Nothing other than a failure of marketing can explain the kind of opposition to FDI in retail we are currently witnessing.

Let's imagine for a moment that the government was a company, and the recent fum bled (and currently, failed) attempt to open up foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail a very important product launch for that company. What would have been that company's fate after such a botched launch? The answer 's a no-brainer. Creditors and takeover sharks would have been circling as we sp eak, and the company's CEO and CMO (chief marketing officer) would be facing the axe. Fortunately for Dr Manmohan Singh, the government is a politico-bureaucratic ent ity, not a corporate, so his corner office is not threatened. Neither does retai l FDI's CMO, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma, have anything to fear because of th e failure. India Inc has often grumbled that if only the government were run like a corpora te entity, most of the problems of governance or rather, the lack of governance in the country would be automatically solved. It is an intriguing idea. Politici ans have attempted in the past to function in the manner of corporate executives rather than the stereotypical work style of your average khadi-topi' politico. F ormer Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, for instance, enthusia stically embraced this image, going so far as to call himself the Chief Executive Officer' of the state, and holding board' meetings with senior babus. SUCCESSFUL EXAMPLES GALORE But running a business is not just about wearing sharp suits and flying around h olding meetings. It is all about the ability to read one's environment, the abil ity to take quick decisions and above all, the ability to market one's product o r service. Look at any successful CEO today, and you will see an extremely successful marke ter. Apple wouldn't be Apple as we know it, if it weren't for Steve Jobs. And St eve Jobs was, above everything else, a brilliantly gifted marketer, with a geniu s for not only visualising what the customer wanted, but with an unmatched geniu s for then selling that product to the customer. There are enough examples at home too, to back this view. K.V. Kamath was not ju st a great banker he was also a superb banker, who was able to sell the idea of efficient banking successfully, so much so that ICICI Bank became India's larges t non government-owned bank in less than a decade. Infosys managed to push itsel f into the global top table of information technology companies, not just becaus e it had great programmers something that its peers in the business in India als o possessed but because of the ability of a Narayana Murthy or a Nandan Nilekani to sell the idea of Infosys. If government has to work like a corporate, and if government wishes to enjoy th e kind of success enjoyed by a successful corporate, then it too, needs to devel op this kind of marketing savvy in its CEOs and CMOs. NO SELLING OF REFORM IDEA One of the principal reasons for this government's failure to carry through its reform agenda, in my view, has been its inability to market the idea of reforms. Of course, it does not help that the environment has changed dramatically in th e two decades of the reform experiment in this country. The very success of these reforms the kind of growth the Indian economy witnesse d in the past, or the kind of increase in general prosperity and the real reduct

ion in poverty that this brought about has also meant that the overall risk-taki ng ability of the system has come down. People, by and large, have more to lose if the experiment fails now and hence are more averse to taking risks with the s ystem. This was not so twenty years ago, when the reform process started. At that time, the country was in a crisis, forced into an unprecedented pawning of its gold r eserves in order to tide over its balance of payments crisis. This was a cathart ic moment, since the very act of pawning the gold, a deeply traumatic event for the average Indian, served to signal the depth and seriousness of the crisis. Then in stepped a skilled political marketer in the shape of the late P.V. Naras imha Rao, to do the far tougher job of actually selling his able finance ministe r's reform prescriptions, to his party, the Opposition and to the public at larg e. But the current government appears to have internalised few, if any, of the less ons from that experience. Which is surprising, since the current Prime Minister had the best seat in the house back then to watch the process at work, in his ca pacity as the then Finance Minister! WOO AND WIN Nothing other than a failure of marketing can explain the kind of opposition to FDI in retail that we are currently witnessing. After all, the idea was first mo oted by the NDA government, then revived again nearly two years ago, in the form of a draft policy paper put up for discussion. At that time, there was no sign of the kind of extreme reaction that we are seei ng today. Which again, is not as unusual as it may seem. After all, it is not as if the BJP is ideologically opposed either to reforms in general, or retail ref orms in particular, since both figured actively in its agenda when it happened t o be in power. The same goes for the other Opposition parties, all of which are following broadly similar liberal/reformist agendas in the states where they hap pen to be in power. Some discreet political prepping, and selling the idea to th e larger public in the interim, could arguably have led to a smooth passage for the measure when it actually took place. India has changed dramatically over the past two decades. It is a smarter, riche r and above all, a younger (in demographic terms) nation now. It is a country wh ich is hungry for change and eager to embrace it. From mobile phones to fast foo d, from fancy cars to financial instruments, it is quite prepared to adopt new t hings but it needs to be wooed first. It is time the government got its marketin g act together. Great article Srinivasan but ur failure To mention Gujarat and its CM Narendra M odi,who has been working to fulfil the needs of the state is the only -ve. 1.He has sold his vision of an investment friendly Gujarat,through the vibrant G ujarat platform .He has introduced much needed reforms in electricity,roads,Tran sport,one eg is the BRITS of Ahmedabad which has got world wide recognition. 3.H e has plans to make Gujarat the next Auto Hub of Asia,going from the Scheme of t hings he is getting there. 4.His schemes on education,rural roads,electricity and initiatives of check dams for the farmers of the Saurashtra region has won appreciation from the world Ba nk 5.He has set up the First Energy Management Institute of India. 6.He has brou ght in investments to tune of 2,500 crores from china for his SOLAR Park. 7.His is launching a Bharat Rakshak University,and is building a State of the Art Fore nsic Lab with the help of ISRAEL. ALL this and no mention of NaMO is rather sad, analyze? from: Sajith Sasidharan Posted on: Dec 8, 2011 at 11:06 IST This move to attract FDI in the retail secto r is a desperate move by a desperate govt to attract Foreign exchange read dolla

rs to shore up dollar reserves and pay for essential imports and as such this mo ve was bound to fail. THe world over govts have good corporates in managing doll ar investments but it is another story. Dollars are overvalued and it is the gov ts who are responsible and have behaved with scant respect of the people whom th ey rule. Multinational retailers are desperately seeking markets after they have destroyed fledgling industries in countries such as Bangladesh etc. and they wa nt to get into India attracted by the mall culture in our metros. India is Bhara t outside the metros and no retailer is interested in these small towns. So just like Mcdonalds etc these multibrand retailers will be watering down their brand s and selling kirana and textiles to the locals and will be indistinguishable fr om local hyper stores who are already doing so.