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I’ll give you a missed call*.

From Sidhu On 9 July 2009 View Comments

*missed call – calling someone with the callerID feature on, and terminating the call before  the receiver takes up the call and either of you gets charged a penny (or a paisa)

Ever been part of a conversation like this?

Caller 1: When will you start from your home?

Caller 2: About 5 PM.

Caller 1: Are you sure?

Caller 2: I’ll give you a missed call when I start, how about that.

–

This seems quite normal to me, and according to TOI, it’s because I’m an Indian. Though the report titled – “Only Indians make, receive missed calls: Study” is plain erroneous, because well, looks like it wasn’t true in 2007 from the very organization (LIRNEASIA) that is quoted by the TOI article, and in their most recent study (pdf) that I could find (dated Feb/March of this year) – they actually show that ALL six countries surveyed (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Philippines and Thailand) do make use of missed calls as a way to communicate and send ’signals’ while saving money.

Slide 47 of this report(pdf) gives the numbers -

Bangladesh (93% of the people surveyed use ‘missed calls’), and Philippines (86%) are actually higher than India and Pakistan (both 84%). Wonder where TOI got it’s reports from.

Anyway, to quote other articles from Lirneasia.net, ‘missed calls’ is a universal strategy of cost cutting, and it’s called beeping/flashing in other Asian and African countries.

The TOI article prompted me to find LIRNEAsia.net website and this is what they have to say in their profiles section:

LIRNEasia started off with a physical presence consisting of two full time staff, an executive director and a compact 15 by 20 ft office under the leafy shade of an ancient Mara tree at the back of the parking lot of SLIDA, the administrative training academy of Sri Lanka, in Colombo. Neither our size nor our location in any way limited our possibilities. Since February 2006, we are located in a stand-alone building with a little more elbow room. Around 10 people come to work on any given day. We now have an actual conference room, though we miss the table under the tree.

I must say, great spirit folks and good luck! Do check out their site and their projects listed, some very valuable information about south east Asian countries that you will like.

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  • Sidhu
    Thanks for dropping by Rohan, that's a amazing type of work you folks do. Will read up more on your org and follow up with you in a few weeks..
  • Thank you for your interest and kind words. You may find this paper of interest: http://cprsouth.org/sites/default/files/Nirmali.... It pulls together the missed-call results from the 2006 study. There is also a good piece by Jonathon Donner: http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/donner.html
  • That is the very nature of pay-as-you-go plans. The more minutes you provide the less likely it is to happen.
    The concept of mega plans, mobile-to-mobile, rollover and night/weekend minutes makes this practice obsolete in Amrika. But other than that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the system of missed calls, Indian or not.

    On the other hand, if a study came out that said Indians seldom leave voicemails, I would be in full agreement. Since the concept of missed calls is not common in the US, it is pretty annoying when a desi friend calls you and doesn't leaves a voicemail and then expects to receive a call in return.
  • Kellie
    Young students in Australia call it 'pranking' (as in 'Text or prank me when you arrive'). And agree, it's a frugal practice used everywhere, but maybe not so universally as the countries mentioned in the study.
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