Gone are the days of the License Raj !!!

 

Dhirubhai Ambani the Father of Modern Indian Business fought against it and did away with it for the good of all of us. His fight is now eulogised in the movie 'Guru'. But, I am sure even he wouldn't have thought that the good work done by him will be quashed very soon. 'Cause now we live with an even worser evil to business, in ' Goonda Raj '.

 

I sat talking with my friend yesterday, we were discussing the possible solutions to a problem one of my clients faced. We were talking about the distribution strategy for a particular product of my client, when the topic veered into "The Customer's Privacy".

 

Just recently we had the case of the Condom which came with a vibrator ring, and the entire controversy it spiralled into. We were wondering if it is correct to sell Condoms openly in a Pharmacy. Imagine, you step into a Pharmacy and demand a packet of condoms and the other men surrounding you stare at you as if you are doing something they would not contemplate doing all their life. I am sure many of you who live in India would have gone through this situation.

 

When a woman has to buy a sanitary napkin pack she again has to go to the Pharmacy and ask for it in front of Men. The poor pharmacist will wrap it in a brown colour paper bag making it all the more obvious.

 

My question is why can't we just let people have their privacy. Why can't the condom vending machine be kept in a place other than the Sulabh Sochalya (Where it was missued and then a guard was made to stand beside it and hence the concept failed). Why can't it be kept in a cigarette vending machine along with Cigarettes in a Bar or places like that.

 

Why can't Sanitary Napkin vending machines be installed in the woman's restroom in offices, supermarkets, Malls, etc. That way a woman would be more comfortable what she has to naturally do.

 

Now comes the Gunda Raj, I dont see them having a point to protest against the Napkin vending machines. But, I am sure they would figure out some "mudda" to debate the condom vending machines. Just like they so conveniently said that the vibrator ring made the condom a sex toy, which incidentally according to them was against Indian culture.

 

Another case in point is the credit card companies, banks and telecom operators. Its normal  for all of us today to keep getting calls from the companies mentioned above for soliciting business. Here, the Mumbai courts very wrongly subjected Airtel to unfair treatment recently when they asked them to cough up money for these unsolicitied calls. What about the banks, ICICI, HSBC, ABN Amro, HDFC and now even the State Bank of India. Yeah the State Bank of India itself, gives me atleast one call every 2 days. Well atleast a DSA catering to the SBI does. They have no regard absolutely for the customer's privacy.

 

I hold an Airtel Number, and a Hutch number. I never get calls from Airtel on my Hutch no, but i keep getting calls regularly from Hutch on my Airtel number pestering me to buy a card. The banks on the other hand have resorted to another trick now. I got a call from HSBC bank verification department the other day saying that my details are with them and they need to verify them. I asked them details for what. Then they tell me I had applied for a credit card and that they are calling me to verify my details. Dumb F^%*$#S they tell me this lame bullshit when I have not applied for a Credit Card at all. When I ask them how come they got this, they say the headoffice in Chennai sent them these details to verify.

 

Then come the Loan stunts. I get a call the other day from Citi Bank. They first identify themselves as calling from Citi Bank, they confirm my credit card number, address and birthdate, all the while I think its some important message from Citi Bank for which they need to verify the customers details for identification, before passing the message. Then finally she breaks the great news to me, "Sir, on account of your excellent track record, you are being given a free loan of Rs 2 Lakhs" I ask her what does a free loan mean, and she says there is no processing fee. I ask her the interest rate, she says it 18%. Then I tell her I am not interested. She asks me the reason, and i say that the interest is too high. She queries me now, what interest rate would I like it at. I might have made a mistake in not negotiating, but I didnt need the money anyway, so I said, its fine, I dont need it. She again chips in, "Sir, How about 50000 Rs", thats that I said and slammed the phone. Within a week the entire episode was repeated. But this time, I didnt answer their questions, I asked them questions instead to verify who they are. Then I insisted that the parent company call me and not a DSA, they got bugged and slammed the phone.

 

My friend I was talking about earlier is down from the USA where he studying for his PhD. He is here in India on a research assignment and consequently teaching at the IIT Powai campus. He told me about the service he gets in the USA. I wonder why people do not appreciate a person's privacy in India. When will I get to do anything behind my door without being policed. When will I be allowed catching my girlfriend's hand at Bandra bandstand without being beaten up by the moral police. When will my phone start ringing for business solicitation. When will my Bank appreciate my privacy and so too my mobile service provider and stop sharing my data with others.

 

Will this ever be a reality in India??? Can Indian businesses get rid of these forms of Gundaa Raj or plagues and come out leaner and wiser or will they become meaner. I would appreciate your views on this !!!