If you want to set up shop in Gujarat but have no ideas. Tobacco is the answer. Possibly the most profitable retail business in entire rural Gujarat would be the sale of tobacco. Every single person enjoys chewing it and spitting it out. It’s like cigarettes in Bengal.
Next would probably be telecom. They all have electricity in their homes thanks to the Jyoti Gram scheme introduced by the Modi Government. And now most of them have cell phones.
Ok, so may be I am wrong about the Telecom bit.
But Tobacco is extraordinarily popular here. It’s also ironic, considering this is the state that banned Liquor since 1961 a la Gandhigiri but left Tobacco alone.
P.S: My fellow intern, Prateek Bhatt who studies in a jail was overlooking as I was writing this post and adds “No, please set up shop in Orissa instead.”
