The outgoing head of the Tata business empire warned yesterday that a lack of government support was preventing Indian industry from competing with China and lashed out at a “venal” business environment.
In interviews published ahead of his retirement as chairman this month, Ratan Tata criticized what he called a lack of coherence in government policy and said the Mumbai-based group’s ethical standards had cost it business.
Tata, a sprawling conglomerate whose portfolio ranges from salt to software, has earned itself a global reputation for its eye-catching purchases of Western companies such as Jaguar Land Rover and Corus Steel.
Tata told the Financial Times that his group planned to look to other emerging markets for expansion and accused Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of forcing it to look abroad by failing to address complaints about bureaucracy.
Singh’s government is currently steering a series of economic reforms through parliament which aim to open up sectors such as supermarkets, insurance and aviation.
However, Tata, whose global sales total US$100.9 billion, said investors were being deterred from India and complained that it still took the best part of a decade to gain clearance for major projects.
“Different agencies in the government have almost contradictory interpretations of the law, or interpretations of what should be done,” he told the London-based newspaper.
“These are things which by and large would drive investors away in most other countries,” he added.
Tata contrasted the Indian government’s attitude towards its industrial sector with that of its counterpart China where Tata recently opened a Jaguar Land Rover factory.
“There’s a great, marked difference [in] government support,” he said. “If we had the same kind of encouragement to industry ... I think India could compete definitely with China,” he said.
In a separate interview published in the Mumbai-based DNA newspaper, Tata said his successor Cyrus Mistry would face a major struggle not to compromise the group’s ethical standards.
“They [Mistry and his fellow executives] will have to make decisions and, when they do this, they will be constantly faced with the question: Do you compromise, do you give in?” said Tata, who stands down on Dec. 28 when he turns 75.
“You can call it by another name, but in playing this game of appeasing or surrendering to a venal system, the soft option, the easy way out is a compromise,” he said.
Tata was the driving force behind the creation of the Nano, billed as the world’s cheapest car when it launched in 2008.
However, with annual sales lagging below the 100,000 mark, Tata said there should be a rethink on how it is marketed.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last