The Exchanges

Q So how do you feel about this journey?

A Well, it's been a very educative journey, and I think, uh, we've learnt a lot, have been taught a lot by the market and by competitors and by the ecosystem and investors, and, but if I were to look back and look at this, uh, 13 years that we spent, uh, building Big Basket, I, I wouldn't exchange it for anything in the world. It's just been fabulous. Uh, one thing I believe is that, uh, you know, I, I used to wonder when I used to work, uh, with Wipro and other companies before that, And that, you know, should I actually continue working in a corporate role for the rest of my life? Should I become an entrepreneur? And then when I took the plunge and the first few years, I sort of kept asking myself, did I do the right thing? Was this really stupid thing to do? This was still early days. You didn't have as many startups as you had today. But I think after about two, three years, I realized, I said, I don't think I can ever go back to working for a corporate group or a full-time job. I would rather be on my own. It doesn't matter what the outcome may be. And we were still long ways away from any, let me say a discernible, uh, profitable outcome. And we said, uh, you know, but the journey was itself just fabulous. It's just been amazing building out.

AI assessment note: “I wouldn't exchange it for anything in the world. It's just been fabulous.”

Q But why do you think India doesn't have its own Walmart? Like DMART is a small comparison to that.

A It is, but you know, Walmart has been a hundred years in the making. Oh God, not a hundred years, but 19 sixties, six seventies, somewhere in that, right? I mean, 19 seventies when they really started expanding. And you have to look at the size of the US market too. Finally, the, the consumption size is very, very large, and we are very small. So you, I mean, the day India market reaches, D-Mart will be half the size of Walmart, or maybe the size of Walmart, right? So that's, that's going to happen. I mean, think of it this way. When we started in, in, in, uh, 2011, and if somebody told me Flipkart would cross revenues of 200,000 crores, I'd say it was a joking.

AI assessment note: “consumption size is very, very large, and we are very small.”

Q And that is, uh, goes without saying, but then the DNA, uh, are you worried the DNA of the company would change? After the founders have left.

A See, the DNA of a company doesn't change as long as the DNA is the same across the company. It changes if it's sort of a very founder-led DNA and everybody else is doing something else, right? Then, then it's a different problem. Then, then the new leader comes in that it adopts that DNA. So that is one issue. So you look at it this way. Why doesn't the DNA for the data companies change? The CEOs change? The business has changed, but the brand remains the same. The core values change the same, because people have been taught a certain way of operation, and they've been, they've been schooled in that, and they've lived that, and they've seen that play out over a period of time. They've seen people walking the talk. So I think that's the case with Big Basket also. I think we've had a team which has been with us for a very long time. They're very long-term oriented. They've been through ups and downs with us. It's not the first time that we've been behind or up or down, right? There are lots of times obituaries have been with us. So this is one more time and I think it will, it will pass. Uh, so that is not, that doesn't phase us. So therefore I think, and the team understands that, you know, what we are capable of, you know, what we can, what our strengths are, what you can deliver. So I think as long as the team, the DNA is incorporated, where you are a modest, uh, you know, sel…

AI assessment note: “See, the DNA of a company doesn't change as long as the DNA is the same”

Q And 2019. I saw one of the interviews that you gave with brand capital in preparation of this podcast, right? You mentioned at that point of time, your prediction that there'll be four large online grocers in India, big basket, Amazon, Jio, And I think, uh, one more other, I don't remember the name. I think in five years, the landscape has completely changed.

A And I was completely wrong. And this is, this is not the first time I've been wrong. I think, you know, so when we started in 1909, we thought online detail would become very big, very early. And this was, and when I look back now, I said, we must be, I don't know what you're drinking, but it was something which really just warped our, uh, uh, sense of imagination. And, uh, and it took us a lot. I mean, it took almost 10 years for the online market to really take off. And when I look back now, three, four years back and we said, you know, quick commerce was still very, very early and said, will it really become large? And we felt it, it had a space in India. We had experimented with something like that, uh, almost about five, six years back with not much, uh, you know, traction. And when this happened, I mean, the landscape has changed completely and I'm happy to be proven wrong.

AI assessment note: “And I was completely wrong. And this is, this is not the first time”

Q Uh, for India. And just before we know, we, uh, uh, conclude our discussion today, Vipul, uh, want to touch upon your background. You mentioned that, you know, you were from middle class, worked in Vipro at eight, 36, you jumped into startup, but where did you grow up and what were your parents like?

A So my, so my father was in the different services. So we had a transfer job. So I did all my schooling every four years. We got sort of uprooted. Did my schooling in the, in Maharashtra and in Madhya Pradesh. In fact, finally, when I passed out of high school in Madhya Pradesh, my wife said, sorry, my mother said, you know, no more traveling. Let's stay put, let the people do, the kids do their college. So I did my BSc and MSc in physics, actually. And I was all set on, you know, becoming, getting into an academic career because I started to do a research program and I was thinking of applying to the Got an admission at the University of Columbia, and I was thinking, maybe it's time for me to really do, become a scientist. And then, uh, uh, through chance, somebody introduced me to, I mean, I talked about MBA program. I am, and I said, this looks very interesting. I would love to do this. This somehow appeals to me. So I, so I wrote the cat exam and along with that, I wrote the air forces because that was more on a lark. And so I did my, I remember it was so funny. I did my, uh, you know, air force medical, uh, the same month and my, I am the interview in the same city within a month, which was in Delhi. And when, uh, the, uh, When when I got through, said, yeah, this is,, I definitely want to do this. I came to Bangalore, joined IIM Bangalore in uh, in I started my career with…

AI assessment note: “father was in the different services... Did my schooling in the, in Maharashtra”

Q Right. And as you said rightly, the bottom of India, the largest part of India, sub-Saharan. When do you expect that to change?

A That's the, you know, that's the, we call it the trillion dollar question, not the billion dollar question. Because that'll determine when do we hit that eight, 10 trillion dollars. And I think, see, there are two ways to think about it. One way is the trickle down theory. He is saying that, you know, as your rich become richer, automatically trickles down. It doesn't always happen. And that's the worry I have that sometimes this won't happen, but there are two things that can change this, right? Now, when I told you about the tax base and my, when you look at, uh, uh, you know, number of people in each of this, India's India one, India two, India three, there is a lot of movement happening between the cohorts. It's not that they are static. Right. India one is not 30. It will become 50 in another two, three years. India two is not 70. It will become 120. So I think that is one movement which will keep increasing the, the, but the problem that remains your largest cohort is still below that. And how do we therefore, uh, you know, make movement there? And there things will only change, uh, by two or three things. One is great, significant state intervention and significant state spending. Some of it is starting to happen and it's happening indirectly. So if you look at, uh, uh, there are funds which are beginning for early employment now. The government has recently announced a …

AI assessment note: “That's the, you know, that's the, we call it the trillion dollar question”