Open
Forum
New
Delhi, 3 September 2013
Reducing
Deficit
CREATE
WORLD CLASS BRANDS
By Dhurjati
Mukherjee
It is amply clear now that one of
the most critical problems presently hindering India’s growth prospects is the
unsustainable current account deficit. The large deficit undoubtedly indicates
that apart from oil imports, the country is yet to attain international
competitiveness in several segments of the economy.
The deficit zoomed to 4.8 per cent
of the GDP in March this year, way above what the Reserve Bank of India believed
the economy can sustain. The country now has the second highest deficit in the
world, after the US.
Worse, the UPA Government’s bid to woo the foreign investors has failed to make
a mark. They have been reluctant to invest in projects or in the country’s
low-yield capital markets, sparking worries in the Finance Ministry on how it
will finance the growing deficit. It may give ample assurances but there is
little hope that nothing will change till mid-2014.
In the last fiscal, the Government
somehow managed without dipping into its foreign exchange reserves to fund the
$ 88.2 billion current account deficit. As present, it cannot curb oil
imports as it did in 1991 because this would be an obstacle to growth which has
already slumped to below 5.5 per cent in 2012-13 from the record levels of 9
per cent achieved between 2009 and 2011. This apart, it’s a different story
whether the Government will heed to the Petroleum Minister M Veerappa Moily ’s
advice to rethink importing cheaper crude from Iran, which is facing UN
sanctions. According to his calculations, the country could save nearly $ 8.5
billion, i.e. Rs 57000-odd crore.
Financing the deficit by attracting
more debt-creating capital inflows will only imply growing external
indebtedness. Thus, the problem needs to be tackled through a different
strategy. Since 2009, Indian subsidiaries had to make increased payments to
their overseas parent for the use of brand names established several decades
ago. According to a report of the ET Intelligence Group, royalty payments of
Indian subsidiaries of MNCs trebled over the past five years. A similar
analysis by the Business Standard found that 75 BSE 5000 companies paid royalty
equivalent to 32 per cent of their net profit in the year 2011-12 and this has
increased in 2012-13.
The fascination for MNC brands among
the middle and upper sections of society such as soaps, shampoos, clothes,
footwear, electronics etc has grown over the years, resulting in a sizeable
outflow. The false notion of such brands being of superior quality has not been
dispelled. Moreover, a majority have no inkling that every purchase made by
them has a send value out of the country to the foreign owners.
Perhaps it is in this context that
ITC chairman YC Deveshwar at the 102nd Annual General Meeting of the
Company held recently, suggested to “align national and corporate energies to
create world class Indian brands”. He emphasized the need for domestic
enterprises to build globally competitive brands that can compete with the best
in the world on equal terms.
Though creating world class brands
in this era of technological competitiveness is easier said than done, it would
not be difficult in at least certain household items. Thus, Deveshwar urged
that the mission to create such brands in India must assume the fervour of a
national movement. According to him, “such world class Indian brands will help
create, capture and retain larger value for the economy”, thereby becoming a
force for inclusive and sustainable growth.
The observations of the ITC chief
are indeed very significant at this juncture and the suggestion for generating
a national fervour echoes the swadeshi movement initiated by the father of the
nation Mahatma Gandhi. The realization that the same products of Indian brands
have almost the same quality and are largely less costly needs to be
popularized so that the craze for foreign brands is reduced. There is also an
urgent need for the Centre and States to formulate a well-thought out strategy
so that people are induced to go in for Indian brands rather those belonging to
the MNCs.
Success stories of consumer brands
such as Bajaj, Reliance, Amul, Godrej, Hero, Mahindra and Airtel clearly reveal
that India
has the capacity of creating world class brands. There cannot be any two
opinions. The new experiments with Akash tablet, designed by IIT, Bombay and Centre for
Development of Advanced computing is also expected to make a dent in the Asian
markets. Apart from outstanding entrepreneurial talent, the country has
sufficiently high quality R&D, which needs to be further nurtured along
with differentiated product development capacity.
At the same time, a change in
outlook is also required among the neo-rich and the upper sections of society
and a realization that the outflow of funds needs to be checked to help the
country out of its fiscal mess. Deveshwar’s call for a national movement, i.e.
putting more reliance on swadeshi products, is a timely call, which has to be
seriously considered at this critical juncture. It also needs to be pointed out
that most of Indian brands are highly improved and, in some cases, even better
than MNC brands.
In the coming years, some Indian
companies with their international levels of R&D are destined to come up in
a big way in some very important sectors. Encouragement and support from the
Government would be necessary in this regard – the first being that all
purchases should be of brands only of Indian companies. If the Government
transacts business only with the State-owned banks, this purchase decision
should not be difficult to take.
In certain sectors, export
incentives would have to be considered to allow Indian brands to make inroads
into foreign territory. R&D support from Government laboratories could also
be extended at minimum cost to improve quality, wherever necessary. Thus, through
a concerted strategy there could be no reason for not meeting the challenge of
making India
globally competitive.
If a plan is evolved in this regard,
the twin objectives of reducing the current account deficit as also giving primacy
and promoting Indian brands would be achieved. The swadeshi spirit would have
to be inculcated in each and every household to ensure that Indian brands
flourish though simultaneously emphasis would need to be given on the quality
aspect as well. A beginning must be made, at the earliest. ---- INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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