Knowledge@Wharton

Educating India�s �Demographic Dividend�: The Role of the Private Sector

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:47:45 EST

The growth prospects of the Indian economy depend to a large extent on how it tackles certain issues of intellectual capital today. The concern largely centers on the much-debated demographic dividend, or the rising proportion of working-age people in the country. The recent One Globe 2012 knowledge conference in New Delhi emphasized the role that industry needs to play in teaching and training the next generation of India’s workforce.

Can YES Bank, India's Youngest and Fastest-Growing Bank, Be a Model for Newer Entrants?

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:26:16 EST

Banking is fundamentally a simple business: You borrow money at a low rate of interest and lend it out at a higher rate. And yet so many financial institutions -- in India and across the globe -- have proved unsustainable. YES Bank, one of the beneficiaries of the Reserve Bank of India's new licenses in 2004, seems to have bucked the trend and has an ambitious plan for growth. But the institution's exposure to some troubled companies and sectors could be a roadblock, observers say, and YES will have to become more aggressive and react even faster to gain a foothold on some of its larger competitors.

Snapdeal's Kunal Bahl on Creating a 'Discovery Platform' for Indian Consumers

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:42:11 EST

In less than two years, Snapdeal, a group discounting site in India, has grown to become one of the leading e-commerce sites in the country. According to co-founder Kunal Bahl, deals are only an entry point into the customer’s life. The vision, he says, is to build a brand that participates in consumers' lives every day, across product and service categories.

Amid Worries of a Slowdown, Charting India's Future Growth Trajectory

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:35:35 EST

India's growth trajectory has been losing some direction recently, a victim of political bickering and an economic slowdown. Though concerned about the deceleration, Indian business leaders attending the recent 16^th annual Wharton India Economic Forum in Mumbai remained upbeat about the country's long-term potential. They also offered suggestions about how India could regain some of the lost momentum.

Will India's Current Diversification Trend Pay Off for Companies?

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 10:43:06 EST

Reliance Industries, India’s leading private sector company, has garnered notice with its recent announcement of a major foray into the media and entertainment sector. Reliance’s move is also reflective of a larger trend of companies moving outside their comfort zones. Of course, diversifications are not new to Indian firms. But unlike earlier, the current spate of activities is strategically driven, rather than mere opportunism. There have been some failures, however, and the final outcome of many of these efforts remains to be seen.

Nielsen India President Piyush Mathur: 'If We Can Keep Our Best People, It Will Be Very Hard for Us to Fail'

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:11:29 EST

Nielsen India president Piyush Mathur sees India as one of the fastest-growing markets, both as an economy and for his own business. But the problem, he says, will be retaining talent. Nielsen has put in place a system that motivates talent to stay with the company. The global information firm is now introducing its international products in India, he notes in this interview with India Knowledge@Wharton.

Lawyer Morris DeFeo: Why Partnerships Are Key for Outsiders Navigating the Indian Legal System

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:11:24 EST

India has its own legal system, regulations and heritage. It is difficult for an American lawyer to chart his way through that maze. The way to do that is to tie up with an Indian legal firm, says Morris DeFeo, a partner with the Crowell & Moring corporate group. DeFeo is head of the law firm’s India and MENA (Middle East-North Africa) practice. But both sides of any partnership must accept that they have much to learn from each other, notes DeFeo in this interview with India Knowledge@Wharton.

New Strategies for a Rapidly Changing Indian Economy

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:11:19 EST

Inflation has become the biggest worry confronting India's government, its people and its corporate environment today. The government is rolling out measures -- essentially interest rate hikes -- albeit without much effect. People are tightening their belts and reworking household budgets. Companies are evolving innovative strategies and have met with some success. Inflation and its impact on consumer spending and corporate marketing was the subject of a Nielsen India conference titled, "Consumer 360 India," held in Delhi in November. While the gathering didn’t -- and couldn’t -- address the core problem of inflation, it did offer some solutions in terms of corporate strategy.

Ignighter�s Adam Sachs: Making an Impact on India's Dating -- and Start-up -- Scene

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 11:30:37 EST

India wasn't even on Adam Sachs's radar when he and two friends founded Ignighter, a dating site that allows users to organize group dates. But the site quickly attracted the most traffic from India and other Asian countries, where one-on-one dates are still not the norm and young people going out in coed groups is more widely accepted. Ignighter has now turned its focus to India and recently set up an office there. In an interview with India Knowledge@Wharton, Sachs discussed the company's growth plans and how it is negotiating the ins and outs of navigating India's cultural landscape.

Husk Power Systems: Generating Electricity from Waste for India�s Rural Poor

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 10:56:51 EST

Entrepreneurs Gyanesh Pandey and Ratnesh Yadav have designed a system that generates electricity out of rice husk, a waste material. Their company, Husk Power Systems, is providing power to more than 35,000 rural households in Bihar, a state where around 85% of the population does not have access to reliable electricity. Pandey and Yadav are hoping to light up one million households by 2014. Experts are bullish about the company, but warn that scaling up operations will not be easy.

Stylitics: Mining Data from Fashion

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 10:42:41 EST

Would you trust a computer to design your wardrobe? The co-founders of Stylitics, a start-up that combines fashion with the burgeoning field of analytics, hope the answer is yes. But the company's strategy is as much about attracting corporate clients as it is about building a community of fashionistas. Stylitics employs an analytics platform to track and gain insights from users' clothing choices and purchase behaviors. With the right mix of users, the firm is hoping to become an alternative to the fragmented and often out-of-date market research that retailers have traditionally used to identify trends.

Aegis�s Sudhir Agarwal: Mastering the Softer Side of M&A

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 10:42:37 EST

Sudhir Agarwal, president of global M&A and business transformation at Aegis, an outsourcing services firm, says acquisitions typically fail because not enough attention is paid to the "softer" aspects of integration. In a conversation with India Knowledge@Wharton, Agarwal discusses current trends in the outsourcing industry, what his company has learned from past acquisitions and why integration after a merger is, above all, about dealing with the emotions of the employees.

The Authors of 'Poor Economics' on Ending Poverty

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:19:22 EST

MIT economists Abhijeet Banerjee and Esther Duflo approach global poverty much as a medical researcher might set about finding the treatment for a disease: They believe in conducting small, randomized trials to see what works, what doesn't and why. Their book, Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty, explains this approach. Last week, the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs named it the best business book of 2011. Knowledge@Wharton spoke with Banerjee and Duflo at a conference in Goa, India, about their concepts and how they can help rescue millions from destitution.

Mahindra Satyam�s C.P. Gurnani on Opportunity, Innovation and Uncertainty

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 11:14:57 EST

The environment for entrepreneurs in India is much changed since C.P. Gurnani, CEO of Mahindra Satyam, entered the workforce in the 1980s. Today, he says, there are myriad opportunities for those willing to deal with uncertainty. In an interview with India Knowledge@Wharton, Gurnani discussed his career trajectory, what he sees as a burgeoning environment for innovation in India and the challenge of integrating disgraced IT services company Satyam after Mahindra acquired it in 2009.

The Vanity Deal: Why Indian Firms Are on a Buying Spree

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 14:56:58 EST

Indian companies are on a buying spree. While some acquisitions are in sync with the firms' existing businesses, others are buys designed to catapult the company making the purchase into the global arena. Chinese and Japanese firms have been making similar moves for years, and Indian companies are only now catching up. But experts caution that the businesses must be careful to choose "trophy" purchases that will enhance shareholder value.

Wharton's Harbir Singh: How Indian Firms Can Take Advantage of Global Opportunities

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 10:45:31 EST

At an event held in Mumbai recently, Harbir Singh, co-director of Wharton's Mack Center for Technological Innovation, discussed what is needed for Indian businesses to compete in the global landscape. According to Singh, while many Indian companies have the potential to be world-class, complacency and a lack of diversity within organizations are areas of concern.

Importing Efficiency: Can Lessons from Mumbai's Dabbawalas Help Its Taxi Drivers?

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:19:42 EST

On a superficial level, Mumbai's taxi drivers and its dabbawalas -- organized porters who carry cooked lunches to office workers -- seem to have a lot in common. Both come from marginalized socio-economic groups. Their average education is up to the eighth grade. They belong to a low-skill, working class category and service the city’s middle class. Why, then, are their reputations so radically distinct? While taxi drivers are constantly in the news for reports of bad behavior, the dabbawalas have been cited as a case study of efficiency. Can best practices from the latter help change the taxi drivers' working conditions -- and their image?

In Kashmir, Entrepreneurs and Educators Preach Optimism and Self-Reliance

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 14:10:02 EST

Violence has long plagued India's troubled Kashmir Valley. But a new crop of local entrepreneurs and educators are working to reach a generation of young Kashmiris hoping to be a part of India's remarkable growth story. There remains a strong local belief that government jobs are the best in providing stability. Yet a recent report found many young Kashmiris are interested in entrepreneurship, and there is rising interest in pursuing an MBA. One entrepreneur, Abdul Hamid Bhat, is on a mission to promote private enterprise and reduce an over-reliance on the government sector.

India Equity�s Steven Wisch: Creating a Business Environment with the Best of Both Worlds

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 14:10:02 EST

During his first stint in India, Steven Wisch, founder and managing partner of private equity firm India Equity Partners, was struck by the quality of the entrepreneurs there, even though at the time it was “a very tough place to do business.” In a conversation with India Knowledge@Wharton, Wisch discussed the lingering challenges and frustrations of the Indian market and what Indian companies and managers have to offer the world.

Can (and Should) Bollywood Go Hollywood?

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 14:10:02 EST

Corporatization is changing Bollywood -- as India's Hindi-language film industry is popularly known -- offering new opportunities for investment in a sector that is expected to be worth US$2.7 billion by 2015. Companies are finding more legitimate avenues, such as banks, to finance their films, and diversifying revenue streams to move beyond box office receipts. While some worry that the shift clashes with traditional methods of filmmaking, others say that it's not happening fast enough.