Mosaic (The X-Ecutive Vol. XVII)

and various other artists have found revenue from this industry. COVID-19 has also been a cause of rise in the number of subscribers. Spotify believes to have seen a 60% increase in subscribers reaching the 2025’s target early in 2020. The millennial generation who are more inclined to services and who prefer an “Ad-free environment” readily paid for subscriptions. It is also seen that the free trial scheme adds to the satisfaction level of people, who are then more inclined to pay. Promotional offers like price cuts and free monthly trials in emerging markets are also fuelling the market’s growth. The cashback schemes via credit cards and various online apps to add cherry to the pie. Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, and YouTube Music have a good hold in the market owning more than 65% of the total market. It is expected that the US and UK will continue as the largest streaming markets worldwide, with North America dominating the market with a share of 34%. But there are critics who believe that India, China, and Canada will catch up to rank among the topmost countries before 2030. This field has a brighter future waiting for it. With the introduction of AI (Artificial Intelligence), VR (Virtual Reality) and 5G for streaming will help the music industry gain a competitive edge over others. Even the browser section is believed to play a strong role in uplifting the market. The browser section holds just 13% of the market. But after Apple launched special browsing features in 2020, the browser section too saw a leap taking a jump to reach a 15% mark. Spotify plans to introduce video features for its users in 2021, thus attracting more users. Spotify has planned to be the name on every mouth when podcasts are to be thought of. Therefore, it plans to pump money into the podcast market. The market is expected to take a leap and reach 76.9 billion US dollars, about four times of what it is today in just the next 5 years. Year on year music streaming revenue was 65.1% worldwide adding to lots of hope and positivity for the market. Thus, after years of decline, markets are heading towards growth and the music industry’s revenues are turning tables. Illustration 1

Illustration 2 Illustration 3 Illustration 4 References • Statitics.com/global streaming music • Grandviewsearch.com



JEFFERY ARCHER















SUGGESTED APPS & WEBSITES TRELLO Productivity helps us reach our targets and do more in limited time, bringing a sense of control Trello, designed and developed and motivation in our minds. Taking something off your to-do list releases dopamine which by Joel Spolsky in 2014, is a immediately boosts your mood and brings a sense of accomplishment. But let’s face it, it isn’t collaboration tool that always easy. organizes your projects into Productivity stalls because of a lack of direction and initiative. It is easy to spot a red car when boards. In one glance, it tells you are always looking for a red car. It is easy to spot an opportunity when you are looking for an you what's being worked on, opportunity. More often than not, we are unable to perceive or monetize the opportunities who's working on what, and present in front of us due to lack of knowledge or initiative. Here is an attempt to help you with where something is in a the former, while you take an initiative to come aboard. The objective of the article is to process. Imagine a white board, introduce you to the idea that you do not need to learn advance skills and can still attain the filled with lists of sticky notes, ends with less efforts and more quality. If you lack the required skills but have the creativity, with each note as a task for you these tools come in handy. and your team carrying photos, attachments and other data BRAVO Bravo, founded by Avi Lele is a new-age Mutual Fund investing app that sources along with comments. makes it super easy for beginners to invest without overwhelming them. Now imagine that you can take The idea behind Bravo is to keep it really simple. So, if terms like alpha, that whiteboard anywhere you beta, NAV, PE etc. put you to sleep, this is the most hassle-free and fun way go on your smartphone, and to get started with your investment journey which gives you an option to can access it from any invest small amounts of money on a daily basis in mutual funds. To sum up computer through the web. in 8 words, it is a Zero Effort Mutual Fund Investing App For Beginners. That's Trello! Appsheet, founded in 2014, acquired by Google in January 2020, is the CANVA intelligent, no-code application development platform with which you can design powerful applications without the knowledge of coding languages. It enables anyone to build collaborative mobile and desktop apps without having to write a single string of code. This gives you a way to develop your APPSHEET profile and monetize your skills by way of increasing your productivity, efficiency and effectiveness, through smart work. PRODUCT HUNT CRYSTAL KNOWS Canva, founded by Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht and ProductHunt, founded by Ryan Hoover, is a Crystal Knows, masterminded by Drew Cameron Adams, serves as a platform that surfaces the best new D’Agostino in Harvard Innovation Lab is a data visualization solution products, ranging from latest mobile new service that analyses publicly-available designed to help businesses of applications and websites to hardware data sources to come up with personality all sizes use 50000+ projects and tech creations, every day. As profiles for co-workers and friends, and then customizable templates to the name suggests, exploring through recommends ways to communicate with create designs. It offers a drag- ProductHunt gives you a list of varied them. The app matches this information to and-drop functionality, which products that suits your requirements. It is one of 64 unique personality profiles. Crystal enables teams to add speech available as an iOS app, macOS app, an also offers real-time editing suggestions in bubbles and edit dialogs to Android app, and Google Chrome extension. emails, tailored to the recipient’s personality convey information. Graphic thereby making conversations highly cogent. designers can use the platform to crop images, curve texts, create grids, use digital stickers, and more to produce designs. 2021 160



YOURSCREEN Stopbeforeyoucasuallytagyourselfasaprocrastinatoragainforyourgraduallyincreasingscreen time.Behindthescreenthatyoucan'tstopstaringat,runsareamofboundlessalgorithmsand advertiserswhospectateyourbehaviourtodriveengagement. Socialmediaismuchmorethanjustconnectingtheworld.Ithasbecomeauniverseinitself.From visioningtocreateanetworkforabetterconnectedworldtoavoidingthesamenetworkfor escapingaddiction,inventorsofsocialmedia-abrainchildofsiliconvalley,havecomealongway. Whatthesecelebratedcreatorscouldn'tseewasaplethoraofhoaxes,biasednews,raging communalhatredandselfdoubtthatcamealongwithbuildingtheseplatforms.Wedon’tgeta muchclearerstatementofsocialmedia’sdangerthananex-Facebookexecutive’sclaimthat:“In theshortesttimehorizonI’mmostworriedaboutcivilwar.” Theapparentutopianworldthatbigshotslikefacebook,twitterandinstagram havecreated isn’texactlyheadingtowardsthegoalsthatthefoundersinitiallyvisioned.With an everlargeningnetworkofalgorithms,theabilityto controlallthecodesthatthese algorithmsprogrammeontheirownkeepsonrecedingfrom ourhandswiththedrifting time. With the purpose of gaining proits from advertisementsinfused,thesocialmediapromotions seektoencourageengagementwhichisjustanother term for addiction-thedigitaldrugofour modernera. Tounderstandthesocialdilemmaindepth,it's importanttoknow ourselvesbefore.Twenty years ago Japanese tourists became a universallaughingstockbecausetheyalways carriedcamerasandtookpicturesofeverythingin sight.Today,everyonedoesit.IfyougotoParisand seetheEiffeltower,youwouldn’tlookatthetowerand admireitsbeautysinceyouwouldprobablybebusylooking foryoursmartphone,takingapictureofthetower,postingit onFacebookandthencheckingyouraccounteverytwominutes toseehowmanylikesyougot. Thepracticeofwritingadiary,whichhasbeenacommonhumanist activitysinceages,isoftendiscarded byyoungstersthesedayssincethey thinkwritingitisasheerwasteof timeiftheworldcannotreadit. Thenewmotto,rightlypointedoutbyYuval NovahHarariinhisbookHomodeus,says: ‘Ifyouexperiencesomething–recordit. Ifyourecordsomething–uploadit.Ifyouuploadsomething– shareit.’ 162

RightlypointedoutinthebookHomodeus,“Thecultureofdata-ismhastakenovertheworldrecently.Theindividual isslowlybecomingatinychipinsideagiantsystemthatnobodyreallyunderstands.”Everybodywantstobeapartof thedatalow,consumingboundlessdataeverydayastheglobaldata-processingsystem becomesall-knowingand all-powerful,soconnectingtothesystembecomesthesourceofallmeaning.Theincreasinglydrivingengagementto socialmediahasinvitedseveraladvertiserstouseourattentionforsellingtheirgoodshence,makingus,theusers- theveryproductofsuchplatforms. Onlinemediaorganizationsuseclients'informationtomakeasophisticatedmentalproileofone.Whatthey're sellingistheircapacitytocontrolanindividual,orasoneintervieweeputsit:\"It'stheprogressive,slight,indistinct changeinyourownconductandopinions.It'sthesolitarythingforthem tobringincashfrom:changingwhatyou do,howyouthink,whatyouridentityis.\" Forinstance,thereisJustinRosenstein,theinnovatorofFacebook'smostuniversalcomponent,the\"like\"button.He timidlysaiditwasexpectedto\"spreadinspiration.\"Whatcouldnotberightthatyourfellowmatesdidnot\"like\" somethingyou'veposted?Indeed,itturnsoutindividualsgettheiremotionsinjuredintheeventthattheydon'tget likes.Inthisway,theychangetheirconducttodrawinmorelikes.Doesthatappeartobeanissue?Weasawhole knowthepainfulbaddream thatiscollegehighlight,whenoutofnowhereyouatthispointdon'tunderestimate whatyourfolksadviseyouandconcludethatwhatyoutrulyneedistobeviewedascoolorifnothingelsenotan absolutefailurebyyourcompanionsatcollege.Thisisthenhypedbytheenormous,uniltereduniverseoftheweb. Thisisthereasonthereisasharpspikeintension,misery,self-mischief,andselfdestructionendeavorsbyGenZ. There'salsoanewclinicalterm\"SnapchatDysmorphia,\"depictingindividualswholookforplasticsurgeriestolook moreliketheirilteredrelectiontheyseeontheweb.Withsocialmediacomestheplethoraoffakenews,rumours andmemeswhichformulateadeepnegativeimpactonitsaudienceaboutabrandorperson. ThereistheconceptofFOMOaswell,atypeofuneasinessoneexperienceswhenoneisterriiedofmissingouton anyexperiencethatanotherpersonishaving.Also,ifforsomereasonsweusesocialmedialessforagiven timeframe,itisnormaltoexperiencerapidreturntoexcessivesocialmediautilizationaftertheconinedperiod. Fewworldgovernmentsappeartohavewokenuptothesocialissuebeingmovedbyhugetechorganizations.Inany case,lookingoutforthepublicauthoritytoindrealwaystobattletheconcernsthatsocialmediahaspresentedwill endupbeingatough,considerablylongprocess. Onecouldbeginbyerasingtheapplicationshe/shevisitsmorethantherest.On theoffchancethatyouneedtodependonyourbrowser/safaritocheck yourInstagram proileforexample,youcanstepbystepreduceyour screentimebysettingeverydaytimelimits. Usingapplicationsthathelptofollowone'suse,orintheevent thatyouhaveaniPhone,youcanlikewisecheckthisbygoing toSettings>ScreenTime>SeeAllActivity.Therearealso sites,forexample,Duckduckgothathelponevisitsites withoutbeingpersistentlyfollowed.Thisimpliesthatless organizationsareexploitingone'sinformationandaren't beneiting from impacting the online conductwith publicizinganditemsuggestions.Withthat,oneisbound towatchwhattheycametoperuseandnotgetintothe world ofsuggested recordings,articles and other time-consumingthings. Itisvitaltocreatemoreoflineopportunitiesand stay time away from the web-trap.The main exercisefrom \"TheSocialDilemma\"isthatwe should address allthatwe read on the web, particularlyintheeventthatitisintroducedtousina mannerthatmirrorsadeinitecomprehensionofour tendenciesandinclinations.Weshouldalsoopposethe \"addictivemodel\"thatmakesonlinemediaappeartobe cordialandattractive. 163

December, 2019 COVID-19: TIMELINE Wuhan Municipal Health Commission, China, reported a cluster of cases of pneumonia in Wuhan, Hubei Province. A novel coronavirus was eventually identified. January, 2020 WHO Announces Mysterious Coronavirus-Related Pneumonia in Wuhan, China. They still had doubts about the roots of what would become the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that the spate of pneumonia-like cases in Wuhan could have stemmed from a new coronavirus. It was soon confirmed that it can be transmitted from person to person. Wuhan Now Under Quarantine- China makes the unprecedented move to put 18 million people under strict lockdown. India confirms it's the first case. WHO declares a public health emergency, for just the sixth time. Human-to-human transmission is quickly spreading and can now be found in the Thailand,United States, Germany, Japan, Vietnam, and Taiwan. Russia, Italy, and the UK confirm their first case. March , 2020 While declaring COVID-19 a pandemic, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of WHO, said at a briefing, the agency is “deeply concerned by the alarming levels of spread and severity” of the outbreak and “the alarming levels of inaction.” COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund launched to receive donations from private individuals, corporations, and institutions. The University of Minnesota Begins Testing Hydroxychloroquine - launched a clinical trial to investigate whether HCQ can prevent an individual exposed to COVID-19 from becoming ill or reduce its severity. The Government of India under PM Narendra Modi, imposed a nationwide lockdown for 21 days, limiting the movement of the entire 138 Crore population of India as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 pandemic. April, 2020 Wimbledon Tennis Tournament canceled for the first time since World War 2. The World Bank estimates the COVID-19 pandemic could push 11 million people into poverty. Without scientific evidence, President Trump endorses the malaria drug, HCQ, as an effective treatment. China reports no new coronavirus deaths for the first time since January. China lifts its lockdown on Wuhan. HCQ is deemed ineffective against coronavirus. June, 2020 Biotech company Moderna to begin the final stage of trial for coronavirus vaccine in July on 30,000 participants and further demonstrated to show a positive immune response in the future. July, 2020 Scientists from over thirty countries call on WHO to direct attention to evidence suggesting the airborne spread of coronavirus.President Donald Trump formally notifies Congress and the United Nations of U.S. withdrawal from WHO. Phase III clinical trials for a COVID-19 vaccine, developed by Moderna, begin in the United States. 164

August, 2020 Russia becomes the first country to approve a COVID-19 vaccine, called Sputnik V.' Scientists worldwide condemn the vaccine over safety concerns. November, 2020 The world passes 50 million coronavirus cases. Pfizer and BioNTech announce interim results showing that their vaccine candidate is more than 90 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 in participants without prior evidence of infection. December, 2020 UK grants the world’s first emergency use January, 2021 authorization to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine candidate. It identifies a new variant of SARS-CoV-2 WHO grants emergency approval for that appeared to be more transmissible. They begin the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 their nationwide coronavirus immunization campaign. vaccine in developing countries. The PM of Eswatini, Ambrose Dlamini, die from COVID- India authorizes the Oxford- 19, the first sitting world leader to die from the disease. AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and The European Union approves the Pfizer-BioNTech locally made Covaxin from Bharat vaccine. Taiwan records its first domestic transmission Biotech, each having two doses with of the virus in 8 months, ending the world’s longest a gap of a month in between them. COVID-19-free period. India begins the world's biggest Covid-19 vaccination drive, planning February, 2021 to vaccinate 300 million people - nearly equal to the entire population India's dramatic fall in virus cases leaves of the US - by the end of July. Tokyo experts stumped. The Indian government Olympics mark six-months-to-go has also partly attributed the dip in cases to amid uncertainty over the virus. mask-wearing, which is mandatory in India begins commercial vaccine public and violations draw hefty fines in exports with initial consignments to some cities be shipped to Brazil and Morocco. The world passes 100,000,000 recorded infections. March, 2021 The general public can register for the COVID’19 vaccine in India and the Indian PM Narendra Modi took the injection and urged others to follow suit. WHO releases a report on its initial investigation into the origin of the virus. Though it was inconclusive, it did state that a laboratory leak of the virus was “extremely unlikely,” and it was “very likely” the virus existed in a bat and was then passed through an intermediary host animal before being transmitted to humans. April, 2021 On average, 1 in 4 people have received a COVID-19 vaccine in high-income countries, while just 1 in 500 of all doses given globally has been administered in low-income countries. India battles a deadly second wave. India became the first country in the world to report over 4,00,000 cases in a single day. 165

LEGO – TURNING IT AROUND “BLOCK BY BLOCK” In 1934 LEGO was formed by a Danish carpenter Ole Kirk AUTHOR DETAILS Christiansen and the name was derived from the Danish phrase leg godt meaning ‘play well’. By 1949, the company Unnati Patodia was manufacturing the plastic binding bricks, the toy that many people resonate with the LEGO brand. Before the finish B.Com. Evening of the 1960s, LEGO was being sold in 42 nations and utilized 1st Year 843 staff at its production line in Billund and LEGOLAND St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Kolkata amusement park had additionally opened its entryways interestingly. The organisation kept on extending around the globe as LEGO turned out to be extremely popular with kids. They cherished having the option to fabricate anything they desired and guardians affirmed of the innovative idea of the toys. It improved the imagination power of children and opened up a whole new world for them in which they could create anything they want. In spite of the appearance of computer games and a blast in deals of less expensive toys made in China, LEGO went from strength to strength, prorrcrererdring to create blocks in Denmark. The issues started towards the end of the 90s. There were two stages in that decline, and one prompted the other. The first was from 1993 to 1998; LEGO went through this stale period where truly it had arrived at the finish of a characteristic development cycle. There are limited number of spaces in toy stores round the globe, and LEGO was on those racks as of now already. There were tragic diversions from the center insight, including the wretched morning animation Galidor, and examinations with greater, more macho mini figures with a line called Jack Stone. The organisation continued opening Legoland amusement parks around the globe, despite having limited experience in hospitality. LEGO attempted to keep the development passing by significantly increasing the quantity of new toys yet deals didn't go anyplace. Cost, then again – as one can envision, in the event that the number of items is tripled without changing the sales, go up, and the profits go down (It is important to remember that LEGO is essentially an assembling organisation. The organisation makes a huge number of little blocks each year to resiliencies of 0.04mm. This is so they can fit together firmly however can be pulled separated. This accuracy work on a stupendous scale is expensive, so when interest for the toy started to vary, costs began mounting) and LEGO endured the major losses in the organisation history in 1998. The company laid off 1000 people. The grandson of the founder, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen who had been leading the company for 20 years stepped aside and said, “Maybe I’m not the right person to lead this company in the next generation.” The issue was that they had these victories from Star Wars and Harry Potter, were truly just fruitful in years in which there was a film. So, there was a Star Wars film in 1999 and 2002. There was a Harry Potter film in 2001 and 2002. There was no film from one or the other establishment in 2003 or the main portion of 2004. Deals of those two toys tumble off a bluff, and LEGO

is left with one beneficial item, Bionicle. All the other things are losing cash, and LEGO is a fixed expense business. So, assuming they get above a specific level, they begin bringing in cash extremely quick. On the off chance that they fall under a specific level, they would begin losing cash quick. Furthermore, LEGO began losing cash exceptionally quick in 2003. In 2003, Lego had $800 million in debt. Enter Jorgen Vig Knudstorp, a deeply process-based thinker – and, not incidentally, a father of four – who arrived from McKinsey & Co. in 2001 and was promoted to CEO after three years, when he was 36. Knudstorp began turning the company around by making several key moves: refining processes, scaling down costs, and handling cash flow. Then came stabilisation. “But after that, we knew there’d be a third phase of organic growth,” he said. The three things that they did then was: 1. Realigned priorities In all honesty, there is such an incredible concept as too much innovation—and Lego is evidence of that. Prior to their close destruction, the brand started making various items, some of which were effective, however a large number of which were not what their main fans was keen on. ‘Out of box’ thinking had literally put them out of the business. Knudstorp insisted that Lego must go ‘back to the brick’ and focus on its core products. “He cut down the number of different pieces that Lego produced from 12,900 to 7,000”. 2. Diversified their category adjacencies The world was moving towards a digital phase and Lego needed to figure out how to adjust. By breaking into the toys-to-life market (or computer games where actual activity figures associate with those on screen), Lego had the option to remain important, while as yet staying consistent with itself and its motivation. 3. Triangulated their target audience And LEGO invested something in research that no other company had ever done-ethnographic studies of how kids around the world really play. Today, Lego may know as much about that subject as any association on earth. The studies revealed some of the innovative toys they had introduced recently were good, but just not very LEGO-ly. They didn’t have much activity as part of the toy. These toys would snap together in around 10 minutes and the children could begin playing. Most parents buy LEGO for the kids- and they might not admit it – is the reason that it is a rainy Sunday evening, and the children are running all around and parents want some peace so they hand over the toy sets to the kids so that the kids are busy for a while. If a parent bought the Jack Stone set, the kid could construct it in 10 minutes and then they’re driving them nuts again. So, this drove away some of the fans. The actual purpose and the experience of building LEGO was defeated itself. “There’s the famous quote that if you want to understand how animals live, you don’t go to the zoo, you go to the jungle,” Knudstorp said.

Once they figured out who their audience really was, they were able to get things back on track and LEGO had managed to make one of the most successful comebacks of all time. LEGO continues to innovate, but a little more carefully now! Fast forward. From being on the brink of bankruptcy in 2003, as of March 2021 the estimated net worth of LEGO is $40 billion and LEGO is one of the major toy companies across the globe. (For anyone who needs inspiration in their lives, this is it.) References • https://business.time.com/2013/07/12/trouble-in-legoland-how-too-much- innovation-almost destroyed-the-toy-company/ • https://www.successagency.com/growth/2018/02/27/lego-bankrupt • powerful-brand/ • https://www.fastcompany.com/3040223/when-it clicks-it-clicks • https://tweakyourbiz.com/finance/rise-and-fall-of-lego • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lego_Group • https://www.wealthypersons.com/lego-net-worth-2020-2021/

WILL THE SUN SHINE BRIGHTER TOMORROW? “The nation that leads in renewable energy will be the nation that leads the world” – James Cameron. With increasing cognizance of the impact and scarcity of AUTHOR DETAILS traditional energy, the world is trying to move towards greener sources as it is rightly sustainable and renewable. India with its ambitious projects and commitment to climate action is trying to tap the tremendous potential of solar energy given the fact ours is a tropical country. India is the third-largest solar market in the world only after Kashish Khemka China and the United States with an installed capacity of B.Com. (Evening) 35.12 GW, as of 30 June 2020. The government’s initial aim of 20 GW of solar capacity was achieved four years prior to the 2nd Year deadline and further raised the same to 100 GW of solar St. Xavier’s College capacity by 2022, targeting an investment of US$100 billion. (Autonomous), Kolkata India has further proposed one of the most ambitious projects dtoatdea‘tOene Sun One World One Grid’ an initiative under the International Solar Alliance aimed at setting up an interconnected network of global renewable energy sources. However, first appearances deceive many. If one is of the notion that these developments have changed the scenario for the domestic market, he shall be disappointed. Solar production depends on Chinese imports for 80-90% for equipment. The growth of the solar energy sector hasn’t benefitted the local manufacturers much due to this foreign dependency. To curb the alleged dumping by other countries and to ameliorate the condition of the Indian manufacturers, the Department of Revenue on 30th July 2018 levied a safeguard duty based on the final recommendations proposed by the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) up to 31st August 2020 on import of solar cells and modules from China and Malaysia. The duty was set at 25% for the first year, trailed by a staged down approach for the subsequent, with the rate reduced by 5% every six months until it ends in July 2020. Though the imports reduced substantially, India still had imports worth $ 1.3 billion. The policy did help a few domestic producers; however, due to increased module prices, it forced many developers to bid higher in the auctions for power contracts which were ironically rejected by the government agencies themselves. It further led to a shortage of good quality cells for the module manufacturers. Due to high upfront costs and expensive debt rates of around 11% compared to China’s 5% rate forced few producers to operate below their full potential. Nonetheless, after an application filed by few companies, the DGTR after an nnnnnnnnn

investigation parallel with the government motive of reducing Chinese dependency announced the extension of the duty on solar imports from China, Thailand and Vietnam up to 29th July 2021 with a rate of 14.90% for six months reduced to 14.50% for another six. The government also plans to implement a Basic Custom Duty (BCD) of 20-25% and increase to 40% within a year with an intention to ameliorate the market conditions for domestic producers and make the economy more independent. But everything that looks good need not be good in reality; some can be a mere chimera. Until 2011, India was among the top exporters of best-in-class modules with the industry pioneered by top players like BHEL, Tata Solar, Lanco, Indosolar etc. However, lack of consistent policy and financial assistance from the government are some of the factors why these firms failed to emulate the Chinese competitors. Increasing the cost of import of solar equipment can be a definite move towards reducing foreign dependency but if the domestic manufacturers fail to parallelly level up their production capacity, it shall drastically harm India’s target for 2022. Despite the commendable growth of the solar market, the domestic manufacturers could not capitalise much as the same was attained through Chinese imports because of the low cost and the lack of core competence, capital and capacity required to substitute the given imports. India is primarily involved in the process of module assembly which is the final step of the value chain with no significant contribution towards other areas of production. Huge funds are required to process the equipment as well for understanding the technical know-how and Research and Development for efficient production of the same which we truly lack in. Our country has pledged to generate 40% of the power from non-conventional sources by 2030 under the Climate Change Commitment. Despite having the lowest capital cost per MW globally of installing solar power plants, its annual solar cell manufacturing capacity is merely 3GW with the demand being 20GW. Even if all such impediments are addressed by the government, there lies another pressing problem that turns our solar dream bleak viz. power distributors. The power generators have been pestered by the cash stripped distribution companies (discoms) who owe huge credits to them including ₹68.37 billion to renewable energy producers. The credit seems to be increasing due to the sharp fall in demand of energy for commercial and industrial purposes given the pandemic. The discoms are locked into ‘Power Purchase Agreements (PPA)’ with the generators and if the consumers start shifting towards solar energy en masse, they might lose on revenue hence discoms do not approve the application for the same till ages. Moreover, discoms lack skilled manpower and incentives to modernise the dingy distribution infrastructure. The introduction of the ₹ 90,000 crore package by the government in favour of the discoms might aid them in the repayment but is a meagre policy in long term. There is a need to pressurize state governments to expedite the distribution sector reforms if we want to put our plans to action.

Nonetheless, with the pandemic rolling by, all countries are planning to reboot their economy. With supply chain disruptions from China and the world looking for countries to shift their production, solar energy can become a bastion for the progress of Indian economy. However, proper policy support and subsidies in terms of land acquisition, raw material procurement, labour laws, tax and export policy are required to incentivise entrepreneurs and firms. Solar energy is capital and technology-intensive. The MRE should collaborate with top engineering colleges like IITs, NITs etc. for initiatives and research in this sector. Well, there are still hopes that India can be ‘Atmanirbhar’ in the solar energy facet but its high time to put all ground level reforms to action to emerge as a world leader of solar power. References • https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/renewable/chinese-solar- imports-to-be-exempted-from-bcd-if-ppa-signed-earlier/76722204 • https://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/new-duty-structure- for-equipment-import-40-bcd-on-solar-gear-r-k-singh-120062501636_1.html • https://mercomindia.com/basic-customs-duty-solar-manufacturers-sezs/ • https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/power-ministry-to-seek-basic- customs-duty-exemption-on-bid-out-solar-projects/2026553/ • https://www.businesstoday.in/current/economy-politics/india-to-impose-20- customs-duty-on-solar-equipment-more-riders-on-imports-from-neighbouring- nations/story/407809.html • https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/final-decision-on- customs-duty-on-solar-equipment-to-be-announced-soon- government/articleshow/76181171.cms?from=mdr • https://www.livemint.com/news/india/india-to-impose-tariff-barrier-on-solar- cells-modules-inverters-from-30-july-11592885034223.html • https://indianexpress.com/article/business/solar-imports-soar-its-now-more- make-in-china-than-make-in-india-6222146/ • https://www.financialexpress.com/economy/eye-on-china-centre-proposes-20- 25-import-duty-on-solar-panels-wants-it-to-be-raised-to-40-in-phases/2004205/

FROM ZENITH TO NADIR? A PEEK INTO SUBWAY! With more than 42,000 restaurants in over 100 countries, AUTHOR DETAILS Subway has the most locations of any fast-food chain on the planet. At first it sounds like a thriving sub giant. However, Vinayak Agarwal Subway is anything but. Subway has closed thousands of restaurants in the last 4 years and saw 25% decrease in sales B.Com. Morning during 2012-2017. But why a company having around 42,000 2nd Year stores worldwide is on a brink of collapse is an interesting St. Xavier’s College question to ask. (Autonomous), Kolkata Let us deep dive into the sub-way. Rise of subway The story began in 1965 with a professor named Dr. Peter Buck saying “Let’s open a submarine sandwich shop boy” to his student Mr. Fred DeLuca who was unable to pay his tuition fees. With initial investment of $1,000 the first restaurant in Bridgeport, Connecticut was opened where they served fresh, affordable, and made to order sandwiches. They saw sale of 312 sandwiches on the first day itself. What was different about Subway is that it had open format kitchen where customer could see fresh ingredients and its ability to make customised sandwiches. Within 3 years, the company changed its name to what we all know today. The company that took 9 years to open their 2nd store and had stores in 200 locations across the US by next 6 years. And soon after Subway went international. Illustration 1

While each store looks and smells the same, they are all independently owned franchises. Not only the Subway franchises were successful, but they were also and still are one of the cheapest chains to franchise. It takes around $263,000 to open a Subway franchise as compared to $2.2 million to open a McDonalds. Illustration 2 Because of low franchise cost the number of stores skyrocketed from 5000 in 1990 to 13,200 in 19,800. And gross sales rose by $2.1 billion. Illustration 1 Marketing like a King During early 2000s when obesity was rise in America, the company marketed itself as a healthy alternative to fast food. At the same time, Subway released health- focused campaign with Jared Fogle, who claimed to have lost over 200 pounds by eating Subway. And his story was carried by Subway for a decade.

By 2008, the world was suffering from the effects of Great Recession and income of people faced a setback. So, Subway changed up its message and came up with an innovative campaign for the product “$5 footlong” where it provided value for money during unsavoury recession. When other food chains were struggling during recession, this campaign brought $3.8 billion sales for Subway. But even a best deal can run their course in future. Illustration 4 Illustration 5 Fall of Subway 1. Competition – From outside and itself! Starting from 2014, Subway sales started falling. One of reasons for their downfall could be attributed to increasing competitors. Tons of sub-chains, like Jimmy John’s, Firehouse, Potbelly and Jersey Mike’s were seemingly offering fresher and healthier options. On top of that fast food chains like McDonalds started coming up with healthier items too. What was interesting is that other companies were not the only competitors for Subway. With Subway’s franchising model making it so easy to open locations, stores inevitably started opening around the corner. Take for example – In Downtown Manhattan, within 15 min walk in there are 10 Subway stores. They started cannibalizing each other’s sales.

Illustration 6 What was interesting is that other companies were not the only competitors for Subway. With Subway’s franchising model making it so easy to open locations, stores inevitably started opening around the corner. Take for example – In Downtown Manhattan, within 15 min walk in there are 10 Subway stores. They started cannibalizing each other’s sales. Illustration 7 Franchise owners took the hit. In 2012, each Subway franchise generated average revenue of $482000 a year per location which slipped down to $422500 by 2016. On the other hand, McDonalds generated around $2.6 million per location in 2016. 2. Star Boy Lost To make matter worse, in 2015 the man named Jared Fogle, whose story was carried down by Subway for losing 200 pounds, was charged with possession of child pornography, and having intercourse with minors. He was sentenced to 15 ½ years in federal prison. This is the perfect example of an asset that turned into a liability. All these created storms for Subway and soon locations started to close. In 2016, Subway closed 359 stores in the US. It was the 1st year when the chain closed

more locations than it opened. In 2017, the number was over 800 and by the end of 2018, over 1,000 locations had closed. Illustration 8 With all these sour ingredients it is hard to imagine that Subway could bounce back. But the chain is certainly trying. Recovery of Subway? In 2017, Subway launched its Fresh Forward program, started with remodelled stores. The revamped places Included new menu boards, Wi-Fi, USB ports, updated furniture, and music. The company dreamt of having this new design in over 10,000 locations by 2020. Subway also partnered with media company Taste made to develop hundreds of new menu items. In 2018, it introduced cheesy garlic bread which was the most successful promotion in the last five years. In 2019, Halo top milkshakes hit stores. As for whether all these menu items and revamped designs will stop shuttering stores and dropping business, only time will tell. References • historysubway.com • Knoema.com • Theseus.fi • Technomic.com

SELF-RELIANT INDIA MOVEMENT – EMPOWERING PEOPLE Much before ''Make in India'', Gandhi taught self-reliance. The seed for self-reliance was sown several decades ago by The Father of The Nation- Mahatma Gandhi. His promotion for using khadi clothing back then had a twin approach, one being the use of homemade technology, and the other being the opposition to the commercial interests of Britishers. Since AUTHOR DETAILS then, it has established the fact that self-made products are cheap for people. The fight then was to make people fearless, Jayesh but the fight now is to make the people understand the Premchandani importance of being self-reliant, and creating work for themselves, at a time when the population is so high that the B.Sc. Economics government is often not successful in providing jobs for all. Economic self-sufficiency is one of the basic requirements for 1st Year a country to establish its dominancy in today’s world. The St. Xavier’s College seeds which Gandhi had sown then, have grown up to become (Autonomous), Kolkata huge trees, which have often been tried to cut, but the democratic system of India has never allowed that to happen. Decades later, a deadly pandemic made India realize its half-lost dream, and the idea of ‘Atmanirbhar’ or ‘self-reliant’ Bharat was sown in the minds of 1.3 billion Indians, in May 2020, by the present Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Stressing upon economy, demographics, demand, infrastructure, and system, this idea engaged unity among people to become vocal for local products, and then make them global too! Making the private sector a partner in this initiative is a must, at a time when the private sector can provide the country with intent, innovation, infrastructure, inclusion, and investment. Strong enterprises, empowering India, and employment generation are very important to make India self-reliant. Even after backlash on the economic package that was released, the recovery of the economy was even better than expected, as was expected by the Government of India. Making this magnificent idea integrated with the world ecosystem is very important for our dream to come true. How to turn a crisis into an opportunity has been perfectly displayed by our country’s success in being an importer, to becoming a producer, and then exporting masks, PPE kits, and ventilators. Apart from the 21-lakh crore economic package (10% of GDP) released in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government had already taken initiatives of making the country self-reliant by introducing the ‘MAKE IN INDIA’ initiative in 2014. The initiative was released with the hope to help the country to develop job opportunities, expand GDP, fortify the rupee, upgrade technology, bring ease of doing business, and set the youth mind in a straight direction of empowering the country they belong to, connecting them with a sense of belonging.

According to reports of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the total FDI flow in India for the year 2015 was 40% more than what it was a year ago. Industrial production for the same period increased by 2.7%. The manufacturing sector in India for the same period grew by 12.6%. India acquired 9th position globally, in terms of attracting FDI in the year 2014, jumping 6 spots from the previous 15th position in the year 2013. Moreover, India was one of the top investment destinations in the world in the year 2015. The annual growth rate of the Indian economy increased to 7.6% in that period, compared to the previous 7.2% growth. Foreign companies started showing interest in India, by investing heavily in sectors like technology, pharmaceuticals, food processing, roads and highways, renewable energy, system design, defence, railways, aviation, telecom, and automobiles. Interestingly, the Indochina clash also worked in India’s favour, as it boosted the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative in an indirect way. Being attacked made us realise that we must trust in ourselves, and not be dependent on others. The motive of reducing import dependency on China would’ve been to hurt their trade, but it was a blessing in disguise as it brought us Indians into our senses, that we must not be bullied by others in terms of trade, or security. Not to forget about the obstacles the program still faces, like not enough ease of doing business, complex tax structure, recent reforms in various sectors curtailing freedom, problems faced by SMEs, lack of proper infrastructure, and an inefficient administration. Improvement in quality and domestic supply chains is still needed. A major change in development strategies is required. Efforts need to be made to improve our light industry and develop our consumer products. Today is a time when we are dependent on imports for even the most basic of our needs. Our trade deficit keeps soaring year by year, and in 2020, after a very long time, India was successful in delivering a surplus balance of trade. PSUs with ability to deliver are being undermined or abandoned, at a time when India hugely depends upon PSUs for research and development. The road we are walking upon is very bumpy, and our destination is still far away, thus we need to work in an honest manner if we ever want to achieve what India has now dreamt of. The above stated are still problems that the government can work upon and fix, but there still are certain problems that are very difficult to be fixed by the government only. For those problems to be fully solved, we must also take a step ahead to make ourselves open-minded. No fight in India has ever taken place without the involvement of women, and this important fight of keeping our stomachs full also needs adequate involvement of women. Self-reliant capabilities in fields of hydrogen cell and electric vehicles, solar cells, AI, aircraft, electronic storage system, robotics, biotech, pharma, and UAVs are still within reach of India. Large scale industries are the need of the time, state-funded institutions and PSUs are required for research, and the private sector needs to be supported hugely. Finally, India’s meagre public expenditure on education needs to be substantially ramped up. No country has achieved self-reliance without mass quality public education. As a citizen of this country, the onus lies on us to play the role as consumer, producer, distributor, and trader. We need to possess an optimistic approach by embracing ‘Sab ka Vikas, Sab ka Saath and Sab ka Vishwas’.

AN OVERVIEW OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR AUTHOR DETAILS TOWARDS CASUAL DINE RESTAURANTS AND ITS Soham Chakraborty INFLUENCING FACTORS B.Com. Morning This study was conducted in order understand what the 3rd Year factors are which affect consumer decisions with regards to Casual Dine Restaurants. Here, three restaurants are also St. Xavier’s College taken into account, whose data will be used in order to further (Autonomous), Kolkata determine and illustrate the factors. The three restaurants are CIT Cafe, Calcutta Bistro (Jadavpur) and Calcutta Bistro (Newtown). For the sake of convenience, they will be called ‘business entity’ when referred to as a collective in this paper. In order to avoid skewed results, all data in this study is of FY 2019-20 unless otherwise mentioned, apart from the consumer data. Inclusion of data related to FY 2020-21 will reflect abnormal inferences due to COVID. The restaurants in question are already achieving pre-COVID level of sales in Q1 of 2021 and thus the pandemic can be classified as an anomaly in the long run. In order to completely understand the data and its inferences, differences between types of eateries have to be known: Basis Fine-Dine Casual-Dine QSR Price High Moderate Low Ambience Posh Laid-Back Bare Minimum Target Audience Upper Class Middle Class & Millennials & Gen Students Z Service Speed Maximum Time Moderate Time Minimal Time Examples Mainland China Chowman KFC By virtue of its nature, the business entity’s target audience is the Middle Class and Students. Primary Data sourced from Consumers and the Restaurant are used. Information retrieved from the Restaurant through Observational Research is also used. The number of Respondents of the Consumer Data is 200, and all age groups and occupations are equitably represented.

Data Collection & Analysis This section will include the responses to the questionnaire. The insights of the senior management of the business entity have helped in better understanding of the Consumer Data. However, the inferences on analysis the data have been made independently. Frequency of Eating from a Restaurant: The collected data indicates that most respondents are willing to eat from a Casual- Dine Restaurant on a Weekly basis. Taking in inputs from the business entity’s management, the data appropriately reflects the behaviour of their consumers. Most customers visit the restaurants on a weekly basis, mostly on Friday nights and the weekends. Further, the composition of the customers is: • Daily – Very rarely does a customer dine out on a regular basis. • Fortnightly & Once a Month – Joint Families, Working Professionals and young businesspersons. • Weekly – Student groups, Nuclear Families and Couples. Amount Spent in a Month: Restaurant data indicates that the average per order sale is INR 826. Since most respondents order Weekly, the average amount collected by the restaurant would be INR 3304 (INR 826 x 4 weeks). This figure concurs with the figures extracted from the consumer data, which shows that the maximum percentage of respondents spend between INR 2000 and 3000 in a month. The variance of INR 304 is due to certain factors like increase in spending during festive seasons, customers falling outside the bracket of INR 2000 to 3000, and overperformance of the business entity. Illustration 1: Amount Spend in a Month (Source: Primary Data) Preferred Time of Respondents: The consumer data here concurs with the restaurant data wherein the maximum volume of sales takes place during Dinner. Unsurprisingly, Dinner is the preferred

option since that is the time frame post the tradition 9-to-5 office timings. The business entity, accordingly, allocates staff during the evening and night shifts in order to cope with the increased demand. Further, there is also a rush during Lunch in the hotter months of May and June. This is because, salaried employees tend to rush to AC restaurants in order to beat the midday heat. Since this visit is unplanned by the customer, the bill amount is less than the average, but the restaurants’ collections increases due to the volume of customers. It is to be noted that ‘Breakfast’ has received no responses. This is because people prefer to eat breakfast from places which exclusively serve breakfast food and/or skip breakfast and take an early lunch; Brunch. Preferred Cuisine of the Respondents: Consumer data reflects that the Indian Cuisine is the most preferred with Chinese and Continental equally preferred. The business entity’s data also concurs. With the popularity of eateries like Arsalan and Aminia, it is shocking to see only 5 per cent of the respondents preferred Mughlai. However, this can be satisfactorily justified by the business unit’s management. In Mughlai, consumers majorly prefer one dish, Biryani. The reason is, that it in itself is a complete dish. The consumer gets rice, meat and egg for a fixed price and are assured that they will be satiated. Since Biryani takes an extremely long time to cook, restaurants offering multiple cuisines, often cook or half-cook the Biryani in the morning and dispatch it throughout the day. However, the aforementioned eateries specialise in Biryani and run as a ‘One Dish Restaurant’. This ensures that the main item on their menu, Biryani, would be a constant item in every customer order. This enables them to keep preparing Biryani, on a roll-over basis, assured that it will be sold out in the day itself, and provide the customers with relatively fresh Biryani. As a result, customers deciding to eat Biryani choose such eateries over Multi-Cuisine Casual-Dine Restaurants. It is also observed that Indian and Chinese are ordered by larger groups while Continental is ordered by smaller groups, irrespective of the customer’s Age. This behaviour can be attributed to the very nature of the cuisines; Indian and Chinese are easy to divide among people while it is extremely difficult to equitably divide Continental, in a group. Illustration 2: Preferred Cuisine of Respondents (Source: Primary Data)

Spending Pattern in Relation to Occupation Spending Pattern of Self-Employed Respondents: The data here indicates the spending pattern of respondents who are ‘Self-Employed’ quite compartmentally. There are three blocks: • 0 to 1000 – Low earning freelancers, new businesspersons and businesspersons with low profits. • 2000 to 3000 – Decent earning freelancers and established businesspersons earning decent profits. • 5000 and above – People earning high profits. Alternatively, this also exhibits the mindsets of Self-Employed people; Conservative, Moderate and Liberal. Spending Pattern of Salaried Employees: The data here reflects that the upper limit of spending is INR 3000, with the majority of the respondents spending in the bracket of INR 2000-3000. With respect to the business entity, most Salaried Employees are part of nuclear families and as such, they frequent the restaurants on a weekly or fortnightly basis, on weekends. The lack of respondents in the higher brackets indicate that newly placed Employees and Employees with a mid-range salary frequent Casual-Dine Restaurants the most. Spending Pattern of Unemployed Respondents: On analysing the data, it becomes evident that when Unemployed, consumers are almost always supported by an earning member in the family. Objectively speaking, a family with a sole earning member who is now unemployed, would not be spending even the bare minimum on things other than necessities, much less on restaurants. Therefore, by process of elimination, and taking into account the demographics of the city, we can state that the respondents are either recent graduates or housewives. The spending pattern can be explained as: • 0 to 1000 – Recent graduates who are cash strapped and housewives from conservative households. • 4000 to 5000 – Recent graduates who have abundance of cash and housewives from liberal households. Spending Pattern of Student Respondents: Given the fact that Students are the most experimentative, it is expected that their spending pattern be diverse. Almost 90 per cent of the respondents stay below the limit of INR 5000, which exhibit their tendency to not spend an exorbitant amount of money in Casual-Dine Restaurants. Interestingly, however, significant percentages of the respondents spend above INR 2000 in a month which indicates that they are not only well financed by their families, but have active social lives. Restaurant data concurs with the above point indicating that the frequency of Students visiting the business entity, exceeds the quantity of food ordered. Further, when the quantity of the food ordered is high, the students are usually in a group which results in a low per student bill contribution.

Illustration 3: Spending Pattern of Student Respondents (Source: Primary Data) Major Factors Affecting Consumer Decisions Illustration 4: Major Factors Influencing Consumer Decisions (Source: Primary Data) According to the Consumer data, Quality of the Food is the most important factor by far. It was expected that Price of the Food would also be among the top contenders in Rank 1, but the degree to which consumers prefer Quality over Price is extreme. There is very little difference between Price, Ambience and Quantity in Rank 2. This implies that once the basic demand of Quality is fulfilled; • consumers either want the price to be reasonable, or • want the ambience to be welcoming, or • want the quantity of the food to justify the higher price, since these respondents would have placed Price after Rank 2. In Rank 3, the Quantity takes a clear lead. It implies that unless you’re serving gourmet food, customers expect a certain quantity of food which would not only justify the price, but also satiate them. In Ranks 4 and 5, the Service and Behaviour of Staff come into effect, indicating that after all the baser needs are met, majority of the consumers give importance to how

well they’re taken care off by the staff, and how politely their issues are dealt with. Being in the lower ranks, it also shows that customers are willing to wait for a longer period of time for their food, if the food itself makes up for it. If the data is analysed on a macro level, it can be understood that Price holds a considerable percentage in the higher ranks, even though it is not outrightly the majority in any. Combined with the business unit’s observations, it can be inferred that Price acts as an implicit factor rather than an explicit one. Consumers of Causal- Dine Restaurants, even though they might not actively pay attention to Price, do subconsciously keep a track of it. This argument can be further strengthened by referring to Figure 4. Figure 4 shows that the cumulative majority of the customers spend between INR 1000 and 3000 a month, a fairly conservative range by all standards, which does not reconcile with the data in Figure 11. Further, with reference to Section 12.1- ‘Type of Menu Card’ of this project, a major reason given by customers to prefer Physical Menu Cards is being able to see and compare the prices more easily. Theoretically speaking, as depicted by Figure 11, if Price was a factor that consumers did not actively think was as important as Quality, Ambience, et al, the total amount spent in a month would be much higher. Hence, we can say that there are two major factors which has the most influence over consumer behaviour; the explicit factor – Quality, and the implicit factor – Price. Effect of Digitalisation Type of Menu Card: Consumer Data indicates that customers prefer Digital Menu Cards, over Physical Menu Cards, the majority being indifferent to the type of Menu Card provided. However, restaurant data indicates otherwise. Customers heavily prefer Physical Menu Cards. Further, on being offered Digital Menu Cards, customers still tended to make the conscious and deliberate choice of choosing the Physical one. The variance in the consumer data can be attributed to its collection during COVID. Subconsciously, respondents might have chosen Digital Menu Cards given the prevalent media environment. The restaurant concurs with this analysis. According to them, for a very brief period, customers enquired about Digital Menu Cards, but that quickly died away and most customers preferred Physical Menu Cards, for a number of reasons, the main being; • Ability to glance at all the prices quickly. • Ability to read more text at one glance. • Larger text on the Menu Card than on their phones. • The physical feel of a Menu Card in their hands. • The ‘annoying’ act of swiping and scrolling on the phone when deciding the order. Mode of Consumption: The Consumer data shows that the both the options are almost equally subscribed for. The high percentage of respondents opting the ‘Ordering Online’ option shows that customers are no longer solely dependent on going out to a restaurant to eat such food. The rise of online food delivery apps coupled with the discounts provided

by them in order to gain market share from their rival apps, have enabled customers to make this switch. However, this data is somewhat overstated since most restaurants, other than ghost or cloud kitchens don’t clock anywhere near to 40 per cent in online sales. Further, the data was collected during the COVID period where there was an unnatural rise in online orders. However, since offline orders fell, this rise in online orders were simply the replacement and not a trend. This inference is backed by the fact that restaurants across the country clocked in abnormal number of customers visiting their premises when the lockdown was lifted during festivities. In general, customers go out to restaurants for a change of scenery, the ambience, and to avoid the hassle of cleaning up afterwards. Looking at the business entity’s data we see online orders accounting for 15 per cent of the total sales. Even after considering the skewness of the consumer data, it is clear that the business entity is underperforming in online sales. The entity should take relevant steps in order to promote their presence on online delivery apps. Conclusions Given the findings of the project, the researcher draws the following conclusions: • The business entity should allocate a budget towards online marketing in order to build an online presence. Social Media Marketing should be done in an integrated manner wherein all the 3 units are represented. This would help establish a consolidated brand. • Consumers are sensitive towards the topic of Price but it is still one of the most important Factors. • With respect to Digitalisation of services, consumers are temporarily swayed towards gimmicks/fads which might not be long-lasting and wear out soon. • Consumers tend to dine out in festivals even if that means longer waiting lines and a drop in food quality due to pressure on restaurants. • Consumers prefer a decent ambience which will make them feel comfortable but won’t make them feel out of place. • The Occupation of the Consumer makes a drastic impact on the Amount Spent when compared to Age.