Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Prime Minister who prompted the telecom boom

India Inc fondly remembered former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who died on Thursday, as the man whose policies shaped the corporate and economic landscape of the country for a long time, and who fast-tracked road infrastructure and heralded the telecom boom. They recalled that he was charismatic and personable, and a firm believer in modern India.

“All of us who knew him (Vajpayee) are saddened to hear of his passing away.  He was a great leader with a great sense of compassion and humour. He will be remembered fondly by a vast number of us,” said Ratan Tata, chairman, Tata Trusts.

Vajpayee’s pet project Golden Quadrilateral, which established the country’s highway network, is known. What people are less familiar with is his contribution to ensure that engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro (L&T) is what it is today.

In the early 2000s, L&T chief A M Naik was trying to thwart takeover bids by the Ambanis and the Birlas. He met Vajpayee once. Naik successfully fought off the takeover bids, but before that he tried to “sell” L&T, a nationally important corporation to the PM. 

Now in his 70s, Naik fondly remembers the meeting: “I told him how important L&T was for the nation, for aerospace and defence. He, in turn, called the finance and defence ministers and told them that L&T was the pride of the nation, and asked them to lend an ear to what I had to say.” Vajpayee told his ministers that he wanted L&T to be independent, said Naik. 

Others such as Sunil Bharti Mittal, founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises, remember how Vajpayee’s contributions helped the telecom sector tide over teething troubles. 

Vajpayee’s government ushered in the new policy that did away with the fixed licence fees. Thanks to his policies, mobile tariffs fell drastically between 1998 and 2004.  “He can truly be called the father of modern telecommunication in India, having ushered in the National Telecom Policy in 1999, which helped the industry overcome some of its toughest early challenges,” said Mittal. 

Remembering his interactions with Vajpayee, Mittal added, “He was always very warm and receptive to the ideas I brought to his attention and took great interest in the development of younger entrepreneurs.”

G R Gopinath, who founded India’s first low-cost airline Air Deccan in 2003, recalled, “I had the opportunity to meet him and highlight issues faced by the airline, including bureaucratic red tape. He was very encouraging.”

Industry captains said he was a leader who believed in modern India. “He was very pro-business and pro-technology. The only interaction I had with him was on biotechnology. He understood the importance and a lot of far-reaching policies did happen at that time,” said Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, the chairman and managing director of biotech firm Biocon. 

She added, “I remember how attentive he was in discussing and understanding what biotechnology could do for modern India.” 

Habil Khorakiwala, group chairman of Wockhardt said "Prime Minister Vajpayee was a legendary leader; he shaped and gave momentum to India’s liberalisation, which we are all experiencing today. I had the opportunity to be with him when he addressed the US Congress and the impact he made on the American law makers was indeed remarkable."