'Dabbawallahs' to speak at meet

The 'Dabbawallahs' of Mumbai will address a meet on logistics and supply chain management in Bangalore on Saturday.

Dabbawallahs, represented by Raghunath Medge and G L Talekar, president and secretary of Mumbai Dabbawallahs' Association will address a discussion on "Impeccable Logistics and Supply Chain Management" organised by ICFAI Centre for Business Research (ICBR), Bangalore.

ICBR is bringing out a book on the Dabbawallahs, the content of which is expected to span their 100 plus year old history, their logistics and supply chain management, their business efficiency, their fame and their future in this rapidly changing world of business.

Gururcharan Das, former CEO of Procter & Gamble, while discussing "India's Emerging Competitiveness" under its "Distinguished Lecture Series" organised by ICFAI Business School Bangalore, said: "By 2010 India will have the world's largest number of English speaking people. India's demographic advantage means that its high growth will continue longer while China will slow. China is faster and ahead, but in the longer term India may be a surer bet."

Sounding a note of optimism, he said that despite problems faced by the country, "we have tigers in our midst and when the middle class crosses 50 per cent, politics will also change."

Das said that to understand the future, we must look at the past to evolve a long term economic strategy. The industrial revolution in the West took place at a growth rate of 3 per cent over 100 years. India's per capita income will reach the current US per capita income by 2,250 per cent at its pre-1980 trend growth rate. But the same level will be achieved by 2,066 at the post-1980 trend growth rate, which works out to be a gain of 184 years.

The lesson to be learnt here is that even slow reforms add up over time. For instance, the literacy rate, which was 17 per cent in 1950 rose gradually to 52 per cent in 1990, 65 per cent in 2000 and is expected to rise to 80 per cent in 2010.

Similarly, he said, the percentage of people below the poverty line which was 46 per cent in 1980 declined to 26 per cent in 2000 and is projected to further decline to 16 per cent in 2010. Since the last 20 years, one per cent of the people have been crossing the poverty line every year, he added.

Earlier, IBS-B director T R Venkatesh in his welcome address said that in the real world, management is not marketing management, financial management, operations management, or even human resource management.

"Managers must bring together and integrate their knowledge and skills in all these areas, if they are to be effective," he added.