Unlocking Opportunities - Implosion: India's Tryst with Reality - page 80

Sanjay Gandhi, who had been killed in 1980. She wanted a 'people's car', but instead the
800 became a car for the middle classes and was followed by larger models. I remember
people in Delhi wondering how they would fit a driver into such a small car along with
their families (they did!), and complaining (before they bought one) about how it nipped
in and out of the traffic around larger, stodgier vehicles. Years earlier, there were similar
complaints in Britain about the iconic Austin-Morris Mini.
The joint venture with Suzuki began to unlock India's hidden manufacturing strengths
that had been bottled up by post-independence economic policies. I was at the opening of
the factory in Gurgaon when Gandhi released the first cars to customers on 14 December
1983. I reported the next day in the FT that Osamu Suzuki, chairman of the Japanese com-
pany, had said to me that 'it is difficult to have a good operation in India'. 5 Demonstrating
the Japanese determination to mark a new start for Indian industry, the imported manage-
ment style decreed 'the recruitment of shop floor workers with an average age of 20 who
have never worked anywhere before, wear grey overalls, do physical exercises every morn-
ing and prompt time-keeping'.
Few components could be made in India because there were virtually no suppliers pro-
ducing to acceptable standards. Maruti Suzuki changed that with new concepts of quality,
tight cost control and process engineering, sparking a revolution that spread across India's
manufacturing industry. Not only were there no adequate component suppliers in 1983, but
the idea of partnerships between a manufacturer and its suppliers was not understood. 'A
supplier was treated almost like a servant,' says R.C. Bhargava, who was Maruti Suzuki's
managing director in the 1980s and 1990s and is now the chairman. 6 Maruti changed that
approach with a supplier development programme, taking 25 per cent equity stakes in some
companies moving into India from Japan and elsewhere.
Now the roads are full of modern cars with Indian and international names, mostly man-
ufactured in India, and Maruti is still the market leader. At the top end of the luxury range
are imported names like Rolls Royce, Bentley, Lamborghini, in what has become their
biggest market after China with foreign made models at prices up to Rs 4.5 crore, and some
double that figure.
Business
The corporate scene has been transformed since 1991 - and it is for the better if one looks
behind the crony capitalism that has drawn headlines in recent years and sees how com-
panies of all sizes have grown, adapting to foreign competition and improving products. In
the protected economy before 1991, the ambition of many big family business groups was
to exploit links with government and prove their success by the size and visibility of their