The Hindu Business Line : `Financial Press must act as friend, philosopher & guide'

A CRUSADING editor-turned-politician who has carried his doggedness to the portals of government to successfully resolve knotty issues and push through the Government's disinvestment programme. The chief executive of the largest private sector bank who brought cutting-edge technology to universalise banking operations. And, a "brilliant manager of men and materials" who through tight cost control has helped a leading commercial vehicle manufacturer weather many a storm.

When men of such calibre - Mr Arun Shourie, Union Minister for Communications, IT and Disinvestment; Mr K.V. Kamath, Managing Director and CEO, ICICI Bank; and Mr R. Seshasayee, Managing Director, Ashok Leyland Ltd, - speak, they are sure to hold the audience in a thrall. The cream of Chennai's industry leaders, who had come together at the ballroom of the Taj Coromandel Hotel on Tuesday evening for the 10th anniversary of The Hindu Business Line, were indeed kept spellbound for over an hour as Mr Kamath, Mr Seshasayee and Mr Shourie, in that order, recounted the progress of India, and how the financial press had documented, commented upon and guided this progress. According to them, India is Shining!

Mr Seshasayee deliberated upon the role of the press by stating that the financial newspapers had to act as a "friend, philosopher and guide" to industry. A friend who applauds the achievements of companies and at the same time holds up a mirror to reflect the warts and all; a philosopher who tells the industry on what steps to take; and a guide who highlights global achievements and shows Indian industry the path it has to take. In this context, he wanted business newspapers to give more space to news of the happenings abroad, in business and industry, as also nations; on the lines of if it is Tuesday, it must be China...

Mr Shourie, in his inimitable style, said that he had been at the receiving end on several occasions, more recently when he had to intervene in the market to push through the Government divesting its equity in major companies, including Oil and Natural Gas Corporation. He recalled the flak he had received when people wondered why a free marketer like him had to intervene in the market. Where is the question of a market? When a handful of players were "manipulating the market", he saw nothing wrong in "manipulating" these people, much to the delight of the gathering.

Applauding the Business Line - the second newspaper he read every morning - for its accurate and unbiased coverage reflecting the gravity of an event, the Minister criticised the tendency of the media to always look at the "second side" of any issue. Some newspapers even had two editorials on the same issue - for and against, as if it was a debate in a school. In most issues, there were no two points of view. If you believe in something, go ahead and vigorously argue for what you think was right to awaken the citizens, was his message to the press.

Mr Shourie wanted newspapers to chronicle and highlight instances of Indian enterprise, of which a large number of examples could be got from across the country. And, this could probably be used in an Indian school of management, he said.

Mr Seshasayee, who said The Hindu and its group publications had a "problem" of becoming a habit, could not believe that the Business Line had been around for only 10 years. In this period, the paper had carved a niche for itself - being pure and white and not having to turn pink like its compatriots!

Complimenting Business Line for the accuracy of its reportage and incisive analysis, Mr Kamath highlighted the challenges in the economy and that of the banking sector. Three years ago, it appeared all gloom for the manufacturing sector with threats of cheap Chinese imports swamping the domestic industry. But, now there was a palpable feeling of confidence. The manufacturing sector was no longer diffident and frightened about the Chinese industry, not just in terms of cost but also in terms of quality, it was looking at expanding capacity, acquisitions abroad and more.

A series of steps had helped in this. One was the programme to help corporates restructure their high-cost debt. At least Rs 50,000 crore to Rs 60,000 crore of high-cost debt would have been swapped with cheaper funds in the last couple of years, with interest rates coming down from anywhere between 17 per cent and 19 per cent to about 10 per cent - 11 per cent now. His estimate was that the manufacturing sector had lined up expansion programmes that would require at least over Rs 1,00,000 crore over the next few years. The pipeline was very much visible now, he said.

Banks too had to cope with change. They had to become more technology savvy - re-invent themselves every three years - as customers were embracing technology much more readily now. For instance, at ICICI Bank, till a couple of years ago, 93 per cent of all transactions happened at the branches and the rest at ATMs. Now, only 27 per cent of transactions happened in a branch and more than 50 per cent at ATMs, and the balance on the Internet, quite a large figure for any bank. ICICI Bank had a 700-seat call centre, probably the largest among banks in the country.

Even on credit delivery, banks had to adopt innovative measures, especially in rural areas. ICICI Bank had tied up with authorised agents who would distribute rural credit. Customer credit offtake was on the increase.

Mr Seshasayee said there was a need to think far ahead into the future, not just for the next five years or so. Switching to VAT was not the only issue as the Government had also to enable a unitary market in the country, which was now fragmented into several markets. For this, a complete re-look at the system of fiscal devolution without upsetting the federal structure was needed.

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