Rann-Neeti – General Guidelines

Presented by The Consulting & Strategy Club of IIM Lucknow

Context
According to a report by NASSCOM, India’s start-up ecosystem is showing signs of scaling up,
with total number of start-ups with a valuation of over $1 billion reaching a count of 24 in
2019. This is the third largest number of unicorns in a single country in the world. The report
also stated that investments in start-ups was steady at $4.4 billion in January- September
2019 with a huge spike at the early stages.
However, India still has a long road ahead when it comes to creating an enabling environment
for entrepreneurs. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor India Report stated that a mere 11
per cent of India’s adult population was engaged in total early stage entrepreneurial activity.
Around 4 per cent of the population (the lowest in the world) represented nascent
entrepreneurs who were taking active steps to set up a business that they wanted to own or
co-own. At the same time, business discontinuation rate in India was reported to be amongst
the highest in the world at 26.4 per cent.
One of the major reasons for the success or failure of businesses was found to be the backing
of the government or bureaucratic hurdles. Given this context, ‘Rann-Neeti’ puts you in the
shoes of an entrepreneur and gives you the power to influence election results to maximize
returns for your business through political lobbying.
About the Game
You are an entrepreneur looking to start-up in India. In the first round, you are pitching to
investors for funds. Once you have secured funds at the end of round 1, you allocate a certain
proportion of the funds to fund political parties that are contesting in an upcoming election
in December 2020. The political parties use the funds secured from you, other start-ups
playing the game and other funding sources to campaign and influence votes in their favour.
In the final round, being responsible citizens of the country, you alongside other teams vote
for the party of your choice and sit back and relax till the results are announced and with that
the returns that you are expected to get for your business post the election results.
The team that maximizes returns from political lobbying wins!
Round Details
The game will be played across three rounds. Each round will be accompanied by data to help
you make decisions pertaining to that round. Additionally, rules and guidelines for each round
will be provided to you. A summary of the rounds has been given on the next page.

1
 Round Details
Rounds Decision Data
- Investment Pool Available for each Industry
- Industry Attractiveness Information
Which industry do you
Round 1 - Industry preference of political parties
want to start-up in?
- Historical Election Trends (Last 3 Elections)
- Bidding rules & guidelines

How much money do Additional Data

Round 2 you want to put into the - Initial funds received from investor
political parties? - Fund allocation rules & guidelines

Which party will you Additional Data

Round 3 vote for to maximize - Total Funding with each Political Party
your returns? - Voting rules & guidelines

Winning Criteria
At the end of Round 3, returns from political lobbying will be calculated for each party

(Funds put by you in a party) / (total funding with party at end of

Returns from
Round 2) *(development fund received by party post elections)
Political Lobbying
Total Development Fund with Parliament = INR 20,00,00,000

Note 1: If you allocate funds in a party in Round 2 that favours the industry you have chosen,
the returns you get from that party in Round 3 will double. No penalty otherwise.

Note 2: Proportion of funds made available for lobbying that is not allocated to any party
will earn you the average profits for the industry you have chosen

Development Fund (seats won/total seats) *total development corpus with parliament
Received by Party Total Seats = 543

Average of historical election trends, funding received by the party

Seats Won by till the end of Round 2 and market determined vote share at the
Party end of Round 3. (Weights allocated to each of the factors are 25 per
cent, 25 per cent & 50 per cent respectively)

2
Charts & Tables
Industry Data

Investment Pool for Different Industries

S.No. Industry Name Investment Pool (INR)
1 Airline 1,10,00,000
2 Automobile 1,40,00,000
3 FinTech 70,00,000
4 E-Commerce 1,30,00,000
5 FMCG 1,80,00,000
6 Logistics 50,00,000
7 Media & Entertainment 2,00,00,000
8 Tourism 1,20,00,000
Total INR 10,00,00,000

Industry Attractiveness Matrix

Supplier Buyer Complementary Return on
CAGR Competition
Power Power Industries Capital
Airline 19% Medium Medium Medium Medium 20%
Automobile 5% High High Medium High 25%
FinTech 22% High High Low Medium 40%
E-Commerce 40% High Medium Low Medium 15%
FMCG 28% High High High High 30%
Logistics 8% High Low Medium Medium 35%
Media & 45%
Entertainment 12% Low Low Low High
Tourism 10% Low Medium High Low 30%

Political Party Data

Initial Funding with Different Political Parties

S.No. Name of Political Party Initial Funds (INR)
1 National Progress Party 90,00,000
2 Aam Janta Party 70,00,000
3 United India Party 75,00,000
4 Vikas Dal 85,00,000
5 India Development Party 80,00,000
Total INR 4,00,00,000

3
 Historical Electoral Trends
S.No. Name of Political Party 2015 2010 2005
1 National Progress Party 103 87 92
2 Aam Janta Party 152 136 81
3 United India Party 125 125 98
4 Vikas Dal 71 87 153
5 India Development Party 92 108 119
Total 543 543 543

Synergies between Political Parties’ Manifestos & Industry Interests

National India
Aam Janta United India
Progress Vikas Dal Development
Party Party
Party Party
Airline
Automobile
FinTech
E-Commerce
FMCG
Logistics
Media &
Entertainment
Tourism