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JUST, FAIR & RESPONSIBLE India, Before Digital or Cashless India ?

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“Who will return the 12 years of my life?” - Hussain Fazili Do you know Hussain Fazili, it’s ok if you don’t, I don’t expect that you know him. I will take the opportunity to tell you about him. Hussain was arrested in 2005 and released in 2017. He was arrested in connection to Delhi Bomb Blasts of 2005 and it took the court 12 years to pronounce that he wasn’t guilty. In all that time Hussain lost 12 prime productive years of of his life along with getting 3rd degrees and tortures, the health of his parents deteriorated seriously. The question is, What took the court 12 years to declare an innocent person as ‘ Not guilty ’? When the police arrested Hussain did they have substantial evidence to suspect and arrest him?. If a man was arrested for 12 years and then acquitted later, isn’t it a big question mark on our laws as well as the competence of our law makers? Shouldn’t the government or law keepers compensate him - questions to think about and to act upon as well. Hav
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Demand, Supply, Technology - Don't Forget Regulation

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"Bike taxis illegal, do not use them: Govt"                                                                               - The Times Of India ( read here )  "ZipGo suspends operations"                                                                                                        - The Hindu ( read here ) Both of the above 2 headlines came within 1 month of each other. Ola, Uber and Zipgo are start-ups trying to ease the way people commute. But all of them have hit a road block in the innovation hub of the India "Bengaluru". The RTO has declared bike taxi operations of both Ola and Uber as illegal, and Zipgo had to suspend its operations because of RTO orders. This is not the first instance when Ola and Uber have ran into regulatory problems, on a previous instance both of them were in trouble in the NCR. So this make me think about 2 key questions, which are -: 1.   Does the strategy guy overlook the legal aspect to succeed fas
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Time to save Delhi, not to mock Kejriwal

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Let me begin with the disclaimer that neither I am in support or against AAP or its philosophy.  Recently the Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal announced his government's intent to fight pollution in Delhi. The announcement of plying odd-even number cars on alternate days has brought in mixed reactions from citizens and experts from all over. Social media has been flooded with jokes mocking the government's decision. However I think rather than mocking the government its time that Delhites come together to save Delhi else soon you will have to find new places to live.  The day this plan was announced it became a trending topic on Facebook and Twitter, with maximum people mocking this announcement. Whatsapp jokes started to be exchanged. But no one lauded the government's intent to announce a bold measure to tackle a grave problem. Had people done shown some support to the government's intent and pledged to support the government; it  would have contributed in a lon
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PMJDY – Making numbers work and engaging masses

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PM Narender Modi’s PMJDY scheme reached out to the Guinness book of records which is fantastic. The government’s motive of bringing financial inclusion is a fillip with PMJDY, with more than 125 million new bank accounts being opened from August 2014 to January 2015; a big enough number to make a pat on the back. But on analysing the numbers I am astonished to see that 72% of these accounts have zero balance. There is another stat which baffles me, which is that according to World Bank 43% of bank accounts in India are dormant, what can be the plausible reasons for such high dormancy. How can we increase the activity of people in banking? Merely opening a zero balance account won’t help in solving the problem of financial inclusion. People should also use the facility. A recent article in The Hindu by Ms. Jayshree Venkatesan dated 17 th August 2015, describes how a poor maid was denied banking facilities even under PMJDY. This is not a lone case but lot of poor are
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Product Manager - Be Careful of the Red Path

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If you are developing a new product or evolving your existing one you should be careful about getting swayed away by product features and functionality - this lure of product features is show the Red path in my product management triangle. This Red Path is the path of getting trapped because this is when the business owner or the product manager falls in love with their product. While the Green path is the ideal path to follow because your product needs to test the waters as soon as possible. When i say that Red is danger it is because when you are developing your product you don't know how will the customers or users respond to it, you might think that you are making an amazing product and take months and months to add awesome features but the truth is that those features have not had their moment of truth so you don't know if the product that you think is awesome is actually awesome for the users or not. After some months of development when you realize that its high
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TV,Indian Startups and Venture Capital

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Just read a fantastic writeup on TV Advertising by Indian Startups written by Mr. Nitin Sharma, Principal at Lightbox Ventures -> You can read it Here . I think it is an insightful article for anyone who is curious to learn why internet companies are spending big bucks on offline marketing rather than on creating call to action online campaigns. Apart from well funded Indian startups the western internet giants  such as Amazon, Foodpanda, Expedia,  Google and others are marketing on TV in India which they may not have done in the US or other countries - If you are a marketeer looking to take your brand international this is a noteworthy example of localization of marketing strategies where you choose a communication medium which is a social phenomenan to create brand and concept awareness. TV is a social habit in India and thus internet companies advertise on TV.  There are certain things that i think can be food for thought about TV ads, startups in India and where should
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RoomnHouse - Creating Micro Entrepreneurs

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2014 A year when folks were busy calculating their monthly expenditures, reading about inflation, high taxes and low consumption, a silent revolution was on in the streets of Goa. October to June is the season when the fisherman can row their boats into the deep Arabian Sea for their daily bread. But what about July to September? Shyam Nagwenkar, father to two children, husband to an accommodating wife, and owner of a property in Calangute, Goa, lived a life which was only slightly more cushioned than a hand to mouth existence. While pennies weren't exactly being pinched, the want for a greater level of comfort, which only money can buy, was not unjustified. In a decision that would change their lives, Shyam who was on the verge of putting the property on sale, stumbled upon a definite plot point in (t)his story. Enter Roomnhouse, Shyam met with Rakesh Singh, founder of  Roomnhouse , in a manner so casual only a Goan could pull off. Rakesh convinced him to rent out extra
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