...and the myth of the consumer being ‘just’ a king is...err...passé!
A few years back, companies across the Indian sub-co
ntinent we all out to cheer the customer, to give him more at his doorstep... merely pampering the Indian customer you can say. And just as any human would, customers having been treated well (or more) as more than just guests, the feeling of ‘Consumer is King’ sunk into their heads. And now that the masses have got used to it, the companies are hell-bent on ripping-off that sentiment – first the cake and then cracking the very plate on the customer’s head! Yes, you just got the touch of it – tales of goons threatening customers who’ve defaulted on loans even for one time period, experiences of roughnecks physically assaulting debtors... Times indeed are in for a change. But wait! Didn’t we hear of ‘change always being for the better’?!
When the corporate kingpins seemed to have forgotten a fundamental capitalisitc rule, who but the central bank interfers to remind them of it. And as if implying, “Consumer is no more king, he’s God!”, Y.V. Reddy, Governor, RBI on October 5, 2007 directed bankers (and the Indian Banks Association) to monitor closely the working of recovery agents and thereby improve and put an end to all rough means in recovery processes. Furtheron, all banks would also have to take the onus of any misdeeds committed by their recovery agents and publicly disclose their names and the phone numbers from which recovery calls would be made.
This assumes greater weight for the Indian customers after the October 5, 2007 announcement by the Telecom Regultory Authority of India (TRAI) that tele-marketers would be charged with Rs.500 (per violation act) or their numbers would be disconnected if found violating the rules. As per TRAI, already 6.5 million subscribers had registered themselves with the National-do-not-call registry (NDNC) which can be accessed by tele-marketers, with the largest count being that of Bharti AirTel customers (3.09 million customers). Sure enough, bidding goodbye to all inconveneience caused to customers by telemarketers proving that the modern Indian consumer is more than a king – rather call him God...
So during the recent months, if you haven’t been bothered by any of the above-mentioned nuances, or false bills et al, you either have been lucky, or very very lucky! And there’s nothing so nouveau about this whole concept of treating the consumers fairly. Written centuries ago, Kautilya’s book titled Arthashastra serves as a reminder that a concept like consumer protection against exploitation by the trade and industry were first brought to notice then. Sadly, lack of systematic and planned actions to prevent such barbaric acts by the traders only resulted in long delay of a few centuries before an ‘effective law’ to that effect could be enacted. To this you might remark, “But we’ve heard of something like a Consumer Protection Act and a Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (CDRC), enacted to safeguard the interests of the consumer! Haven’t we?” We totally agree – yes, you have! But they’re mere ‘paper truths’ at best, and ‘openly and widely violated’ at worst – making these measures grossly incapable of protecting consumers’ interests.
A few years back, companies across the Indian sub-co
ntinent we all out to cheer the customer, to give him more at his doorstep... merely pampering the Indian customer you can say. And just as any human would, customers having been treated well (or more) as more than just guests, the feeling of ‘Consumer is King’ sunk into their heads. And now that the masses have got used to it, the companies are hell-bent on ripping-off that sentiment – first the cake and then cracking the very plate on the customer’s head! Yes, you just got the touch of it – tales of goons threatening customers who’ve defaulted on loans even for one time period, experiences of roughnecks physically assaulting debtors... Times indeed are in for a change. But wait! Didn’t we hear of ‘change always being for the better’?!When the corporate kingpins seemed to have forgotten a fundamental capitalisitc rule, who but the central bank interfers to remind them of it. And as if implying, “Consumer is no more king, he’s God!”, Y.V. Reddy, Governor, RBI on October 5, 2007 directed bankers (and the Indian Banks Association) to monitor closely the working of recovery agents and thereby improve and put an end to all rough means in recovery processes. Furtheron, all banks would also have to take the onus of any misdeeds committed by their recovery agents and publicly disclose their names and the phone numbers from which recovery calls would be made.
This assumes greater weight for the Indian customers after the October 5, 2007 announcement by the Telecom Regultory Authority of India (TRAI) that tele-marketers would be charged with Rs.500 (per violation act) or their numbers would be disconnected if found violating the rules. As per TRAI, already 6.5 million subscribers had registered themselves with the National-do-not-call registry (NDNC) which can be accessed by tele-marketers, with the largest count being that of Bharti AirTel customers (3.09 million customers). Sure enough, bidding goodbye to all inconveneience caused to customers by telemarketers proving that the modern Indian consumer is more than a king – rather call him God...
So during the recent months, if you haven’t been bothered by any of the above-mentioned nuances, or false bills et al, you either have been lucky, or very very lucky! And there’s nothing so nouveau about this whole concept of treating the consumers fairly. Written centuries ago, Kautilya’s book titled Arthashastra serves as a reminder that a concept like consumer protection against exploitation by the trade and industry were first brought to notice then. Sadly, lack of systematic and planned actions to prevent such barbaric acts by the traders only resulted in long delay of a few centuries before an ‘effective law’ to that effect could be enacted. To this you might remark, “But we’ve heard of something like a Consumer Protection Act and a Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (CDRC), enacted to safeguard the interests of the consumer! Haven’t we?” We totally agree – yes, you have! But they’re mere ‘paper truths’ at best, and ‘openly and widely violated’ at worst – making these measures grossly incapable of protecting consumers’ interests.
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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative
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