The Bharathiya approach to economics has always
remained unique since the ancient periods. Based on her long experience and
spiritual orientation towards life, the Indian approach towards economics and
business has been different from that of the other countries. Though making
money was necessary for business, ethical principles and value systems guided
all the activities. Rabindranatha Tagore
noted: “Our Laxmi is not the Goddess of the cash balance in the bank, she is
the symbol of that ideal plentitude which is never dissociated from goodness
and beauty”
Evidences show that India
remained the most prosperous region since the earliest periods. Recent studies
by Angus Maddison reveals that India was the most powerful economy during the
last two millennia, till the British started destroying our native systems. The
sages and saints of our country have been emphasizing higher values and the
scriptures and texts exhorted people to follow them in their day to day
activities, including business.
The noted sage from South India
Thiruvalluvar allotted one full
chapter entitled ‘means of wealth’ in his book Thirukkural to advise people as to how the higher ideals should
guide them while creating wealth. He cautioned people to avoid earning wealth
through wrongful methods and underlined that wealth should be earned through ethical
means. Arthashashtra prescribed rules for fair practices in business.
Business organisations and associations evolved their own codes of conduct. In
the earlier days there was type of business organisation called sreni, similar to the modern-day
corporations. They had sreni dharma to
guide and regulate their activities.
The foreign merchants preferred to do business with the Indians for
their good character and helpful nature. In the context of western India it was noted: “The character and conduct of
traders in western India generally receive high acclaim from foreign travelers.
Al Idrisi tells us that a large number of Muslim merchants visited Nahrwara (
Anahilavada) because the people of the town were ‘ noteworthy for their
excellence of their justice, for keeping up their contracts, and for the beauty
of their character’, and adds that the people of the region practiced truth and
abhorred falsehood. Marco Polo bestows yet more generous praise on the
merchants of Lata, …….. He says, ‘you must know that these Abraiaman are the
best merchants in the world, and the most truthful, for they would not lie for
anything on earth,’……. These observations of the foreign travelers may reflect
the general ethos of the mercantile community in western India.”
The businessmen
were advised to follow ethical principles not only in earning money, but also
in using them. There was a moral compulsion to distribute wealth for good
purposes and share it with the less privileged. It is unfortunate that the
social and administrative systems that were in place were seriously disturbed
by the Britishers during their period of domination.
But in spite of the
severe disturbances to our native economic and models, the basic value systems
still dominate the economic and business transactions, especially at the
non-corporate levels. Studies conducted in different parts of the country
reveal that higher features such as goodwill, faith, helping tendency, norms
and fair practices remain the basis of business transactions across the
country.
In the modern
context, business is competitive and hence it is the duty of businessmen to
eliminate competition. But the Indian reality is different. In all the business
and industrial centres, entrepreneurs take pride in nurturing and developing more
and more new entrepreneurs. Successful entrepreneurs encourage their relatives,
friends and even employees to become entrepreneurs. In many cases, the
employees request their employers to keep their weekly/monthly salaries with
them so that after a few years when they promote their units, they would get a
lump sum amount. Besides the ex-employees commence their businesses through the
first transaction with their erstwhile owners and both of them are proud of it.
This is the
situation from Surat in Gujarat to Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu. As a result,
entrepreneurship has been growing in India over the years through networks of
relationships and the higher idea of helping acquaintances to emerge as businessmen
in their lives. This attitude cuts across the narrow caste and other boundaries
that define the popular public discourse of the post-independent India.
Sankagiri in Tamil Nadu is the largest lorry transport centre in India. A
scheduled caste person was working with a majority community lorry owner as a loyal
driver. After a few years, the owner bought him a lorry as reward and made him
an employer. Besides, there are many persons from diverse backgrounds engaged
in businesses as owners without any difficulties. In places like the top knit
wear export centre Tirupur, the businessmen come from many states of our
country.
Money is the most
difficult commodity to part with. But in India, sharing money for someone promoting
and doing business is very common. Studies reveal that the entrepreneurs in the
business and industrial centres mobilise a major share of funds through their
relatives, friends and acquaintances only.
A study among the Rajkot entrepreneurs showed that many of them
mobilised their initial capital through their village connections. Thus villages
contribute funds to their boys to become entrepreneurs without much personal
expectations.
World Development
Report 2001, published by World Bank notes that the community practice of
helping their people in times of need has helped exporters in Tirupur to
compete and emerge successfully in the international markets, as they get funds
at cheaper costs and not at the market rates as in the case of other countries.
London Business School had estimated earlier that India has more than 85
million entrepreneurs, perhaps the largest number in the world. One of the
major reasons for this is the higher idea of helping others that prevail in our
society.
The value systems
find demonstrations at different levels in economic and business activities.
There is a company called Habasit Iakoka in Coimbatore, engaged in textile
belts manufacturing. It has a unique system of encouraging family values. Apart
from its annual family day, it encourages its employees who live with their
parents and parents in- laws with higher monthly salaries. For those who live
with their parents, a higher salary compared to others are given. For those
lady employees who live with their parent-in-laws, a still higher salary is
given.
Business units
operated by communities respond and rectify their mistakes when the public
point out to them in the larger interests of the society, without bothering
about their revenues. There is a cinema theatre in Paalamedu near Madurai in
Tamil Nadu, owned by a community. At one point of time, there was a movie in which
there were obscene scenes. When the viewers pointed it out, the community
immediately removed the movie from the screens and appointed a committee to
pre-view movies and approve only decent ones thereafter.
The higher value of
helping the ordinary and the underprivileged sections remains the major
objective of the corporate sector. In the western world the medical facilities
are very costly that it is not possible for many to get treatment easily. But
in India there are many hospitals conducting their operations with a service
motive even while running their hospitals successfully. Arvind Hospitals is one
of the best eye hospitals in the country applauded by the top foreign
universities such as Harvard University for its efficiency. It uses the most modern equipment available in
the world and provides services at a very cheap cost compared to the
international standards. A cataract surgery in the hospital costs only $ 50
compared to $3000-$ 3500 in the United States. Besides, it provides free
services to 60 per cent its patients free of cost and only 40 per cent pay.
There is Narayana Hridyalaya
Hospitals promoted by Dr.Devi Shetty from Bengaluru. His hospitals were estimated to perform about 12 percent of the
heart surgeries in India and the largest number of surgeries for children in
the world. The average cost of an open-heart surgery was $2000 compared to
$20000 to 100000 charged by hospitals in the US. As a result, patients from
more than seventy countries are treated for complex heart diseases. It has
developed innovative schemes to help the ordinary people. Its micro-health
insurance programme called Yeshawini, implemented in association with the
Karnataka Government, provides health cover to farmers for a monthly premium of
just Rs.10. Its tele-cardiology programmes using ISRO satellite facilities
provides advice to thousands of patients free of cost.
Hence even the
modern Indian corporate sector has its roots in the traditional Indian values.
The corporate system in India is increasingly being recognized and appreciated
by the west and the rest of the world in the recent years for its
‘Indian-ness’. A team of professors from the United States under Peter Cappelli
of the Wharton Business School interviewed the senior executives of about
hundred largest India based companies to find out how they drove their
organizations towards higher
performance. While presenting the reason for the superiority of the Indian
approach, they note: “The Indian leadership approach arose from the unique
circumstances of the Indian economy and society.”
Studies at different levels across
the country show that a higher set of values prevail in the Indian economic and
business systems even today. In fact, the emergence of Indian economy as a
global power during the recent years has been fuelled and facilitated by the
value systems prevalent in the society.
(Organiser, New Delhi, Vol.70, No.20-21, Nov.11&18, 2018)
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