‘Vocal for Local’ is a grand vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to realize the dream of Atma Nirbhar Bharat. “Vocal for Local is about realising what best we can do and also tell the world what good we are already doing and producing,” said Rakesh Kumar, Co-founder of Aritraa Corporation, in an interview to Rajeev R of Bureaucrats India. Read The Full Interview Here:

How do you look at the idea of Vocal for Local? Can it be used as a tool to achieve the goal of Atmanirbhar Bharat? 

I think we must focus on pride and not on prejudice. The important point to be noted is that ‘Vocal for Local’ is not about the freedom movement’s sentiment of nationalism or being an Indian, buy an Indian stuff but a far wider call for inclusive development. Atmanirbharta or self-reliance is not possible without Atmamanthan or self-introspection. ‘Vocal for Local’ is a call by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to rise to the occasion and start thinking on these lines. We have to understand how much we have achieved and feel proud of that. This is a call which must be seen as an enabler. As per my opinion, this is a voice from within that must get louder and louder and the journey to get there has started. A nation which looks for growth from within not only always ends up growing well but also contributes to the world’s growth.

How Indian firms have been benefited by the ‘Vocal for Local’ campaign? What about Aritraa Corporation?  

We are getting there and will surely get there but it won’t be just fast enough. Trust of people and institutions help a lot. The way Bharat Biotech has come out with a world class vaccine to mitigate the attack of coronavirus is inspiring. Without compromising on quality and services, I find many entrepreneurs taking a plunge in the ocean of opportunities thanks to the clarion call of ‘Vocal for Local.’ Ours is a new journey at Aritraa and the benefits from such initiatives will take time to trickle down to our segment. But in our design philosophy of wayside amenities and retail, we are looking at high level localization and playing a major role.

There is a huge potential for domestic consultancy firms but they face stiff competition from foreign players. Where in lies the challenge – quality of service or lack of patronage or support?           

The quality is non-debatable as manpower in most consultancy firms are local Indians only. The issue is the lack of patronage and support to top quality Indian consultancy firms vis-à-vis MNC brands in this sector. I firmly believe that in the services sector, which is manpower and intellectual capital dependent, there must not be so much thrust by our own corporates and governments to go for MNCs.

Making rules which necessitate international consultancy companies only to qualify in most assignments of the highest values is beyond my comprehension. All these famous foreign brands are almost entirely run and managed by Indian talents. So I often wonder what is the driving force behind the people asking in their qualification criterion whether it is an MNC brand or not. I hope there is an adoption of ‘Vocal for Local’ in this segment as well.

It seems the idea of ‘Vocal for Local’ at tertiary level is not gaining ground in our country?

There are multiple reasons – vastness of the country, fragmented marketplace. It is difficult to maintain consistency in quality due to the speed of building the market and supply chain. If we reorient ourselves like Walmart of the world, who views market entry strategy and implementation as a marathon race and not a sprint, then the results will be different. You have to build stamina to last a marathon and phase your strategy for different phases of the race.

Our entire ecosystem was built around the power of brand and product developments were happening more with MNC’s global portfolio of products and offerings. With rising concern about lifestyle and health preferences, we have seen Yoga and Ayurveda emerging as two very important pillars for Indians to build their offerings around. Vicco, Himalaya, Dabur, and Baidnath ... all were there for so many years, but it took a Patanjali to shake the market and force many to go back to the strategy board to be vocal for locals.

So you mean to say that ‘Vocal for Local’ is not going to be an easy proposition!  

Certainly, not! It is easier said than done and will take time. We are not operating a business anymore in isolation but are integrated with the world for almost everything. The journey from an agricultural economy to services to manufacturing and services…all will take their own time.

The issue, however, is how fast we must catch up and how. We first of all need conviction that we can do it. Then commit to that with full confidence of doing better than the best or at least give our best.

When we go to France and we get served with the best wines. I go to Mexico and relish Tequila. I visit Italy and try and have the best pizza or pasta. Everywhere the locals take pride in what they traditionally have been making for years and over generations. Here I went to Darjeeling and stayed in the best hotel and asked for tea. I was served non-Darjeeling tea! The fault is with those who are not proud of their products and hence shy away from promoting such wonderful GI protected products – Darjeeling tea.

Areas such as petroleum downstream business, electric and renewable energy, retail, wayside amenities, real estate development, and projects support huge opportunities for local firms. What is your take?

Energy runs the world and is the backbone of the world’s economy. It has scale and reach. The need for innovation and hence ‘Vocal for Local’ is gaining more importance here because of the need for energy security and also because of the fact that climate change is being seen as a bigger threat to the world than it was ever! I am happy to see so many initiatives on not only electric vehicles but hydrogen, bio fuel from so many other sources and also LNG.

Wayside amenities have a huge scope as there is not a single pan India brand. It is all in bits and pieces. With so many good expressways and highways under Bharatmala Yojana coming up, I haven’t seen a major international or national brand eyeing this segment so far!

What has been the most gratifying moment for Aritraa Corporation so far as ‘Vocal for Local’ is concerned?

We have tried our best to blend with the local community – people, culture and products. We are working with the best local talents, who have all risen to the occasion to work tirelessly to serve the local communities during the pandemic. We are building all our products and services around Energy and Wayside Amenities.

Our consultancy wing works with almost all major oil and gas companies in India and we are thankful to the clients for putting their trust in us. We are working closely to create one of the best and biggest wayside amenities brands in the country and the roll-out of the same will be visible soon.

We are the only company to my knowledge which offers total services – from network strategy to execution of the strategy to operations and management – the entire value chain under one roof. We are a one stop solution partners and prominent brands who wish to enter Indian market are hiring us to deliver to them high quality and compliant growth services.

We have our own fuel outlets running across two States now. We have an aggressive plan to open 50 such integrated energy stations all over India. With more than 50 people directly working with us and a team which is growing continuously, we are proud to serve millions from our outlet every year now and the number will keep growing. We look at India not only as a market, but an opportunity where efforts from a team like us can bring smiles on the faces of not only customers but also associates in even the remotest locations.

How to use ‘Vocal for Local’ as a catalyst for Indian firms?

Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given this call to kick start a process towards making India self-reliant. The PM spoke about the importance of India as a huge local market and how India has the potential to take its local products global. Companies and institutions are working day and night to innovate. We must not forget that whatever we design as goods and services, it should be dependent on locals for consumption and also for the supplies. The entire equilibrium of demand and supply has to be maintained well and that should remain the biggest challenge for us to address.

Don’t you think that there is a need for focusing more on acquiring self-sufficiency in view of the reverses we have suffered as a nation due to Covid-19?    

Yes, Covid-19 has left no scope for any complacency. We have to have self-sufficiency in critical areas like health, defence, agriculture and infrastructure. We need to have a multitude of Indian MNCs. The new normal created by Covid-19 has taught us many lessons which we have to apply while designing and executing plans for national development. The global pandemic presented a scenario of economic isolation being forced upon nations due to restrictive lockdowns across the globe at one time.

This set the ball rolling for a deep understanding of how catastrophic it may be for many industries which will be left without any raw material or machines and equipment. The answer to all these lies in how much internal capabilities can you build to handle a crisis like this. For example, vaccines or medicines or even simple things like oxygen plants and medical equipment being faced with a war like situation everywhere. You have to look within for all the help and support.

Last but not the least, what according to you the governments – Central and State – should do to realize the strength of Vocal for Local?

As I said earlier, there is a need for positive patronage for Indian firms wherever possible. It is true that now we are part of an integrated global business order, but we cannot compromise with processes which give a boost to domestic firms. Our governments – both Central and States – are doing a lot. Yet there is a need to put in place a fine tuned ecosystem to boost the morale of domestic players.

A professional bureaucracy, which works to create a favourable ecosystem for growth of the enterprises, is the need of the hour. The government must have its priorities clear and build a system with a clear roadmap. Easier to start with is domestic tourism, which must aim at popularizing local art and artisans. Once Covid-19 is over, international tourism will be a big time hit. With better infra support, the tourism ecosystem around people and places should be playing a big role. Thanks to an intense and vast diversity, India is an ocean of opportunity for everyone – scientists, entrepreneurs, artists, farmers, industrialists, technologists, and so on. 

It took a foreigner to make a hugely successful brand FabIndia with Vocal for Local as a theme. The gap between aspiring and performing is about execution – hiring professionals in creating work streams for every sector separately and creating a centre of excellence to provide marketing and technological and professional support to the people who want to move forward is the need of the hour. There are many FabIndias waiting to be unlocked. /BI/