Rohan Bothra

everyday is a challenge, but then it brings out the best in you!

[Josh Cahill @gotravelyourway]

Air India can be a chaotic airline at times, delays, changes and outdated cabins are well-known issues but they aren't unsafe. Their staff is well-trained and India has some of the strictest aviation regulations in the world. I had over 20+ flights on them in the past and I would always fly them again. My thoughts and prayers are with the airline and families today!

[Bryan Johnson @bryan_johnson]

India is the 3rd most air-polluted country (1). Of the 100 cities with the worst air quality, 83 are located in India (2).

If you live in Delhi, New Delhi, or other heavily polluted cities, you should wear an N95 mask outside at all times.

If you live in Delhi, New Delhi, or any heavily polluted city, wearing an N95 mask is essential when spending time outdoors.

This is why you should not ignore air pollution, and how you can best minimize its hazard to you and your household.

[Rohan Bothra @rohan_bothra]

@DrSJaishankar

[sandeepbothra @sbothra2]

@CasparVeldkamp Hi Caspar - Need your help. I have to attend my Daughter @saumyabothra graduation at Erasmus University Rotterdam on the 19th Oct. been 3Wks No replies from your Del office for Visa applied. Thank you for understanding 🙏

[manisha singhal @manishasinghal]

“IndiGo will, ever so modestly, walk alongside Air India……..”

Those are some heartfelt words and a gracious , befitting tribute to #RatanTata by Rahul Bhatia, Group MD, InterGlobe Enterprises…

“While I am much too small a man to say this, in tribute to Mr. Tata's love for flight and his vision for the future of Indian Aviation, IndiGo will, ever so modestly, walk alongside Air India to secure India's rightful seat at the center-stage of Global Aviation.”

@IndiGo6E @airindia

[SUHEL SETH @Suhelseth]

The remarkable thing about Ratan Tata was he had no family of his own. And yet every Indian was a member of his family. It’s rare that 1.4 billion people go into mourning for one man.

That was the man Ratan Tata was. And will remain.

[Ferrari News 🐎 @FanaticsFerrari]

Australia. Monaco. And now Monza.

The third flag in Maranello stands proud ❤️

[𝕄𝔼𝕋 @BernabeuNights]

Now that I think about it, I agree with the FIA; Lewis could and should’ve have done more to avoid the collision.

For example: he should’ve just turned left.

[Rohan Bothra @rohan_bothra]

Carlos Alcaraz! Champion.

#Wimbledon

[Ankur Warikoo @warikoo]

It gets dark before it gets easier.

[Shakti Lumba @CaptShaktiLumba]

Nice piece by #AnjuliBhargava agree 100%

[Wole @Kingwole]

I see Real Madrid as a representation of what real life is. Forget what you think you deserve, your emotions etc, just win.

[Arindam Paul @arindam___paul]

Here is a list of 12 observations/trends which could be relevant for founders building in consumer brands/tech in 2024

Slightly long read, and comes primarily from 1000s of consumer interactions and observations at retail counters & home visits over the years across all parts of the country

a) India is a poor country( very low GDP/capita) with a significant number of people with high disposable income ( ~ 30 Mn Households with annual household income greater than 10 Lakhs).

But the challenge for brands is that there is absolutely no homogeneity in the rich of the country. They are spread across the length and breadth of the country. And they differ widely in their choices.

Other than their wealth, it will be very difficult to find common pointers between a 40 year old successful tech professional in Bangalore and a 40 year old second generation real estate developer in Guwahati. Makes it very difficult for premium brands to scale both from a distribution as well as product/brand positioning point of view

b) Premiumization is a huge trend in most categories. The reason being increase in disposable income in top 10% of households and easy access to lending/EMIs. Also, debt to buy durables/cars/phones is no longer a taboo.

The result is that whether it is fans or cars or 2 wheelers, the growth of the premium segment is way higher than the growth of the entry segment, driving up the average selling price of the category

c) The Indian consumer( or any consumer with some disposable income) is not price conscious, but value conscious. Show them the value, and they will shell out a premium. But creating, communicating, and delivering value consistently is what makes people pay a premium for brands.

The absolute difference in cost and total cost of ownership is increasingly considered by consumers while making expensive purchases. While someone buying a WagonR will not upgrade to a Mercedes( the absolute amount gap is way too high), people considering a 70k Petrol 2 wheeler will easily upgrade to an EV 2 wheeler keeping the total cost of ownership in mind. Same for consumers moving from 2000 Rs induction fans to 3500 Rs BLDC fans.

d) Design has become one of the most important reasons for purchase, even for purely functional categories. Never in my wildest dreams, I would have imagined the primary reason for buying a feature loaded mixer grinder was the compact form factor and sleek design.

Gone are the days when brands with outdated designs could win. From bags to gas stoves to apps to luggage, meaningfully differentiated designs are here to stay and win. Zouk and Mokobara are great examples of this phenomena.

e) India has traditionally been a trust deficient society. And that is the reason you see the same conglomerate selling everything from salt to cars to jewelry.

But today there is a very large digitally native e-commerce shopper base who are ready to try out new brands and products. For them, shopping to stay trendy is real. Functional benefits and offers mean more than brand legacy.

For brands to win with this segment, being exciting is more important than being trustworthy. They are also ready to trust new brands/products basis word of mouth, Amazon reviews, Influencer posts etc.

f) In a market like India, good supply at right price points will always unlock demand. TAM can expand exponentially with the right supply.

Before Lenskart, no one thought the market for eye glasses could be this big. Before Mahindra bet big with Scorpio, no one thought the market for SUVs could be this big. And we are seeing the same trend play out in many categories.

g) Digitally influenced sales in every category is growing at breakneck speed. Consumers are evaluating and seeking more and more information before making a purchase.

This evaluation often starts online. And it isn’t just Google and Youtube. More and more searches are beginning and ending on Amazon and Flipkart during the evaluation phase. It is no wonder that both have become advertising monsters.

The number of people who discover and even switch existing preferences during this evaluation phase is increasing exponentially. Brands that dominate the evaluation phase will emerge as huge winners. Reviews on Amazon, Reviews on PlayStore and Reviews on Youtube

h) There is a huge embrace for sports, health and wellness. But there are intricacies.

People want to eat healthy, but without compromising on taste. People want toxin free cosmetics, but not at the cost of glowing skin. People want their kids to play more and even consider a career a sports, but still want good grades as a back up. People want to go the gym, but don’t want to do the same old lifts and crave for a more community experience.

Brands who solve for these intricacies at right price points will become huge

i) Q-commerce is here to stay. But I think they are a much bigger threat to e-commerce and semi-organized/organized offline retail. Not to Kiranas. Because of their very low cost of operations and adoption to India tech stack( whatsapp chats for orders, UPI for payments), Kiranas will survive.

j) Emergence of Q-Com will also lead to emergence of new brands. In the 2000s with Modern Trade and 2010s with E-Com, we have already seen that whenever there is a new distribution channel, it leads to emergence of new brands who piggyback on that channel. I think that there will be many F&B brands who will piggyback on Q-com to reach sizeable scale

k) There are no online or offline consumers, but only omnichannel consumers. In fact in every category where price discovery is possible( CPG, electronics, durables etc), consumers today come to stores with the amazon listing open and try to negotiate a price lower than what it is selling online.

And vice versa. Where people come, select a product and before making a purchase they check the price online and if found cheaper, walk out. Evaluate online, buy offline. Evaluate offline, buy online. Both are happening at scale.

And that is why brands skewed towards only a single channel will struggle to scale. Also with reducing information asymmetry, the power has moved from the retailer to the consumer. Brands have no choice other than maintaining the same price across channels

l) Media is fragmented like never before. I don’t think there are any avenues left to build high reach and brand salience quickly and efficiently amongst the top 10% households.

The reason is 2 fold- glut of content and changing device preference. 20 years back, certain number of spots on impact properties like KBC or India cricket would have ensured very high reach. Not any more.

Because you have infinite content on OTTs and Youtube and Reels and people( at least those who have buying power) have limited time, actual relevant reach of individual content has gone down.

The other phenomena is emergence of Connected smart TVs. India already has 40-50 million CTVs on a lower side. Affordable connected TVs and affordable WiFi by Jio has meant the top 10% population in metroes have already moved( or are moving) totally away from linear TV.

But linear TV still rules the roost in tier 2 and tier 3 because WiFI infra and costs in tier 2/3 isn’t the same as metroes. So, again viewership gets divided by devices. And being present on Star Sports alone or Hotstar/Jio Cinema alone won’t let you get desired reach, even on marquee properties like IPL and World Cup. So, the costs of building brand salience has gone up.

It has never been easier to start consumer brands. Q-Com, E-Com, performance marketing and clear playbooks of scale makes it easy to launch and reach a certain scale.

But building large enduring profitable brands will still remain very difficult with so many brands, fragmented media and requirement of omnichannel distribution

[Sameer Sewak @Naa_Cheese]

Arora boravali ☺️

[LaLigaExtra @LaLigaExtra]

Thierry Henry after Real Madrid’s 4-3 win against Bayern Munich:

“This is Real Madrid, you’re not playing I’m sorry to say it no mickey mouse team.”

"This Real Madrid! This is what they do! There's no luck in that. It's called Real Madrid. Period."

[Rohan Bothra @rohan_bothra]

Well done @airindia

[Air India @airindia]

For centuries, Indian classical dance and folk-art forms have served as medium of storytelling and instruction. Today, they tell another story, that of inflight safety.

Presenting Air India’s new Safety Film, inspired by the rich and diverse dance traditions of India.

#FlyAI #NewAirIndia #InflightSafetyVideo

[Trendulkar @Trendulkar]

For me, Better Call Saul stands as the greatest television series ever crafted. Six flawless seasons, iconic characters and every frame, genius. One of my all-time favourite TV shows.

[Rathin Shah @ShahRathin]

LEWIS HAMILTON WINS AND SPRAYS CHAAS ON THE PODIUM!

Celebrates with Dhokla in a wild night of partying.

[Rohan Bothra @rohan_bothra]

Tatas, Mahindra and now JSW 💪

[Vijay Shekhar Sharma @vijayshekhar]

I love how @sajjanjindal talks about his reason and passion to build EVs in India by an Indian. 🫡🇮🇳

[Rohan Bothra @rohan_bothra]

Finally, the crappiest, boring and nonsense formula one season has ended. FIA please repeat this kind of a season again and you will kill the sport very soon.

#Formula1 #AbuDhabi