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Reliance Consumer Pref - Document Transcript

1. A PROJECT REPORT ON “Consumer preference for Reliance Mobile” nehaagarwal6jan@gmail.com 1
2. Table of contents S.No. Contents Page No. 1 Objectives of the study 4 2 Reliance-An Overview 5 3 Research
methodologies 10 4 Chi square test 11 5 Data collection and representation 13 6 Test statistics 19 7 Analysis and findings 28 8
Suggestions 30 9 Conclusion 32 10 Limitations 34 11 Questionnaire 35 12 References 38 2

3. 1. Objectives of the study • To study the consumer preferences for reliance mobile. • To know the percentage of males
and females that are aware about mobile service providers. • To know mostly which segment of people are aware about mobile
service providers. • To know the reason of using a particular mobile connection. • To know how much advertisement affects
people to buy mobile connections. 3
4. 2. RELIANCE- ANIL DHIRUBHAI AMBANI GROUP 2.1 COMPANY OVERVIEW Reliance – Anil Dhirubhai
Ambani Group offers communications, financial services, power, infrastructure, healthcare, and entertainment services. It
provides integrated telecommunication services, which include mobile and fixed line telephony, broadband, national and
international long distance, voice, data, and video; and asset management and mutual funds, life and general insurance, private
equity and proprietary investments, stock broking, and other activities in financial services. The company also engages in the
generation, transmission, distribution, and trading of electricity; building and operation of metro systems, buildings, roads, sea
links, airports, and power projects; film processing, production, exhibition, and digital cinema; and health services. In addition,
Reliance – Anil Dhirubhai provides radio network, animation, music, sports, online games, movie rental and download, social
networking platform, mobile games, and user-generated content services. The company serves customers in India, the Middle
East, Asia, Europe, the United States, and the Asia Pacific. Reliance – Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group is based in Navi Mumbai,
India. 2.2 INDIA’S LEADING INTEGRATED TELECOM COMPANY Reliance communications is the flagship company of
the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) OF Companies. Listed on the 4

5. National stock exchange and the Bombay Stock Exchange, it is India’s leading integrated telecommunication company
over 60 million customers. Business encompasses a complete range of telecom services covering mobile and fixed line
telephony. It includes broadband, national and international long distance services along with an exhaustive range of value-added
services and applications. Their constant endeavour is to achieve customer delight by enhancing the productivity of the enterprise
and individuals they serve. Reliance Mobile (formerly Reliance India Mobile), launched on 28 December2002, coinciding with
the joyous occasion of the late Dhirubhai Ambani’s 70th birthday, was among the initiatives of Reliance Communications. It
marked the auspicious beginning of Dhirubhai’s dream of ushering in a digital revolution in India. Today, they can proudly claim
that we were instrumental in harnessing the true power of information and communication, by bestowing it in the hands of the
common man at affordable rates. They endeavour to further extend our efforts beyond the traditional value chain by developing
and deploying complete telecom solutions for the entire spectrum of society. 2.3 ANIL DHIRUBHAI AMBANI GROUP
MARKET SHARE Ambani is the chairman of Reliance Capital, Reliance Communications and Chairman & Managing Director,
Reliance Energy, and was formerly Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries Limited. His personal stake in
Reliance Communications is 66%. Reliance group is India's largest business house, founded by Anil's 5

6. late father Dhirubhai Ambani (1932-2002). The total investors' wealth in the four Anil Ambani Group firms -- Reliance
Communications (RCOM), Reliance Capital (RCL), Reliance Energy (REL) and Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL) has
reached 1,42,384 crore rupees, while total promoter holding is estimated at about Rs 87,000 crore. Anil's wealth comes mostly
from his over 65 per cent stake in RCOM, which has a market cap of about Rs 1,03,000 crore. He also has over 50 per cent in
 RCL (market cap of Rs 24,000 crore), 35 per cent in REL (market cap of Rs 12,700 crore) and close to 54 per cent in RNRL,
which has a market cap of about Rs 2,600 crore.His net worth subsequently plunges by over 60% owing to poor stock market
condition in India led by ADAG stocks. 2.4 External links • Reliance Airlines Venture • Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of
Information and Communication Technology • Forbes.com: Forbes World's Richest People • Reliance ADAG • Reliance India
Call • Reliance Communications • Reliance Energy • Reliance Capital • Reliance World • Reliance Life Insurance • Reliance
General Insurance • Reliance Mutual Fund 6

7. • Reliance Portfolio Management • Reliance Natural Resources • Reliance Technology Ventures Ltd • Reliance Money
• Reliance Health • Adlabs Films • Adlabs Cinemas 7

8. 8

9. 3. Research Methodologies The data which we have collected is primary data with a sample size of 200 through the
questionnaire method from the students of IMS Hostel ghaziabad . Statistical tools applied • Pie chart distribution • Chi square
test 9

10. 4. Chi square test If we classify a population into several categories with respect to two attributes, we can then use a
chi-square test to determine whether the two attributes are independent of each other. Managers also encounter situations in
which it is useful to test for the equality of more than two population means. Many times managers need to know whether the
differences they observe among several sample proportions are significant or only due to chance. So it is a test of hypothesis in
which we can state null hypothesis and alternative hypothesis as follows: The null hypothesis H0=there is no association between
two factors And the alternative hypothesis H1=there is association between two factors The chi-square hypothesis test is also
defined by the term correlation r. If r=0, there is no correlation or there is no association between the two factors. If r not equals
to zero then there is some correlation and as well as association between two factors. Degrees of freedom in a chi-square test of
independence is given as: Dof = n-1 Where, n is the number of rows taken into consideration. 10

11. And the calculated value of chi-square is given by Chi-square calculated = Σ(O-E)2 / E Where, O is the observed
frequency and E be the expected frequency of the sample. If the calculated value of chi-square is greater than the tabulated value
of chi-square then reject the null hypothesis H0 and accept the alternative hypothesis H1. If the calculated value of chi-square is
smaller than the tabulated value of chi-square then accept the null hypothesis H0 and reject the alternative hypothesis H1. 11

12. 5. DATA COLLECTION AND REPRESENTATION 5.1 Gender of the consumer Frequency Percentage Male 152 76
Female 48 24 Total 200 100 Frequency of the consumers according to the gender 12
13. 5.2 Number of people having mobile phone Frequency Percentage Yes 186 93 No 14 7 total 200 100 Frequency of
consumers with or without mobile phone 13

14. 5.3 Connections people have Frequency Percentage Airtel 60 30 Bsnl 16 8 Idea 22 11 Reliance 47 24 Vodafone 45 22
Tata indicom 8 4 Any Other 2 1 Total 200 100 Percentage of connections people have 14
15. 5.4 Reason to purchase any mobile connection Frequency Percentage Brand Name 40 20 Network 40 25 Brand
Ambassader 51 8 After Sales Services 16 10 Customer care services 20 16 Call Rates 31 20 Any Other 22 1 Total 200 100 15

16. 5.5 People have seen the advertisement of mobile connection Frequency Percentage Yes 195 97.5 No 5 2.5 Total 200
100 Percentage of people who have see or not seen the advertisement 16

17. 5.6 Advertisement people remember the most Frequency Percentage Airtel 22 11 Bsnl 16 8 Idea 41 21 Reliance 31 16
Vodafone 50 24 Tata Indicom 40 20 Total 200 100 17
18. 5.7 Reason to remember the advertisement frequency percentage Creativity 48 24 brand ambassador 49 24 idea of
delivering message 22 11 frequency of advertisement 51 26 Logical reason 30 15 Total 200 100 Percentage showing reason to
remember the advertisement 18
19. 6. Test statistics (Chi square test) 6.1. Different types of mobile connections people have Observed Expected O-E (O-
E)2 (O-E)2/E Frequency frequency O E Airtel 60 28.57 31.43 987.84 34.57 BSNL 16 28.57 -12.57 158.00 5.53 Idea 22 28.57
-6.57 43.16 1.51 Reliance 47 28.57 18.43 339.66 11.88 Vodafone 45 28.57 16.43 269.94 9.45 Tata 8 28.57 -20.57 423.12 14.80
indicom Others 2 28.57 -26.57 705.96 24.71 Total 200 102.45 Our test hypothesis is H0 = There is no association between
the preference of consumers regarding the mobile connections and the number of consumers. H1 = There is association between
the preference of consumers regarding the mobile connections and number of consumers. The calculated value of chi-square =
102.45 The degree of freedom is (n-1) that is 6 since the value of n is 7. 19
20. The tabulated value of chi-square with level if significance 0.05 and degree of freedom 6 is 12.59 Here, Chi-square
calculated > Chi square tabulated Hence, reject the null hypothesis H0 and accept alternative hypothesis H1. Decision: There is
association between the preference of consumers regarding the mobile connections and number of consumers.
And consumer preferences for mobile connections are different. 20
21. 6.2. Advertisement people remember the most Observed Expected O-E (O-E)2 (O-E)2/E frequency frequency N
E Airtel 22 33.33 -11.33 128.36 3.85 BSNL 16 33.33 -17.33 300.32 9.01 Idea 41 33.33 7.67 58.82 1.76 Reliance 31 33.33 -2.33
5.42 0.16 Vodafone 50 33.33 16.67 277.88 8.33 Tata 40 33.33 6.67 44.48 1.33 Indicom Total 200 24.44 Our test hypothesis is
H0 = There is no association between the advertisement of the mobile connections people remember and the number of
consumers. H1 = There is association between the advertisement of the mobile connections people remember and number of
consumers. The calculated value of chi-square = 24.44 The degree of freedom is (n-1) that is 5 since the value of n is 6 . The
tabulated value of chi-square with level if significance 0.05 and 21
22. degree of freedom 5 is 11.07 Here, Chi-square calculated > Chi square tabulated Hence, reject the null hypothesis H0
and accept alternative hypothesis H1. Decision: There is association between the advertisement of the mobile connections people
remember and number of consumers. And consumerremember different different advertisement. 22
23. 6.3 Reason to purchase a mobile connection Observed Expected O-E (O-E)2 (O-E)2/E frequency frequency N E Brand
40 28.57 11.43 130.64 4.57 Price 31 28.57 2.43 5.90 0.206 Network 40 28.57 11.43 130.64 4.57 Brand 51 28.57 22.43 503.10
17.61 ambassador After sales 16 28.57 -12.57 158.00 5.53 service Customer 20 28.57 -8.57 73.44 2.57 care service Other 2 28.57
-26.57 705.97 24.71 total 200 59.77 Our test hypothesis is H0 = There is no association between the reasons to purchase the
mobile connections and the number of consumers. H1 = There is association between the reasons to purchase the mobile
connections the mobile connections and number of consumers. The calculated value of chi-square = 59.77 The degree of freedom
is (n-1) that is 6 since the value of n is 7. 23

24. The tabulated value of chi-square with level if significance 0.05 and degree of freedom 6 is 12.59 Here, Chi-square
calculated > Chi square tabulated Hence, reject the null hypothesis H0 and accept alternative hypothesis H1. Decision: There is
association between the reasons to purchase the mobile connections the mobile connections and number of consumers. It means
consumers prefer any mobile connections on the basis of certain factors. 24

25. 6.4. Reason to remember the advertisement Observed Expected O-E (O-E)2 (O-E)2/E frequency frequency N E
Creativity 48 40 8 64 1.6 Brand 49 40 9 81 2.02 ambassado r Idea of 22 40 -18 324 8.1 message Frequency 51 40 11 121 3.02 of
ads. Logical 30 40 -10 100 2.5 reason Total 200 17.24 Our test hypothesis is H0 = There is no association between the reasons to
remember the advertisement and the number of consumers. H1 = There is association between the reasons to remember the
advertisement the mobile connections and number of consumers. The calculated value of chi-square = 17.24 The degree of
freedom is (n-1) that is 4 since the value of n is 5. The tabulated value of chi-square with level if significance 0.05 and degree of
freedom 4 is 9.488 25

26. Here, Chi-square calculated > Chi square tabulated Hence, reject the null hypothesis H0 and accept alternative
hypothesis H1. Decision: There is association between the reasons to remember the advertisement the mobile connections and
number of consumers. It means consumers remember the advertisement of any mobile connections because of factors described.
26

27. 7. Analysis and Findings i. There are 76% male and 24% female mobile consumers. ii. 93% of the population has the
mobile phone and 7% do not have. iii. Out of total population 30% uses airtel, 4% tata indicom, 22% Vodafone, 24% reliance,
 11% idea, 8% bsnl and 1% others. iv. Out of the total population 20% have the reason to buy different connections as brand
name, 25% network, 8% brand ambassador, 10% after sales service, 16% customer care services, 20% call rates and 1% have
other reasons. v. 97% of the population has seen the advertisement and 3% not before buying the mobile connections. vi. Out of
the total population 11% remembers the advertisement of airtel, 8% bsnl, 21% idea, 16% reliance, 24% Vodafone and 20% tata
indicom. vii.24% of the population have creativity as the reason to remember the advertisement, 24% brand ambassador, 11%
idea of delivering the message, 26% frequency of advertisements and 15% have any other logical reason. viii.There is association
between the preference of consumers regarding the mobile connections and number of consumers. And consumer preferences
for mobile connections are different. ix. There is association between the advertisement of the mobile connections people
remember and number of consumers. And consumer remember different different advertisement. 27
28. x. There is association between the reasons to purchase the mobile connections the mobile connections and number of
consumers. It means consumers prefer any mobile connections on the basis of certain factors. xi. There is association between the
reasons to remember the advertisement the mobile connections and number of consumers. It means consumers remember the
advertisement of any mobile connections because of factors described. 28

29. 8. Suggestions • Perform a detail demand survey at regular interval to know about needs and requirement of the
customer. • The company should make hindrance free arrangement for its customer/retailers to make any feedback or suggestions
as and when they feel. • Company should pay a special attention towards its customers through a good customized
communication system network for individuals and more specifically to its customers through their preferred communication
channel. • The company should focus to bring some latest and most advanced technology and variety of schemes rather then
bring second and repeat same old one. It is always better to be first than being better. • The company must be aware of and keep
at least the latest knowledge of its primary competitors in market and try to market perfect anticipated efforts to meet the same. •
The company should also use time to time some more and new attractive system of word of mouth advertisement to keep alive
the general awareness in the whole market as a whole. • The company should be always in a position to receive continuous
feedback and suggestion from its customers/consumers as well as from the market and try to solve it without any delay to
establish its own good credibility. • The company must set-up a good marketing intelligence system network to attack any
important initiative to catch the fast growing 29
30. trends and development. • The visibility of any product plays an important role in marketing the customer, aware about
it and is vital for the growth and development of any product. • For their advertisement they can also introduce a brand
ambassador because most of the consumers remember advertisement because of their brand ambassador. • As far ac RIM is
concerned; its doing a good job but, it has to remain aware of the efforts being made by its competitors like Vodafone
and airtel as they are also investing heavily on improving their visibility. • As far as Rim is concerned it’s doing a good job but,
it has to remain aware of the efforts being made by it’s competitors like Vodafone and airtel ; as they are also investing heavily
on improving their visibility. 30
31. 9. Conclusion During the course of the project I realized that the customer willingly answered the closed end questions.
From the analysis of the data collected I have reached the following conclusions: • RIM is most popular amongst its users mainly
because of its low tariff plans, varied schemes, its unique services like R-World, and low cost of possession. Thus it should focus
on keeping the cost low so that it can capture the major part of the market. But most of the consumers prefer Airtel as their
1st preference, then Reliance. • We come to the conclusion that visibility affects the sales of project in a very special way and in
terms of the advertisements reliance is lacking behind, it is at number 4 mostly consumers remember the advertisement because
of the frequency of add and brand advertisement. • The secret behind being the market leader is being innovative, and to be the
first to introduce new ideas services and latest technology. • After acquiring a new customer, there is lot of importance of its
retention also. This can be done only by providing proper services 31
32. and good customer care in which RIM is lacking somewhere. • In today’s scenario, customer is the king because he has
got various choices around him. If you are not capable of providing him the desired result he will definetly switch over to the
other provider. Therefore to survive in the cutthroat competition, you need to be the best. Customer is no more loyal in today’s
scenario, so you need to be always on your toes. • We feel that there is cut throat competition between RIM, Vodafone, Idea,
BSNL, Airtel and TATA indicom in terms of customer acquisition, so to be on top of mind of the customers they need to do
something outstanding every time. 32
33. 10. Limitations • The responses may vary, as some people did not want to come up with real answers. • The people
were busy in their own work so they might not have given actual responses. • Limitations of time. • The survey is conducted only
in IMS hostel that is not convenient. • Small sample size. 33
34. 4. Which connection do you have? No  3. Do you have mobile phone? Yes  Female 11. Questionnaire 1.
Name……………………………………………… 2. Gender Male  Airtel  34 Others  Tata Indicom  Vodafone  Reliance 
Idea  BSNL 
35. 7. Advertisement of which mobile connection do you remember the most? No  6. Have you seen any advertisement
of mobile connections? Yes  Any other(please specify)  Customer care service  After sales service  Brand ambassador 
Network  Price 5.About the mobile connection what do you like most? Brand name  Airtel  35 8. What attracted you most in
the advertisement? Creativity  Other  Tata Indicom  Vodafone  Reliance  Idea  BSNL 
36. 9. Any suggestions ……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………… ……………………… 36 Any logical reason 
Frequency of advertisement  Idea of delivering the message Brand ambassador

37. 12. References Richard I. Levin, David S. Rubin, “Statistics for management”, Pearson education, 7th edition.
www.reliance.com 37

38. www.reliancecommunocation.com www.reliancemobile.com 38

Introduction

Airtel the biggest telecom player in Indian market in terms of subscribers and revenue. It is operating in
20 regions of the country. From the days of initiation Airtel maintained an image of better networking,
better consumer service in terms of CRM and a brand of high image which in other words can be said as
Airtel’s USP. In Odissa market Airtel entered in the year of 2004 December and within three years of
time it captured a lions share in the market. In some of the major cities Airtel is a market leader. After
four years of operation in Odissa market Airtel played a game as it reduces the margin from distributor
to retailer because it got the brand loyalty from the subscribers and succeeded with its PULLING strategy
in the market also with some highly innovative value added schemes. In particular Cuttack market the
Airtel faced a great challenge after the reduction in margin. Lots of strikes were done against company
and many retailers refused to sale Airtels’ products and this made Cuttack the toughest market in the
Eastern part of the country. It put a challenge in front of the sales team to maximize the sales. Though
Airtel has 32% market share in Cuttack but it still facing tough challenge from its rivals. Airtel
Subscribers: 1. Total number of subscribers in India is 9, 89, 08, 993. 2. Airtel has a market share of
31.65% of total 29, 93, 49, 436 GSM customers. 3. Airtel has 23 circles in India, has agreement allover
the country except North East provision of the Country. 4. Airtel started its operation in Orissa in the
year of 2004, 4th Dec. 5. Up to the latest report Airtel has a total 24, 96,023 subscribers in Orissa. Airtel
in Cuttack: • • • • Population of Cuttack is nearly 7, 00,000 and 40% of this total population uses mobile
phones. From total mobile subscribers Airtel has a market share of 32%, having highest market share in
the Cuttack region. Airtel has setup 55 BTS (towers), showing its quality and reputation of network
coverage. Over 1620 Retailers (registered up to 6th May 2009) available in this Urban area and many
more retailers’ sales Airtel vouchers also (these are not registered). (Those retailers sale Airtel sim are
considered to be registered)
CHAPTER - I

INTRODUCTION

NEED OF THE STUDY

Airtel is an old & fastest growing company & leading in the communication market providing
ever best possible service to the customers. New & advance facilities & plans are being
introduced day by day & those are only to satisfy customers taking care of customers need.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. To understand the awareness of Airtel products among retailers in the market. 2. To create
interest as well as find out the potential new retail outlets 3. To analyze the retailer’s perception
towards Airtel 4. To know the satisfaction level of Retailers towards Airtel products and
services.

5. To maximize retail outlets through traditional channel that will increase the sales in future. 6.
To create more numbers of Airtel subscribers.

METHODOLOGY Data collection:

Our study used both primary & secondary data. Secondary Data I have collected all the details
from the FSEs and the team leader of the PK Agency distributor. Sources of Data 1. PK Agency
team leader’s personal data. 2. Territory managers personal report behalf of exploration of
business. Primary Data Primary data has been collected from the new retail outlets, existing
outlets and new Airtel subscribers.

Methodology
1. Meeting all the retailers (Those who are interested to sale Airtel products). 2. Explaining
about the business and how to incur profit and giving them competitors’ feedback through one to
one interaction. 3. Creating interest to become a new Airtel outlet by showing leaflets of
different features.

4. Finding out the retailers through schedule method. 5. Convincing & creating interest
through pushing strategy.

6. All the procedures were recorded through proper questionnaires.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

By this study satisfaction as well as attitude towards the Airtel has been found out, which can be
used in strategy formulation in Cuttack, Orissa. 1. Lacking & factor for dissatisfaction has been
studied from Retailer point of view which can be taken care & improved. 2. Getting an
opportunity to convince & interact with the Retailers. 3. Creating awareness & finding out
potential Retailers for Airtel.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

At most attention was taken to eliminate any kind of biasness & mis-interpretation in the study to
get optimum result. Even though the following limitations could have certain degree of impact
on the findings. 1. The study was confined to Cuttack, PK agency only which may not represent
the real picture of the entire Cuttack market. 2. Many retailers were not interested in Airtel
because of steep competition in the locality among retailers. Data collected about satisfaction &
awareness level may not represent the real picture as the sample size covered only 423 retailers. •
Type of Research: A descriptive research has been followed for the study • Sampling technique:
A cluster sampling has been used for the study. Sample Size: 1. Survey for Retail outlets: 423 2.
Survey for New Subscribers: 862 3. Airtel special scheme promotion: 11 4. Survey for iBox and
PCO: 134

SCHEDULE DESIGN
There were different question patterns were designed for individual tasks and informal
interviews were also conducted in case of new scheme promotion. Questions those have been
filled by us according to the response of the respondents about the different questions & in the
mean while their

reaction towards the different perceptions towards different communication companies have
been observed. There are some general questions to make them comfortable to answer. The
parameters that are measured 1. Retailer reliability 2. Customer awareness 3. Customer
satisfaction 4. Factor Preference Questions were designed for: 1. Opening up New Retail Outlets
2. New Airtel Subscribers Informal Interviews were followed in case of 1. Special scheme
promotion 2. Selling of iBox and PCO.

CHAPTER – II

COMPANY PROFILE

COMPANY PROFILE
Bharti Airtel Type Public, Listed on BSE Founded 1985 Headquarters New Delhi, India Key
people Sunil Mittal (Chairman and CEO) Industry Telecommunication Products Mobile and
Fixed-Line Telecommunication operator Revenue $6 Billion Website www.airtel.in Bharti
Airtel, formerly known as Bharti Tele Ventures Limited (BTVL) is India's largest and World’s
third largest cellular service provider with more than 83 million subscribers as of April 2009. It
also offers fixed line services and broadband services. It offers its TELECOM services under the
Airtel brand and is headed by Sunil Mittal. The company also provides telephone services and
Internet access over DSL in 14 circles. The company complements its mobile, broadband &
telephone services with national and international long distance services. The company also has a
submarine cable landing station at Chennai, which connects the submarine cable connecting
Chennai and Singapore. The company provides end-to-end data and enterprise services to the
corporate customers through its nationwide fiber optic backbone, last mile connectivity in fixed-
line and mobile circles, VSATs, ISP and international bandwidth access through the gateways
and landing station. SingTel owns over 30% of the Bharti Telecom. Bharti Airtel India’s largest
integrated and the first private telecom services provider in all the 23 Telecom circles. With its
world class products and services, Bharti Airtel since its inception, has been at the forefront of
technology and has steered the course of the telecom sector in the country. The businesses at
Bharti Airtel are structured into three strategic business units (SBU’s) – Mobile Services,
Telemedia Services & Enterprise Services. The Mobile business provides mobile & fixed
wireless services using GSM technology across 23 telecom circles, Telemedia Services business
offers broadband & telephone services in 94 cities. The Enterprise services provide end-to-end
telecom solution to corporate customers and additionally provide national & international long
distance services to carriers. We have recently forayed into Media Business by launching our
DTH Services in October 2008. All these services are rendered under a unified brand “Airtel”.
Bharti Airtel serves over 82mn customers as of October 31, 2008; of whom 80,199,747
subscribe to GSM services and 2,549,043 use

Telemedia Services either for voice and/or broadband access delivered through DSL. They are
the largest wireless service provider in the country, based on the number of subscribers as of
October 31, 2008. Bharti Airtel has a dominant position in the GSM services with a market share
of 34.5 % as of September 2008. The company also deploys, owns and manages passive
infrastructure pertaining to telecom operations under its subsidiary Bharti Infratel Limited. Bharti
Infratel owns 42% of Indus Towers Limited. This has been incorporated with an objective to
provide “Shared Telecom Infrastructure” to telecom operators across the world on a
nondiscriminatory basis. It’s commitment towards continuous innovation will enable
optimization of future tower rollout and enhance operational efficiencies and result in substantial
cost savings for its customers. The strategy of de-coupling infrastructure and backend processes
from the core sales and marketing function was a strategy pioneered by Airtel and then
implemented by a number of other companies. Bharti is the “total telecom provider” for India’s
large enterprises. It harnesses the power of alliances to combine with ownership of media and
technologies to create business-enabling end-to-end solutions. Bharti work closely with their
enterprise customers to uniquely address all their strategic connectivity needs, by using a mix
application of technologies. The entire organization is tailored to bring focus to our customers’
need through a unique multi-dimensional structure; Airtel’s’ philosophy is “Value Creation” for
the customers. Therefore it creates solutions that are flexible, scalable, robust Business process
management system which helps in monitoring of output performance of processes in the form
of Non Financial Parameters which are reviewed at different levels i.e. Location, Regional,
Functional, National and crop office level. Continuous process improvement happens within the
organization based on Voice of customers using six sigma methodology and knowledge
management. The organization has been in six sigma champions, black belt, green belts, and
yellow belts. All AES employees are trained in the strategy, statistical tools and techniques of
Six Sigma quality. Business Strategy “To capitalize on the growth opportunities that the
company believes are available in the Indian telecommunication market and consolidate its
position to be the leading integrated telecommunication services provider in the key market in
the India, with a focus on providing mobile services”. • • • Focus on maximizing revenues and
margins. Capture maximum telecommunication revenue potential with minimum geographical
coverage. Offer multiple telecommunication services to provide customers with a “one-stop
shop”

solution. • • • Position itself to tap data transmission opportunities and offer advanced mobile
data services. Focus on satisfying and retaining customers by ensuring high level customer
satisfaction. Leverage strengths of its strategic and financial partners.

Awards and recognition Bharti Airtel has received recognition for its innovative practices across
the world, some are as Follows: • 3rd Largest Wireless Operator In The World, Largest Private
Integrated Telecom Company In India, Largest Wireless Operator In India, Largest Private Fixed
Line Operator In India, Largest Telecom Company Listed On Indian Stock Exchanges. • • • • •
Sunil Bharti Mittal, - GSM Association Chairman’s Award 2008, Padma Bhushan Awards In
2007. Airtel Was Chosen As The 2nd Most Trusted Service Brand In India In The ‘Most
Trusted. Brands 2008 Survey’ Conducted By The Economic Times - Brand Equity Awarded
With Top Honors At The GSM Mobile World Congress Conference 2008 In Barcelona for the
Category “Best Billing/ Customer Care Solution.” Adjudged As the ‘Best Carrier India‘At the
Telecom Asia Award 2008, Gallup Great Workplace Award For 2008, Ranked 2nd In the Survey
of India’s Most Respected Companies by Business world 2007, Adjudged As ‘Company of the
Year’ At the CNBC India Business Leader Awards 2007. • Economic Times ‘Company of the
Year 2007’ Award for Corporate Excellence Gallup Great Workplace Award for 2008 -Airtel is
one of the only 20 companies worldwide and the only company from India to receive the
prestigious award. • • After the proposed network expansion, an additional 30,000 towers will
result in the company achieving 70% population coverage. Bharti has over 39 million users as on
March 31, 2007, It has set a target of 125 million subscribers by 2010. Prepaid customers
account for 88.5% of Bharti’s total subscriber base, an increase from 82.7% a year ago. • ARPU
has dropped to Rs 406, Non-voice revenues, (SMS, voice mail, call management, hello tunes and
Airtel Live) constituted 10% of total revenues during Q4, lower than 10.7% in the Q4 of the
previous year. Blended monthly minutes of usage per customer in Q4 was at 475 minutes. Has
completed 100% verification of its subscribers and in the process disconnected three lakh

(300,000) subscribers Bharti Airtel’s enterprise Services, President - David is busy connecting
India to Europe. Airtel Vision “To provide global telecom services and delight customers” By
2010, we want Airtel to be the most admired brand in India. • • • Loved by more customers
Targeted by top talent Benchmarked by more business

Airtel Mission We will meet the mobile communication needs of our customers through: • • • •
Error-free service delivery Innovate products and services Cost efficiency Unified messaging
solutions

10

CHAPTER – III

DISTRIBUTION PROCEDURE & SALES FORCE

11

Airtel distribution channel: Airtel (company)

Urban Area

Rural Area

Distributor
Rural Super

FSE

Rural Distributor

Retailer

FSE

Retailer ` Distribution procedure and Margins: In Urban Areas • • • • • Airtel directly supply its
products to the distributors in Urban Areas through Territory Manager. Territory Manager
distributes the products as per demand for individual distributors, which is scheduled as per the
target for the territory. In urban areas the Margin for the Distributor is 1.3%. Distributor
distributes the products to the FSEs’. Their job is to supply those products to the Retailers. The
Retailers margin is 2.7% (2.5% margin on RCV Rs.10/- and for all other RCVs the margin is
2.7%). In Rural Areas Same procedure is followed in the rural areas but the distribution system is
different from Urban Area and the Margin is also different. completely

12

•••••

Company’s supply system to the territory manager is same procedure as per urban areas. The
products at first distributed to the RS (Rural Super).They have a margin of 0.7%. Products are
supplied from the RS to the RD (Rural Distributors).They have a margin of 1.1%. As per same
Urban system few FSB works under each RD and they supply the products to the individual
retailers. The retailers have a margin of 2.5% and 2.7% ( 2.5% on RCV of Rs. 10/- and 2.7% on
other RCVs)

So, from this above analysis and distribution channel system, the outcomes are. 1. The company
is spending nearly 4% in Urban Areas. 2. In Rural Areas the company is spending a margin
nearly 4.5%. (So the company has been taken a great step in sales maximization in rural areas
that they will be able to reduce the margin and will not have a loss in rural areas.) Stock system
in distribution: The complete stock maintenance procedure is categorically divided in two parts.
1. Stock to be Maintained by Distributor 2. Stock to be Maintained by Retailer In the case of
Distributor: The distributor has to keep the LAPU balance for minimum 7 days; Here 35% of the
value must be in RCV. In the case of Retailer: The retailer has to keep LAPU balance for 3 days
(minimum amount Rs.1500) ; Here 33% of the value must be in RCV. (The FSE visits each
Outlet in alternative days whether their is any shortage of product or not. The supply system of
Airtel is so strong that a Retailer will never go with shortage of product. It is also a compulsory
task for each FSE to go and to ask Retailers whether there is any shortage of product, once in
every 2 days.)

13
SALES: (The way Airtel sales designed)
Selection of Sales Force

Controlling of Sales force

Sales Manager

Training of Sales Force

Motivating Of sales force

Selection of sales forceThey recruited separate department for sales and work of those employee
is to get or generate more and more revenue for organization. Training of Sales Force – After
Recruitment they are trained their employee for effective working and in this training period they
guided employee. How, when, where, what .and to whom we they can sale their product.
Motivating of sales force – If because of some reason any employee is not able to do their best
performance in that case rather than any action they use motivation as a tool for increasing
morale of that employee. Controlling of sales Force – They also control the sales force because
they know the importance of control system in organization. They are using these entire four step
for decide their sales force and each step they are also Check they are doing right things or not
and if they thing changes are needed than they revised whole process again. That’s why we can
see the difference between Airtel sales growth and other challenger and follower. Sales Force
AutomationA sale force automation solution (SFA) is a system that automatically records all the
stages in a sales process. This includes a contact management system which tracks all contact
that has been made with a given customer, the purpose of the contact, and any follow up that
might be required.

14

What to getEnsures that your sales effort doesn’t get duplicated thereby eliminating the risk of
irate customers. Sales lead tracking system creates a list of potential customers or customers of
related products, through paid phone lists. Fully integrated in all departments that deal with
customer service management. How it benefits Airtel sales teamFor your business: your sales
team can approach the market in an organized and efficient manner. For your managers: now
monitor the performance of your work force, solve potential problems and make your people
more proactive. For your sales teams: now it’s easier to close a deal by keeping a track of your
orders, proposals and clients.

15

CHAPTER – IV

Products of Airtel, Outlet categorize & Target setting

16
Products of Airtel SIM (Security Identification Module) • • LAPU: A SIM is provided to
retailers from the company at free of cost for providing easy recharge service. Only regular
retailers have this facility. This SIM has a memory of 128kb and specially designed for easy
recharge purpose. A retailer has minimum 5 easy recharge customers per month, failuring this
target the SIM will be automatically deactivated. This SIM has also Rs 300 talk time free Airtel
to Airtel. • • • PRIMARY (The products those are supplied to the distributor from the company
is said to be Primary) SECONDARY(The products supplied to the Retailers from the
Distributors through FSEs is said to be Secondary) TERTIARY(Here the Retailer sold the
products to the customers) • • • The base product of company, required for new subscriber. Now
Airtel provides this sim with 64kb memory. The cost of sim to company is Rs 40/- with life time
option. The sim is provided to the company at free of cost which the retailer can sale at
maximum Rs 100/- .

Recharge voucher: In Every 1000 rupees of easy recharge the retailer must have to keep 33% of
paper vouchers where the distributor has to keep 35%. Recharge vouchers are available at
different costs from Rs 10/- on words and easy recharges are available from Rs 30/- on words.
Paper voucher is maximum available up to Rs 120/- where easy recharge is available up to RS
10,000/-. Airtel PCO & iBox: Airtel is also providing the PCO services in Cuttack region. They
provide this facility in two ways. 1. iBox (Coin Box) 2. PCO (like BSNL land line facility)
Airtel PCO As the PCO of Airtel is divided in two categories and as per the category their is
significant price differentiation also available. The cost of the Airtel or Coin box is Rs. 2985/-

17

The cost of the Airtel PCO is Rs. 1985/These are the cost to the distributor (minimum selling
amount).

Airtel PCO scheme: • Monthly Recharge scheme: Here the retailer has to recharge the PCO
monthly wise. The cost

of the recharge voucher per month is Rs.400/- and its validity is for 30 days. At this cost of
recharge the talk time is Rs.356/-. • .Airtel also provides the facility for the one year recharge.
The cost of the recharge voucher is Rs.600/-.Though the validity period for this recharge is 1
year but Airtel dose not provide any talk time on this. In this recharge voucher the talk time is
0.Here Airtel provides Top up facility for further recharge .The cost of the recharge is Rs 200/- ,
here the retailer will get a talk time balance of Rs. 178/- where there will be free offer the retailer
will get, that is Airtel to Airtel free talk time of Rs. 500/-. • If the retailer will loose its recharge
period then he will be unable to call through the PCO.A situation where there will be no
connection. At this situation the company provides a special voucher, named “Validity
extension” voucher. Here the cost of the voucher is Rs.51 and it is valid for 10days. Promotional
Offer for PCO and iBox (Coin box) during April 2009: • When any new retailer will have a new
connection. At the installation cost, he will have a talk time of Rs. 500/- as main balance valid
for a month. And will have a balance of Rs.1500/- Airtel to Airtel valid for next 6 months. • In
the month of April Airtel provided a special offer on PCO for their sales maximization in PCO.
Here the special offer is that “Reduction the in cost of the Annual Recharge Voucher”. Before
this scheme the cost of the Airtel annual voucher was Rs.600/-, and during this offer the
company provided this voucher at the cost of RS. 400/-. PCO Sales Problems: Stiff competition
from TATA INDICOM, RIM, BSNL TATA is preferred as it has less investment comparatively
to Airtel and RIM (All of us mobile phones so why should I install a coin box. Maintenance
problem occurs a lot with Airtel as the service provider is unable to do so.) (The company made
a calculation that if any retailer will have minimum 9 customers for PCO/iBox

18

then retailer will reach to the break even point on his investment. The next one will be his profit.)

( HERE DETAILS OF THE PCO & iBox IS PROVIDED.) Table: 1

iBox Pricing and PCO pricing

Parameter Customer Price FAT(A2A) FAT(A2All) Total Talk Time total coin collection @ 0.67
paisa effective cost to operator Validity main A/C (months) Validity dedicated (months) Voucher
denominations PCO section Maximum Service price Rs 398 598 1398 PCO Phone 1984 1000
500 1500 2239 -240 1 4 iBox 2975 1500 500 2000 2985 315 1 6

19

decrement local Rs talk time Roi % validity days iBox talk time Roi % validity days Operator
price

0.67 354 33 30

0.67 532 33 45

0.67 1244 33 60

356 33 30 400

178 33 0 200

Table: 2 Comparison of Airtel iBox with other operators Parameter Security deposit time hrs Y
* 7000 to investment 8000 3000 paper rcv Top ups post paid N voucher N Rs 100 for 10 validity
next quality of ocb na Local Local Visiontek ccb cases soled through service battery space
required ISD in ccb more N M N M N little as all integrated * N 48 Y 48 - 72 Y phone and sms
Y N days n Y Paper voucher n easy recharge Y 2222 lowest investment Y 72 Y 72 N 72 BSNL
TATA RIM Airtel

20

Features of iBox • • • • • • • • • PCO 1. Call charges are displayed on the screen 2. billing printer
support (optional) 3. booth display support (optional) 4. daily ,monthly, yearly call reports 5. last
200 call details (date/time/value of the call) 6. limit/no limit calling mode 7. long beep at the start
and end of the call 8. Internal battery with 2-3 hrs and stand by time of rs 6 hrs. 16*1 back light
LCD Inbuilt fwt + 4.5 ah battery Automatic coin collection on call maturity Programmable 1,2,3
coin options Network sim and bts locking provision Low power consumption. Battery back up 4
to 5 hrs Incoming call restriction Battery low message on lcd Caller id

9. external adapter cum charger 10. polyphonic ring tones 11. Airtel logo and tune at the time of
booting the phones. 12. hands free speaker phone 13. phone book Airtel Retail Outlet Retail
Outlet means those shops which sales Airtel products (SIM, vouchers).Airtel maintains a
category for its retail outlets. In Cuttack there are total 1620 outlets which registered, 432 iBox
and 67 PCO (Up to 10th May 2009) Airtel Navaratna: The “Airtel NAVARATNA” award is a
special way to encourage and appreciate the retailer’s performance. This award is given to those
retailers who are capable of doing a business of Rs.50, 000/and above with 50 or more SSO
activation. It is mandatory to achieve both parameters to be awarded.

21

(The company puts a sales target of 10% increment on each current month’s sales) Competition
margin in the Cuttack market for all the Service Providers. The margin has lots of importance
because as per this the Company can have more number of Retail Outlets, through which the sale
can be pushed.

Retailer’s margin compared with other service providers Table: 3 a. Types of outlets b.
Margin

a. CATEGORY WISE MOVEMENT(Types of Outlets) Outlet Type as per (Outlet Type as Per
Turn over monthly) SSO Outlet Type Cat A Cat B Cat C Cat D Cat E Turn Over in Rs.
>1,50.000 60,000 to 1,50,000 30,000 to 60,000 15,000 to 30,000 <15,000 Type S1 S2 S3 S4 S5
S6 Number of Activation 75+ 50 to 74 30 to 49 11 to 29 5 to 10 1 to 4 SSO(sale/activation)

22

b. COMPETION MARGINS( for Urban)

OPERATOR DISTRIBUTOR RETAILER DISTRIBUTOR(PCO) RETAILER(PCO) Airtel

Vodafone Aircel BSNL TATA RIM RTL Virgin !dea 3 1.3 1.5 2 1.5 1.8 1.5 1 2.7 3 5 4 3 3 3 2
1.3 2.5

(Airtel has 32% market share in Cuttack market) Airtel in Cuttack Market

Number of distributor in Cuttack: In Cuttack region there are total 4 distributors. Name of
the Distributor (Table: 4)

Number of FSE

PK Agency JD Distributor Kamala Agency Tirupati Distributor(Choudwar)

8421
23

PK agency has the maximum area coverage in Cuttack region. I have analyzed its FSE’s target
and achievement. Table: 5

FSE Achievement (April 09)

PK AGENCY REPORT(Airtel Distributor ,Cuttack Region) NAME Prasanna Chitta Ranjan
Prafulla Ananta Samir Pradip Sing Total Activation 295 333 511 226 182 95 113 361 2116
Revenue LSO 99 108 74 85 78 82 57 92 675 SSO 65 73 41 65 51 44 43 73 455 New O/Lt 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 PCO 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Total revenue earned in the month of April 2009 is Rs 1.023 core.

(Exact amount not provided)

On 8th April 2009 !dea entered into the Cuttack market and started pushing their products.
Though !dea sold at very low price with lots of facilities with a aggressive sales force and with
advertisement they started an immediate response from new subscribers and from students this
caused a decrease in Airtel’s sales and creating new subscribers. Airtel miserably failed to
achieve their target and they achieved the 17% less than the target of previous month March
2009. Target setup for month of May with some new offers and aggressive selling strategy. As
per the sales strategy there is a 10% hike in each individual’s target from previous month.

24

Here the target for PK agency is provided bellow: Table: 6

Current Month Target(May 2009) PK AGENCY REPORT(Airtel Distributor ,Cuttack Region)

NAME Prasanna Chitta Ranjan Prafulla Ananta Samir Pradip Sing Total Activation 541 547 798
441 391 176 167 557 3618 Revenue 1814990 2037136 1584210 2048090 1259201 920727.1
914150.6 1403274 11981778.7 LSO 119 130 89 102 94 98 68 110 810 SSO 78 88 49 78 61 53
52 90 549 New O/Lt 20 22 15 17 16 16 11 18 135 PCO 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 24

Target for the interns during SIP (in Cuttack region): Table: 7

Target & Achievement During SIP NAME College NEW OUTLETS Target Pradeepta IPE,
Hyderabad 75 Achieved 52 Target 5 PCO Achieved 0 iBox Target Achieved 15 13

I have worked for 6 weeks

SSO locations SIM Sold Through Canopy (7 days) Turning Point (7 days) Mobile & Mobile
(5days) Jaidurga Communication (7 days) Nigam International (14 days)

Target 60 100 50

Sold 94 163 39
210 480

287 839

25

Total

900 SSO, It was a group task where other targets were individual

1422

(In a weak 15 new outlets, 1 PCOs and 3 iBoxs were the target for the interns) Minimum cost of
an iBox was Rs 2975/- and cost of PCO was Rs 1975/-. A new outlet has to take minimum
vouchers of cost Rs 1000/-. Sales of SSO were under a special scheme. (This scheme can not be
mentioned on the project report but can be discussed with internal/external Guide and at the
time of presentation) SIM activation procedure: (During training I had informed and
demonstrated this procedure to the new outlets) SIM is provided by the company to the
distributor and the distributors’ supplies the sim as per individual Retailers demand. The sim
initially is not activated, after any subscriber bought this sim then the retailer uses a special
procedure through its LAPU sim to activate that sim. But during recent scenario maximum
retailers are supplying activated sims to the retailers that the new subscriber can easily use the
new sim without any delay in the service. To activate the sim following procedure is followed
Step1: The retailer sends a sms through the LAPU. UN (space) Mobile Num to 59109 Step 2:
This sms reaches to 59109 (technical section) and then 3 new sms comes in return one to
Retailer, next one to FSE and the last one to the Distributor. Step 3: Then the distributor send a
new sms. UN (space) Mob Num to 59110 After this the new sim will be activated and will be
ready to use. As now a day in the Cuttack market the distributors are providing retailers activated
Sims. If any new person will subscribe the to a new connection the retailer provides him the way
to activate the sim. The new subscriber can only get this sim after paying the cost of sim,
providing necessary and original documents required and after getting the confidence of the
retailer that the provided documents are valid. After the new subscriber bought the sim, 1st that
person has to insert the sim in the mobile phone and then has to call 123, (Airtel customer
service number (toll free)). Then the sim will be automatically activated and will be ready to use.

26

Necessary Documents for New Subscription: 1. The new subscriber must have to be an Indian
citizen. 2. He/She has to give one latest his/her photo. 3. Any valid document showing his
nativity or residential proofs like Pass Port, DL, Voter ID , home electricity or phone bill(land
line, BSNL preferred) etc. Actions on Fake documents: 1. If the documents are known to be fake
or doubtful then the connection will be cutoff immediately. 2. Legal action can be taken against
the retailer or the distributor for this negligence. How to check the authenticity of the sim and the
number at the distributor/retailer level: Sometimes the AEAF contains some error on the sim
number or mobile number. The retailer or the distributor can directly check the authenticity of
this trough special Airtel service. They can do a sms to know this. By using this service they can
get the conformation on the sim and mobile number at the basic level. Seek (space) Mobile
num/sim num to 59300

27

CHAPTER – V

SWOT ANALYSIS

28

SWOT Analysis Strengths 1. Bharti Airtel has more than 71 million customers. It is the largest
cellular provider in India, and also supplies broadband and telephone services - as well as many
other telecommunications services to both domestic and corporate customers. 2. Other
stakeholders in Bharti Airtel include Sony-Ericsson, Nokia - and Sing Tel, with whom they hold
a strategic alliance. This means that the business has access to knowledge and technology from
other parts of the telecommunications world. 3. The company has covered the entire Indian
nation with its network. This has underpinned its large and rising customer base. Weaknesses 1.
An often cited original weakness is that when the business was started by Sunil Bharti Mittal
over 15 years ago, the business has little knowledge and experience of how a cellular telephone
system actually worked. So the start-up business had to outsource to industry experts in the field.
2. Until recently Airtel did not own its own towers, which was a particular strength of some of
its competitors such as Hutchison Essar. Towers are important if your company wishes to
provide wide coverage nationally. 3. The fact that the Airtel has not pulled off a deal with South
Africa's MTN could signal the lack of any real emerging market investment opportunity for the
business once the Indian market has become mature. Opportunities 1. The company possesses a
customized version of the Google search engine which will enhance broadband services to
customers. The tie-up with Google can only enhance the Airtel brand, and also provides
advertising opportunities in Indian for Google. 2. Global telecommunications and new
technology brands see Airtel as a key strategic player in the Indian market. The new iPhone will
be launched in India via an Airtel distributorship. Another strategic partnership is held with
Blackberry Wireless Solutions. 3. Despite being forced to outsource much of its technical
operations in the early days, this allowed Airtel to work from its own blank sheet of paper, and
to question industry approaches and

29

practices - for example replacing the Revenue-Per-Customer model with a Revenue-Per-Minute

model which is better suited to India, as the company moved into small and remote villages and
towns. 4. The company is investing in its operation in 120,000 to 160,000 small villages every
year. It sees that less well-off consumers may only be able to afford a few tens of Rupees per
call, and also so that the business benefits are scalable - using its 'Matchbox' strategy. 5. Bharti
Airtel is embarking on another joint venture with Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular to create a
new independent tower company called Indus Towers. This new business will control more than
60% of India's network towers. IPTV is another potential new service that could underpin the
company's long-term strategy. Threats 1. Airtel and Vodafone seem to be having an on/off
relationship. Vodafone which owned a 5.6% stake in the Airtel business sold it back to Airtel,
and instead invested in its rival Hutchison Essar. Knowledge and technology previously
available to Airtel now moves into the hands of one of its competitors. 2. The quickly changing
pace of the global telecommunications industry could tempt Airtel to go along the acquisition
trail which may make it vulnerable if the world goes into recession. Perhaps this was an impact
upon the decision not to proceed with talks about the potential purchase of South Africa's MTN
in May 2008. This opened the door for talks between Reliance Communication's Anil Ambani
and MTN, allowing a competing Indian industrialist to invest in the new emerging African
telecommunications market. 3. Bharti Airtel could also be the target for the takeover vision of
other global telecommunications players that wish to move into the Indian market. Airtel comes
to you from Bharti Airtel Limited, India's largest integrated and the first private telecom services
provider with a footprint in all the 23 telecom circles. Bharti Airtel since its inception has been
at the forefront of technology and has steered the course of the telecom sector in the country with
its world class products and services. The businesses at Bharti Airtel have been structured into
three individual strategic business units (SBU's) - Mobile Services, Airtel Telemedia Services &
Enterprise Services.

30

CHAPTER – VI Analysis of the Survey and interpretation

31

As per the requirement the overall strategy was divided in certain categories. 1. Informal
interviews were conducted for Airtel special scheme promotion and for sales maximization of
iBox and PCO. 2. New subscriber analysis and new outlet opening analysis were done through
proper questionnaires. 3. The market analysis was done through informal interviews and also
information extracted from the retailers by visiting the outlet as mysterious customers. 1. Market
Analysis In the month of April !dea came to the Cuttack market with better offers and with more
talk time, free talk time at a lower cost. They have implemented a better strategy and covered up
maximum retail out lets. They are providing the margin as per the market term (3% to
retailers) ,but the most important thing is that, they are providing Electronic boards to the outlets
at instance and spreading information rapidly among demographic dividend about the free offers.
This results a –ve growth in Airtel. As the FSE’s also complained that the retail outlets prefer !
dea and Vodafone rather than Airtel.They were pushing !dea and Vodafone new sims rather than
Airtel. So, I did a job of Retailers analysis with a team of 3 after consulting with territory
manager and with his proper guidance. Our objectives are • • • Finding out the top (Airtel
Navaranta awarded) retail outlets and also some other outlets in the prime locations of Cuttack
region. Extracting information from them about “At what cost they are selling Airtel sim. What
the retailer prefers to sale (which sim they are trying to push out) by what information providing
to the customer These are the thing that I have to extract from the retailers. We worked in team
covered up maximum retailers possible in the given time period (2 days) after making a list of
top retailer outlets. Our approach towards retail out lets to extract information. • • Directly going
to the shop and asking the sales person about Airtel sim cost with life time validity and about the
tariff chart of Airtel as customer. Meeting the shop owner and showing them as we are students
of the Revenswa University and doing a survey on SSO in Cuttack market. Through this way we
extracted the information about the retailers’ preference. Got the information on which brand the
retailer is trying to push out.

32

Going to the shop as a customer and asking for a brand of the sales person’s choice as I need
cheep network with more talk time.

(All the procedures are informal in nature, no prior questions were made a informal approach
was taken to get the information) Suggestions after the analysis report to the Territory Manager:
• • • • Spread the information among public about the cost of the sim. Put canopy and sale sim
after consulting with retailers. Sale sim in coaching institutions at cost to company.

Recommendations and Actions on my suggestions: Put canopy in some prime locations of

Cuttack and selling the sim at the cost of Rs 40/- cost to company with special recharge
voucher(power plus) of Rs 39/- which is valid for 3 months instead of 1 month. • • Some retailers
were taken into consideration and they allowed us to go with the above proposal. During the
promotion we are saying this offer is from the Particular Retailer who has agreed with the
proposal. That later that Retailer can have customers and will sale the sim and voucher at this
proposed scheme. Outcomes: • • • In the 4 prime locations canopy was setup for 7 consecutive
days. 94 SIMs were sold out during this period. Maximum of the Sims were recharged with Rs
39/- power plus and the retailer got a benefit of Rs. 10/- on each recharge. Overall outcome: •
Some Sims were sold out during this period but the overall market remained same as this project
were done only for 7 days and can not be continued for more period because of high atmospheric
temp.(over 42 degree centigrade) and high humid condition in Cuttack town.

33

(Details of the Analysis is provided Bellow)

Overall Report
123

Consumer Preference 51 Airtel 14 !dea 31 Vodafone 6 Aircel 12 Smart 7 BSNL 2

60 50 40 30 51 20 31 10 0 Consumer Preference 51 14 Airtel 14 !dea 31 6 Vodafone 6

Series1 12 Aircel 12 7 Smart 7 2 BSNL 2

Series1

Special Scheme Promotion & Analysis: Looking at the present situation the company has made a
special offer for Orissa circle. This offer is for retailers. The main reason for this offer is to push
the retailers to sale Airtel. Airtel announced that if any retailer will be able to sale more than
1000 sim within 90 days then that retailer will be awarded with a Hero Honda Passion Plus bike,
which costs Rs. 49,000/- in the market. The company was not going to provide any financial help
or promotional help to the retailers. The cost of a new Airtel sim with Life time is Rs. 40/-. It is
cost to the company. The retailers can sale a life time sim maximum Rs 200/- and minimum
amount that they want to sale depends upon them. But they have to pay Rs.40/- to the company.
No product sold to the retailers in credit. So it depends upon the retailer at what price that they
can sale but they have to achieve that target within 90 days. They can only get the help from
Territory Manager. After this scheme the territory manager informed the elite retailers as well as
other retailers and assured them to help. In the Cuttack region 4 elite retailers at first were

34

interested in this new scheme. I had a task to talk to the retailers behalf of their plan how to sale
the sim with this span of time. To help them in their decision making and for their sales
promotion, distribution, helping them to sale the sim, informing public in that locality on this
scheme and to help the retailer to make their advertisement. Finally informing the Territory
manager on the retailers’ activities. With the team, I managed to convince 4 retailers to accept
this scheme. From these 4 outlets 2 were awarded with Airtel Navaranta. The pricing decision of
the SIM was taken by the retail outlet owner and with Territory, Zonal Manager. My team was in
the task of outlet’s advertisement about their offer in the near by areas and to handle their sales
for the initial days. Strategy followed for the scheme: Objective: To convince maximum to
maximum numbers of retail outlets to accept this scheme. Methodology Secondary data: The
data was colleted from the Airtel head office in Bhubaneswar. They provided all the list of top
18 retail outlets under PK Agency. These outlets are Navaratna awarded. Primary Data: Data
collected from all the top retail outlets. Through conducting an informal interview. Methodology:
1. The entire 18 outlet’s previous 6 months sales were analyzed. 2. The locations of those outlets
were properly studied. 3. Made one strategy how to help the retailer for their sales promotion.
(The Territory Manager, PK Agency staffs were cooperated and provided necessary advice for
this schemes successful implementation)

35

Strategy followed to convince the retailers: 1. The scheme was properly informed to the retailer.
2. Company provided the guaranty of sales promotion for the retailer during initial period. 3.
Company provided the assurance to help the retailer how to implement the scheme that the
retailer will incur minimum loss and will have the maximum profit. Outputs of the Strategy 1.
The ZSM & Territory Manager helped the retailer for their planning and implementation. 2. The
distributor provided the SIMs, documents in proper time and collected the documents twice per
day. 3. Company provided canopy to the concerned outlets that they could sale the SIM at near
by locations. 4. The company provided the help of Summer Interns to assist the outlets for their
sales promotion during initial days. The sales promotion method started with brand name of
Airtel. Following steps are followed in the entire project. STEPS FOLLOWED 1. Putting
advertisement boards and hording near by locations and putting some posters near by shop with
their acceptance. 2. Informing coaching institutions on this offer. 3. Putting Canopy from 5PM to
10 PM near by prime locations.

36
Analysis Report in Graphical Presentation: 1. For New SIM holders:
Less Cost
Number of subscribers 400 300 200 100 0 Series1 SA 318 A 212 N 134 approval
Regular users 300 Subscribers 200 100 0 Series1 SA 213 A 178 N 273 Approval Dis 67 S Dis
131

Dis 109

S Dis 89

37

Use it during tim e of need 500

Subscriber

0 Series1

SA 409

A 189

N 188 Approval future propose

Dis 71

S Dis 5

Subscribers

400 200 0 Series1

SA 234

A 198

N 134 approval

Dis 187

S Dis 109

Service
250 S b cib r u s r es 200 150 100 50 0 Series1 Airtel 209 Aircel 187 !dea 11 BSNL 168 Smart
198 Vodafone 89
Service profider

Network Coverage
400 300 200 100 0 Series1 Airtel 287 Aircel 123 !dea 16 BSNL 234 Smart 151 Vodafone 51

38

VAS
250 200 150 100 50 0 Series1 Airtel 201 Aircel 151 !dea 8 BSNL 158 Smart 176 Vodafone 168

Tariff 400 300 200 100 0 Series1 Airtel 35 Aircel 179 !dea 309 BSNL 49 Smart 123 Vodafone
167

Availability 200 150 100 50 0 Series1 Airtel 150 Aircel 167 !dea 123 Overall 300 200 100 0
Series1 BSNL 142 Smart 156 Vodafone 124

Airtel 256

Aircel 140

!dea 58

BSNL 196

Smart 171

Vodafone 41

39

Analysis and interpretation of survey of new Airtel subscribers: Objective of the study is to
know the new subscribers acknowledgement towards the preference for Airtel. Why a customer
is interested to be an Airtel subscriber? What a new subscriber thinks about Airtel was the
inherited reasons for interpretation.

(Reason for buying a new Airtel sim)

A. COST of SIM: Though the SIMs were sold under a special scheme, so the cost of SIM was
less compared to other outlets.61% persons agreed that they are buying Airtel sim because the
cost of the sim is very less* and this is the only reason that they are interested not to miss a
chance of buying a new sim at this special cost with offer. Where 22% agreed that they need to
subscribe Airtel sim and 15% stand neutral. So the overall outcome interoperated as the low cost
is the main reason for the sales of SIMs. B. Regular Uses: From the total sample size that I had
taken only 45% of them were agreed that they will regularly use the Airtel sim and 46% said that
they will keep it and 69% of subscribers were agreed that they will have the sim with them and
will only use at the time need. From this above analysis the outcome is that maximum of the new
subscribers will keep the sim with them and will use it when it would be needed. Only 45%
accepted that they will be a regular user of Airtel.

(Where Airtel stands as per new subscribers’ perception)

A. Service: Airtel is not considered as a better back door service provider for its subscribers in
the market though it got a response of 24% (highest response) but its near by competitors are not
so far behind from it as response for Aircel 21%, 19% for BSNL, 22% for Smart were there. So
overall interpretation is that Airtel must have to be more customer oriented and to provide better
customer care facility. B. Network Coverage: 33% of subscribers accepted that Airtel provides
the best networking in Cuttack and its near by interior areas that’s why they have to keep a
Airtel sim that they can use it at the time of need. Except BSNL (27%) others are not a
competitor of Airtel.

40

C. Tariff and VAS: When this particular sector was analyzed Airtel is lagging behind (Tariff). In
the month of April 2009 !dea entered the market with lots of offer and it was responded highly as
they were providing “(New SIM with Life Time + Rs 50 talk time + power plus(valid for 6
months) + Unlimited free talk time !dea to !dea) @ Rs 50”. As the tariff was considered Airtel
got only .04% response where !dea got a response of 35%. Its overall outcome was that
subscribers were not happy with Airtel tariff as they said it very costly. As VAS is considered
Airtel is better than its comparators. Airtel got a response of 23% but Vodafone produced a
grate challenge as its extensive and expressive promotion during this period of April and mid
May as the IPL was going on. D. Availability: In this category all the network providers were all
most nearly as the maximum responses were went to 19% against Airtel’s 17%. The overall out
come of this analysis was that either the Airtel distributors provide more FSE or increase their
salary by a small margin. (OVERALL outcome from these analysis is that Airtel is a market
leader no doubt about it as it received 29.64% of responses. But it must have to look in certain
areas like Tariff and distribution system and customer cares to gain a better margin than its
competitors.)

41

Analysis for opening New Outlets

Satisfied w ith Distribution System

23%

Agreed 50% Neutral Disagreed

27%

Maxim um Num ber of Subscribers 6%

26%
Agreed Neutral Disagreed

68%

42

Less Margin

30%

Agreed Neutral Disagreed 57%

13%

Dem and in the Market

20%

43% Agreed Neutral Disagreed

37%

Reasons for a retailer to be an Airtel outlet 1. Demand in the market for Airtel sim and vouchers
as the outlets agreed maximum persons are asking for Airtel vouchers. 2. Maximum of the
retailers also accepted that in market Airtel has maximum number of subscribers. 3. Airtel is
proving fewer margins compared to other network service providers but most subscribers are
attached with Airtel a biggest reason for a retail outlet to start this business.

43

4. Many of the present outlets are not happy with the FSE as they are providing the vouchers and
other products in proper time (distribution problem). 5. Airtel Company is trying to open more
and more outlets but FSEs are not so interested to open in a large number as their work load will
be more and they have to achieve more target. 6. In some areas there is significant number of
outlets that the individuals business is affected by this steep competition. 7. Some outlets
demands electronic add board but distributors are unable to providing in time. 8. The overall
outcome depends upon the “Demand in the market for Airtel” which is driving customers
towards Airtel. 9. Maximum of retailers accepted that I. Maximum numbers of working
professionals are interested for Airtel. II. Though Cuttack market is full of business men they
also keep an Airtel for their emergency use, not a regular use. III. Students are not showing any
interested in Airtel, very few responses from them. 10. Retailers agreed that Airtel is no mort
pulling product. Strategy for Sales of PCO and iBox Objective Airtel is a market leader in
Cuttack in terms of prepaid subscribers. But it faced a real tough competition in sales of iBox
and PCO sets. I had taken to maximize the iBox and PCO sales as an challenge. I had followed
certain strategy to sale my products 1. Scan the market. 2. Made a comparative analysis for
Airtel product.
3. Made a SWOT analysis of iBox and PCO. 4. Collected primary data from outlets (iBox and
PCO) 5. Spread the information among the outlets about Airtel’s iBox and PCO offer.

Methodology Primary data: 1. Two types of questionnaires were designed for surveying outlets.
2. 1st Reliance and TATA Indicom coin box holders were surveyed. 3. 2nd PCO holders were
surveyed. 4. Airtel iBox and PCO holders were surveyed.

44

Methodology: Three different types of surveys were made and their results were properly
analyzed then I had made my strategy how to maximize the sales. A. 50 TATA Indicom coin box
& PCO holders were surveyed. B. 34 Reliance coin box holders were surveyed. C. 78 BSNL
PCOs were surveyed. The survey was conducted as an Informal interview process to extract the
information from the outlets. The main purpose was to make conformation why retail outlets are
interested in Airtel iBox & PCO. The interpretation of survey and analysis 1. TATA Indicom
provides better margin. Its calling charges are less compared to others. Better quality product and
service facility is better. It also provides life time offer. (Though it first introduced this operation
so it has nearly captured the market leaving little space for the competitors) 2. Reliance is not so
famous among retailers but its profit margin is better. 3. BSNL pco holders earn maximum profit
as per the retailer’s point of view. Reason of low sales for Airtel iBox / PCO 1. Less margin 2.
Late entry into the market. 3. Inactive sales force.(FSEs are not so much interested to maximize
this sales) 4. Airtel PCO facing the worst competition from its competitors as only 26 PCO was
in the market during last 17 moths. 5. Some retailers were interested in Airtel iBox as its profit
margin is better. 6. Because of special offer during April 2009 some iBox were sold. 7. Though
Airtel is a market leader in terms of prepaid GSM service, this is the only major reason taken to
be considered for sales maximization of Airtel iBox.

45

CHAPTER – VII CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS

46

Conclusion
•
Airtel facing a steep competition in Cuttack Market. It is that Cuttack is the toughest market in
the Eastern Part of the country. It is difficult to maximize the sale as maximum consumers are
local business men and they prefer more talk time in their usual tariff.

••••••••

Airtel has a good reputation as a telecom brand in Cuttack. People prefer Airtel in Cuttack
because of its network coverage all over the state including rural areas. .Only high tariff cost
matters in sales maximization. Competitors selling strategy becoming a biggest problem for sales
maximization. Retailer benefit schemes as they achieve the target can push more subscribers and
maximize sales. Retailer margin is not a problem for Airtel in Cuttack. Some retailers bringing
in the Vouchers and easy from rural area to Cuttack region to get more margins comparatively to
urban areas. Retailers are unhappy with Airtel’s advertisement offers because the company is not
providing them the Electronic Boards in time (for new outlets), banners etc. . . . Where others
(new entrants) are doing it. So, the other entrants are capable of pushing their sales.

47

Recommendations
There are following suggestions for marketing strategies for Airtel1. Bharti Airtel needed to
maximize its future flexibility and growth potential by adopting a business-driven framework for
integration, allowing it to implement and deliver new services rapidly. With competition
intensifying in the Indian telecom services market, Bharti Airtel needed to find a way to focus
on developing new services that could set it apart from the competition and strengthen its
customer relationships. 2. Improved cross-selling and targeting and a more seamless, efficient
total customer experience through end-to-end integration of customer-facing processes. 3.
Optimization of business processes and infrastructure, through flexible, standardized integration
framework, is needed. 4. Outsourcing of technology will provide Bharti Airtel to focus resources
on growing the business. Flexible pricing model will enable Bharti Airtel to avoid major
increases in capital expenditures

48

ANNEXURE

49

Appendix-A Questionnaires for opening new outlets

1. Are you selling Airtel’s products? (SIM: y/n) (Vouchers: y/n) (Easy recharge: y/n)

SIM Y
2. 3.

VOUCHER N Y N

EASY RECHARGE Y N

(If no then) Are you interested to be an Airtel Retail Outlet? Y / N (if no then) You must be
aware of Airtel Business.(Requesting the retailer to know the business) If I got a positive
response then: Complete information provided on Airtel business If no: Requested for another
time if there is no response I have to leave that outlet.

4.

If interested for then : Complete information provided on Airtel business (If the outlet shows
interest for the business. At 1st the information regarding the business provided to the retailer in
details and after that this questions were asked to analyze why these retailers are showing interest
in this business)

5.

Do you think Airtel provides less margin compared to other service providers. A N Dis

6.

Do you think maximum people are asking for Airtel? A N Dis

7. 8. 9.

Do you know that Airtel has maximum numbers of customers in Cuttack market? Y / N Are you
satisfied with Airtel distributor’s service procedure? Are you happy with FSE’s service?
A/N/Dis

10. Do you think is it easy to push Airtel. A/Dis 11. Does the customers ever pulled towards
Airtel, Airtel is PUSHING/PULLING 12. I am not interested with Airtel because Low margin:
A / N / Dis Unsatisfied with FSE: A / N / Dis So many retail outlets near by : A / N / Dis No
credit facility:A / N / Dis Airtel does not provide Add boards or support regarding
advertisements in time: A / N / Dis Selling Vodafone !dea, RIM, Smart, BSNL is more
profitable. 13. I am only interested for sim / lapu / vouchers only in coming period. Why…
_______________________________________________________________________

Appendix-B Questionnaires for New SIM holders:

While selling new SIM I did a comparative analysis on different network service providers
regarding customer interest. It

50

was also required for my project under market analysis “why one buy Airtel”. A few questions
were asked to new SIM buyers. Questions: Rate from 1 to 5. Where 5 are minimum and 1 is the
maximum value. (Ranking methodology) Service Network Coverage Airtel Aircel !dea BSNL
Smart Vodafone VAS Ease of availability Tariff Reliability Overall

1.

Are you buying now because: a. SIM cost is very less comparatively with other ones? SA A N
Dis S Dis

b. I will use this SIM regularly. SA A N Dis S Dis

c. I will keep it for future purpose. SA A N Dis S Dis

d. I will use it only at the time of need, not regularly. SA A N Dis S Dis
Appendix-C
Questionnaires for Outlets to accept the scheme (Airtel Company’s staff will help you in sales
promotion and pricing?) (1st the scheme was properly presented to the retailer) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. In
which sells you get maximum profits. ______________________________ Is any telecom
company providing you any offer like this before or now? Y / N Airtel ever before provide you
any offer. Y / N : time:_____________________ (If yes) did the company employees help you
in sales promotion? y/n ________________ I have accepted this scheme
because:_______________________________________

51

Bibliography
Books 1. Havalder K.K. and Vasant M.C. (2007), “ Sales and Distribution Management”, Tata
McGraw Hill, New Delhi Websites: 1. www.scribd.com 2. www.12manage.com Journals 1.
JMR

52

this Billing problem from more than 2 months from now and have talked to more than 30 Customer Care
executives telling my problem every time, but still no resolution has been done. You people just want to
achieve your targets and hell with the customers problems.
I have been Airtels customer for more than one year and have always paid my bills on time. But now
what I am getting is pathetic customer service. 

Phone- 0120 4122461

To start with here is what i have faced, I laid a request to shift my line to my new address which is very
nearby to my old address.

26th July - I made this request that I have to shift by 30th July so make arrangements to shift my
number.

30th July - Again made a reminder request to shift my number. Commitment made from AIRTEL, within
3 Days shifting will be done.

No response till a week.

I again called customer care to get status for my shifting and they said in next 48 hrs Ill get the
response. Again No response.

Few days later a Sales Executive visits my place and tells me that your old number can no way be
activated at my new Address and I have to Apply for a new connection. When I asked him about the
settlement for my previous number, he said to discard it and no need to make any settlements for that,
now your new number will be continued.
He was from the Airtel Outlet in Vaishali, his name is Manish, Phone# 9810227301.
Total lies and false commitments he made.

New number (0120 4337756) got activated around 14th Aug.

Thereafter I laid a request to cancel my previous number. Few days after that i got call from retension
 department and they said that my previous number can be reactivated and offered me a new plan of
649. rental with same services and also promised that my previous bill amount from 17th July - 30th
July will be waved off.

My previous number got re-activated on 8th Sept. Again so much of delay.

Now for the period of 30 July - 8 Spt, my previous number was never in use because of of AIRTELs
lame and disgusted service, and still I am being charged for this. I have asked your executives that Ill
pay gladly for waht is acceptable and as per my usage but please clear this up, but nobody has done a
thing. 
Also my bill includes Rs 300. shifting charges. How can you people justify this when you commit for
shifting in 3 days and actually it takes 40 days. 

AIRTEL claims to be the best service provider but I strongly believe that BSNL or any other Service
provider gives much better service.

Either you people can resolve all this immidiately or I am done with AIRTEL and never in live will I take
any services from AIRTEL niether will suggest anyone. 

And if this is not resolved, I am not going to pay a single penny and if you people again bother me for
payments, then I know ways to deal with this.

  #2  
 10-22-2010, 06:14 PM
Join Date: Sep 2010
airtel.online    Posts: 1,956
Senior Member

Dear Avinash , 

This is to inform you that your concern listed 21 Oct 2010 has been noted and our team is working on a
resolution. At the outset, we apologize for the inconvenience faced by you. We will get in touch with you
for further details of your concern as the need arises. 

Regards, 
Rakesh Kumar
Airtel Customer Service Team

  #3  
 10-24-2010, 03:56 AM
Join Date: Sep 2010
airtel.online    Posts: 1,956
Senior Member

Quote:

Originally Posted by Avinash Kalsi 

I have been facing this Billing problem from more than 2 months from now and have talked to more
than 30 Customer Care executives telling my problem every time, but still no resolution has been
done. You people just want to achieve your targets and hell with the customers problems.
I have been Airtels customer for more than one year and have always paid my bills on time. But now
what I am getting is pathetic customer service. 

Phone- 0120 4122461

To start with here is what i have faced, I laid a request to shift my line to my new address which is
very nearby to my old address.

26th July - I made this request that I have to shift by 30th July so make arrangements to shift my
number.

30th July - Again made a reminder request to shift my number. Commitment made from AIRTEL,
within 3 Days shifting will be done.

No response till a week.

I again called customer care to get status for my shifting and they said in next 48 hrs Ill get the
response. Again No response.

Few days later a Sales Executive visits my place and tells me that your old number can no way be
activated at my new Address and I have to Apply for a new connection. When I asked him about the
settlement for my previous number, he said to discard it and no need to make any settlements for
that, now your new number will be continued.
He was from the Airtel Outlet in Vaishali, his name is Manish, Phone# 9810227301.
Total lies and false commitments he made.

New number (0120 4337756) got activated around 14th Aug.

Thereafter I laid a request to cancel my previous number. Few days after that i got call from retension
department and they said that my previous number can be reactivated and offered me a new plan of
649. rental with same services and also promised that my previous bill amount from 17th July - 30th
July will be waved off.

My previous number got re-activated on 8th Sept. Again so much of delay.

Now for the period of 30 July - 8 Spt, my previous number was never in use because of of AIRTELs
lame and disgusted service, and still I am being charged for this. I have asked your executives that Ill
pay gladly for waht is acceptable and as per my usage but please clear this up, but nobody has done
a thing. 
Also my bill includes Rs 300. shifting charges. How can you people justify this when you commit for
shifting in 3 days and actually it takes 40 days. 

AIRTEL claims to be the best service provider but I strongly believe that BSNL or any other Service
provider gives much better service.

Either you people can resolve all this immidiately or I am done with AIRTEL and never in live will I
take any services from AIRTEL niether will suggest anyone. 

And if this is not resolved, I am not going to pay a single penny and if you people again bother me for
payments, then I know ways to deal with this.
Dear Avinash ,

This is to inform that your concern listed on 21 Oct. 2010 is been worked upon. We would require some
more time to resolve your concern. We assure you that we are committed to resolving the issue to your
satisfaction.

Regards, 
Rakesh Ranga