In my column of August 27, 2019, in this publication titled ‘Deep Pockets Disruption’ here is what I wrote. “Not that it is going to happen, but today after killing each other by undercutting prices only three private players remain in the telecom space. The three gentlemen can call it truce, sit over a cup of coffee and jack up the mobile services price to a population that is already hooked on to the mobile. Therefore it becomes very important that the government backed BSNL remains in the field, at least it will keep a check on the private players”
Unfortunately, come December, the above statement had indeed come true, mobile users are slowly coming to grips of paying more for their mobile services. No idea if there was a cup of coffee involved or pegs of whiskey, but the few surviving players, three to exact, had decided to increase the mobile service rates. The increase will not be noticeable to the user, who in any case is already confused with the amount of schemes these companies dish out and smartly sugarcoat the price rise, but it now opens up a window for further price hikes, that could be more frequent and pronounced. To be fair they have their own compulsions with government agencies literally pointing a gun at them to pay exorbitant charges.
But that’s not the point; the point remains that only three players remain in this business while more than a dozen players after suffering major losses in the telecom business, messed up their balance sheets, and have all but shut shop. These were not some fly by night operators, but solid names that proved themselves in other businesses, Tata’s included. With more than a dozen businesses effectively killed, the entire mobile user population of the country now remains at the mercy of these three players. This is not an ideal scenario and was not supposed to be like this, a thriving democracy should have had a mechanism in place, to protect competition and make sure everybody thrives in the marketplace. If nothing is done to address this situation, India will have only two types of employers, the government and large corporations who are going to become fatter by the day either by swallowing or killing competitive businesses and monopolise the markets.
Monopolistic markets or a two-three player market will have its own repercussions, and the biggest casualty is going to be on employment. No company in the right frame of mind will employ more people, when they know they can get their job done with less and less employees. Of course less competition will also means innovation will take a hit and the consumer will have little choice but to accept sub standard products at exorbitant prices.
Add to that there is another employment scenario that is playing out at the present time. Many companies in technology, finance, human resources are hiring gig workers to do their gig and move on. Under pressure to cut costs and to run a lean and mean organisation most of these agile companies do not want to take on too many permanent employees, instead choose gig workers for one-time projects and sometimes even recurring projects, where the job description is clearly defined. This situation has become possible because technology now allows you to work from almost anywhere. If tech companies allow their employees to work from any location, why not get the gig workers to do the same thing at a less price and no obligation on the company to provide perks generally attached to permanent workers.
The Gig economy is for real and is growing rapidly. The idea of Goans doing their own gigs is a bit different, but Goans have been doing this for ages, and while they were not lucrative enough to make careers these gigs made sure Goans monetised their talents and not allow them to get wasted. The current employment scenario is going to force Goans to rejig their careers and not completely ignore gigs. The idea is the Generation Next Goans will have to improvise and be prepared to keep the option of doing gigs on the side. Gone are the days, where if you joined a company you were not supposed to moonlight during your free time as a matter of principle. It was considered unethical because you could be two timing the company by working for a competitive company too. But the situation is changing now and employers will also have to allow their employees to do part time gigs in unrelated fields, since no employer can guarantee job security. No point keeping the employee glued to his chair in the office if he has completed his tasks for the day.
Even Goan gigs for that matter are not safe, they too will be disrupted time and again, because there are many are on the prowl to infiltrate, what at the moment is done best by Goans. While nobody can stop anybody from doing anything, Goans better protect your turf not by attacking your competition but by reinventing yourself on a daily basis to stay relevant. The employment scenario for the Generation Next is going to be dynamic at all times, gigs that we look down upon now will be sought after with the passage of time. The best of the best professions are not going to remain disruption proof. Probably the legal fraternity in India at the moment can breathe easy, because it has potential to thrive for at least two more generations because of the huge backlog of cases. The rest will have to be on their toes.
We should take it in our stride when technology disrupts professions, better to have a backup plan, so that you are able to do what you love and at the same time find a way to monetise it. What is not fair is when businesses are forced to close down due to unfair competition by the heavily loaded or lack of transparent and clear written rules. Telecom companies are example of ease of closing down business for India. By voting the same people for decades, we have messed it up for the Generation Next leaving them in disarray as far as their employment scenario is concerned, for this we owe them an apology.
(Plastino D’Costa is a business consultant)
