EMPLOYERS MEET

Partha Saran, my friend and an entrepreneur, recently had to attend an important meeting at Mumbai. Indian Employers Association organized it to deliberate on issues related to entrepreneurs with operations in India. At the eleventh hour, he had to go abroad to participate in another important meeting with his clients. He told me to go to this conference in India on his behalf and voice our concerns as an employer in an appropriate manner. I took his place in this context. I presented a two-page paper discussing various issues faced by employers in India. There was an interview schedule every evening. Journalists talked to different employers individually to elicit information regarding their problems as entrepreneurs. Ms. Roma Jatin interviewed me. I talked with her about the views and concerns of Saran as an entrepreneur.

Roma: India seems to be a heaven to entrepreneurs now as the state and central governments are taking many measures to promote employment in India. As an entrepreneur, what is your take on it?

I: In India, what is read in newspapers does not happen at ground level. Indian ministers and bureaucracy are good at rhetoric. They show heaven to enthusiastic entrepreneurs in their public speeches just to impress their present and future voters. Red tapism, nepotism and corruption are high in India. Nothing happens as early as we desire. At almost every step of starting and running an industrial unit in India, we are paying bribes to many politicians, government employees and unscrupulous brokers. This is why black money is hugely needed in India to pay to those, who are wrong people essentially, to do a good thing like creating employment to some. Depending on the nature and volume of an industrial unit or units in a place, we are going to start, we have to satisfy many rogues on the way. It is a layer system. We have to pay each of them handsomely in lakhs and crores to get approvals at various levels. For 90% of the corruption in India, I presume, governments, political parties and bureaucracy are the cause. They talk about virtues publicly to attract innocent people. They create and promote vice in reality.

Roma: As an entrepreneur, you should stop indulging in malpractices like this. Positive change has to start from somebody. Why can’t you be that? Why do you criticize others for your faults?

I: Corruption started increasing tremendously in India after around 1970. Then those rulers, government employees and people had patriotism. They were ready for sacrifices for the cause of the nation. In course of time, politicians established the culture of corruption and malpractices for their benefit. Corruption is like a cancer in India now. 98% of businessmen and entrepreneurs have to close their businesses in India now if they refuse to pay bribes to others at many levels. Imagine the state of educated and uneducated Indians then in India. They lose jobs as employees and contract workers. Indian economy collapses. The image of India gets lost internationally. Would you like me and thousands of other employers in India to get into this culture of catastrophic negative impact across India within days? Ask your boss personally if he ever offered bribe to anybody or not to run his venture. If you are doing a job with his unit of operations, it is just because he got accustomed to this dirty and nasty corporate culture in India. You cannot imagine the landscape of Indian employment industry without disorders, demerits and corruption at all. As an employer, I am a kind of permanent victim in this scenario. I choose to remain as a victim to bring comfort and happiness into the lives of my employees and contract workers. In India, we cannot survive as an individual or entrepreneur if we do not succumb to the thoughts and acts of corruption at some level. Haven’t you ever paid bribe in your personal or professional life to get things done? Corruption is the core of India. Indian economy collapses in seconds if every entrepreneur is 100% right.

Roma: What do you think about the employee unions and such other interest groups in India now?

I: Employee and labour unions are a nightmare to owners of businesses in every part of India. Begging or demanding somebody to give you something now or tomorrow is easy. Meeting those demands is very difficult or impossible at times. Suppose you have a good daughter. You are giving her 1,000 rupees every month for her pocket money. After some months, she demanded you to pay her 3,000 rupees every month for her pocket money. If you don’t satisfy her, she would call you a demon or commits suicide. In fact, your financial status was low that year. You were giving her 1,000 rupees also sacrificing many things in your life. You could not pay her 3,000 rupees. Do you like her calling you a rogue or she committing suicide because you could not fulfil her desire? This is my status as an employer and that of thousands of entrepreneurs across the world. Employee and labour unions are experts in demanding their employers anything any time without thinking whether it is practically possible or not. Their wish lists keep growing every year. Can anybody in this world assure me that an industrial unit keeps making profits every year without being influenced by internal or external changes? Then, how can we pay hugely and keep our employees in a comfort zone regularly, offering them various perks and privileges? How many employees, associated with any big company in India, who are getting huge salaries and benefits from their employers, ever publicly talked about the greatness of their employers? They talk about film stars, sports personalities, politicians and about many such other contemporary celebrities, who are not bringing happiness into their lives directly but not about their employer, who is the primary reason for their happiness now. If I am permitted, I hang all employee and labour union leaders publicly. They are telling lies to their comrades. They are making these employees and workers believe that they can live in a heaven, exploiting the goodness of their employers. If I sack 100 employees or contract workers, due to some inevitable financial reasons, they take me as their villain. Media persons present us as cruel ones. They don’t acknowledge the fact that our intelligence, hard work and vision in establishing and running various companies are the primary cause for comfortable and luxurious lives of millions of employees. We are being identified and promoted as wrongdoers mostly. I regret this phenomenon. Various other factors like community, region, language, skin colour, religion, race and class also partly impact our work culture. We face many sensitive issues patiently while running a company for all.

Roma: Are you able to find suitably qualified and experienced candidates for your requirements?

I: It is a pathetic story for all of us employers now in India. One might have an M.Sc. degree and 10 years of experience but one cannot communicate fluently and confidently when situation demands. The standards and values of our present educational institutions are so low that we cannot expect to recruit intelligent and creative ones from them for our challenging jobs and work environments. They are not learning much while at school, college or university. Once into the job, they are not learning anything new at all. When 90% of the available human resources in the market are quite incompetent ones in many aspects, we cannot run our companies recruiting those 10% challengers only. We recruit undeserving ones also helplessly. Even after joining our units, they don’t feel like improving their professional skills. There are some employees in our units, who have been working with us for about 15 years or more but they have not improved much in terms of innovative thinking, practical approach and ownership. They act smart roles before us. They don’t feel that this company is theirs and that they must struggle to make and keep it as a competent one in the international market. Circumstances are changing rapidly around us but our employees are not changing accordingly. They wish the systems and operations to run in the old style to suit their requirements but don’t struggle to update themselves to meet the challenges of the present. Thus, I should say, we are bearing with them helplessly. They are complacent, foolish and outdated in many ways. They don’t change on their own nor allow us to change them. This is an ordeal for us.      

Roma: It is a widely held common belief by many that industries are the main cause for pollution.

I: It is true that soil, air and water are getting polluted due to poor effluent treatment systems in many industries. However, we are using modern technology and equipment to treat all kinds of waste material in a proper manner and dispose them as per the standards of regulatory bodies. I accept that many industrial units are not taking stringent measures to save environment from pollutants emanating from their units of operations. More margins and more profits are the primary concern of any enterprise. They have to spend huge money every month for various inevitable responsibilities like procurement of raw material, storage, distribution, employee salaries and benefits, income tax and so on. An employer mostly tries to save money to keep in reserve fund to face any untoward incidents or natural calamities. If regulatory bodies like Pollution Control Board act ethically and efficiently at all levels, employers too take more measures to keep the environment good. PCBs collect bribes regularly from employers. I also think that all are focusing on industrial units only, more than necessary, about issues of pollution. Many public transport systems like buses and trains, which are being funded and run by state and central governments, are also causing much pollution. Why are they running thousands of old buses and trains to save money and pollute environment? 60% Indians defecate in public places as they don’t have toilets. Waste dump yards are pervasive. Most of the vehicles in India are outdated, emitting poisonous smoke. Seawater is polluted due to oil leaks from ships. Pesticides used in farms are another major source of pollution in India. Plastic bags are being used widely across places, making India a huge dustbin. Natural calamities are another source of pollution. Deforestation is widespread. Millions of rusty and dusty vehicles are kept unattended at various police stations across India. The pollution caused by industrial units is not more and fatal than these other factors leading to global warming. However, media persons, mobs of agitation, environmentalists and local interest groups always target at us only. How many vehicles are running behind those of VIPs in India daily? They want luxuries and privileges daily, not minding the virtues about which they are teaching us through their regulatory bodies. How many millions of rupees are they spending for events like commonwealth games? How much pollution is being created by government agencies daily in India? Who punishes an MLA, MP or minister if they indulge in acts of pollution? In India, there are double standards everywhere. Those with political power can do anything. Nobody has morality or guts to question and punish them. Since we are creating employment to thousands of educated youth and innocent contract workers daily, facing a multitude of problems caused by government bodies only, we are appearing as buffoons to governments and people in India. We should remain silent always but others can create violence in our units at will. Can this culture attract foreign investments into India? They may come here with standards and values of their nations and culture but once into India, we teach them how to be immoral, illegal and disorderly in India to survive somehow initially and make huge profits later. The minds of Indians and the attitudes of politicians got polluted irrevocably across India now. In this scenario, the pollution we are creating is nominal.

Roma: In India, it is believed, black money is increasing due to immoral and illegal tax evasion tricks by employers. Are you genuine in this regard? Why are you not paying taxes honestly to governments?

I: Tax evasion is a common culture in India. Individuals and companies try to save money evading tax somehow, through wrong projection of assets and income. We need huge money to pay brokers and such many idiots in India to run our companies. We cannot do it utilizing our taxed income alone. To fund corrupt politicians, agents and regulatory bodies of many kinds, we need a lot of money. We use much of our untaxed money for these purposes. Somehow we should run our companies to bring happiness into the lives of those working with us directly or indirectly. We should pay them regularly. We cannot run our companies if we are financially weak. We evade tax to be strong as industrialists. However, there are many Indian companies, which are paying all kinds of taxes in time in a systematic manner.

Roma: Do you think governments are not facilitating you considerably to run your firms peacefully?

I: It is true. Governments see us as sources of huge tax income. There are no good infrastructural facilities for companies operating from isolated areas. The situation is good in huge SEZs to much extent. We need electricity, fuel and gas to run many of our units successfully but governments are not in a position to provide us these facilities. They cannot keep their promises. Their regulatory bodies punish us if we break rules set by them but who is there to punish bureaucracy and representatives of governments if they don’t fulfil their responsibilities. In formal meetings, they state that they are making India into an investor friendly heaven but actually it is a hell at ground level. Indian politicians are experts in making public promises to impress foolish and stupid voters but not in offering reliable service to all stakeholders. They beg us money while going for elections and demand from us after becoming MLAs, MPs and ministers. They change political parties like chameleons do with their colours often. Most of the politicians in India have no vision now for the overall development of India but only to promote their areas and their political parties. Narendra Modi, who was believed to be an ideal politician of India, making a promise that he would offer 1, 20,000 crore rupees for the development of Bihar, in view of elections ahead, shows the culture of politicians in India. Doesn't it mean that he is buying voters through false promises? Is it not corruption? Why do they remember that a region needs to be developed during elections only? If these are the standards of one like Narendra Modi in India, you can imagine the characters of other representatives of people. They appear like angels to public but behave like leeches behind the screen. They torture us like anything looting our money in many ways and making threatening phone calls through their agents at various levels. They neglect laying roads around industrial units. They think that because companies have huge money with them, they develop their roads somehow, someday. Women, widows, the old-aged, physically and mentally challenged ones, sports and games folks, defense sector, SC and ST communities and many others are like their favorite ones. They spend crores of rupees every year for these unproductive activities but not for industrial units, where employment is being generated for thousands of helpless ones? Is this not an unfair treatment of local, state and central governments in India against industrial units? They don’t offer us what we want. They squeeze money from us regularly in quite dishonest and intimidating manner. If we talk about politicians publicly, honestly, they punish us though unfair raids on our companies and facilities. We should think and behave like bonded labourers before them. Quite uneducated and uncivilized MLAs, MPs and ministers are there in India. They talk rudely with us utilizing the political power accorded to them by innocent and helpless voters of India. They are like dictators. They recommend brainless sheep for recruitment in our units. How can we accept all the recommendations of these nasty politicians? They need certain qualifications and experience to do a variety of hazardous and innovative works in our units. Can these stupid rogues, recommended by unscrupulous politicians, do such critical works in our workplaces? If we don’t take their candidates into our facilities at their will, they disturb us indirectly, utilizing their political power. They have no love or respect for ordinary people but their vote banks. They victimize us in this process. We don’t complain against them in police stations or courts of law because even these departments are victims of bad politicians like us. It is all like a vicious web around us. Starting a company somewhere sometime is our first blunder. Thereafter they threaten us through quite immoral ways. We often feel like killing them.

Roma: Many industrialists deploy their relatives and close friends in highly crucial positions. Outsiders take it as an internalized policy and practice of biased treatment towards most employees. Why?

I: As organizations grow in scale of operations, it is difficult for the owners or promoters of an establishment to watch everything at ground level. Number of units and related departments keep growing in course of time according to the expansion plans of key management. Trust and loyalty play key role in building and retaining human relationships. We mostly choose our highly familiar folks for assuming key positions in various units. We expect high standards and values from them. If they cannot meet our expectations, we ask them to leave. We don’t have such freedom when we go professionally. If we recruit a highly intelligent, creative and talented one to head a department, in accordance with the statutes of the governments and regulatory bodies, he may work like a reliable and strong machine but we cannot trust him completely. What if he manipulates the existing staff and systems to his advantage? I don’t say that our relatives and friends don’t betray us but we hope that chances might be less. They have a sense of loyalty, respect and love towards us, considering the special status we accorded them in our organization. They mostly try to deliver in the best manner possible to keep our trust in them intact. We certainly have a tendency of preference towards candidates of our community, religion, region, language, culture, class, race and so on though we state differently in our corporate policy statements and otherwise. We pay and reward them handsomely in comparison to those, who don’t belong to us that closely. Generally others get demotivated and demoralized in such working environment. To satisfy all, we cannot go 100% professionally in many things we do. Many sentiments and beliefs influence us in this direction than rationality and conscience. I believe this culture is prevalent in every company across the world.

Roma: What do you do to control attrition rates in your organization?

I: I believe even God cannot control attrition rate even if he would start and run a company, which is 100 times better than Google or Microsoft. Contemporary employment opportunities, trends and attractions influence the attitudes and lifestyles of almost all employees. Every human being, including me, is essentially an opportunist. He is more concerned about profit and loss than good or bad. If I have to survive and excel as an employer, I have to make more profits every financial year. All discuss success only, not failure. To be successful and happy as an employer, I make such products, which bring me huge profits in a short span of time. I change my policies, systems, operations, ideas and plans according to my requirements, which aim at profit. Similarly, employees move from one company to another for better salaries, increments, perks, privileges and working environment. Even if I keep them in a heaven for one year to treat them extraordinarily, they may leave my organization the second year, not because they are not happy here but they want to see another heaven or hell somewhere else. They want variety. Most of them don’t have loyalty and gratitude towards their previous or present employers. They just act smart roles in every organization. They jump out when a better opportunity beckons. As employers, we see thousands of such frogs and cats. We get accustomed to their tastes, preferences and tricks. We realize that man is like a monkey. They cannot be stationary but evolutionary. On the other hand, some employees remain with us for years together, not because they are not competent but because they are deeply tuned to our working environment and work culture. If they go out, they may need to face new bosses, more challenges and different work environments. They cannot adjust to such change. At times, they appear as dead burden to us. We would be happy if they go out and get a better opportunity but they don’t. We bear with them. It means we, as employers, like attrition indirectly. We want change of human resources often. Attrition is an inevitable phenomenon. We cannot control it. We have to face it bravely.

Roma: Tell me a little about your periodical employee appraisal systems and implementation?

I: God did not create every creature and phenomenon with equal strengths and weaknesses. My abilities and weaknesses are different from those of yours. All employees cannot perform alike in their respective departments and job roles. I believe that many organizations are being run successfully because some are weak and some are strong, physically and mentally. Some can do wonders within days and some cannot even for years. We cannot do 100% justice to all our employees because we cannot assess the abilities and drawbacks of our staff accurately by any means any year. We can monitor the physical presence of an employee in our campus through our attendance records but not the quantity and quality of work he is doing there regularly. When I cannot assess the standards and values of my wife, children, close relatives and bosom friends also accurately, even if they happen to be very close to me, how can I do it towards my employees? Mostly all our assessment systems are imaginary and defective. An office boy cleans our tables, carries office material, offers tea and snacks, opens and shuts car door and does such many works for us every day. We witness it with our eyes and feel love towards him. Can I make his salary 50,000 rupees per month because I like him? Then, the head of a department, who is receiving 2 lakh rupees from me towards monthly salary, may not be able to deliver well a year for various internal or external reasons. Does he accept and appreciate me if I offer 5,000 rupees only that year to him towards increment? The bitter fact is that every employee expects more and more from his employer every year but does not improve himself physically and mentally to deserve such progress in treatment towards him. I am astonished to realize that 90% of the human resources in our organization belong to this category. When they were young and energetic, they worked well out of love, respect or fear of their superiors. After they stay with us for a few years, they don’t compete with their subordinates in knowledge or skills but keep instructing them to do this or that artificially. They believe that they have grown but the fact is they have degraded themselves over the years. Once they worked and showed us results. Now they are playing roles of formal supervision only. They present the worth of their subordinates as theirs. They expect more privileges and increments every year but not doing anything economical and innovative for the growth of their respective units or our organization. If I sack them, they revolt against me and stamp me as a cruel and ungrateful employer. If I continue them, they are a burden to me because they are not contributing to the growth of the organization uniquely but repeating an old process or procedure year after year, a kind of job that can be done by anybody after training. I believe that almost all companies are suffering from this problem. Experience is a vague and unreliable word for me. If one is with me for 25 years, driving my car loyally, is he superior to one who joins me today to drive the same car more efficiently but with less salary and accountability by me? Whom should I prefer? If I sack the experienced one, he says that I have no gratitude towards him. If I don’t recruit this young fellow, who is desperately looking for a job, you say that I am not creating employment opportunities for the youth of India. Assessments of salaries, increments, perks and privileges are not at all fair in any part of the world, I presume. Many superiors don’t assess the worth of their subordinates honestly. Many of our employees cannot understand and fill our printed appraisal forms also. Heads of departments are favourable towards some employees only. I believe the owner of a company has very little role to play in performance appraisal system. What can a manager do if his superior does not write positively about him even if the prior did wonders that year and brought huge profit to the company directly? Can I personally assess the performance of each of my employees? I entrust various responsibilities to others believing that they are fair and decent. What if they fail to be so in assessing and rewarding their subordinates? Many are leaving our units at various places soon after credit of their increment arrears just because they assume that we did not assess them fairly.

Roma: What about accidents, incidents and poor checks and balances in companies across places?

I: Despite our best efforts; accidents and incidents are bound to occur in any workplace because it is the nature of law. There is no creature, which is not subject to pain and damage, in course of time. Every owner or user of a vehicle expects his car to move safely on a road. He drives it carefully. What if a drunkard comes from behind fast and hits his vehicle? Observers and police find both of them as wrongdoers but not just that drunkard. We don’t have eye witnesses readily everywhere. We often become victims of accidents not because we are not disciplined and systematic but because we are destined to face it that day. Industrial units are not an exception to this phenomenon. Accident is bound to happen even in the house of factories inspector or one who wrote 10 books on how to prevent accidents. When one slips at home and fractures his ankle or hand, nobody investigates it and warns him but when a small accident occurs in a manufacturing unit, police and politicians rush there to make it an attractive news coverage item for media persons. Many gather like flies within seconds. Everybody makes it into a public issue. The relatives of the victim comment that we are not taking proper measures to protect our employees. They don’t talk about indiscipline of the worker, his bad habits or character but just the cruelty of the management. You are just seeing one person injured there but what about hundreds of other staff members who have been working there only for years, receiving salaries and enjoying their lives as our employees. We could serve and save all of them but not just this one. He is an enemy to us. So, we intentionally made him slip off a machine or on a wet floor? Is it fair on part of the observers, police, governments and regulatory authorities? They come and close our units for a specific period of time without giving us a choice to explain what happened? They go as per rules when an incident happens at our end but not when we expect something critical to be provided by them in time as per rules. Then, they should tell us to send unqualified and weak staff out. Employees beat them publicly if they instruct us to do so. Regulatory bodies are the first-rate criminals in India. They victimize us always. Any day or night, we cannot sleep peacefully, fearing any untoward incident or accident in any of our units. We don’t know who reacts how, representing governments or unions. One running a brothel can sleep well. A beggar can sleep well. A sheep can sleep well. But, an industrialist, who is creating employment to thousands of employees, through application of his vision and toil for years, is remaining as a voiceless and helpless victim in the public, during times of accidents. I believe this is the situation world over. On one hand, they invite us to start and run companies in their native places for employment generation and political calculations but when police or regulatory bodies torture us in inevitable and testing conditions, quite irrationally, no MLA, MP or minister talks in favor of us. They also consider us criminals. Nobody is interested in checking what happened but just go by wild guess, generated and propagated by others, casually. The ultimate goal of an entrepreneur might be making profits but he does take many precautions in his workplace to avoid dangers. Just like we cannot avoid bus and train accidents despite stringent safety measures, in industrial units also accidents do occur. If a train accident occurs, all the passenger and goods trains in the entire Indian Railways must be stopped. If a bus accident takes place, all government buses must be stopped across that state. Is it happening? State and central governments need not follow rules anywhere. They can break rules at will. They expect us, the entrepreneurs, to be victimized always. If an accident takes place in my unit, why should I close that unit for a few days? Who pays me the loss caused by that closure? What should those employees do during this time? What kind of image do I earn as its owner at higher end? When I am creating employment to thousands of employees and paying them crores of rupees as salaries and perks every month, no government or private agent has time and interest to talk about it and appreciate me. When an accident occurs, every rogue talks badly about me and my organization. This is incredible Indian culture. This is the current status of Indian governments and media. When do we grow as Indians? When do we avoid double standards?

Roma: When there are that many problems, why do you start and run such industrial units at all?

I: God creates every creature with a purpose. We all have a predestined lifespan. To make our lives meaningful and interesting, all of us must do something good for others. I believe industrialists are a good lot from this perspective. Most of the development we are seeing now across the world is a result of industrial revolution. Before this, man had to make goods manually. He had to walk for miles together to reach a place. Many died due to infections, diseases and poverty. Designing, production, distribution and utilization of goods and services improved tremendously after automation technologies in industries. Large scale availability of goods and services made human life more comfortable and reliable. I believe, we, as industrialists, are continuing that tradition of sustainable development in India. Can you imagine your present life without clothes, money, medicines, computers, vehicles, films, cooking utensils, LPG, electricity, roads, railways, seaports, airports, temples and laboratories? We are all depending on various goods manufactured in various industries. Every manufacturing process has a set of norms. There is no industry without risk. Every phase of human evolution brings many risks along. Industrialists are direct contributors to large scale employment, quality products and services and human comfort as a whole. Human life is a complex of risks. I run an industry to serve humanity in one direction. Hundreds of other industrialists make a variety of other goods for humanity. Their primary objective may be profit but those using these products feel comfortable, happy and healthy. We seek pleasure from this realization. Imagine every industrialist closing their units because of these unfavorable conditions across the world. Patients die without medicines. Trains and planes cannot run. Millions of employees beg on roads without jobs. Governments collapse within days due to revolution by poor and helpless masses. Darkness and anarchy spread across the world. Industrialists are saving human beings from this adverse atmosphere. So, it is the moral responsibility of governments, regulatory bodies, people, employees and workers to be empathetic towards industrialists but not revolutionary or anarchical. We are here for you. If you disturb us, it is indirectly disturbing yourselves. We are direct contributors to comforts and happiness in your lives.

Roma: How is an industry different from an individual, society or religion?

I: If an individual sleeps at home without earning money, doing something, his direct dependants suffer. If a clash takes place in a society, some of them get hurt. If a scheduled prayer did not take place in a church or temple, nobody gets a disease or dies due to hunger. If an industrialist closes his unit of operations, many suffer directly or indirectly. One, who is driving a car, has to sell it and buy a used bike. One, who is educating his children in a good school, has to send them to a mediocre local school. People cannot communicate. They cannot travel to distant places. Industries contribute to advancement of a civilization and culture directly and indirectly. They decide the prosperity or adversity of an individual, society or religion. In industries only, all are paid and treated well. You cannot get such liberal treatment working in an agricultural farm, house or orphanage. In industries only, employees and workers receive attractive wages and salaries regularly. Certainty and reliability are features of industries. Employers provide many facilities to their staff generously. We can’t find such liberal culture at homes or in society. Thus industrialists are creators of wealth and happiness in every nation. If governments and societies treat them with respect and love always, any nation can develop fast. Otherwise, unemployment and unrest prevail across the places. Thus industrialists are playing a humanitarian role in various places daily.

Roma: What measures do you take to attract and retain the best talent in the industry?

I: I don’t believe in the concept of best talent also as far as human resources are concerned. It is not enough if only one or a few are highly talented ones in a department, unit or organization. Success and happiness are a result of collective approach and toil in any industry. If subordinates cannot carry out scheduled tasks assigned by their intelligent superiors, time to time, they cannot meet their deadlines. Circumstances must be in favour of us to implement many innovative policies and procedures minding the welfare of our employees. When we deduct money from their salaries every month for various statutory obligations, they feel demotivated. Cost of living is increasing tremendously year after year. We are not in a position to keep our employees satisfied and happy always through high salaries, attractive increments, bonuses and many such other facilities. The cost of a cup of tea might look negligible to you at micro level but if you multiply it with the total number of staff in an organization, it amounts to lakhs of rupees. We are slowly withdrawing our contribution to many subsidy services in our organization to cut our growing costs of operation. When everything is free, employees misuse or disuse the resources.

Roma: What is your contribution towards corporate social responsibility?

I:  We spend lakhs of rupees every year to serve the societies about our units of operations. Distribution of school bags and books to students, drinking water facilities, medical camps, donations during natural calamities, plantation of saplings, street lights, toilets, construction of temples and so on. We do it formally to meet the norms of governments, not hoping that those benefiting from our services feel loyal and grateful to us, now or later. We see such real happiness in children and patients only much. Other beneficiaries think that we are spending that money because we are earning crores of rupees through operations in their areas. Many millionaires are there in their regions also but they don’t donate even one rupee for public welfare. People and governments have no control on them. They focus on industries only. When we are in financial crisis, nobody comes forward to help us. When we are earning a little through our ventures, all idiots come to us begging for something or the other. CSR is undoubtedly a burden on our budgets when we are financially down. We bear with governments and people silently.

Roma: How do local people around your units respond and react towards you?

I: If we give them jobs, they take us as good ones. If we refuse to take them, they stamp us as villains. They mostly consider only what they benefit from us. They are very selfish, narrow-minded and eccentric. Even those, who benefit hugely from our operations there, don’t have gratitude towards us. They look for opportunities to present us as villains in their regions and them as the saviors of public from our crimes and sins. This is how anybody that comes to our units with any purpose thinks and reacts. For majority of Indians, a company is there only to offer them whatever they demand. If we have to procure a piece of land for any purpose, they expect very high rates from us. They believe that we have billions of dollars and rupees and we can pay them handsomely. We should go as per law but they exploit us in every way possible. Governments don’t control public when they revolt against us even for minor reasons. They block our roads and damage our vehicles at will. Strikes by political parties and interest groups are another ordeal we face often. They demand lakhs of rupees if any one of their relatives meets with an accident in or near our campus and torture us like anything if someone dies. Dealing with public, unions, governments and locally influential folks is a burning issue for any industrial unit operating in India. They are inevitable sources of nuisance and unrest in India. No governments or regulatory agencies have control on people. All of them victimize us quite often one way or the other. We are silent victims.

Roma: What are the advantages and disadvantages of being an industrialist in India?

I: We don’t get time to enjoy our personal lives. If running a small joint family is an issue for individuals these days, imagine managing thousands of employees and workers employed in various departments and locations across the country. Comfortable and happy employees desire more comforts and happiness from that company. Those with lower designations also wish to move ahead in the hierarchy for better pay and facilities. Everybody wants more professional and financial growth but not the growth of the organization. All employees and workers are bothered about their lives only but not burning issues of the company they are working with. This is where we get hurt as industrialists. Everything should happen in time for them. They cannot bear delay or negligence from our end but they are accustomed to such work culture only. We pay lakhs of rupees every year to many high grade employees in our units but they don’t feel much commitment and loyalty towards us. They expect more from us every year but we should not expect it from them. They revolt if we question or criticize them. I believe that we industrialists are living here at the mercy of stupid people, corrupt governments, unethical regulatory bodies and unscrupulous unions. Advantages are we have cars, luxurious houses, considerable money, pride and job satisfaction.

Roma: What measures are you taking to create employment opportunities for girls and women?

I: Managing female employees is Herculean task for us. They need separate dining halls, restrooms, facilities and privacy.  If we reprimand them, they burst into tears within seconds. Outsiders think that we are torturing them. They are vulnerable as employees compared to men. Love and illicit relationships develop between male and female employees. There is no problem to us if they are amicable. If a girl is not happy with a boy, she complains to us. She does not inform us when falling in love with him but only when she fails in that relationship. We have to resolve those issues fast in a judicious manner. Maternity and paternity leaves influence the speed and quality of our operations. Does anybody pay remuneration if one sits at home? We do as industrialists. We pay our employees even when they are on holidays and leaves. We conduct various programs regularly to keep our employees happy. We disburse lakhs of rupees every year for the travelling and stay of our employees to different place on various occasions. Many submit fake bills and loot our money. We encourage them and their children towards better education and employment opportunities. I believe the present companies are doing many times better than the present governments and voluntary organizations as far as the financial stability, security, safety and welfare of their employees and workers are concerned. We will be happy if people, governments, voluntary organizations, regulatory bodies, media and our stakeholders do not treat us like villains in India but direct contributors to comfort and happiness of millions of educated and uneducated ones.

Roma: What are the opportunities and threats to industries operating from India in near future?

I: Globalization creates many opportunities to anybody in any country to start and run different industrial units, minding the demand and supply parameters of goods or services concerned. Standards and values are very important for industrialists. They must follow regulatory norms as far as possible. If they cannot follow them, for many inevitable reasons, they should collectively inform about it to governments concerned. I believe there is no much unity and solidarity among industrialists in India now. They must discuss their major issues quite often and try to run their employment generation units successfully. Unemployment is a burning issue in many countries now. Industrialists must update themselves often about the trends and issues around them. Governments and regulatory bodies should have an empathetic approach towards industrialists. They should avoid double standards completely. Their policies must be fair and broad-minded. They must develop all regions equally. All must be patriotic and sincere.