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10 Most Patriotic Brands Of India

Aakash Sharma — Sun, 15 Aug 2021 08:30:09 +0000

What makes a patriotic brand? Is it their origin story, the products they offer, or the revenue they earn in a financial year? Well, it is all these things and many more, along with the story of a business in the way it has impacted a country’s formation and its economic cause, that can testify to the patriotic nature of a brand.

On the auspicious event of the 75th anniversary of Indian Independence, let us look at some of India’s oldest and most influential brands with long roots in the country and have certainly stood the test of time in demonstrating their patriotism.

Patriotic Brands Of India

Tata Group

In India, Tata is synonymous with belief, trust and a genuinely Indian brand. In its over 150 years of history, Tata has won over the hearts of Indians of all walks of life, spearheading the making of modern India. It is no wonder that an entire generation of Indians has grown up with the well-accepted notion of “Tata Namak, Desh ka Namak“.

As an Indian multinational conglomerate, the Tata Group has a presence everywhere, from manufacturing automobiles, aeroplanes and other products to technology, food and entertainment. The Tata Group was founded in 1868 by Jamshedji Tata. It has gained international recognition after purchasing several global companies.

Godrej Group

The Godrej Group is a Mumbai-based Indian multinational corporation owned and operated primarily by the Godrej family. It was founded in 1897 by Pirojsha Burjorji Godrej and Ardeshir Godrej. The company deals in real estate, consumer goods, industrial engineering, materials, furniture, safety and agricultural products.

This legacy conglomerate has many firsts to its name and thus has significantly contributed to the Indian patriotic sentiment at multiple levels. In 1897, Godrej introduced the first lock with lever technology in India. Godrej produced the first authentic typewriter in India in 1955. It became the first Indian company to introduce PUF (polyurethane foam) in 1989. In 2014, Godrej kick-started Masterbrand 2.0 – bigger and brighter and launched FreeG, India’s first non-web-based mobile browsing experience.

Infosys

Infosys Limited is an Indian multinational IT company that provides business consulting services, IT and outsourcing. According to Forbes Global 2000, in terms of revenue in 2020, it was the second-largest Indian IT company after Tata Consulting Services and the 602nd largest listed company globally.

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Infosys is a tech giant in its own right. The company has helped shape India's high-tech economy through foreign exchange earnings, especially U.S. dollars, which helps maintain the U.S. dollar-rupee ratio. Many SMEs in the Indian IT industry rely on Infosys' affordable technology.

As an international company, it represents India on the global map of technical giants. The company is the biggest hope for computer science students fresh out of college in India. While India does not have its own Alibaba (China) and Google, Facebook, and Twitter (USA), Infosys is a jewel in India’s tech crown.

Wipro

Wipro Limited is an Indian multinational provider of information technology, consulting services and business processes. In terms of total revenue, it ranks 29th among Indian companies as per Fortune 500 India. It is the ninth-largest employer in India, with approximately 195,000 employees.

Mohamed Premji founded Wipro in 1945 in Amalner, Maharashtra, as “Western India Products” and was later changed to “Wipro”. It was initially established as a producer of refined vegetable oils in Maharashtra under the brand names Kisan, Sunflower, and Camel.

In February 2002, Wipro became India’s first technology and software services company to achieve ISO 14001 certification. In 2008, the group entered the clean energy industry with Wipro Eco-Energy.

Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing Co – Hindustan Unilever

The era of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) marketing began much sooner in India than in many other Asian nations. Today’s famous household names like Lifebuoy (launched in 1895), Pears, Lux and Vim, and Vanaspati Dalda ((1937) have a long history.

In 1931, Unilever, a British multinational consumer goods company, established its first subsidiary in India – Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing Company, followed by Lever Brothers India Limited (1933) and United Traders Limited (1935). The three companies merged into Hindustan Unilever (HUL) in November 1956.

Today, HUL is the market leader in consumer goods in India and covers more than 20 consumer categories such as soaps, teas, detergents and shampoos. More than 700 million Indian consumers use its products.

State Bank of India (SBI)

The State Bank of India (SBI) is an Indian bank and financial and legal services organisation based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. SBI is the 43rd largest bank globally and ranked 221st on the Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest companies in 2020. It is the only Indian bank on the list.

SBI has a rich legacy of over 200 years and has been recognised as a trusted bank for generations by Indians. With around 250,000 employees, it is also the fifth-largest employer in India. SBI has earned the trust of its customers by developing highly relevant products and services, maintaining transparency in dealing with customers, and providing them with easy access to these products and services.

Aditya Birla Group

The Aditya Birla Group is an MNC based in Maharashtra, India. It operates in 34 countries and employs more than 120,000 people. The group was formed in 1857 by Seth Shiv Narayan Birla focused on pinned fibres in viscose, metals, cement (mainly in India). Today, it has operations in the financial services and telecommunications sectors as well.

During the British Raj in the 1850s, Birla’s businesses proliferated. At the starting of the 20th century, the group’s founder, Mr Ghanshyam Das Berla, developed the group’s roots in essential industries such as textiles and fibres, aluminium, cement and chemicals.

As a close ally of Mahatma Gandhi, he played an active role in India’s Independence. Together with Mahatma Gandhi, he represented India at the first and second round tables in London. The revolutionaries of the Indian struggle for Independence often met at the Birla House in Delhi to end British rule.

ITC

ITC Limited is an Indian company based out of Kolkata, West Bengal. ITC has diversified its activities in sectors such as cigarettes, basic necessities, hotels, packaging, cardboard and speciality paper and agri-food products.

The company was founded in 1910 as the Imperial Tobacco Company of India Limited and later renamed India Tobacco Company Limited in 1970. It became ITC in 1974 and is no longer an acronym for its initialised names.

The group completed 100 years in 2010 and, as of 2019-20, had a yearly turnover of $10.74 billion and a market cap of US$35 billion. It has over 36,500 employees at more than 60 locations across India and is part of the Forbes 2000 list.

Bajaj Group

Bajaj Group is an Indian MNC set up by Jamnalal Bajaj in 1926. Bajaj Group is one of the most prominent and oldest groups in Maharashtra. The group includes 34 companies and is Bajaj Auto’s parent company, which is the world’s fourth-largest manufacturer of two-wheeler and three-wheeler vehicles.

Bajaj Group’s well-known companies include Bajaj Auto Ltd, Bajaj Electricals, Hercules Hoists Ltd, Mukand Ltd, Bajaj Hindusthan Ltd, Bajaj Finserv Ltd, and Bajaj Holding & Investment Ltd. The group operates in various industries, including automotive, home appliances, lighting, steel, insurance, tourism and finance.

Amul

Amul is an Indian milk and dairy cooperative based in Gujarat, India. Founded in 1946, it is a cooperative brand managed by the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF). It is cooperatively owned by 36 lakh (3.6 million) milk producers Gujarat and the apex body of 13 District Milk Unions. Through the efforts of Tribhuvandas Patel, Kaira District Milk Union Limited (later renamed Amul – Anand Milk Union Limited) was established in 1946. Amul started the ‘White Revolution’ in India, making India the largest producer of milk and dairy products globally.

With the inspiring stories of these brands and their efforts to establish themselves, it is easy to recognise them as the most patriotic brands of India. Learning from them and embracing new age methods and technologies, it is time for new and budding entrepreneurs to make space for themselves. They have the chance to write their stories in the entrepreneurial books of Indian history so that coming generations can write about their contribution to the economy, and their legacy can testify to their patriotism.

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BlackBuck, Connecting Businesses with Truck Owners and Freight

Vaishali Das — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 10:30:03 +0000

Who is BlackBuck?

BlackBuck is India’s largest trucking platform. Founded in 2015, it aims to organise and simplify the trucking industry for both, shipper and trucker. The platform has been a pioneer in bringing the offline operations of trucking online.

The platform also aims to reshape the infrastructure around trucking to facilitate insurance, payments and financial services. With just one click, truckers can book a load and move at capacity. Along with this, shippers can book a truck of their choice, of any size, at the right time and at a right price.

By keeping the application minimal for the not so literate people, the app operates through Google maps. The drivers and truckers can accept work and navigate in a seamless manner. For the clients, they can install the similar app to make their respective bookings and BlackBuck matches the demand with available trucks and drivers in the area. Just like Uber, BlackBuck connects shippers with trucks.

Inefficiency Problems in India’s Truck System

India’s Trucking Industry is the most marginalised, unorganised and inefficient sector and is critical for the country’s economy. This problem is dragging India’s economy down as this contributes around 14.4% to India’s GDP. This sector is also the highest employment generator as 85% of the transportation community is constituted by small operators.

Being a major choke-point in the supply chain, the trucking industry functions on uncoordinated set-pieces causing all the inefficiencies and disparity in their operation. The reason behind this are:

Highway and Roads conditions that can hardly be termed comfortable for driving. This causes delays and is also responsible for breakdowns of trucks and heavy loaded vehicles.
The poor vehicle maintenance is another reason for the inefficiency in the trucking industry. In order to transport maximum freight with minimum costs, truck owners neglect the efficiency of their vehicles which in return cause miserable conditions.
There’s no standardisation of remuneration as different transport companies’ offer diversified paychecks.
Sometimes there’s problems with authority at several checkpoints. Drivers mostly being not very literate end up in a situation where they’re caught up in state laws and have to face delays.

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BlackBuck matches the demand with available trucks and drivers in the area, just like Uber, it connects shippers with trucks.

BlackBucks Customer Base

The platform has more than four lakh partner trucks, operating pan India in 500 districts and 400 industrial hubs. Around 70% of BlackBuck’s 10,000 clients are corporation based and the rest are small and medium sized enterprises. The client base also includes big companies like Reliance, Coca-Cola, Asian Paints, Hindustan Unilever, TaTa, Vedanta, L&T and Jindal.

BlackBuck: Digitizing freight and logistics across India

Amidst the pandemic to kick start the movement of goods across the country and reviving the supply chain in pandemic, BlackBuck started with the Move India Initiative. This provides a digital logistics platform connecting businesses and shippers with truck owners for intercity logistics.

With 700,000 truckers and 1.2 million trucks connected with its platform in India, BlackBuck is the first logistics firm to turn a unicorn this year. In the pandemic when the government pushed digital adoption the platform too moved from replying upon call centers for bookings to an app-based system.

By providing FASTag offering, 35% of India’s trucking toll happens via BlackBuck. This is the proof that India’s logistics industry and supply chain is shifting from paper to digital. The startup is one of the handful of start-ups that is digitizing freight and logistics across India. It is bringing a transformation to the Indian trucking ecosystem by providing unique solutions for the truckers and also by streamlining the trucking sector.

Insights For Startups Under This Sector

BlackBuck aims at providing a smooth channel for truck owners and builds an ecosystem around trucking. By offering services like credit cards which can be used for tire repair, toll payments, fuel and insurance by truck owners and drivers, it eases up the hectic lifestyle in this sector. The startup is also aiming to partner with commercial banks and NBFCs to venture out of the vehicle financing segment.

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Tata’s Strategy to Stronghold the E-commerce Market

Aakash Sharma — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 00:35:05 +0000

The Indian conglomerate Tata Group will acquire a majority stake in the grocery distribution company BigBasket. The big umbrella giant will buy a 68% stake in BigBasket for around Rs 9,500 crore ($1.31 billion), pegging BigBasket’s estimated value between $1.8 and $2 billion. BigBasket raised more than $ 750 million before it sealed the deal with Tata.

Tata has a dual strategy to modernize its digital sector model. In addition to working on acquisitions, the conglomerate is also discussing with potential investors the possibility of participating in a digital platform for its existing business arms.

The Bangalore-based start-up BigBasket competes with other giants of the industry, namely Grofers and Reliance’s JioMart. BigBasket functions in more than two dozen cities in India, and it became profitable during the coronavirus outbreak when sales peaked on the platform. Over the years, BigBasket has developed its internal line of essentials, an initiative that has helped improve profit margins.

As Tata Digs in BigBasket, Indian E-commerce Race Heats Up

The Tata Group, with $113 billion in sales and a wide range of brands that include Jaguar, Land Rover and Tetley Tea under its ambit, is investing in local e-commerce resources as the race for occupying the Indian e-commerce sector is intensifying. Where billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s JioMart is toughening the market for Amazon and Walmart subsidiaries in India, Tata is aiming to potentially take over existing Indian firms to fill the gap with its competitors.

E-commerce Boom Accompanied with Added Urgency

The expansion of Mukesh Ambani’s RIL in the technology and retail sector added urgency to Tata’s designs for finding a route in the industry. The richest man in Asia, Ambani raised more than $20 billion in 2020 by selling a 33% stake of his e-commerce arm – Jio Platforms – to investors including Facebook Inc. Tata’s acquisition of BigBasket will enable the legacy conglomerate to enter the fastest growing sector in India.

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Tata has a dual strategy to modernize its digital sector model. In addition to working on acquisitions, the conglomerate is also discussing with potential investors the possibility of participating in a digital platform for its existing business arms.

Narrowing Chinese Stakes

Following the cross-border skirmishes in 2020, the Indian government’s restrictions made it difficult for Chinese investors to invest in Indian companies. Jack Ma, the Chinese business tycoon and former richest man in Asia, has a 27.58% stake in BigBasket. With the majority acquisition of BigBasket by Tata, Ma’s Alibaba and a handful of other investors, including the Abraaj group, will face an almost complete exit from the start-up.

Inroads in E-commerce – Tata’s Strategy for expansion

The e-commerce industry has seen a massive increase in sales during the pandemic. When Tata enters the sector with BigBasket, it will gain the company’s large customer base and use it for cross-selling, giving serious competition to large e-commerce companies like Amazon and Flipkart.

The terms of the contract between Tata and BigBasket reportedly state that BigBasket will be listed on the public market as early as next year. The two companies are in advanced negotiations, indications of which have emerged since two-thirds of the preceding financial year.

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