We indeed live in a strange world. While Tata Motors has tried to put car ownership within the reach of millions of Indians, an altogether different company belonging to the Murugappa group is making an effort to wean away people from cars by offering them a bicycle. And this is no ordinary bicycle. As per a leading daily, each cycle is a good 3-5 kgs lighter than the ones available in the market and has been handcrafted and fitted with tubeless tyres and cutting edge technologies in shock absorbers and gears. Already surprised? Well, the most surprising part is yet to come. And it lies in the bicycle’s price. The company has priced the most premium model, hold your breath, at a whopping Rs 2 lakh. Nearly twice the price of Tata Nano! And just as Tata Motors is confident that the Nano will sell like hot cakes, even this company is quite bullish on the prospects of its products. After all, it reckons that the market for such bicycles is growing at a rate of 25% annually. Indeed, when one is talking of a total market size of just 7,000 units, a growth of 25% does look like a small number.
It is important to look at the holistic picture and have an individual opinion rather than get swayed away by the public consensus. This is the view of the man who pioneered the retailing boom in India - Mr. Kishore Biyani, the founder of India’s largest retailing company - Pantaloon. In an article in the Wall street Journal, Mr. Biyani wrote, "Almost daily doses of bad news on television screens and newspapers have possibly done as much damage to the economy as the events on either side of the Atlantic." I completely agree with him. Mr. Biyani’s predicament is based on the fact that an overwhelming majority of Indian consumers are self-employed, who can neither get laid off nor can have pay cuts. Consider some statistics he has provided. The share of the national income represented by proprietor-run concerns and partnerships is 35%. The share of companies is around 15%, government around 25%, and agriculture around 25%. Combine agriculture and the self-employed in industry a...
Comments