MG Arun
The Financial Express
Asked in an interview at the start of this decade whether the economic reforms introduced in 1991 had fundamentally changed corporate culture in India, Ratan N Tata, chairman of the $50-billion Tata Group had said, “I think the environment has become more competitive. That has made Indian industry more concerned with its customers, the quality of its products, and its brand image in the marketplace.”
Nine years on, these attributes hold true for Indian companies that have made a mark on the global scene, except that a new dimension had been etched on—size and scale—exemplified by Tata’s own steel firm, which snapped up the UK’s Corus Plc for a whopping $12 billion or Hindalco from the Aditya Birla Group, which bought Canada’s Novelis for $6 billion. At a time when Indian IT companies like Infosys, TCS and Wipro were raking in orders from the best multinational corporations with their quick delivery times and cutting edge services, the Indian automotive sector saw the entry and success of a host of foreign players, including Hyundai, Honda, General Motors, DaimlerChrysler and others, peppered with the aggressive growth of home-bred giants including Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland and the hitherto unbeatable Maruti Suzuki.
Corporates were also getting into the world of make-believe, and the media and entertainment sector saw fresh funds, a great deal of transparency, off-the-beaten-track themes, a fresh set of professionals who experimented with ideas on screen, the launch of channel after channel as more and more Indians became couch potatoes, then the DTH, IPTV... you name it. India was also becoming one of the fastest growing telecom markets in the world, driven by a wireless revolution kicked off by the undivided Reliance earlier this decade.
What followed saw the democratisation of the communication device, and top executives to fisherfolk and vegetable vendors became connected at the press of a button. Corporates like Bharti, Aditya Birla, Essar and BPL rushed in to catch this opportunity, and despite falling average revenue per user (ARPUs), the rush to amass subscribers continues unabated.
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