Monthly Archives: June 2010

Where can the UK – India partnership go? Take Two…

Posted on by
Reply

If you recollect the 90s, any mention of India in the West used to be hyphenated with the word Pakistan following it. It was at the end of one of the most gruesome and violent periods in the recent history of India that the Blair Government swept to victory. India had a nationalist coalition government at its helm for the very first time, who flexed their muscles on issues concerning national security. In 1998, they broke the moratorium on nuclear testing and suffered global sanctions, which are now defunct and removed.

Recognising the need to hedge its bets, Blair embraced India as a counterbalance to China, despite it not having the promise that we see today; and in all fairness stuck at it despite disastrous visits by the Queen and also by Robin Cook, the then foreign secretary. Little did he know at that time the Y2K bug would actually prove to be a major boon for bilateral relations as it was around this time that Indian IT firms started winning global IT contracts as a result of their price advantage, heralding a promising trade & investment partnership.

Blair’s New Labour Government followed this up by a phenomenal visit to India in 2001, where he signed the New Delhi declaration, which he broke the mould. Simply put, he turned the way the world thought about India, and India knew his endorsement really mattered. For the first time, the UK stated that India was a deserving member to the top table of the international community – he committed to campaign for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. This was ground-breaking on any terms.

He followed up by ensuring that India became Britain’s largest bilateral aid & development recipient. His logic was simple: to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, the UK taxpayer needed to assist India in eradicating poverty, after all to make an impact on the global scale, India was critical as a third of the world’s poor live in India.

Like this, whether we talk about improving defence ties, promoting education exchanges, increasing trade & investment, Blair pushed the boat out. Every single government department had to have an India champion within it.

In later years, Brown as PM continued on the same trajectory. By this time, India was a permanent fixture at G8 meetings – which would’ve been inconceivable even a few years before, and a true partnership emerged between Manmohan Singh – an economist and former Finance Minister of India & Gordon Brown – an academic and long time Chancellor of the Exchequer.

In later years, the wheels may have come off slightly (read my post on David Miliband’s visit to India as Foreign Secretary, click here), but it’s important to recognise that the Labour government was radical in its approach to India. Like I said before, they truly broke the mould.

Given all the rhetoric on the Conservative Government’s desire to build an “enhanced partnership” with India (the Queen singled out India in this year’s Queen’s Speech), I’m scratching my head as to how they’re going to differentiate themselves from New Labour’s record on India – which incidentally could’ve alienated a massive anti Indian support base that exists within the Party, which almost makes Blair’s support for India even more praiseworthy.

Here are my suggestions as to what the Conservative Government could do to deepen relations with India:

1. Build on the foundations of the UK – India Education & Research Initiative, by promising more funding to promote institutional linkage that can take advantage of the new Indian laws allowing foreign universities to set up there.

2. Take stock of the trade & investment relationship. Why is it that despite so many independent agencies and taxpayer funded promotion bodies our trade support system struggles to excite SMEs to seek partnerships in India. The legend that is Alpesh B. Patel, again reinforced the view that we (read ‘he’) do well in attracting Indian investors to the UK, but struggle in the opposite direction.

3. Don’t cut aid to India. When Andrew Mitchell visits India, he’ll be surrounded with millions of reasons of why we should continue. My friend – Geoffrey Clifton Brown MP, who at the time was a Shadow International Development Minister, visited India last year as part of the IPT delegation and recounted his experience which supported and recommended continued support & aid.

4. Engage the diaspora, for example invite prominent members of the thriving business community to join business & political delegations to India. One of our biggest assets is our diversity. With so many people of Indian origin in this country, make the most of it.

Maybe like George Osborne’s efforts to crowd-source views and suggestions, Prime Minister Cameron may wish to throw a life-line to the civil servants whose job is to put some meaningful suggestions on what an enhanced partnership could look like before his widely expected first visit to India.

Incidentally, another friend – Rahul Roy-Chaudhury, who’s a leading policy expert on strategic & security issues at the IISS wrote the following piece, which proves to be a good read: http://www.iiss.org/whats-new/iiss-in-the-press/june-2010/uk-india-a-special-relationship-for-the-21st-century/?vAction=fntUp

Sunil Mittal – the poster boy of Indian entrepreneurship

Posted on by
Reply

Visiting my relatives in India when I was young, I was always struck, even then, by the stories that were told about India’s bureaucracy. For example, we were told that to get a fixed line phone, people had to wait over 5 years after lodging their application. Given this was the state of India and in particular of her telecoms sector not so long ago, one of the statistics that astounds people today, unsurprisingly, is the take up rate of mobile phones in India – which averaged upwards of a couple of million handsets being sold every month!

Coming from quite a mature western European market, I’m totally flabbergasted with the competitiveness of India’s cellphone market. In addition her innovative ways of winning and keeping customers, such as with low cost price plans, energetic (but melodious) ring tones, value added information services etc. all are refreshing and provide great case study material in MBA schools all over the world.

But, often people outside of India (and outside of business schools) fail in recognising Indian brands and their successes fully, which was a prime motive in my writing my recently released book: India Inc: How India’s Top Ten Entrepreneurs Are Winning Globally.

My biggest regret is not that I didn’t write about Ratan Tata, Mukesh or Anil Ambani, but in fact that I didn’t include Sunil Mittal, the man behind the telecoms boom in India. He’s often credited as India’s poster boy for entrepreneurship as he’s created a phenomenal juggernaut of a company in Bharti Airtel. My reasons for excluding him, despite having met him over the past decade at many occasions, is that until recently he was totally focused on the opportunity India’s domestic market provides for Airtel – not that you can hold that against him – and my book looked at the international success of India’s corporate titans.

But, finally, all has changed. As of this week, Bharti Telecom owns Africa’s Zain Telecom and therefore makes his success an international one in the truest sense. His acquisition is second only to Tata’s purchase of Corus and provides Mittal with a growing footprint in an additional 15 countries and 150 odd million subscribers. It would be misleading to suggest that Mittal wasn’t interested in internationalising Airtel, as we all know of his failed negotiations with South Africa’s MTN over the past couple of years. But, I’m glad its finally happened.

What excites me, and many more, is his focus on Africa as it is here that I believe he’ll really be able to leverage his Indian experience to much gain. We hear of China’s love affair with Africa, but seldom do you hear of India making a beeline to some of the world’s most stunning countries and for this reason look forward to charting Sunil Mittal’s international success as much as India watchers have kept a keen eye on his domestic conquest.

Please don’t be mistaken, his rise hasn’t been free of challenge, controversy, or criticism and I don’t intend on sugar-coating his rise, but I fundamentally believe, above all, he demonstrates some phenomenal entrepreneurial traits that could teach the Bransons of our world a thing or two.

Bhopal – a sad day for justice in India

Posted on by
Reply

I haven’t had the opportunity to comment on Bhopal in any manner, so here I offer my quick thoughts:

More than a quarter of a century on, Indian courts deliver a verdict on the Bhopal tragedy which took over 8,000 lives within hours of a lethal gas being accidentally pumped into the air. It’s estimated that over 25,000 people have died as a result of the leak.

Only seven employees, including the Chairman of Mahindra & Mahindra who was the Chairman of Union Carbide India, have been given jail terms of a maximum of two years. They’ve been given bail and it’ll probably take years for the appeal to come to court.

I’m outraged and astonished at this verdict. If, in the context of India’s rise on the global stage versus China, people cite India’s legal system as the jewel in its crown, then I’d urge them to take a real look at this tragic situation.

There’s not much I can add to this blogpost apart from state my astonishment, disappointment and anger at the system.

What can one say apart from stating that today is a sad day for justice, a sad day for India!

India’s rise and the promise of a US – India Partnership

Posted on by
Reply

Having just read the speech delivered yesterday by William J. Burns, Under Secretary for Political Affairs at the White House, I thought I’d list some of the phenomenal quotes, which should leave those suggesting otherwise in no doubt about the political capital that’s being invested by the Obama administration on India.

The speech is called India’s rise and the Promise of US – Indian Partnership and was delivered at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington DC on 1st June 2010.

You can read the full speech by clicking any of the quotes below:

“The simple truth is that India’s strength and progress on the world stage is deeply in the strategic interest of the United States. ”

“Never has there been a moment when India and America mattered more to one another. And never has there been a moment when partnership between India and America mattered more to the rest of the globe.”

“The further truth, however, is that progress in U.S.-Indian partnership is not automatic. It requires continued hard work and vision on both sides. It requires patience and creativity. And it requires honesty in dealing head-on with concerns and doubts that arise on both sides.”

“India’s leadership, and the potential for U.S.-Indian partnership, extends well beyond Asia. India’s role in promoting global security is growing.”

“……it is a striking fact that the U.S. military now holds more bilateral military exercises every year with India than any other nation.”

“Expanded U.S.-Indian defense cooperation, unimaginable not so long ago, is a valuable means of supporting our shared interest in India’s broadened international security role. Our stake in India’s defense modernization is real and increasing, and defense trade has taken off since our 2005 framework agreement.”

’’India and the United States have both suffered devastating terrorist attacks, with the scars of 9/11 and 26/11 still fresh in both our societies. Since the horrific assault on Mumbai in November 2008, U.S.-Indian cooperation in counter-terrorism has deepened rapidly, in the interests of both our countries. Partnership on cyber security is another area ripe for development.”

“Our Strategic Dialogue this week elevates India to the rank of our most important global partners, allowing us to discuss and coordinate policies of global import, including on the future shape of the international economic system and on what we can do together to promote human development in other parts of the world.”

“In addition to the regular dialogue we have begun on East Asia, we look forward to quiet, systematic exchanges on other regional issues, such as the Middle East and Africa, where we can benefit from each other’s perspectives, and each look for ways to contribute to peace and security. India’s expanding global role will naturally make it an important part of any future consideration of reform of the UN Security Council. ”

“We’ve found greater common ground on climate change, and the Copenhagen Accord could not have happened without leadership at the highest levels from India.”

“The United States has both a profound interest in India’s success, and the capacity to contribute to that growth in ways that benefit us both.”

“We can, and we should, transform our export control relationship, befitting the 21st century U.S.-Indian strategic partnership. That will open the door to historic new cooperation in space, and a number of other areas for high tech cooperation.”

“Next year India will be the largest single-country recipient of U.S. climate funding, because India’s success in charting a new energy future is deeply in America’s interests.”

“India’s development of its greatest resource — its immensely talented people — is another focus of U.S.-Indian partnership.”

“The Singh-Obama 21st Century Knowledge Initiative offers new funding to increase linkages between American and Indian universities.”

“India and the United States have reached the stage where our individual success at home and abroad depends on our cooperation. That is what is different about our relationship today. That is the promise unlocked by the civil nuclear agreement, and all the advances of recent years. That is the “big idea” that can animate our partnership for decades to come. And that is the challenge before us, symbolized by the inauguration of the first-ever Strategic Dialogue: how to widen the arc of our cooperation, how to build systematic habits of collaboration, how to turn the transformational accomplishment of the civil nuclear accord into partnership across a much broader front.”.

“I have no illusions that this will be neat or easy. It will take a lot of time, and a lot of effort. Differences will occur, and doubts will linger. But at this extraordinary moment, we have leaderships who understand and respect one another, broad public and bipartisan support, a growing record of trust on which to build, and remarkable scope for partnership in Asia, in promoting global security and prosperity, and in India’s historic modernization. If we get this moment right, Indians and Americans can have an enormously positive influence on each other’s future, and on the course of the new century unfolding before us.”