Face Off: Power to the masses or a great divide?

What is the future of marketing in India? On the one hand, explosive growth has created an ever increasing chasm of inequality between the haves and the have-nots. On the other hand, the purchasing power of the masses is greater than ever before in this emerging economy. Every corporation faces a tough choice when it comes to allocating marketing dollars. Who do you target? Where are the profits? What is the marketing future of India? Come witness a no-holds-barred debate between two Marketing Moghuls from India. The battle begins…

The following are the panelists:

	Venkatesh Kini VP Marketing – Coca-Cola India Venkatesh Kini has over 20 years of marketing, sales & general management experience spanning multiple industries. He has worked in India, USA and in global roles. Venkatesh began his career 1989 with Asian Paints, where he worked in brand management and then managed a sales territory in Western Uttar Pradesh in North India. In 1992 he moved to ITC Agro-Tech where he managed sales of Sundrop Edible oil for the National Capital Region of Delhi, and then moved to brand management. Venkatesh joined Coca-Cola India in 1998 as Marketing Operations Manager for North India, where he was responsible for the roll out of brand Coca-Cola in many states. He then led the highly successful launch of Sprite in India by creating the “Bujhaye only Pyaas, Baki all Bakwaas” advertising campaign. Venkatesh was moved to the global headquarters of The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta in 2000, where he worked for 6 years in roles of increasing responsibility. His last assignment before moving back to India was VP – Sprite & Flavours Business Unit for North America. Venkatesh has been VP Marketing for Coca-Cola India since August 2006 with responsibility for all brand marketing and innovation in South Asia. He is part of the leadership team that has turned around the performance of Coca-Cola India to make it a profitable leader in the $ 2 billion beverage industry in India. Venkatesh obtained a BA in Economics from Hindu College, Delhi University in 1987 and an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad in 1989. Top
	Rupinder Singh Sodhi Chief General Manager, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Mr. Rupinder Singh Sodhi is the Chief General Manager of India’s largest food company AMUL, or Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF). GCMMF has an annual turnover of Rs. 67 billion and is owned by 2.7 million milk producers of Gujarat. In this role he leads the production, sales, distribution and marketing activities of all product categories under the ‘Amul’ and ‘Sagar’ brands. In his 27 year-career at GCMMF, Mr. Sodhi led the marketing team to make ‘Amul’ the 3.5 billion market leader in ice-cream, winning the battle against several MNC’s and local players. He also led Amul’s entry in to the branded liquid market, a business which now has an annual growth of 30%. In addition, he has been the mastermind behind several successful products under the ‘Amul’ brand and has developed the complete supply chain for the four distribution highways i.e. Ambient, Chilled, Frozen and Fresh products. Under his leadership Amul has unleashed some of its most creative advertising campaigns. Mr. Sodhi serves on the Board of Directors of the Mehsana Cooperative Milk Union (India’s largest dairy), the Sabarkantha Cooperative Milk Union and Mother Dairy, Gandhinagar. He is also a member Secretary of the Programming Committee, a body comprising of 13 Managing Directors of 13 Districts Unions for procurement, planning, milk flow and production planning, cooperative services and product development. He is a Bachelor of Agricultural Engineering and holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Rural Management. Mr. Sodhi is also active in academia. He has been a visiting faculty member at the Institute of Rural Management, Anand, for more than two decades. Top
	Tarun Khanna (Moderator) Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor, Harvard Business School Tarun Khanna is the Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor at the Harvard Business School, where he has studied and worked with multinational and indigenous companies and investors in emerging markets worldwide. He joined the faculty in 1993, after obtaining an engineering degree from Princeton University (1988) and a Ph.D. from Harvard (1993), and an interim stint on Wall Street. During this time, he has served as the head of several courses on strategy and international business targeted to MBA students and senior executives at Harvard. His new book, Billions of Entrepreneurs: How China and India are Reshaping Their Futures and Yours, was published in February 2008 by Harvard Business School Press (Penguin in South Asia), with translations into several languages underway. It focuses on the drivers of entrepreneurship in China and India and builds on over a decade of work with companies, investors and non-profits in developing countries worldwide. His scholarly work has been published in a range of economics and management journals, several of which he also serves in an editorial capacity. Articles in the Harvard Business Review (e.g. China + India: The Power of Two, 2007; Emerging Giants: Building World Class Companies in Emerging Markets, 2006) and Foreign Policy (e.g. Can India Overtake China?, 2003) distil the implications of this research for practicing managers. His work is frequently featured in global newsmagazines as well as on TV and radio. He serves on the boards and advisory boards of several companies in the financial services, automotive, life sciences and agribusiness sectors. He actively invests in and mentors startups in Asia, and volunteers time with non-profits in India, e.g. the Parliamentary Research Services in New Delhi, which seeks to provide non-partisan research input to India’s Members of Parliament in advance of legislative sessions with a view to enhancing the quality of democratic discourse. In 2007, he was nominated to be a Young Global Leader (under 40) by the World Economic Forum. Top