence which pawed the way for different Indian and multinational channels including Star and MTV Network. Rupert Murdock owned Star Network introduced 5 channels that changed the entertainment world for Indians from DD with limited telecast and nothing much to show in entertainment section.
The Channel Story
The entry of first Indian channel Asia Television Network’ ZTV, initially with 2 hours telecast but it changed the life of Indian TV viewers and with its reach to more cities and towns it became first choice of Indian viewers. That was not the end of TV viewing but with entry of more multinational channels like CNN, Discovery, and National Geographical Channel made their presence felt. However, Star TV expended its services and increased number of channels in regional languages through cable TV.
By the beginning of 21st century more multinational channels like HBO, ESPN and History had already entered in Indian entertainment Industry and News viewing that was entirely different from DD News. The year 2003 brought a new experience in television sector with the entry of Nickelodeon, Cartoon channel Networks, Vh1 India, Disney and many more. The entry of DTH in the market slowly changed the experience of TV viewing in India. India has roughly 70-80 million DTH connections today which are expected to touch 90 million within next two years.
The Journey of Mobile Phone
Dr. Martin Cooper of Motorola called a person by his mobile for the first time in the year 1973 but Motorola sold its first handset almost 10 years later in 1983 as there was no mobile network until then. If we do not take make shift mobiles into account, the first regular commercial cellular service started in North America was the Advanced Mobile Phone System in 1983 later in other countries like Israel and Australia.
In India the mobile services started in 1995 but the handsets were too heavy and call rates too high almost beyond the reach of common people. Indian mobile network providing companies ready to welcome all and sundry were not the same until year 2001 when they used to charge a hefty sum for incoming and outgoing calls.
We had never imagined mobile phones will change the world of Indian consumers and gadgets like laptop and desktops will take a secondary role. Technique played a major role adding features and one of the most amazing of all features in a mobile phone ‘touch screen’ and improved camera changed the entire scenario.
Every mobile phone manufacturing company in the world worth its name is busy providing added features at competitive price. The Smartphone today with up to 41 megapixel camera, HD video recording are simply unbeatable which have left SLR cameras far behind in the race. India is doin the same using the most advanced technology with the help and in collobration of leading world manufacturers.
iPhone was introduced in India in 2007 but it did not come to expectation of Indian public. There is no denial in the fact that Blackberry made it possible making the ‘Office’ mobile in 2002 but now almost every phone provides this facility to its consumer. The low prices too have played their role increasing the number of users. Now a Smartphone with good features is available starting from less than $100 with all the features of high-end gadget. You can work from home or on the go the mobile phone has changed the way of work for new generation. India is one of the largest manufacturing hub of mobile phones today with hundreds of manufacturing units.
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