The Hindu Business Line : A surge of new confidence

Harishankar Singhania of JK Organisation was 14-years-old in 1947 when the country gained Independence. But economic independence was yet to be won, a challenge that many of the business houses of the time had taken on. In the 60 years that followed, Singhania has seen the JK Organisation through various phases of Indian history, and shares those memories. Here are excerpts from an interview with Mr Singhania, in which he shares his memories of his family’s involveme nt in the freedom struggle, his early years in the business, the years of the dirigiste regime, and today’s new Indian confidence that he too shares in.

Memories of I-Day

I was very fortunate to be present in Parliament when Nehru gave his ‘tryst with destiny’ speech. I literally saw Independence being taken into our hands. I think I was smuggled in as a journalist; there was no way I could have got past otherwise, although my uncle (Padampat Singhania) was a member of the Constituent Assembly.

My family was always closely involved with the national leaders of the time — Mahatma Gandhi, Madan Mohan Malaviya, and Nehru. My grandfather (Kamlapat Singhania) had taken out a procession of one lakh people in Kanpur in his time. He was severely harassed by the British government and told, “You are running a business and can’t take out a juloos (procession) against us”.

Entrepreneur Family

My family comes from an entrepreneurial background; our forefathers migrated from Rajasthan years ago and settled down in different parts of India. And our part of the family settled in Kanpur. In 1921, my grandfather set up a cotton spinning and weaving mill, was probably the first in northern India. He imported cloth for his business and, one day, Madan Mohan Malaviya said, “Kamlapat-ji, please boycott imports”.

He said, “I have put up a textile mill to do this business, but if you ask me to stop I will”. The next day he took all the cloth out on to the courtyard and lit a match to it. I wonder if I could have done something like that. The kind of national fervour those leaders could create, and how closely the businessmen worked with them then, it is amazing. Our family was very committed to political freedom, but also fired by the clear belief that we have to also become economically independent.

I was a 14-year-old in 1947, and four years later joined the family business. I finished my B.Sc. in 1951 and was married in 1952. So I had two challenges in front of me, marriage and business — putting in place a steel-rolling plant in Calcutta.

I was thrown head-on into work, the best way to learn, and worked for very long hours. For years I left home at seven o’clock, came back for lunch at two in the afternoon only to go back again and return at seven 7 o’lock in the evening. It was a solid number of years of hard work and I have never regretted it. That’s the way to learn.

Licence Raj

The relationship between leaders and the business community went on for years. I have seen my father and uncle work closely with Nehru to help build the Congress party. Things were very open and there was no question of hanky panky. Gradually the ‘control and command’ economy took over and we know what happened due to that, it’s no longer an academic debate.

Even though a struggle, there was such a fire in us to produce what was not being produced. That was what drove my grandfather, my father, my uncle and that is what sustained us.But it was quite a frustrating period. Imagine, I used to pay 97.5 per cent tax on my income, plus wealth tax; fortunately I didn’t die so there was no estate tax! That was a negative influence on growth, there was no direct incentive to create wealth. Instead it led to the breaking up of families.

When we decided to set up a tyre factory I didn’t know what a tyre was all about. I was fortunate enough to get the technology from an American firm, General Tyres. The licence was given to us with specific directions to set up the plant in Udaipur in Rajasthan, where there was no water. Purely on techno-economic feasibility the plant was a failure.

When I look back I am sad, that the focus was only on controlling the short-supply economy instead of increasing production because demand was bound to grow.

Then in the 1990s, when Dr Manmohan Singh was Finance Minister, when our gold had to be mortgaged, things changed. Things have changed again and making money is no longer a dirty word. Unless you make returns you cannot invest. The new confidence can be seen in the many acquisitions that Indian companies are making.

India vs China

There are things to learn from China but we should be proud that there are very few examples in the world of a democracy of this size, with over 1.1 billion people speaking so many languages. It’s a huge tribute to our democratic heritage that in India entrepreneurship continues to thrive.

Of course, you journalists always choose to highlight the worst, but I still believe there are a lot of good sincere people. We are the ‘young’ generation of the world, and we must harness this energy into something constructive and meet the aspirations of all classes.

I have always wondered about the kind of desires television generates… the lifestyle, the money seen by the poor in villages arouses aspirations.

Role models

I don’t believe there can be any one role model. Otherwise Ram’s distinction as sampurna would not exist. You learn something different, one quality or the other from different people around you. My father, who is a role model for me, used to say everybody is not born a genius but can make yourself one with 90 per cent perspiration and 10 per cent education.

Globalisation and Technology

It was always clear to me that technology would be a key factor. Earlier we used to be scared to open up services to the West, now the West is scared of that. India has hooked onto the globalisation process and we are integrating ourselves in the global economy. It has its own challenges but we have taken it up.

As told to Meera Mohanty

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