Mad Cow disease outbreak at India Inc

Saturday, 18 October 2008 22:21

Written by SPIRITED

Holy Cow!! Is there a mad cow disease out break in India Inc? The common people are not sure but that’s the impression we are getting from the one after another nervous and incoherent statements made by the captains of the industry.

The stock market meltdown has hit us heard but the industry bosses are still in a denial mode, they still think India is insulated; actually it is very hard for them to think that the billions that they made in the last decade can erode so quickly, almost as fast as they made them.

All the billionaires are down by 25 to 75 percent of their net wealth and it is hard for them to digest. They were going gaga even a year back and now the situation is completely different.

Let us just examine some unusual reactions.

Ratan Tata writes a open letter today to the people of West Bengal, it is one of the most weird reaction one can think of. Holy Cow! Is Ratan Tata now a politician or still an industrialist? Has he become the guardian of the people of West Bengal? Or he is so badly affected by Singur and other investments like Corus and JLR that he is not able to keep his cool?
Next, let's take the case of Naresh Goyal, no one knows about his past or his source of money but he is the owner of country’s most reputed airlines. This guy meets Vijay Mallya over Kingfisher beer and then comes out with a decision to sack 1900 staff; 48 hours later, his conscience tells him to reinstate everyone! Holy Cow! What is going on?
Now let us take the case of another great gentleman, Mr Mohandas Pai, head of Infosys HR, widely perceived as one of the country’s most respected company although Mr Patni will tell a different story. It was about a month back when Tata stopped work at Singur, Pai came out openly unprovoked to make a suo muto statement that Infosys is concerned at the development in Singur and they would think twice before thinking of any investment in West Bengal. Holy Cow!! A bolt from the blue for Buddhadev, who was already much beleaguered, this man Pai has not employed a single person in West Bengal but why is he so much concerned with a problem which is primarily a land dispute with an industry of a completely different nature! It was difficult to comprehend for anyone until people started to suspect the mad cow epidemic in India Inc.

While everything was going good, these captains became so much confident that they thought India Inc, is going to conquer the world by tomorrow. Mallya thought he will be another Richard Branson (or Howard Huges as suggested by one of my friends), Infosys thought they will overtake the Big Blue in another few years, and the IIMs and IITs were busy producing "half a millon dollars per annum" executives thru its 12 exclusive mills. But alas, the situation in US put a sudden brake on this dream of India Inc., the huge wealth they accumulated in just one decade is fast evaporating in just a month and they are forced to eat their own words. The same Mr Pai who was worried about fresh investments in West Bengal just about a month back has ordered its recruiters to stop looking for candidates until further orders. Mr Vijay Mallya who was eyeing for A380 has suddenly become very subdued, not signing any new models for Kingfisher Airlines (not sure abut his calendar project though) and has cancelled orders for 3 planes. The placement head of IIM Bangalore is now open to "any reputed company" and welcoming even the NGOs for campus recruitment, (last year only top investment bankers got the dates, now half of them are bankrupt).

The effect of the disease is fast spreading and since it is contagious, people like Dr Amit Mitra and Dr Tarus Das are also showing signs. They are now working overtime in interview mode with all TV channels including entertainment channels (actually the later ones fit them better). On the one hand they are maintaining that everything is very sound and intact for the Indian industry as if all Indian industries are run by angels and wisest of men, on the other hand they are advocating that the state can't ignore the global situation, should fire all cylinders to boost the confident of the market, in other words give loans and write cheques to help and bail out Mallays, Tatas and Ambanis so that they can continue to make profits.

Our motto should be - Let's first make the billionaires stronger and then all the stupid problems of common man like inflation, price rise, unemployment, health care will be taken care of by the "invisible hand".

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