Back to feeds

A guide to understand India, these few points will definitely help you if you're building in India: 1. One common syndrome among every Indian is sepoy syndrome, they believe that Western products, names, ideas and business models are superior to Indian ones 2. The top 9 states contribute 60 - 70% of our per capita income. If you remove these top states, per capita income will drop to $1000 probably :( 3. India consumption is driven by the same 8/9 states of India, approx they drive 40% + consumption in the country. 4. Health insurance penetration: a few states like Rajasthan are outliers because the govt gave health insurance for free to every family in Rajasthan. This keeps me thinking the right and most effective market strategy for Insurance is the govt route - If the govt makes it a mandate, penetration will happen like never before. 5. If you observe states with the lowest per capita income produce babies like crazy. Because people living in poverty assume that having more children will give them more sources of income sooner or later. They are treated as assets.. Fact: India is the No.: 1 country that does the highest amount of remittance to India. 6. English is an aspirational language in India, if you are from tier 2/3 India and can speak English your income can jump at least 2X/ 3X - People who can speak English in these locations tend to get higher dowry 7. In India, gross margin is mainly around high use cases, products that can give or amplify status, hope for a better future, or upgrade lifestyle and mating success. 8. Many people in our country don't understand complicated English words. Use basic words that are highly familiar that will help in virality. I.e This realisation came when we were building our first company, when we spoke to our initial customers, they didn't understand what payroll or inventory is. 9. Indians would love to pay for status over convenience. If you are building something make sure it is helping the consumer to send a signal of higher status in the society. 10. It's super hard to make people pay for subscriptions unless it's entertainment. The reason is people don't value time yet in our country. Hence you will see very few consumers / small business software crossing 100 crore in revenue. But at the same time, you will see Dream11 doing a billion dollars in revenue, approximately 11. We operate in a low-trust society, Building trust isn't that easy, it takes time and familiarity. The currency of growth is trust. The fastest way to get trusted in India is to trust first. 12. The business of opportunities will be a hit compared to a business of spending. 13. Most Indian businesses are highly operational-led because of labour arbitrage but that is going to change very soon, so tech-led businesses will do very well. 14. We are a highly diverse country with different cultures, values, beliefs, and languages. whatever you build it should be a neutral platform for people. I.e English is a neutral language, and WhatsApp is a neutral messaging app. 15. In India, there are many problems which one will you pursue? Think in this order - Monietisation, retention and acquisition.