Basab Pradhan: New Kid On The Blog

Corporate blogs have not really taken off in India, and CEO blogs are virtually non-existent. Rajesh Jain’s Emergic is probably the only prominent CEO Blog that people are aware of. I feel that Basab Pradhan’s new blog will make up for some of the void in this space. (Via) If his initial posts are anything to go by, it promises to be quite a thought provoking blog.

Basab Pradhan was Infy’s high-profile sales head (Basab was Phaneesh Murthy’s successor) before he quit to start Gridstone Research (formerly known as Perputo Inc.). Gridstone is almost entirely founded by Infosys-IIMA alumni and operates in the areas of financial modelling and research.

Basab feels that publishers should directly launch paperback editions in India (as against Hardcovers), as the pricing of the international hardcover edition would be quite expensive by Indian standards. This is a very valid point, but publishers might also have a fear that the low-priced Indian edition would make its way to other international markets thereby eating into the sales of the newly launched hardcover edition.

A recent NYT article pointed out that low-priced Indian editions of some technical and engineering textbooks are being sold in a clandestine manner in the US. As per the prevailing US laws, it is perfectly legal for students to bring in cheaper foreign editions for personal consumption, but some students have apparently made a business model using this loophole.

In another interesting post, Basab explains why Bangalore passengers rush to get off the aircraft even before the plane has come to a grinding halt whereas air passengers landing in Delhi are in no hurry to get off the flight.