In Kerala, apparently you can now call a coconut harvester the same way you book a cab. A uniformed professional arrives on a cycle, equipped, trained, and ready to work. We often speak about India’s services economy in terms of IT exports or global capability centres. But we’re digitising even our most traditional, hyper-local services. There was another detail from this video that stayed with me. The young man who climbed those trees was from Chhattisgarh. When I began my career in our Group’s steel business, many of of our associates working in our furnace and foundry shops had come from states like Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, travelling far from home in search of opportunity.

Today, it seems those same aspirations are finding avenues not just in heavy industry, as in the past, but in new-age, tech-enabled services. People moving, adapting and rising are a powerful economic force. And also a force for integration. As long as they’re welcomed by the host states!

~ Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group

Know More