Lend me your ears

Two recent interviews published in the business press struck a common theme. In one, the CEO of Alfa Laval admitted that it is difficult to do business in India. The peculiarities of the environment required one to be flexible and to adjust to various uncertainties. The CEO of GE was more direct. There was just too much uncertainty in policies and decisions were not being made, he felt.

Businesses like to reduce uncertainty in their environment through planning. There is enough unpredictability already in the marketplace. If this is topped up by uncertainty about government policies, that is enough to cause a businessperson to be depressed.

Now with a new, avowedly business-friendly government in power, perhaps it is time to celebrate. A Nielsen report recently rated consumer confidence in India as second from the top out of 60 countries surveyed. However, another survey that was conducted in December-January by HT-MaRS, of top executives at over 50 companies in India painted a dismal picture. They believed industry preferences do not get reflected in the policy-making process, there is very little consultation between private and public sectors, and governments do not facilitate discussion with industry on major shifts in industrial policy. In short, the government does not listen to industry.

Accepted channels through which industries communicate to the government are trade associations. Representations are made to ministers and bureaucrats, and a few influential business persons get to meet the powers-that-be privately and influence them.

We need to add to the process of representation. With a lot of new tech-savvy advisers who reportedly gave the BJP a winning edge in the elections, I have a suggestion to make. Borrow the idea of online representation from the US President’s office that allows anyone to create a petition which would require a government response.

A serious petition there recently wanted the government to “re-establish and maintain the separation between the investment banks and commercial banks”. It had over 23,000 signatures. It is widely believed that the repeal of the old Glass-Steagall Act that kept the two functions separate let loose a series of risky banking behaviour.

In a formal response, the Deputy Director of the National Economic Council has argued that the administration has preferred to go for more comprehensive reform of Wall Street and its players rather than just a separation between the two banking functions.

You will find comic relief too. There is one petition that says “Build a military outpost on the moon! With advanced tech that will help keep our country safe from growing superpowers”.

The petitioners are afraid that other superpowers in Asia and Europe were growing strong with US knowhow and wanted to create a base on the moon using only US technology. Only 177 people had signed it when I checked and so you can guess where that is headed.

Democracies celebrate that the government is representative of the people and technology now allows even the aam aadmi to make it happen.

The writer is a professor, and dean of the Jindal Global Business School, Sonipat, Delhi NCR

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