Reading what the panellists had to say at the PwC-Business Standard CEO Summit 2012 (“The winter of despondency,” February 21), the only conclusion that can be drawn is that India Inc protests too much.
It seems that many of the panellists can do business only on the crest of the wave and the responsibility for tackling the trough is that of the government’s. It’s time for Indian companies to look inwards.
For example, when dwelling on innovation, it would have been illuminating to hear J J Irani talk about the innovations by Tata Steel comparable to, say, Posco’s Finex technology for the use of iron ore fines instead of depleting high-grade lump ore. Or maybe Tata Steel does not need to innovate since it has captive iron-ore mines; a legacy asset rather than a competitive acquisition of natural resource through auction. Similarly, it would have served the greater good of governance if Deepak Kapoor would have put in the public domain the internal systemic failures within PwC that led renegade auditors to trigger the collapse of Satyam.
Or for that matter, when Harish Mariwala of Marico laments the government’s failure to provide fuel linkages, why not also talk of private power companies having this strange business model of first constructing the power plant and then applying for environmental clearances for fuel assets as a fait accompli. One wonders to whom he would attribute such “uncertainties” ?
And if John Flannery finds 35-45-year-old talent with the ability to run a $300-million business very scarce, he must be aware that Indian businesses would rather have promoter-family’s progeny parachute into the job rather than nurture the talent for the assignment.
The least that Indian business leaders can do is learn from other emerging markets that haranguing the government is unfashionable even in talk shops.
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Ajoy K Das Kolkata
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