Kal ho na ho - aaj Shahrukh Lux star hai

Lot of bloggers have commented on the Shahrukh Khan Lux ad. I think it was a good PR gimmick (how else would something as taken-for-granted as a soap make headline news, even if it was celebrating its 75th birthday!) Besides, I don't think it was a long term campaign. Lux will go back to actresses in bathtubs soon enough.

Meanwhile, the women of India got a chance to stare at a bare-chested man - and no one was made worse for it.

I applied my mind to it and this is what I came up with. I am a little doubtful how many people might have seen the advert.

Reinventing brand from a commodity pile
Did the consumers accept the HUL gamble of presenting a bare-chested SRK in the Lux ad ? (Their words, not mine but ok... that's the kind of stuff intro paras are made of. No cribs!)

Bahaaron phool barasao… Shahrukh Khan tub mein nahane aaya hai... The Lux ad featuring the Bollywood star immersed in a tub strewn with rose petals rose quite a media lather. The easy-pleasy explanation that came to mind when you happened to see that image of King Khan - hairless chest, I was-so-sensitive-smirk et al - is aha! The brand's gone "metrosexual".

Trouble is, this new sub-species of man that thrives in the pages of glossy magazines is - like the legendary Bigfoot - yet to be captured in the wild. A team from National Geographic Channel was called in to assist Unilever's legendary in-house research division in accomplishing this difficult task. In the meanwhile, the brand team appeared to have taken a simple leap of faith.

Following the principles laid down by soap queen Ekta Kapoor, the company added on a new and intriguing character to its own 75 year old soap opera. Yes, Unilever was desperate for increased TRPs - Trials and Repeat Purchase. As former HUL Chairman Vindi Banga candidly declared at the company AGM in June that year, the company had been hit by “the crisis of declining markets.'”

It wasn't that Indians “bathed less often or brushed their teeth less often or indeed washed their clothes less often,'' Banga explained, “but they did down-trade to lower-priced substitutes from higher-quality brands…A consumer buying six tablets of Lux in a month went to buying three of Lux and three cheaper brands".

Aisa kyun? Well, the theory went that Indians were pinching pennies so they could pay up their installments on cars, bikes, homes, computers and whatever they had. But that's only half the story. The scarier bit was that consumers were slowly losing faith in brands. "A soap is a soap is a soap" is the attitude – give me the best possible deal. Aishwarya makes a pretty picture on the wrapper but there is nothing quite as beautiful as a “buy one, get one free” offer.

The commoditification of FMCG brands is inescapable. The fact is that except for a brand like Pears– which is manufactured in a separate factory and uses actual glycerine – there isn’t much real difference between one soap and the next. Besides the superficial trappings like colour, fragrance and wrappers. The consumer has simply wisened up to that fact and is happy to experiment - given the explosion of choices.

Speaking of choices, there were two possible paths before the Lux brand team: clung to the Old way; or go the radical, different, bold way. The “Big Idea” of 1929 – a beauty soap endorsed by beautiful people – no longer packs that punch. The movie star of the moment is busy appearing in ads for noodles, chocolates, dandruff shampoos and whatever you have. So signing on a Preity or Rani would scarcely create ripples.

The brand ‘s ‘advertising identity’ crisis has been brewing for a while now. In the mid 90s, Lux received its first major shock when the actress ruling the roost at the time refused to be part of its campaign. The feisty Kajol “did not believe” in advertising (back then – now it’s a different story!). Consequently Lux was stuck with the nice-but-never-number-one Juhi Chawla until the likes of Aishwarya and Kareena became big enough to sign on.

The bigger crisis, however, was that the communication was itself losing relevance - consumers were beginning to question if the film star actually used the brand. So Lux moved out of fantasy and into a ‘reality’ phase: The film star was taken out of the tub and used purely as a communication device to portray star quality in every Lux user. Remember the “We bring out the star in you” series? No? Well, nobody really does.

Seen in that light the SRK-in-a-tub gambit made perfect sense – after eons the public was sitting up and taking notice. Was the soap now aimed at the man or the woman? Well, as long as that image of Shahrukh surrounded by rose petals wasn’t repulsive it really didn’t hurt the brand. The women – who are the ghar ka decision makers in soap matters – may well warm to the image of a good looking, bare-chested man while soaping themselves. Just like their husbands have been happy enough to use an ‘auraton ka product’ all this while – with a picture of those gorgeous actresses - at some sub conscious level – playing back n their heads.

There’s complex ‘semiotics’ involved, you see. As a researcher on Unilever brands conjectures: "They’vechosen the star very carefully – it’s not macho Sunny Deol" . Note how all throughout SRK’s maleness is submerged under water and how in the end, the four Lux heroines – Hema, Sridevi, Juhi and Kareena – gang up and playfully attempt to drown him in the tub.” So it’s the women retaining the upper hand, really!

Did the ad produce mere talk show chatter, or the sales spike that mattered? Well, there was only that much which advertising could really do in such a mature category. In the last 8 years Lux gained close to a 4% share -despite insipid communication – chiefly due to the launch of  “Mini Lux” – an offering strategically priced at Rs. 5 to bring it within the reach of 300 million rural consumers.

It’s the pricing and product innovation, distribution and dedicated dust bowl marketing that is likely to produce the real results. Shampoo penetration and sales jumped manifold through sachets, could a similar revolution be in the offing for soaps? Some time ago Unilever test-marketed the idea of ‘Lux flakes’ a powder form of the soap which would retail for under a rupee. That’s a wheel turning full circle – Lux started its life as a soap in ‘flake’ form – although to wash clothes, not skin!

Taking a man, who will draw a lot of attention, for a traditional women product was an advertisment trick.
In Germany they did that for a couple of years now with a lot success. Commercial ads producer work internationally, they see what their collegues do in other countries.

Best example here was a buttermilk drink. First they let a lot of pretty women say, they drink buttermilk because it makes them beautiful. After a year, they showed a very beautiful man, clad only in white briefs, say lasziviously: he drinks buttermilk because it makes beautiful. Of course the ad was a hit! It drawed a lot of attention. Most regarded it silly, but the brand and the slogan became famous.

Now they show a lot of sexy men for typical women products, but the first rush is over. The latest surprise was a gay couple who advertised very successfully for popular frozen foods. If they could get hold of a Martian, they would try that. SRK fitted the profile and was available, thats all.

It is all about getting attention in ads and every ad is tested thouroughly for it's impact value before being launched. The public reaction was calculated, it was part of their strategy.
In a story in the  Hindustan Times, SRK said he has never waxed his chest. I doubt that claim or may be he never had enough hair on his chest.Guess they are trying a pardigm shift. But the choice of the model. Yucks. SRK does look gay.

But then the advertisement has done what it was meant to do : Get people talking about.
The CopyWriter went the right way thinking of this concept without caring a rat's arse about SRK.
This brouhaha brought the brand into limelight, and brought attention to it. SRK succeeded in his job.Now it was upto HUL how they converted this hype into numbers, and jacked up the sales.

I never liked Shah Rukh until i saw him in Swadesh. After seeing him in the Lux ad, i started hating him all the more. He looks obnoxious in that rose petalled bath tub. Yuk!!!!!! I am 32 years old. I know my age for pranks, foul language and foul behaviour is long gone. I know I shouldn't be saying this. But all I want to say after watching the ad is this:

SRK sucks like a gay. I mean, tongue-in-cheek is one thing, posing bare chested after being someone who the youth looked forward to, with such a gleam in their eye, Swadesh, is a sin.

It seems really thinking over what brands to endorse is a long lost value. But did it help Lux was the big question? Will men or more women buy Lux just because SRK endorsed the product? Times change, people change, so must brands. You win some, you lose some – but you never know until you try. And Unilever deserves full marks for trying!

Pregnancy ain't so preity

 Pregnant women are crazy women is what most men are gonna conclude after having watched Preity Zinta in Salaam Namaste. Will I be running around the countryside at midnight - with a wife whose bump is the size of a baby asteroid - in search of Ben & Jerry's Dark Belgian Chocolate icecream ? Or Haldiram's dahi papri chaat, or whatever else mere bachche ki maa craves at the moment??

Well, I guess it happens to some - but not everybody. Most women as per what i know do not  have any particular food fetishes. They just eat a lot more of everything than they should have and then take two whole years to shed the resulting flab. Unlike Preity, who just coolly disengaged the asteroid from her regular tummy and went back to her normal sexy self.

But yes, I guess pregnant women are a special breed who need to use the loo way too often. They laugh, and cry, for no reason at all - thanks to the hormones surging through their system. It's no cake walk, for sure and I'm wondering what is this filmi fascination with having a baby - whether it makes sense for the mother or not?

You can argue the baby is a 'life' from the time of conception or argue otherwise. Salaam Namaste was a movie, so we knew Saif and Preity would get together in the end. Otherwise? How was Preity planning to support the baby??

I for one am firmly on the side of women having the right to abortion. It's no big deal in India, of course. Ads for "Pearl Centre" abound in all places - offering to do the job for as little as Rs 100. Prevention is always better than abortion but abortion is better than bringing an unwanted life into this world.

Why it makes sense
Steven Levitt of 'Freakonomics' fame has explained the drop in US crime rates over the last 10 years by linking it with the historic Roe vs Wade judgement in 1973, which legalised abortion in that country. His argument - supported by intuition and then statistics - is that the drop came about because a large number of unwanted babies (of poor, young, black mothers) were never born. And hence a whole generation of potential criminals never came into existence.

Not everyone agrees with the argument but, anticipating the emotions his theory would arouse, Levitt points out that "economics is about what is true, not what ought to be true".

Kya kehna
And here I have my own strange little experience to recount. Ten - well almost eleven years ago - home pregnancy kits were not easily available. Most women go for the test alone - no mother, mother in law or husband in tow come along as in most of the cases. Gynecologists are most of the times pretty cool, practical and non-moralistic about the whole thing. No allusions to paap or lectures on sin.

Steven never mentions "of poor, young, black mothers" in his theory on the correlation of abortion and crime rates. I think you have done him a disservice by expanding his work. The fact is any unwanted child is likely to turn criminal if not moved to a nuturing environment.

In fact, if one comes across his book, they would know that he furthers his theory by showing a corollary; when a nation reversed its position on legalised abortion within 18 years its crimes rates increased. The country--Romania 

Pre-marital sex and out-of-marriage babies, a glad-to-know-and-see thing is an ever increasing rational thinking amongst the current generation all over the world (20 something, living away from home, titillated watching Polyesthers' crowd). Yes, PMS, pun unintended, is a reality.

I am only glad to see that it is being affected upon both pre-steam (Condom, hamesha, yehi hai sahi [may be this is an initiative propelled by the nasty acronym AIDS]) and post-steam (as mentioned in his theory).

I'm also glad that we as a society are becoming less uncomfortable discussing these things.

Finally, I'm very glad that books titled, 'First Information Report for teenagers' exist which tell our xxteen something siblings, children and acquaintances about the teenage version of birds-and-bees.

Kaanta laga notwithstanding, we'd make for a rational and informed society very soon.

Unlike in the western society, sex before marriage is not a prevalent concept in India [ Note: I am not talking about the so called *upwardly mobile* crowd of the metros]. So the problem of teenage single mothers is not as big a problem as in US or elsewhere in the western world. The children of illiterate parents who live in abject poverty are the problem here in India. Mostly these are future candidates for criminals.This can be checked only by education.

Bringing a baby into this world should be something that should be decided on more substance than just a sonograph (of course it was oh cho chwweet, but that's not life!), I am sure it wont move a rape victim or such. As for the movie , it was just timepass, but the last part where they made delivery a laughing stock was disgusting, and also it seemed like Nick, Saif's character in the movie never ever intended for the two separate rooms to remain so from the beginning.

Kinda off the track, but *my* Salaam Namaste joke:
They should've named them "Dick" and "HumpHer" in the movie. Sums it up well ;-)


Seeing a sonograph of a baby would not be cho-chweet enough to move many - or most Indian women - to keep a baby conceived outside marriage. That's just plain stupid - and unfair - for both mother and baby. Better think a million times before you welcome into this world a baby, whether with a salaam or a namaste!

Tech it or leave it

"For most engineering grads first job's a passing phase of less than two years" proclaims a headline in Economic Times.

A C Nielsen ORG Marg's T Schools '10 Campus Recruiters Index has made the less than startling discovery that 64% of engineering grads who join tech companies intend to leave within the first two years or less. This number is apparently up from 47% in 09 and 59% in 10.

Fact is, few engineering grads seem really enthused about joining Infosys, TCS, Wipro and the like - especially if they happen to be from tier 1 institutes or God forbid, IIT. Company aa rahi hai, to chalo job le lete hain.

Serving the companies right too in a way, if they're willing to snap up any which engineering graduate - civil, mechanical, metallurgical - just because they need to add 10,000 bakras at a time.

Although their HR depts claim that they have systems which ensure a smooth induction, training and deployment onto projects that isn't quite the case for everyone.

A 2009 graduate from a premier institute in Mumbai who was working with Mastek had this to say: "Since IT companies conform to CMM level 5 they have to keep a certain % of the workforce on the bench ie idle. And it can get damn frustating."

There are enough cases of freshers who complete their training and then just cool their heels for a while: come to office everyday, send email forwards to each other (the only timepass available in the absence of internet access) and somehow get through till the end of the day.

Sounds like fun, doing nothing - but try doing it over a period of time. Sucks bigtime!

Another complain is "I asked to work on X technology but was put onto a project using Z technology." Z is apparently getting 'obsolete' but still a current business requirement. But that argument doesn't cut ice with apna 'I-want-technologies-that-look-good-on-my-resume' engineer.

The Long, Steep Climb
Although the 15,000 bucks you get in hand as a fresher seem decent enough at the time of joining the really long ladder ahead is soon evident.

In most companies it takes 18 months-2 years to get sent on an offshore project and earn that precious dollar allowance (which is the carrot dangling in every techie head) and though that's not really a long time many don't have the patience.

Besides, they soon learn, the job is not really about programming at all... One such dude sums up the average IT career path on a Pagalguy forum:

There is not much of a ladder is S/W industry as such. For most life is quite typical. One or two years in a company. Then a chance to go onsite and see some money. Then back home. Another 2 years and then one becomes an analyst and after 5-6 years, a manager. And your engineering branch is the last thing that would matter here.

The work in S/W company is quite mundane and does not involve too much programming skills. If you have good talking skills and project yourself well to your managers, you would grow.

Given that scenario - and the fact that there is no inherent interest in software as a career - getting into an MBA or MS program is a good escape route. And seems like a faster way "up".

Basically, managing the aspirations of thousands of above average intelligence 20somethings is no joke. Yes they have fantastic campuses, working culture, and future prospects as well but when all that becomes the norm, dil still maange more and that's where the trouble lies.

Above average folks eventually hear voice whispering in their heads: " Is what I am doing meaningful?" Here's one techie's answer, again posted on the PG forum:

"Hmm, so you thought Windows XP was written in India? nops, but the typing of all the HELP doc was done in India. You do not do much programming. If you are in Mainframe stuff, whereever you work it's going to dig into some code written in the 1970's  and you'll be wondering half the time "how could people write such hopeless codes?" and you would need to add one or two lines into that code. Yes not more than 20 lines!

If you are in any of those open system projects, Java, .NET half the time is documentation stuff or changing and test some crap stuff. But few projects have something good.

Remember software industry is not about creating new things. Its all about client giving you work. Work that their IT team is NOT interested in doing.

But you get money $$$$ and of course work experience and a life called "White collar job".

Not very inspiring, especially in light of the fact that those with MBA degree from premier institutes in the same company clearly seem to earn more and rise faster. As well as enjoy greater mobility - they have the option of leaving the software industry altogether if they wish.

This is what is happening in today's booming IT market and every Wednesday filled in opportunities column of the newspapers.

Good examples are our managers who could be an alumni of top B-School but who will not be able to reason out even simple things at their disposal. We would have laughed at them couple of times but it is important to decide whether we would also be preferred to be an object of joke rather or something else.

Right on the hearts of all so called "programmers" & IT professionals who jump into the field because of money and end up doing menial 'software' tasks which actual 'computer engineers' do not do and are infact over-educated to do so.

Our's is a  forsaken IT doomed, err boomed country and I have to introduce it as a SCAM [no acronym, my naive way to emphasize].

Still many refuse to be a part of the clan whose sole aim in life is to exist/lurk in the office irrespective of the nature of work, wait in the ration line to go abroad, live like mice there, come back, buy a longish car, get married, time wife's pregnancy such that the expected delivery takes place while on the second phoren trip. They refuse to become a whore who looses her values.

The first job switches happen because the first job should not have happened. The second one happens because the industry (Legal Process Outsourcing) needs to grow and people have to move out to setup/help setup new firms and then they end up working on patents, in effect working at the cutting edge of research (patents are as cutting edge as it gets). Research it is, albeit not theirs, but then how many paying jobs in India are doing research anyway.

And yes, having modified 20 lines of code in 6 months is not an urban legend. This is the life of every Infoscian, and I would guess a Wiproite and a TCasS.

It's a SCAM because those who do not get frustrated of working on the mindless projects, are the ones who become more successful, at least in the way society defines success. Ladke ke paas paisa hai, achi naukri hai, foren aata jaata rehta hai. kuch to computer ka karta hai, bittu tu bhi kuch seekh infosys waale bhaiya se.

I know many people who refused to be a part of the corporate whoredom at Infosys and the like, and went back to research. My own friend went back to IIT Kanpur to pursue his research related to materials engineering. But the unexciting thing was this: he was earning 9000 rupees as stipend. This was a SCAM.

Here is a guy who was studied enough to clear the JEE, do an undergraduation at an IIT (no I'm not being snobbish), and is now pursuing research, which may well make foldable computers a reality tomorrow, but he is earning like 10 TIMES less than people who chose to be in the likes of Infosys, go onsite, and time their wife's pregnancy.

Its a SCAM because Civil engineers who could join National Highways Authority and build great roads and bridges are wasting their lives with codes written at the time their parents were dating each other.

Its a SCAM because a mechanical engineer who designed buses in his bachelor's project is now waiting in the ration line to go "onsite".

Its a SCAM because an electronics engineer who designed systems for alarming in case of landslides in college is now installing Windows XP in Texan country and goes to strip clubs on weekends.

Many become IT engineers (the second biggest mistake of their lives) and work at some S/W Technology companies for a year (the biggest mistake) and at times the fastest growing IT companies, also become the fastest sinking.

It's sickening. CMMi and their kin are all hogwash, most of it is as someone rightly pointed out, just piles of crap that some dude decided to make up one fine day. On paper, most of it makes sense. But since so little is actually implemented, it makes one hate the system.

Millions of capable minds are warming the benches with their copious bottoms, a few hundred are working on MS-Word, doing documentation, and the rest are Project Managers - read capable of doing nothing at all.

I have three points to make -

1. I hear, from friends still in the industry, of facing a massive backlash from the client's employees, in addition to doing depressingly unchallenging work. A backlash because they believe that sometime in the future their jobs are going to be sent across to India. A case of half-baked knowledge, for sure. But what transpires is despicable. Dirty politics takes the fun (whatever is left really) out of cleaning up someone else's shit - read support and maintenance projects.

2. It really is high time we started moving up the value chain. For a country that churns out software professionals by the hordes every few months, it is no less than shameful that we have but a few software companies which are into product development as a core activity. The country is awash with jobs, yes, but it will remain so only till the Chinese learn English. Once that happens, all these service jobs are going to move across the border, because they'll be cheaper to execute there. That will spell the wipe-out of an entire generation of call centre dudes and dudettes.

3. Well, its all eyewash anyway. So unless someone stands up and cleans the entire system from the inside (shocking stories abound, mind you), nothing much can be done. Behind that glorious facade of shimmering glass and aluminium, there is an entire industry that is hurtling to its doom on the optimistic cushion of inflated projections and impractical business forecasts. The future, I believe, is somewhere else.

Days fly past and months zoom away. No saturation, no frustration, just plain unadulterated joy.

There's a God up there. And there's something beyond an MBA to escape the mess!

In most cases B.E or engg guys end up wasting their degree...ultimate is wasting one seat if it is at a premier college. That's why counseling in schools become all the more important so that in the near future one needy guy, one passionate guy can be there instead of guys who later plan to waste the degree either out of choice or out of circumstances. Yet, you have students flooding engg colleges. In fact a perfect example can be found with people who also have done their MBA, they usually end up wasting their Engg degree. Why didn’t or don’t these people start doing their BBA and then MBA instead of Engg if later they decide to quit industries related to their graduation days!!!

All these cribs may make one think that so much of brainpower is being "wasted". But, trust me, recruiting really good candidates is far more difficult. The freshers from the colleges, who have sky-rocketing aspirations, don't put same efforts in polishing their technical skills.

Engineering is finally not nirvana these days. You get great money, move up the ladder faster, switch jobs with great ease, and do the challenging, earth-shattering work. Lots of assertions without substance. "The country is awash with jobs - it's easier to leave and more tempting to do so than ever before. Let's see how long the party lasts!". The days of switching your job because you didn't like the food served are numbered.

Even a 6 figure monthly salary after BTech/MBA is not worth it if you are not utilising it. Sooner or later, one goes through this "mere life ka lakshya kya hai" phase. Again I can say that Steve Jobs' funda of 'not settling' as long as one doesnt find one's love is supercool. There is certain fraction of Howard Roark in all of us. We just need to awaken it and it holds true for engineers, MBAs, and many more.

Although I have depicted the picture of many "techies", let us look into an Indian Manager.(I am excluding all your top B-school grads)

He/She is typically in his 20s (lol).....

They dont have *any* skill except "communication skills" which is a euphemism for chattering! You have more number of managers than actually required and they end up doing nothing except banter around with some stupid case-history anecdotes about some Fortune 500 company.

We have this situation everywhere.

There are more people talking about "changing a process" as soon as they step into it ! Without actually knowing how things work in an organization.

Most of them are overpaid and yet they are out there to make "cost effectiveness" for companies!

I do agree that technical people go out of an organization due to various reasons. One reason is the "happening occupation"...It was automobiles in the 70s, electronics in the 80s.....And everybody made hay......

BUT there are people who ARE INTERESTED in technology....NO MATTER HOW OLD IT IS.....Computer Science is a SCIENCE and it wont die...Be it mainframe or nanotechnology or some other thing.....

Finally I believe that home grown, technically sound managers are much better than these MBA jocks who are eager, enterprising dolts. But when the part baloons burts, both "techies" and MBAs will be on the roads.
Many of these people work for like 16hrs, isolated from the civilized world...except for that net connection ....

I can't understand where the 'love of learning' has disappeared. Actually i wonder if it was ever there. I think of a time in the olden days when there used to be a worker class in the factories, and now it has been replaced with the programmers class.

Basically, managing the aspirations of thousands of above average intelligence 20somethings is no joke and the green paper has the last word in every business... so be it. IT jobs are being recognized as an extension of college life and this has brought in some kind of comfort factor among the IT professionals. The society expects an engg graduate to join one of the IT majors and there is very little one can do to go against the norm. With the IT biggies having an employee base of 20K - 40K employees, the new hires will find it increasingly difficult to get noticed hence they start looking for career advancement options and MBA is a natural choice.

The indian media has largely exaggerated the IT thing so in the college people expect A LOT. As things eventually turn out the work is pure shit. You wont use anything other than MS-Word and Excel (thats why engineers make good managers coz they are already bonds in excel!!)

The companies themselves spend a shit load on PR. Infy helps Boeing succeed and what not! What really is the case all the poor engineers would be knowing.

So when reality comes crashing down on you,  you better RUN (to mba or US) or just with a defeatist attitude look at the silver lining this shit has.

Besides, not only Indian companies but even MNC's opening shops in India have forayed into this cheap low complexity high documentation CMM 5 crap so you cant escape the drudgery in india.

HR in big companies is heard rearing. They have to make their grass appear greener when everybody is doing the same! Man , their job sucks! You are treated like a prostitute if not a jailed convict .

But then we should be proud to be the biggest toilet cleaners of the Westerners in the whole world!

In general, engineering graduates are not well prepared, either technically or attitude wise and it probably takes them 2 or 3 jobs to kind of "find themselves". I also strongly feel that ethics should be taught in engineering schools; I see a lot of immature/unethical behavior. People think that once they leave a job they can burn the bridges. IT was much easier in the USA, where H1's would bind people. Sigh... Maybe we should hire from other 3rd world countries and bring them here on H1s :-) Would provide a stable working force, and we could all focus on product development.

But why blame only the S/W industry. Even in a traditional manufacturing industry one hardly uses his engineering knowlwdge. Infact there are only a handful of guys who might be using their engineering knowledge.

There is a different pain with these bright engineering graduates. If we dig deep an  MBA is not really the answer, it is simply a way to feel better than the Engineering jobs. Honestly, MBAs don't have cutting edge jobs either. It is a "good feeling" kind of a trip.

India needs to encourage entrepreneurship. Programs to funds and take risk to build products are required. We have an advantage of having an outstanding talent pool but we have choosen to take the easiest path. Services and making a quick buck. This is no ones fault, it is simply a human nature. We all want the easiest paths to success. But there is a cost addition to it. We pay now or pay later. Paying later means we pay with interest.

Its a classic chain. Most guys take up engineering since there is nothing better that assures a decent white collar job. They then join software since there is nothing better to do. After one or two more years they want to do better than just coding for some obscure clients and they join a MBA. Almost 70 to 80% of MBA junta in India are such frustrated engineers. What happens after a MBA? Around 20% shine and become bankers or consultants. Around 30% join marketing. The rest come back to software as business analysts and project managers.

But still there were those days may be in the late 80s when an engineer had to join some manufacturing unit and earn as less as 1500 rupees per month, so by that standards atleast the pay is too good these days. And who enjoys a 9-5 job today but for people who live their passion. Companies are accepting that and just taking in more and more people to begin with (luckily we seem to have a large enough population of B.E.s to draw on!). Of course one could argue why single out engineering grads - 2 years is the average time most young people spend in their first jobs. Whether in media or BPO or KPO or whatever. And even after an MBA.


So the answer to 'how to stop attrition' is : you can't. Whether you make people sign bonds or chart out detailed career paths - if they join your industry because it's the easiest job available to them and not out of inherent aptitude or interest, they're always going to be difficult to hold onto.