Amazon and Flipkart competing hard to figure when Diwali begins.
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Mukesh Ambani’s Jio, launched in 2016, with its aggressively underpriced service has risen to meet the increasing appetite of massive internet consumption in rural and suburban India. Jio is the Amazon of India, dominating the internet market and also making massive inroads into the granular retail market. Competitors in hushed tones are wary of Jio’s size and dominance, but customers absolutely can’t do without it due to price and convenience. Personally speaking, Jio absolutely transformed my travel experience in India.
Leave a CommentIn light of the recent conflicts, India has made a move to ban TikTok and Wechat and 57 other apps, made by firms that are all based in China. This ban is a big loss for ByteDance, as TikTok had surprisingly “cracked” the challenging mobile market in India. I explain the appeal of Tiktok in India. The issue with the Indian market typifies that challenges that face Chinese Internet firms that seek to go global.
Leave a CommentIn light of the ongoing skirmishes in Ladakh region the Indian subcontinent, I came across an interesting essay by Peter Worthington, who co-founded Toronto Sun (and who was its editor-in-chief for 12 years), on his first-hand observations in India-China conflict of 1962. It is an informative essay despite its brevity, with many highlights including a searing description of the valor of Sikh units despite the loss, an interview with sorrowful Nehru is visited by a large rat running across the carpet (Worthington feels sorry for him), and an interlude with Dalai Lama where he reminisces about Heinrich Harrer (played by Brad Pitt in Seven Years in Tibet). Both India and China seemed embarrassed – one because was defeated so easily,…
Leave a CommentBillionaire Raj by James Crabtree compares growth of the economy in South India to South East Asia, which is an apt comparison. Crabtree’s book is an overview of the billionaire oligarchs who rose to power post the liberalization of Indian economy in 1991. The name “Billionaire raj” (“raj” ~ empire/rule) is a homage to the phrase “license raj”. License Raj was the term to describe the rule of the erstwhile socialist Indian government that used to pick winners with license to operate. […]
Leave a CommentThe Anarchy covers the rise of East India Company (EIC) from the arrival of Thomas Roe in 1608 at Surat, all the way up to the Battle of Delhi in 1803. It is a fascinating and an expansive topic. For Indian readers, it is also a somber read as we know and reflect how the next hundred odd years unfolded. EIC with its crown-blessed untrammeled monopoly rights subjugated ancient empires, appropriated massive wealth, and dovetailed the direction of a subcontinent forever.
There has never been a multinational corporation that was as powerful, as nimble, as unregulated and as successful as the East India Company. In fact, East India Company may have been the first corporation that was “too big to fail”, when it was rescued by a massive bailout in 1773, by the members of British Parliament, many of whom owned stake in EIC.
Leave a CommentSupply chain duels, like wars of conflict, are now increasingly global. Walmart and Amazon are entrenched in a long fight to win over e-commerce market in India.
It has been about 16 months from when Walmart acquired Flipkart to make inroads into India. Now, Walmart in India is making a pivot to B2B.
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