The Hindu Business Line : Merge business interests with social causes

Story so far: India is a bunch of three economies, says a speaker at an IT company's offsite session I happen to attend. While the `business class' economy, constituting about 2 per cent of the country's population has all the luxuries, the `bullock-cart economy', where more than 80 per cent of the people belong to, fights to make both ends meet. And in the middle is the `bike economy'. On our way back, a few software engineers accompanying me get down from the car to lend a hand to a bullock-cart labouring up the bridge. If the different classes work together, is anything impossible, I wonder?

Episode 163

It was on a defiant note that I'd wrapped the episode two weeks ago: `We are a bullock-cart economy, so what?' What is needed is the involvement of the business class in the other segments of the economy. In an integrated life situation, all the wheels need to function in tandem, writes Krithivasan, in response to the story.

"India might have been mechanised/automated to a large extent, but that is mainly in metro and urban centres. Even in these places, there is still a large non-automated segment. We still see cycle-rickshaws and bullock carts. Mechanising and automating all these may require very large resources, which may not be available to the ultimate beneficiaries. But slow and steady transformation is certainly taking place across India. Sometimes, when a car or a bus breaks down on a busy stretch, only human push-power helps to resolve the situation and clear the traffic. It is nice of the geeks to have taken a break from their monotonous routine. Maybe some of the HR honchos from IT industry will pick a new activity from this episode." Good thought!

"The `bullock-cart' illustration showcases humanitarianism," says P. V. Sudhakar Rao, Deputy Manager, SBI, Ongole. Thoughtful.

"The engineers, whom you talk about, do not yet belong to the business class," observes S. Iyaswamy.

"The business class would have pushed the bullock cart over the bridge. Otherwise, how do you explain the attitude of the Indian business class and their eagerness to set up industries in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs)?" Pertinent question.

"In the process, the business class is trying to displace the farmers out of their habitat after buying up their land. Is not the business class pushing the farmer over the precipice? All the three classes of our society, the business class, the middle class and the farmer, have to co-exist. Every agricultural scientist in this country would agree that agriculture is no longer remunerative and the subsidies and policies designed for the farmers do not reach them. This has led to widespread suicides of farmers. In such a situation, the farmer needs the support of the business class and the Government.

"If the Government is serious about developing SEZs, let it identify suitable non-agricultural land for the purpose, provide necessary infrastructure facilities such as roads, power, telecommunication, port, etc., and then allow the private sector to start the industry in the SEZ. Instead of doing that, the Government is helping the business class to purchase agricultural land from the farmer which he has inherited or owned for generations. The fact that he gets paid for the land at remunerative prices does not justify such a purchase. "The farmer knows only one job and that is cultivation. If he is deprived of even that, he will commit suicide. He cannot put the money to better use. How many of us are able to invest our savings in the most profitable avenues? If we cannot do it, how can we expect the farmer to do that? Also, some of these projects may never see the light of the day or will not be successful. One needs only to look at all the District and State Development Centres in the country and the money spent by various State governments on these to understand how successful they have been in these ventures.

"Lastly, as a democratic country, we should accord top priority to the livelihood of the vast majority of the citizens of this country. The rest of the things, such as becoming a super power, achieving 10 per cent GDP growth, etc, can follow later." Thanks Iyaswamy for the detailed mail. "The perception of India as a bunch of three economies gives the impression as if there is no economic development in India over the past 50 years. It cannot be true," reads a forceful mail from Ramalingam Ayyappa.

He narrates how, in Mannargudi, there were only three taxis, about fifty years ago.

"Today, more than 200 families own cars. Of this, about 50 people own cars that should have cost them Rs 7-16 lakh. Mannargudi is predominantly an agriculture area where 70 per cent people earn their livelihood from agriculture. But many agriculturists have turned into businessmen. Hence the statement that the business class constitutes only 2 per cent may not be correct."

No, Ramalingam, `business class' economy doesn't refer to those engaged in business; it is a nomenclature, borrowed from airlines, to mean the affluent.

"Regarding the attitude of software engineers in helping the bullock-cart driver to negotiate the climb, it is really laudable," continues the letter. "Hands that help are holier than the lips that pray."

T.R. Anandhan, a retired vigilance officer of the southern telecom region, writes from Coimbatore that he has been thinking about the phenomenon of the country's economy getting stratified into three segments — the poor including the BPL, the so-called middle class, and the affluent.

"The society being clearly compartmentalised into three segments as above should be a matter of great worry to the administrators. What is more worrying is that while the poor remain poor without any perceptible improvement in their economic status despite the rising GDP and booming economy, a new segment above the middle class and below the affluent is fast emerging — that with high-compensation jobs."

Anandhan is unhappy that the affluent segment, which includes the leaders of the economy, does not pay attention to the the less fortunate.

"They talk about what should be done to boost trade, commerce, industry, tax sops, and so on, to benefit their own class, in public discourses, meetings or interactions with the powers that be or other channels." Wish all that changes.

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Attrition causes

Nalini Mani has a comment on an earlier episode about the reasons for attrition. As a career HR (human resources) professional, she says that lack of organisational development is a key factor in attrition.

"Applying the basics of OD and I/O, there are multiple variables and reasons why employees leave: these have little to do with commitment to an organisation's mission or to loyalty. People leave because their values are not recognised by organisations; neither are their intrinsic needs. Career development and progression are key enablers of employee commitment and motivation." Useful thought.

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Elevating thoughts in the elevator pitch

Last week, I was visiting an old friend of mine who is a venture capitalist these days. It just happened that we met at the elevator. But before we could engage in any conversation, an enterprising B-school grad managed to sneak her way into the box. And, without wasting time, she began to make a high-impact elevator pitch to my friend.

Over the next about two minutes that it took for us to reach the twentieth floor, she put forth her business plan. Her name was Nidhi, and her idea was of a venture that offered mobile facilities to the poor for grooming. `Vroom Groom,' she named her project, which would provide free haircuts in villages and also in pockets of poverty, and be a premium facility in upmarket places.

Unfortunately for Nidhi, my friend wasn't too impressed by the revenue model and disappeared into his office. However, I stayed back to ask the wannabe entrepreneur what her motivation was to think of such an offbeat proposal. "It was something that I noticed in a neighbourhood slum," began Nidhi. "An unemployed youth, was getting scolded by his mother because he had asked her for Rs 30 to go to the barber. He looked shaggy and there was no way he would get a job in his present state, it was obvious. Yet, for a household that was struggling to stay afloat, the outlay was too much, I realised. If only there were a way people like him could be given basic grooming, we would be adding to the supply side of the labour market, I thought. Hence the idea... "

Nidhi seemed earnest, with confidence that her business plan was sound. She was already talking of revenue generation through waste, personal care advertising to subsidise costs, and supports from non-profit organisations. I felt I should ask my VC to friend to reconsider the case, because we need more such entrepreneurs who can merge business interests with social causes, and see fortune at the bottom of the pyramid as C. K. Prahalad speaks of. Send in your thoughts by Friday.

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