God on Sale

Invoking the almighty or running after the all mighty rupaiah...  Call it faith or religion; modern marketers have infiltrated the divine corridors spawning the estimated Rs.116 billion Indian ‘Faith’ industry.

Sauvé and strapping Jatin Gupta (24), an MBA, has recently joined his father’s food processing business in Kanpur. Like most youngsters these days, he loves partying, movies and enjoys fast cars. But, quite unlike many others of his age, he is also deeply religious. And while he may sometime miss his weekly visit to the temple, he leaves no opportunity to update the ringtone and wallpaper on his cell phone with the latest devotional offerings from his service provider. Talking to 4Ps B&M, Jatin explains that till about a year ago, he never knew about religious ringtones. “One day I heard the Hanuman Chalisa as caller tune in my friend’s cell phone. I immediately called up my service provider and got one for myself too,” he says.

Today, Jatin has a sizeable collection of ringtones, devotional hello tunes and an array of wallpapers depicting Hindu gods and goddesses on his handset. He adds, “Of course, I paid the usual charges for these, but hearing the Gayatri Mantra every time my cell rings, makes me feel connected to the powers that be.” Like Jatin, a wave of India’s 464 million (and growing) mobile subscribers are getting hooked to devotional VAS offerings for precisely this ‘connect with god’ that has gone missing from their fast & furious lifestyle. So even as India’s Rs.1,200 billion telecom juggernaut races toward greater monetary success, there is a steady stream of marketers painting it with holy colours to cash in on the commercial power of growing religious sentiments. For India’s leading VAS content developers like Mauj Telecom, IndiaGames and Cellebrum, while cricket and Bollywood remain killer content, religious content has begun accounting for almost 12-15% of the total Rs.60 billion VAS industry. Says Dippak Khurana, VP-Content Business, Mauj, “Indians are religious and their mobile screens are a mere reflection of what they like. Since their handset screens offer personalisation, people like to set up either their favourite Bollywood track or religious song.”

For the record, VAS content providers have now become consistent in development of religious content, ranging from the frivolous (like astrology, numerology,  et al) to the profound. For instance, Mauj’s product ‘108 Krishna Names’, everyday offers the user a unique name of Lord Krishna, accompanied with a relevant picture, a detailed description of the name and a relevant TrueTone that the consumer can download. In January this year, they even launched two new 2D and 3D games designed on the Indian epic Mahabharata, which have become the most popular games in Mauj’s stable – surpassing even the cricket-based games in its kitty. Hungama mobile has gone to the extent of providing its customers with services like ‘Deity of the Day’, while Mauj Mobile has started ‘Gita Shloka Service’ on an average monthly subscription charge of Rs.30.

Not that Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Jainism are not on the radar of operators like Mauj and Hungama. SMS alerts with quotes from the Bible, Gita and Quran, pan-religious downloadable mobile themes are also extremely popular, making devotional content one of the prime money-spinner value-added services. As per industry estimates, 40-45% of revenues are contributed by devotional music content alone, with most subscribers coming from semi-urban and rural markets. “We have a complete suite for Islam viz. Naaton, Hamd & Duaaein. Similarly, we cover gods across the regional markets, starting from South India. Our focus is pan India and we have products which cater to every mobile subscriber in the country,” avers Khurana, confident that as mobile penetration moves to rural India, the demand for religious applications is only set to grow from here. Last heard Mauj’s business model had attracted much-coveted VC funding to the tune of $10 million.

Religion: Off the Shelf

And you thought that religion is fading in cities and among the educated? Check this. A survey by Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) has already established that the stress of urban living is pushing people to search for anchors in their lives, which they recreate through religion. The survey found that 93% Indians – irrespective of education – believe in God; 64% visit a temple, mosque or gurudwara regularly and 53% offer prayers daily. It’s almost as if the till recently subdued religious fabric of a nation is now seeking manifestation in the conspicuous consumption that defines modern times. And as the daily grind becomes more hectic & competitive, “quick connects” with god are fast gaining momentum. On the one hand are Gayatri Mantra or Hanuman Chalisa ringtones, while on the other are guys providing services like online prayers and mobile donations.

Even deity statue makers are carving their own special niche in this godly industry. And while most statue purchases are still made through the unorganised market, some organised players are stepping in to take advantage, with Lladro being a key player among the latter. Indian mythological and religion inspired arts and sculptures in fact contribute over 20% of Lladro’s entire turnover. Says Sachin Jain, Senior Brand Manager at Lladro: “We are not a religious commodity brand; instead we are a brand that sells emotions, art and lifestyle.” Lladro began its Indian religious tryst with Ganesha idols in the year 2001. And when the 2,000 piece limited edition was a super success worldwide, Lladro successfully created and began selling Radha Krishna idols. “Then we created Lakshmi, which has been our best selling product in the world,” adds Jain. When they began crafting Lakshmi wares, they priced them starting Rs.1.64 lakh a piece. The same art is being sold at Rs.7.5 lakh a piece today. As per Jain, with the Lladro Lakhsmi their customers possess a unique statement of art. “And so we call it a lifestyle statement,” he says. Jain and others of his ilk are now awaiting the peak sales and marketing season of Diwali. Having already sunk huge moolah into tracking and maintain close relationship with customer, Jain particularly is confident about customer loyalty in the upcoming Diwali season.

Even travel companies are cashing in by organising religious yatras for the young and old alike. Talking to the magazine, Arup Sen, Executive Director, Cox & Kings reveals, “Of the estimated 400 million journeys undertaken by Indians every year domestically, close to 100 million journeys (nearly a fourth) are to pilgrimage centres like Tirupati, Shirdi, Golden Temple or even the Char Dham Yatra.” And the numbers are swelling. As per the estimates of Cox & Kings, the growth in this segment ranges between 25-30% across age groups and socio-economic profiles. No surprise that they’ve priced their services straddling the lowest and highest rungs (starting from Rs.5,869 to Rs.1,67,000 per person) of the market. Industry estimates peg the annual pilgrimage to the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine alone at about Rs.474 crore every year.

This brings us to where the big monies really lie viz. the temples, mosques and churches, which are fast modernising their marketing and services to keep pace with the times and growing demand. And, leading the race are the gurus that claim to take you a step closer to spirituality and well being.

faith Healing

Walk into any ‘Art of Living’ centre (an NGO started by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar that claims to uplift humanity by bringing peace at the level of the individual, society and the world as a whole) and what startles you is the number of youngsters gathered there for spiritual healing, shattering preconceived notions that it was a place for ‘senior citizens’ who want to make the best of their retired life by enhancing their spiritual self. “Why don’t you opt for the YES+ course?” was the question that was thrown at us no sooner we walked into one such centre in South Delhi. Straight from a marketing text book, eh?

In fact, not only Art of Living, even institutions like International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKON), OSHO World, Patanjali Yogpeeth (Baba Ramdev), et al, are all places where gurus claim to offer peace of mind
for battered souls. Girish Bhardwaj, a new entrant to the Art of Living course who has already undergone two stages – the Basic and Advanced Courses – avers that “his perception towards life has changed” after attending these sessions. And if you thought that spirituality comes free, welcome to the world of materialistic spiritualism - the course fee ranges anything from Rs.1,500 to Rs.3,000 (for a week long session).
So, what is it that prompts a Gen-X youngster to be a part of such centres. And more importantly how do centres attract such huge crowd? Well, if you market your courses with tags like ‘Self Development’, ‘Stress Management’, et al, any person in the present scenario would be sure to lap it up. Don’t mistake us. We don’t disagree with the basic premise of such courses, which have almost become food for many souls in today’s stress filled society. What we are only bringing out is the manner in which modern marketing techniques are now being applied to this otherwise spiritual journey! Despite being low on ads in mainstream media, these centres have a huge presence on the Internet and that is one way they manage to attract tech savvy people like Girish.  “Having read some books I got all the more confused. Thanks to the Internet, I chanced upon Art of Living,” points out Girish. Moreover, word-of-mouth certainly seems to be one of their key marketing strategies. “You become happy and you would like your near and dear ones to become happy too and that is how it’s marketed” he adds. There’s even a fair bit of showbiz involved in the business because many gurus spend big bucks to buy TV time that allows them to reach out to masses, organise mass jagrans in well-off neighbourhoods and even hire PR agencies to spread their enlightened word to the stressed out world! 

Out of the Mandir; Into your Living Rooms

Meet NRI, Dr. Ravi Krishnamurthy, a Program Manager in Nanotechnology Victoria Ltd., of Australia. Dr Ravi recently donated a cottage in memory
of his (late) father at Tirupati. But because his hectic schedule really did not allow for a trip to India at the time, he simply used the more convenient e-Donation option on Tirumala Tirupati
Devasthanam’s (TTD) website. “The e-Donation option makes the distance from Tirumala for people like us irrelevant,” he told 4Ps B&M. Varaprasad Pakanati, Associate Manager, GMR group, Bangalore is another happy customer… oops devotee of the e-Seva facility provided by TTD! While his family pays regular visit to Tirumala, Pakanati himself could not take out time for the pilgrimage. “Being in the team of higher echelons at office, my schedules are hectic and time-management during the visits to Tirumala used to become
difficult,” he told 4Ps B&M. But that was before e-Sewa came to his rescue. The web based interface allows pilgrims (like Pakanati) to book for various services, minimum three days and maximum 90 days in advance. “That has greatly reduced my toil,” says a visibly happier Pakanati. In as much, the digital age seems to have given a new lease of life to these iconic temples of religion. D. K. Adikesavulu Naidu, Chairman, TTD told 4Ps B&M, “Devotees can even book the e-Seva and e-Accommodation at Tirumala through the Internet.” To ensure security, the veracity of the identity cards, scanned and submitted via the Internet, are physically verified at the security office at the time of the personal visit.

Seeing the potential and growing number of NRIs and RIs eager to make digital connect with their gods, a rash of fly-by-night operators have rushed in to gate-crash this ‘divine’ party. Talking about online pujas offered by private sites, TTD’s new Executive Officer, I. Y. R. Krishna Rao laments, “Yes! Some private organisations are collecting fees for the on-line puja at Tirupati. It is ridiculous as there’s no way that they are eligible to do so.”

Not that Lord Vekateshwara of Tirupati needed the support of his virtual devotees to retain the honour of the world’s richest god. The lion’s share of the income of the TTD is derived from the sacred ‘Hundi’ – the place where the visiting devotees deposit their offerings in fulfilment of their vows. The bulk of the TTD’s income, Rs.3.43 billion in 2003-04, Rs.3.49 billion in 2004-05, Rs.3.82 billion in 2005-06, Rs.4.81 billion in 2006-07, Rs.6.08 billion in 2007- 08 has now soared to a whopping Rs.8 billion per annum and is derived from these offerings. The collection from the temple hundi at present is not less than Rs.1 crore a day. In fact, it is not uncommon to find huge individual offerings ranging from Rs.50 lakh to Rs.1 crore dropped into the hundi, with rich devotees making spectacular offerings to the Lord. On a single day (May 30, 2009) for instance, the temple’s ‘hundi’ received a record Rs.2 crore worth of donations in cash and jewellery!

And while TTD’s financials are not public and there’s hardly any  information about how these funds are used, with that much quick money in their coffers, small surprise that there is a visible enhancement, both in terms of facilities for the devotees as well as TTD’s marketing budgets. There’s in fact even a flourishing audio and video cassettes, compact discs and publications business that is booming alongside, including a religious monthly magazine, Sapthagiri, which is being sold across the country in five languages viz. Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi and English.

The Siddhivinayak temple in Mumbai – that receives around Rs.45 crore as donation annually – is another big revenue earner. Talking to 4Ps B&M, Subhash Mayekar, President of the Sree Siddhivinayak Trust says, “About 40% of our total donation is used for poor people and development.” The temple premises, set in the heart of India’s financial capital, plays host to around 25,000 visitors everyday, while thousands visit the temple via virtual channel. Marketing is now acquiring bigger proportions in the temples annual budget. “We are building waiting halls – five storey buildings equipped with a library – which can accommodate 5,000 devotees,” adds Mayekar. Having roped in TATA SKY as their marketing partner, the temple has recently also ventured into mobile marketing as another way to attract customers (read: devotees) into its arms. The temple has even gone ahead to release a movie based on the deity titled Vighnaharta Shree Siddhivinayak. Marketed by Vistaas Media and Eros International, the producers have been able to rope in Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar, Divya Dutta and Parmeet Sethi for the movie.

Divinity is in the air

Talking about movies, can one never forget the runaway TRP (and advertiser money) success of Ramanand Sagar’s ‘Ramayan’ and B. R. Chopra’s ‘Mahabharat’. The two combined could well be termed as the pioneers of  the modern day ‘faith industry’. If in the music industry, Saregama, T-series and Creative Eye Ltd. are calling the ‘divine’ shots, in TV it is a rash of spiritual channels, led by players like Aastha, Sanskar, Zee Jagran and Sadhna, which are cashing in on the market. Estimated to be worth Rs.60 crore and growing, rating agencies claim that the target group share of male and female viewers of these channels are 54% and 46% respectively. The fact that a majority of these channels are free to air is simply an added factor for their growing popularity. The aam junta’s ‘search for GOD’ is what these spiritual channels are banking on and are reaping rich dividends. For instance, almost 70% slots on Aastha TV are pre-booked by advertisers at any given time.

Even demand for spiritual and mythological books is growing rapidly at about 30% every year. Rajendra Prasad Sharma, Vendor, Gita Press Book Stall, New Delhi Railway Station has been associated with the religious publishing industry for the last 12-13 years and is euphoric at the monthly sales figures from his stall. For Gita Press, the greatest marketing strategy has been their pricing and the variety of texts in lucid language (The Bhagavadgita – The Song of Divine:  With Sanskrit text and English translation priced at Rs.10). But, as India continues to ape the West, does mythology have a market in India. Says P. Jayakumar, CEO, Toonz Animation India, “Mythology appeals to people regardless of their age. Even grown-ups would have enjoyed mythological stories in their childhood and love to see them take shape now in the visual medium. The key is in presentation. For kids, a visual fantasy in tune with our culture would be more appealing and hence the huge potential.”

Jayakumar has his own reasons to firmly believe in this ‘mythological’ market. While Hanuman (India’s first animated feature film on God with a budget Rs.4.6 crore) raked in a whopping Rs.15 crore for Toonz Animation, its sequel – Hanuman Returns (budget Rs.25 crore) – was an even bigger hit minting in a colossal Rs.80 crore (320% return) for the company within just a few weeks of its release. And for those who are still not convinced, here a nugget. The brand value of Toonz Animation’s Hanuman alone is worth over Rs.8 billion today. Need we say more?