Bihar resurgence more by design than default

Dec 29, 2010

Critics dismissed the claim, Bihari Diaspora looked up with nostalgic pride and a large section of Bihar population kept wondering; but the conventional school of economics had just got a new case study. And the eminent economist Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar was only stating the obvious. The state of Bihar, known for poor perception, projection and performance had managed to achieve a growth rate of 11 per cent at a time when the national GDP had nosedived to 6 per cent and many developed countries hovering around 2.5 per cent.
Everybody had their own reasons to react-the critics who were always apprehensive with the competitive edge of the talent pool were just comfortable with the denial theory. The Bihari Diaspora who has by and large seen the worst side of reverse racism in metro cities and has preferred silence in exchange of a decent living had suddenly found that their time had come. The large part of the Bihar, however, kept wondering that if Bihar has actually made history then where have the fruits of development gone? 
The turnaround of the fortune of Bihar will be discussed and debated at various level- economic, social and political. However, the fact stands that this turnaround has been made possible without any economic package by the centre, without any big-ticket investment, and despite coping with the legacy of state being at the rock bottom of governance, all human development indicators and nature’s fury with flood. All this is a clear indicator of the resilience of the state.
No wonder, in a fragmented polity where anti-incumbency is the only indicator to judge the governance; the voters of Bihar gave the unquestioned mandate to its turnaround man in recently held Assembly elections. The real challenge for the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar starts now with the burden of expectations on governance and much more. The moot point now is that what is the road map ahead and whether Bihar can sustain its resurgence as the state with highest GDP.
The fact of the matter, however, is that much water has flown in the Ganges in the last five years and there is visible change in the perception and projection about the state. Already the economists have started discussing whether the new economic wave in India will be heralded through Green Revolution in Eastern India in general and Bihar in particular. After all, the migration rate of Bihar at this moment is the lowest in the last three decades and that is clear reflection of Bihar emerging as the food basket of the country.
Waiting for a young prosperous landlord at his place in Gurgaon of Haryana, I was pleasantly surprised to see him coming straight from his farm land in swanky car but hands all soiled. He was cutting a sorry figure for working himself in the harvesting since the third generation landlord was all clueless as to where have all the labours gone? After all, he had seen Bihari migrant labours since childhood, and never even dreamt of working himself in the field.
But it not just the migration check that makes me optimistic with the resurgence of Bihar. I recently met a well settled business man of Nepal, who was sulking as to how the improved law & order in Bihar has fled all the criminal elements into the Himalayan state. Unable to cope up with the emerging extortion demands over there, he is looking to shift base to Delhi. These are the case studies that suggest what is paving the way for investment in Bihar. What Bihar needs now is one big ticket investment and that will set the ball rolling. It will not just add to the employment opportunity in the state, but also be a trend setter for more investments, big and small.
Already there seems to be intent by the Bihari Diaspora to get back to its roots. When a well settled friend from Saudi called me up to inform that he has immediate plans to wrap up the flourishing business in the Gulf, I felt as if it is a routine story of the Indian Diaspora. After all, behind all the swanky living of the Indians across the world is a stark reality of accepting second class citizenship in exchange. But what surprised me is the fact that his future plans are to settle business in the home state of Bihar.
Already there are very many professionals who have, of late, opted for working at the grass roots in the state, instead of a cushioned job in the metro cities. There is no doubt a sea change in the perception, projection and performance of the state. Critics and pessimists among us may argue that Bihar’s resurgence and astonishing growth rate has been by default, but by all indicators its continuance and the roads ahead are going to be a case study for the academic and governance purposes. The Bihar’s reach to the pinnacle of glory will definitely be by design than default.

Broadcast Media is OUT, Narrowcast Media is IN

Dec 22, 2010

With our core business & expertise in media consulting, at every year-end people keep asking as to which way the media is heading to in the year ahead. At the end of the year 2010, the very same curiosity has got even more relevance with the kind of media expose that the country has seen, both internally with Radia tapes and globally with WikiLeaks. Will it change the shape of things in media? And with TRACK2MEDIA Consulting launching its first news project in the form of e newspaper on real estate sector, Track2Realty, it is all the more necessary for us to release a fact-sheet on the media roadmap that we find shaping up in the year 2011.
Different people have different reasons to be curious-journalist friends want to know whether the entry of more players will just add up to the number of jobs; or the increasing competition will have some impact on the pay packets as well. The clients in the corporate world are always curious to understand the behavioral dilemma with the necessary evil called media. But most importantly the new players who are eager to explore in the media business want to understand as to what makes a media project viable.
Well, TRACK2MEDIA Consulting as a communication management group has lost a couple of upcoming media projects in the year 2010 because we have been upfront in telling the clients that their approach to replicate the model, both in content & revenue, of existing biggies is fraught with dangers. Every wannabe in the media business, unfortunately, tries to replicate the existing news project, and in the process turns out to be the poor Xerox version of the existing players. When the global management consulting company McKinsey forecasted a few years back that India will soon see around 500 TV channels uplinked, it had probably no idea as to how the business of news & entertainment will see a horizontal growth than vertical one.
Some of the regional channels competing in a cluttered market are a testimony of the fact that it is not just niche market that is a key to success. Most of them have failed to evolve a serious game plan and hence unable to create a community around them. This failure has also brought a sea change compromise in the standards and ethics of journalism. Jobs are offered nowadays not just on the journalistic merit, but the ability to raise revenue from the region that is on offer. Still, most of the thinktanks of these media group are clueless as to where have the audience and revenue gone.
Nine out of 10 new media projects in the year 2010 have either failed flat or are struggling to make a break even. Indian media market has already seen dot com bubble burst, the TV channels closing down and even some big ticket print media projects failing to make a mark. Some of these projects have failed to get noticed despite of deep pockets of the promoters. On the contrary, there are other media projects, though few and far between, which are doing well despite of working in a low-cost model. This raises a question mark over the business model, brand differentiator and TG loyalty of the project.
All the successful media ventures may be devising their old success stories, but there seem to be a common pattern of almost all the failed ventures. That is their attempt to replicate the model of the existing successful ventures.  After closely examining the evolving media market in the country, we always advise the clients to write their success stories, instead of replicating anybody. This goes true for our own venture Track2Realty as well, which has been conceptualized as a market differentiator in the real estate segment.
It is not that there is any dearth of media ventures in a lucrative sector like the real estate. But where Track2Realty stands out as a market differentiator is the fact that we are neither competing with the marketing supplements of the mainline newspapers, nor are we providing a B2B platform to the industry. For us real estate is newsworthy subject that has been a virgin territory. And we are here to track the real concerns of all the stake holders-realty companies, investors, consultants and the end-users.
The question that many people ask is that whether niche segment is the new potential zone to emerge. With a certain amount of conviction I keep telling the media wannabes that the days of broadcast format is over. Unless one has a few hundred crores with a long time span to get into competitive zone with the large media houses, there is no point to even think of a venture with broadcast format. Providing every bit of news for everybody is something that has been monopolized by the large media institutions. As a consultant I keep telling everybody that even if you have deep pockets, it is always better to channelize that resource on a road that has been less travelled by.
It is our firm belief that while the broadcast format may not work for the new players, narrowcast format brings in more synergy, room for creativity & experiment and connects instantly with the focused target group. The next wave in media is slated to be with the narrowcast format, where one may not be offering everything to everybody, but an exclusive offer for a niche audience connects much better with the desired target group. One may not target million of audience who will surf your news platform once in a while, but an exclusive offer to even thousands of audience will do if your offer is worth visiting twice or thrice a day.
News and for that matter any form of media is also about creating a community around your media vehicle. Perhaps Facebook is the best example, and also an answer as to why people in general spend more time on Facebook than a professional networking platform like the LinkedIn. Both Facebook and LinkedIn are available on the Internet, accessible to everybody worldwide. But while LinkedIn is conceptualized on a broadcast format where you can network globally with anybody on a professional level, you may not end up working together on a given project even if you need services in that given geographical location. This is because this professional networking platform may not bring in like minded professionals on the table.
On the contrary, with Facebook one may not be bothered about millions of users, but in a narrowcast mode one is closely networked, most often with same likes and preferences, with the friends’ list. The medium offers even more focused narrowcasting within the narrowcast in the form of creating a group. Our study on the business model, audience psychograph and emerging pattern clearly suggests that the future belong to such narrowcast format in media.      
Among the three popular modes of media-Print, TV and Internet, the power of the word of mouse is tremendous; but has not been tapped fully because there is a credibility factor that is missing on the net in the absence of any regulation. It is a free for all medium. Columbia law professor in his recent book “The Master Switch” argues that Internet is as powerful as any other communications medium.  He expects to see consolidation and government control over the web. That may be a blessing in disguise as most other media-Print, TV, Radio & Movies, have gone through phases of wild growth and experimentation, eventually settling into a pattern of consolidation, control and credibility.
If Print Media today is seen as the most creditable piece of journalism, it is largely due to the edit control mechanism of the medium. In contrast, Television may attract more eyeballs but edit control is relatively less in a Soundbyte driven medium. Internet media entrepreneurs need to adapt to this reality and reinvent their project into a digiprint format. It is not just the US President Barack Obama who contested the elections on the social networking sites, but across the world even the most conservative governments have started realizing the power of the medium.
China has launched a new search engine of its own to make foray into its 420 million strong net users’ market. Known as Goso.cn, China’s search engine has been aimed at countering the negative reports of the country on rival Google. It has been launched by the country’s largest newspaper the People’s Daily of the ruling Communist party of China. This shows how several countries view development of the internet as part of their national strategy.
Internet is a medium which enables one with a daily budget of even Rs. 10 to practice journalism and other forms of media activity. Internet has cultivated a public vested in its freedom. But then activism and radical openness of the web has to eventually set an organized pattern for the medium. With a bit of regulation, more serious players opting for the medium and the medium itself not just penetrating deep into the demography but also in the psychograph….the future is definitely calling to the digital media.

The idea of track2realty

Dec 4, 2010

Isn’t it ironical that a sector worth $140 billion that has weathered the market crash twice in the last around a decade and still emerged as the fastest growing contributor to the GDP has not been granted even industry status in India? Even at the rock bottom in terms of the market sentiments today, the Indian real estate is poised to grow at a remarkable pace in view of the larger number of private investments and IPOs in the pipeline.
After all, the market capitalization of the real estate sector in India is just about 4.2 per cent of the total market capitalization, which is below the global norm of approximately 15 per cent, thus reflecting the scope available for growth of the sector. Sadly, the image makeover and fair trade practices within the sector have been ignored by all the parties’ concerned-government, realtors and media. The media focus seems to be as disorganized and haphazard as the real estate sector.
When a team of journalists with thorough knowledge & background of real estate sector got together to come out with a professional e newspaper, we first asked ourselves-why track2realty? We strongly believe that we can provide an alternative and viable media vehicle to the sector only when we are self-analytical and self-critical. Most of the real estate supplements of the mainline newspapers and realty magazines are actually marketing brochures of the sector and there has been absolutely no attempt to track the real issues and concerns of the sector.
It is here that track2realty is determined to make a difference. We may not act as a consumer rights’ activist group, but this e newspaper will not be an extension of marketing brochure either. We are a professionally managed media outlet for tracking the real concerns of the industry, investors and the end users. We will also come out with the research paper on the sector, and our periodical survey will reflect the true concerns of the sector.
Since real estate and infrastructure has emerged as the second largest economic activity in the country after agriculture, it has also given rise to a new economy including the media economy. The ad spend of the sector has gone up phenomenally in the last decade, surpassing even the FMCG sector in terms of growth rate. No wonder, most of the existing media foray on real estate sector are just a B2B platform with hardly any concerns for either the consumer empowerment or the industry regulation. We have well identified this demand-supply mismatch and our e newspaper will try to fill in this gap.
While we are providing news, views, reports and advisory to the readers, we are also providing a networking platform for the realty professionals. Our research reports will be aimed at providing industry reference, and survey will reflect the true state of the Indian real estate sector. At times, such hard-hitting research reports and reflective survey may not cheer up the industry, but then our focus would always be on what the industry needs and not what the industry wants.
And last, but not the least, our grievance section will be an open forum for everybody including the end users. In our sincere attempt to track the sector and raise voice for a better & organized market, we may at times rub a section or two the wrong way in the short term perspective. But we are very much committed to emerge as the genuine & reliable voice of the real estate sector in the long term perspective.