How Companies Have Capitalized on The Farmers Protest
The farmers protest in India against the three farm laws introduced by the Government have had an impact on many businesses in both positive and negative ways. This article discusses all the information you need, on how these companies have creatively turned this protest to their stride.
The company that has been brought back to life due to the farmer's protest is Airtel. Due to massive backlash and calls for a boycott of the telecom leader Jio by the farmers, Airtel was able to realize this opportunity and quickly take action by setting up free sim port booths and offering lucrative offers to all the people willing to port their sim cards to Airtel.
Bharti Airtel posted a net profit of Rs 854 crore in the October-December period — after six straight quarters of losses.
Revenue increased 24% to Rs 26,518 crore on-year in the fiscal third quarter. Airtel added 14.2 million users — the most in four quarters — and subscribers moved to higher-paying plans, helping drive up average revenue per user (ARPU) to a three-year high of Rs 166 from Rs 162 in July-September.
Airtel’s significant 4G customer gains in the December quarter shows it has clearly benefited from the massive customer acquisition challenges that rival Jio has faced in key markets like Punjab amid the farmers’ agitation.
Similar happened with Vodafone- Idea, which was also able to expand their customer base due to the protest.
Mahindra & Mahindra’s farm equipment sector, amid rising calls for tractors to participate in the farmer's protest, announced that from January 1, 2021, the company will increase the price of its range of tractors across models. The company claims that this has been necessitated due to the increase in commodity prices.
The petroleum industry also noticed a heavy increase in the consumption of diesel amid the protest. This is positive for both the petrol pump companies (such as Bharat Petroleum, Indian Oil) and the government as it gets to receive a good amount of money from fuel duty.
These were the positives of various industries and companies, amid the largest protest in human history.
Agriculture is the foundation of manufactures, since the productions of nature are the materials of art.
- Edward Gibbon
Do you think that these brands’ attempt to profit from the farmer’s protest is justified? Should these companies be encouraged to take a stand too or is staying silent a better option? Please let us know in the comments below.
