Building 'Brand India'
“Brands are not what we think of ourselves, but what others think of us,” emphasised V Raghunathan, economist & author at a recent event, where he addressed the long-standing discussion on 'the barriers to brand building'.
He narrated an event from 1989 when he was in Paris and was shocked to see imported goods that were identical to those from native India. The salesperson explained to him that they labelled the products as 'imported in India' so they could be called luxury goods. They were referred to as 'imported' so that the item could be returned to its country of origin, in case of a defect.
Raghunathan held that the main obstacle to developing a brand is a lack of transparency. Consequently, a nation must also be transparent. The areas needed to be worked on, in order to make a nation/ brand bigger, include intolerance, lack of trustworthiness, preconceived bias, lack of scientific approach, and the absence of a system. In addition, he emphasised that inventiveness, empathy and knowledge are fundamental to his worldview.
Manish Sabharwal, Chairman, Teamlease Services further spoke on India@100- reform agenda for the next 25 years. He highlighted how India's five-year plan was a disaster overall, thereby leaving the country with a labour shortage. He continued, "Our country has enough land, labour, and capital. In truth, the country is fortunate in that a new era of employment, education, and financial satisfaction has arrived. Consequently, the country is no longer required to adopt the western culture."
In the end, he suggested that the focus must be on the six options available- urbanisation, decentralisation, formulation, industrialisation, financialisation, and human capital.
