 Good afternoon Mr. Tagrajan. We welcome you to Exchange for Media Pitch live conversations on what's happening in business, in media, in communication, in brands, in advertising. How is the situation that's there impacting us? How are we dealing with us? How do we see the future? So let me say to all our viewers and people who've joined in, we are Exchange for Media. Delighted to welcome Mr. B. Tagrajan, who's the MD and CEO of Newstar for a conversation and guidance on what the future holds for us. He's not an astrologer, let me tell you, but I've had conversations with him. Real conversations have sat down. He's kind enough to have a dinner lunch with me multiple times during the course of last year. So I got to know him as a person and I'm really delighted and excited that I'm having a conversation with Mr. B. Tagrajan. Welcome Mr. Tagrajan to this conversation. You are an industry veteran, you are an air conditioning industry veteran. This is summer season and you know, this is the peak of air conditioning sales and we're having a season that's unusual. How are you dealing with it? Good afternoon Dr. Batra for your kind introduction. I'm very grateful. I must tell that I have always felt the warmth. Much more than that, I'm always amazed to discover quite a few new things each time I meet you. To begin with, your ability to recollect every date as possible and birthdays of the people, wedding anniversaries of the people and when we met, where we met and the conversations, salute to you. I envy you for this particular trait of yours. I'm extremely happy to be part of this interaction by exchange for media. I fondly remember February 22nd, the amazing awards function or on February 15th, the jury process for the exchange for media awards. The new broadcasting awards. That's right and you know, on February 22nd, in your opening remarks in the awards function, you did caution every one of us. It was a great crowd and I'm wondering whether that kind of a gathering, when it will take jam packed VDIPs, who is who, celebrities in that hall, you know, when we will ever see that kind of gathering together in an environment which has changed within one month. You cautioned that you pray that India is not affected by that and we are not affected to that extent but still we have a long way to go. That's what I feel and you prayed for that. I am grateful to you that we will survive, we will fight it back and your foresight is remarkable. Coming back to your question on air conditioning, it is a peak summer season. If you take March, April, May, June, close to 50% of our revenue comes from this particular season. It is like a festival period for us. We look forward to summer. We prepare for it from November onwards and campaigns were ready and the products were ready. Product launches were press year, conferences were scheduled and all of a sudden we are in a big situation. But then it is one summer season. I look at it as it is a call from heavens to look at ourselves and review where we are, our lifestyles, what we need to do, how we have to do differently. While the pain is a reality, I think how we take it for ourselves and process in our minds, process as an executive of a company, process as a businessman, process as a consumer should be different. I think it is also for good. It is a better way to deal with it. It is a very painful period but I can tell you but equally I am confident that we will bounce back in a different manner in the days to come. Thank you. First of all, thank you for your kind words about me. I am a quizder so I tend to remember things and I make an extra effort on it. So I believe in whatever you focus on growth, you focus on positivity growth and I like the fact that you are being optimistic in looking at the silver linings. Let me ask you a personal question. I know you were travelling more like 20 days a month going to your customers, going to locations, to your offices, to industry gatherings and eating out a lot and really 20 days of travelling would take all of your health. Tell us the positive sides as a leader. I must be honest Dr. Bhatra. The first 15 days was very, very horrible for me. I was left high and dry from my routine. By the way, my secretary remembers all the dates like you. I was telling her only last week that I used to wonder that will I get two days in my house continuously. I was longing for that and now God has made me stay non-stop for 30 days and I don't think I am enjoying to be very honest. I would like to move out, I would like to get back to my routine. I am yet to overcome that. Thank you and has it impacted your health positively in any way? Because you are eating at home, you are possibly, I know we all are working longer but how has it impacted positively? I mean has it helped you in losing weight or sleeping better? I know you are worried about the business and your employees and colleagues but what are the positives? Let's focus a bit on the positives. I think I am eating on time number one because during the trial schedules by the time you reach home returning by a flight or you reach a destination by a flight or in between the meetings you know my team packs my diary with the back-to-back meetings. I used to skip lunch, skip breakfast so on and so forth. I think I am eating on time that's a good thing. Number two is I think I am sleeping adequately at least seven hours I am able to sleep whereas it was just five hours prior to this lockdown. Third is that I am you know reading has not changed that I was reading and I was traveling and I continued to read. I think I am able to watch a few movies which I never used to do over Netflix or Amazon Prime. Thank you. Coming back to business you already shared that it is a big time for you and everybody in this business so five months are 50% of the same. Now at least two months have been shared. March and April looks like may well also be tough. So how are you preparing for the future? Let's say post June how do you see the business environment shaping up? It is still uncertain how it is going to pan out but the two three things are clear. Number one is lockdown was imposed all of a sudden but lifting up the lockdown is not going to be sudden. It is going to be a gradual process. We are now mapping which are the green zones orange zones or white zones and which are the hot spots and which are the dealer outlets located there which are the warehouses that will serve which are the service centers that can reach there which is the sales crew which can serve which locality that mapping we have done perfectly and it is being digitized I think it will be a way of life for another three to four months of time. We have adequate inventory so therefore opening the factory doesn't help us at all but very interestingly certain other segments are opening up for us. Say for example in a residential segment air conditioners with inbuilt air purifiers will be a sort of tear thing because you have seen certain adverse comments about how safe is to use the AC. Number one is that in a residential premises in your apartment or anywhere as long as there is no infected person you can go ahead and use the AC and if you maintain the temperature between 24 to 30 degree centigrade it automatically sets the humidity between 40 to 70 which is very very good for the virus conditions so you are absolutely safe using a residential air conditioner. If you are using a central air conditioning system it is again designed with a fresh air intake your manufacturer or service provider has to check it is completely operational the ventilation part of it you will be perfectly safe from any kind of a virus attack so therefore no harm in using the air conditioning system so the scientific reports CPWD everyone have endorsed that view so therefore we started with a setback whether air conditioning is good for virus bad for virus that part is settled now one can go ahead and use the demand is pouring in only thing is we are not able to service that even though we have the inventory the next one is we are we are a manufacturer of medical refrigeration equipment for vaccines and there are cold rooms meant for vaccines as well as process to foods this business is looking up so there is a there is a possibility that room air conditioner will come on stream from Q to onwards from now on the commercial refrigeration business is doing extremely well so the third part is our central air conditioning business we are engaged in setting up some makeshift hospitals isolation rooms so on and so forth it gives us the hope that we will pass through this trial period and come back stronger in H2 that is where we are in the meanwhile we have to manage our costs and I'm sorry to tell you that that it be planned for a very big aggressive advertising campaign with Virat Kohli and unfortunately we are missing the peak season we are not able to use that and ironically that communication is about Virat and dozens of Virat lookalikes and we encouraged that more Virats and more people in a room in a social distancing context that even the television campaign will be relevant another campaign which Virat did for us was the air conditioner with the inbuilt air purifier where Virat sneezes and the 10 people around him also sneeze even that television commercial becomes infractuous in this particular context so we have to use a use a tweaking of the certain commercials and the shots we have to say that wound by Virat loud by Virat so therefore for the festival season at least we are ready with the camping and water purifiers I think people will consume in a very large number because the health consciousness and awareness is going up yeah and most importantly we have a product which which talks about boosting the immunity it is alkaline levels it increases therefore there is an opportunity but having said all this last summer is last summer so there is there is nothing we can do about it and if you ask me what is paining me the most is many employees will share this pain right and many vendors will spare the pain and I have shared with you at some point over time that in my career I I invariably get a couple of employment requests every month I went on increasing that if you see in a month at least there will be a dozen persons who seek an employment your father who has educated a son or a girl who is on the lookout for a break so on and so forth and my whole ambition is that if I can place everyone somewhere if not blue star the for this purpose I used to think that I'd post my retirement I should commence an organization which employs uh lacks of people you know before going to bed my dream used to be like this that I run an organization there's somebody apply for the job and they will get a job it may be a fantasy but I am sharing with you the pain at this point of a time my biggest worry is whether whether across the industry many people will be losing the job and how this is going to be panning out I am not for a moment worried about air conditioning or refrigeration it will indeed come back but how the society at large will cope with this and bounce back is much more important than the business itself you know because I know you personally through my interaction I know what you say mean every word of it and I've seen that side in you I'm sure God will help you realize that maybe not in the next three six months but maybe in the next 20 months this is a ABP presented pitch brand talk and you refer to your advertising uh campaign uh little while ago so I have to ask you two questions on the ABP uh which brand talk it's about the brand uh you know where are you you said you're ready for the first season you tweak the campaign that you're taking uh now where are you spending your media monies uh because news channels are seen a increase in viewership from 100 percent to 200 percent in some cases uh have your uh you know you think news is a great genre to spend more monies because people are watching news more uh so tell us a little bit about how your marketing dollars are being spent and do you see news channels as uh getting more of your monies I'm sitting aside the current situation which is a volatile uncertain one generally we have targeted news and cricket that is how we have been and in summer season ideally for us IPL helped and most of the time news channels have been delivering very effectively for us and thanks to the Indian politics the elections are happening on and off during the election times we have immensely benefited whether it is a the research day or it is the campaign trail we have seen good deliveries happening through news channels uh personally I have not been a believer in SOPs or general entertainment channels at all for me for my product for my for my brand it is cricket and news channels are you that's why I asked this question now that the cricket is not happening do you look at news channels more to carry your brand message in campaigns you know quite a few people have been talking to me about that that as and when the market opens up let us say the retail channels open up uh in may or june uh or the festival season uh we will invariably go to the news channels only fantastic and you know because you know apart from being a leader in a CU and MD you're also an individual who watches news channels right uh so what how do you think have the news channels uh fared in these COVID times you know tell us the positive aspects of news channels what have they done to be able to be and be as themselves to their viewers or to make themselves more relevant in society remarkable job I am deeply impressed that I I do watch CNN BBC as well uh I would say number one Indian channels are second to none uh two uh in this particular situation uh they are risking their lives to report the news they are in the front line and uh my um I salute uh all those reporters who are on the front uh reporting the news uh in an effective manner uh third is uh the analysis and the analytics uh that is being brought uh out regular at regular intervals uh it's not only Indian data uh it is the data across the globe if you take India alone uh you have very state and what is happening how it is happening and I would also say that uh there is less of politics at this point of a time more of social responsibility that is laudable uh you don't see uh many controversies being reported and hyped up or something like that it is a real responsible reporting uh it is happening at a time when uh normalcy is not there uh it is a very challenging job uh I would equally share another view of mine uh is um unfortunately uh the advertising revenue of most channels would have been impacted very heavily and it is going to be impacted for for for for quite some time despite that uh the enthusiasm of the channels is uh appreciated thank you Mr. Chahar Rajan for for uh complimenting the uh media professionals and you know we on exchange for media keeping with the sentiment that you have expressed two weeks back we started with a campaign called first responders you know I see my news uh uh professional friends going out doing stories from front line so they are bringing credible information credible news brands are bringing very wide credible news so I'm grateful to you on behalf of the news and media fraternity for giving us that positive energy I want to ask you my two last questions and then we can bring the audience in Priyanka my first question is that what is your advice to leaders individuals in this period what is it that they should do to prepare themselves for the future that's my first question second is in terms of media spend you said that for a large part you see it being impacted so you see in the next six to twelve months and I'm not talking next three months media staying the same in terms of budget allocation or going down uh the first question is that I am a too small a fellow there are big stalwarts my own understanding of the situation is it is better to stay positive that is very important and despite all this I I must believe in angels I should believe in miracles and therefore the way this this came in this virus it will disappear and we will come back to normal that faith should be there there will be many stories that will be coming that this can happen that can happen we can collapse the world is recession and I think we should take it one at a time it is better to deal with that on a daily basis so deal for the day avoid imagining what it will be in the month of May or June or July it is better to wait for that to happen that is the first one the these if you have spare time it is worthwhile to ponder over what other business opportunities can emerge out of this and is there some innovation that we can we can work on uh how I how I can you know say for example I have a feeling um the people will try to stay away from big cities uh because the big cities are affected uh much more than smaller towns uh I think uh many many of us will start thinking about whether I do something in the rural India rather than the metro India so the rural economy offers immense prospects and my passionate subject is agriculture food processing I think there is something corporate India should do there this is this may be a turning point for India to attempt that the and the government has to equally collaborate with the corporate sector to enable that process the the second question of yours I I think my my rough estimate is that on a on a like-to-like basis hatch one hatch two of last year versus hatch two of this particular year that is the period October to March 2000 uh the last financial year October to March this financial year I do not think that the advertising revenue will tip because everyone will be in a ramp up more that is what is my I may be entirely wrong but I want it to be that way thank you thank you Mr Tiaz Rajan uh Prenka would you like to get some audience questions on this optimistic note one there are opportunities in agriculture and India must capitalize on them second uh October to March may see the same spends that uh Indian advertising marketing media saw on that optimistic note would you like to get questions from the audience and if the question Mr Tiaz Rajan can answer that Prenka are you there yeah yeah sir we are just sharing just sharing we have mentioned two questions uh one is there like can we get the person who wants to ask from the screen and maybe let him or ask directly uh we'll just try sir we'll just try the question okay one is that like do you think that it should be measured do you think news is getting undervalued during this time when it provides most actual information I think news is doing a fantastic job as I mentioned that it is it is very challenging times the reporters are risking their lives and most importantly it requires a lot of analysis analytics to tell the truth uh I think they are doing a remarkable job and I went on to even mention I I watch CNN I watch BBC our channels are second to none they are doing a remarkable job yeah Prenka second question uh and then do you think that it can be measured much better than any other medium right now um television news uh is obviously uh the only one I think people live on uh the the problem with uh with uh e-newspapers is you can imagine the reach should be much much lower the digital medium uh the you are bombarded with so much of it uh you you refuse to go back to the phone and open any message at all therefore I think television uh news channels are the best one in comparison at this point of time fantastic uh Prenka any other questions or I can ask one or two questions and you can close it then uh so yes you can ask I'm just uh like I'll just add you know I see some questions which are very narrow like someone is asking for hsn market which news channel should uh be used I don't think that's a question Mr. Tarkarajan uh is qualified in the sense he's you know it's it requires a different maybe he can ask his cm or his media no or doctor batra or sam balsara yes so I think those are very technical questions which require a math analysis oh I don't those kind of questions I'm not allowing I can see them on the screen they're very narrow uh but you know yes uh to the person who asked that question that you know he talked about approaching rural markets so in that sense the way you are thinking is the right way because the focus on rural markets or semi urban markets will grow that's where the growth will come from um uh Mr. Tarkarajan I'd like to ask you my last question and then we can wrap up if you had to make three predictions for the future what would that be I know you I said you're not an installer you're not a futurist uh I like you for the first one week 10 days I felt very lost uh and you know I was very worried and I'm first generation entrepreneur uh you know as of today I don't have the staying power the bigger companies have but uh in the last 30 days I worked more focused I worked longer harder I'm more optimistic about the future than I ever was and uh you know I've enjoyed made the most of what we have had and you know I really believe in God I believe in miracles I believe in if you believe in something it happens uh so I'm I really believe in that you know it's not something that I'm saying here I live that so I can identify we as leaders also felt you know we felt at sea uh with a certain uncertainty of a real kind uh all across us but we've gathered and we're doing the best that I can tell you as media platforms whether exchange for media or business world doting we're becoming video we're being fully digital uh exchange for media was not 20 years back on first July it'll be 20 years so you know we we were video 10 20 percent we're moving to 50 percent video so we'll become we're becoming um video fully digital mobile first so the experience that a news channel gives you know that is we come close to that we're making more interactive so we are also reimagining our business we're also accelerating our digital transformation we're also looking at what will work in the future so I hope the gatherings that you mentioned in somewhere back in September October and we really look forward to that my last question is what is your one two three predictions from the future number one I firmly believe that there will be a drug for treatment of this and there will be a vaccine sooner than we expect so I think the drug should be available by September itself and the vaccine should be getting administered in India from December onwards uh at least by December onwards that is my first prediction the second one is I think Indian youth will emerge much stronger uh we were all in in my in my generation uh I don't think we underwent that kind of a shock uh this is a huge shock for them they are coping with this and I'm amazed at their resilience to go through this particular process at the end age they will face many challenges in terms of salary cuts or job losses they are going to but despite all this I think they will emerge much much stronger which will be good for India the third one is that India will be a great destination for global manufacturers and service providers uh this is a moment uh if our policies are right they will say and move forward uh I I think you you we must take change you know it's wherever we are uh by next May uh Indian economy will be in a different level altogether we we will bounce back very strongly uh thank you so much Mr Tagraj and there are audience questions and I'll give you two so that the audience uh their time is made and I'm you know one question is what are the functions as a leader as an organization what are the functions within your organization that you're focusing on and how are your employees dealing with it second question is about the acceleration of digital mediums uh these are the two questions first uh what are the functions within the organization you're focusing on a lot more these days and second how are your employees dealing with third how how do you see the acceleration of digital mediums um our primary focus is uh human resources function in order to keep people keep the people engaged and addressing their concerns queries anxieties so on and so forth one end and within that our aftermarket function because of the summer season many people need service and we are serving many hospitals many IT data centers many banks etc and they have to move out and they have to take out the spare parts they have to secure permissions and that function is getting a lot more attention at this point of time uh the um I think people are worried about their future and we need to reassure them that this is a momentary setback and things will be all right and uh that is one of the challenges all companies will go through that uh you know that whether it is there is going to be a huge make up uh how much it will be whether my job is secured or not and uh when I will go back to office these kind of concerns as leaders we have to keep addressing them therefore communication is important uh digital medium uh already it was on the rise uh and after experiencing this I think it is going to be a lot more at the same time I am not an advocate of it is the end of print it is the end of television only digital will provide I think everything is going to coexist thank you a lot of questions coming which means what will be your advice uh to your retail partners uh from Bunker Sharma uh one question can we do expansion in OS media at this period by LK Nagraj since this is high time for a category what is the loss in your category you're witnessing from Surinder Singh uh Karan Bhatia asking will India take next big leap and we see changes happening in all businesses uh what is the distribution that this disruption this segment will witness in post-COVID by Amit Setia how so you know lots of questions uh you can what is the disruption this business will see in the future by Amit Setia I think we'll take that question first and then we'll go down to other questions I do not think there will be a huge disruption except that it is going to take time for people to be going back to places where there are large crowds malls cinema theaters for example air travel eating out in the restaurant these are going to be taking a lot more time there has to be social distancing for at least six months of time until a vaccine comes or so and I think disruption is in this particular place if you are in any other category I am not seeing a disruption as yet because the demand levels from certain large segments will come down you may have to like for example there was a private jet dealer who was contacting me last week to say that we'll um we'll uh we'll be looking at buying private jets since he's a travel by a normal commercial airline will be lesser because he's already thinking of an opportunity out there sir Mr Darvijan I want to stop here you should buy one uh from time to time please loan it to us yeah definitely definitely we are on the uh on the contrary we will stop traveling so to that extent the disruption may be reduction in travel and how you will um and what is what is the shrinking of the site of the air for these three months and let's say march april may and i'm not taking beyond that is the disruption continues uh so far it is 30 if may is a washout it will jump to 15 your Mr Darvijan is saying to surrender for the quarter i'm saying for the quarter the quarter 30 percent for the quarter if it stays till may and uh 50 percent for the quarter if it stays till june and you can calculate if 50 these five months or 50 percent you can impact possibly 10 percent to 15 percent contraction that would be fair to that that that's only for the room air conditioners uh commercial refrigeration or central air conditioning may not be impacted because this is highly seasonal product but i'm also taking into account that since the disposable income levels can come down uh there may be a reduction in future purchases during festival season as well but i am surprised that i keep getting bales that look we will be required to work from home so therefore i want to occur an air conditioner so the people are trying to make their home much more comfortable so all put together fully or as if you ask me today i think the full year compared with the last year should be 20 percent reduction to 10 percent reduction great there are questions from very grand area is it possible for for our your industry to recover the losses of sales in remaining quarters what do you think about the indian economy after corona virus it is done does the digital scenario affect the air conditioning industry by anonymous what do you think after lockdown air conditioning would be able to sell the inventories uh you know what do you see as the future of the newspaper industry there are lots and lots of questions which is a good thing that means people have been totally glued in and listening to you what is the future of the newspaper industry it will coexist as i told you uh even today i am surprised with the number of people who are reading even the e newspaper they're taking pains to go through that uh i think they are looking for newspaper to be delivered at their doorsteps uh it will not die it will continue to coexist thank you and a lot of people are asking question which you answered before but even how to deal with this crisis how to stay calm you know how to deal with this at an individual level at a leadership level at an organization level as a societal level i know you said that you believe in miracles you believe that the future will be better but give give us some that was a little more philosophical give us some practical tips see the um the thing is that it is it is a god made thing that it has happened and it will it will pass so there is absolutely no point in wondering that it is going to be a endless thing at all um because you have to go by the past evidence uh of quite a few events uh 1918 i i do not know what happened i have read about it about the Spanish flu the world bounds back world war one the world bounds back world war two the world bounds back um the in our lifetime uh you know uh the um the uh wars that we had fought and look at the uh history of India the partition war compared with the pain they have undergone i don't think we are undergoing that pain today partition was a very painful thing for most part of india and uh the beat uh 26 11 uh beat the uh global financial crisis uh as as recently as 2009 we have survived all that and we have bounced back and this is one another event of a different type and i think it prepares us for many more viruses that will happen uh as predicted uh and i i i hope people laugh at me i think this is the worst crisis of the century we will be facing because we will prepare for many more adverse situations already so you're saying it will make us prepare for adversity it will make us more resilient it will uh kind of rewire us to be able to live in a new world so on that note i would like to ask you my last question and kind of wrap up uh mr chagrajin if we talk to you one year from now or six months from now uh if you're to reimagine the world what would that be what would be the positives six months twelve months from now i want to leave it on a positive note uh i think uh we will be indeed watching movies uh perhaps the theaters will be cinema theaters will be uh redesigned uh i think we will have a lot more confidence to travel by air and uh i think uh the news bar broadcast awards will definitely take place in your standard venue and it'll be well attended thank you mr chagrajin and thank you to all our viewers for tuning in we could take most of your questions but not all out uh you can nail those questions to Priyanka Badoria at exchangeformedia.com and she can get them answered from mr chagrajin uh thank you mr chagrajin for being real or being humane and for being optimistic we wish blue star your industry and our nation good luck and we look forward to engaging with you in a conversation through and seeing you at exchangeformedia events thank you god bless you sir it was pleasure talking to you dr. Bhatra