URVI MALVANIAMumbai, 31 January

January has been a busymonth at the office ofBrand Narendra Modi.

First there was the selfie withBollywood stars. Next was a fivepart series on the hugely popu-lar Humans of Bombay page onFacebook where the prime min-ister’s rags to riches story isbeing told. A biopic with VivekOberoi playing the PM wasannounced and two propagan-da movies, The Accidental PMand Uri were released. Mostrecently the PM debuted as ananimated character with thepopular children’s superheroChota Bheem in digital gamepromoting Swachh Bharat.

With polls scheduled a fewmonths from now, the team iswasting no time. Popular cul-ture and social media are beingused to present the PM as thebest man for the job, yet anoth-er time and wash off the darkspots that demonetisation andhigh unemployment numbers

have left on his image.That was only to be expect-

ed from a seasoned marketersay brand experts while warn-ing that the highly volatile digi-tal world is a double-edgedsword and those harnessing itpower must also know how tokeep their distance.

“If social has had a success-ful case study in India, it isModi,” says Ashish Mishra, CEOof Interbrand India. And nowas the opposition has wisenedup to the game, it is even moreimportant that the PM’s team

step up their game, he adds. The PM, says Ambi

Parameswaran, founder Brand-Building.com, has masterfullycreated his own media to com-municate with key audiencesand walks both digital and non-digital worlds with ease. “Hetweets often and has ‘Mann KiBaat’ (a radio show where hebroadcasts to the people via thegovernment-owned AIR). Thishas given him access to the vastnon-Twitter generation too. In asense he is straddling two verydifferent audiences with tai-

lored messages,” he adds.The Humans of Bombay

page was but a natural exten-sion of the Twitter experimentsay experts. Moulded on theHumans of New York initia-tive and originally started as aFacebook page for street pho-tographs and stories about itspeople, the page has phenom-enal engagement numbers.On its website it claims to gar-ner 40,000 likes on an aver-age for its posts.

However, there have beenas many brickbats as likes forthe PM’s inspirational life storyon the platform with manyeven vowing to stay off the pagefor having diluted its originalintent. “Not always does socialmedia noise convert into com-mensurate votes on the ballot.But it has been smartly used byModi. He has managed also to‘youngify’ his personal brandthis way,” says Sandeep Goyal,founder, Mogae Media.

He has also been astuteenough to use films. In January,Uri, a big hit, and The AccidentalPrime Minister, which did notmeet with much success, wereused by the PM’s team to show-case his military might andshow the opposition in poorlight. Such films and more likeToilet: Ek Prem Katha andPadman mean that cinema isnow an active medium in polit-ical canvassing. What this sig-nifies is much larger scale andbudgets. “Also the belief thatovert campaigning is no longeras impactful as perhaps goodstorytelling,” Goyal says.

All of this will go hand inhand with traditional cam-paigning. Goyal says that whilerallies and marches will still berelevant, in 2019 wars may befought over Twitter using notjust speeches, but memes. AndMishra points out that Modi is agreat brand consultant whomastered the game in 2014. Todo it again, he would need totweak some of the old rules.

“The medium has becomethe message. All the debate anddialogue is happening on socialmedia irrespective of vote con-version, everyone in the politicaldomain has no choice but to beseen on the social media battle-field,” Goyal adds. And thereinlies the danger.

6 BRAND WORLD MUMBAI | FRIDAY, 1 FEBRUARY 2019 >

Branding the PM inan election yearFrom selfies with celebrities, a biopic, game shows andpropaganda films, image makers are pulling out all thestops to build a perfect leader

THE BRAND TOOLKITSelfies with Bollywood celebrities, from Ranbir Kapoor

and Ayushmann Khurrana to Deepika Padukone and AliaBhatt, everyone lined up to be in the frame with the PM

A biopic with Vivek Oberoi playing the lead, expected to launch before the elections

An animated character in a game promoting SwachhBharat and featuring children’s superhero Chhota Bheem

A 5-part rags to riches story on the Humans of BombayFacebook page, his last episode was shared 11,000 times

Uri, starring Vicky Kaushal, on surgical strikes againstPakistan used to demonstrate the PM’s military prowess

From left: The PM on the Humans ofBombay page, in a digital game andVicky Kaushal in the movie Uri

> FROM PAGE 1

Note ban, GSTimpacton jobsmore than NSSO’sheadline numbersThe NSSO report has been with-held by the government and isyet to be released officially. Thefield work of the NSSO surveywas done between July 2017 andJune 2018. So, according to theCWS approach, people dis-closed their employment statusto the surveyors during July2017-June 2018 – months afterdemonetisation of high-valuedcurrency was announced by thegovernment, in November 2016.

“CWS is a better measure formapping the impact of demon-etisation and the GST on jobs asthe employment status of peo-ple during July 2017-June 2018is known. The usual statusapproach captures only the par-tial impact of demonetisation,”said a former chief statistician,who didn’t wish to be named.

According to the CWSapproach, the unemploymentrate for females was 9.1 per centand for males it was 8.8 per cent,the NSSO report showed. Thiswas higher than the unemploy-ment rate in usual status, at 5.7per cent for females and 6.2 percent for males. “The figuresshow the double-whammyeffect of demonetisation andthe GST on jobs. Taking theCWS approach makes sense asthe usual status approach con-siders 365 days, but the formertakes into account the statuswithin seven days and factorsin the impact of the govern-ment’s major economic deci-sions,” said Mahesh Vyas, chiefexecutive officer, Centre for

Monitoring Indian Economy.The labour force participationrate (LFPR) for females contin-ued its downward trend in 2017-18 as it stood at 23.3 per cent,sharply down from 31.2 per centin 2011-12 and 32.6 per cent in2009-10. The LFPR for malesdidn’t see much change fromthe previous years.

The LFPR for males alsodeclined from 79.8 per cent in2011-12 to 75.8 per cent in 2017-18. This means that morefemales are exiting the work-force in India compared tomales who are willing to work.

GDP growth rate for FY18 revisedupwards to 7.2%“One has to be very cautious.While not countering themethodology, the new numbersfor the demonetisation year arenot in sync with the ground real-ities,” CARE Ratings ChiefEconomist Madan Sabnavissaid. He said the data on corpo-rate performance, medium-scale industries, and agriculturedid not “tell us that the econo-my grew at the fastest rate inthe year of demonetisation”when the cash was squeezed.

The growth rate in the yearof demonetisation was revised abit upwards in the services sec-tor. Growth in the trade, hotels,transport and the communica-tion sector saw the revision to 7.6per cent from 7.2 per cent inFY17. However, for the very nextyear, FY18, the growth rate inthis services segment was scaleddown to 7.7 per cent from 8 percent. Similarly, the financial,real estate and related sector

saw the growth rate revision to8.7 per cent from earlier 6.6 percent for the demonetisationyear. However, the growth ratewas now less at 6.2 per cent forFY18 against the earlier calcu-lation of 6.6 per cent.

It was agriculture that sawthe growth rate moving to 5 percent against the earlier 3.4 percent for FY18. For FY17, thegrowth rate in the primary sec-tor stood the same at 6.3 percent. Demonetisation nowseems to have affected invest-ment. The gross fixed capitalformation growth rate is nowcalculated at 5.8 per cent forFY17, a sharp downward revi-sion from the earlier calculationof 10.1 per cent.

However, it jumped to 12.9per cent for FY18 against 7.6 percent. It seems demand in theeconomy was not as bad as hadseemed earlier. In the demon-etisation year, private final con-sumption expenditure growthis now seen at 8.2 per centagainst 7.3 per cent estimatedearlier and for the next year at7.4 per cent against 6.6 per cent.

Ghosh said demonetisationmight have forced people toadvance their spending with theold ~500 and ~1,000 notes,which was seen in the demandgrowth in FY17. That is whydemand growth came down thenext year and was projected byadvance estimates to stand atjust 4.2 per cent in FY19 , he said.

Earlier, 2015-16 was seen asthe highest growth year for theModi government at 8.2 percent, which now stood revisedto 8 per cent. The first year of theModi government — 2014-15 —and the last two years of the UPA— 2012-13 and 2013-14 — sawno revision in growth rates.

Zee promotersmay sell up to 25% stakeAsked who would control thebusiness, the source said: “Thatwill be negotiated, but this is acomplex business and the pro-moters have spent 26 years toreach where they are. Also, astrategic partner would like towork together with the localpartner. The promoters will beworking together with them.”

The source also said it didnot find any need to give morethan a 20 per cent stake in ZEE5,the over-the-top platform of Zeeif it was spun off as a separatecompany for monetisation.

Also, that the strategic part-ners with which talks are onhave understood that the fun-damentals of Zee have not gotimpacted despite a bear cartelbringing down stock prices inall Essel Group firms. A few daysago, its share price plunged 37per cent after news that the pro-moters had pledged 24.71 percent of ZEEL shares to lenders— including non-bankingfinancial companies and mutu-al funds — for their troubledinfrastructure business.

There was worry about thelenders opting to invoke sharesin the market after the dramat-ic fall in price. However, after ameeting on Sunday, the groupsaid it had reached an agree-ment with the lenders on serv-icing the debt, with a three-month window to do so. Theyhad promised to pay the loans ina time-bound manner afterpart-sale of some of the infra-structure assets and partlythough funds raised from thestrategic sale of ZEEL's stake.

JetAirways accepts Etihad bailoutplanThe final agreement is expected to push upEtihad’s stake to 40 per cent from 24 per cent.The legal formalities around the deal and theway ahead will be decided at the Jet boardmeeting on February 14, to befollowed by an extraordinarygeneral meeting scheduled forFebruary 21. A consortium oflenders, including the SBI,would convert their debt intoequity and are likely to holdabout 30 per cent in Jet. Theremaining would be with thepublic. Jet also agreed with theGulf carrier’s condition ofinvesting in the domestic air-line at ~150 per share, much lower than Jet’scurrent market price of ~265. Also, Etihad isunlikely to pledge its holding in Jet or issueany corporate guarantee for any loan restruc-turing package. However, any exemption to

an open offer, which is among the riders, issubject to regulatory approvals, said a sourcequoted above.

Etihad is willing to immediately release$35 million if its conditions aremet. While some believe the rid-ers are unrealistic, the airline’sbailout has become a nationalissue with more than 20,000jobs at stake.

It’s not unusual for Sebi toprovide relaxation in relation topreferential issue pricing andopen offer norms during gov-ernment infusion in state-owned firms, particularly

banks. As per Sebi’s takeover code, change incontrol at a listed firm triggers an open offer topurchase additional 26 per cent stake.Similarly, capital infusion in a listed companyhas to be done under Sebi’s pricing formula.

Close to finalisingresolution plan, says Jet CEOJet CEO Vinay Dube has informedemployees the airline is close tofinding a solution to the crisis. "Ourchairman, the board of directors andyour management team are workinghard on a balance sheet transactionthat will help us eliminate our currentchallenges. The key stakeholders areengaged towards finalisation of theresolution plan. We are very close and Iask for your continued patience,"Dube wrote in an email to staff onThursday. "It might get tougher beforeit gets better and our ascendancy willbe gradual but collectively with yourunstinted support and commitmentwe will come out of this as a strongerairline," he said. ANEESH PHADNIS