South India changing......

The South is a special place…..

By Harish Bijoor

The South is a special place. For more reasons than one. Setting aside the emotional one, let me explore the rational argument.

And please! For a start, let me clarify this is no jingoistic comparison of region to region. Instead, it is a clear positioning of the potential of the 4 South Indian states of India at large. If there is any comparison attempted in number terms, it is merely to give a perspective to  an otherwise dull number.

The South is an exciting place. It is home for a start to 251 million Indians. The sex ratio remains healthy. The total population number of the 4 South Indian states makes it a region that contributes   21   percent to the population of India.  If our fertile young people out here work harder, we are going to maintain this number contribution on an even keel.

In terms of employment, the South is a robust environment. The South equally exports its people to literally every part of the world, just as the South attracts the best of talent from every nook and cranny of the world. To that extent the South has emerged a mixed market. What was once a language-centric domination of the local people, has given way to multiple sets of communities co-existing happily. You will find a Kenyan rubbing shoulders with a Bengali, just as you will find a Punjabi rubbing shoulders with a Kannadiga in Bangalore. The lines of language are blurring, and the old jingoism of language is giving way to a more common adoption of Hindi as a national language. In more ways than one, Hindi is emerging the alternate language of every one of the Metros in the 4 South Indian states.  This in turn, is ironing  out the creases in consumption patterns of both media and brands and products and services alike.

If I am to look at it anecdotally, here is an example. It was a Sunday evening and auto-rickshaws on the streets of Bangalore were scarce. Every one of the registered 87,000 auto-rickshaws  in the city seemed full. Waiting at the kerb-side, I heard a heated argument taking place between Hindi speaking auto-driver and Kannada speaking passenger. The auto-driver had gathered a big crowd around him. The passenger was shouting at him in Kannada, belting out choice expletives for not running the meter and demanding an excess fare. The auto driver was just harping on one point: “Sir, don’t scold me in Kannada. This is India. Scold me. But scold me in Hindi!” The gathered crowd on up-market Commercial Street was totally with the plea of the auto-driver!

In terms of education, the South is an educated place. In many ways, the very lack of opportunity to work of yore, has by default made the entire region a place that encouraged education. The quality of education doled out by institutions in the South has made it emerge a veritable centre of excellence in higher education. Engineering, medical, management, technical and now even law and catering colleges of repute have positioned far flung towns in South India as magnet towns that attract students from all over the country and overseas as well.

Anecdotally, if you were heli-dropped at Vellore in Tamilnadu, without knowing where you were, you would never know you are in the heart or liver or gizzard of Tamilnadu. The same goes for Manipal in Karnataka, where the population of Manipal is as variegated as the population of India itself. Also, 92 per cent of this town is below the age of 25!

South India, extending that point of a young audience, is an attractive location for the young. The early end-to-end services boom happened in Bangalore and Hyderabad. These cities have emerged hubs for IT companies, Biotech firms and more. A whole eco-system of employment opportunities has emerged in the South. Slapping Bangalore on a resume has become an important adjunct to a techie today. Never mind which part of the world you live in. Bangalore is a value-add.

The South in return has risen to the occasion and put up an excellent infrastructure in place. And many are in a project-stage. Hyderabad and Bangalore  airports(in that order please) are rated among the best in the region. Bangalore has just kicked off its celebrated Metro rail system. Chennai and Hyderabad are already on work in this space. The IT campuses that dot the areas of Bangalore, Mysore, Mangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Coimbatore , Kochi and Trivandrum are exciting locations that resemble something transplanted from the concrete and steel and glass jungles of Manhattan. Mysore boasts of an Infosys Learning Centre that stupefies a visitor in its sheer scale and grandeur of effort.

Add to it as an icing on the cake the super-specialty hospitals of the South, and the South-side story is complete. Well nigh nearly! Well nigh nearly, because the South is still a work-in-progress region, and there is plenty to come.

In sheer terms of per capita income, which is a function of education, employment opportunities and indeed the competition that abounds to get jobs, the South is a special place as well. TN led the per capita income stakes for FY 2010 in the South with INR 62,499.  The per capita income of Kerala stood at INR 59,179. Andhra Pradesh stood at a robust INR 51,025.  and Karnataka followed at INR 50,676. This data needs to be seen in sync with the highs and lows in India, with Goa at the top with 1,32, 719 and Bihar bringing the rear with INR 16,119.

The South is a fully-loaded consumptive location as well. Armed with per capita income that is robust, a media-exposure that is total and stable jobs that bring comfort, the South is a nice place to be if you are a marketer of a two-wheeler or a tank top for that matter. The market is wide open. Wide open to welcome ideas that are traditional and ideas that are modern as well.

The South is an exciting place to be. In sheer population terms this is a region of 251 million stomachs that put in 753 million plus meals in a single day. This is a region that drinks a lot of coffee and tea and beverages of every kind, cold and hot. That’s 251 million bladders to feed every day! Even the market for hair-oil is big. We have 251 million heads. Half of them women. And women with an average length of hair that is all of 9.2 inches. Compare that with the average length of hair on a Chinese woman: 3.1 inches! The market for hair oil and the market for shampoo and 'shikhakai' alike are that much bigger out here. Touche!

The South is a special place. Yes it is! Yes it is!

The author is a brand-domain specialist and CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc, a private label consulting firm with a presence in the markets of the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and the Indian sub-continent.

Email: harishbijoor@hotmail.com

Email: ceo@harishbijoorconsults.com

Twitter.com/harishbijoor

Brand Mangalore and education

Brand Mangalore: Shaken and Stirred

By Harish Bijoor

Once upon a time, not so long ago, Mangalore was a quiet little coastal town in Karnataka. Well known for its culture, its dance, its music, its coastal cuisine (that has many a person, including the writer, salivating) and more.

Outside Mangalore, you heard of the city as the destination you had to go to when you wanted an engineering or medical seat for your son, daughter, sister, brother or cousin. Or if you were headed to some very revered temple spots.

Over the last 5 years however, Mangalore has been making news. And this news is not all about how it is emerging to be a tourist destination of much impact. Not because the area boasts of a rich eco-heritage, but for reasons completely different and completely chaotic.

We had the now-famous Pub attack led by Pramod Muthalik, followed by the reactive Pink-chaddi campaign. The latest piece of turd to hit the ceiling is the Padil home stay attack on youngsters celebrating a birthday party, with friends, cake and beer. And in-between we have had sundry church attacks, desecration of altars, pulling out of couples that looked “not married” out of buses and beating them up as well. And possibly what’s been swept under the carpet of fear is much more than what’s been reported to date in media.

Every event listed above had Mangalore make news in a big way. In a negative way that has had Brand Mangalore painted as a small little town with hordes and hordes of ‘goondas’ roaming the streets, all looking to impose a Taliban-style living.  All looking to inflict a regressive and retrograde style of living altogether. The city has also managed to earn for itself an image of being totally young-unfriendly!

Now, I do believe this is where the brand disaster really starts. A “young-unfriendly” Mangalore is really a big worry to carry as an image-tag for Brand Mangalore.  Let’s remember two things. 54% of the population of the country (including Mangalore as well) is below the age of 25.   Add to it the fact that Mangalore and its surrounding areas that cover Manipal, Surathkal and more are younger still. 

Let’s also remember some facts. Greater Mangalore (the area that includes Mangalore and its surroundings) today boasts of colleges of higher education that attract students from all over India and indeed all across the developing world at large. The listing is mind-boggling. Here goes. 17 Engineering, 6 medical, 5 Dental, 14 Physiotherapy, 19 Nursing, 13 Industrial Training, 6 Hotel Management, 9 Polytechnics, 6 Hotel Management, and the list goes on.

The point to note is that Mangalore is much more than what Mangalore was. Mangalore today boasts of a Diaspora audience of young people from all over. All younger than 25.

Mangalore is therefore one of India’s biggest educational hubs. Mangalore hosts not only all these colleges of higher education, but also hosts students from all over. Add to it the fact that the hearts of many a parent and relative lives and beats in Mangalore, where their wards now study and live. Mangalore has therefore a heart that beats for it all over India and elsewhere. Mangalore is insular no more.

Events such as the ones that have rattled the name of Brand Mangalore in recent days rattle not only the local citizenry and the people of Karnataka, but they rattle many a brand sentiment all over. Brand Mangalore has earned for itself in recent years the image of being intolerant, insular and young-unfriendly. This cannot remain. This can only prove negative to Mangalore as an education hub of significance.

Let’s remember what happened to Australia and its image in recent years with the issues that had killings and allegations of racial slurs all across. Parents and students alike, when they think Australia, they think thrice, if not twice. We don’t want Mangalore going that way as well. Or do we?

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Harish Bijoor is a brand-strategy specialist & CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc.

Twitter.com @harishbijoor

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Bangalore and I

Being Bangalore

Harish Bijoor

Bangalore means a lot to me. If I am asked to name one thing that excites me about Bangalore, that’s a difficult one. To me Bangalore is a ‘bisibele baath’! And I love Bisibele bath! My favorite vegetarian dish. It is so much like Bangalore. An amalgam of this and that.  A mixture of cultures, a mixture of people from all over India. A mixture of nationalities, with us housing the single largest population of expatriates in India. A mixture of tastes, a mixture of textures even. A veritable delight to the city palate at large.

Do I love this city? I do. I owe everything to it. My education, my life, my career, my friends, my relationships and most importantly my entire being. There is a state of mind called ‘Being Bangalore’. And I think I embody all of this, as many of us in this city do. ‘Swalpa adjust maadi’. And we do a lot of it.  I have done a lot of it as well.

My earliest memories of Bangalore as a kid are that of walking in good old Lalbagh, playing around, getting hungry and then being taken by my parents to good old MTR, where I would gourmandize on rava idlis, and those small little ‘gindlas’ (katoris) of pure ghee that added a taste of its own to the idli at large.

If I think later, my favorite place was the State Central Library in Cubbon Park. That stately little red building. To me this symbolized the one space of all reading and learning. I don’t know why, but I spent thousands of man-hours here. Reading the magazines and newspapers within its confines, and reading books within its confines as well.  Those days one could not afford to buy all the magazines and newspapers one wanted to read, and so, this was my daily haunt, visited religiously every day whenever I got the time (and there was so much of it in abundance then). I would cycle there every day from my home on Victoria Road on my reliable old blue BSA cycle and get back in time to be very hungry at home. Moving around took so little time, that one had all the time to focus on the real thing.  Reading and eating in my case. Two passions that I still hold on to.

And then there is my college. St. Joseph’s Arts & Science. I remember being more out of class than in. I was into every extra-curricular activity there was to handle.  I was in so many of them that I had little time for the curricular activities altogether. My favorite memory was that of an inter-collegiate magazine a few of us started called “Scribe”. We had St. Joseph’s Arts and Science, St. Joseph’s Commerce, Christ College, and of course the more exciting Mount Carmel College and Jyoti Nivas College onto it. We had representatives from each of these colleges on the Editorial Board, and all of us poured passion into it. Passion and time. This was the earliest business and consumer-touch venture that helped all of us hone our early and latent instincts for business and writing and communicating alike.

I can go on and on. Memories are such. “Being Bangalore” has been an experience to cherish and preserve.

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harishbijoor@hotmail.com

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The Bangalore Real-estate market

5 Reasons I am positive about India and Bangalore

By Harish Bijoor

The real-estate market of any city is a sub-set of the environment in the State it belongs to. And that is a sub-set of the country and its many policies, progressive or otherwise. Add to it the fact that the world is for sure a connected place today, and therefore there is a bigger environment that governs real-estate prices and practice, and that is the environment across the world at large.

Real estate is however all about geography that is real. It is about physical spaces that are about land, buildings, gated communities and more. To that extent, it is a physicality. A physicality that is very dependent more on the local than the global. To that extent, while the stock market of a country is all about being umbilically linked to the sneezes and joys of the world at large, the physical real-estate market is that much more local than global. And thankfully so.

In the world of real-estate, the further you move away in concentric circles from the local to the global, factors that affect the price point of real-estate get that much more insulated from the factors that surround. To that extent, the point I am making is a simple one. When you look at real estate, don’t fret and fume as to what is happening in Greece. Don’t worry that Nicolas Sarkozy has been replaced by Francois Hollande. Just don’t worry that you will not see Carla-Bruni Sarkozy that much in the news anymore. Just worry more about factors that are immediate and adjunct to the area of your investment. If you are planning an investment in Bangalore, worry more about what is happening to the governance structure in the real estate market, worry about jobs in the eco-system that throws up investors in the Bangalore real-estate market, worry about laws and rules that are in force and ones that will be enforced later than sooner. But worry about nothing more than that.

5 reasons why I am excited about Bangalore and India then, in that order:

1.     The aggressively young population

Bangalore boasts of a young population. While 54% of the population of the country is below the age of 25, Bangalore boasts of 63.6% below the age of 25.  A younger city means a hungry city. A city hungry for achievement, hungry for jobs, and most certainly hungry enough to invest in land and more. This young profile of the city is un-enviable. The only other city that comes close is Pune on this count. Young cities are hungry cities and hungry cities are investment friendly cities.

The downside of a young city is the fact that pressures to perform abound that much more in younger cities. Younger cities are high-tensile cities. No wonder then that Bangalore and Pune have emerged to be the suicide capitals of India as well. Sad fact.

2.     Spends and patterns of splurge in the TOP and MOP

The second reason why cities such as Bangalore are exciting places for the real-estate market for first buys, re-sales and repeat buys, is the fact that the splurge quotient of cities such as Bangalore is very high. The city is a polemical factoid. While Bangalore boasts of  10,600  Dollar millionaires at one end, at the other end, it also hosts large populaces of those living on the fringe of a hand-to-mouth existence. The real-estate market, sadly, depends on what the Top-of-pyramid (TOP) and Middle-of-pyramid (MOP) folk have to contribute to the kitty.

When you look at the spend patterns of the TOP and MOP profile, one witnesses no gloom at all. The splurge quotient is high on products and services alike. Super-market carts are still laden full with products that do not necessarily represent the best value-buys. The number of spas in Bangalore has grown from a measly 6 in 2001 to 121 in 2012. The number of beauty parlors has grown from a mere 107 in 2001 to 1220 in 2012. I do not have a comparative number for restaurants, but if you just look around, you don’t need numbers to tell you the story.

And every one of them is raking in the ‘moolah’. The point is a simple one. Never mind the fact that Greece is in trouble. Never mind that Europe is in shambles. Never mind that the Japanese economy is slated to de-grow at 0.6% p.a, in GDP terms. Just never mind. Look around and you will sniff prosperity and spends in your local TOP and MOP markets. Sadly or happily, the real estate market depends on its future on this market.

3.     The eastern investment mindset, and the shift from metal to land

This is a quick and happy one. Indians at large are very highly investment geared and investment oriented. The old mindset of investment was gold. This has held families in good stead over the years, particularly with gold prices ruling at an all time high as of today. This investment mindset has gradually shifted in the country from gold to land and dwelling units. The first things everyone wants to do, even before buying a Life cover in an Insurance policy, is to own a house or a piece of land. This has spurred and will continue to spur demand. Real-estate investment apathy has not set in as yet. It looks far way for now.

4.     The poised Next-gen ahead

The next generation is a very highly educated generation. Parents of the current generation have spent their lives working hard to educate their children and get them the best in terms of a qualification to earn more than they have earned. This is a good sign for the economy at large. This means the children of tomorrow will earn higher multiples than their parents did, net of inflation. This means there will be more money to invest. This is a trend that is quite unlike what we see in markets of the United States, where new generations are lesser equipped at large in terms of qualification and earning potential.

5.     Bangalore as a magnet city

The city despite all the ills we bemoan, is still a magnet city. We host mixed nationalities. We remain a secular city with secular intent. We are largely peaceful. We seldom fight. We might watch porn in the assembly, we might huddle our MLAs time and again in close-by resorts, we might clamor for free IPL tickets, but essentially we are a nice people living in a nice city. The city will still remain a magnet city. And that’s a big one for real-estate investments.

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Harish Bijoor is a brand-expert and CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc.

Follow him on Twitter.com @harishbijoor

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Brand Bangalore in the Future....

Brand Bangalore: A Fantasy

By Harish Bijoor

Q: You and I live in the same city. How do you see our cities change over the years? What is your fantasy for Brand Bangalore?

-Revathi V, Bangalore or Bengaluru (still confused)

A: Dear still-confused Revathi, the city of the future is more virtual and less real. A lot of us will be spending more time in a life that is virtual, rather than real. A few of my personal fantasies on Brand Bangalore of the future:

1. We will finally have a new name. We will officially be "Bengaluru". Never mind the fact that Mayawati-ji's BSP, which will be the ruling party in the state by then (thanks to the lack of an alternative) will want to re-name the city into something else altogether by then. The re-naming debate is a forever one.

2. Future Bangalore is a different city altogether. We are going to be a Lasagne city if you look at us top-down. We are going to be a layered-roads city. Roads at different levels that help make the commute that much more bearable. Bangalore has been the first to experiment with roads made of recycled-plastic. We will have more of these. Our pot-holes (they will still be around) will be filled with this plastic no sooner than they appear. Silicon will find a more functional use in our roads than in our cosmetic surgery parlors as of today.

3. Commuting from one end of the city to another will take no longer than 32-minutes. This is going to be true at-least across those stretches connected by "Namma metro", our own city lifeline. A fair number of our city-techies will work from the Metro, thanks to its superior ambiance than the one at the noisy home. Eight up and down journeys on the train, and the code is written, tested, packed and dispatched to the Project Manager. Time to get back home.

4. Bangalore will have the first Pod-hotel. A hotel room in a pullout drawer of sort’s establishment. A see-through pod-room equipped with the best. Just one thing will be at a premium: size. Expect every Pod hotel to be fitted into a 2400 sq foot space. A 40-room hotel. The creative one's will call it the "Coffin hotel".

5. Night-life in Bangalore would have gotten a bit too noisy. In any case our Excise rules do not permit drinking and dancing in public places. You will therefore have the pure drinking places and the pure dancing places. No transgressing here. You decide. Most of our nightlife places will be "No-noise" places even. Wear a Wi-fi headphone and dance the night away. No noise anywhere, except in your ears. Anyone looking at you will think you to be the lunatic you are. Imagine strobe lights, lasers and a silent party in full swing. The cops are happy. The dancers are happy. Bangalore has found its own creative solution to the party-angst at large.

6. Bangalore will be more virtual than virtual. The largest number of tablet-PC's will be in Bangalore. The city will be the capital of the touch-enabled device.  We Bangalroeans will live more virtual lives than real. The largest number of Facebook users will be from Bangalore. We will make all our friends and enemies on FB. The largest numbers of Google+ users will be from Bangalore. A record number of circles with the most innovative names will happen from here. Lady Gaga move over. The largest number of Twitter followers will follow @harishbijoor.  Touche!

Q: The snack-food category is on the fast track. What’s next here? Is there a market overseas for the Indian snack-food?

-Rajesh Thevar, Mumbai

A: Rajesh, I do believe the snack-food category out of India can go places if it sticks to the knitting. Investing deeply into the health platform without tampering taste and the fun of the snack environment it lives in, is a must. If it is able to do this, it will thrive.

The snack-food category is a forever category. As India and its brand image grows, Indian snack-foods and foods and beverages will grow in franchise globally. A great way of understanding a country is by tasting its food and snack. While food is difficult to access and is difficult to prepare in any condition, snack-food that is packaged is easily accessible and is easy to transport and easy to find on the retail shelves overseas. In many way, every pack of a Haldiram’s ‘bhujiya’ that is opened in Norway or Sweden or in Cincinnati, is taking a piece of India out there. Food imperialism at play.

As interest in India grows, interest in Indian foods will grow as well. Food diplomacy and its time has come. Indian packaged foods have a lot to gain.

Q: Baba Ramdev has not been able to make much of a success with his political entry. Despite all his popularity, why this?

-BB Joshipura, Lucknow

A: Joshipura-ji, Baba Ramdev is respected as a Yoga Guru. As a person who has brought healing for a whole lot of people. Transcribing and super-imposing the same equity onto the realm of political activism is a long-haul task, and could be a mistake as well.

What works in one realm does not work in another. That is the sensitivity of branding that people need to understand. One cannot assume all popularity is divisible and that all popularity can be appropriated equally, once had.

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Harish Bijoor is a business strategy specialist and CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc.

Email: harishbijoor@hotmail.com

Being Bangalore

Being Bangalore


Harish Bijoor
Bangalore means a lot to me. If I am asked to name one thing that excites me about Bangalore, that’s a difficult one. To me Bangalore is a ‘bisibele baath’! And I love Bisibele bath! My favorite vegetarian dish. It is so much like Bangalore. An amalgam of this and that. A mixture of cultures, a mixture of people from all over India. A mixture of nationalities, with us housing the single largest population of expatriates in India. A mixture of tastes, a mixture of textures even. A veritable delight to the city palate at large.

Do I love this city? I do. I owe everything to it. My education, my life, my career, my friends, my relationships and most importantly my entire being. There is a state of mind called ‘Being Bangalore’. And I think I embody all of this, as many of us in this city do. ‘Swalpa adjust maadi’. And we do a lot of it. I have done a lot of it as well.

My earliest memories of Bangalore as a kid are that of walking in good old Lalbagh, playing around, getting hungry and then being taken by my parents to good old MTR, where I would gourmandize on rava idlis, and those small little ‘gindlas’ (katoris) of pure ghee that added a taste of its own to the idli at large.

If I think later, my favorite place was the State Central Library in Cubbon Park. That stately little red building. To me this symbolized the one space of all reading and learning. I don’t know why, but I spent thousands of man-hours here. Reading the magazines and newspapers within its confines, and reading books within its confines as well. Those days one could not afford to buy all the magazines and newspapers one wanted to read, and so, this was my daily haunt, visited religiously every day whenever I got the time (and there was so much of it in abundance then). I would cycle there every day from my home on Victoria Road on my reliable old blue BSA cycle and get back in time to be very hungry at home. Moving around took so little time, that one had all the time to focus on the real thing. Reading and eating in my case. Two passions that I still hold on to.
And then there is my college. St. Joseph’s Arts & Science. I remember being more out of class than in. I was into every extra-curricular activity there was to handle. I was in so many of them that I had little time for the curricular activities altogether. My favorite memory was that of an inter-collegiate magazine a few of us started called “Scribe”. We had St. Joseph’s Arts and Science, St. Joseph’s Commerce, Christ College, and of course the more exciting Mount Carmel College and Jyoti Nivas College onto it. We had representatives from each of these colleges on the Editorial Board, and all of us poured passion into it. Passion and time. This was the earliest business and consumer-touch venture that helped all of us hone our early and latent instincts for business and writing and communicating alike.

I can go on and on. Memories are such. “Being Bangalore” has been an experience to cherish and preserve.

Email: harihsbijoor@hotmail.com