Ruling another decade of FMCG

While I was enticed to write my thoughts on Auto Industry as my experience with the sector has been for a decade but am forcing myself to write on FMCG as I presently work in this sector. As we are unfolding a new decade I thought it is the right time as well to pen this down. Below are the future trends in FMCG for the decade thru my lens:

1               

           Demographic Inclusion

2               Disruptive Distribution/SCM

3               Brand Experience

4               Nurturing Community (Key Accounts)

Demographic Inclusion – Most of business verticals within FMCG has concentrated on most categories catering to certain demography of population, now the rule will change with lot more category offering to other demographics. For instance Mens grooming which unfolded in 2005 is yet to take full shape and is estimated to be Rs.35K Market by 2022. A fashion jewellery startup recently claiming 30% of the business coming from men and the category is showing the highest growth is a point to note. A noted men’s grooming start up getting series B funding from a famous consumer VC is the proof that this category is rapidly growing or rather tapping the potential of this category is in rigour. Similarly, silver economy (exclusive products/services to consumers above 60 years of age) potential market size is estimated to be Rs1L Cr is slowly making inroads and birth of Rainbow Economy (LGBTQA specific products/services) after the landmark judgement on Section 377 is another inclusion in markets of India.    

Disruptive Distribution/SCM – ecommerce and modern trade has already disrupted general retail trade to an extent by slowly capturing market share. In FY 19, General trade recorded 89% where as Modern Trade and ecom recorded 10% & 1% where as in FY 23 it is expected that market share will be 83%, 12% and 5% respectively, growth of ecom is going to be phenomenal which may reach 11% modestly before 2030 in all probability may displace modern trade. Recent news of retail chain scion claiming ‘phygital’ is only way ahead and a global retail giant rethinking on expansion of stores and positively betting on e-retail summarizes the inference which I drew. But the biggest chunk of sales - General trade or rather traditional trade will see a biggest disruption. Reliance announcing to enter into FMCG by selling in-house brands at kirana’s apart from own stores via distributors and the introduction of MPoS in Kirana stores has some story to tell about the disruption. Unlike telecom where the game was on Tariff predominantly to capture market share/subscriber base or even for that matter revenue here the game would be on data and distribution model to win over giants. Also to note is disruption which is being made in agriculture sector where start ups are cutting middle men and reaching agricultural products directly to retailers, when it can happen in Agriculture sector why can’t a disruption happen in FMCG where cutting of middle men could be far fetching dream of tomorrow.       

Brand Experience: As consumers are becoming more aware and will have more power to information, thanks to the mobile revolution brands have to turn themselves to be experience led rather just product/service. Three ‘P’ as I see could enhance Brand Experience – Premiumimization, Personalization, Being Purpose driven. Premiumization, Middle class of our country is slowly expanding this making the belly of the pyramid to bulge and bottom of pyramid to shrink. 30% of consumers are ready to shell out more money for better quality/standard products as Indian products are in general 10%-30% cheaper than global products. Personalization, in this era of Hyper personalization personalized products/services is going to be differentiator though scalability is going to be a challenge. Recently an Agarbathi company launched personalized Agarbathies basing on fragrance and length, yes you read it right. Now imagine the potential of the personalization, it is going to gather a huge winning edge. A global chocolate maker also launched an offering of personalization of chocolate to individual choice of ingredients. Purpose driven brands, consumers are more for purpose driven brands than the usual fad. 80% of purpose driven brands have outperformed in the market. 88% of affluent and 69% of non-affluent consumers like brands which give back to society. 

Nurturing Community: Personalization taking its root stronger is a chance for organizations to build and nurture community of its consumers for retention and make their brands preferred ones. Effective key accounts management in B2B is key differentiator for success of business, going a step closer to B2C Automotive organizations success is defined by After sales also recent springing of community of vehicle owners is great success story to relate for FMCG. There could be a time where this is the only way retain the loyal customer as continuous engagement of consumers could be a challenge without such forums. Community formation/nurturing will be a strategy for sustainable growth of brand revenue.     

While there could be many more which might be changing landscape for FMCG but I felt these four could take front seat. All the aforementioned obviously will have technology as an enabler but lets not forget the centre piece – Consumer Behaviour. Ofcourse consumer behaviour, core of any FMCG company based on which product innovation is decided can never be unseated from its prime space. It is anthropology which will enable organizations build winning products and preferred brands.    

Article References: Economic Times, Financial Express, Business Line, The Hindu, Mint, BCG 

Pics: Google Images, Brand Experience from https://medium.com/@sam.mackisack/what-is-brand-experience-bx-2f7102a806f6

Lost Leadership in Student Politics

Word Politics is a derived from Greek & defined as practice & theory of influencing others.  It involves in making decision for a group of people that would benefit all or majority of them in the group. Now let’s analyze the word Influence which can be of negative or positive in nature, a positive influencing will imperatively have a component - Influencing without authority. Does that happen in Present Politics?  Answering to aforementioned question is quiet difficult. Perhaps, that’s why Einstein quoted Politics is more difficult than Physics.  

What at all is student Politics? 

Student politics has been vital part of all educational institutions and should sturdily be encouraged. Elected student Union/President represents voice of all students and in many situations act as Single Point of Contact to Management.  They should time to time influence the management in enhancing quality of academics, living, amenities provided, admission process, cultural activity and many such integral part of education. Great example of an institution growing strengthened with Student Union Power is JNU with no doubts. It boasts eminence in Indian/International Society for quality of education or tuition fee or culture it imbibes. In fact in unaided institutions, where management is kept in plaid in connection to Fee/amenities provided only because of Student Union Voice. Broadly Student Politics can be classified into two broad terms – Student union working only on Student Unity with Management & Other is student union’s direct involvement with National Party Politics.

Student Politics making great impact dates long back to 1880’s where students along with Indian National congress mounted a protest against the practice of holding Indian civil examinations in England. Few other great movements involving student politics to make positive impact at national level are Non Cooperation Movement, Swadeshi Movement etc.,. Internationally as well there are as many examples to quote right from Indonesia to France to US all have gone through this splendour.

Do we have a similar scenario now? Do we fight for making a great positive impact? Has we lost

leadership in Student Politics which once was supposed to have given great structural change for

country to run better?

Have we lost the leadership in Student Politics?

Let’s consider two situations which our country recently succumbed to – episodes at Jawaharlal Nehru University & University of Hyderabad.

JNU is a great institution which is driven predominantly by Student union or unity; also could quote, have risen to the top only because of student union. While total glory goes to them for bringing it to the

top there seems to be a prodigious lag in adaptive leadership when it came to recent incident of Free Speech/Dissent. We all have differences of opinion and should appreciate/accept difference of opinion & have healthy debate to sort that out in a mutual way. Let’s not go until the fact was that a case of sedition at all. Coming to the primary purpose for which the concern was raised has two possibilities either Judiciary which is considered highest beyond anything in a republic was wrong or we the people do not have ability or maturity to understand the judiciary proceedings.  Going to the extent accepting the unacceptable that Judiciary proceeding being wrong, there is a better way debate about the past and bring a change as it requires.

Coming to episode of University of Hyderabad, With India clocking as one of leading nations with highest  rate of suicides amongst people aged 15 years to 29 years, there is no doubt educational institutes can escape the tragedy of Student Suicide. Let’s take two case of suicide – Student from University of Hyderabad which happened in January 2016 and another recent case of suicide/death in March 2016 from an engineering college in Chennai. There is a stark difference between how the case is being handled. Reasons for suicide is encountered to be different nevertheless both have ended the life. Life is a life; Lose is a loss for both parents. Losing a life is an unfortunate event with no doubt but something to ponder very resolutely is – Weather was that at all a right time to play politics having lost a life. From abhorrently publicizing the letters to letting national party politics come into campus during the loss. Each every step itself proves of lost leadership in student politics. It could have been handled better to seek justice.

In both the cases we witnessed one thing common – National Political Parties mostly the opposition taking center stage. Be it any political party, their intent was not to resolve the issue but to bloat it to further misery, every common man understands this but what awes is, student union failing to understand the intent of national political parties coming into the picture. Surfacing the fight between ruling party & opposition party in the abode of education was the heights of imprudence. Unfortunately educational institutes have become breeding grounds for controversies be it caste based or free speech

based where national parties descend like eagles seeking their prey - vote share or vote bank. The motive is to win Vote Shares and if not winning at least let’s make other party lose their vote share.  Leadership in the eyes of political parties is one man’s failure is other man’s joy at least with respect to aforesaid two instances. Sadly, they are anxious only about the result or destiny not the process. That is one of worst examples what they can set for young generation to come. That’s not what leadership is all about, it is beyond proving others failure. But unfortunately Leadership is wrongly portrayed time ad again by political leaders.  

In both the cases, if the intent is to bring a right change then there is always a way through to reach the destiny. May the journey be tough but destiny is achievable choosing right path. Irony is a wrong path is chosen and blame is given to path which is chosen. It is not the path which  will  change ever; it is mindset of students/people which needs a revamp.

What can be done for a better Student Politics?

Student Role:

First rallying/protesting should be stopped! In a rally/protest half of the population which is part of rally/protest would neither know the reason nor understand in depth reason for which the rally/protest is being taken on.  Instead concentrate on formulizing a process change or a strategy should be mapped as on to what and how to bring change. Channelizing it right is an art which needs to be learnt. Peace is the way ahead not protests!

Let us not waste tax payer’s money! Out of 1.2 Billion people in India meager 3.75 Cr people who are Individual Taxpayers paying income tax thus contributing to Direct Tax collections. Out of which roughly 90% of them are in the income slab of 0 to 5 Lakh rupees.  It is in all possibility that every individual who is salaried and paying tax has hard ship to maintain a family, ailing parents, education of children, housing loan etc., while they are pulling strings to meet the needs they are still forced to pay tax. And part of same which is being utilized as education subsidy, now the same when being not utilized for studies is just a great injustice student does to the working class.

Let’s work and improve the economy! India has an advantage of demography but the same can be an inordinate disadvantage when they are not employed. India has millions of job opportunity presently and in future to come but Industry yearning for skilled labour even with positive demography is a gloomy story defining demand supply mismatch in workforce. Why not get employed first to support the growing economy in order to further grow and drive a consumer based economy.

Government Role:

Spare Educational Institutes at least! Student unions have to be there with no doubts but delinking them with national political parties is an imperative step ahead for the educational institutions to imbibe education in it.

Setting a great example! Political leaders are seen as first rung leaders in any country, it is imperative that political leaders show students the right leadership right from taking on triumph/defeat to riding on one's own success rather on others defeat. 

India from present participle to past participle of “Rise”

The world is now reeling under a reverse serendipity process since 2008, it all started with subprime crisis in US which spared no corner of this globe followed by fall of PIGS economy. Later when the world was waking up to the recovery call, Middle East fell into turmoil; Japan was stuck by Tsunami affecting life and economy of the country. To add to the fiery issues recently US’s credit worthiness was downgraded by a notch to AA+ from AAA rating by S&P which again made the economy to lay tight, money streets across the world staggered under pressure. The rest is a story of juxtaposition. India had its own story, though the ripples of all plummet were felt. World is slowly turning its head towards east from west knowing the shift, China leading with its low cost manufacturing edge and India succumbing to rapid development because of IT drive and burgeoning spending class people. Recently RBI hiked interest rates 11th time since March 2010 to curb inflation by reducing consumption, still more are to come says sources from RBI. Yes, India is rising!! We have to gear up for a drive from present participle of “Rise” to past participle. India to reach a state of Enhanced Economy (EE) has to enable 4WD (4*4) with E Wheels.

Emancipate India:

The struggle episode on Janlokpal approval is lucid enough to prove on how bureaucracy is ruling instead the real democracy. India seriously is in a need of another dose of liberalization like in 1991. The policies/acts of the government are old enough to now dust it and amend. For instance Land acquisition act 1894 has had many amendments still the procedure is cumbersome with lots of money to be shelled out as a bribe. There has been repeated occurrence of scenes related to land acquisition Nandigram, Posco etc. Posco tried entering India with highest ever FDI since but is yet to even ground break, it’s been 6 years, never has the war calmed down. Drafting effective policies does not end it all, elementary education & health in rural India where 70% of population exists posses severe challenges despite of many policies and programs by government. Accessibility and availability of amenities are the serious problem, so whole system thinking is the solution for it. If interested in having a discussion regards to check www.takshashila.org.in , Takshashila is a independent think tank (NPO) concentrating on emerging challenges faced by our country, policy research etc. Where internal problems are warming up, external seems to be a boiling issue, it gives a feel that India is surrounded by guns ready to fire. China slowly ambushing Northeastern states, it is strange that a citizen of India needs permission to enter Arunachal Pradesh. China is slowly building rapport with our neighbors through FDI for instance China has pumped in $1.5 bn for Hambantota project and similarly there are much of investments entering for development. Pakistan episode has become a never ending story; Srilanka is also not spared from the list. Innovative solutions like FDI in these countries or development in these countries through tourism can help abate the external heat.

Energize India:

Energize has a profound implication, humans need energy, so is factories, offices, vehicles etc. The form of consumption might differ like food, oil, power but that forms the elixir, so is the quantity which might differ but is vital. India being second highly populated country and growing strongly on demographic divide will demand for lots of resources to sustain the lives better. Roti, Makaan, Kapda is not enough, the list should include pani and bijlee. 1/3rd of worlds hungry live in India, how a child will go to the school if not fed with food, Mid day meals was supposed to be answer but the bowl of mid day meals has huge hole which leaks because of corruption. In spite our country being 2nd largest producer of rice & wheat still India seemed to not end its hunger story, agriculture items worth 58000 Cr goes waste every year. Recent amendments proposed by a committee of Warehousing development & regulatory authority (WRDA) to have private players and such is a strategic move to decrease whooping food articles wastages in turn taming the present inflation. House seems to be a distant dream even for a software engineer, poor’s will never even think, Low cost homes did come but easy availability of cash for buying it was a obstruct. Power in India is ruled independently by states, majorly with no private participation. India even being fifth largest reserve for coal suffers shortages very often for coal, hampering the power production. While vidharbha in Maharashtra is stuck in famine, Kosi River in Bihar is flooding; rivers have turned to become states property. River connecting project across the nation’s length and breadth was a strategic move by NDA to rub off flood and famine from fate of our country which will also generate lakhs and lakhs of jobs in all corners is still a dream because of the political drama. India generates large amount of waste which is majorly disposed after treating, this should be considered as a huge resource to produce power, gas etc. Presently Himachal Pradesh is using plastic to pave roads. Mr. Gyanesh Pandey CEO of Husk power systems is an inspiration for electrifying rural India.

Educate India:

Education is a basic right of any child, Adult literacy rate which was 48.2% before liberalization (1991) is at 68.3% even after 20 years (2010) where as the target at 2010 was 80%. Demographic dividend is the winning edge for India with around 43% in age group of (15-59) working age which is expected to reach around 65% by 2035 after which is expected to taper to 61% by 2050. But this will be an advantage only if the whooping young population is educated and employed at the right time. Rural education is facing stern challenges in spite of huge investments like accessibilities, irregular teachers, poor PTR of 34:1(2008) far behind international standards, basic amenities like toilets blackboard, class rooms etc. Education which is a basic right is an inequality of opportunity because it is a costly affair when quality gets added. India should adopt PPP model to build schools of quality in rural India to attract students and retain them. IIT’s and IIM’s have strappingly demonstrated the ability to nurture best talents but the recent survey, Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings in 2010 has no Universities in Top 200 universities with IIT-M slipping 38 places to rank 225th this year. While on QS Asia list Japan has 57 universities in the top 200 list so is China with 40 and we have mere 11 universities. The financial times global MBA ranking 2011 has only 2 in the list of top 100. The higher education is in a serious need of thrust to accelerate and move faster to win an edge and be sustainable in developing talent which is the USP of India. Singapore is a good example to formulize higher education, it has got INSEAD setting up its campus, other world renowned institutes has tie up with local institutes for enhanced development of talent.

Entrepreneur the India:

Starting a business and becoming an entrepreneur is a dream for many Indians. But it needs many proportions to be looked for capital, resources, market, government procedures. Capital is now not a big issue with mushrooming VC’s which has also made India climb to 32nd position in the world. Market is huge as consumption era has just begun in India. But getting permits, registration from the government is a cumbersome process making India to slip to 137th position. It averagely takes minimum of a month (official) to start a business in India, but it takes more than a year or two to set up a business a decent scale. Apart from these frequent power cuts, huge corruption, labour laws adverse to employment generation, transportation delays because of ungainly tax systems. These all put the youngsters back to employment trap. Thus the motivation for becoming a entrepreneur vanishes away for all. GST if implemented would be great boon for entrepreneurs as it helps in delivering products soon and hassle free. The process of license clearance must be made easy and bribe free which our big house is not ready at this moment.
India obviously is in need of 2nd dose of policy reforms for making it a country ready for young and energetic populace who can build India smartly and bring it to the past participle of Rise. This needs a shift in the economy altogether we need to build a nation which is self sustained at least in basic needs like water, power, education, housing, health. Major restructuring should happen in the mindset of the people, which can effectively change the fate of the nation. Perhaps, leadership is all about using the available resources for building a better tomorrow. It is us, each and every soul of this mother nation are leaders who contribute a lot to the mystery called development. Lets build a smarter India!!

Inflation Vs Growth

Let me start by defining what Inflation is, the rate at which the general level of prices for goods & services soar which means the purchasing power of the country surge. Generally, a country tries to maintain single digit inflation rate, perhaps very less inflation is also downside for a country. To control the inflation central bank does tighten the monetary policy like increase in the interest rate. Increase in the interest rate has a side effect of curtailing the investment & employment thus the growth slumps. India saw a sharp downfall in growth for about 5 years after higher interest rates during 1995-96. Tussle subsists between Inflation & Growth always in any country, especially developing economies. Substantially in a country there exists one school of thought which says higher interest rate to contain inflation & other lower interest rates for better growth. Bone of contention!! For instance, recently RBI went for 2 subsequent hikes of interest rate with a hike of 25 bps on repo & reverse repo rate on 2^ndof July & another 25 bps on 27^thof July to contain the inflation. But going little bit pragmatic, as expressed earlier higher interest rates can lead to unemployment, so a person would prefer a low paying job with 12% of inflation rather than no job. So I put myself in the second school of thought, higher growth with less interest rate & inflation. But is this possible?

India uses CPI Consumer Price Index for the calculation of Inflation rate. India with over a billion of people, quality food for all seems to be a distant dream. This is predominantly because of higher food prices which a common man finds it difficult to pay. So containing food inflation is the first step towards curbing the inflation in our country. There are two strategies to curtail food inflation keeping the interest rates at bay. This will indeed check the sustainability of the agricultural sector as India is primarily dependent on agriculture.

1. Enhancing the productivity of farms.

2. Improved Public Distribution System (PDS)

Enhancing the productivity of farms:

Our agriculture chiefly depends on monsoon, we are betting on good monsoon this time which can indeed leave a positive impact on food inflation. But chasing monsoon each year is simply unfeasible. So improving on productivity of our farms will give a better yield & thus lower the prices of food. A study predicts that there is 6% increase in water consumption by agriculture sector by 2025. So the sustainability question is how to yield better with less usage of water or resources in genral? First, practice of effective use of resources like water, energy. Average farm size of India is 2.3; with 80% of the farms under 2 hectares. Predominantly Indian agricultural system uses flood irrigation which consumes water thrice more than what it should. So, low cost drip irrigation & use of treadle pump for irrigation is best for small plots. They are cost efficient & consumes less energy & water. Second, investment on R&D on agriculture sector should be increased & effective. For instance china along with researchers in Philippines has come out aerobic rice, a new way of growing rice in water shortage areas. So we should also concentrate on situation based innovation in this sector. For that government should invest on effective R&D. Third, agro business houses should take initiatives to enhance the production of the farms in our country & make it an attractive industry to work in by corporate tie-ups. There is an intimidation for shortage of skilled human resource base for farming as people are migrating to cities for better prospects or national acts such as NREGA which is attracting many farmers. For instance ITC’s agro business has joined hands with ICAR (Indian Council for Agricultural Research) to promote nutrition rich sorghum using e-choupal facilities. This kind of corporate bonding with agriculture would give confidence for the human resource to work & progress. So these 3 main conducts can better enhance the productivity of agricultural farms.

Improved Public Distribution System (PDS):

Despite India ranking 2^nd in the farm output & 2^nd largest producer of vegetables & fruits, food inflation is high. This calls for better supply chain of food products, Public Distribution System. For instance, 17.8 MT of wheat are lying with Food Corp of India (FCI) in open plinths, prices have escalated despite the huge buffer stock. A fresh estimate from the ministry of food processing says a whopping Rs 58,000 crore (Rs 580 billion) worth of agriculture food items get wasted in the country every year. So India seems to be a largest producer of food products but not the largest supplier. There has to be a complete revamp in the current supply chain system. First, Procurement should be done without intermediaries & with complete transparency. Second, Logistics & Warehousing in which the system calls for huge investment. This can be improved by having better cold storage units, silo system for different products, deployment of efficient manpower to take care of the same. Third, Distribution model in which the government has to revamp the way it worked by enabling technology in place. Proper deployment of technology like biometrics can improve on the system by reducing flaws like corruption & authoritative burglaries. So these 3 conducts can better reduce the wastage of food products which is directly proportional to food inflation.

These practices which are not insurmountable can bring about a positive change in growth of our country without having inflation as bane. For a better tomorrow, we ought to follow such sustainable practices to cater the growing population. If small potholes like this along the way are filled, we could easily build a smarter India.

Leadership crisis in India

When I asked a question “what is leadership?” to a class of 38, I got 3 answers, which were totally different from each other. Then I should not be surprised of what Mr. Warren Bennis, leadership expert said, he is aware of at least 860 definitions of leadership. So leadership is all about perception each has as what it is. According to me Leadership is all about POSITIVE ACTION THROUGH POSITIVE ATTITUDE. Now it is not take a genius to recognize what Leadership crisis is. It is collapse of positive action OR positive attitude.

Is India in leadership crisis? I would be criticized when some one hears this question. As everyone is aware that India is rapidly developing to become 2^nd largest economy sooner than later. But my answer will be a strong YES. Strange, then read yourself to understand where India is.

Government, Sports, Spiritual Institutions, Educational Institutions, Corporate & name any in India, is all shaken with scandals. The monetary situation in our country is so weak that the fiscal deficit is pegging at 6% summing up to 3.5 lakh cr of deficit(Rediff business, march 02 2010). The food inflation which directly affects common people like u & me is at 12.92 (data released on July 1st). Recent hike in the fuel prices which will add to the soaring inflation rate. If a leader wants a separate state then start a hunger strike, act of democracy. Although huge amount of monetary is spent on education the literacy of our country looks dismal. Recent Bhopal tragedy hearing left all Indians thwarted proving India to be No Action Talk Only country, NATO country. The above substantiations are just examples from recent past which clearly shows the LEADERSHIP CRISIS in India.

This article has 3 different stories explaining how the government, sports, business is need of leaders of Governance, Ethics, innovation. This will lead the country in transforming itself from where it is now.

Leadership in Ethics: Sports;

In 2010 IPL became the only sporting event to be screened in you tube. Its brand value was estimated to be 18000 cr the same year. According to global sports salaries review, IPL is the second highest-paid league, based on first-team salaries on a pro rata basis, second only to the NBA. It is estimated that the average salary of an IPL player over a year would be £2.5 million. The same brand which made each Indian across the planet to be proud made to feel ashamed one fine day. The whole IPL became a cocktail of sports, politics, glamour, money, business. Now BCCI & IPL famous brands of India are in need of complete refurbishment, leaving strong trail of unethical leadership. Is India in search of ETHICAL LEADERS?

Leadership in Governance: FDI handling;

While the economy shifts from west to east, there are number of companies who are wishing to set up their business in India presuming strong growth in future. The question is how much ready is Indian government to handle large monetary inflows. For instance 5 yrs before POSCO steel major Korean steel player signed a deal with centre to set up a steel plant of capacity of 12 mtpa with a monetary inflow of 50000 cr making it a largest FDI in India so far. The technology they wish to bring is very apt to our country, which utilizes Iron ore fines rather than lump & it is a CDM which attracts carbon credits. Moreover project will create 50000 direct & indirect employments with large share in indirect employment. Even after 5 complete yrs there is no progress in the project, as they are yet to ground break. They are still in the process of acquiring the land for the project. So this clearly shows dismal state of our policy of handling FDI. Is India in search of LEADERS IN GOVERNANCE?

Leadership in Business: Innovation;

International Innovative Index is a global index, measuring the level of innovation of a country. India ranks 56^th position out of 130 countries (Livemint March 04, 2010). This is because India spends less than 1% of its GDP on research & development. So is the case with business houses, their spending on research & development is very low when compared with their international counterparts. This also clearly pitches that how corporate have failed in engaging the employee with the business as people are the source of innovation. In India we can count easily the firms which are innovative, for E.g,. 3M India, for their product like scotch brite. TATS motors for their products like Ace, Nano. Are businesses in India need of LEADERS IN INNOVATION?

Yes, India is in need of leaders who can transform. Needless to say India is growing rapidly but the basic question is how sustainable is the development? To have a sustainable development we need to have good leaders who envision a better tomorrow in all terms of the nation. Needless to say if such a leadership crisis pertains throughout our development, India is sure to have its own Lehman brothers in the near future.