QOTD: Are India's rich behaving poorly?

REALITY CHECK: Many feel the PM's appeal for sobriety in corporate lifestyles should also extend to politicians'.

        

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Keywords: Face the Nation, Manmohan Singh

The Prime Minister, on Tuesday, exhorted the leaders of industry to not forget that they lived in a country of the poor. While delivering the inaugural address at the CII National Conference, Manmohan Singh requested them to do their bit in controlling price-rise by focussing on long-term growth instead of quick gains, cut input costs, pass tax cuts to the consumer, enhance outputs and above all, ensure sobriety in corporate lifestyles.

Manmohan Singh’s appeal implies that the rich are behaving poorly in India and has brought to fore the question – is it time for India’s rich to shed their extravagant ways?

Debating the point on CNN-IBN’s show Face the Nation were Counselage Managing Partner, Suhel Seth; social activist Medha Patkar; and Congress MP from Bangalore, Dr Tejasvini.

Reality check

Manmohan Singh’s address to the CII meet saw him voicing – for the second time – his reservations about corporate lifestyles of industrywallahs.

Last year’s address to the CII had seen the Prime Minister suggesting that conspicuous expenditure be cut. On Tuesday, he again urged industry to inject a strong note of sobriety into corporate lifestyles as their extravagance was adding to costs and inflationary pressures. By reminding the wealthy industry leaders that they lived in a country of the poor, the PM appeared to imply that corporate India was cut off from the rest of India.

Suhel Seth did not think that corporate India was completely cut off but he pointed out that we cannot embrace inclusiveness.

“You can’t have rich-lists and not have give-lists,” he said. “Day before yesterday, the Sunday Times published a rich-list and in that rich-list, there were many Indians, but in the give-list there was not one Indian. The only Indian who figured on the give-list was at rank #34.”

Seth added that there were many corporations giving back to society and named the Tatas as a prime example, who have been doing it for years.

He revealed that CSR – Corporate Social Responsibility – was a term that was most abused by Indian corporations and implied that by-and-large, corporate sectors are really not stake-holders in India’s true growth as a nation.

“We’ve had eminent people like Michael Porter and C K Prahlad talking about giving back to society is indeed good business. But everyone uses Corporate Social Responsibility as a balance-sheet item; they use it to tell people how good and how helpful they are. In real terms, not much is being done,” Seth pointed out.

“Corporate India cannot be brazen about its wealth; Corporate India must respect its commitment, it must respect its role in society,” he asserted.

Politicians and corporations together skew the growth of a nation

The savings rate of our nation is 32 per cent and the investment rate is 35 per cent, clearly showing that industry and corporations are contributing to investment and generating wealth and creating jobs. It, hence, may not be fair to blame industry all the time.

Activist Medha Patkar, however, blamed the entire system.