A Tale of Two Countries: Comparing India and Pakistan’s Economies

Reply Shankar #93

Lajawab business plan! You are DEFINITELY from Bombay. But should also have mentioned Lajawab Shakahari Potato Chips, Lajawab Ayurvedic Potato Chips, Lajawab Shiv Shahi Potato Chips, Lajawab Shonar Bangla (fish flavoured) Potato Chips, Lajawab Munnetra (sambar flavoured) Potato Chips, etc. etc. which are, of course, part of Lajawab Inc’s strategy to gain regional market share…and then on, of course, to Lajawab White Picket Fence Potato Chips, which is part of the International Strategy…but at home, of course, Lajawab Zenana (rose water flavoured) Potato Chips is bound to be a big hit in NWFP, and it’s important to secure home market first…you need to spell these things out, see…



Reply Urstruly #94

Basically vhaaat you seem to be saying is that our potato chips are better than yours. Am I understanding you correctly?

Urstruly,

{{This is not a commie, or socialist or Mullah`s agenda....this is a human agenda. This is a matter of common sense and prejudices have no room here.}}

hahahaha!! you gotta be kidding me! This is pinko socialist BULLCRAP...man you sound EXACTLY like George Fernandes from the 70s! First thing Janata Party did when they came to power was throw out Coke & IBM...young Georgies answer to India`s economic ``miracle``...

Yo! Just look over the border...that crap has been ``sold`` to us Indians & its failed miserably....if you want Pakistan to make those same mistakes...be my guest!

India does not count foreign investment in the standard way, and hence grossly underestimates it, by as much as a factor of 2.

When the Tatas first came out with Tata Iodised salt in shiny packages, I decided the Tatas made enough money as it was and I wasn`t helping them put local salt producers out of business through mere brand muscle. So whenever I went to the grocery and asked for salt, and the shopkeeper invariably handed me Tata salt, I would insist no I want one of the other ones in the polythene bags. And he would always make a face because he thought I was being a cheapo :)

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Dost Mitter

I did reply your points. I said I that I agree with you word by word and you can re-wtite your post replacing the word India with pakistan.

Shankar

The answer to all your questions/proposals is very simple. The local baker does not live and work in a vacuum. What is he to do when his wife starts asking for a soap made by MNCs or imported ones to take a bath; what about his son who now wants a Rs. 35 can of Pepsi and wont drink local made Rs. 12 Pepsi; what about his daughter who wont use local made Medora make-up and wants Revlon from Paris. Similarly, his poor customers are trapped in their own vicious circles. If he (customer) is a part of bureaucracy, he will become corrupt to keep up with others. And if he does that he wont buy from local bakery because now it is below him. So as he gets corrupt he makes 10 others around him to be corrupt too. That is the reason I say that MNCs actually reduce people`s buying power, they make them poor. Now what about 100s of millions of those, who do not have a post where they can exercise their powers.....what about the daily wage earner. How is he supposed to increase his income...by working two shifts on a back breaking job? What about a farmer...he can only produce so much from his fields....but a MNC processing food wont buy from him because they can get it cheaper from Brundi.

This is not a commie, or socialist or Mullah`s agenda....this is a human agenda. This is a matter of common sense and prejudices have no room here.

Urstruly,

I`m not an economist; so I would be honored if you explain why the following business plan for the local bakery could`nt work...

a) The local bakery keeps on selling the ``no-name`` brand at a cheap price to the poor people. You said he was making a profit--heck, a profit is a profit...

b) ALSO make part of the same product packaged nicely to the suckers who want to pay for fancy packaging...call it ``Lajawab Potato Chips``;

..who knows that poor person, tomorrow,may be a recipient of US aid money & become richer...poor people have a higher sense of ``brand loyalty``....even when he squanders the aid, he can always revert to buying the no-name brand when he`s kinda..broke...

c) make some MINOR changes (with minimal extra expense) if he has to go around some ``truth in advertising`` laws (if they exist in Pakistan) & make a fancier brand called ``Lajawab Potato Chips``---BADSHAHI brand...I mean premium...is-special potato chips...meant only to be served in parties thrown by wives of generals, feudals & the elite of Pakistan...

d)bribe some govt officials (heck that ``cost of business`` makes up for the taxes you dont pay) to have exclusive contract for all the Govt ``sponsored`` diplomatic Iftaar parties..where only BADSHAHI brand of potato chips are served ...will make a difference if you add...``proudly made in Pakistan; by Pakistanis`` on a ditinctly discreet part of the label...

c) pay the local mullah a few rupees to give him the ``honor`` of blessing the Potato chips...to ensure it is made & inspected by strict Islamic shariat standards...you know like ``kosher`` food...people go for crap like that..kind of makes them feel pious...

I could go on & on, with suggestions...

Heck, even AnNy will give up Pringles & buy Lajawab Potato chips!!..Ok..being a Gujju (cant make them suckers for too long), she will, after a few tries, conclude that there is NO difference between Badshahi & no-name brand...but then I get a sneaky feeling that there is no shortage of PERMANENT suckers in Pakistan...or elsewhere in this world..

You know what Pakistan economy`s BIGGEST problem is?!
You have a tremendous shortage of besharam bania weasels who will adapt to any adversity, any laws, any competition, any country & STILL make a profit...

On Zia,

``God forbid that a day comes when King Faisal of Saudi Arabia visits Pakistan and is received at the airport by Maulana Mufti Mahmood as the prime minister of Pakistan. Oh God, have mercy on me. Take my life away before I see that day.``

Above is a from a letter in dawn, the words of Z A Bhutto.

Zia knew that things are going bad for pakistan, the jihadists are coming to the frefront. Mufti Mohamoods son is pak candidate for PM. Zia some how lnew the turn of events and felt really sad for Bhutto. So what he did in killing bhutto was in fact a help.


Jay been ahmed aal romair

Faisalabad

Prem, zafar, etc.

In some of the central values that charecterise pakistanis, tahmed and romair are not very different. Most important is the uncountables of pakistan, for both they remain outside the statistics, the jihadic fodder. Next is the notion of jihad. Tahmed has posted several times, jihad as the fight againt poverty, against ignorence blah blah. But for the thousands that stream out of the madrassas, jihad is killing of kafirs, and even the great human being, tahmed has refused to say ``that killing kafirs is not jihad``.

What is imporatant to both and for that matter most of the pakistanis is to present a whitewashed image of pakistan. To give an example, when I talk of the rule of law in india, it is sridhar first to point out about the kavery water dispute and supreme court order. It is another indian who points out about the surge in pakistani haterd in india.

In several posts, YLH had said that there are roads in pakistan named after Abdus Salam, no one, not even the great tahmed dared to tell YLH, hey man this is not correct, the same goes with romair. In fact there is only one pakistani with a mind of his own.

Arjun-m

I think Hindus have a very short memory; until a week ago they were accusing Paksitan of being incompetent and importing nuclear and missile technology from China and N. Korea and just in week now it is Paksitan supplying technology to N. Korea. sharam tum ko magar aati nahin.

Yaar arjun # 88, why are you so obsessive? :( Do you think anybody is going to listen to your arguments -whatever they be- if you act mean-spirited? Don`t you think that is exactly how you might come across to your audience-presumably the Pakistanis?

Thoda socho...

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