How has the customer experience, convenience and accessibility changed over the years? How crucial is digital marketing? These were the key themes discussed by a panel at the NDTV Profit Conclave, which was held in Mumbai on 18 February 2025.

Titled, ‘The disruptors who changed Indian consumers forever’, the panel included Aravind Sanka, co-founder, Rapido; Piyush Shah, co-founder, InMobi; and Shashank ND, co-founder and CEO, Practo. The panel was moderated by Hiral Dadia, deputy news editor - markets, NDTV Profit. 

Setting the context of the discussion, ND began by explaining how the technological disruption helped doctors evolve. 

He said, “After Covid, there has been a focus on health in society. The amount of consumer awareness about health is rising. It's a long way to go but I think we are doing well on that journey to make sure that every Indian leverages the power of computer science, and data science in making healthcare choices. And for the users (the ones that we serve today), we have seen that between convenience, quality and pricing, it’s quality that prevails.”

On how advertising has changed with a change in consumer behaviour, Shah noted that it is now about how one segments users and looks at different sets of consumers differently. He said, “The ability for one to map the consumer emotion and graph more dynamically is what has changed in the way we are advertising. If one touches the primal emotions (greed, fear, envy, charity, aspiration), they can get with a global consumer and those emotions are universal, it doesn't matter if you're in Japan, the US, China or India. That has been the biggest takeaway for us and a very big and important thing for any entrepreneur who's looking at the world.”

Divulging the conversation to the importance of digital marketing, Sanka highlighted how it is crucial to adapt strategies to suit different regions and tailor the approach to each market accordingly.

He said, “The easier way to reach the masses is definitely digital. As a concept of bike taxis, it is pretty new in this country. Even though bikes have been there for ages in the country, bikes are not used as taxis. So, making people aware of the concept of bike taxis is our biggest investment. We do multiple video campaigns and static campaigns. All consumers are different, say a consumer from Bengaluru is very different from a consumer of Mysuru. To make sure that consumers in the city understand the language and the concept, we make changes according to the user behaviour. But the big part of what we do is digitally make sure that people understand the concept of bike taxis and then when they need it, our name comes in.”

Building on his viewpoint, ND said, “Marketing is important but in healthcare, it has a different connotation. The main focus that we have is how we grow organically.  We have seen that whenever pricing, the conventional e-commerce discounting or conventional subsidising to gain consumers happens,  that really hasn't played out well.”

On the AI front, he added, “When AI came, they said you can now pursue your dreams, you will have more free time but I have not seen any of that. My time has been taken over even more. I'm working harder than ever before and I'm sure everyone is because AI has made so many possibilities that the first movers are going to have a bigger advantage.”