'Chalta Hai' Ab nahi chalega!

Last week my colleague travelled from Mumbai to Delhi and back. Her observation - that while one airline gave a wonderfully-cooked meal the other passed off a huge, dry sandwich with just about a small spoonful of so-called chicken filling. There wasn't enough tea in the cup to push the sandwich down. This meal cost Rs 200. Either way cabs cost much more than the last trip and looked in poorer shape.

We claim to have come all the way since globalisation and yes we have made considerable albeit lopsided progress. But we don't seem to have left our basic thinking behind: Of how little can we give the customer for the rupee. This is the contrast we suffer with say successes of countries like Japan. Japan became a force to reckon with because it is obsessed with quality in delivery. It constantly asks just one question- Just how much can we give for a dollar.

And that's where the difference lies: how much or how little. How much can I pack in and remain in business or how little can I pass off and not face a revolt. Way back in the `60s Jawaharlal Nehru with his socialistic bent provided protection for the Indian small and medium-sized enterprise. The idea was that protection from developed markets would help our own industry to grow and become world class. But what followed was that the rich businessman lined his pocket, fattened his wallet and leveraged on the protection by continuously supplying low-grade goods.

No wonder then that about a decade back when nimble Chinese companies started pushing their goods into the Indian market the SME fellows protested. Eventually the industrial belt from Navi Mumbai to Thane virtually went out of business. One major reason was that at the lower technology levels Chinese goods were far, far better and far, far cheaper.

We are now poised at a resurrected market once again after a big hit over the past three years. We have yet another chance. We can see this as another opportunity to go change our attitude and focus on quality or look at it as a growing opportunity to pass of poor stuff once again. I hope we, as a country, opt for the former. I hope that we can make quality our mission statement because 'chalta hai' ab nahi chalega.