India Inc, Left play comrade-in-arms

Left leaders, corporates brainstorm on right path.

At an Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India session, titled India's Economic Agenda, Raghu Mody, the chairman of the Rasoi group, finished a stirring speech on how the US administration had helped companies like Ford build their empires on the theory that "what is good for Ford is good for America".

"What is good for India should be good for your party," Mody told Left leaders Sitaram Yechury (CPM) and D Raja (CPI), who were invited to the meeting. He ended his speech with a 'lal salaam'.

Mody didn't exactly stir the Left. Raja's response was dry. "Since you have said 'lal salaam' to us, I'm wondering if I should address all of you as comrades," he told the gathering of leaders from some of India's leading business houses.

It was a sign of the "changing times", Raja continued, that representatives of Indian industry wanted to accommodate the Left's views.

The session saw industry heads trying to reason with the Left about their opposition to increased foreign direct investment (FDI), among other reform measures.

Yechury said a discussion was needed between Indian industry, trade unions and the government to revise the country's labour laws, where necessary.

The Left made it clear it was not against FDI in the country. "Don't label us pro-reforms or anti-reforms. We are open to FDI that augments productive capacity, upgrades technology and generates employment," Yechury said. FDI that met these criteria was as good for the Left as for Indian industry, he said.

The industrialists used the example of China to drive home the point that communist ideology did not necessarily mean "corny socialism". "The component of FDI in China is 13 times bigger than in India," said RV Kanoria, chairman and managing director, Kanoria Chemicals and Industries. According to him and other speakers, it was time for the Left parties to change their mindset.

Yechury and Raja were equally insistent that industry should have a change of mindset too. "Socialism is somewhat of an ugly word to use today. However, what happened in the Soviet Union and other countries is different from what we have now," Raja said.

Regarding China, the Left leaders said it was not indiscriminately allowing in FDI. "There are as many as six state-owned telecom players in China," Yechury pointed out.

These companies were allowed operations in the sector only after they had a stake in the manufacturing of mobile phones. "Why can't India follow this example?" Yechury asked. Raja said China was not afraid of being "isolated" for taking decisions in its national interest.

Regarding the relaxing of labour laws in India, the Left put it in the background of what was happening in China, where there was no hire-and-fire policy, according to Yechury. He talked about China's policy of providing dole.

One area where the two camps agreed on was that industry should play a more responsible role in the socio-economic development of the country.

The outcome of the session was a proposal to set up working groups from both sides to look at issues as such as Press Note 18. Now, that's an issue where the Left and industry find themselves on the same side of the table.