After E-commerce, it’s time for Taxi in Internet Market

The next big thing in India’s Internet marketplace after online retailers Flipkart and Snapdeal will be on demand taxi hailing service. Companies such as Ola, TaxiForSure, Uber, and Meru are experiencing a boom in demand for their cab services in a country where the transport infrastructure is still creaky and safe public and private commuting options are few. This is because of shift in consumer habits towards convenience and on-demand services, and most crucially, low prices, have fuelled the boom.

In present scenario, a person wants a smartphone first rather than a car. Such shifts in consumer habits including use of smartphones for buying goods and services are helping the industry grow exponentially. Ola and Uber have grown explosively over the past year by offering car rides at prices lower than the fares charged by auto rickshaws. These companies spend massive amounts of capital on marketing, discounts, recruiting thousands of new drivers and expanding into new markets.

Earlier, cabs were used for airport rides. That has changed now because of unrivalled ease of access offered by mobile apps. All the large companies, including Ola and Meru, get a majority of their business from mobile apps, while Uber is entirely app-based. Similar to online marketplaces Flipkart, Snapdeal, and Amazon, all of which host product owned by third party sellers, Uber and its rivals have no ownership of the cars their customers use.

These firms don’t even employ drivers; they simply connect customers with drivers using technology and charge a commission varying 13-20% on each ride. All these taxi companies are funded by investors. Investors will pump in much more money this year to support the spending spree of the cab aggregators. Ola is also in talks to raise more funds. Ola, Meru, and Uber are rapidly expanding into new cities. Ola is planning to expand into 200 cities by March 2016.

While cab services are becoming increasingly popular with customers, Uber, Ola and others face significant regulatory hurdles. In upcoming time, Taxi companies will enter into Billion dollar business and some may open publicly. Third big thing in Internet market after E-commerce, and Taxi will be Food business online. We may see more businesses coming online and making needful impact in society.

Internet can make India Billion Digital Economy

Internet users in India are growing with rapid pace. It took 10 years for India to get her first 10 million users and another decade to hit the first 100 Million. Then the pace quickened. The next 100 Million came in three years between 2010 and 2013, and the third 100 million took only 18 months. Internet users crossed 300 Million in December 2013. By 2018-19, Internet users will reach to 500 Million. A digital population of 500 Million can transform India’s economy, business landscape, governance, and society beyond recognition.

Internet users could spawn an economy worth $200 Million from interrelated activities. This is a four-fold increase from where we are today and growth will come in three years. By 2018, every second Indian will have access to Internet. The biggest growth will come in E-commerce, which will expand five-fold, while education and healthcare via mobile internet will expand Internet use. Digital Marketing will be the key method to reach out your business to people via search and display advertisement.

Internet could also catalyze entrepreneurship and wealth creation. Global investors are already chasing Indian startups. With 500 Million internet users it will be equal to the size of Europe. There are challenges like low bandwidth, but that won’t prevent the upcoming Internet Tsunami. In each of next five years, India can see a startup of worth $1 Billion. Internet growth will also lead to massive job creation. About 4 lakh people now find direct employment because of Internet. This will expand to 20 Lakh by 2020.

Internet will also improve governance. According to etaal.gov.in, which tracks internet transactions, E-governance transactions increased from 0.5 Billion to 1.7 Billion between 2013 and 2014. However, there are many challenges too. Internet costs can harm Indian population. It may become very expensive in future. 90% of India’s population use pre-paid connection with average monthly recharge of Rs 50 to Rs 70 and 3G recharge of Rs 150. It will be very difficult to sell big data plans and in a huge cost.

More people are going online via free Wi-Fi or paid access. About 45 Million access Internet in Public areas and time spent online has gone up from 10 Minutes per day to 45 Minutes now. Government is also planning to make certain places in Metro cities free Wi-Fi enabled. So far Internet penetration in India has been in English while for new users demand for local languages will increase. According to reports, 10% rise in Internet penetration increases economy by 1.08%. If Internet were a sector then its weight in GDP would be greater than that agriculture and utilities. 

A Documentary of Thoughts

For all I can say, the BBC4 Documentary by Leslee Udwin was completely over the top, completely left me cold and flat. But the choice to watch or not was mine. The comments or problems occurred such as, “tourism is affected”, “a situation of tension and fear among women in society is created”, and then documentary was banned by the government. Banning the documentary was not the solution. It was like covering mindsets and crime again.

Despite tougher laws, there is a 69% increase over the past decade in crimes against women including molestation, rape, and domestic violence. We need to ask how and why 44% college students in modern India responded to a recent survey by agreeing that women have ‘no choice’ but to accept a certain degree of violence. We need to understand why our sex ratio in the 0-6 year old age group is the lowest in six decades. These are facts that shame any civilized society. But how do we even begin to start dismantling these horrific statistics unless we first try and understand the culture that allows them to thrive?

Protests on streets, signature campaigns, and changing the law, that was the easy part. But as anyone who grapples with patriarchy knows, changing the mindsets is far, far harder. To change the mindset it is important to know the mindset. That is why one needs to watch Udwin’s film. The one-hour long film reportedly includes a nine-minute interview with one of the rapists and interviews with two defence lawyers. This is a documentary of thoughts of a criminal, two government officials who were fighting the case and some people.

There were equally reprehensible statements made by lawyers and criminals. In the days following the December protests we’ve heard some astounding comments from a variety of politicians, university heads, religious cult figures, police chiefs, and other people. Each statement brings with it a torrent of protest on social media and elsewhere. And the statements made in the documentary fit part of that pattern.

There are interesting and valid questions being raised in the debate on Udwin’s film. But none of these should detract from the main crux of the debate, which is tackling misogyny and ending a culture of rape. The main crux is that there is a certain mindset that allows violence against women to flourish with impunity. Those whose national pride is wounded by the fact of a foreigner claiming to make a documentary that exposes an ugly truth might want to consider that the fight against patriarchy is a global fight that knows no borders.

Violence against women is the conversation across the world from North Kivu to Washington DC. In June last year, 1,700 delegates from 123 countries met to discuss how to end sexual violence in conflict in the US; the government is cracking down on an apparent epidemic of campus sexual assault. Everywhere, women and men like us are saying ‘Enough’. We lit a fire in December 2012. We started a conversation. Every bit that adds to that conversation, every scrap that leads us to think, every effort to end violence should be welcomed, not banned.

Will Websites become Obsolete in Future?

India has the third largest mobile users in the world. In future, usability of mobile will increase more and same for mobile apps. Major number of Internet based businesses in India, reach and does business through mobile apps. In the past, I wrote an article on Mobile apps named “Planet of the Apps”. Then a question strike in my mind, what if “Websites become obsolete in future’. In present time because of increase in number of mobile phones, tablets, notebooks, laptops, PC’s have become obsolete. After discussion with my friends, seniors, teachers, and internet research, finally I came to know about many views.

In my opinion, benefits of mobile apps are there reach-ability. One doesn’t need High Internet connectivity to operate an app. People outside metro cities can operate an app in low internet connection. They can place orders, view an online business app layout etc. But then I thought, an app can give information but one will always need website to get more information available on apps. Trend will shift to mobile optimized sites than PC but one can’t eliminate websites from mobile apps. This is possible in countries where mobile is becoming a dominating player. In some countries mobile utilization is still less as compare to PCs or Laptops. 

Now, I thought of usability of mobile and desktop computers. Desktop are used in many professions that still require power and flexibility that desktop offers, notably in movie making, video editing, and sound. It is all about using the right tool for the job. For a person who mostly browsers, posts socially and makes purchase online, then a portable device is needed and the choice between a desktop and a portable device is easy because it can meet all requirements and one can carry it around. However, if needs big screen desktop and work from one place then PCs are first choice. In future, we may see mobile becoming the portable devices replacing laptops.

So, I think future of devices will tend to towards a single device that can take many roles. Because presently there are many problems with Mobile phones in terms of Display power, screen technology, processing power and battery life. Future of websites will be driven by the hardware and the usage. We wouldn’t have mobile apps today if we didn’t have powerful mobile devices. Therefore, many thoughts emerged on this question of mine and finally I can say Future of Websites is not obsolete. We may see mobile driven websites and large portable mobile devices, which may take it years to hit the market.

Missed Call Marketing

India has 833.02 Million active mobile phone users as of December, 2014. Around 90% of mobile phones connections in India are prepaid. Giving a “missed call” is very common in India. Over the years, missed calls have been used by children to tell anxious parents that they have reached somewhere, to summon their drivers, or people to order food, receive cricket scores and bank balances and just about any other information or content.

Social Platforms companies like Facebook and Twitter are building large revenues in India by Missed Call Marketing. There is money in this business, which is why Twitter recently acquired Indian Company ZipDial and Facebook forged a partnership with Vivaconnect. It is a business that could be worth as $1 Billion of annual revenue, without putting a time frame to the estimate.

In 2013, Consumer Goods Company Hindustan Unilever Limited looked at ways to increase engagement with its consumers in Bihar and Jharkhand with Missed Call Marketing. The company sets up its own mobile radio channel along with a campaign to build awareness. Consumers to could give a missed call to a number and in return receive 20 minutes of free, on-demand content, ranging from Bollywood songs to popular Hindi entertainment. The campaign racked up calls from around 30 Million people, nearly 200 Million ad impressions and the consumption of around 500 Million minutes of content. That was the power of harnessing something as simple as Missed call.

State Bank of India and GlaxoSmithKline have also used Missed call marketing in India. It is an easy and cost-effective means for brands to reach out to a larger target audience, particularly in semi-urban and rural markets where Internet penetration is low. While most campaigns push information at consumers, Missed Call Marketing works the other way round. Companies in the business say a missed call marketing exercise could come as cheap as a few lakhs, and cost up to several crores depending on size and scale.

Missed calls phenomenon is already prevalent in Africa and Latin America, where it is called flashing or beeping. ZipDial, which has worked with Procter and Gamble India Ltd and Colgate Palmolive Ltd is optimistic about the reach and scale of Missed call Marketing. Twitter will be integrating ZipDial platform into its core platform to enrich the user experience. ZipDial mobile platform lets people follow and engage with content across all interfaces, SMS, voice and mobile web, and also facilitates offline consumption of content.

Facebook has integrated the tool into its interface for select campaigns. When a person sees an ad on Facebook, he or she can place a missed call by clicking on the ad from a mobile device. In return, the user receives content like music, cricket scores or celebrity messages, and a brand message from the advertiser. Still, companies need to realize that the missed call campaigns may not always generate high quality leads. As the tool matures, marketers need to find out what works for consumers. As users become pickier about the kind of content they wish to consume, brands will need to ask themselves why consumers would want to seek out their brand.

What Robots may do in 2045?

IT is the future of the world. Recently, Diwakar Vaish developed India’s first 3D-printed Humanoid Robot named Manav and his team is working on several other robotics projects. After 30 years, it is likely that the world’s population will include billions of people and billions of Robots, with the latter doing almost all the heavy, routine labour. People will work on improving the software for the Robots and the IT industry will be home to companies developing programmes for robots as they now develop apps for users to download and install.

To a certain extent, the boundaries between robots and humans will become blurred. Transplants using electronically controlled artificial organs and prosthesis will be a routine surgical procedure. Nanorobots will travel deep into the body to deliver drugs to diseased cells or perform microsurgery. Specially installed sensors will monitor people’s health and transmit their findings to a cloud based storage that can be accessed by the local doctor. All of this leads to a considerable increase in life expectancies.

Moreover, people will live in smart homes where most creature comforts will be fully automated. The software that runs the house will take care of energy, water, food supplies, and its replenishment. The resident only concern will be to ensure there is enough money in their bank accounts to pay bills. Our digital alter egos will finally be fully formed within a single global infrastructure capable of self-regulation and involved in managing life on the planet. The system will be geared towards distributing resources between people, preventing armed conflict and other humanitarian actions.

It will not just be dreary chores that are consigned to the history books; production of certain items will no longer be needed. Instead, 3D printers will enable us to design and create what we need. The PC might have started the whole IT boom, but by 2045, we will probably see it in museums. To be more precise, we will no longer need a single tool for working with data, which is basically a computer does.

There will be an even greater range of smarter devices and these different gadgets will steadily take over the functions of today’s PCs. For Example, financial analysis will be done by a server controlled by the organization concerned using electronic documents, not by an accountant on a PC. Not everyone will be excited by a brave new Robotic world. New Luddites will likely emerge to oppose the development of smart homes, automated lifestyles, and robots.

Metro to Marketing Train

Advertising to increase by 12.7% in the coming year, GroupM said in a report. From Digital to print advertising, businesses are fighting to give their ads and spending in crores to attract customers. Now, Companies are targeting Metro train coaches in cities to promote their business. I was travelling in one of the Yellow line metro and whole Train was covered with advertisement of E-commerce giant Amazon India.

It was very difficult for me to understand Where the Train was last up to. Everything was covered with ads from Amazon. Even the interior ad space was covered with E-commerce ads. The Delhi metro covers 190.03km across six lines and ferries close to 260,000 passengers on a daily basis. Part of it is underground and part overground. DMRC runs 216 trains with 1,282 coaches. According to a report, 8 Million people used its services in 2013-14. Presently, most of the Metro trains have become marketing trains.

Earlier companies fight for ads on TV and newspaper, now they are fighting for ads on Metro. It might a situation in India when companies will promote their business on Indian Railway, which is one of the longest networks in the World. In Delhi, after IndiaMart, Amazon, and Political parties, Myntra will be seen advertising on Delhi Metro coaches. Paytm and Snapdeal are also in discussions to do the same. Advertisers may around Rs. 25 lakh to wrap up six to eight coaches of the metro for a month i.e. on average Rs. 4 Lakh for a coach.

The companies are also hoping for similar opportunities in Bengaluru and Chennai. Mumbai smaller Metro has trains sporting ads from BigBasket, UltraTech Cement, and Oxigen, an electronic payment service. Consumer goods and mobile phones companies may also join the queue. Delhi Metro has awarded exclusive rights for displaying advertising materials including pictures, printed material, electronic media, smart posters, and visual displays. The concept is very popular in Singapore, Bangkok, Hongkong, Dubai, and the US.

This is very catchy and effective medium. This leads to increase in consumer base, more downloads of mobile apps, and increase in revenue. Even, people who are not aware of it know about companies. It becomes easy for sales person to reach out in a local market and sell products because of awareness of companies and products. What if Metro trains are also used to increase awareness of Social causes? Display ads of Government campaigns may increase awareness and it will last long. With changing scenarios of marketing in last two years, huge amount of money will flow in market and there will be more marketing trains.

Planet of the Apps

India has the third largest mobile user’s country in the world. With data showing Indian users, spend an average 198 minutes each day on their smartphones. It is believed that mobile phones are the future of an economy. Soon laptops may become obsolete and everything in the world will be operated through smartphones and tablets. Many companies are trying to make this happen.

Smartphones are used on a large scale because of 1.3 Million Android apps and 1.2 Million Apple app available to use. With introduction of mobile apps, most businesses in the world are turning their focuses towards mobile apps. Especially in the Internet based business. For E-commerce, business mobile app is the future. Mobile apps began appearing in 2008 and are operated by Operating system of a mobile. Mobile app is a short version of a website and a handy layout to operate.

Every social networking, news, business, entertainment, and sports have their apps. This not only will increase the usability and business for app developers, but will also increase the use of smartphones. In India, number of toiletries is less than the number of smartphones people have. Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, and Google are the most dominating companies in mobile apps. I remember the first app I used was the Shazam in my Nokia Symbian phone six years back.

After that Whatsapp, the most used chat app in the world. As the time passes by, now I use plenty of apps in my Android Smartphone. It has become easy for me to collect any information in an instant of time from mobile apps. There is no doubt that mobile app developers and companies will grow more. However, there will be time when everything will be available on the app. Most e-commerce business they use mobile apps because 70% of orders are placed from mobile apps.

The benefit of companies from mobile apps is that they collect user information and can sell that information to other companies in millions. Now talking about, E-tail companies give more discounts on ordering from mobile apps. In India, E-tail companies offer vouchers for other businesses too. Amazon was the first company in India to launch app sale, although Flipkart did planning first. However, there is an increase in growth of mobile apps and a majority of this growth is coming from outside of metro cities.

If internet reach is more in rural India then increase in number of users for mobile apps will also increase. However, new government “Digital India” initiative can make this possible. This will not only add value to reach people but will also contribute to Indian Economy. More companies will emerge out and people from Rural India can bring their businesses online.

Back to the wild: Christopher McCandless

Adventure is always fun and learning. For me, it is like living and discovering life without any fear. Yesterday, I watched a movie named ‘Into the wild’, which is dedicated to Christopher Johnson McCandless, who was an American adventurer. I can always relate adventure with me as I had done several activities it in the past. Chris was 22 years old and graduated from college in May 1990 when he set out across the American West in a trip that would ultimately take him to the wilds of Alaska.

He was desperate to break ties with parents. He dreamed of an Alaskan Odyssey wherein he would live off the Alaskan wilderness, far away from civilization. After his graduation, he donated all his money to charity organization and burned left over money. He left the car behind and buried the license plates. The car was later used by local police force as an undercover vehicle. He sometimes used his name as Alexander Supertramp. He kept a journal describing his physical and spiritual progress as he faced the forces of nature. He always carried set of books with him to read.

He never took money in his life from others. He worked in farms, kitchens to buy things for him and but never asked anyone to feed him. He does not even have a compass and no experience surviving in the Alaskan Bush. After hiking from the snow covered Stampede trail, Chris found an abandoned bus used as hunting shelter and began to live off the land. He had rice, rifle, several books, and some camping instrument. He lived for 113 days in the bus and never contacted his parents after he left his home.

In ‘Into the wild’ movie, it is suggested that the reason of his death was “rabbit starvation” and he might be poisoned by a toxic alkaloid called ‘swainsonine’ by ingesting seeds contain the toxic. He reached his final destination on April 28, 1992 in Fairbanks Alaska and he died on August 12, 1992. Hunters found his body 19 days after and later his parents would visit bus 142 to leave a memorial.

Chris actions have caused many different debates on safety in the wild and what not to do and many have said that he did amounted to suicide. However, he had also had a lot of praise for his courage and spirit of adventure. Bus 142 has become somewhat of a tourist attraction, with many visiting every year and posting videos and pictures on internet. There is a documentary and book written on him. The story of Chris really inspired me and gave message of not giving up dreams in life.

Yosemite: World's Most difficult rock climb

Sport of Climbing is still an affirmation of the human spirit and the importance of teamwork. It is not just getting to the top that matters. It is how you get there. I did first rock climbing when I was 14 years old. The fear that I had at that time, is still there in me when I think of rock climbing. I always watch videos of Tommy Caldwell, who is professional and famous rock climber. I recently read an article in which Caldwell and his partner Kevin Jorgenson are doing most difficult rock climb in Yosemite National Park.

It is the hardest rock climb in the world. It is a grueling ascent of a half-mile of exposed granite in California using only their hands and feet. In rock climbing, climber is completely relied on his physical strength and dexterity to make his way up. Here, both the climber are making their way up the Dawn Wall, a vertical face on one side of the famous rock formation known as EI capitain. Although, this is their third attempt to climb this rock since 2010 and has caught the world’s attention.

Yosemite Rock climbing is the most difficult rock in the world. No one has ever ‘free climbed’ to the top of the Dawn Wall. In ‘free climbing’ athletes, use only their hands and feet. They grip cracks in the granite as thin as razor blades and as small as a dime. In 1970, Warren Harding and Dean Caldwell had spend more than 27 days free climbing the wall but did not make it to the summit. The climbers use hamesses and ropes to catch them if they slip, but the equipment does not help them ascend. The height of the rock is 3,000 feet above the floor. The hardest and steepest route is the Dawn Wall, so named because it faces east toward the rising sun. Here is a link of small video of Tommy Caldwell and the Dawn Wall. After watching this video one can realize how difficult is to climb and efforts made before and during climbing by a climber. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fANAk7UC6rg (Must watch this video).

Jorgenson has been training for five years and Caldwell put in about seven years. They tried the climb in 2010 but only made it to a third of the way because of storms. At one point on this rock, climbers have to jump completely off the wall to catch a grip the size of a matchstick. The warm weather has them climbing only at night, when the rock is cold enough for the maximum traction.

These men eat, drink coffee, stretch, and sleep in hanging tents suspended from the wall. Supporters bring supplies, including pain pills, batteries, and super glue for their fingers. They keep in touch by regularly tweeting, posting on Facebook, feeding information for blogs and talking with teams on the ground. The tents are in the same location and the men return to them after they climb each day. To get back to the spot where they left over, they use climbing aids.

I have done many adventurous sports in my life until now and I feel it is most difficult sport in life. However, all sports require strength and stamina; this is the only sport where if a person fails then he has to start from beginning with fresh energy and dexterity. One should always play and experience a sport environment around, because sports teaches a lot and all learning in sports is practical where one has to prove by strength not by words.

David and Goliath: Malcolm Gladwell

Recently, I finished reading David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants. It is a non-fiction book written by Malcolm Gladwell. The book is focused on the probability of improbable events occurring in situations where one outcome is greatly favored over the other. The book contains many different historical stories of these underdogs who wind up beating the odds, the most famous being the story of David and Goliath.

David was the shepherd in Israel, who also serves Israel army for food. Goliath was the giant soldier in Palestine army. The story is 800 years old. Once both the armies attacked each other and nobody was ready to fight from Israel when Goliath came forward to fight. Goliath said, if any of the person defeats me then my army would surrender in front of you. Nobody came forward to fight and then David came forward, asked his king to fight against giant Goliath. Everybody laughed and underestimated David. Then David came in front of Goliath to fight and hit him with a slinger and killed him.

There had been many examples of stories like David and Goliath in the past. When a underestimated man defeated a person powerful then him, he is called as Underdog. The same story happened in 1980, which is termed as ‘Miracle on Ice’. This was the story of United States Ice Hockey National team made up of amateur and collegiate players, who defeated the Soviet Union National team, which had won six gold medals in last seven Olympics. US Ice Hockey team was named as ‘Underdogs’.

In this book, there are stories about the civil rights movements, the religious conflicts in Ireland, and the others. The moral of some of these stories can be dark. This is one unusual lesson about change the book teaches. Most success stories are full of compromises, exchanges, chicanery, and actions. We might find hard to accept in a purist moral framework or as an enforcer of polite society. This is one of the best books, which tells about the art of battling giants and tells about the people who had significant skills fired in the kiln of adversity, who are intolerant of the status quo. We might not like them, they may do things we might think are inadvisable, but they are our giant-killers. One must read this book.

2014: The Year of Elections and E-commerce

Another year is on the end and India is on the positive side of the growth bench. The year was more of the E-commerce, Elections, Digitalization, and their advertisement on Social Media. E-commerce sector got Billions of funding from other countries whereas Elections in India were the example of role of Social Media in attracting, delivering message, and knowing people. In both areas, Advertisement on social media played a big role. In my opinion advertisement, growth in 2014 was more than any other year.

This year, according to an estimate, advertising spends were increased by 12.5%. E-commerce was clearly the dominant category that showed significant increase in spending. Instead, the business ended up growing 10%. E-commerce companies including companies those that run popular sites Flipkart, Snapdeal, Jabong, Olx, and Quickr spend around Rs. 750 Crore in advertisement. These companies launched TV commercials, and in the un-up to the festive season that started in October, many companies went into advertising drive. It is not sure if e-commerce companies will remain as aggressive with their advertising in 2015.

It is a small component of India’s Rs.38 Trillion overall retail trade industry. Yet the, e-commerce format with sales of Rs. 1 Trillion managed to create the buzz in 2014. The year highlights were, Amazon raised $2 Billion in Indian e-commerce space followed by Softbank invests $627 Million in Snapdeal and $210 Million in Ola cabs. Flipkart also gets $1.7 Billion funding, taking valuation at $7 Billion. Footfalls in shops during festive season drop in favor of e-commerce and many more in the sector.

Advertising in Elections came on the back of a Rs. 300-350 Crore blitz by BJP in the parliamentary elections it won and another Rs. 200 Crore by the Congress. This year was more into Digitalization in India. Digital Advertising was more than the print advertising. Government spent Rs. 251 Crore on print advertising between April and November, 20.3% lower than the same period a year ago. Between April and November, Spending on Television advertisement also declined by 8.43%. Digital advertising grow by 30%.

Except ads, Elections in India saw a major change. People came into engagement through Social Media, Radio ads, and all the campaigns launched by PM were successful in making some impact. Everyone was aware of the activities of PM and other leaders. On the other hand, Indian Economy holds a momentum of growth. Inflation came into control at the end of the year. Oil price saw major decline after a decade and decline of $1 in Oil price, save India Rs. 3500 Crore.

Investors and businesses from other countries are investing in India because they find a promising and consistent government in country. PM vision of converting cities into smart cities and bringing in technology in every sector will improve work environment in India. Small businesses will grow and more business will emerge. Agriculture sector will also be benefitted, which holds the 52% contribution to Indian GDP. After so much in 2014, experts see better times ahead. There is high probability of Interest rates being cut. More spend on advertising will be there and everybody is hoping that more money will come in the country.

Chef and Food Truck in India

Over the past five years, the food truck sensation has spread across America serving consumers everything from Japanese Pizza, grilled cheese sandwiches with truffle oil and too many other versions of comfort with a gourmet twist to count. Few days back, I came to know the about the same thing in India. It is India’s first Mexican Food truck introduced by five-star Lalit Hotel Chain ‘The Lalit Food truck Company’.

I saw Lalit Food truck at my college fest serving delicious, cheap, and diverse food. I could not stop myself without ordering and interacted with the chefs preparing food. When I read about the Food truck in India, I was so excited and suddenly it reminds me of a movie named ‘Chef’. It is a comedy genre movie released in 2014, where the man does the same type of business. It is the story of a chef Carl Casper who quits his job at a restaurant and launches a food truck business.

The same movie story I shared with the Lalit Food truck chefs. The reason because in the movie ‘Chef’, Carl Casper son, make use of Twitter to go viral in United States. His son was a young teenage kid who knows how to operate Twitter. He clicked photographs of people eating food, make trend on Twitter, and tweet regularly whenever they sell food. This helps his father Food truck business to go viral and increase his business sales. Customers were tweeting back to him, asking him to visit their area, gave him feedback on tweets.

This is a good movie, which tells about the use of Twitter for a Business. I shared the same story with the Chef of Lalit Food truck and told them that they can also go viral by social media. Social Media will help them to increase their business awareness and go viral in the country. In a country like India where people are food savvy, they will surely read and go for it. The best thing about the Food was it was ready in two minutes and it was affordable too. Food was so delicious that now I had an option of eating irrespective of outlets like McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, and other places.  

I found five items on their menu i.e. Crispy Veggie Taco, Falafel, Vegetable Tortilla Wrap, Vegetarian Burger, Churros, and French Fries. Next time, I am going to order again and this time I will order and taste something new from last time.

Mobile Technology will charge Indian Economy

Over the last few decades, the Indian Economy has witnessed a significant transformation. From being primarily an agricultural economy, the services sector has overtaken and has become the leading contributor to growth. E-commerce sector is also emerging as the largest contributor to growth of Indian Economy. Within the services sector, the communication sector has grown at an astonishing 25.7% from 2000-01 to 2008-09. Even during the financial crisis year of 2008-09, while other sectors slowed down, communication sector continued its forward march.

Since then, the importance and role of telecom sub-sector and services is well known. Rising per-capita income and introduction of affordable handsets and lowest call rates have all led to an explosion in the subscriber case. India is the second largest user of mobile in the world with 900 Million users in the world, it accounted for 12% of world’s online population. Findings reveal that every 10% increase in mobile penetration rate leads to a 1.2% increase in GDP.

In last 2-3 years, e-commerce sector emerged as the astonishing business sector. E-commerce companies revealed that maximum number of users explore and order products from mobile. Therefore, companies are shifting their marketing focus towards mobile technology. In the next five years, E-commerce sector will contribute up to 2% to Indian Economy. Mobile apps are becoming the key thing for every company and business today.

For developing markets, basic mobile services still dominate and mobile data is the next wave of development. A doubling of mobile data use leads to a growth in the GDP per capita growth rate of 0.5 percentage points. Telecom companies are coming with 4G penetration in the market, which will be new boost to economy. Research said that, a 10% rise in 3G-penetration increases GDP per capita growth by 0.15 percentage points.

Next thing, which will charge Indian Economy, is the Internet. Every business is dependent on Internet these days. No apps, no site can run without Internet. It has become the necessity of human being today. Mobile phones are more useful when they are connected to Internet. India lacks behind in providing good internet connectivity to its citizens. However, government and big firms like Google, Facebook are working on drones project to provide Internet connection to all citizens across the world.

There are several other benefits of mobile phones. They significantly help to maintain physical and psychological health when family members move away from home. In addition, they enable women to maintain three roles within the household, simultaneously being wives, mothers, and wage earners. More mobile phones subscriptions are correlated with more democratic participation, less gender inequality and longer time spent in education. In all three areas, the impact of mobiles on social development indicators is stronger in developing countries. All these benefits of Mobile technology will charge Indian Economy. 

Bhopal Gas Tragedy – The Disaster of 1984

Thirty years have been passed since a poison gas leaked from the Union Carbide Pesticide plant in Bhopal killed thousands of people and left Lakhs survivors. It was the night of 2 December 1984, when 40 tons of toxic methyl isocyanate leaked from the plant. Many people died instantly and around 150,000 have been seriously affected.

After three decades, Lung and Eye complications are common among people in this area. Many also suffer from loss of limb function along with severe palpitations and recurring chest pain. Most victims have received 25,000 to 50,000 rupees in compensation, an amount that is far too small for medical treatment. The effect of this disaster can be measured until today. Thirty years before on the same day, suddenly a peaceful night was turned into people voice asking for help. This disaster is an example of poor Project Management.

The complaints started in 1976 when two workers complained about pollution inside the plant. Following this, in 1981, a worker was splashed with phosgene. When he removed his mask in panic, he ended up inhaling large amount of phosgene gas. He died 72 hours later. American experts visited the plant in 1981 and warned the UCC about a ‘runway reaction’ in the MIC storage tank. Local Indian authorities also warned UCIL about the same problem however, no constructive and preventive measures were implemented by UCIL, nothing from UCC either. After the plant was closed India also suffered a huge economic loss.

After so much of repeated warnings, authorities took no steps. Things would have been different if the project and factory works were processed properly. Plant was located closed to city because of transportation facility. A chemical plant should be located far from city. This incident changed the course of industries in India. A plant near to city is can be dangerous sometimes. Waste emitted by factories and harmful gases directly effects the internal organs of human beings and animals. This is also a reason why most of the river channels in India are polluted and animals suffer the most from it.

In my opinion, chemical plants must be built far from living areas and far from riverbanks. Industrialists should take proper steps in dumping waste and control on harmful gases, which effects living beings and humans. Then only a healthy and safe environment can be built. Projects are successful if they do not affect environment and living beings and then only a country economic conditions will improve.