Pranav Chavda

Setting up the Ahmedabad office is taking way longer than anticipated. Things are at their final stages though – changing the flooring and stuff, hopefully, work will begin before the end of this month. Found some very cool hang-outs meanwhile, I’ve started liking the city – as a place to live in – a bit already.

View from my new office in Ahmedabad, peaceful, no?

It’s official – I am moving General Internet Pvt. Ltd’s head office (and only office) to Ahmedabad, Gujarat from Bombay, Maharashtra.

Ever since I started talking about moving the business out of Bombay, I get asked why – It’s a question that not only others but I have also asked myself many times. I mean, Why move your business out of the financial capital of India, the largest metropolis in south Asia, the city that never sleeps, where life is fast and fun, the second most populous city in the world, a city that has a soul, unlike so many others, the city of dreams, where richest people in the world live, a city where I was born and brought up, and so were my mother and father, and their parents.

The answer to this why, is very simple, actually. Sky-rocketing real estate costs and a deteriorating quality of workforce.

The first reason isn’t all that disturbing and is rather specific to me not being able to run a business in booming Bombay. The second reason, however is a concern, not just for me, but for Bombay and it’s economy – one that needs to be solved.

I have been running an Internet business since 2000. At first all by myself from home, later from an apartment turned into an office with a staff of four people. It was only in 2004 that I moved into a proper office on a developing (now developed) commercial hub here and started hiring more people in order to take the business to the next level.

I paid 15,000 rupees rent for a 600 sqft office, and hired 25 of the smartest lot of Bombayites to work for an emerging Internet-marketing superpower. Things were going well and all, some of my staff would move out of the company for greener pastures every once in a while – which is great, what is even better is that I would be able to easily hire equally talented people the very next day.

Fast forward to early 2007, the only people that are available to work in a start-up are migrants from outside Bombay who can barely communicate in English, boast of Masters degrees in engineering and computer science, but really, know nothing at all, and have to be trained from start to finish, and then trained again, and again.

Bombay is attracting people from all over India to work here and earn money, which is great. but the kind of talent that is coming here is, well, really no talent at all. This is unskilled labor – in the garb of skilled workers – that has arrived here in millions of numbers wanting to take up jobs that they don’t belong to and willing to work at half the price as Bombayites. I blame the education system in UP, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, and how easily kids become MBAs and MCAs without any merit and on quotas and political influence in that part of India. All this new workforce has expanded the market here, but at what cost? work doesn’t get done! between 2007 and 2008, my business has suffered drastically – simply because as old staff leave, the ones that replace them, are, in one word, inept. Your workers become liabilities instead of assets.

As far as real estate costs go, the office that was 15K in 2004, is now 45K per month. I really cant afford that much – not with the kind of labor Bombay has to offer. Rent becomes my second biggest expense after salaries.

Okay, on to Q2, Why Ahmedabad? Bangalore is an IT hub, Pune, which is so close to here is also a great place to live and work why go to Ahmedabad?

The answer to that is again simple.

First of all, I will be paying only 12-15K per month on office rent (or I have the option to buy one outright for as little as 1.5-2 million rupees), which is great.

Secondly since I run an e-retail/Internet marketing company – it is very easy to find great talent there (yes, I’ve already placed the ads, seen the resumes and spoken to the candidates). Selling things is in every Gujarati’s blood, Gujarati employees will help run an internet marketing company just fine. Besides, the city is home to the first and best IIM, NID and other prestigious educational institutions that create the kind of talent that Bombay companies would kill for.

Thirdly, I will be running my business from the most pro-business, pro-capitalism state in India. If the current chief minister of the state – Mr. Narendra Modi has his way, This city will replace Bombay as the center of trade in South Asia with the kind of investment the man is attracting and the kind of projects (such as the Fin-tech city) that are being started. Besides Bombay, Gujarat is also the only region in India that enjoys uninterrupted power-supply. No load-shedding and all that.

There are negative points of moving to Ahmedabad – Gujarat is a dry state! No booze. It’s like living in a Muslim country or something. Because Gujarat was home to Mahatma Gandhi, residents are not allowed buy, sell, or consume alcohol. Thank god for me, I have a Bombay drivers license, something that entitles me to be able to purchase (rather costly) booze at 5-star hotels. Because of this restriction, there is virtually no night-life. but that’s okay because I’m not much of a party animal anyway. I will miss Juhu beach though. and the weather there is terrible – extreme. 40 degrees C in summers and 4 degrees in winters. Bombay a city kissing the Arabian sea, is always between a pleasant 20-30 degrees C. But you have to give some to get some. the choice is made.

I’m leaving to Ahmedabad to finalize the office space (just have to point my finger now, saw and surveyed everything the last time i went there), and rent an apartment on the 29th again. I’ll come back on the 1st – and start the shifting process. Interviews begin on or around the 20th of July, if things go as per plan.

Headed to Ahmedabad by train in an hour (in search of office space – that story in another post). Will be there for 3 days most probably without any internet access, which means i can only be contacted by phone for the next 3 days – 9869 77 99 44

Be good, all, while I’m away.

Has the recession come into full effect only since the past 5 days? people suddenly seem to be buying cheap stuff, the average order value of an online sale across the board seems to have gone down quite a few $s.