The namesake

WHAT’S IN A name? In October 2010, the CEO of a Rs 1,000 crore group with interests in edible oil, wind energy, and information technology, launched a swadeshi push mail service that somewhat mimics BlackBerry. This June, the government-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL), a telecom service provider, started offering the service to its mobile users. The push mail’s name? Bharat Berry. The CEO’s name? Ajay Data. His company’s name? The Data Group.

Ajay was never a Datta or a Dutta. Nor was he Daata (it means ‘giver’ and is synonymous with God). “People think I’ve changed my name to suit my business, but it’s our family name,” says Data, who comes from a line of oil traders in Rajasthan.

The idea of Bharat Berry was born two years ago when Data figured there was an opportunity to create a local push mail service. After months of raising the ante, in 2009, the government threatened to close down BlackBerry services because it was not able to intercept encrypted mails and messages as BlackBerry’s servers were outside India.

Data knew this was the right time to offer a service aligned with the government’s monitoring norms. “A team of 10 worked for almost a year to make this application, when Indian private firms wanted to stay away from the interception issue. Our servers are hosted in India, and security agencies have validated the application. So users can be assured of continuous service,” says Data. Bharat Berry works on all Internet-enabled mobile devices.

According to consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, the enterprise mobile e-mail market, mainly push mail is pegged at Rs 400 crore and is growing 20% annually. BlackBerry’s market share is between 78% and 80%. “Today businesses cannot do without push mail. The segment has significant growth potential,” says Abhishek Chauhan, senior consultant, information and communications technology practice, Frost & Sullivan.

Siddharth Neri, analyst, India mobile device markets, CyberMedia Research, says data security will be a concern for enterprises. “Bharat Berry might need to go the extra mile to assure the enterprise customer on security of information.”

Ask Data about clashing with biggies such as BlackBerry and he is quick to say it is not about competition but about creating a push mail service for the masses. “Unlike others, our services don’t need an expensive device. It is just an application on the existing device, hence it is value for money, especially for small and medium businesses,” he says.

Market leader, BlackBerry, is undeterred by the home-grown Indian solution. Though it has been aggressively pushing its devices in the retail market, its executives say this segment is not accessing push mail as it needs an enterprise mail server. “We are not targetting the feature phone segment of the market as it would be indifferent to push or pull mail access,” says Sunil Lalvani, director enterprise sales, Research In Motion, India. Incidentally, BlackBerry hasn’t objected to the name, Bharat Berry.

Data says his service is not limited to enterprise users and even if 2% of the 5.5 million MTNL mobile users shift to Bharat Berry, it would be a good start. He is also betting on other operators joining in. He doesn’t fight shy of playing the swadeshi card—Bharat Berry’s logo carries the tricolour and the fonts resemble the Devanagri script.