Airtel’s story is a good reminder that the biggest winners aren’t always the ones with the smoothest journey. Long-term adaptability often matters more than short-term perfection.
This is a reminder that long-term winners aren’t companies that avoid disruption they’re companies that repeatedly survive it. As investors, we often spend too much time forecasting industries and too little time evaluating management’s adaptability.
Reading about Airtel’s survival made me think that resilience in business is not always about being the strongest. Sometimes it is about being willing to change before circumstances force you to.
Airtel survived regulation, technology shifts and two attacks from Reliance because it did not remain emotionally attached to one business model. It outsourced what others considered essential, shifted from premium to mass, then returned to premium, and even let go of millions of customers when keeping them no longer made strategic sense.
That ability to abandon an old version of yourself may be more valuable than size.
The RBI’s FCNR strategy left me with a different thought. Offering NRIs attractive dollar returns and using leverage may bring money into India and support the rupee today, but the deposits will eventually have to leave.
Perhaps buying time is necessary during a crisis. But time is useful only when it is used to fix what created the crisis. Otherwise, we are not solving the problem; we are simply moving the date on which we must face it.
Airtel’s story is a good reminder that the biggest winners aren’t always the ones with the smoothest journey. Long-term adaptability often matters more than short-term perfection.
This is a reminder that long-term winners aren’t companies that avoid disruption they’re companies that repeatedly survive it. As investors, we often spend too much time forecasting industries and too little time evaluating management’s adaptability.
Reading about Airtel’s survival made me think that resilience in business is not always about being the strongest. Sometimes it is about being willing to change before circumstances force you to.
Airtel survived regulation, technology shifts and two attacks from Reliance because it did not remain emotionally attached to one business model. It outsourced what others considered essential, shifted from premium to mass, then returned to premium, and even let go of millions of customers when keeping them no longer made strategic sense.
That ability to abandon an old version of yourself may be more valuable than size.
The RBI’s FCNR strategy left me with a different thought. Offering NRIs attractive dollar returns and using leverage may bring money into India and support the rupee today, but the deposits will eventually have to leave.
Perhaps buying time is necessary during a crisis. But time is useful only when it is used to fix what created the crisis. Otherwise, we are not solving the problem; we are simply moving the date on which we must face it.
Very nicely explained!!
Good one