02 JULY 2022 BW BUSINESSWORLD

Now, as the Tatas take over AI, I have I am Founder charge and talk about problems and solutions. Attitudes change
several suggestions keeping customer Editor of as people become aware of what they are doing wrong and what
value in mind. I work in the area of cus- the Journal they should be doing. Customer Circles have worked at the Tatas,
tomer value and creating value. We have of Creating Birla’s, L&T etc.
a value school at Kobe University in Ja- Value with Ability: Much of this is innate, but some comes from learning
pan, one at the Japan Advanced Institute Phil Kotler, and experience. A great mind-set helps here.
of Science and Technology, a Value Re- Steve Vargo,
search Centre at the Doshisha University; Jag Sheth Ability is important to be caring
a Value Creation Centre at Aalborg, Den- and Tata’s Agility: This comes from a mind-set and mental make-up
mark and one at the University of Mary- Mukundan Adaptability: Being able to change with the circumstances
land. I am Founder Editor of the Journal on the Board. Anticipation: Being able to be ahead of others by forward think-
of Creating Value with Phil Kotler, Steve We have done ing and view. Part of this comes from a sixth sense which is de-
Vargo, Jag Sheth and Tata’s Mukundan customer veloped in your mind
on the board. We have done customer value work Ambidextrousness: Capability of doing more than one thing
value work for Tata Power, Tata Fertiliser, for Tata at a time; capacity to think of different things
Tata Chemicals, SAIL, Birlas, ITC etc. Power, Tata
Fertiliser, Tata There was great hope for the Tatas at AI. Please do not let
7As for leaders Chemicals, things get out of hand. Work on the problems
I mention this to show the world is em- SAIL, Birlas,
bracing value. I believe in co-creation ITC etc. uAppoint a problem noter and a problem solver particularly
and co-operation (two people working I mention on what the customer sees. For example, does the check in work
or operating together to get a mutually this to show and is it synchronised with what the check-in counter gets? Does
value creating solution). the world is the seat work, does the TV screen work, do the escape jackets
embracing work? Is safety in place? Solve these problems pronto. I was told
Also, I suggest my 7A’s for Creating value. I spare controllers for the inflight screens do not exist. Why not?
Value for Air India: believe in co- You have no excuse for not having spares on-ground at least.
creation and
7As for executives holds for leaders co-operation Also, do not stop at solving individual problems. If the prob-
also: (two people lem is systemic, change the system so that others do not have
Awareness: Leaders and executives and working or the same problem.
frontline people must be aware of things operating
around them, they must be curious, they together to Remember, that very few customers complain and even fewer
must want to know more. get a mutually do something about it, like I am trying to do.
value creating
If executives do not notice the staff not solution) v What causes staff to get frustrated? Use Customer Centric
wearing masks or poor air conditioning, Circles to solve their problems, and you will solve many cus-
how can you change the situation? tomer problems also.
Attitude: Your people must have a super
attitude, positive, forward thinking and wDo not run the airline with bean counters but with a heart.
multi-dimensional. Able to be strategic Most passengers will accept problems if they are brought into
and innovative to practical. Some execu- the loop. Use co-creation and co-operation.
tives are functional in thinking, and this
needs to change. Mind-set plays a major x See how you can sell faulty seats with discounts (so the
role. customer knows what he is getting into). How can you have full
planes? How do you make sure everything works? Prioritise
If you promise, your attitude must engineering, safety, good planes that take-off and land, and
make sure you follow through, which happy passengers when they take off and when they land. I am
Aruna did not. Or you must have the sure the Tatas are trying all these.
wonderful attitude of the in-flight
crew. y As for attitudes of the ground staff, get this changed. Use
Customer Centric Circles approach as told in my book Total
If you do not try to get things rectified, Customer Value Management.
then problems get larger. If you do not
notice (awareness) or do not care (atti- Get people to be aware and get the 7As. Don’t try to get to
tude) how can things be rectified? customer delight on day one. That may impact only a few cus-
tomers. That will come with time. However, get the basics right
We have run customer centric circles and you will reach the top. Work on this!
to get frontline people and staff to take
As my son said to me, imagine if you were flying cattle
class.

You can reach the author at
[email protected] for your comments

[email protected]

51 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

COVER STORY DIGITALINDIA

The pandemic highlighted the
benefits of a robust digital network
globally. India has made significant
progress in the digital public
infrastructure (DPI) space. An
Omidyar Network India and Boston
Consulting Group report estimates
that by 2030, ten high potential
National Open Digital Ecosystems
(NODEs) in sectors like health,
agriculture, justice, etc.., could
collectively create new economic
value of over $500 billion (more
than Rs 35 lakh crore)

By Jyotsna Sharma

LWTIHFOEERDILNIDGITAL

ES, WE BLAME THE PANDEMICforalot,butwemustagree
that it did push innovation and progress light years ahead. The
need for a robust digital public infrastructure (DPI), especially
digital Identity and digital payments, were most beneficial
when the pandemic struck. In India, we have been leaders in

Ybuilding a population-scale digital ID initiative and digital
payments infrastructure such as the Unified Payments Inter-
face (UPI).
There’s been a lot of conversation about the Open Network for Digital Commerce
(ONDC) recently. This initiative was born out of the pandemic. More specifically,
the Ministry of Commerce and Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal
Trade (DPIIT) understood the problem people faced buying and selling goods during
the pandemic. It came up with the ONDC, so it may be a bridge between sellers and

53 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022 Photograph by Unsplash

COVER STORY DIGITALINDIA

“The team’s PIYUSH GOYAL, Union Minister of Commerce
philosophy was not “UPI can become the lowest cost payment system of the
to create something world. UAE is in talks with us to see if they can take UPI
proprietary but there. Similarly, the Open Network for Digital Commerce
something on an open- (ONDC) initiative will democratise ecommerce.”
source foundation.
They then looked at
the backend protocol
that was already
available as a standard
protocol, used by
many sectors like
mobility and health
and asked whether
ONDC could adopt that
protocol with this idea
of creating an open
foundation,”
T.Koshy, CEO, ONDC

buyers. “The team’s philosophy was not to create something digital public infrastructure (DPI), and added that the pen-

proprietary but something on an open-source foundation. etration of smartphones and the low cost of data had laid the

They then looked at the backend protocol that was already foundation for disruptive innovation at scale. He added that

available as a standard protocol, used by many sectors like with digital infrastructure like IndiaStack, Healthstack, Lo-

mobility and health and asked whether ONDC could adopt gistics Stack, CoWIN, the next trillion-dollar companies can

that protocol with this idea of creating an open foundation,” becreatedinIndia. TheONDCwasincorporatedasaSection

said T. Koshy, CEO, ONDC in a conversation with our team. 8 company and a large number of public and private sector

The ONDC is a network of multiple platforms coming companies have collaborated with the network. All eyes are

together where interoperability is key. The network’s success now set on how it scales up over the next few months.

depends upon people joining. The team believes that once

the sellers and buyers understand that they will be a part of a Making Progress

onebillion-plusconsumermarket,beingonthisnetworkwill Shilpa Mankar Ahluwalia, Partner, Shardul Amarchand

almostbecomecompulsory.“Thesamethinghappenedwith Mangaldas & Co. says that India’s DPI space, founded on the

UPI; if you remember, the existing wallet players wouldn’t Aadhaar framework, is now widely regarded as one of the

have even expected that we have the capability in India to global best for distribution of not just public benefits but also

move from 300 million transactions a month, to six billion privategoods.Paymentproductshave,forthelargepart,been

transactionsamonthinfouryears.Thedesignmadeitpossi- thefirstpointofcontacttoonboardcustomersontothedigital

ble, and ONDC’s plan will make it pos- infrastructure for financial products.

sible for the digital commerce space,” Once a digital Once a digital distribution chan-
said Koshy. The ONDC was launched nel exists, it can be used to deliver (in

end of April and by August they plan to distribution channel addition to payments) insurance, in-
be present in 100 cities, and throughout exists, it can be vestment, credit products and many
the nation by the end of the year. used to deliver other financial products. Similarly,
digital apps and services (such as food
Quite recently, at a summit where

he was speaking, the Minister of Com- (in addition to delivery, travel, entertainment and
merce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, payments) insurance, ecommerce) are increasingly looking
Food and Public Distribution and Tex- for ways to become the “single point of
tiles, Piyush Goyal said that ONDC investment, credit contact” for their large customer bases

would democratise ecommerce and products and many via partnerships and also by adding on
protect small businesses by granting other financial newer product categories to their own
them equal opportunity. He lauded products portfolios. The industry will see greater
India on leading the way in building consolidation and the emergence of

Photographs by Ritesh Sharma, PIB 54 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

WHAT THEY SAID..

R.S. SHARMA, CEO, National Health
Authority -
“The @ondc_official is all set to
#promote #Interoperability | be scalable
| #smallbusiness friendly | Enabler with
minimalistic public #Digital #Infrastructure”

PM MODI (In Mann ki Baat ) NANDAN NILEKANI,
“Online payments are helping to build Ex-Chairman, UIDAI -
the digital economy, transactions worth “@ONDC_Official is a coalition of govt. reps,
Rs 20,000 crore seen daily,” public-spirited folks & market participants.
It seeks to expand the retail market for the
most important member of the ecosystem:
The small seller/kirana store that deserves a
fair chance to participate in the ecommerce
revolution.”

ANIL AGARWAL, Additional

Secretary, DPIIT: THE SUCCESS
“With ONDC, small businesses OF AADHAR
will be able to use any network-
compatible app instead of being

governed by specific platform- n As on 31st October 2021, the
centric policies. This opens up Authority had issued 131.68 crore
multiple options for them to be Aadhaar numbers to the residents of
discoverable over the network India.
and conduct their business,” n AADHAR eased the way for
vaccination through the CoWIN

portal.
n By linking the Aadhaar with the

larger players. She stressed that strong consumer and data Universal Account Number (UAN)
protection will be central to sustainable growth of digital for the Employees’ Provident Fund
platforms going ahead. Organisation (EPFO), chances of
errors, fake accounts and duplication
The Government of India and the Ministry of Electronics become much less.
and Information Technology (MeitY) are working on build- n Aadhaar-Ration Card linking to
ing an ecosystem to leverage digital platforms for transforma- reduce error and ease the process
tive governance, social, and economic good across sectors n Used on the Tax portal and also
such as health, education, agriculture, and real estate, etc. by banks, and insurance companies
However, the question that most people tend to ask is, how for authentication and validation of
secure is our data? They want a seamless experience with information

high security.

To build sustainable and responsible platforms, MeitY

worked on initiatives such as a Personal Data Protection value of over $500 billion (over Rs 35 lakh crore).

(PDP) Bill, a policy on Open APIs for the Government of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her 2022-

India, an Electronic Consent framework, and also, a Com- 23Budgetspeech,mentionedinitiativesfortheimplementa-

mittee of Experts on the governance of non-personal data. tion of ODEs in some of these sectors. The healthcare sector

They also led the conversation on the National Open Digital wasonesuchsector,whereanopenplatformwasannounced

Ecosystems (NODEs) and even put out a whitepaper for for the National Digital Health Ecosystem under the Ayush-

public consultation. The NODEs are open and secure digital manBharatDigitalMission(ABDM).Thiswouldhavedigi-

deliveryplatformsguidedbytransparentgovernancemecha- tal registries of health facilities and healthcare providers,

nisms. These will enable a community of partners to unlock health identity, and universal access to health facilities.

innovative solutions to transform societal outcomes. Similar announcements were made for agriculture, labour

AnOmidyarNetworkIndiaandBostonConsultingGroup andskilldevelopment,educationandothersectors.Whilewe

report estimates that by 2030, ten high potential National have made headway in the digital space and are moving in

OpenDigitalEcosystems(NODEs)insectorslikehealth,ag- therightdirection,checksandbalancesneedtobeinplaceto

riculture,justice,etc.couldcollectivelycreateaneweconomic ensure the successful implementation of these initiatives.

55 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

COVER STORY OPENINGESSAY

THE UPI IF WE REVISIT THE ISSUES that have made head-
MOMENT lines in the ecommerce space in recent years, three
IN INDIA’S broad concerns come to light that consequently aided
ECOMM companies like Amazon and Flipkart to monopolise
MARKET ecommerce in India. The first area of concern is the
abuse of aggregator superpower through the inventory mod-
el. The second is deep discounting practices, which kicked
brick-and-mortar stores out of the race. The third area of con-
cernpertainstoanti-competitionpracticessuchas imitating
products and using algorithms to manipulate search results
to influence consumers to buy these products.

According to a Reuters estimate, Amazon and Walmart’s
Flipkart currently control more than 60 per cent of the mar-
ket. Monopolies or duopolies are hindrances to establishing
a free market, a concept that the government encourages.
Post demonetisation, when wallet-based digital payments
saw a boom, the government’s aggressive push for the Unified
Payments Interface (UPI) platform changed the game. A year
after that, UPI beat e-wallets in terms of the value of trans-
actions. In May this year, the platform crossed the milestone
of Rs 10 trillion worth of transactions, processing nearly six

With the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), the Indian
government aims to make ecommerce more inclusive, bringing small
businesses within its ambit. To get there though, its offerings need to be
on a par with those of the existing market players. By Arjun Yadav

56 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

billion payments during the month. tions, promote the inclusion of suppliers, derive efficiency in

On 29 April, when the government launched the Open logistics, and enhance value for consumers,” says Nandan

Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), the intention cer- Nilekani, member of the advisory council on ONDC.

tainly was a replay of the UPI success story in the ecommerce

space. Ironically, a day before the launch, the Competition The Numbers

Commission of India (CCI), raided Amazon and Flipkart With this decentralised approach, the ONDC plans to in-

over unethical practices that were creating a divide between creaseecommercepenetrationto25percentofallconsumer

corporate sellers and small businesses on their platforms. purchases in the next two years, up from about eight per cent

ThisispreciselythehiatusthattheONDCstrivestobridge. at present. It expects to sign up 900 million buyers and 1.2

It aims to democratise ecommerce and create a level playing million sellers on the shared network, with a gross merchan-

fieldbygettingkiranas(mom-and-popstores)andunorgan- dise value of $48 billion. India’s ecommerce business was

isedretailersontothenetwork,allowingthemaspacethatthe valued at more than $55 billion in gross merchandise value

ecommerce giants deny them now. in 2021, according to government estimates, and is expected

An interesting aspect to note here is that when the idea of to expand to $350 billion by the end of the decade.

this network was conceived during the Among the stakeholders, the State

pandemic in April 2020, the govern- Bank of India has picked up a 7.84 per

ment decided that it shouldn’t fund the cent stake worth Rs 10 crore, and the

platform. The philosophy of the gov- Punjab National Bank has picked up

ernment then was that it should give a 9.5 per cent equity worth Rs 25 crore.

fillip to economic growth rather than This was followed by Kotak Mahindra

make money for itself. The ONDC, Bank, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank, all

therefore, got registered as a Section of whom lined up to buy equity valued

8 company, that is, one that promotes at Rs 10 crore each.

non-profit objectives. The UPI is arguably the best example

of India’s success in digital transforma-

Beyond Platform Centric Model tive solutions. Wallet players who re-

To understand the ONDC concept sisted it initially lost track and eventu-

better, consider this example. India’s ally had to embrace it. When it comes to

ecommerce market doubled between ONDC and the ecommerce space, the

2017 and 2020, but this growth came dynamics are totally different and not

when the space was or, rather is even “ONDC is a globally first-of-its- just limited to monetary transactions.
today, dominated by platform-centric kind initiative that aims to democ- There’s a whole interconnected chain
models that have their challenges and ratise digital commerce, moving it from sellers to buyers, logistics to pay-
limitations. Put simply, in this model, from a platform-centric model. It ments and the post-buying experience
the buyers, sellers and other services is based on open-sourced meth- for the consumers.
like logistics and payments are inte- odology, using open specifica-
grated on that platform and, in effect, tions and open network protocols, Over the years, players like Amazon
have a centralising tendency. If the and is independent of any specific and Flipkart have invested enormous
buyer wants to buy from any other platform. It is expected to digitise amounts of money to perfect each of
platform, he would have to switch to the entire value chain” these aspects, which has led to a loyal
another platform or, in other words, NANDAN NILEKANI customer base for these platforms. The
use another application to make that ONDC will have to offer something
comparable in each of these aspects for

possible. its success. Only players who have en-

The ONDC has a decentralised network approach. A sim- sured a smooth discovery of products and customer delivery

ple example of this could be a buyer searching for a keyboard experience have succeeded in this space.

on Amazon, and the search results including all keyboards It will also be interesting to see the participation of these

from all other players like Amazon who have integrated with players in integrating on this network as it is voluntary. We

ONDC. “ONDC is a globally first-of-its-kind initiative that must remember that the UPI’s success was because of the

aimstodemocratisedigitalcommerce,movingitfromaplat- banking sector’s active participation. However, the leader-

form-centric model. It is based on open-sourced methodol- ship at ONDC is confident that established players will join

ogy, using open specifications and open network protocols, because of the compulsions of the market.

and is independent of any specific platform. The ONDC is The ONDC does give hope for small businesses. Will it

expectedtodigitisetheentirevaluechain,standardiseopera- replay the UPI success story? Well, only time will tell.

57 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

ONDC INTERVIEW

“OUR BIGGEST
FOCUS IS
TO GIVE SMALL
BUSINESSES
ACCESS TO LARGE
MARKETS”

TheOpenNetworkforDigital Please tell us more about how the idea of ONDC came about?
Commerce(ONDC)aimsto The Open Network for Digital Commerce’s genesis is due to the pandemic.
democratiseecommerce During Covid-19 triggered lockdowns and disruptions throughout the chain,
bybringingsmallbusinesses businesses were challenged in reaching markets and getting goods. The Min-
andunorganisedretailers istry of Commerce and Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal
onlineandincreaseIndia’s Trade (DPIIT) understood this concern and began exploring ways and means
ecommercepenetrationto to bridge the gap between sellers and buyers. They put together a team that
25 per cent. T. Koshy, CEO, deliberated on creating something that would completely transform the
ONDCinaconversationwith market. That’s when the idea of ONDC came about, which aimed to change
Annurag Batra, Editor-in- how digital commerce is done in India. The team’s philosophy was not to cre-
Chief,BWBusinessworld ate something proprietary but build an open-source foundation. They then
and Arjun Yadav shares looked at the backend protocol that was already available as the standard
theproject’sjourneyand protocol used by many sectors such as mobility and health and asked whether
thepotentialofthisnetwork ONDC could adopt it with the idea of creating an open foundation.
inrevampingIndia’sdigital
commercespace.Excerpts: How do you describe ONDC and what’s the progress of its rollout?
First and foremost, ONDC is not a platform. It’s a network of multiple plat-
forms coming together in a completely interoperable fashion. This would
mean that the network’s success depends upon more people joining, thereby
expanding the premise as we provide a common infrastructure. In a strict
sense, we have already started. We started on April 29 this year. We are doing
beta testing in five cities, including large markets such as Delhi and Bangalore
and smaller markets like Shillong, Coimbatore and Bhopal. Our ambition is
that by August, we should be present in 100 cities and across the nation by the

58 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022 Photographs by Ritesh Sharma

“People would want to be a part
of this extensive market, espe-
cially when they realise that they
will have access to one billion-plus
consumers”T. KOSHI, CEO, ONDC

59 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

ONDC INTERVIEW

end of the year. We believe that unless we are willing to put work among a sea of sellers? Also, are there any quality
such a stiff target on ourselves, we will never achieve. That’s checks for sellers before getting them registered on the
the philosophy that is driving the leadership and the team. platform?
One of the common facilities that ONDC is going to offer
What will be the impact on buyers and sellers who will is a network-wide reputation. This will eventually be there
use this network for digital commerce? for the buyer platform, seller platform, and product. This
Today, on some of the existing platforms, we have buyers and information will be developed based on a uniform and trans-
sellers who can talk to each other. With ONDC, anybody with parent logic that will be made available to all the network
digital consumers can bring them all to a common market. participants. This mechanism will become an essential cri-
Even if you’re a small seller coming from a small town and terion for people to participate. Secondly, a free market does
you have something unique to offer, you will have the same not mean a place where anybody can just come, sell some-
discoverability as if you
were part of a large platform thing and run away. Every
because you have some- buyer and seller entity will
thing special to offer. So, on have to establish who they
the buyer side, you will see are and there’s a minimum
innovation helping buyers due diligence to be done.
make the right choice with- Also, they would have to
out anybody pushing, rec- develop their IT platform
ommending or influencing to make sure that it com-
them. Similarly, the sellers plies with the protocols.
will have the opportunity to Only after they pass these
make the right offer to their two tests, they will become
target customers. a part of the network. These
protocols are also the rules
You mentioned small of engagement which will
sellers. Can you elaborate be implemented digitally.
more on the opportu- This makes it easy to moni-
nity for small kirana and tor, track and give feedback
mom-and-pop stores on while making it all digitally
this network? enforceable.
One of the challenges these
stores face is how to make What has been the re-
themselves digitally visible sponse of the bigger play-
without becoming a part of ers in this space? How
a big established platform. have they reacted?
ONDC is presenting them I can’t speak for others, but
an equal opportunity to the way I see it, this network
make themselves and their will become a compulsion
catalogues visible to the for everyone, not because of
network. When the buyer any legal obligation but be-
attempts a search, it will be cause of the market forces.
able to discover the kirana People would want to be a
store next door and get items delivered. This will resolve the part of this extensive mar-
issue of discoverability and many smart buyer platforms will ket, especially when they realise that they will have access to
try to take advantage of this convenience and help buyers to one billion-plus consumers. We will encourage a variety of
discover convenient sources around them for their typical people to come in, and I’m sure they will see the opportunity.
day-to-day procurement. Therefore, in addition to the regu- So, it is not by mandate but by a natural compulsion to be a
lar physical set of buyers that these stores have, they will also part of the big story.
get a new breed of digital customers.
Will there be a transaction fee on the
How will these stores build their reputation on the net- network?
Large platforms today are profit-making entities, and it’s fair

60 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

on their part as they have the challenge of giv- ONDC has no Platforms that have digital consumers today

ing dividends to their shareholders. ONDC, profit motive. are seeing this as an opportunity. They want
which creates a common infrastructure for There’s no to collaborate with us. These include banks,
all stakeholders in this space, has no profit dividend to telcos, fintech and the like. They are our part-
motive. There’s no dividend to be given, no be given, no ners who take this message across the country.
valuation to be done. We’ll only have nominal It is a win-win deal also because we win only

charges that will be in place to support our valuation to be if they win. The winning strategy is to get as

operations. done. We’ll only many buyers onto the market so that the sell-
have nominal ers have an incentive to come in. On the other
Usually, the conversation on this topic is charges that side, convincing a variety of sellers is where
limited to the buyer and seller. What’s in will be in place we are directly working with the ministry of
there for logistics players and other ser- small and medium enterprises at the central

vices? to support our and state level, philanthropic capital, devel-

We are unbundling ecommerce transactions operations opmental institutions, and institutions like
and making them interoperable. Every build- NABARD and SIDBI among others. One of

ing block of the transaction is unbundled on the biggest focus areas for us is to handhold

this network, and logistics is nothing but another building entities like small businesses and kirana stores to help and

block. A prominent seller may have a back-to-back arrange- prepare them to take advantage of this network.

ment or private contract with a large logistics provider, but

a small entity may not have that luxury due to its scale. This What is the biggest challenge for your team in the short

is why logistics providers will be available as a service on the term? What can go wrong with this project?

network. When you are attempting something like this, there is a high

Again, it’s not just a prominent logistics provider. When- level of uncertainty. The challenge is we don’t know what is

ever a seller accepts a buy order, and if it’s not a big seller, the hiding on the other side. Therefore, we should have the abil-

software can immediately help buy a logistics service, stitch ity to continuously look for these uncertainties and be ready

it together and make a seamless solution for the end buyer. to find newer solutions. When one is trying to do a significant

There will also be instances when the buyers may want to transformation in a country such as ours, it’s not overnight.

bring in their logistics providers. In those cases too such Good numbers will give us the confidence that it is working.

digital enablement will make commerce more seamless. Our biggest challenge in the short term is to have a sufficient

number of people who believe in the possibility of this com-

What is your plan for marketing and outreach to ensure ing together and get us the threshold volume to start. Once

that it reaches the right customer? that happens, we will be in a good place to take off.

61 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

IN DEPTH DIGITALPAYMENT

NEW PUSH FOR
PAYMENTS

The RBI proposal to link credit cards
to UPI is set to boost digital payments in the

country By Ashish Sinha

INDIA IS RIPE FOR a massive expansion of the transactions by 2026,” said the RBI in its latest annual report.
digital payments market, thanks to the rise in e-
commerce adoption and fintech app installs as UPI Leads
well as the increase in active internet and smart- Sample this: UPI has become a widely used mode of pay-
phones users. Banking regulator Reserve Bank of ment in India and currently facilitates around 595 crore
India (RBI) sees the Indian digital payment market transactions a month amounting to Rs 10 lakh crore only by
reaching 21,700 crore transactions by 2026. Now, the RBI linking savings and current accounts through debit cards.
has proposed to allow the linking of credit cards on the UPI Once linked to credit cards, there will be a manifold increase
platform. This, experts say, will boost digital payments like in the amount. As per the latest data, there are around 6.5
never before. In FY22, the volume of digital payments in crore active credit cards in India (7.5 crore credit cards is-
India increased33 per cent year on year (YoY) with a total of sued) with an average minimum credit limit of Rs 30,000-Rs
7,422 crore digital payment transactions recorded during 50,000.
this period, up from 5,554 crore transactions seen in
FY21. The Unified Payment Interface (UPI) On the proposed linking of credit cards to UPI,
from the National Payments Council of Anuj Kacker, Co-founder and COO, Freo (formerly
India was the most used platform for MoneyTap) says, “This is a welcome move by the RBI.
digital transactions during the period,
accounting for 452.75 crore transac- While the implementation of this move still needs to
tions with a value of Rs 8.27 lakh crore, be worked out, conceptually, we believe that this is
until the end of February. UPI has con- a step in the right direction for the country’s larger
stituted a large part of the digital push
that has transformed the payment infra- population. With the added layer of a credit card
structure in the country. As per RBI data, linked to UPI, we believe that customers who
there are over 26 crore unique users and 5 didn’t have access to a credit card previously
crore merchants on the platform, making it
the most inclusive mode of payment. but want the experience of a 30-day interest
free credit will now become a reality, thereby
“The growth will come riding on the back of broadening the scope of digital payments.
growing acceptance of existing digital modes and
novel payment offerings such as buy-now-pay-later As a credit-led neo bank, we are excited to
schemes and offline payments. The Indian digital explore the various possibilities on the
payment market is expected to reach 21,700 crore UPI platform.”
UPI has been a large part of the digi-
tal push that has transformed the pay-
ment infrastructure in the country. As
per RBI data, there are more than 26

62 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022 Photograph by Seemantaduttaskv

crore unique users and 5 crore merchants In FY22, the to other credit cards so that a large number
on the platform, making it the most in- volume of digital of consumers are included. “This would
clusive mode of payment. Till now, UPI also add to safety with card data securely
allowed linking of debit cards on its plat- payments in in the hands of the users now and make the

form. But the latest RBI proposal on linking India increased QR code ubiquitous for debit card as well
credit cards to UPI (starting with RuPay) is 33 per cent year as credit card-based payments in times to
aimed at providing additional convenience come,” he says. Muralidharan Srinivasan,

to users and enhancing scope of digital pay- on year (YoY) Head of Payments, APMEA Region, FIS
ments. Necessary instructions for linking with a total of says this move will pave the way for other
credit cards to UPI are expected to come geographies to adopt UPI much faster. FIS
7,422 crore
from NPCI after due discussions with vari- is an American multinational corpora-

ous stakeholders. digital payment tion which offers a wide range of financial
On Growth Path transactions products and services. “RBI’s latest an-
nouncement linking UPI to credit cards is

“The overall impact on digital payments a great move towards cashless economy,”

is expected to be significant as this opens Srinivasan adds. However, not everyone is

up credit payments or short-term loans on UPI payments convinced of the RBI’s move at this juncture. Rumki Ma-

as opposed to the only option of immediate debit from jumdar, Economist, Deloitte India says: “With steps taken

bank account under the current system,” says Vivek Goel, to increase the penetration of digital payment systems, it

Cofounder and Joint Managing Director, Tailwind Finan- is expected that the velocity of money (the pace at which

cial Services, a new edge wealth management platform an average rupee changes hand) will likely be rising in the

with the vision to be a one-stop solution for all investment future. It will also add to inflationary pressures.”

needs. Dewang Neralla, CEO, NTT DATA Payment Ser-

vices hopes that after Rupay, the linkage will be extended [email protected]; @Ashish_BW

Photograph by Amlanmathur 63 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

FEATURE INDIAFIRST

64 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

GROWING THE
ATMANIRBHAR
PROPOSITION

Schauna Chauhan’s brand of atmanirbharta

focuses on the journey where leaders must

take many more together to create new

possibilities. The CEO of Parle Agro applies

this in her everyday work, creating more self-

reliant leaders along the way

By Noor Fathima Warsia

T HE SIGNIFICANCE of the manufacturing sector comes from the oppor-
tunities it creates. Parle Agro, counted among the key players in the Indian
beverage sector, pays special attention to this part of its existence. It was in
May 2020, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi articulated the self-reliant
India call. For the beverage maker’s CEO, Schauna Chauhan, this call trig-
gered a series of thoughts.

“Parle Agro has perhaps followed both the Atmanirbhar Bharat and the Make in India
agendas since 1985 in the beverage sector. We are an Indian company, manufacturing
in India and investing back in India. But for me, self-reliance entails much more,” says
Chauhan, as she reflects on the company’s journey so far.

Parle Agro enjoys a suite of brands that have been a favourite with different target
groups, including kids and young adults. Citing the example of Frooti, the company’s
mango-flavoured drink, Chauhan explains its theory of backward integration and how
a new India’s call to action manifests in this. “When we began with Frooti, the largest
mango drink that is made in India, we were buying mangoes from India,” Chauhan recalls.

The company started with one processor, buying about 500-1000 tonnes of fruit.
Today Parle Agro has 14 processors and buys around 1.5 lakh tonnes of fruits indicating a
large market opportunity. “We have seen farmers turn entrepreneurs and we encouraged
them to upgrade their plants and infrastructure to process the fruits to meet the demand,”

Photographs by Vilas Kalgutkar 65 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

FEATURE INDIAFIRST

“Wearecommitted

togrowingwithour

partners”

On changing mindsets towards mutual growth…
I am personally involved in our partner conversations
because the outcomes make a much bigger impact. I
want the businesses we partner with to see how seri-
ous our commitment is to the partnership. We don’t
treat them as vendors or suppliers or convertors. My
first question when we face any resistance to change
is what is stopping them and then solve for that. This
is a mindset shift for them, and our approach boosts
their confidence.

On the plans for the year ahead…
We need to increase the quantity of fruit availability
and processor capacity. Apples grow in areas that
are not easy to reach. Mangoes did not have such is-
sues. We have to focus on stabilising the volume this
year and increasing it for the next three to four years

says Chauhan. This push has resulted in Parle Agro bringing Parle Agro launched Appy in 1986. Apple may not be con-
all its business to farmers in India in the case of mangoes. Five sidered among the more popular juice choices at the time and
of these processors have been with the company for over two the company worked with one processor, at a modest scale.
decades. Its requirement for apple juice concentrate hit a higher point
with the launch of Appy Fizz, and it began importing due to the
Parle Agro continues to develop more processors in markets lack of supply in India. “There were just a couple of processors
like the south, where it buys fruit, processes the mangoes and and they could manufacture about 6000 tonnes of apple juice
procures the pulp. Chauhan explains that the salient point in concentrate, which was not enough. In the last couple of years,
all this is collaboration. She says, “When we say encourage, we we diligently focussed on changing this,” informs Chauhan.
see them as partners. Processors alone may not have the net-
work to access newer technologies or embrace best practices. Chauhan had learnings from the Frooti side of the business,
This is something where we can help with our scale and out- where the company’s processors were lauded at industry fairs
reach. We collaborate with them to reach out to international for their international quality and standards. “We wanted this
equipment manufacturers and help upgrade their technology.” for our apple processors as well. We now have four processers
and finally, this year, we are in a position to buy all our concen-
Replicating A Success Story trates from India itself, which is a very big move for us.” Before
Over the years, Parle Agro has worked with the processors to this, Parle Agro was relying on international imports for almost
do exactly this and improve yields, while cooperating even in 50 per cent of its requirement.
aspects such as good manufacturing process and layout. “We
did a lot of development to reach where we are today. When the The Paradigm Shift
mango processing begins, our teams go to the markets to moni- The transition however was not easy. The lack of capacity
tor quality and pricing and help with day-to-day challenges.
This process is established. And now, we are seeing some early pushed the company to work with new processors. However,
signs of success in replicating this for apples,” states Chauhan. the first battle was to tackle the mindset. More often than not,
Chauhan found herself faced with the question of why change

66 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

because we don’t want to be in a position where we
pay heavy duties in importing raw materials again.

On the Make in India way…
Our company’s philosophy has always believed in
Make in India. We are an Indian company with 14
manufacturing plants. It makes us proud as we have
been doing this for a long time and it’s in our DNA
now. We have been an Indian beverage company,
making only in India, exporting to several markets.
We set up two international plants in the Middle East
and Africa region and we are looking to expand our
footprint further.

On growing the sustainability agenda…
We are recycling 100 per cent of the plastic we use. We
have created a network all over India with recyclers
who take discarded plastic and use it to create differ-
ent things. We build Anganwadis for kids under the
PJC Foundation, where we use some of these recy-
cled plastics to create slides etc. We also do rainwater
harvesting but we have tied up with colleges for this,
where we put up rainwater harvesting systems. We
have done this in more than 40 colleges across India.
As a company, we also keep reducing the weight of
the bottles to reduce the weight of the plastic as well.

when it works. the process of building capacity. We hit a big milestone this year
“Procuring good quality raw materials, consistently, is not when we were able to meet our demands from our processors
in India. However, ‘what next’ still stares us in the face because
easy. We had cases in the past when we had to return the raw we just about met the demand and we will have to factor in our
material. Our preference is India but we were forced to im- growth for the next year. So, we will sit with them again on how
port. We then began investing in explaining and convincing we grow together,” Chauhan says.
processors why their technology had to be upgraded,” says
Chauhan. Atmanirbharta, as per her, is not about one company devel-
oping but also encouraging other businesses including micro,
The suggestion for a change or introducing something for small and medium enterprises to identify market opportuni-
quality assurance and maintaining standards was met with ties and gaps and grow.
resistance. Chauhan, who has been an active part of all these
discussions, quotes this as an example of why being ‘atmanirb- Parle Agro has a similar story for its aseptic bag require-
har’ is a journey. “We realise we have to work with their mindset ments, which were imported from Italy. Chauhan met some-
and urge them towards change. But we have to show them the one interested in the space and worked with them to put a plant
difference and convince them. Eventually, it is something that in Palghar. The company is now Parle Agro’s primary supplier.
will help us and them both,” Chauhan elaborates. In a slightly different example, Chauhan met a Korean straw-
making company to put up a plant in India to cater to this part
More often than not, Parle Agro has been called “too de- of Parle Agro’s needs. The company did this also for its water
tailed” but this does not perturb Chauhan. She argues that this business, where it created franchisees that had begun afresh,
is a direct result of the company’s culture and strategy that is invested in the brand and created their own companies.
“rooted in collaboration”.
“We have created entrepreneurs. I advise everyone we invest
Investing in the Long Term in building a relationship so we would like it to be long-term.
“We are not working with someone who can convert fruit to Atmanirbhar has to be about making more people ‘atmanirb-
har’ and our ethos is in line with this,” Chauhan sums up.
concentrate for us but with a business partner. We are still in

67 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

RINGSIDE VIEW By Srinath Sridharan

‘I DID IT’

India’s Digital
Innovations
& Democracy,
Inclusive
Transformation

G LOBAL ADVANCES, indigenous innovations and local adop-
tion of digital technologies for wider social and e-governance
usage offer promise towards socio-economic development. It
could also potentially address some of the most pressing social
challenges. As some of these technologies engage society and
business in a different way around the world, they could also
create new biases and effect differential distributional dynam-
ics – the implications of which would be high and long lasting. But can they be
inclusive? Will they worsen economic disparities, create further barriers and
even undermine democratic governance?

Technology, per se, is not inclusive. Leveraging public policy framework and
the relevant economic tools to make it accessible to all, technological transfor-
mations can potentially build inclusive prosperity. But the continued questions
that one has for democratic societies only keeps increasing in count and primacy
of democratic-security.
l Can (and how) digital governance offer equity and equality to all citizens?
l Can it bring in stable governance services and transparency to all stakehold-
ers?
l What will be the causal impact on public policy and functioning of bureau-
cracy?
l How can digital be used to fast track sustainable and inclusive develop-
ment?
l How can digital enable inclusiveness of all voices, not just of those voices
which are loud and, or have access or proximity to influencers or decision

68 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

makers? Ideally a ate open debates, with civility and no fear. A democratic de-
l Can digital create opportunities for digitally- bate needs citizens to participate in it, and if it makes them
livelihood for crores of our population? enabled more aware. Democracy is about free choices, and is not free of
l Can digital transformation bring bet- democracy choices. That in the digital world we live in, can be easy and yet
ter quality of living? has to help challenging. We have seen fake news narratives and distressful
society and distasteful peddling of extreme views using digital modes.
Social inclusion is essentially the guar- in being
antee of social and political participation efficient, and Digital information and communication technologies offer
for all citizens. It has to become the essen- in its view on us the possibility of a new world or type of freedom. Yet it brings
tial element of social fabric and the prime governance. together the possibilities of surveillance and control (of narra-
basis of a functioning democracy. That’s A democracy tives). Society has to settle that debate between these two realms.
where the challenges begin in creating needs the The performance of public institutions and public awareness
a balanced and inclusive democracy. ability to about them is vital for a democracy to develop.
initiate open
Democracy and digital influence debates, with Globally, sufficient research and civil society voices have
Democracy is not about multiparty civility and no brought on the worries about unequal political participation.
elections alone. It is not just about local fear Probably this is where digital inclusion can bring in increased
governmental governance. Democracy social involvement for political participation. Governments and
thrives when citizens can feel their own political parties can be transparent, accountable and inclusive
citizenry influence, in what they say as using technology. Like any inanimate object, technology cannot
feedback and in what they don’t accept. be praised or damned. The real question is: is the user ready to
Ideally a digitally-enabled democracy use the technology to be transparent?
has to help society in being efficient, and
in its view on governance. Politics of digital & digital politics
Democracies and their intended functional systems aim toward
A democracy needs the ability to initi- increased citizenry participation. In that endeavour, digital

Photograph by Indiapicturebudget 69 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

RINGSIDE VIEW By Srinath Sridharan

The digital divide poses a huge risk of exclusion in societies where information, governance, and
citizenry discussions have gone digital. In the current digital century that we are in, digital skills
are as important as conventional literacy. This is where policy leaders will be expected to fast track
investments and efforts towards digital education. We need to worry about Digital Exclusion too,

where we have to solve for barriers that hinder accessibility

communication has made it easier for not with any vested interest of polity or policy sphere is impor-
such a movement globally. With the pop- tant. Who makes those decisions, and how does one check if
ularity of political figures over the last few regulatory frameworks are adequately balanced, and would
years, and their extensive usage of social help with the digital governance of the people, by the people
media to appeal to the larger audience and for the people?
(especially the younger demographics),
the engagement with the masses has For an ideal world where equal access to information would
been on the rise. be a reality, policy journey would need to improve digital literacy
and digital access to all. Unregulated digital innovation could
Political narratives, (idealogical) significantly alter established power structures and can even
sides being taken, rhetoric being used undermine democratic institutions.
are common now. One wonders if digital
technology is reshaping or unevenly em- Data is the foundation
powering established power structures As with any efficient decisioning system, democratising access to
of democratic governance or those who data, with relevant data governance mechanisms and decreas-
can afford those digital steering tools. ing barriers to information would be the only way to build an
honest trust-based digital society. With such a system in place,
Hence regulating digital carefully and

70 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022 Photograph by Shibu7213

governments can increase their political e-Governance, l Broadband Highways : Broadband for All – Rural, Broad-
legitimacy and policy transparency; they when band for All – Urban and National Information Infrastructure
can use these in making their markets designed (NII)
stable for all investors and also attractive efficiently l Universal Access to Mobile Connectivity : focusing on
for global investors. and executed network penetration and building connectivity
transparently, l Public Internet Access Programme : using Common Ser-
They can further boost entrepreneur- can deliver vices Centres (CSCs) and Post Offices as multi-service centres
ship and hence enhance livelihood po- high levels of l e-Governance: Using Technology to Re-engineer and sim-
tential for all. Equally beneficial for the transparency plify government processes.
citizens will be the availability of credible and l e-Kranti: Electronic Delivery of Services to improve delivery
information to form their views for bet- accountability; of public services and simplify the process of accessing them.
ter participation in day-to-day democ- and can help l Information for All: To ensure transparency and avail-
racy. citizens relate ability of reliable data generated by the various ministries for
to their public citizens’ use.
India and digital institutions. l Electronics Manufacturing: Focuses on promoting elec-
There are sufficient data and statistics This can be tronics manufacturing in the country.
available in the public domain to show- helped with lITforJobs: Aims to provide training to the youth in the skills
case that India has been building a large increased required for availing employment opportunities in the IT/ITES
internet user base, social media adop- public sector.
tion, including from urban - rural areas. participation, lEarly Harvest Programmes: Short-term initiatives that
For example, the JAM trinity –Jan Dhan oversight and can offer immediacy of public impact delivery; like IT platform
banking, Adhaar and Mobile – have al- scrutiny of for mass messaging, biometric attendance in the government
ready brought in a large proportion of such national offices, WI-FI in all universities
citizens into the digital fold. institutions
Building Inclusiveness
Even the pandemic saw the usage of The digital divide poses a huge risk of exclusion in societies
digital technology in the form of the Cow- where information, governance, and citizenry discussions have
in programme for the Covid vaccination gone digital. In the current digital century that we are in, digital
drive. Yes, we will need to work harder to skills are as important as conventional literacy. This is where
make this digital access a universal one. policy leaders will be expected to fast track investments and ef-
The government of India (GoI), over the forts towards digital education. We need to worry about Digital
past few years has been the biggest cham- Exclusion too, where we have to solve for barriers that hinder
pion of digital inclusion across various accessibility due to geography, gender, caste, religion, social
spheres – public domain, business use or economic segment, language, physical or mental health,
case, banking and financial services, gov- educational level etc.
ernance, judiciary etc.
In this entire digital journey as a nation, we have to create safe
The outcomes are still under observa- layers for accountability and transparency, and bridge the gap
tion with varying degree of success so far. between what’s public and private. However, the commerciali-
In this endeavour, ‘Digital India’ is the sation of newer technologies pose a challenge to both mature
flagship drive of the GoI. It aims to trans- and aspiring democracies. Creating a trusted space between
form India into a digitally empowered citizens and their elected representatives is a prerequisite for
society and knowledge economy. creating a digital society.

The Digital India Mission focuses on e-Governance, when designed efficiently and executed trans-
three objectives: parently, can deliver high levels of transparency and account-
u Providing digital infrastructure as a ability; and can help citizens relate to their public institutions.
source of utility to every citizen. This can be helped with increased public participation, over-
v Governance and services on de- sight and scrutiny of such national institutions.
mand.
w To look after the digital empower- Let’s hope that sooner than later, as a large populous democ-
ment of every citizen. racy, we can say “I did it” (India’s Digital Innovations & Democ-
racy, Inclusive Transformation) of the inclusive nature.
Digital India aims impetus build-
ing across nine growth areas, which cut The author is a corporate advisor and independent markets commentator
across most ministries and governmental
departments:

71 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

INTERVIEW Arun Moral J

“Design minimalistic
data architecture to
reap the benefits of the
less is more strategy”

Arun Moral J, Partner, Technology Strategy &
Transformations, Consulting, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

India LLP, in an exclusive conversation with BW
Businessworld’s Jyotsna Sharma, spoke about India’s
success in the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) space and

the best way to create value through these

What is the best way to unlock the value of the Which digital healthcare platform, in your opin-
various DPI platforms that have been created? ion, has been the most successful thus far?
India is a global trendsetter in the DPI space with CoWIN (Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network) in
marque success stories catering to 1.3+ billion peo- the current era leads the space with 1.09+ billion
ple. The five secret mantras to realise the true ben- subscribers and 1.95+ billion citizens successfully
efits of DPI are: inoculated. The following reasons contribute to its
distinct success.
1) Integrating DPI with Whole-of-Government-
Approach (WGA). Think big, start small & scale 1) Miraculous time essence, i.e., ‘Time-To-De-
fast. Enhance interoperability among different velop-and-Serve’ (TTDS), and cater to people of
platforms by embracing open-source standards. diverse demographics.

2) Building sandbox environments to promote 2) Digital Public Infrastructure superseding
heterogeneous service apps/players. humans as reliable healthcare warriors unbeaten
throughout the epidemiological cycle.
3) Fostering trust & belongingness in the DPI
through orchestrating solution architecture with 3) Its critical success features are, mobile-first,
secured building blocks such as consent layer, data ease of use, immutable vaccine certificate creation
anonymisation, right to be forgotten, etc. & repository, all of which were successfully navi-
gated across three waves of a global epidemic.
4) Embracing Public-Private Partnership (PPP)
with Governance model. PPP thrives on an envi- 4) Mobile spatial proximity-threat sensor high-
ronment of a ‘shared economy’, which promotes lighting heat maps of potential risk exposure con-
greater flexibility, and inclusiveness & shares the tracting Covid-19.
operational & financial risk exposure in creating
the DPI with the government. Which aspects do you see as challenges to their
success?
5) Creating continuous public awareness cam- Digital transformations have always fuelled the
paigns to improve the legacy challenges.

72 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

facilities should be maintained at the State level.
4) Potential theft of patient health records

through compromises in the embedded rule sets
create a sense of insecurity amongst the patient
community.

5) Any standard database management would
operate on a unique primary key (such as a patient
ID in healthcare). However, ‘by-design’ such a pri-
mary key cannot be NOT unique. In the healthcare
domain post iterative deliberations, it has been
accepted that a single patient can have multiple
identities by design within the same system. This
would provide flexibility for the patient to keep con-
fidential health records.

6) The recording and trend analysis for sec-
ondary/tertiary healthcare referrals is essen-
tial, but there is hesitance to transparently
record & leverage the digital domain by the
stakeholders.

7) Healthcare domain calls for infinite reten-
tion and archival of health records. In a federated
architecture, tall tasks of having ‘Digital-Twin’ – DB

clone at the third tier i.e. health facili-
ties is often a potential challenge.

CoWIN (Covid Vaccine How can we get the customer en-
gagement and privacy aspects

Intelligence Network) in the right?
current era leads the space CoWIN application is a classic case
study for excellent customer engage-

with 1.09+ billion subscribers ment and privacy compliance. The
and 1.95+ billion citizens five successful themes widely ac-
cepted in the industry are as follows:

successfully inoculated” 1) Create awareness to control re-
sistance, and promote assisted medi-

cal check-ups.

ease of service delivery to citizens. However, there 2) Build trust and transparency.

have been some latent challenges impeding their 3) Embrace emerging tech such as Voice-to-Text /

success. Text-to-Speech AI algorithms, Assistive Technolo-

1) Healthcare ecosystem, unlike other domains, gy-based services, metaverse, etc.

cannot thrive on a prescriptive architecture. It is 4) Design minimalistic data architecture to reap

best to let it evolve from a reference framework. the benefits of the less is more strategy.

2) Patient Health Record (PHR) warrants data 5) Strengthening of policy and compliance guide-

privacy in the highest order complemented with lines on digital. The federated health ecosystem

a consent management layer for data exchanges calls for the retention and archival of health re-

among data fiduciaries. cords at health facilities. It is to be noted that the

3) Healthcare-based systems are mandated for current establishment act and compliances don’t

federated architecture across the value chain; i.e. detail security measures and database retention

Electronic Medical Records (EMR) relating to an /archival expenditure management. Therefore,

episode(s) shall be stored at local hospitals. How- security of data compromise in the last leg needs to

ever, the EHR (Electronic Health Record) of a par- be crafted and augmented to the existing compli-

ticular patient, which would be accessed by several ance checklist.

73 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

COLUMN Healthcare

India’s
Progress In The
Digital Healthcare

Ecosystem

To ensure inclusive welfare and universal access,
the need for a sustainable healthcare infrastructure is inevitable

By Arvind Sharma & Nikita Sayam

T HE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ushered the The Government of India has also routinely allotted
need for accelerated digitisation of health- a sizable budget for technological advancement and
care across the globe, and India has been digitisation in the healthcare sector. Digitisation of
in the process of taking several initiatives healthcare records is key for making the benefits of the
for its digital healthcare infrastructure, in- new technology more scalable, and the Union Budget
cluding policy initiatives by the Government of India has made provisions for the same through a planned
and advancement of healthcare technology through rollout of the National Digital Health Ecosystem (in-
innovation. cluding the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission) that
will consist of digital registries of health care service
Policies and regulations providers and health care facilities, unique health
One of the key initiatives for boosting the digital identity, consent framework, and aid in universal ac-
healthcare ecosystem in India was the rapid adoption cess to health facilities.
of telemedicine. The Ministry of Health and Family
Welfare of India (MoHFW) introduced the Telemedi- The government also recognises the need for ro-
cine Practice Guidelines in March 2020, paving the bust laws to protect digital data, especially in view of
way for regulated telemedicine practice in India. The the promotion and significance of electronic health
said guidelines deal with physician-patient relation- records. For this, the Digital Information Security in
ship, informed consent, continuity of care, referrals Healthcare Act (DISHA) is proposed for the establish-
for emergency services, medical records, privacy and ment of a national digital health authority to promote
security of the patient records, issues of liability and and implement e-health standards, protect patient
negligence, evaluation, health education, and coun- privacy and security, and regulate the storage and
selling. These guidelines are a welcome addition to sharing of electronic medical records. The primary
the digital healthcare infrastructure in India as they, goal is to assist India in its digital health journey.
amongst others, make medical diagnosis, treatment
and incidental processes more reliable in the new age Adoption of a digital healthcare ecosystem
of social distancing and virtual consultations. Other than the above initiatives by the Government
of India, the ongoing digital health initiatives include:

74 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

‘e-Hospital’, which is a cloud-based Hospital Manage- Healthcare
ment Information System to help connect patients,
hospitals and doctors on a single digital platform; and innovators, including
‘e-Shushrut’, which is a cloud-based computerised
clinical information system for providing accurate companies and
electronically stored medical records of patients. The
National Health Mission provides support to state stakeholders are
governments for services like telemedicine, tele-ra-
diology, tele-oncology and teleophthalmology. Other rapidly embracing
initiatives like the introduction of Aarogya Setu app
(for monitoring health status) and the e-Sanjeevani emerging trends to
(web-based comprehensive telemedicine solution
that facilitates doctor to doctor, and patient to doctor bring new-age
teleconsultations), continue to create a huge impact
in the rapidly evolving healthcare infrastructure of technologically to the
India.
forefront while
Healthcare innovators, including companies and
stakeholders are rapidly embracing emerging trends studying the real-life
to bring new-age technologically to the forefront while
studying the real-life needs of consumers. Several needs of consumers”
other technologies are at their nascent stage, and they
have the potential to overhaul the healthcare sector of Digital health as the equaliser and enabler
India. These technologies include Internet of Medi- To ensure inclusive welfare and universal access, the
cal Things (IoMT) which could digitise and connect need for a sustainable health care infrastructure is
all critical care units of a hospital such as the ICUs, inevitable. This will have its own challenges and will
operating rooms, ventilators, navigation systems, create tremendous opportunities for those who can
etc.; artificial intelligence having advanced diagnostic use technology and innovation effectively with a view
capabilities including remote diagnosis; 3D printing to ensure that sustainable healthcare is accessible in
technology; robot assisted diagnosis and treatment smaller towns and villages. As a part of its sustainable
of diseases, including minimally invasive surgeries; development goals, India’s aim is to achieve universal
wearable healthcare devices, etc. health coverage, including financial risk protection,
access to quality essential healthcare services and ac-
cess to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential
medicines and vaccines for all. The Ayushman Bharat
Digital Mission is being implemented with the aim to
connect healthcare stakeholders via digital pathways
on a single platform. It is comprised of digital regis-
tries of health providers and hospitals, unique IDs,
a consent framework and universal access to health
facilities that will unlock creativity and enable solving
some of the hardest problems at the last mile, lead-
ing to a more plausible future where universal health
coverage can be achieved.

Arvind Sharma is Partner & Nikita Sayam is Associate at
Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co

75 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

IN DEPTH FORMULA MOTORSPORTING

IN THE

When we look at OVER THE PAST decade, motorsports has
the motorsporting gained considerable popularity in India.
Experts bet on the immense sporting talent
world, India has a that our country has, but agree there are
lot of catching up to fewer opportunities for this talent to shine.
This is also the reason why we have not seen a significant
do. However, all of Indian presence at the international level. However all of
this is set to change. this is set to change. And soon.

And soon To usher in a new era in the motorsporting domain in
By Ruhail Amin India, Akhilesh Reddy, Director MEIL and Chairman,
RPPL (Racing Promotions Pvt. Ltd.) is opening up op-
portunities for aspiring Indian racing drivers to take up
the sport more seriously by bringing F3 and F4 racing to
India.

Reviving Motorsports in India
The Indian Racing Festival by RPPL will bring multiple

76 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

FAST LANE

franchises into the format and will enthrall the audience Potential of Formula Racing
on weekends in multiple cities including all kinds of excit-
ing racing tracks and even a street circuit. What makes both these championships truly monu-
mental is the fact that they are eligible for Super Licence
The festival will begin from the weekend of November points. To race in F1, you need a Super Licence which can
11th and run every weekend until the weekend of Decem- be obtained by earning 40 Super Licence points. The FIA
ber 10th across five weekends across multi-city locations awards a fixed number of points for various international
including the former F1 track at BIC Greater Noida, the series.
debut of India’s first street track at Hyderabad, Coim-
batore, and MMRT Chennai. Karting and sim racing in India will lead to the F4 In-
dian Championship, followed by the Formula Regional
The festival by RPPL will host three race events – For- Indian Championship, which in turn acts as a stepping
mula Regional Indian Championship, For- stone for FIA-sanctioned international racing.
mula 4 Indian Championship, and the
Indian Racing League. Formula Regional There is no denying that what started as and was al-
Indian Championship and the F4 ways perceived to be a niche
Indian sport for the affluent in the
early years, has gained
championships will be certified by the FIA; champion- mainstream popu-
ship winners will be awarded FIA Super Licence points. larity and has
However, these three championships are not the only ones been considered
on the horizon. RPPL has great intentions to establish as a serious sport
racing infrastructure and begin developing talent from after the estab-
the ground up. lishment of Fed-
eration of Motor
F3 and F4 are FIA-sanctioned championships that are Sports Clubs of
run under the rules and regulations of the FIA, following India (FMSCI)
the protocols set by the racing commission for the respec- in the 1970s.
tive championships. But what is unique is that it will be As we know,
the first time that an FIA-sanctioned championship will Formula 1 racing
be held in India.
is the pinnacle of motorsports and one of
RPPL’s vision is to make India a strong player in the the major global sport series in the world. It represents
motorsports world, and open up opportunities to aspiring the top-tier of motorsport, with a global TV audience of
Indian racing drivers to take up the sport more seriously 1,922 mn during the year (Brazil, Germany, Italy, UK,
as they have the platform to graduate to the top right in Netherlands being the top viewing markets) according
their home ground. to Nielsen.

Overall, Europe is the first market for TV audiences
(66.7 per cent), followed by Central and South America
(22.1 per cent), Asia Pacific (5.1 per cent), North America
(3.4 per cent) and Africa and Middle East (2.8 per cent).

Formula 1 today is a sophisticated, globally recognised
sport portraying a rich bouquet of values and proposi-
tions that quickly transfer onto the brands sponsoring
the series.

With RPPL’s inaugural Formula Regional Indian
Championship, Formula 4 Indian Championship, and
the Indian Racing League, the stage is set for Indian rac-
ing enthusiasts to aim for global recognition.

Photographs by Demarco Alessio 77 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

INTERVIEW FORMULAMOTORSPORTING

“I WANT TO MAKE
INDIA A STRONG
PLAYER IN THE
MOTORSPORTS

WORLD”

To usher in a new era in the motorsporting domain in India, Akhilesh Reddy,
DirectorMEILandChairman,RPPL(RacingPromotionsPvt.Ltd.)isopening
upopportunitiesforaspiringIndianracingdriverstotakeupthesportmore

seriouslybybringingF3andF4racingtoIndia

By Ruhail Amin

What is your larger purpose and goal behind organising media), the profile of the team owners, and quality of sponsors
Formula 3 and Formula 4 racing league? What is your (more non-endemic than the endemic) will be the drivers of
vision for RPPL? success, besides the fundamental factors – high-quality rac-
The vision of racing promotions and its initiatives in F3 and ing, world-class broadcast, and fan engagement.
F4 is to take an all-Indian team to F1 in the next five to seven
years and an all-Indian women team to F2 in the next 10-12 Please tell us about the owners of the league.
years. From a purely commercial standpoint, F3 and F4 add The league is wholly owned and operated by Racing Promo-
a lot of technical legitimacy to our offerings, including the tions, which is majority-owned by me (Akhilesh Reddy) and
Indian racing league, given the FIA points that come with Ameet Ghadoke, through our parent businesses. The acqui-
them. They will attract the international racing fraternity to sition of Racing Promotions was completed in September
India, and subsequently, suppliers to the global auto-racing 2021.
industry.
Have you finalised any broadcaster for the league?
By running not one but two FIA sanctioned champion- At this stage we are in discussions with all the key broadcast-
ships, the profile of Indian racing will be elevated in the global ers in India, both TV and OTT, including Star, Sony, Discov-
rankings, and this will attract viewership that will translate ery, Voot, Jio, etc.
to commercial success in the 4-5 year horizon. Also, this will
be the first time that a FIA sanctioned championship will be What is your marketing strategy for RPPL?
organised in India. We have a 360-degree marketing plan, which includes radio,
TV, OOH along with extensive on-ground engagement via
In your view, what will be the big drivers of success for sim racing (virtual racing) and karting. We will be conducting
this league? sim racing and karting for two weeks in each of the franchise
I would say the strength of our distribution (broadcast, social

78 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

“RPPL’s vision is to make India
a strong player in the motor-
sports world and it is commit-
ted to create a clear pathway
for racing enthusiasts to move
up to racing internationally.
Karting and sim racing in In-
dia will lead to the F4 Indian
championship, followed by
the Formula Regional Indian
Championship, which in turn
acts as a stepping stone for
FIA-sanctioned international
racing.”

VIJAY DEVERAKONDA ,
Actor & Entrepreneur

cities over six months leading up to the league seasons, which
will be the longest activation by any sporting league in India.

What kind of investments have you made in this league ing driver fraternity (F3 and F4 will attract top global talent),
so far? celebs (celebrity team owners), and multiple championships
We have already invested over 150 cr in equipment, cars, (its three championships in one weekend, offering more races
licenses from local government, and permissions/sanctions and more action on a per day basis).
from the FIA, street circuit infrastructure and a racing track.
All the above factors give a wide range of brands the right
What kind of opportunities does your league offer to reasons to associate with racing promotions. Women-centric
brands? Why should brands associate with it? brands can build on the equal opportunities, whereas Made-
The following factors are the key USPs of the Indian racing in-India brands can support the first-of-its-kind street circuit.
festival– equalopportunities(menandwomendrivers),deep Endemic brands such as tyres, fuel, lubricant companies, etc.
fan and grassroots activation (sim racing and karting in every will come for the quality of racing and drivers, while FMCG
franchise city), multiple venues (travelling around the coun- and D2C brands will come for the long activation leading up
try), street circuit (a never seen before concept in India, both to the league. We have created a package for everyone, and we
from a sporting and technical perspective), international rac- strongly believe that there is a strong commercial fundamen-
tal for all stakeholders to derive ROI from.

Photograph by Ritesh Sharma 79 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

IN CONVERSATION

‘WE
FOCUS ON

DELIVERING
GREAT

VALUE TO
THE END
CUSTOMER’

Amidsttheturbulencethattherealestatesectorhaswitnessed
overthepasttwoyears,realestategiant,theBhutaniGroup,
hasemergedasanexception. Throughthetryingtimesthat
theCovid-19pandemicunleashed,thegrouphasbeenableto
deliveritsprojectsontime.

Bhutani Group CEO, Ashish Bhutani, says the group is
committedtodeliveringvaluetoitsendcustomers.Inan
exclusive interview with Ruhail Amin of BW Businessworld, he
revealsplanstoexpandingintotheluxuryresidentialsectorinthe
comingyears.Excerpts:

80 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022 Photographs by Ritesh Sharma

26 Octob8er1- 0|8BNWoveBmUbSeIrN2E0S1S9W| OBRWLDBU| S0I2NJEuSlyS2W0O2R2LD | 81

IN CONVERSATION

The real estate sector has been through a challenging “I have always
phase over the past two years. What was the story of used the example
the Bhutani Group?
Very honestly, at that time, it was all about consolidation. of The Empire
We remained focused on the areas that we were strong in. State Building in
We saw where our weakness was and corrected it. This New York. Once
helped us deal with the situation.
you make a
As I said, it was not the time to expand, it was a time to landmark, no
consolidate and we were able to tide over this phase. one is bothered
to know what the
While there were a lot of layoffs across industries, for us next building is
it was a different story. We have almost doubled our force called. And the
during that period. In fact, we never had unnecessary price difference
people in the organisation, we only had the most essential is substantial
people. I believe that if your organisation’s policies are cor- between that
rect, it will go on adding to your success. building and the
building next
Despite the slump, we have seen some innovative of-
ferings from you like the world’s largest infinity pool door”
at Alphathum and the largest musical fountain. The
market seems to be on a backfoot even now. What are What are the big trends shaping commercial real estate
your projections about demand? demand?
I do not like match box buildings at all. Whenever I plan It’s about co-working. The future is predominantly about
a project, I always try to make a project that will go on for startups. I was reading a recent survey that said that glob-
generations. ally out of five employees, only one has not come to work
saying that they want to do something on their own.
I have always used the example of The Empire State
Building in New York. Once you make a landmark, no one A lot of Indians want to do the same thing. They want to
is bothered to know what the next building is called. And start their own ventures. And they do not want to invest in
the price difference is substantial between that building their office spaces, they want to invest in their work. This is
and the building next door. the solution that co-working spaces are providing.

Once you build a landmark and the innovation that goes Co-working places want businesses to focus on their
into it as we have done at Cyberthum and Alphathum – core, rather than spend time and energy on issues like air
that attracts people. conditioning, electricity etc. That is something that makes
co-working spaces very attractive offerings.
What would you say were the differentiating features
of the Bhutani group’s offerings? Also, there will be a lot of focus on sustainability, pollu-
First of all, we don’t compare ourselves with any other tion control, and EV friendly spaces etc. In a nutshell, it’s
developer. With due respect to all developers – I’m not say-
ing somebody is superior or inferior – it’s absolutely their
choice. What we focus on is how to deliver value.

Rather than focusing on 100 projects, we focus on just
a few projects. We always try to think of an innovative idea
and make efforts to ensure that we deliver great value to
the end customer.

Rather than quickly churn out ideas, we try to brain-
storm on one particular thing and try to make it large and
make it beautiful.

As far as project deliveries are concerned, has Covid
posed any challenges?
By God’s grace we have completed all our projects on time.
Alphathum now stands delivered and all our other projects
are delivered on or before time.

82 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

all about giving world class facilities at the right price, and mercial real estate sector?
that is going to be the next big trend that will drive growth With manufacturing shifting to India, MNCs are focusing
in the commercial real estate sector. big on the Indian market. The IT strength that India has is
making it an attractive hub and it will keep on increasing.
Even big corporations are moving from traditional of-
fices to co-working spaces. As I said, it’s all about focusing What is your vision for the group over the next five
on the core that co-working spaces allow. years? Are you looking at markets beyond metros?
Right now, we don’t have any plans to move to other cities.
Many experts believe that the real estate market is get- We are very content with the places we are in.
ting consolidated and that the share of bigger develop-
ers will keep increasing. What are your views? As far as expansion plans go, something big is on the
Absolutely right, because the small developers are facing a cards. We are also foraying into the luxury lifestyle busi-
little bit of a hiccup because of the trust deficit. ness. We are trying to elevate the idea of residential lifestyle
in India.
Yes, good projects do come to the bigger developers, I
will not debate that. So, the next five-year focus is to enter the luxury resi-
dential market and keep creating beautiful commercial
What will unleash the next phase of growth for the com- hubs.

83 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

IN DEPTH CORPORATE

STOREYED
SUCCESS

84 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

ANAROCK Group has scripted a spectacular
success story in five years of its existence, with a 10-
fold jump in revenue and manpower; and operations

across 14 cities including Dubai and Abu Dhabi
By Ashish Sinha

Photograph by D. Maharana THE INDIAN REALTY market has been
sluggish for some time. But that does not
mean that everything associated with
it is in the same state of stagnation. A
classic case is the Pune headquartered
ANAROCK Group, the specialist real es-
tate consultancy and services firm that
was launched barely five years ago. It has
flourished like very few other businesses. Since starting out
in the middle of 2017, its net revenue has soared 10 times
the initial investments of Rs 350 crore, and its employee
base has expanded to more than 2,000, from the 250 peo-
ple it started out with.

85 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

IN DEPTH CORPORATE

‘WE WILL
EXPAND TO
AT LEAST 50
CITIES’

ANUJ PURI, Chairman, ANAROCK Group is focused on
the next five years after the heady success of the last five years.
On the agenda is doubling the revenue, getting funding, and
acquiring proptech players. He speaks to ASHISH SINHA
about his plans. Excerpts:

What were the reasons for launching ANAROCK?
Residential, which accounts for 84 per cent of the business,
was mainly catered to by unorganised brokerages with no
market depth. There was a massive opportunity for a tech-
driven consultancy with existing pan-India residential
expertise. We had sensed the need for a digital and technol-

Anuj Puri launched ANAROCK Group by buying the of supply being constructed, is a mere16 percent of the

residential business of Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) whose overall Indian real estate market even today,” explains

India operations he headed. Today, ANAROCK’s business Puri, adding that the residential segment commands the

operations have expanded in all directions. From residen- rest of the business which is what his venture focused

tial, retail, hospitality, and project management to helping on initially. “ANAROCK is more of a B2C model, heavily

the government monetise its land parcels, the company is focused on digital and tech marketing, and is highly scal-

involved in almost every aspects of the real estate business. able,” he says.

Though ANAROCK is barely five years old, it does not

The Birth of ANAROCK technically fit the definition of a startup. “ANAROCK was

“We launched ANAROCK when there was not a classic startup in the commonly under-

an obvious opportunity in the real estate “We are currently stood sense of the term. We bought out JLL

market. The Real Estate Regulatory Au- developing a soon- Residential — JLL India’s entire residential

thority, Goods and Service Tax and demon- to-be-launched team — which had around 250 people. We

etisation had happened in close succession. digital distribution initially launched in eight cities,” explains

Together, these measures highlighted the platform that shows Puri. Overall, the acquisition, opening of of-

need for ethical real estate players, both all properties for fices, onboarding teams, and setting up the

among developers and consultancies. Also, any real estate asset technology centre cost ANAROCK about Rs

the ‘big boys’ of Indian real estate consult- in any part of the 350 crore.

ing business were focused more on the country. This is how “We have witnessed a very satisfactory 10x

commercial real estate — which, in terms we will grow” growth at the end of five years. And net basis.

86 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

ogy driven approach long before the Covid-19 pandemic ANAROCK has also pioneered the mandate model in India,
came along because millennials were not going with the which means that we assume complete responsibility for
traditional route of property discovery — their search began the successful marketing of an entire project.
online. Also, most consultants addressed the various needs
of developers in a disjointed, uncoordinated manner. ANA- Did you raise any equity to launch ANAROCK?
ROCK took a unified approach to provide multiple services No. The firm is fully owned by its staff, and we raised no
beyond mere brokerage under a single roof — including equity from the market to launch it. However, within the
land sourcing and acquisition, valuation, raising construc- next 12 months we may bring in outside capital to lever-
tion equity, and property management. age the proptech space, on which we are extremely bull-

What’s your business model? How ish and already very active in. We can
are you different from the rest? acquire non-scaled proptech startups
While most consultants addressed with more firepower and bring them
the various needs of developers in a into the ANAROCK fold.
disjointed, uncoordinated manner.
ANAROCK took a unified approach Would you count the government
to provide multiple services beyond mere brokerage under among your biggest clients?
a single roof — including land sourcing and acquisition, That would be an overstatement. We do a lot of privatisa-
valuation, raising construction equity, and property man- tion of government land parcels and have just been ap-
agement. Our services are extended not only to housing pointed for ten railway stations around the country. Cur-
buyers but also to residential developers, financial institu- rently, out of our total revenue, the government accounts
tions, and the government. Apart from straightforward for no more than 5 per cent — and it would be the same for
residential brokerage, we help developers find suitable all principal real estate consultants. As the current govern-
land for their projects, get financing for these projects, and ment goes ahead with its programme of monetising more
manage these projects both during construction and after assets -- which, as you know, are considerable — our role
they are completed. We provide similar services to hotel will doubtlessly increase. Still, I doubt it will ever account
developers, office building developers, and mall owners. for more than 10 per cent of our revenues at any point in
the future.

We maintain a healthy cash flow,” Puri says with pride. The and Tata Group and brands like Hamleys as well as mall

company did not raise any capital in its initial years, but it developers like Olympia, Nexus etc. In the hospitality space,

may do so in the next one year or so. It is also scouting for HVS-ANAROCK — a partnership between ANAROCK

players in the proptech space. “In the next 12 months we and HVS — works with hotel groups such as Interconti-

may bring in outside capital to leverage the proptech space, nental, Marriot, Oberoi, and Taj. In many cases, its services

on which we are extremely bullish and already very active often start long before the marketing stage and begin with

in,” Puri says, adding that they may acquire non-scaled land or asset valuation and acquisition and project fund-

proptech startups with more firepower and merge it with ing. In the project management space, Mace-ANAROCK

ANAROCK. — a collaboration with Mace — works with St. Regis ho-

tel at Delhi airport, all Piramal buildings in
“Internationally, we Mumbai, Phoenix Mall in Kolkata, RMZ,
Business Spread

In the residential space, ANAROCK works will primarily target and Palais Royale Mumbai, and BITS School
with the Piramal Group, House of Hiranan- the GCC and have of Management in Mumbai.
dani, Brigade Group, Lodha, DLF, Pura- plans for London,
where we have “We help the government monetise land

vankara, and Signature Global, among many one of our main parcels near airports and railway stations

others. In the retail space, it has a number of partners already within the consulting space,” Puri says. Re-

projects with DLF Malls, Phoenix Group, cently, ANAROCK was selected in a tough
and Prestige (now Blackstone) as its clients. operating. Digitally, bidder round to help sell the previously
Also, it has longstanding relationships with we are also eyeing stalled Amrapali housing projects in NCR.
conglomerates like Future Group, Reliance, the US and Canada”
The National Buildings Construction Cor-

87 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

IN DEPTH CORPORATE

was also the sole advisor in India’s largest ‘single building’
commercial office deal between Blackstone and Nucleus
Developers. Data centres have been another focus area
where the team has advised a large investment platform
for India Data Centres, where the ticket size was $500
million.

The Next Five Years

While the company has clocked a 10x growth in revenues

in the past five years, it aims to double this over the next

five years. But Puri is not in favour of adding much man-

power as he takes his business to more than 50 cities,

including new cities abroad. “We will not be relying as

much on hiring people as on deploying more technology

going forward. For instance, we are currently develop-

ing a soon-to-be-launched digital distribution platform

that shows all properties for any real estate asset in any

part of the country. This is how

“Two years ago, we will grow. In terms of hiring,

we launched I envisage a maximum growth
our commercial of up to 5,000 people (over next
vertical, which in five-year period),” he says.

a short span, has As part of ANAROCK’s plan to

delivered some expand to at least 50 cities, many
of the biggest new additions may be via the vir-
transactions tual route and via its technology

in Mumbai and platforms. Many of these new cit-

NCR with Raheja ies will be in the untapped Tier-2
Universal and SS and Tier-3 cities. “Internation-

Group” ally, we will primarily target the

GCC and have plans for London,

where we have one of our main

partners already operating. Digitally, we are also eyeing the

Santosh Kumar, Vice Chairman, ANAROCK US and Canada,” says Puri.

poration has also retained ANAROCK to sell 10,000 units Why the big focus on the GCC? “It is because the GCC
in these projects, which are now being completed after
remaining stuck for years. culture, both socially and in a business sense, is very similar

Talking about ANAROCK Commercial, Puri says, “Two to that of India. Also, the region has a massive Indian dias-
years ago, we launched our commercial vertical, which in a
short span, has delivered some of the biggest transactions pora,” he says. Another key reason is that the GCC countries
in Mumbai and NCR with Raheja Universal and SS Group.
In its first year of operations, ANAROCK Commercial ex- do not offer permanent residency. Indians working there
ecuted India’s largest commercial lease deal in terms of
revenue for Dream11 in the iconic One BKC.” will return home and settle down one day.

Through its investment banking vertical, the company Reminiscing about the massive success over the last five
has successfully managed marquee transactions and deals
including the recent one between Tata Realty and the years, Puri says, “It has been an exhilarating journey, which
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. This was one of
the largest JVs in the commercial office space in the coun- began with several advantages that helped us avoid the
try and was valued at $700 million. ANAROCK Capital
usual startup pains. Among these was the fact that most

of our top leadership team had worked together for 10-15

years, and everyone hit the ground running from day one.”

Going ahead, he looks forward to ANAROCK making an

incremental impact on what remains a largely fragmented

market. “We will target meaningful growth and avoid pro-

liferating just for the sake of it,” he says.

[email protected]; @Ashish_BW

88 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022



COLUMN

By Gaurav Bedekar CLIMATE CHANGE is
dominating business dis-
Financial course more than ever be-
Services Can fore. With an alarming rise
of climate change-related
Spearhead crises and unsustainable
Sustainable growth, we are witnessing a paradigm
shift and increased appreciation of the
Growth need for sustainable existence. This has
resulted in new expectations of organi-
sations, which are ultimately coalescing
in the form of Environmental, Social
and Governance (ESG) guidelines
globally.

The conditions today present a great
opportunity for businesses, especially
in the Financial Services sector, to lead
the global transition to a responsi-
ble economy powered by sustainable
growth. Going back in time, the 2008
sub-prime crisis had led to an overhaul
of the global economic system. But un-
like in 2008, the current conditions are
ripe for FS companies to collectively
prioritise impacting investing and sus-
tainable financing.

ESG setting industry agenda
Environmental, Social and Governance
regulations have come a long way since
their first mention in the 2006 UN’s
Principles for Responsible Investment
(PRI) report. It dictates an investment
philosophy that considers not only re-
turn on investment but also whether
the company meets social responsibil-
ity standards when making investment
decisions. The Principles of Respon-
sible Investing and other such frame-
works are laying the foundation for a
complex normative landscape.

This directly impacts financial
market participants as they are now
required not only by law but also by
expectations of the “Responsible In-
vestor” to integrate ESG, sustainability
and climate change considerations into
their credit and investment decisions.
Indeed, the time is right to strengthen
compliance to the normative and regu-
latory landscape around disclosures
andtounderstandtheimpactsof tran-
sition risks.

90 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

Most banks have identified advanced data engineering, and in-
sustainability as a strategic priority dustrialisation of AI/ ML is playing a
key role in shaping the ESG landscape.
In India, SEBI, the regulatory body finance, which channels investment From simulating climate risk scenarios
for securities and commodity markets, into funds that benefit communities to ESG integrated statistical modelling
has introduced BRSR (or Business Re- and social business, which reinvests of credit screening, data and AI tech-
sponsibility & Sustainability Report- profits into social projects. nologies hold the potential to be a game
ing) for the top 1,000 listed companies changer.
to disclose their ESG parameters. The Today, over 90 per cent of banks
BRSR is not a mere representation of have identified sustainability as a stra- The ESG ecosystem consists of a di-
ESG data, but an approach to drive an tegic priority and are establishing the verse set of players – external agencies
organisation’s ESG commitment and systems and policies to set targets for for ESG data and ratings, platform and
demonstrate it transparently to stake- action. A clear focus on climate and fi- Reg-Tech solution providers, data and
holders. nancial inclusion is seen through mo- AI technology providers, and even the
bilisation of $2.3 trillion of sustainable prominent hyperscalers. With such a
The business response to ESG finance as reported by 87 global banks, diverse landscape, the resulting confu-
With each passing day, more institu- per the Responsible Banking: Building sion is significant. The ESG regulations
tional investors are making it clear that Foundations report for 2021. across countries, their different inter-
they expect the companies they do busi- pretations, and unique approaches to
ness with to commit strongly to ESG Get, set, but nowhere to go? cope with this rapidly evolving eco-
norms and sustainable growth. Ameri- The ESG landscape is evolving in sev- system have added to the complexity.
can investment corporation BlackRock eral ways due to the influence of dif- While organisations may have the in-
Inc. decided almost two years back to ferent voices and opinions. A diverse tent and the budget to fulfil their ESG
make ESG a bedrock of its investment ecosystem of entities like public regu- agenda, they lack clear direction.
decisions. The HSBC pledged to com- lators, governments, supranational
mit $100 billion to sustainable financ- institutions, financial institutions, Charting an effective road map
ing and investments by 2025. academics, asset owners, asset manag- What organisations need today is an
ers and corporations, each with their end-to-end transformative approach
BNP Paribas uses four financial unique points of view, has increased to counter the ambiguity. They need
models to combine economic perfor- this complexity. Organisations too have an approach that assesses and repur-
mance with a positive social and envi- developed siloed and distorted busi- poses their existing investments, and
ronmental impact: socially responsible ness models along their respective ESG that considers the most optimal and
investing, which integrates sustainabil- journeys. holistic technology and data providers’
ity into management; green finance, longtail to promote the ESG agenda.
which favours ecological bonds; social As in the case of financial regulatory They should build an approach that
evolution, emergence of data science, prioritises long-term integration and
stability over short-term misdirected
initiatives.

Going forward, the push for business-
es to address ESG issues and opportu-
nities will continue to grow – driven by
investors, shareholders, governments,
suppliers, and customers. There is rec-
ognition of the opportunities that ESG
brings to the table. Companies should
start with new policies that are work-
able. This will provoke a relook at new
and alternate ways of approaching the
business, which will eventually benefit
and create value for organisations …
and the world at large.

The author is Vice President, Head of Enterprise
Data & Analytics, Capgemini Invent

Photograph by Indiapicturebudget 91 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

COLUMN GROUND-UP / Miniya Chatterji

O
N AN UNUSUALLY sunny winter afternoon, just a few hours after we landed
Climate in Auckland last month, we took a stroll around the city’s Central Business Dis-
Jobs in trict. It had been four years since our family of three had last visited home here
Demand and so we were eager to hit the streets and relish the familiarity. We were filled
with dismay and somewhat taken aback as not one single eatery was open to
serve. Not even a hole-in-the-wall cafe! The pandemic, we learnt, had scathed
the local economy, forcing small shop owners and restaurants to shut shop out
of fear of the soaring Covid cases, equally fast rising crime rate, in the absence
of tourists, and residents who now prefer to stay-in more than ever before.

However, the New Zealand government has a plan. Renewable energy will
play a key role in the country’s Covid-19 economic recovery. Roughly 84 per
cent of the electricity in New Zealand is already produced from renewable
sources. But New Zealand’s goal is to have 100 per cent renewable energy by
2030. Additionally, the country hopes to have net-zero carbon emissions by
2050. Now the Labour Party-led government in New Zealand sees the pan-
demic as an opportunity to invest in more renewable energy in order to create
more jobs. The Labour Party plans to develop more high-skill jobs that need
expertise in developing renewable energy infrastructure, and believes this will
immediately boost the Covid hit economy, reduce electricity bills, benefiting
New Zealanders living in challenged economic conditions, who have lost the
most in the pandemic, and also help the country prepare for the future. It is
estimated that renewable energy could create almost NZ$165 trillion in global
GDP gains by 2050.

Globally, clean energy spending has risen by 50 per cent over the past five
months and now stands at over $710 billion worldwide. However, there are
disparities between regions. Advanced economies account for the bulk of this
effort, with over $370 billion intended to be spent prior to the end of 2023.
Across emerging and developing economies such as India, the total amount
of fiscal resources being dedicated to post pandemic sustainable recovery
measures is one-tenth of the amount in advanced economies.

In India, as of FY 2021, the wind and solar energy sectors have already
employed a workforce of 111,400. Moving forward, it is imperative that India
too boosts its post pandemic recovery by strengthening skills and jobs in the
climate economy. According to a report by CEEW and Natural Resources
Defence Council, released in January 2022, India can potentially create about
3.4 million jobs (short and long term) by installing 238 GW solar and 101 GW
new wind capacity to achieve the 500 GW non-fossil electricity generation
capacity by the 2030 goal. Clean energy technologies such as solar are labour
intensive. A workforce of about one million can be employed to take up these
jobs. According to the IFC as well, India and Bangladesh together are expected
to attract $ 2.5 trillion worth opportunities related to climate-resilient infra-
structure, building a strong case for new jobs.

92 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

India will need to keep the interests of its poorest 48 per cent fewer jobs in FY 2021 com-
and vulnerable populations at the centre of its pared to FY 2019.
climate action because empty stomachs will not
be able to save the planet. This is also possible Furthermore, the total workforce
with the proactive support of India Inc. addition to this sector in FY2020 and
FY2021 combined is six per cent lower
Moreover, since 2021 publicly listed nologies. To even attempt to deliver than FY 2019 alone. Clearly, India does
companies are under regulatory pres- India’s net zero promise, the ‘new way not seem to be able to pursue a green
sure by SEBI to measure, disclose and of business’ that it entails is bound to recovery that countries such as New
hopefully mitigate their scope 1, scope create significant numbers of skilled Zealand are set off on.
2, and scope 3 emissions. These organi- and unskilled jobs.
sations will need to modify their pro- One reason for this is India’s contin-
cesses or even products. When these Accordingly, India’s Union Budget ued dependence on coal and resistance
companies work their supply chain 2021 has already focused on green re- to transition to clean energy. A second
to mitigate their scope 3 emissions, covery as a central aspect of its policy reason is the lack of skills. Where are
smaller and unlisted companies will framework, and emphasised investing the people who can strengthen climate
also be pushed to monitor and miti- in renewable energy, air pollution, pro- resilience and develop corporate sus-
gate emissions. This transformation of viding potable water and biodiversity tainability? A third reason is the in-
corporate India needs people with the conservation. Even the 2022 Budget crease in energy demand coupled with
appropriate skills to execute. highlights the importance of making inadequate climate finance, or even
the energy transition, increasing re- skills in structuring financial products
Finally, in order to meet India’s net newable energy, allocating significant to fund climate resilience. Policy is key.
zero targets by 2070, as pronounced funds towards local manufacturing However, India’s private sector too can
by Prime Minister Modi at the COP 26 of solar modules and introduces new and will need to take a leadership role
meeting in year 2021 that took place areas like battery swapping and decen- in removing each of these road blocks –
in Glasgow, companies will need to tralised renewable energy. phase out their thermal power stations,
overhaul their business models, to be establish and support institutions that
energy efficient, use clean sources of But here is the catch – contrary to offer skills catering to the climate in-
power, modify production processes New Zealand’s renewable energy jobs dustry, including climate finance.
to eliminate waste and pollution, and driven recovery, in India Covid-19 ad-
deploy various carbon capture tech- versely impacted the renewable energy Finally, countries such as New Zea-
sector. The clean energy sector created land do not face the socio-economic
disparities that India suffers. I was re-
cently invited by a US multinational
company to deliver a master class to a
leadership team in India about setting
ambitions for building climate resil-
ience, during which I was questioned as
to why social goals need to be incorpo-
rated when setting climate targets. This
question is, exactly, the problem. India
will need to keep the interests of its
poorest and vulnerable populations at
the centre of its climate action because
empty stomachs will not be able to save
the planet. This is also possible with
the proactive support of India Inc. in
ensuring that social entrepreneurship
and environment protection go hand
in hand in their business models.

The writer is CEO, Sustain Labs Paris, author, and

a Global Leadership Fellow alumna of the World

Economic Forum

Photograph by Indiapicturebudget 93 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

IN DEPTH CORPORATE/AUTO

INDIAN ARM OF the German carmaker Audi is IN POLE
certainly setting the pace as far as electric vehicles POSITION
(EV) are concerned. The luxury carmaker has already
rolled out five EVs in India—the Audi e-tron 50, Audi Luxury carmaker Audi India
e-tron 55, Audi e-tron Sportback 55, Audi e-tron GT
and Audi RS e-tron GT. “We can proudly say that all sees at least 15 per cent of its overall
our five electric vehicles have received an overwhelming re-
sponse. Our first and second allocation of cars were sold out sales in India coming from electric
even before they were brought into the country,” exults Balbir
Singh Dhillon, Head of Audi India. Audi India launched its vehicles in the next three years. It has
range of EVs only in the second half of 2021, and finished
the year with sales of 3,293 units, a nearly 95 per cent jump already launched five EVs in India
in sales over 2020. In short, last year was one of the best
for the luxury carmaker in India in recent times. What has By Ashish Sinha
fundamentally changed for the carmaker? The answer lies in
the policy shift announced by the headquarters in Germany from 0-100kph in about six seconds and the top speed is elec-
last year. In 2021, Audi’s board unveiled a corporate strategy, tronically limited to 200 kph. On a full charge, the e-tron can
‘Vorsprung 2030’, which essentially means a head-start to travel up to 400 km. To make electric mobility a premium
2030. More importantly, with this new strategy, Audi as a experience it is offered with comprehensive and reliable
brand has announced a definitive timeline for the transition charging options with intelligent solutions for ‘at home’ and
to electric mobility; this includes the launch of only EVs in ‘on the go’, says Dhillon. But all this comfort and luxury comes
2026, the end of ICE powered car production in 2033 and with a hefty price tag. The price of Audi e-tron starts at Rs
increased focus on software and autonomous technology. 1.01 crore and goes up to Rs 1.19 crore. Who is Audi India EV
“Going by the current traction in the EV segment, we may customer? “Our customer is someone who knows the merits
see the volume of EVs more than triple albeit on a low base. of going electric. He is a luxury car buyer who may also buy
The direction of volumes and growth is very encouraging. At the e-tron as his second or third car in the family. On the other
Audi, we are expecting 15 per cent of our sales in the country hand, the Audi e-tron customer is also someone who is mov-
to be driven by EVs by 2025-2026,” says Dhillon. ing from a mass market brand to electric. We recently had a
customer move from a premium sedan to the Audi e-tron,”
USP of Audi EV series says Dhillon. What’s working in favour of Audi EVs is the nec-
Audi’s EV success so far has hinged on a combination of essary infrastructure including the charging ecosystem and
technology, space and comfort. “The e-tron is a luxury on-road support that the carmaker has put in place. When
electric SUV with a range the company launched the Audi e-tron in India, it created an
that is suitable for every- entire ecosystem for its customers. “The Audi e-tron is sold
day use,” says Dhillon. The with two chargers — a portable 22kW wall-box charger and
Audi e-tron is a five-seater an in-car charger. In addition, we have an e-tron hub section
SUV powered by two elec- on the myAudi Connect App that helps locate the nearest
tric motors and produces
maximum output of 300 chargers on the route of a
kW and 664Nm of torque. journey,” he explains. “We
The Audi e-tron can sprint have installed more than
100 chargers in India in-
cluding high speed charg-
ers at our dealerships,”
he adds. Indeed, a robust
charging infrastructure
is vital for the rapid adop-

94 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

Balbir Singh Dhillon, Head of Audi India with EVs

tion of electric cars in the country. “We are “The chip These are not easy times for carmakers in

also installing chargers at our group brand shortage has hit the country. They have been hit with a short-
(Skoda & VW) dealerships that are located the automotive age of semiconductors — the backbone of
across strategic highways to help expand all electronics in cars — and an increase in
the charging network. As a brand, we are sector and also raw material prices. While the first has in-
also setting up high[1]speed chargers at many other ordinately increased the waiting periods for
our dealerships to ensure ease of charging,” industries cars due to low production, the spiralling
says Dhillon. But others including private globally. But raw material costs have forced automakers

players, brands and the government must to raise the price of cars, a major sales damp-

work on expanding the network of chargers the biggest ener. “The chip shortage has hit the automo-
across the country. This, Dhillon says, will challenge tive sector and also many other industries
help enhance customer confidence and aid globally. But the biggest challenge which we
which we face is face is uncertainty. In the luxury segment,
the growth of EVs.

Supply Chain Challenges uncertainty...” the planning cycles are very long and we
have to plan, from nine months to one year,

How soon will Audi start manufacturing even be[1]yond. The waiting period on our

100 per cent ‘made in India’ Audi cars? Dhillon says local models has improved significantly since May and we are

manufacturing is a matter of time. “It is a matter of when hopeful this continues in the months ahead. It is difficult to

and not if. To manufacture electric vehicles in India we need predict how the rising Covid cases will have an impact in the

further investments and to make such investments, we need months ahead,” Dhillon shares. What is Audi’s future focus

to achieve a certain threshold sales volume in India to allow on EVs? “Starting 2033, we will only launch electric cars,

us to make strong projections for the future, which is a pre- as communicated globally. This strategy is aligned for the

requisite for any fresh investments,” he says. He, however, Indian market as well,” says Dhillon. For now, Audi India will

wants the central government to handhold the carmakers in focus on increasing its share of sales of the five electric cars

this transition to EVs. “We request the government to give us it launched in 2021.

a window of 3-5 years of tax sops, which will allow us to create

a decent scale and explore localisation.” [email protected]; @Ashish_BW

95 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

AFTER HOURS BUSINESSOFENTERTAINMENT

IS
BOLLYWOOD
OMUISTSOINNGITS
CHRISTOPHER
NOLAN?

YoungIndianfilmmakersaremakinga
markininternationalfilmfestivals.Butis
supportforthemlackingathome?
ByKaushikBhaumik

RECENTLY, Indian cinema has been cre- umentary cinema at Knowing Nothing’. That
ating waves. But not in the way things Cannes. win went all but unno-
were splashed about at Cannes from the ticed. Sen holds a PhD
film industry side of things, which is only Last year, Payal from the Cinema Studies
interested in the money bottom line it Kapadia, a filmmaker department at JNU and
seems. making waves on the Kapadia is a graduate
international scene, from FTII, Pune.
Instead, this year at Cannes itself a young Indian picked up the Oeil d’or for
filmmaker Shaunak Sen won the Oeil d’or award for her film, ‘A Night of Elsewhere, Sanal
best documentary for his film, ‘All That Breathes’.
Compare the amount of coverage given to Hina Khan
on the red carpet in media pages to that dedicated to
Sen, and we realise how lopsided the view is of the
industry and the media towards cinema.

Sen had previously won the top award for documen-
tary film at the Sundance Film Festival for the same
film, a fact that has received even lesser attention than
his triumph at Cannes.

Worse still, this is the second year in running that an
Indian filmmaker has picked up the top award for doc-

96 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

Sasidharan’s ‘Sexy Durga’ cinema is not being sup-
and Vinothraj ‘PS’s ported by the Indian film
Pebbles’ have won the top industry, which is very
Golden Tiger award at clear from who gets to
the Rotterdam show the face of Indian
International Film cinema at Cannes.
Festival in 2017 and 2021
respectively. Great movies get
pitched at the annual
One of the most famous Film Bazaar run by the
previous winners of this NFDC at IFFI, Goa, and
award is someone by the some of them get made
name of Christopher and even travel interna-
Nolan. tionally to wide acclaim.

Despite the Indian But the story for these
public and media craving young first-time film-
for international fame for makers is the same -- less
Indians, we fail to give it support from the indus-
the attention and the try. And of course, after
respect it deserves. their first films, the road
stops for most of them.
I am yet to come across
There is no expansive
Thereisnoexpansiveframeworktopromoteormarketfilms framework to promote or
market films and film-
andfilmmakerswhoarecapableofbeingatthehighestlevels makers who are capable
of being at the highest
ofinternationalprestigeandtalentinWorldCinema levels of international
prestige and talent in
a single congratulatory probably get produced by produced by Alfonso World Cinema. This is
message from Bollywood money abroad. Cuaron, two times something that needs to
to these filmmakers. I Academy Award winner change if Indian cinema
wonder whether the Chaitanya Tamhane, for Best Director. is to be taken seriously.
industry is even aware of the winner of the
any international pres- ‘Orizzonti section’ at the What seems to be There is no such con-
tige outside of the Oscars, Venice Film Festival in becoming clear now is tradiction between
which is bad news since 2014, had his second film that the best of Indian Hollywood and winning
in not keeping an eye on at international festivals
Rotterdam, Bollywood dedicated to good cin-
might be missing out on ema. Ang Lee has won
its Christopher Nolan. two Academy Awards for
Best Director, two Golden
Or in not noticing Sen Lions at Venice, and two
or Kapadia, winners at Golden Bears at Berlin. It
Cannes, they might be should be the same for
missing out on creating Bollywood.
an international market
for good documentary The author is an Associate
films from India which
are doing such good busi- Professor at the School of
ness the world over today.
Arts and Aesthetics
Indeed, these young
filmmakers might have at Jawaharlal Nehru
plans to make feature
films in the future, that University. He did is
given the condition of our
film culture today, will D Phil on the History of

Cinema from the University

of Oxford , United Kingdom.

He is widely published.

97 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

AFTER HOURS BUSINESSOFDESIGN

SIGNIFICANCE OF
SFOURSBTAEAINUATYBILITY
Theglobal BRANDS
beautyand
cosmetics

industryis
anticipatedto

reachnearly
$430billion
dollarsthisyear,
withashiftin
preference
towardsorganic,
herbaland
naturalproducts
BySimiDewan

SIMI
DEWAN

Sustainability across the beauty industry is pated to reach nearly $430 billion this year, with a shift
gaining momentum as most brands are join- in preference towards organic, herbal and natural
ing in on the movement. With regards to the products. Alongside this move, studies show that buy-
increase in consumption of beauty products, ers are primarily focusing on embracing sustainable
the need to constantly monitor ethical and packaging and greener products.
sustainable practices taking place within the organisa-
tion and industry at large has become extremely impor- In view of eliminating the environmental impact, 80
tant. Hence, a consistent approach to measuring the per cent of consumers specify that sustainability is of
environmental impact of beauty products should be paramount importance, whereas 60 per cent are ready
encouraged. to change their shopping habits. The beauty industry is
evolving to meet consumer demand by considering the
The global beauty and cosmetics industry is antici- following practices.

98 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

Green Packaging
We need to try and follow
the approach of using
plastic-free packaging, or
eco-friendly solutions.
Additionally, companies
must aim at using recy-
clable materials while
packaging. Eco-refills
save up to 97 per cent
packaging than their
original containers.

Prohibition of Toxic ond life instead of ending ble materials. With
up in landfills. The thing changing trends, busi-
Ingredients about incorporating nesses must successfully
As directed by the FDA’s green practices is that a work towards addressing
cosmetic labelling guide, brand must always keep critical issues that may
all brands must adhere to on innovating and work- affect climate change,
t h e F DA’s r e s t r i c t e d ing towards innovative water scarcity, species
ingredient guide and ways to limit environ- extinction, plastic pollut-
seek to use natural ele- mental impact whilst ants, and deforestation.
ments in the products. providing the best of
The push for natural beauty. For the new beauty
ingredient-based prod- brands entering the
ucts has resulted in com- space, there are plenty of
panies advocating learnings from the big
organic products with players and how they are
safer ingredients ensur- constantly trying to
ing highest quality and switch their old practices
sourced as sustainably as to sustainable ways in
possible. order to produce and
deliver environmentally
Inviewofeliminatingtheenvironmentalimpact, friendly beauty products.
80percentofconsumersspecifythatsustainabilityisof It should after all be a
paramountimportance,whereas60percentarereadyto worldwide effort to moni-
tor the actions and make
changetheirshoppinghabits. changes that will have a
positive impact on the
Introduce Recycling Supply Chain comprises of sustainable buyers as well as the envi-
and holistic ingredients, ronment around us.
Campaigns Management while considering the
Brands must actively par- Brands are now becom- shelf-life of the product. The author is Country Head
ticipate in launching ing more conscious about In addition, companies
recycling campaigns adapting sustainable must emphasise on recy- & Deputy General Manager,
wherein they accept all ways starting from sourc- cling and reusing waste
containers and PET emp- ing, and production to from the product created L’Occitane India
ties from any beauty distribution and con- such as encouraging
brand to encourage the sumption. Businesses refilling or designing
customers to give their must strive to create and containers using recycla-
empty containers a sec- design a product that

99 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022

AFTER HOURS HEALTHCARE

With Covid cases on the “Herpes and reactions in some patients.
rise again, BW Business- Heart Problems
world sought out HEMAL- not Related There’s a belief that the
ATA ARORA, Senior Con- to the Covid booster shot has caused
sultant, Internal Medicine Vaccine” side effects like Herpes
and Infectious Diseases, and heart problems.
Nanavati Max Super Speci- Super added infections such as While Herpes is an infec-
ality Hospital for an expert Black Fungus or Avascular Necrosis tion, heart condition is an
view on how the virus may are not a part of long Covid umbrella term for heart-
manifest itself this time By Jyotsna Sharma related non-communica-
ble diseases. These cannot
Covid cases are on the rise inflammation. It is unlikely months of the infections. be caused as a direct result
again. How challenging is that we will see a return of Apart from some new of taking a Covid vaccine
this wave likely to be? Black Fungus. or the booster shot. Infec-
Even though recent reports conditions such as blood tions such as Herpes and
indicate the presence of What is long Covid? clotting, these symptoms shingles have become ex-
new Omicron variants in What are the symptoms? are consistent with after tremely common, and it is
a few cities of India, they Long Covid is a syndrome effects of other viral infec- advisable for individuals
are unlikely to become that indicates constella- tions as well. It is impor- above 60 years to get vac-
‘Variants of Concern.’ The tions of symptoms, likely to tant to understand that cinated for both to prevent
Omicron wave of infections surface after symptomatic super added infections them.
has remained milder than or asymptomatic Covid in- such as Black Fungus or
all the previous waves of fections. Commonly, these Avascular Necrosis are not How long before we see
Covid. Since the infection symptoms, such as dizzi- a part of long Covid. Causes the end of Covid-19?
is restricted to the upper ness, palpitations, brain- or risk factors of long Covid I suspect over a period of
respiratory system and fog, lethargy and fatigue, are yet unknown. However, 12-15 months, we may see
can be treated effectively, appear after one to three it is likely that the inflam- an end to the pandemic.
infection spread is likely to mation may result in odd Multiple waves of different
be short-lived and mild. severity are common in the
lifecycle of any viral infec-
Will we see a comeback of tion, and the recent rise in
the Black Fungus? cases is a similar example
No, we are unlikely to see a of it. As the herd immunity
comeback of Black Fungus and vaccine coverage will
or any superadded infec- spread wider, infection se-
tions, which were common verity will decrease gradu-
after the first and second ally before the infection be-
waves, the reason being comes similar to a common
the low rate of hospitalisa- cold or flu.
tion and milder infections,
which do not require an ag- What precautions can be
gressive line of treatment. taken against Covid-19?
Excessive use of steroids, Boosting personal immu-
high-end antivirals such nity and staying healthy
as Remdesivir, low immu- has proved to be effective
nity and long hospital stays against Covid-19. Mask-
caused a sudden rise of su- ing up, sanitisation and
per- added infections such avoiding social gatherings
as Black Fungus or Avascu- can prevent the spread of
lar Necrosis after the first the infection. Getting vac-
and second waves of Covid. cinated and staying healthy
is essential to avoid a severe
Also, as the Omicron outcome of the disease.
wave is not causing severe

100 | BW BUSINESSWORLD | 02 July 2022