Kanika Datta: Nationalism has no place in business

SWOT

National triumphalism was conspicuous by its presence the day after Tata Steel outbid Brazil's CSN by 5 pence a share to acquire Corus, the Anglo-Dutch incarnation of British Steel. All through the day of press conferences and interviews, there were frequent allusions to the East India Company (also an Anglo-Dutch corporation), the Raj, wiping out the wrongs of colonialism et al.

Several newspapers and TV channels chose to celebrate the historical irony that Tata Steel, a company that started as Jamshetji Tata's audacious demonstration of Indian manufacturing capabilities in British India, had taken over a former icon of Britain Inc and that too one that was several times larger.

Given the way in which India has burst upon the international business stage as the Next Big Thing, following decades of policy-induced underperformance, this outburst of nationalistic euphoria is probably understandable. The question is whether it is warranted or, indeed, healthy""especially when informs public policy-making.

Certainly, Indian business has cause for satisfaction. In less than two decades, India Inc has managed to transform itself into one of the world's most value-creating producers. India is now a major beneficiary of the global intellectual arbitrage. The country's scientific talent is being feted with pharma, bio-science and engineering giants increasingly locating their cutting-edge R&D here. IT remains a racehorse on the back of multinationals' eternal quest for cost-competitiveness.

Indian billionaires now make regular appearances in various rich lists""there are far more Indians in the rankings than Chinese billionaires. India is now happy to claim the L N Mittals, Indra Nooyis and Arun Sarins as its very own, though all these luminaries made their names overseas. India's outbound foreign direct investment now exceeds its inbound counterpart by several leagues.

Warts and all, opinion in middle class India has it, India no longer needs to be diffident about itself. This attitude is roughly the business equivalent of the public outrage at the insults to Shilpa Shetty in the British reality show Celebrity Big Brother.

Perhaps after decades of a collective inferiority complex, it would be gratuitous to grudge middle class India its moment of delight. The danger is when this attitude spills out into policy-making. Just 40 years ago, policy-makers chose to suborn the concept of swadeshi, a powerful political thought in the early part of the twentieth century, to the cause of economic protectionism. Ultimately, "self-sufficiency" and "import substitution" became altars on which the Indian economy suffered.

For a while in the nineties, after liberalisation began, this attitude persisted among politicians of a saffron hue until it became clear that Indian business was extremely capable of parrying the threat of global competition. In spite of such evidence, hints of economic xenophobia endure""though outside the relatively enlightened corridors of North Block and the Prime Minister's Office. Sonia Gandhi's latest missive against foreign direct investment in retail is a case in point.

The point to note from the Tata-Corus M&A is that there is little scope for patriotism in business decisions. Frankly, it plays no role in India Inc's long-term strategic calculations. Ironically, businessmen who demanded protection at home yesterday are the same ones who are eyeing M&A opportunities around the world today. No doubt, this will be the story of retail a decade from now, despite the energetic anti-FDI lobbying today.

Indeed, in the shrill media euphoria over the Corus deal last week, few would have noted Ratan Tata's muted comment to Business Standard. "I have always believed that if you really want to be a global company, you have to dismiss your notions of a single nationality and operate as a truly global company operating in global markets ...," he said (emphasis added).

As Tata explains, the Corus acquisition has a strategic logic; it catapults Tata Steel into the ranks of the world's top five steel-makers in an industry in which size matters. Despite his obvious elation at his success, it was unlikely that any sense of hubris influenced his decision to bid for Corus in the first place.

This generation of Indian businessmen has a far more realistic outlook towards global opportunities than their older counterparts. It is unlikely that they are looking to wipe off the wrongs of a colonial past when they bid for companies in the West.

Like corporations all round the world and of all nationalities, Indian businesses understand the urgent need to acquire global scale and efficiencies to succeed in today's world. Flying the Indian flag while they do so will always be a secondary consideration.