30 Dec
2005
30 Dec
'05
8:39 a.m.
On Thursday 29 December 2005 21:04, DJ wrote:
On Thursday 29 December 2005 13:56, JTD wrote:
That is cause he's Narayan Murthy - well known even then - for stupid
startups like us it was more like 6yrs. And power took a whole 2 yrs
in a D zone backward area, MPCB -3 yrs, SSI registration 1 yr. Many
of these were chicken and egg. And the subsidies promised by the govt
never ever comes unless u are ready with a special lubricant made by
RBI.
In 1991 (afair) the DOT had rejected my application for manufacture of
"Integra" since multifunction fax machines were not in their list of
equipment permitted for manufacture. So u go to DOT ND and demo your
product to a few sleepy officials, who will then ask you for
connections before issuing a letter allowing your equipment to be
tested for line compatiblity (u can damage their non functioning
network u see). Then off to DGTD and DI then customs and .... all for
obtaining manufacture, import and concessional rates of customs
licences. If you managed to run this gauntlet and actually make
something useful u would have to spend the profits on administering
various ledgers to prove that crooked you did not sell the components
in the market for a fat profit. In reality there were specialised
fake manufacturers doing a good job of importing and selling the
components and raw materials to small manufacturers who made stuff
for the big manufacturers who did not pay, A vast network of
corruption which produced what the market consumed - exorbitantly
priced, shoddy beyond imagination, technological stoneage products.
What a laugh. The "black" money generated between 1950 and 1990 would
have been enough for us to overtake the USA two times over.
Mind u one required to be a genius, incredibly machivalean and very
very lucky just to stay afloat in business - u never knew what raid u
would be the target of. Technology, quality, performance were minor
footnotes not even worth glancing at in the scheme of things.
So for people who think that freedom is not important think a 100
times and be very happy u were not a player in those great days.
--
rgds
jtd
We simply did not have the financial and other
infrastructure
necessary to go global. Indian companies also did not have an
incentive to go global given the fat margins and lack of
competition in the local market.
Oh yeah. I remember Narayan Murty telling in an interview how
difficult was it then for Indian companies to go global. Heck! He
said it took them 2 years to get a telephone connection and around
the same time to get computers imported into India! :|