The Hindu Business Line : `By 2020, quality should be every Indian's birth right'

INDIA Inc may have found its B.G. Tilak in Mr Anand Mahindra today. At the 11th CII Quality Summit, which opened here, the CII President urged industry to whip up a national quality movement, ensure that "Quality was every Indian's birth-right" and take its lessons in excellence out of boardrooms into everyday life.

Mr Mahindra observed at the inaugural session of the three-day annual summit that India was marked by pockets of excellence amidst a sea of indifference and poor quality. World-class production centres, internationally acclaimed corporates and services stood out amidst squalor, indifference and neglect. "We may have the world's top motorcycle and moped producers, but we are miserably placed in the human development index; rank high in corruption and pollution, and are still called the Third World. Our concern should be how to move quality from boardrooms to the sidewalks, and how to apply corporate principles of business excellence to everyday life" such as public infrastructure and education, he said.

Referring to the recent BRIC (Brazil-Russia-India-China axis) report that India would be a major economic power by 2050, Mr Mahindra cautioned that unless a national quality initiative emerged, India would not be able to make the mark. For that, it was up to the industry to create a mindset so that "By 2020, quality should be every Indian's birth right."

It may sound like an outrageous ambition, but why should we not make India the quality capital, he asked.

Echoing him, Dr K. Kasturirangan, MP and former ISRO Chairman, said quality was always on the Indian psyche and it was time to take it forward, as in the successful space programme that was marked by best practices. There should be no compromise on quality, as the vanilla misadventure that was bringing down its exports to 30 per cent showed. He urged CII to use the forthcoming Edusat satellite to spread its quality message.

For the fifth time in nine years, no company qualified for the CII-Exim Bank Award for Business Excellence 2003, although 33 were shortlisted for detailed study. As many as 19 of these companies received commendation and three were named for significant achievement in business.

The summit focuses on the theme `Building Indian MNCs: The quality way' and includes a two-day special session on quality in education. It will also showcase Japanese models, success stories in innovation and service like Tata Indica and Aravind Eye Care Systems.

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