Vijay Kumar Gaba

It's less than two weeks into the new year and I have already faced multiple instances of ethical dilemma. These instances not only tested my resolve to avoid all kinds of ethical conflicts, but also raised doubts about the health of the Indian economy and sustainability of some new age business models.

Let me first briefly describe some of these instances:

·         I booked a doctor consultation for my daughter through a popular healthcare service portal. The doctor insisted that in future we should book consultation directly with the clinic instead of coming through the portal.

·         I lodged a service request for our out of warranty washing machine with the concerned German Appliance company. The service engineer visited within 3hrs and repaired the fault. While leaving he handed over his private business card and requested that in future we can call him directly; and he will charge only 50% of what the company charges for a service visit.

·         My wife booked a hairdresser visit from an aggregator. A young girl visited our home and did the job, While leaving she told my wife to note his personal mobile number. She said, “You can book an appointment through WhatsApp directly. It will cost you 40% less than the booking made through the aggregator.

·         I booked a cab for 8hrs through an aggregator for visiting a couple of places in NCR. The driver happened to be living within 2kms of my residence. After we completed the trip, he made an offer to me, “if you need to book a taxi for longer trips, you can call me directly and I will charge you a flat Rs15/km, instead of Rs23/km you have paid today.

In all these instances, the concerned service provider mentioned that “everyone” does this. The hairdresser girl and taxi driver referred by the respective aggregators Company and Service Engineer from German company even cited some of my neighbours who have availed their offers.

All these instances obviously involve a breach of contract as well as ethical impropriety. The dilemma however is that this gives me satisfaction of helping a service provider who is being apparently exploited by the aggregator; besides of course saving me money and some effort also.

If I overcome this ethical dilemma with the argument of “exploitation of poor service provider” and decide to engage with these service providers directly, then I would need to find answers to even more pertinent questions. For example—

(a)   Is the business model of most of these aggregators sustainable at all?

(b)   If doctors and engineers do not care about business ethics and the sanctity of contractual obligations, how could India dream of becoming a developed economy?

(c)    If the lower middle class service providers and middle class service users are both stressed enough to bypass ethics for some monetary savings, is the consumption growth story of India actually believable?