A visit to here tier two cities of Uttar Pradesh over last weekend was quite educating. I came back with few new learnings and stronger conviction in couple of themes that I have been following for past couple of years.
We visited the temple of our family deity in Agra. The temple is
being renovated completely from the inside. The donations for the renovation
are being accepted in digital mode. The devotees, many of them from lower middle
and poor families were pleased to pay Rs10-50 through UPI etc. It was very
clear that people across the socio-economic strata have internalized the
digital mode of payment. Another evidence of this trend was available at
Fatehpur Sikri monument.
The CNG bus that takes the tourists from parking upto the
monument charges Rs10 as fare. The bus operator was accepting payment of Rs10
through digital mode. All tourists, villagers and urbanites alike, were happy
to scan the QR codes. The monument entrance fees Rs45 per person, is payable
only in digital mode now and even the ticket needs to be booked online. This
may be a temporary Covid-19 measure, but no one seemed bothered about this. All
tourists appeared happy about the procedure as it saved them from standing in
long ticket queue. Poor phone connectivity though was an annoyance with some.
WiFi enabled smartphone was no issue as all tourists were carrying one. The
local tourist guide, the local handicraft shop and local dhaba all accepted
digital payment as if it was a norm.
I came out even more convinced that digitalization of financial
transaction shall become a norm rather than exception in net 5-7years. A
further simplification of the procedure and improvement in digital connectivity
may even accelerate the process. Cash economy that is believed to have impeded
the growth of Indian economy for past 7 decades shall shrink materially with
this. The government however needs to make sure that the cost of digital access
does not increase from the present level and quality of digital access improves
materially.
The second theme that has bothered me for past few years is the
general public attitude towards respect for intellectual property rights of
others. Use of pirated software, photocopied books, spurious books sold on
traffic signals and footpaths, unauthorized copies of branded clothes etc. is
unapologetically common. Propriety and ethics are not taught in schools. It is
common to see parents encouraging their wards to buy the “cheaper” alternative
regardless of its legality and authenticity.
Travelling to Moradabad from Agra via Ghaziabad and Hapur, I
registered something that I would usually ignore.
In Ghaziabad there is a fast food joint called “Bhatura King”.
The name and logo used by this chain is cannily similar to the global chain of
quick service restaurants, “Burger King”.
On 25kms stretch from Hapur to Garh Mukteshwar, there are at
least 50 Shiva Dhaba, each claiming to be the “original”. The people who have
traveled on NH24 from Delhi to Moradabad, Rampur etc. would remember that Shiva
Dhaba is a popular food joint having a strng recall value. Similarly, there are
over 50 Gulshan Dhaba, each claiming to be “original” between Mathura and
Palwal. Panchhi Petha is a world famous brand of Agra. In Agra city itself
there over 500 shops claiming to be Panchhi Petha stores. Similar is the story
with Bikaner Sweets, Aggrawal Sweets in Delhi NCR region.
There are two points in this:
(1) The respect for
the intellectual property rights of others is scant.
(2) The recognition
of brand value and need for its protection is also scant, though it has started
to grow in recent times.
I have highlighted this earlier also that many mega Indian
business ideas are nothing but poor copies of the globally successful businesses.
Some examples are, PayPal – PayTM; AirBnB – Oyo; Swiggy – Zomato; Walmart – Big
Bazaar; Amazon – Flipkart; etc.
The theme in this is Jugaad.
The culture of Jugaad, in my view, has harmed Indian economy and
society much more than it has helped. This culture has hampered the growth,
innovation, scalability, and competitiveness significantly, in my view.
For investment purposes, I have been consciously avoiding
business, ideas and themes that are based on Jugaad and/or violate the IPRs of
other entities. I would like to see a strong and comprehensive initiative on
part of the government, civic administration, academia etc. to change this
culture.
On a side note, I wonder which sector the Fintech companies will
fit in – IT or Financials; or we will have to define a new sector for all new
business that help in digitalization of our lives.
