Tag Archives: India

Our Android app for LandmarkShops India

I’m so excited to talk about the brand new native experience we delivered to our LandmarkShops customers in India. And even so because it sports Google’s latest visual language — Material Design!  Read on at our official Medium blog.

LAUNCH: Our latest Android app for LandmarkShops India – Web Team @ Landmark Group

We’re thrilled to tell you that we’ve just launched a shiny new app for LandmarkShops India, using Google’s latest visual language - Material Design and I’d love to tell you more about it! Game of phones Earlier this month, IDC confirmed that Android’s dominance of the global smartphone market is expected to grow further, from 81% to 84% in 2016.

As part of the Landmark Group’s Web Team and my Product Management portfolio includes leading digital engagement channels for Shukran – web, mobile, in-store engagement – and mobile apps for LandmarkShops in UAE & India. More on LinkedIn

Driving consumer passion to “Make In India”

MakeInIndia’s success at the Hannover Messe has been the talk of the town for a while. And truly so, it has made every Indian proud of the country’s vision. While the program is primarily meant to transform India into a manufacturing-driven economy, I do not see why it cannot be extended to everything we make in India – whether for export or domestic use.

All through my travels in Australia, I couldn’t ignore the promotion of products made in Australia, by Australian owned businesses – right down to bread and water.

Promotion of products made in Australia
Promotion of products made in Australia

Population is a double-edged sword. While population shrivels available resources, it itself is an important resource in industrialization. And India can use this abundant resource to its advantage, to make #MakeInIndia a reality. For this, I think it is key Continue reading Driving consumer passion to “Make In India”

But that’s not too bad either

I hope I’m writing a new post just in time – before someone inquires my whereabouts. #exaggeration. No one cares where I am or what I’m doing; whether I’m writing or I’m not. But that’s not too bad either.

But honestly, who am I writing for? I don’t write to seek fan following or money, so numbers don’t bother me. Few read my thoughts, most of them come here to demystify jargon or sync their Thunderbird address book with LDAP or check ferry timings. But numbers are not completely discouraging: in less than 2 years (starting Jun ’09) we’ve got over 28000 hits,  close to 50 unique visitors visit us each day. And that’s not too bad either.

Was it that bad?
Simple Wishes: Was it that bad?

7 months back, I went through the toughest times and life couldn’t have taught me more. I was paranoid for inspiration & motivation. I picked up Amit Gupte’s practice of wishing luck to friends and realized life is short, and my friend list is too long. It would take me over 3 yrs to wish each one of them, and more pain Continue reading But that’s not too bad either

Local perspective on Product Management in India

As discussed in my previous post about responsibilities of a product manager, product management continues to remain the less spoken about profiles in the  otherwise large Indian IT industry. With the growing number of products in the Indian webspace, the demand for experienced PMs is likely to peak in 2012-13. But there’s still time! For now, Product management in India is less concrete (in terms of the role), and holds huge potential as precisely summarized by Gopal Shenoy here. That post echoes the thoughts of quite a few Indian product managers. Here are my comments to few of the points:

@ #2:They manage products sold in the US

This seems quite obvious given the fact that a lot of product companies in India are either outsourced product development or developing enterprise products for global top companies and US/Europe are their biggest markets. Thus, most young PMs there will report to account managers or senior PMs posted on-site. Having said this, one cannot ignore the outburst of internet product companies catering to the local market, mainly into eCommerce & social.

@ #3: Too many titles for the same profile

Totally agree! Quite a few of us are left out of the product management mainstream because of varying titles conferred upon us: program managers, business analysts, software consultants, and what not. But no matter what how they’re referred to, they’re all doing the same thing – and some don’t even know they’re developing products (more on this, coming soon).

@ #4:Engineering & Proj Mgmt folks moving into Prod Mgmt

There’s more to it. Not just development folks, but there are freshers, folks from quality and even some from business who are keen to move in. Those who have understood the challenge & responsibility want to get at it on account of passion & enthusiasm, and not just a career ladder or salary booster.

@ #5: “They are confident, fearless and hungry

Courtesy: memorya-grinnes.blogspot.com/
Crayon Shin Chan

When I think of Gopal saying that to me, my reaction is not other than that of crayon Shin Chan when he says, ‘Don’t praise me so much’ (which sounds funnier in the Hindi dubbing when he says, ‘Itni taarif bhi mat karo!‘) But that goes without saying for all of us – we are all  way too passionate about our products!

Read the original post by Gopal Shenoy and some very interesting comments here: http://productmanagementtips.com/2011/02/09/india-product-management/

5 reasons to Spend.. err.. Save smart with the top Indian deal websites

Were excited about our 100th post!
This is our 100th post!

It’s the 100th post on prasadgupte.com and it’s time to celebrate! For long, I envied the Americans for having Groupon until I realized that there are several deal of the day websites – in fact, with better business models – to serve us. I have been a regular user of these websites, having bought at least 15 deals totaling over INR 15,000 with overall savings of 69%.

5 reasons to save your riches with these shops

1. It saves money: What’s more important that saving some money?
2. It’s easy: There is no upfront payment to receive these deals – they’re delivered to your phone & mailbox for free.
3. It’s safe, either ways: I have always (knock on wood) had a good experience transacting on the internet, and these sites are safe to use as they transact over a trusted gateway. If you fear spending online, you can always have the coupons delivered to your doorstep – free of cost!* So its safe either ways.
4. Keeps you aware: One huge benefit I found out of following these deals (even if you don’t want to buy) is that it keeps you aware of the new places in town and the margins that you can possibly cut in when striking a deal.
5. It’s cool: There’s no reason to be shy – like my dad likes to make me feel. It’s any day cool to be spending smart!

I’ve put together a list of the creme-de-la-creme in the order of *my* choice:

1. DealsAndYou

DealsAndYou
DealsAndYou

I purchased deals worth Rs. 9100 for Rs. 2593. This is one of my favorites! The website is neat, and the deals are fabulous. They take the entire payment upfront – so its a deal in the real sense as against a discount coupon. It covers for roughly 60% of my deal spend and growing, ever my trust in the brand was bolstered by their quick justification email. Continue reading 5 reasons to Spend.. err.. Save smart with the top Indian deal websites

And the busy man has found time for his lost love

Apologies! I know that I have been away for quite some time now – but there are reasons! Work being the major sucker 🙂 followed by personal interests. Moreover, my boss paid a visit 😀 I tried hard to spare time, then reversed some – but nothing worked! Anyway, the good news is that I’m back.

Census 2011 Logo
Census 2011 Logo

I did miss writing all this time & kept noting them as they happened. To begin with, I hope you are aware about Census 2011. Most state & central government employees have to compulsorily participate in this, over & above their routine responsibilities (pl note 0+1=1). The lady who was doing it in our area was an innovator! Instead of visiting each house & collecting data, she took an iterative, outsourcing model. She took the lift to the first floor, and walked down distributing a form in Marathi to each house. She very calmly told people that the form was very simple (I don’t know of a single govt form that is simple) & that one didn’t need to know Marathi to fill it (I don’t know how Bengalis & Malayalis bought this idea?) Suddenly people realized the importance of Maharashtrian neighbours, and fortunately each floor had one. After putting people to the job, she again took the elevator up to start collecting filled forms. I’m sure with this trick she managed to get home in time for lunch, which otherwise she would’ve had to couple with dinner. Just to note, that innovation is not necessarily rocket science.

Rickshaw Meter
Rickshaw Meter

Two notable things happened in the near past, both of which have affected our lives in one way or the other. The first thing: revised auto-fares. As Shubhojit said, this is one thing that makes you feel real poor. What I used to spend both way is what the 3-Tyre boogie now takes away one way. All thanks to the revision graced by skilled instrumentation engineers at garages.

Rupee Sign
Rupee Sign

The other thing – the symbol that our national currency got – actually makes me feel very proud. It is the symbol of globalization, equality & finally a distinguishing factor from other currencies with the same name. Some websites, like Burrp, picked up the symbol in no time. I’m just waiting for it to show up on currency.

Ambedkar Memorial, U.P.
Ambedkar Memorial, U.P.

After news about the symbol hit the stands, people questioned the kind of money that must have gone into its making. But I say, what’s wrong? If someone can spend tons of money raising statues in a city where people don’t have enough, Continue reading And the busy man has found time for his lost love

Phir Mile Sur Mera Tumhara

Wishing fellow Indians a happy Republic day! Just checked out the new version of Mile Sur Mera Tumhara today: 2 x 8 min videos… huh! And not that exciting! Check out the new ‘Phir Mile Sur Mera Tumhara’: Part 1 | Part 2. Some immediate comments:

  • All pure instrumental portions are fantastic: Rahman, Anousha Shankar, tabla, Sivamani, Jazz, …
  • Great focus on renewable energy: Solar water heaters and aggregators in the background a couple of times
  • S-E-L (Shankar-Eshan-Loy) are great towards the end of their part
  • The old-age home (supposedly) & Kashmir parts are very sweet
  • Old is Gold: Original music has been tampered too much. Preferred the older Punjabi & Bengali parts (Is Shaan saying send me ‘SMS’?)
  • There seems to be no one besides movie stars in this…
  • Amitabh Bachchan has been made to sound wierd; he should’ve only been asked to read out the lines
  • A bit of over-acting from actors down-under
  • No Value Add: The Lux couple, Sonu Nigam, Shahid, Ranbir (in pajamas), Karan Johar
  • Salman, Deepika short of clothes
  • First 14 mins were great, and then SRK arrives with his silly hand gestures  🙁 as if he’s going to jerk of the whole world by closing his fist 😉 Just compare it to Aamir’s part
  • Thanks for paying homage to the military at the end

Notable comments from elsewhere:

  • why to ruin the good memories with bad bollywood experimentation. It is like comparing SHOLAY with RGV KI AAG
  • This “SUR” has become “BESUR” because of bollywood
  • Seriously, half of the people in this video didn’t deserve to be there

Continue reading Phir Mile Sur Mera Tumhara

Globalization in Showbiz: Can we have ‘Is Janam Mohe Brazil Hi Bhejo’ ?

A couple of days back I read in the newspaper that Brazil’s hot-selling soap opera is one based on the Indian caste system. Caminho Da India (that’s not Punjabi! It Portuguese for ‘India’s Way’) is set in Rajasthan & revolves around a dalit boy who falls in love with an upper-caste girl facing opposition from their families and society. The Portuguese show has its entire production team and actors flown down from Brazil, yet revering traditional Indian values by not kissing on screen. The show has gained so much popularity that Rajasthani trinkets make a fashion statement on Brazilian streets. Also, chai, theek hai and bhagwaan ke liye have become household parlance. Continue reading Globalization in Showbiz: Can we have ‘Is Janam Mohe Brazil Hi Bhejo’ ?