New Delhi, Jan. 7 -- Unlike Charles Dickens' fabled expression, it isn't the best or worst of times for us in India; we have seen better and we have seen worse. Inspired, however, by the title of the celebrated work from which these lines are taken, I am going to tell a tale-not of two cities, but of two disruptions, both of which arrived on India's scene with a bang, promising the consumer escape from mediocrity and even delivering on that promise for a while.

This is a tale of IndiGo in aviation and Vodafone in telecom. Both injected competition into sectors long accustomed to limited choice and uneven service. For a brief period, they expanded our access, brought prices down and forced sluggish incumbents to respond. And then, as so o...