The last couple of years have seen a deluge of business books. There have been two high-profile autobiographies (by Capt Gopinath of Air Deccan and K P Singh of DLF), at least two books on the Nano, and one each on TCS (by S Ramadorai), Maruti Udyog (by R C Bhargava) and State Bank of India (by Rajesh Chakrabarti). Retailer Kishore Biyani has written a book, and so have new-age business leaders like Vineet Nayar, Subroto Bagchi and Nandan Nilekani. There are several others on management, marketing and advertising. Publishers have a long list of business books that they plan to bring out in the days to come. Several businessmen I know are desperately looking for writers to put in words the story of their lives.
This is a cultural shift of sorts. There was a time, not so long ago, that businessmen were looked down upon as unscrupulous bloodsuckers. Not without reason. Most often twisted rules and policy, in collusion with leaders and bureaucrats, to serve their own ends. As a result, seldom were they portrayed in a positive light in popular literature and cinema. That view has changed in the last 20-odd years. Small children do not hesitate for a moment before calling some businessman their role models. And their parents aren’t embarrassed one bit. Greed may still not be good in God-fearing India, but it is acceptable. Gordon Gecko wouldn’t mind that. That explains the sudden national interest in business.
It is also true that for the first time business stories can be told. What passed for business in yesteryears was cronyism and nothing else. A businessman’s worth was measured not by his vision, his education or his managerial abilities — it was always measured by the number of decision-makers he carried in his pocket. Clearly, these were secrets that were closely guarded and could never be allowed to come out in public. Almost all of them were unabashedly inefficient, but managed to survive by manipulating the Licence Raj to their advantage and ensuring protection from vastly superior multinational corporations. It was only when the economy was liberalised in 1991 that they realised that what they had been doing so far wasn’t good enough. But full credit should be given to them because they were able to change and adapt to the new order quickly. In the last few years, they finally have stories that can be told.
Of course, Indian business has grown in international stature. “Made in India” is hardly derogatory now. Many Indians feature regularly on “rich” lists. Most global sales now invariably have an Indian name or two floating around. One would, in the days to come, love to read about how Ratan Tata reinvented the Tata group, how Anand Mahindra expanded Mahindra & Mahindra and how Mukesh Ambani built a business of global scale. For the moment, we have to make do with lesser stories.
The uncomfortable question is: how truthful are these accounts? Unfortunately, not all are truthful. Many don’t hesitate to gloss over controversies and hide facts and events that may project them in a poor light. It is common for businessmen to put stringent conditions on their biographers. Family squabbles, for instance, are taboo. Almost all want to vet the book before it goes to the publisher. A few need to have their sense of proportion corrected. In his autobiography Simply Fly (HarperCollins), Capt Gopinath finally turns to Air Deccan more than halfway through the narrative! It would have helped if he had shortened the earlier years and expanded on the Air Deccan years.
