India in the driving seat

‘Namaste’ to all our readers. Yes, this week I’ve been lucky enough to be in Mumbai for the Ficci Frames Indian entertainment conference.

Quite a time to be in this fascinating country, with the local industrial group Tata paying $2.3bn for UK car giants Jaguar and Land Rover. What a tribute to the energy and drive of the Indian people – even if it is yet another UK ‘crown jewel' we Brits are incapable of running properly. Oh well, at least we have the City. That seems very safe. It’s not as if financial services are in meltdown or anything.

Tata is also, of course, a mobile operator. Indeed, it seems to be applying the same innovation to its wireless services as it is to automotive. A representative told me that the company is experimenting with a platform for injecting ads into the SMS that tells pre-pay users how much credit they have left. In a market with 250 million subs – of which 90 per cent pay as they go – that’s a vast opportunity.

It seems a cliché to say it now, but the developing BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) will play a pivotal role in the mobile content landscape of five to ten years’ time. Their populations are mad about mobile and lack the fixed line and broadband infrastructure that would serve as a comms alternative to wireless.

This last point is proved in figures that show mobile games accounted for 55 per cent of the entire Indian gaming market last year. Why? Because there simply isn’t the penetration of PCs and consoles to match mobile.

Also India (along with Brazil) is obsessed with entertainment. More specifically, with Bollywood and cricket. Some throw in religion too, although I’m not sure Ganesh and Aishwarya Rai should be lumped together. The trouble with these passions is that they don’t travel well, which is why Indiagames, for example, would rather invest in a Rush Hour 3 licence than a Sachin Tendulkar one.