8 ISSUES AND INSIGHTS MUMBAI | 18 MAY 2019 >

Somnath Chatterjee, from Jadavpur, defeat- ing him so thoroughly that he could never Why this kolaveri di, didi? contest from that constituency again. Reforms reach Mukherjee privately rues the day he let You can't beat Mamata Banerjee in street politics — she pours her heart and soul Mamata loose on Bengal. The man who got the Calcutta Corporation to pass a resolution a dead end into pulverising her rivals that Sourav Ganguly should get a Padma award, says he deserves the Bharat Ratna: anmohan At a cabinet meeting, just after the is alone — presumably because she lives “Dancing on my head is Mamata Banerjee; Singh’s hand- Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo (and among people who don’t know where their under my command is the army of sweepers Msome reelection make no mistake, supremo is what she is) next meal is coming from. employed by the corporation. With all this, win in 2009 was seen as a Mamata Banerjee had thrown a tantrum, a Banerjee grew up in straitened circum- I am still running the corporation. Shouldn’t chance to recreate the minister exclaimed in exasperation: “What stances, having lost her father when she was I get an award for this feat?” he once said in reforms momentum of the is wrong with Mamata Banerjee?” just a teenager. Her “people” are her family. a TV interview. 1990s when he had been The question was a rhetorical one, but one So much so that she has an unbroken rule: With all this, how did Mamata allow the finance minister. More of his Bengal colleagues took his time to She never attends any family functions. (Her BJP to acquire a mass presence in Bengal? banner headlines greeted answer it. He took off his glasses, polished nephew Abhishek, widely seen as her suc- Trinamool supporters say she has only Prime Minister Narendra them, put them back on and said evenly: “If cessor, got engaged to a girl in Delhi some herself to blame. New mosques are sprout- Modi as India’s Margaret someone thinks she’s a better poet than years ago. Festivities went on for three days. ing all over Bengal on public land. Tourists COUNTRY CODE Thatcher or Shinzo Abe PLAIN POLITICS Rabindranath Tagore, a better musician than Although Mamata had no other pressing are warned by well-wishers never to get into RAHUL JACOB when Modi received an ADITI PHADNIS Beethoven and a better painter than Leonardo engagements, she just stayed away.) an altercation with a Muslim on the streets: absolute majority in 2014, da Vinci, then everything is a problem”. Her strongest bond was with her mother. the police have orders to arrest you first and but neither made progress Banerjee is viewed by the political com- When she used to leave her Kalighat home ask you questions later. Mamata has substantially revising labour laws, for instance. Ikea and ll this past week, if elections were munity (cutting across party lines) as a prob- for work, her mother would come to the door imposed affirmative action to the point of Coke announced billion-dollar bets on India in the summer being “fought”, they were being lem child who should not be allowed among to see her off. She would crane her neck, look absurdity. This has naturally led to count- of 2012. But some time in 2012, Rahul Gandhi told NDTV a Afought in West Bengal. Mamata grown-ups unescorted. But to the people of back and settle back in the car only when er-action: The Hindus who never thought of week ago, Congress’ leadership, including Singh, decided Banerjee singlehandedly turned the last Bengal, her life is an open book and she is she had lost sight of her mother. Contrary themselves as Hindus are now banding liberalisation had run its course. Now, Gandhi feels India phase of the elections into a gladiatorial always, unfailingly one of them. In a state to common perception, Mamata is not par- behind the BJP. Ram has entered the land needs to find a “new model” that doesn’t enrich just the top fight, forcing the Bharatiya Janata Party that lionises poverty, she continues to live ticularly close to her brothers. She is impul- of Durga. 2-3 per cent. He wouldn’t let on whether this meant, say, a (BJP) to come out on the streets. in a simple house with a tin roof near a mos- sive, has strong likes and dislikes and trusts Prime Minister Narendra Modi told a ral- marginal tax rate of 70 per cent. Gandhi’s English is enig- You cannot beat Mamata Banerjee in quito-infested open canal. Her style state- very few people. ly in the state that many, many MLAs from matic and his Hindi unidiomatic. Elaborating, he sounded street politics. The Congress, the Left parties ment runs to simple handloom saris, rubber Her mentor in politics was the Mayor of Trinamool Congress are in touch with the like Robin Hood played by Ajit, the movie star of yesteryear: — they are all her victims. She pours her chappals and a modest Indian watch. Not Calcutta, Subroto Mukherjee who got BJP. If the Trinamool Congress does badly, “Past se future ko jodhna padega”. heart and soul into pulverising her rivals. for her flashy mobiles and fancy cars. She Mamata’s first lok Sabha nomination in there will be an exodus of MLAs into the It was a stark repudiation of Congress’ most notable achieve- Not for her sophistication and intellectual- has a rule that she never breaks: She never 1984. She contested against a CPI (M) heavy- BJP: Assembly elections are due in just 24 ment in the past three decades. The manifestoes of the ism. She believes in raw power. eats in anyone’s presence — only when she weight, lawyer and later Lok Sabha Speaker months. Bengal is the BJP’s new frontier. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress are dispiriting if you are foolishly hoping that privatisation would be included even just for discussion. The headlines about widespread unemployment should have prompted — in a country more LUNCH WITH BS > GAUTAM SINGHANIA | CHAIRMAN & MANAGING DIRECTOR | RAYMOND honest with itself — proposals to make it easier for companies to hire and fire workers. “What I don’t understand is the mindset that leads to the perpetuation of resistance to labour law That isn't marketing spiel. Inside reform,” observes Pronab Sen, India’s former chief statistician. the Atelier a sales associate shows Both parties aspire to building India into an export pow- customers a large touch monitor erhouse — never mind that data released Thursday showed with several combinations and per- export growth in April slid to 0.64 per cent, compared with a Simple is the new cool mutations for ordering hand-craft- year ago, as many labour-intensive sectors continue to face ed leather shoes. It's cutting edge liquidity issues. Congress may call it “Make for the world” Singhania tells Pavan Lall why Trump's sparring with China has been good for and quite unlike what many inter- and the BJP “Make in India”, but neither has a clue about national labels offer. So what has he what it will take to embed India into mobile phone or athletic business and how he keeps tabs on the goings-on in his company while done different in the last year? shoe supply chains. The Reserve Bank of India’s industry Singhania says the focus has been credit data for the year ended March 2019 shows that many not being involved day to day on the real estate business — sectors that are typically labour intensive, such as leather, Raymond has just launched its first textiles, and gems and jewellery, saw gross bank credit lad in a V-necked, orange then says: “There is nothing hidden paper. “It was challenging to go from situation and the paper was sold to project in Thane — which is com- decline. Both manifestos read like a wishlist for Santa: pima cotton T-shirt embla- about the dispute between my textiles to newspapers, which was a Gujarat Samachar.” pletely different from textiles. "It's Congress would raise expenditure on education to 6 per cent C zoned with his team logo father and me. "He wants me to do perishable commodity and which I Today, Raymond has over 1,100 all about the permissions," he says. of GDP while the BJP thinks a global yoga industry is a spring- “GHS”, grey track pants and Tommy things that are not possible. The knew nothing about. But my time stores across 550 cities, a retail dis- Raymond owns 130 acres in Thane, board to becoming the third largest economy in the world. Hilfiger flip flops, Gautam Hari company is on one side and my there was great,” he says. "In the end, tribution network spread over valued around ~5,200 crore accord- Even before this campaign of non-stop abuse and majori- Singhania, chairman and managing father on the other. The dispute is I was caught between other media 20,000 locations, from metro cities ing to market estimates. tarian flag-waving, Indian elections scarcely ever mentioned director of the Raymond Group, is personal and my job is to firewall giants and an unfortunate political all the way to tier 10 towns. But there Lunch over, the waiters arrive reforms. The poor are infinitely more numerous than the mid- meeting me on a warm afternoon at my family issues from that of the are challenges. If earlier it was about with a mango roulade cake for dle class, and voter turnout in poor rural areas much higher the JK House, Raymond’s headquar- organisation.” Is resolution likely? licences to do business — one could dessert for me which I decline and than in Mumbai or Bengaluru, even more so this year. Long ters on Warden Road. I am directed “God willing, hopefully one day, get by even if the product was bad Singhania ponders vanilla ice-cream before our age of TV interviews about prime ministerial poetry to the Atelier Lounge, which is part who knows. I’ve tried my best and — today there are more companies and then decides against it and then and mango-eating preferences, even “lion”-hearted P V high-end boutique and part men’s of course I’m open to it. Who would- in the fray, consumers are sharper pick up a strain of thought. It is from Narasimha Rao hardly ever made a table-thumping speech upscale country club, which features n't like to resolve issues?" and the whole game has changed, his mistakes that he has learnt the about the bold reforms his government enacted. We may have a bar replete with single malts, an Waiters return bearing silver says Singhania. The emphasis is on most, he says. Which did he learn a mixed up economy – alternately socialist/feudalistic, topped exhaustive French wine list, and a thalis. the brand and the marketing. The the most from, I ask. Raymond's up with crony capitalism — but our lingua franca is socialism. gigantic 12-foot flat-panel TV that Laid out in neatly arranged iden- real “challl-enge” — he stretches denim merger was one. In 2006 Milton Friedman’s 1955 critique of the Mahalanobis' Five Year could be mistaken for a billboard. tical bowls are paneer masala, the word for emphasis — is how Raymond tied up with denim maker plans broadly applies to 2019’s manifestos — they are obsessed Of late, the sports gear is de navratan korma, jeera aloo and you keep reinventing things and Uco of Belgium and what emerged with (ill-defined) targets and expand too little on what remains rigueur for him — far removed from cucumber raita. These are accom- make them new. was a player with a combined capac- India’s fundamental problem: Its human capital. pinstripe power suits. “Well, I’m not panied by warm, crisp naans. We dig At the B2B end, Raymond is ity for 47 million meters per annum. More than a quarter of a century ago, a massive World part of (daily) management any- in with our hands. The food is sim- making made-to-measure suits and However, multiple issues arose that Bank study sought to identify what had created the East more,” is his answer with a half- ple, but fresh and perfectly prepared supplying fabric to international led to the collapse of the tie-up. The Asian economic miracle that stretched from China, Korea smile, followed by the rider, “I’m not with minimum spice and oil. chain stores such as Macy’s, JC consequence was heavy restructur- and Taiwan to city-states such as Hong Kong and Singapore. involved day to day but don’t think Singhania speeds through lunch; I Penney and Debenham. “Trump's ing costs. "Maybe I did it for the It could only identify two common planks: openness to trade I don’t know what is happening follow suit. “I’m a pretty normal guy sparring with China is good for busi- wrong reason, or maybe not enough and widespread, good quality primary education. In any every day.” who is doing his job,” he says almost ness,” he says. Khadi has been added homework went behind it, but it was case, it’s too late now. Even with the US-China trade war From throwing legendary bac- reading my mind as I wonder if jeera as a fabric and apparel choice, as has a mistake," he admits. "You learn forcing multinationals to relocate production bases, I would chanalian parties in Powai, Mumbai, aloo is what the yacht-owning, ethnic wear to include ornate sher- and move on, you can't ponder over bet Vietnam, Bangladesh and even Ethiopia will be benefi- that lasted from sundown to sunset Lamborghini-driving, vicuna-jack- wanis. Singhania has consciously spilt milk." ciaries rather than India. We have wasted decades playing and finished off with a champagne et-wearing promoter consumes pushed men's accessories. “A very Seconds later we are interrupted petty politics, our only Olympian gold-medal sport. Now, breakfast he personally curated, every day. senior industrialist’s wife reached by an assistant bearing a white note India’s fate is to oscillate between what Rathin Roy aptly Singhania is now obsessed with The Cathedral & John Connon out and said that her husband want- which Singhania looks at before described as the “compensatory state” where, in effect, the maximising shareholder value, School alumnus remembers taking ed to have all their shoes exclaiming. "Some notice would state must pay people reparations for its many failures and handing over operational charge to work trips in Dakota aircraft to fac- done by us,” he recalls. have been nice. Push it by half an the Modi-Shah axis of blunt minority-bashing vividly on professionals and keeping Raymond tories at Bilaspur and Allahabad and He told her: “We can hour." There's always something on, display in 2019 to offset the effects of its Stalinist impulses in the competitive edge. the diet on the plane would be do all the suits also.” he explains, from product review such as demonetisation and anti-profiteering agencies. That may seem a charmed life home-cooked fare like puri saag and meetings to manager meetings to Regardless of who wins next week, we can only look to from the outside but there are huge curd along with chatter on business. someone landing up unscheduled the future with fear. Trade is slowing; our ports, our poorly pressures, he says, adding that is “I’m simple about everything: I like and so on. While his day starts at trained labour, and our over-valued exchange rate hobble “the professional hazard of an type non-spicy vegetarian food, family is around 7.30 am, Raymond's boss our chances to get at a diminishing global factory jobs pie. A personality”. At 53, Singhania does very important, and religion is part says he only manages to grab the Our non-bank financial companies’ crisis is apparent in the have his plate full. There’s the dis- of my life.” day's newspaper and emails post collapse of auto sales in April. The recent financial results ruption across industries, geopoli- But of course: he takes his wife 8.00 pm. "I've reached that stage of consumer goods companies suggest India’s middle class tics and the shifting sands of lead- and daughters on skiing trips to in my life where, left to myself, is no longer growing. The existing members of this exalted ership in corporate India on the one Switzerland when he takes a I'm happier not to travel." cohort are curbing their spending as savings rates slide. Our hand, and his growing realty busi- breather, I learn. The lesser known His advice for millennial environment, from the hollowed-out hillsides of the north- ness and an unfortunate and very facts include his regular visits to the entrepreneurs? "The thing east to the coming water crisis in Bengaluru to the polluted public spat with his father and for- Venkateswara temple in Tirupati about managing money or gas chambers of north Indian cities, is nearing the tipping mer Raymond Chairman Vijaypath every quarter and the frequent talks people when you get to a cer- point of Malthusian collapse. It will be the 55th anniversary Singhania, on the other. he hosts for spiritual leaders. tain scale is that you have to of Jawaharlal Nehru’s death on May 27. The sentimentalists Waiters silently bring foldable While Singhania has been at the have a core value system in among us can only hope the new government of whatever tables in front of us to set them up helm of Raymond for close to two place and do the right thing," he description will not be sworn in on that date. It is at least a for lunch. decades now, in the late 1980s he says. "That's also the harder road comfort Nehru did not believe in an after-life. Did it have to come to what it did also ended up working for The and to stay the course is even more with his father? Singhania pauses, Indian Post, a family-owned news- ILLUSTRATION BY BINAY SINHA so. But that's the journey of life." Beti padhao, dowry badhao? Gangland? No way!

I have told her that she should do that if said. Singh, who works as a security guard Khan Market is useful if not central cheaper place. Those of us who don’t she’s lucky enough to marry someone in Delhi and earns about ~14,000 per to our existence. For most of us, its book have the patience to shop for lights in who lets her.” month, can’t afford to give so much. “I stores have been a whistle-stop for piling the wholesale markets of Old Delhi find I wondered aloud why Singh was hell- also have a younger daughter to marry up the latest thrillers, biographies, sum- Lok Nayak Bhawan convenient, though bent on getting his daughter married. She off in a few years,” he said. mer reads and those endlessly banal there’s a part of it that stinks inexplicably was a bright student and likely to make There was another equally compelling books on the state of India’s society, pol- of urine. something of herself with his support. reason why he wanted his daughter to get itics and business. My own children Khan Market’s come a long way from Singh responded by saying that he just married instead of studying further and don’t visit the bookstores but do keep when it had neighbourhood-style kirana couldn’t afford it. For people like him, getting a job. The older she became, the its many bars and restaurants in reason- shops, a mithaiwalla from where we higher education for daughters entailed more he would have to give in dowry. able profit. My wife shops — or sends bought samosas, one of the best music expenditure not only on tuition fees, but Singh explained that in his community, PEOPLE LIKE US me to shop —for meats and cheeses, and shops in the city, and a butcher who PEOPLE LIKE THEM had other invisible consequences. When if a good job made a bachelor more eligi- I stock up on tonic water and handy would make fresh keema while you wait- KISHORE SINGH GEETANJALI KRISHNA he explained these consequences, I ble, it was youth which was a girl’s most bites while there. There’s a reasonable ed. These have all gone the way of histo- realised that "Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao" saleable asset. “So, much as I love my variety of breads to be found. My son ry. Khan Market is now more expensive and other government programmes to daughter,” he said, “I will be happier to f all the sobriquets heaped by the discovered, quite by chance, a haber- and caters to the well-heeled, an aberra- empower girls would be more impactful see her married young than have a suc- right — “sickulars”, “libtards”, dashery where he gets his office wear tion in the government colonies that sur- he other day, when Ram Kumar if there were a concurrent effort to change cessful career.” O“presstitutes” — the one I’m most tailored. There used to be an apothecary round it. But it has something the tonier Singh came to say goodbye before mindsets and cultural practices. I realised that with the deeper pene- partial to is Khan Market “gang”. As a we would patronise, but it deals more malls don’t — a sense of belonging, a Tleaving for his village, I asked why “If I succeed in arranging my daugh- tration of education, Singh’s daughter’s partial liberal, part-time secular, disqual- in spa and beauty products than medi- place for people like us who don’t flash he was going at this time. He wanted to ter’s marriage right now, I’ll have to give generation could look forward to better ified member of the fourth estate, it felt cines now. branded bags and tint their hair blonde. cast his vote, he said. “And I also have to maybe a motorcycle and some gold in livelihoods than those of their fathers. good to be nominated for the moniker There’s other stuff we pick up from It may be mere coincidence that it shares check out a prospective groom for my dowry,” Singh said. “In my community, Yet, their lives continued to be governed on the very day a bunch of us chose to Khan Market — the season’s first cher- the vicinity with India International daughter,” he added. I was immediately marriages without dowry are unheard of.” by regressive cultural practices like partake of its dubious pleasures. It wasn’t ries, for instance, our dog’s pet snacks Centre and India Habitat Centre where interested, having had many conversa- However, if he were to let his daughter dowry. “I probably won’t be able to afford entirely to our satisfaction because elec- and shampoos, gifts for friends, crock- the literati and culturati meet, and tions with him about his eldest girl. study further, that too a vocational course getting my daughter married if she tion-induced prohibition took the edge ery, cutlery, readymades and shoes. I’ve remains a place where you’re more likely Straitened financial circumstances might in teaching that was bound to get her a became a government school teacher,” of what could have been a pleasant week- had paintings framed here, and bought to bump into friends and acquaintances have forced him to seek employment in good job, circumstances would change. he said. “Neither can I afford to gamble end lunch. Far from planning coups or condiments. Flowers too, though they’re than at most soirees. Delhi, but every time he spoke it was evi- For then he would have to look for grooms with her future by waiting for a good bandying politics, the only thing subver- expensive and best bought outside the It doesn’t feel “gang” like, and the dent that Singh’s heart was with his with qualifications and jobs better than dowry-less match,” he said. That’s why sive on our mind was the option of choic- cemetery behind the market. My driver parking can be an ordeal, but if there is daughter, a final year student in those of his daughter’s. “Usually, boys in he believed that women’s empowerment es on the menu. Not quite a gang, we used to take our cars there for repair, and a Khan Market tribe, it isn’t something Allahabad University. “She’s not keen on my community who have good jobs in schemes, were good for empowered were just a bunch of giggly, gossipy ex- for reconditioning audio systems or to be wary of. That it comes without a marriage right now as she wants to study banks or the government demand a women. “For girls like my daughter,” he colleagues somewhat melancholic for ordering upholstery and floor mats, but membership fee and doesn’t require pri- further to become a teacher,” he said. “But house or car at the time of marriage,” he said, “early marriage is the best.” lack of liquid sustenance. has since shifted his custom to another, or approval is merely a bonus. OPINION 9 > STAY INFORMED THROUGH THE DAY @ WWW.BUSINESS-STANDARD.COM

Volume Vl Number 42 MUMBAI | 18 MAY 2019 If Pragya wins on Thursday WEEKEND RUMINATIONS ILLUSTRATION BY BINAY SINHA T N NINAN Never has one constituency had such a bearing on Indian nationalism and the pretence of a Gandhian polity. So what Fertile ground for populism if PM Modi doesn’t forgive her in his heart? nce the dust raised by the elections has settled, a new government e have to acknowledge ‘Sadhvi’ Pragya to malign the Hindus by inventing the bogey of saf- will have to deal with the economic slowdown. The issue to focus Singh for one achievement. She has suc- fron terror. on is not the usual one of how long growth will stay in the 6.5 per W ceeded in doing what no one has yet been Please make note of two points here. The first, the cent region before moving back up to 7 per cent and beyond. First, able to do to Narendra Modi and Amit Shah: Put them re ason why it is now impossible for his party to dista - O on the defensive. n ce it self from ‘Sadhvi’ Pragya: She was their deliberate because we should not assume automatic reversion to what existed before, and She also managed to do another thing her party c h oice, to make what they see as a principled point. second because the credibility of the GDP (gross domestic product) numbers brass truly hates: To lose the power of deciding head- And second, an irony: Even to explain this political st - has been shredded. Instead, the focus has to be on real numbers that can’t be lines. After brilliantly using the strategy of changing atement, the expression Mr Shah used was a Gandhian fudged, and these tell a troubling story. and controlling the headlines for five years, the BJP trademark: Satyagraha. When you employ the unique Merchandise exports have been flat for most of the last five years. This ends the campaign with just the one they didn’t want. form of non-violent protest Gandhi gifted to mankind reflects the failure of domestic manufacturing, and has made the economy For the first time in this the entire duration of their to defend your choice of a person who hails his assassin more inward-lo oking. Tax revenue was buoyant but has now dropped short; public lives yet, Mr Modi and Mr Shah were given a as a patriot, you know where you are headed. collections from the goods and services tax especially suggest that business is case even they found indefensible. Never do the wrong thing even if for the right rea- A few of the BJP’s Twitter-happy usual suspects, sons is a good principle, in life or politics. The BJP not buoyant. The consumption numbers show a dip across many sectors, affect- including minister Anantkumar Hegde and IT cell has a bone to pick with Digvijaya Singh, we know. He ing corporate sales and profits. Balance sheet stress continues because of high head Amit Malaviya, initially jumped to her defence has been the Congress party’s most vocal spokesman levels of debt. All too many entrepreneurs are still busy with debt reduction or to take “the debate on Gandhi and Godse forward”. on “Hindu terror”. He has also gotten ahead of himself, efforts; some are giving up and selling out, mostly (it would seem) to foreign All were squashed. The last five years have shown that raising questions about New Delhi’s Batla House investors, and others are simply going bust. the BJP can defend or dismiss as irrelevant anything encounter and the sacrifice of yet another heroic The “core sector” output numbers on steel, cement and electricity don’t offensive by a party person against anyone, individual police officer, Mohan Chand Sharma, decorated with suggest buoyancy. Corporate projects tallied by the Centre for Monitoring Indian or community. This includes an “Ali versus a posthumous Ashok Chakra for that encounter, like Bajrangbali” bigot, why should there be electricity on Hemant Karkare in 26/11. Later, he also spoke in This was an utterly unwise statement of intent, drawn Economy are still at a long-term low, and the government funding of projects Eid but not on Diwali dog-whistle, a “Modi ki Sena” endorsement at the release of a book calling 26/11 an partly from an all-conquering hubris and partly from has been squeezed (or payments not made for past work done) because of the claim, the “illegal immigrants are termites” slur, the RSS conspiracy. a misreading of how Indian nationalism has evolved. revenue shortfall. The external account is comfortable because of capital inflows, Rahul the “Pappu” has now brought his “Pappi” In the BJP’s view, he deserved to face the most It lies in believing that somehow Hinduism (and, but the current account deficit is too large for comfort. (Priyanka) crack. prominent face among the radical Hindu activists by implication, Hindutva) is the primary glue that The financial sector continues to be a drag. Credit flow has recovered but But taking on the Mahatma, forget it. Some might arrested on terror charges. Until late last month, keeps India together, and defines its nationalism. banks are still in trouble (the state-owned banks have provided for bad loans at do it in whispers, debate his “blunders”, blame him when Pragya Thakur made her first headlines by Further on, it narrows down Hinduism and Hindutva a staggeringly high level of ~52,000-plus crore in the latest quarter — nearly for Partition, but in drawing calling Hemant Karkare names to the RSS-Hindi heartland vision: One faith, one peo- rooms, goshthis or shakhas. Never and claiming that he died because ple, one language, one nation. India is much too twice the earlier figure). The next tier of lenders, the non-banking financial in public. Not after having spent she put a curse on him and his diverse to keep its cohesion like this. Mr Modi has to companies, faces a liquidity problem flowing from general loss of confidence the past seven decades distancing family (we should remember that remember that even if he gets a full majority, in four about what is hidden in their balance sheets. your ideological parent RSS from his shattered wife also died six of the southern states, Andhra, Telangana, Tamil What does any government do when faced with such an all-encompassing, his assassination. years after his death in 26/11, inci- Nadu and Kerala, the BJP will be blessed to win even multi-faceted slowdown? It uses monetary and fiscal measures to stimulate Here, a prized, saffron-clad dentally on the anniversary of the two seats out of 103 if at all. All parts of India, like economic activity. But interest rate cuts by the Reserve Bank have not so far candidate, a Hindutva icon under- September 29 Malegaon bomb these, will resent this kind of Hindu-isation, an found reflection in the real rates in the market. As for fiscal policy, the deficit is trial in a terror case you fielded blast), and then boasted she had immune reaction will kick in, setting off a centrifugal and defended with the usual climbed the dome of Babri Masjid rash. This runs contrary to the vision of our founders too large for offering any tax discounts, unless the government simply gives up “innocent until proven guilty” to break it, quick damage control who built us as a voluntary federation of states. There on fiscal discipline. If it does do that, a higher level of government borrowing line, is calling the Mahatma’s was done. Partly by sending her was no one vision flowing from a faith, a scripture or will create bigger problems for monetary policy. There is a third solution, which assassin a patriot. You do not take NATIONAL INTEREST on a maun vrat (vow of silence) an ideology. That is why India has not only stayed is to force down the value of the rupee to make Indian products cheaper overseas on the legacy of a man you also SHEKHAR GUPTA and partly by counter-attacking together so marvellously, but become stronger and and thereby competitive, and to make India an attractive sourcing base for hail as Father of the Nation. Not Digvijaya and the Congress for more secure with the passage of each decade. And global players, but no one in government has wanted to go down that road. in the year of his 150th birth having “similarly insulted” Mohan the ideological state next door, Pakistan, broke up. The real danger is that the momentum created by past reforms has run out anniversary when you’ve so successfully taken away Chand Sharma. Her praise for Godse now leaves her India’s great gift to the modern world is its comfort of steam, and that we need a fresh set of structural reforms designed to make the Congress party’s original icon. The prime minister party no place to hide. wi th diversity. This, in a world where different cultures himself takes great pride in escorting his foreign coun- find it increasingly difficult to co-exist, as in West Asia, the system more competitive. There has been all too little of such reform in the terparts to landmarks associated with the Mahatma, ince 1989, the BJP has pursued a sharp strategy of is a brand value that will have the greatest return on in - last 15 years, and so the agenda remains unchanged: Reforming the factor mar- rode the train in Pietermaritzburg, blogged on the Sslow and controlled escalation. At any point of vestment, going ahead. And if India is the world’s gr e - kets (land, labour, capital). This means changing key laws, and forcing state- 89th anniversary of the Dandi march, held forth in time, beginning with the early days of L K Advani’s atest brand for diversity, Mahatma Gandhi is what Sw - owned companies to face hard budget constraints (no bail-outs for Air India Champaran on the centenary of that satyagraha, got Ayodhya movement, a more extreme “fringe” has been iss philosopher Carl Jung would call its brand archetype. and its ilk). This is next to impossible politically, given that the losers will be photographed spinning the charkha in Sabarmati and cultivated. In the course of time, some are dumped. Fighting, repudiating, bad-mouthing Nehru is workers and farmers who are already seen as having lost out. made Gandhi’s familiar, rounded spectacle frames Remember Sadhvi Rithambara, Praveen Togadia, even easy. Some people already call Indira and Rajiv The flow of facts and logic leads to one conclusion: The country should be the logo of his precious Swachh Bharat programme. Vinay Katiyar. Some are mainstreamed, from Uma Gandhi’s assassins heroes. Mahatma Gandhi, even for This, from Pragya Thakur, who actually counts for Bharti to Sakshi Maharaj, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti (of those on the extreme Hindu Right who believe he ready for slower growth. This is already evident, but has been masked by the a big cipher either in vote-catching ability or the par- Ramzade and Haramzade fame), to Yogi Adityanath. founded the politics of Muslim “appeasement”, is sui- fiddling with (and suppression of inconvenient) GDP and employment numbers. ty’s moral positioning, is a vicious kick in her prime This worked for three decades, but was too clever cidal to target. Mr Modi may indeed be honest in say- The economy dropped to well below the key 7 per cent growth benchmark minister and party chief’s guts. They can’t even com- to last. Some of us had foreseen this. Do check out Ma- ing his heart will never forgive Pragya. He could begin towards the end of the Manmohan Singh government, and even the official sta- plain, because they are the ones who consciously instreaming the Lynch-Fringe, my National Interest by praying that she doesn’t win next Thursday. Or, it tistics put it at lower than 7 per cent today. Since that is not fast enough to pulled her out of nowhere. just after the Akhlaq killing by gau rakshaks in Dadri. will be an embarrassing five years swearing by the provide jobs for the young, the fall-out will be political and social, on ground Pra gya is only the latest, and the most embarrassing name of Gandhi, and carrying along in your parlia- made fertile by an under-performing economy for the rise of populism. hy, was explained by Mr Shah at his press conf - ex ample. It can’t even be described as a misstep, be c - mentary party one hailing his killer a hero. Werence with Mr Modi. He said it was his party’s a use the party president has himself told us that this “satyagraha” against the Congress party’s campaign was a deliberate, well-thought out move, a satyagraha. By Special Arrangement with ThePrint China could pay a high price for US tariffs Gizmos & early users other developing countries. For two decades, Chinese households revert to parking away diversifying their domestic economic base. Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw. they relied on global markets to provide a higher savings to safeguard their future The third is the government’s tendency EYE CULTURE Although I showed the key numbers crucial tailwind while they pursued reforms ability to pay for things like hospital bills, to fall back on state-owned enterprises to in an overhead transparency presen- at home. But this is changing now that the education for their family, and retirement. boost GDP. Most available evidence sug- SHREEKANT SAMBRANI tation, I had saved the sensitivity US is increasing tariffs on Chinese imports China’s success in prudently reducing gests that the efficiency and productivity arendra Modi’s claim of hav- analysis on the laptop. The venerable and limiting their tech companies’ access to its household saving rates in recent years of these companies is low and declining, ing used a digital camera and board members were completely con- US markets. Also, some US companies have appears to have stalled in the last 12 while their contributions to China’s debt Nemail in 1987 has got him bad vinced when the “little” machine already begun to reorient their supply chains months. The latest high-frequency eco- load and resource misallocations are press because of the date, which is answered all their what-if questions away from the mainland. nomic data, including this week’s lower- increasing. China instead should be close to or before the beginning of their with a few quick key strokes. The hap- With external tailwinds turning into than-consensus expectations for retail empowering its more efficient private com- use anywhere in the world. That may py hour post the board meeting was headwinds, China will need to rely far sales and industrial output, suggests the panies to be responsible for the bulk of jobs not be entirely undeserved. But one’s entirely consumed by their eager han- MOHAMED A EL-ERIAN more on domestic demand to generate problem may get worse before it gets better. and growth in the economy. claim to be an early user of an innova- dling of the computer. prosperity. To do so without building up China needs to do more to provide house- So far China has resisted following the tion need not be questioned merely A few weeks later, I had a meeting risks in the financial system, Beijing would holds with pooled insurance mecha ni sms examples of Canada and Mexico in making because the person is from India, not with Baba Kalyani of Bharat Forge. He y putting more barriers in China’s need to promote far greater household con- (including improving health insurance, concessions to the Trump administration known for its receptivity to new used to come to the office after a morn- path to US markets and, in the sumption and private investment, rather education and pension systems) so that in order to defuse trade tensions and build devices (especially in the last century). ing round of the shop floor. That day Bprocess, risking some short-term than relying on the debt-fuelled govern- they can feel more confident spending. a more sustainable economic relationship I am almost certainly the first user he was a little behind the schedule. As damage to the domestic and global ment investment and inefficient state The second trend is the tendency for the with the US. If it also cannot resist indulging of laptop computers in India and I waited, his senior personal secretary economies, the US President Donald owned enterprises that have helped drive government to revert to fiscal and monetary these three habits, its multi-decade record among the earliest in the world. In ear- wanted to know what was in my shoul- Trump could exact a heavy long-term cost domestic engines of growth for most of the stimulus whenever the economy hits a soft of impressive economic performance, not ly 1985, I had begun an association with der bag. I told her it was a computer. on the world’s second-largest economy. last several decades. patch. Recent evidence suggests that such to mention its future prospects, will be at a Canadian engineering consulting She did not believe it until I took it out Indeed, he may even threaten China’s This effort will fail unless the govern- measures are less effective than they used serious risk. That would only further company working on a project for East and showed her. More than a decade chances of eventually entering the ranks ment can overcome three habits that tend to be, requiring much more debt per unit of embolden those US policy makers who, India Hotels. We struck an immediate later, I had called up Mr Kalyani’s office of high-income countries. to reassert themselves whenever econo mic GDP to stabilise growth. This only adds to driven by both economic and national secu- rapport. In the Canadians’ Delhi visit to fix an appointment. I introduced Chinese leaders have long known that and financial insecurities increase in China. the risks building up in China’s financial sys- rity considerations, hope their actions now in February-March that year, I initiated myself and the voice at the other end they need to change their development The first is the tendency for households tem. Most development economists argue will dampen China’s ability to challenge them into the intricacies of one-day said, “How can I forget you? You intro- model if they are to make this difficult tran- to sock away more money as a form of self- that to avoid the middle-income trap, coun- America’s global dominance. cricket while watching live telecasts of duced me to laptops!” sition, powering through the dreaded “mid- insurance. Especially when they’re uncer- tries instead must lead with the supply side, the World Championship Series then Late in 1985, I went to North dle-income trap” that’s tripped up so many tain about their economic prospects, securing further productivity gains and © Bloomberg being played in Australia (in which America for a series of meetings and Ravi Shastri won an Audi car as the discussions. Although airport securi- player of the series). ty then was not as stringent as it is When they returned in April, one now, I had to invariably take out the of them had a Toshiba T1100 portable laptop every time and demonstrate Celebrity overdose on IPL helps or hurts brands? computer introduced globally just that it was a computer, much to the days earlier, which he had bought right great amazement of the security per- creatives that are different. The ritual has also pushing Bharat Matrimony and redBus; celebrity clutter. To neutralise that, one before leaving for India for Canadian sonnel. And if I worked on it during a gained momentum over the years, and today Alia Bhatt and Varun Dhawan were seen would presume, brands need to either hire a $3,000. The covetous gleam in my eyes long wait in the departure lounge, a many more brands debut on the IPL, and together in the Frooti Life campaign; new bigger star to dwarf competition or have cre- was evident to everyone, especially the crowd was sure to collect, oohing and there are many more who create bespoke comers Vicky Kaushal and Kartik Aryan were atives that are really outstanding and differ- leader of the Canadian team. He per- aahing about the little wonder. advertising only for the IPL window. Tata featured by Vivo and Oppo; Aditya Roy ent. Unfortunately, both formulas don’t nec- suaded his colleague to sell the It was not just the hardware. The Harrier, Netflix Selection Day, and Sporto Kapur was also roped in by Oppo; Aamir essarily always work. machine to me for ~30,000 and voilà! Canadians also gave me Microsoft Red were among the noticeable debutants Khan was in PhonePe and Vivo; Shahrukh Just having a top-leaguer like Virat or I was the proud owner of this wonder- Word, then just introduced. I found it this year; Cadbury Fuse, Dream 11, PayTM, was playing mentor to kids in Byju and V- Akshay may not really help because these ful new piece of hardware within 10 much more user-friendly as compared Zomato Premier League, Frooti, Myntra, and Nourish; Hema Malini continued her long- busy stars are the face of far too many brands. days of its being on the market. to then Indian standard Wordstar and Vimal Elaichi, besides some others, broke standing support to Kent RO; Mr Bachchan The danger therefore is that the star is The Toshiba machine was techni- started using it immediately. People new campaigns on the six-weeks long tour- was fixing it for Dr Fixit; Ayushmann played remembered, the brand is not. Newcomer cally not the first portable computer. did not ask for soft copies of docu- YES, BUT... nament on Star Sports. Similarly, on Hotstar, pivot for Polycab; Ranbir Kapoor and Paresh V-Nourish must have paid a bomb to hire Some experimental devices had been ments in those days, so I was spared ‘IPL-only’ campaigns were run by Wrogn, Rawal were paired again in a new commer- Shahrukh, and aired its commercials with on the scene off and on for about a the need of converting Word files into SANDEEP GOYAL Peter England wedding suits, Netflix- cial for Coca Cola; Ranbir was also paired high frequency in the finals, but few if any decade. But the Toshiba offering, ful- Wordstar. But I still think in Lotus 123 Bahubali, Halaplay, Fanfight, Freecharge, with Deepika in the Asian Paints ad. Phew! would actually recall the brand name. ly compatible with the IBM PC, was before building Excel worksheets! he IPL this year was an even bigger Budweiser, Cadbury gems, and ZooZoo The list could go on and on and on, and if I Shahrukh to most viewers was just Byju. “the world’s first mass-market laptop So Mr Modi might be right in claim- hit with television reach topping 444 Fanbreaks. All underlining the growing were to also include the various cricketers For creatives that stand out, you have to computer,” as its manufacturer most ing to have used a digital camera in T million viewers — 259 million in importance of the IPL to most brands seeking from the various franchises featuring in team either invest in creating a property like the truthfully claimed. 1987, because Megavision started sell- Urban, 186 million in Rural — in BARC Week millennial audiences. sponsor ads, it would be endless. ZooZoos or there is little hope of differentia- A generation later, it can be called ing its Tessera camera then. He could 18, May 3 data, and video viewership on Yes but, the most dramatic change that Suffice it to say there was almost as much tion. Ranbir’s acting and mannerisms are with some justification the dinosaur have picked it up in his travels abroad Hotstar crossing 175 million in just the fourth the IPL has witnessed this year is the over- of Bollywood on screen as cricket and crick- just the same in Coca Cola and Asian Paints; of laptops: It was slow, had only 256 or one of his many admirers may have week of the tournament. Subsequent weeks load of celebrities being used by various eters in IPL 12. Celebrities, young and old, Aamir in PhonePe as the grandfather is kb RAM, no hard disk, used the then presented him one. But the first truly data, I am sure, will show even higher num- brands to stand-out at the IPL. There was old and new, had been hired by brands as if almost wasted; four Akshays in Tata trucks not readily available 3½” diskettes digital camera, the Fuji DS-1P, came bers. No wonder, therefore, while the eight not one, not two, not three but four Akshay without them their brand would have no don’t tell the story any better. (the standard ones were the 5¼” flop- into the market in 1988, a year after Mr teams slugged it out for supremacy in the Kumars on show in the Tata Intra mini-truck identity. On the contrary, methinks, in the So, have a celebrity by all means; but let pies), had a monochrome orange dis- Modi claimed to have taken Lal stadia, there was another much bigger battle ad; Akshay was also seen peddling Envy overcrowded celebrity parade during IPL, him or her not just merge with the crowd of play and limited graphic ability and Krishna Advani’s digital picture. He of the brands raging off the field, on your TV ‘French’ deos and Policybazaar; Virat and brands that did not use these famous crutch- other famous faces. At ad-spots that cost ~9- bulky as well. Toshiba proudly and could surely not have sent it through screens. So much was after all at stake. Anushka were together, yet never in the same es perhaps fared better. Swiggy with its 10 lakh per 10 seconds, and an endorsee that rightly said it weighed just(!) 4 kg and email, because the rudimentary, non- Vodafone started a new trend way back frame, in Google Duo and Myntra; Virat was endearing advertising, sans any famous puts you back for a crore to 10-crore, if you fitted into a briefcase (it did, but took commercial services then available to in 2009 when they launched a special ‘IPL- alone in TooYumm; but featured alongside faces, had ads that had both cut-through and are on IPL your choices are limited: either up all the space). But in 1985, it was select few anywhere in the world could only’ campaign with the ZooZoos, based on Harmanpreet and Mithali Raj for Royal high memorability. Who can forget the ‘gula- stand-out or get-out. nothing less than a marvel. not handle large picture files. Oh well, the realisation that the T20 tournament is Challenge; Ajay Devgn was selling Vimal bjamun’ ad they put out last year, and an I had a presentation to make to the that would not be the first time when the biggest (and zaniest) television property Kesri; newly-weds Deepveer cosied up for equally hilarious sequel this year? The writer is an advertising and media veteran Oberoi board, with such distin- truth has been embellished a little and of the year, by far, and hence merits brand Lloyd aircons; Dream 11 had Dhoni who was On IPL, there is undoubtedly a lot of [email protected] guished members as B K Nehru and certainly not the last!