My guest today is Kunal Shah, founder and CEO of CRED. When you think of India as a society, the motivations and psychology of consumers and how they interact with brands is fundamentally different than Western societies. There's a different philosophical value attributed to collectivism versus individualism. Trust finds itself aggregating in large entities and institutions and the Indian society often function in spite of itself versus with the same efficiency and structure in the west. But understanding these elements is critical to understanding what types of businesses succeed in India.
And in today's episode, Kunal and I unpacked each of these philosophical elements amongst others, and applied them to different topics in Indian markets. Namely, why is the consumption class aggregated in approximately 1% of the population, why has credit been historically underutilized in India, and what are the characteristics needed to build a platform company for next generation India. Please enjoy my conversation with Kunal Shah.
For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.
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Show Notes [00:03:05] - [First question] - Applying Maslow’s hierarchy to collectivist Asian societies
[00:05:30] - How cultural conceptions of time and efficiency affect Indian markets
[00:08:32] - The influence of status-based values on spending patterns in Indian culture
[00:11:42] - How Indians tend to invest in shared spaces and luxury goods
[00:13:49] - Why Indian consumption favors soulfulness over standardization
[00:18:16] - The importance of trust in Indian society and commerce
[00:21:23] - The success of aggregated super-apps in the East as opposed to focused apps
[00:23:54] - Heterogeneity of consumption in India across classes, genders, and subcultures
[00:27:06] - How CRED is targeting the India 1A market for financial services
[00:31:11] - His perspective on the history of credit use in India
[00:34:58] - How Indian software platforms are built on utility and trust
[00:37:49] - Layering on financial services onto trusted and free non-finance platforms in India
[00:40:26] - Infrastructural deficiencies that continue to hold back the Indian tech market
[00:43:27] - Business models from outside India that can work well within India
[00:44:51] - His predictions on which Indian ideas will succeed internationally
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