Dheeraj Sinha turns mythbuster with 'India Reloaded'

The chief strategy officer of Grey has released his second book, titled 'India Reloaded', which busts the assumptions and myths harboured about Indian consumers.

Dheeraj Sinha, chief strategy officer, South & South East Asia at Grey Group, has released his second book, titled 'India Reloaded', which delves into the large, emerging consumer market that is India and tries to resolve myths associated with it.

The author touches upon multiple points in his book - from targetting in a market of a billion people to the importance of government policies. The 200-page book, according to Sinha, is aimed at a wide audience of business owners, marketers, entrepreneurs, international audiences and new entrants in the advertising industry.

The book uncovers multiple insights and beliefs of advertising and marketing, giving theories and justifications on why many of the current assumptions need to be corrected. And, in this process, lending itself to multiple topics rather than sticking to one. Such an approach, according to Sinha, was necessary to the book. He explains, "This is not a discourse on one topic, and the purpose of the book is to generate discussions around a range of topics, which is why it is very fluid in structure."

The book has a total of ten chapters, beginning in a larger context of India not being a mass market, unlike the common belief, and moves to elaborate on specific insights like the ineffectiveness of Moslow's hierarchy in the Indian context, the science of 'Jugaad' and its effect on services, among others.

The book has references to a wide range of contemporary scenarios across politics, popular culture and the Indian market. Specifically, the author has resorted to popular Bollywood movies and music for examples, on more than a few occasions. "Bollywood is a popular culture; a mirror to the changing patterns of the society giving a justified example of what India wants to consume. Additionally, when one builds a new theory or hypothesis, statistics and numbers are not enough to justify it. If the phenomenon is correct, you will see evidences across facets of life," he states.

"We consume politics, popular culture, products or services with the same mindset and, hence, every change in these substantiates a larger shift in the country," Sinha adds.

The author's first book 'Consumer India' hit the shelves in 2011 and was based on liberalisation of the Indian economy and its effect on people's mindsets. While it took a long time (almost four years) for the idea of 'India Reloaded' to be conceived in his mind, it took Sinha a total of eight months to pen the book.

While he enjoys writing, Sinha has reservations about turning to writing full-time. "Being a planner and looking at culture from a marketing and advertising point of view is my fodder. My day job and my writing are symbiotic; so, I would be at a loss if I was to take away planning and try giving insights with a closed view," he reasons.

'India Reloaded' is priced at INR 599 and is available online as well as in stores. It has been published by Westland Group.