While Google and Microsoft are attempting technology-industry dominance in India, some question whether local tastes will ever be aligned with these global brands.

The New Economy: Nigel, Europe of course is struggling, trying to contain the Google, the Amazons, the Starbucks, entering into the marketplace and monopolising their power. Now if Europe is struggling, why would you think that developing democracies would be able to fare far better?
Nigel Eastwood: When we look at the Indian consumer, it is completely different to that in the West. You cannot mandate what goes on for an India consumer, you can’t say that one size fits all, the strategy that works in the West will work in the East. It’s wrong.

There’s got to be equality in the market, India has got to be made attractive for foreign investors

You’ve got to look from the Indian consumer perspective and take their glasses off and look at the world. That’s what Google and Microsoft may be getting wrong, and I think that’s going to be their key challenge moving forwards.

The New Economy: Now you’ve invested in a product that could be rivalled by WhatsApp. What’s to say that WhatsApp won’t wipe you out of the marketplace?
Nigel Eastwood: We run a brand in India called Nimbuzz. It’s got 200 million subscribers in 210 countries. A huge proportion of those are in India. What’s different to the other businesses in the instant messaging service arena are it’s made in India for Indians.

The New Economy: So with this unique insight, tell me exactly what is different about the Indian marketplace than perhaps here in Europe.
Nigel Eastwood: You’ve just got to look at the Indian consumer psyche for a moment. Whether you’ve got one rupee in the bank or ten crore in the bank, you will still try to avoid paying that one rupee. People in the West, when they come into India, don’t really realise that, and they think that their products and services will just be adopted because it’s the best thing that’s happened in more developed markets. It’s wrong. The thinking has got to change, the paradigm has got to be spun 360.

The New Economy: But of course WhatsApp is owned by Facebook. Facebook dominates in terms of tech favourites amongst the locals who are using the product, so they’re able to tap in to a certain consciousness. Who’s to say that Facebook isn’t going to invest in the same way to make sure that they are doing just that with WhatsApp?
Nigel Eastwood: When I look at the landscape, there’s a lot of companies out there spending huge marketing dollar on acquiring customers, and I think that’s sort of vanity. You know those vanity metrics, when we look at 600 million subscribers and 100 million monthly active users. How engaged are they are the platform? I’ve actually paid for you to be my customer. What’s more, sanity is seeing customers that have enduring relationships with you and brand tie-in.

The New Economy: OK, but you’re not just competing with the Facebooks of the world. We’re looking at investors from Japan, China, very much wanting to take advantage of the momentum that’s being built in a Modi India. So tell me about those investors, what are they looking to invest in?
Nigel Eastwood: Well I think what they are looking for are to form great strategic partnerships with gazelle-like businesses that are actually catering to the huge appetite for the internet of things in India today. So companies like ourselves that are forming new-world platforms.

I formed a platform called My Digital Life which looks at WiFi, it looks at social messaging and all its different realms, and looks at fixed-line consumer broadband and SME broadband, and brings it into a cohesive platform. That’s quite an attractive proposition. So I guess investors looking into India aren’t looking to follow another company. It’s not another ‘me too’ business that they’re looking for, it’s for a ‘follow me’ business that they’re looking for.

The New Economy: India’s in a unique place, we see a government now in place that very much is encouraging investment, but what would ever happen to these foreign investors if Modi switched and became increasingly protectionist. Is that a fear of yours?
Nigel Eastwood: Yes it could be a challenge. It would be very, very foolish for the Modi government to do such a strategy.

The New Economy: But the Modi government is not a singular entity, he has to compete with aspirations of local governors as well. Certain governors are more progressive than others. So how do you think he should really contain or bring some sort of medium between all of them?
Nigel Eastwood: There’s got to be equality in the market, India has got to be made attractive for foreign investors, and Mr Modi’s just got to simply manage those people that have a contrary view. Without that, the GDP growth in India is juts not going to be achieved. There’s huge infrastructure challenges, railways, roads need to be built, fibre-optic backbone, that needs public private partnerships, and direct foreign investment can help to address that.

The New Economy: Now of course you are very much immersed in the tech field. What’s going to be the next great venture, and where is it going to take off in India?
Nigel Eastwood: So I believe a Google Fiber -like business could well win in India, and that’s what we’re trying to achieve ourselves. We’re creating last mile connectivity in all different areas, using a mix hybrid of technologies, of WiFi and social messaging and fixed-line connectivity. So that’s where to hockey stick growth is going to come from for connecting Indian consumers.

The New Economy: And what’s going to be the centripetal effect of India establishing its presence? What are the neighbouring countries going to do, are they going to emerge equally as great?
Nigel Eastwood: I believe so, I mean as a business we’re very focused on India-like countries, such as Myanmar, maybe Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, those near countries that have got similar user norms, needs and wants as India. I think they will start to emerge, and what I truly believe is that in future people will look to India to see what can be achieved, not look to the West, not look to Silicon Valley, but be looking to India to see what really can be achieved in the future.

The New Economy: OK, well lots of excitement, I’ll be watching. Nigel Eastwood thank you so much for joining me today.
Nigel Eastwood: Thank you.