FDI In Retail...

Frankly, I am not competent enough to figure out the pros and cons of the decision to open up the retail sector to Foreign Direct Investment. So I have absolutely no bias for or against this decision. I am willing to accept that the decision may help the nation in the long run as much as I am willing to accept that this decision is a sell-out to the interests of multinationals. So I am not even delving into the merits or demerits of the decision, for now. What perturbs me is the sheer haste with which the government wants to move on this.

This same government was shying away from taking decision since last three years on almost anything. So when the Team Anna with full might of the people of India behind it, applied pressure to pass the Jan Lokpal Bill in the monsoon session of the parliament itself, the same government's response was prompt. It is a bill that would have long-term repercussions and hence it needs time to be studied and debated amply before it can be passed. For some strange reason, this same government apparently thinks that the decision on FDI in retail does not require such due diligence. Its almost like Rip Van Winkle woke up from a deep slumber of three years, one fine morning and said "Hey, we need to do FDI in retail..quick!"

Here's what happened while the government was sleeping. We had a big real estate bubble - both commercial as well as residential. While the interest rates were soft, builders aggressively borrowed to buy land and build residential and commercial structures. Property prices kept going up like never before. A lot of this business flourished on the back of ill-gotten wealth of the politicians. Now we are in a situation where commercial realty has already crashed and residential is in a deep mess. Don't ask me the source of my information. I am not in the habit of maintaining links and references to my information source. You just have to search for real-estate inventory in the 4 metros and the numbers are available all across the internet. The builders will hold on to the inventory so long as the real investors behind it (the politicians with black money) are willing to stay put.

These politicians will soon need the money. You need money to fight elections and election season is round the corner. First some major states that are going to polls, and then the grand finale' in 2014. Where will this money come from if it is stuck up in inventory that is refusing to get sold? This is where FDI comes in. Walmart is going to need space, a hell lot of space to open its malls. Initially, the malls are going to get permission only in the big cities. The same cities where land is scarce and where the ill-gotten wealth is stuck up the most.

This explains the haste with which the FDI needs to happen, no matter its long-term impact. As I said earlier, I have no problems with opening up retail to foreign kirana-wallas, provided it emerges are a well thought out decision after proper study and adequate national debate.

Anna's protest is naive and simplistic says Nandan Nilekani

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/annas-protest-unjustified-nandan-nilekani/176743-3.html
It was interesting to read this interview given by Nandan Nilekani to CNN-IBN. Its good that the intellectuals from Corporate India also participate in this debate. Irrespective of the side they take, their views deserve all the respect. To that extent, I appreciate Mr. Nilekani for having given his honest opinion.

In the interview, the ex-CEO of Infosys and current chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) puts forth an argument based on the notion that Jan Lokpal is not going to eliminate all the corruption and hence the protests by Anna are naive and simplistic. He goes on to say how Aadhar (UID) will go a long way to bring in transparency in people's interaction with the State.

Mr. Nilekani, you have made an assumption that the protesters believe that Jan Lokpal, to the exclusion of all other things is going to make the nation corruption-free. It would be foolish to believe that Jan Lokpal is going to eliminate all the corruption in the country. No one, and certainly not the Team Anna is saying that. Just like Jan Lokpal, even the project under your chairmanship, Aadhar (UID) is not guaranteed to remove corruption from its roots.

The company Infosys on whose rolls, you served as CEO and Co-chairman, has earned a lot of prosperity for its stakeholders and above all, made India proud in many ways besides just being the IT bellwether of India. It is under your and Mr. Narayan Murthy's leadership that it introduced a whistle-blower in its system. Your organization set a trend for all the IT and non-IT companies of India to follow. Ombudsman now exists almost in all major organizations in India. Did you ever question your colleagues at Infosys as to how an Ombudsman is going to solve all kind of issues related to corporate ethics in its work environment? Does the top management at Infy enjoy immunity from this Ombudsman?

It is good that the government accepted the idea of Unique Identification Cards and went ahead with its implementation. But hypothetically, if it would not have agreed to it, do you or don't you agree that it is the job of citizens of India, including yourself to make the government realize that they are wrong in not implementing this project? Would you then, accept someone else's line of argument that UID is not a magical mantra that is going to solve all the corruption related issues and hence it would be naive to protest against its non-implementation?

Aadhar (UID) is a good thing that has happened to India, under your able leadership. So is another piece of enactment - the Right To Information Act (RTI). Likewise, the nation needs a strong ombudsman to whom all public offices will be held accountable. Each one of these are a building block and not a complete structure in itself. There may be many such blocks required. But it does not require a Construction Engineer to figure out that if one of the building blocks is weak/missing, the structure is incomplete! So please don't say that the protests against a weak Lokpal draft are naive just because Jan Lokpal by itself, can not eliminate all the corruption in this nation.

The nation certainly expects much better line of thinking from the best intellectuals it has got. But I guess, since you are currently on the government payrolls, probably your tongue is tied!