“We must look at long-term potential of India”

India is going through a scary financial turmoil. Industry body FICCI has already called the situation ‘grave’ and has requested the government to take measures before it’s too late. However, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has urged people not to compare the condition to that in 1991. Declining value of rupee, rising inflation and dismal growth rate predicted by Crisil are all pointing towards a tough year ahead.

So, is it really all that bad?

Well, multinationals in India at least are not completely looking down at the market that has fuelled growth continuously in last few quarters. Debjani Ghosh, Managing Director, Sales and Marketing Group, Intel South Asia is positive about the long-term prospects in India and looks at the instability as temporary.

Speaking to exchange4media, on the sidelines of Ultrabook launch in Delhi, she said, “You can’t look at the turmoil today and immediately base your decisions on it. You have to look at the long-term vision. India is going through a slow phase but you can’t write off the long-term potential of India. If government takes required actions quickly; we will see a turnaround quickly. But leaving that all aside, consumers in India are continuing to spend money on what they think adds value to their lifestyle and technology is a key enabler of lifestyle. So this will always remain a very important market despite all the ups and downs.”

Sharing five reasons on why India as a market will continue to remain top priority for leaders around the world, despite financial volatility, Ghosh said, “India is a very young country, more than half of the population here is under 30, which makes it an extremely important market for any brand. Secondly, it’s not only the numbers; youth today is highly aspirational and is advancing rapidly to enhance lifestyle. Third factor which makes this market lucrative is that the audience here is very social culturally. They like to share data, stories, in which technology is a great addition. Technology brands are thus looking very consciously towards this market.”

“Another factor that adds to importance of this market is the potential in tier II, tier III cities which are growing rapidly. There is a huge market potential there. Lastly, the Indian academic ecosystem produces some really intelligent youngsters with whom a technology brand like us would always like to interact. So, India is still high on radar despite the financial conundrum,” she concluded.