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Context is everything.
Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
Why the sachet was needed in the first place and why FMCG companies continue to depend on them even after close to four decades.
Editor's note: A small shampoo sachet of ₹1. A little soap of ₹2. A finger-sized coconut oil bottle of ₹2. Most Indians may have used these at least once in their lives. As an economist, I have always wondered why we see them in such large volumes in most Indian shops, especially in rural areas. In the developed world, rural consumers generally buy larger bottles of shampoo or oil or body wash, or larger soaps. When I began to teach a course on the Indian economy more than a decade back, I used to put this up as a question to my students—much to their amusement, and my fun. Indian textbooks on marketing management or rural marketing are instructive reading here. They will tell you that the “sachet revolution” was India’s “disruptor innovation” in the 1980s, and its pioneer was one Chinni Krishnan from Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu. Those were the days when a shopkeeper in the village would cut a Lifebuoy soap into six pieces and sell them at a price little more than one-sixth that of the full soap. Similar was …
Why the sachet was needed in the first place and why FMCG companies continue to depend on them even after close to four decades.
Editor's note: A small shampoo sachet of ₹1. A little soap of ₹2. A finger-sized coconut oil bottle of ₹2. Most Indians may have used these at least once in their lives. As an economist, I have always wondered why we see them in such large volumes in most Indian shops, especially in rural areas. In the developed world, rural consumers generally buy larger bottles of shampoo or oil or body wash, or larger soaps. When I began to teach a course on the Indian economy more than a decade back, I used to put this up as a question to my students—much to their amusement, and my fun. Indian textbooks on marketing management or rural marketing are instructive reading here. They will tell you that the “sachet revolution” was India’s “disruptor innovation” in the 1980s, and its pioneer was one Chinni Krishnan from Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu. Those were the days when a shopkeeper in the village would cut a Lifebuoy soap into six pieces and sell them at a price little more than one-sixth that of the full soap. Similar was …
Vish Narain of Pulsar Capital on spotting real synergies between India and the Gulf, and why many entrepreneurs read the market wrong.
The stablecoin neobank has raised more than $100 million this year; Saudi Arabia is looking at stock market reforms; and other updates from the week.
Chinese diplomats to India are saying all the right things for Indian ears, but Beijing’s policy actions are moving in the opposite direction.
Vish Narain of Pulsar Capital on spotting real synergies between India and the Gulf, and why many entrepreneurs read the market wrong.
The stablecoin neobank has raised more than $100 million this year; Saudi Arabia is looking at stock market reforms; and other updates from the week.
Chinese diplomats to India are saying all the right things for Indian ears, but Beijing’s policy actions are moving in the opposite direction.
