Let a thousand Indias bloom
Cover Story, The Week - April 2008

So what and how should we write into the India file in peoples' minds, such the the resultant images and feelings are attractive and seductive enough for others to want to do business with us - be it George Bush, or tourists from afar, or Harvard University, or the naturalization office of the US or buyers of our outsourcing services? Here are some suggestions

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Let a thousand Indias bloom. Incredible / industrious / innovative / scientific / mystic / ancient / modern etc India. But let us explicitly write into the India mind-file, what unites and harmonizes all of them. These are three things - the characteristics of the vessel or crucible that holds all these Indias, the personality or values of India's society and the collective traits of Indians, and these are what we need to propogate as Brand India; . The characteristics of the crucible are in the territory of 'open, inclusive , alwayS making space for the new alongside the old, plural, timeless, ever evolving and ever ready to change and adapt, millennia old yet always contemporary, a, knowledge giver to the rest of the world". The personality and values of our society include"peaceful, vibrant, embracing of change, negotiating, colourful, tolerant, hospitable, morally courageous" Indians are the most important aspect of India to be propogated as Brand India - after all we comprise one sixth of the world's population and a far greater proportion of the young. Expressive, intelligent, innovative , high on EQ, colourful, incredibly diverse and varied, globally adaptive not insular - we are collectively the multi hued bird that pleasantly surprises and takes your breath away. If we let the"ugly Indian" grow in size and influence, it will take all our credibility away - and we have a large ugly side to deal with as well. We can be very aggressive, gender biased, intolerant of each other, grabbing, greedy and uncaring of the world outside our homes.

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The actual 'product experience' with India is the one thing , though, that can wipe out all the positives that we write in our brand file. Poor infrastructure, dirt, filth, poverty , crimes against women are rampant Unless we work on this, the rest of the things we write into our brand file will be squeezed to a little corner, while these occupy center stage and define Brand India. Before we collectively despair that this cannot be done, let us explore ways to mitigate it to some extent, or at least to contain it. Let us encourage tour groups and discourage individual tourists, encourage tourist police and helpful help desks, crowd touts out of the market with genuine tour operators and their staff; let us encourage certain destinations where we are sure we can deliver a pleasant experience and play down others where we are not so sure. As for business visitors, they usually come to meet someone here, and come through a visa process at an Indian embassy, so there are enough check points where each one of us can be India's brand ambassadors and ensure that our visitors have a pleasant experience and talk to their friends and colleagues about it. We are now confident enough to extend a high degree of hospitality and service without being obsequious, so we need not fear a weakening of our bargaining power, if we are extra nice. If each hotel can see helping Brand India through managing the product experience, as a part of its job, and each industry association too, then we can make huge progress on this front, and prevent our considerable 'product' shortcomings from derailing the potential of the India brand.

What of our economic power ? That is but one aspect of us, and certainly should not be the main thing that defines us. It is the table stakes that makes people now interested in us; but the rest of the brand perceptions will clinch the deal, on our terms. That's what brands do - reduce friction to sales, and when needed, give you the benefit of the doubt.

I would like for us to think of our brand as unique and differentiated - like nowhere else on earth, "saare jahaan se alag". And of our brand essence as knowledge with wisdom, peace because of tolerance, energy with compassion, and forever timeless and evolving. Within this are nestled the many Indias that we have, all nurtured by these values.

More than external communication, we need internal communication to build Brand India - each one of us is a brand ambassador, our society is a brand ambassador, and we need to know who we are or can be or wish to be - before we tell others what we are all about.