THE FINANCE MINISTERS FIRST POST-BUDGET

HOUSE INTERACTION WITH INDUSTRY LEADERS

WITH ARUN JAITLEY
w w w.o p e n t h e m a g a z i n e .c o m

JHUMPA
LAHIRI
on the Art of
the Book Jacket
13 february 2017 / rS 50

OPENOMICS 201 7

MODIS MODERNISER
ARUN JAITLEY AND THE MAKING OF AN ETHICAL INDIA by Swapan Dasgupta
A CREATIVE SURGE AUTOMATIC INDIA THE THREE-YEAR HIGH
START-UPS AND BUST-UPS THE PRICE OF LABOUR BACK TO BANGALORE
BARDS AND BUDGETS THE ECONOMICS OF ROMANCE
 contents
a shish sharma

Editor S Prasannarajan
managing Editor Pr ramesh
ExEcutivE EditorS aresh Shirali,
ullekh nP
Editor-at-largE Siddharth Singh
dEPuty EditorS madhavankutty Pillai
(mumbai Bureau chief),
rahul Pandita
crEativE dirEctor rohit chawla
art dirEctor madhu Bhaskar
SEnior EditorS v Shoba (Bangalore),
Haima deshpande (mumbai),
nandini nair
aSSociatE EditorS Kumar anshuman,
lhendup gyatso Bhutia (mumbai),
monalisa S arthur, vijay K Soni (Web)
SEnior aSSiStant EditorS
Sonali acharjee, Shahina KK
aSSiStant EditorS archana Pande,
aditya iyer
cHiEf of graPHicS Saurabh Singh
SEnior dESignErS anup Banerjee,
veer Pal Singh
aSSiStant PHoto EditorS
ashish Sharma, raul irani
OPENOMICS 62 Start-Ups Need Bust-Ups
In praise of risk
aSSociatE PuBliSHEr
Pankaj Jayaswal 8 Editors Note
By S Prasannarajan
By Devangshu Datta

68
gEnEral managErS (advErtiSing)
Karl mistry (West), The Bard and the Budget
rashmi lata Swarup
Krishnanand nair (South) 10 Modis Moderniser
Arun Jaitley and the making
A brief history of figurative
speech
national HEad-diStriBution and SalES
ajay gupta of an ethical India By Lhendup G Bhutia
rEgional HEadS-circulation By Swapan Dasgupta
d charles (South), melvin george
(West), Basab ghosh (East)
HEad-Production maneesh tyagi
18 Open House with Arun Jaitley
The Finance Ministers first
72 The Economics of Romance
Being priced out of the dating
SEnior managEr (PrE-PrESS)
market
Sharad tailang
post-budget interaction with
cHiEf dESignEr-marKEting By Sonali Acharjee
champak Bhattacharjee industry leaders
cfo anil Bisht
By Ullekh NP and Siddharth Singh
HEad-it Hamendra Singh

cHiEf ExEcutivE & PuBliSHEr

manas mohan
34 On the Right Path
Modi and the marketplace,
SALON
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By Siddharth Singh 76 I dont need to wear masks
Rishi Kapoor reveals the glories
is prohibited.
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 open diary
Swapan Dasgupta

W inter in india is also the

season of literature festivals,
a very welcome development that
anything spectacular.
the thought resonated in my
mind at the Beating retreat ceremony
encourages the reading habit in the in delhis Vijay Chowk, the formal
age of 140-character communication. culmination of the republic day
almost every city and exotic locale ceremonies. the settinga square sur-
now boasts a literature festival rounded by north and South Blocks
sometimes multiple eventsof and the Parliament buildingwas
uneven quality. certainly spectacular, as was the sight
Of all the festivals, i am most of the President descending down
attracted by the four-day event in searching a biography of Sir Winston raisina Hill in a horse-drawn buggy,
Jaipur. i first attended the event in its Churchill, which, i presume, will give flanked by the red-coated mounted
second year in 2008 and have been a no quarter to those who judge him by Presidents Bodyguards. the bands
loyal participant ever since, even as the todays human rights standards. of the armed forces and the police,
size of the event has grown unman- i appreciated the fact that in a resplendent in their ceremonial uni-
ageably. My partiality towards the discussion on Churchill that, alas, forms, marching down the Hill with
Jaipur Literature Festival, now 10 years wasnt very well attended, he bagpipers swaying to marching music
old, stems from two things. First, it is explained the man-made Bengal was enough to give me goose pimples.
the only festival that attracts the very famine of 1943 as stemming from the crowd loved it, particularly
best writers in english from across the difficult strategic choices. i am not when the staggered roll of drums was
world. Predictably, there is an anglo- entirely persuaded but at least roberts followed by the chant of Bharat Mata
american bias, but so what? Secondly, didnt tailor his views to suit the ki Jai. the music has, over the years,
this is the only festival that caters to convictions of many indians who been considerably indigenised, but
my special interest: writings on his- hold Churchill guilty of genocide. old tunes such as Scotland the Braveand
tory, particularly european history. For the haunting notes of Abide With Me
the past five years, i have moderated
sessions on exotic historical themes.
this has forced me to read tomes that
A MOng tHOSe WHO
participated in the discussion
on Churchill was the historian Sir
remain. in one of the tunes i even de-
tected the notes from the song Hang
out the Washing on the Siegfried Line.
would otherwise have remained in david Cannadine, now a professor i believe that the republic of india
the to-be-read pile of my library. at Princeton and the editor of Oxford is the inheritor of the British raj in in-
this year i was particularly privi- Dictionary of National Biography. if dia. the ornamentalism of the hugely
leged to have two conversations with roberts was naturally contrarian and popular Beating retreat confirms it.
one of Britains foremost conservative a shade flamboyant, Cannadine was Long may such traditions survive.
historians, andrew roberts. i guess far more measured in his views and
many professional historians in india
would gnash their teeth at the very
mention of roberts because of his
immensely eruditea true old-style
historian who can motivate students.
However, my reason for mention-
A MOng tHe MOSt dreary
things i had to do when run-
ning the editorial pages of different
political inclinations. He has written ing Cannadine is a little different. newspapers was the comment on the
a sympathetic biography of Lord Salis- nearly a decade or so he published a railway Budget. it was sheer drudg-
burythe role model of the High slim volume entitled Ornamentalism ery, made more so by the fact that no
tories whose portrait is prominently his description of the British one in the team had any interest in the
on display at the Carlton Club, a study empires penchant for pomp and subject. the merging of the railway
of Lord Halifax (we know him better pageantry. as the years go by, i am Budget must therefore come as a huge
as Lord irwin) who is reviled as a man more and more convinced that the relief to those who were obliged to
who would have cut a deal with Hitler legitimacy of British rule in india proffer largely uninformed, gratu-
after the fall of Poland in 1939, and a owed considerably to its systematic itous comments.
magisterial and adulatory study of cultivation of grandeur, something it is the most media-friendly
napoleon. He is now engaged in re- that overawed indians who love gesture of the Modi government. n

6 13 february 2017
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 OpENOmIcS

S PRASANNARAJAN

a
budget is a political statement on the economy, and it
invariably invites such time-tested adjectives as historic,
bold, progressive, populist, cautious, or socialist. With the
advent of Narendra Modi, dramatic is the word we prefer to
add to our expectations. After all, his image is larger than
his office, and placidness is not what defines his politics
or his past. He campaigned, as Mario Cuomo would have
said, in poetrystentorian in delivery and savage in effect.
governance Modi-style may not be purely prosaic, but it is
not an extension of what we have seen on the stump: its
not theatre. He breaks the monotony with a big bang
interventionwell, as big as demonetisation. On the eve of the union budget 2017,
it was pretty natural for the commentariat to expect a continuation of the dramatic.
With the uP elections, aptly seen as a midterm referendum on the Prime Minister,
it was as if nobody was prepared to be let down by a matter-of-fact budget. going by
conventional wisdom, the time was ideal for a burst of populism. Modi and his
Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, had other things in mind. they gave us a budget that
sets the foundation for value-based governance. its a budget that incentivises the
moral content of the worlds largest democracy.
EDITORS NOTE

it is not drama but dharma that defines Jaitleys third budget. Apart from showing
a heightened sense of fiscal responsibility, he has once again stressed that india in its
economic evolution has not reached a stage where the state can afford to withdraw
from our lives, certainly from the lives of the poor. it is not socialism of the 80s vintage,
but the Prime Ministers neo-gandhian idea of an unequal india that drives his rural
agenda as seen in this budget. Another remarkable budgetary initiative is on taxation:
make india, usually cited as one of the most taxed countries with a labyrinthine
structure, a tax-compliant society. Here again, the Finance Minister has made it easier
for the lower-income group. it may not be as drastic as some people would like it to
be, but the proposal on political funding, with the emphasis on transparency and
accountability, is a redeeming measure in a political system without moral content. it
fits into the larger framework of Modis vision of an india with a cleaner conscience. in
Jaitleys budget, the pursuit of economic fulfilment is a participatory enterprise.
Our event on the day after the budget presentation in Parliament, Open House
with Arun Jaitley, provided the perfect forum for the highest stakeholders in the
indian economy to have a conversation with Jaitley, one of our most eloquent
politicians. in a breakfast discussion moderated by sanjiv goenka, chairman of
RP-sanjiv goenka group, the parent company of Open, Jaitley was at his persuasive
best as defender and advocate of an economically as well as morally resurgent india,
living up to our description of him on the cover this week: Modis Moderniser. At
one point, he said in response to a question that there is a limit to what a government
can do and the private sector too should join the mission of nation building. true,
though it must be said that the indian growth story is a tribute to the entrepreneurial
spirit of indian industry in spite of a regulation-happy government. still, there is a
larger truth in what Jaitley has said: even as we deride government, we as a people
want more of it. What we at Open want is an informed argument on the ideas and
attitudes of india. the Open House marks a new beginning for the magazine: we are
taking the conversation beyond the pages. n

8 13 february 2017
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CNo.00058
 openomics
budget 2017

Illustrations by Saurabh SIngh

 The Prime Minister is known to be
inspired by Swami Vivekanandas vision
of a resurgent Bharat Mata where poverty
and caste indignities are buried and
where India becomes a world power on
the strength of its spiritual and moral
commitments. To this vision, Modi has
added the necessity of robust economic
development and capacity building to
escape the indignities of Third World
existence. The attempt to create a
Swachh India both in terms of physical
surroundings and the quality of public life
is a feature of that endeavour

By Swapan DaSgupta
 T
openomics
budget 2017

he Union BUdget is one of the highlights of the political calendar in a democracy. it is also
one of the most intensely political events when a government blends its political orientation
with hard choices involving different, and sometimes conflicting, claims on the state exche-
quer. Unless a country is overwhelmed by crisiswhether political or economica Budget
constitutes a statement of direction. this is even more so in a country such as india where the
idea of an interventionist, paternalistic sarkar is deeply embedded in the national imagination.
it was, therefore, a great surprise when, on February 1st, barely hours after Finance Minister
Arun Jaitley had finished his inordinately long speechinterspersed with hindi poetry he
was never quite comfortable reciting but which drew applause from fellow MPsi found
myself on a tV panel where praise for the Budget was coupled with the observation: it was,
thankfully, not a political Budget.
the panellists were, i believe, horribly wrong. if you view politics as a crude vote-for-me
exercise that involves showering targeted groups with freebies and entitlements, as used
to be done in the bad old days of socialism, Jaitleys speech was clearly non-political. however,
if politics still retains a shred of nobility and national purpose, we saw large elements of it in
this years Union Budget.
At the risk of being charged with hyperbole, i must say that my admiration for Prime Minister
narendra Modi has increased exponentially over the past six months. Far from being tamed by
the system and the comforting environment of Lutyens delhia zone that was designed to
both awe and co-optModi has not lost the fire in his belly. First there was the surgical strike

12 13 February 2017
a ShISh Sharma

Trust and a willingness

Arun Jaitley outside
to play by the rule book Parliament after his
Budget speech
are very important in
establishing the moral fabric
of a country. It is a tragedy
on terror camps across the Line of Con- at winning a state election, but driven by a
trolan act of audacity that drew wild
that this EMPHASIS ON sense of mission.
applause from the citizenry but invited CHARACTER BUILDING to even suggest that a political leader
a great deal of tut-tutting from the was discarded after is blessed with a missionary zeal that goes
punditry. then there was the demon- Independence as the beyond immediate political calculations
etisation of november 8th, another is calculated to invite sniggers, particu-
extremely high-risk strategy aimed focus shifted to identity larly from the commentariat. Cynicism
at striking at the very core of the black and entitlements has become so deeply ingrained in the
money menace. once again the pun- national imagination that it has become
ditryin this case, the assembled ranks nearly impossible for educated indians
of economists who prefer predictable, to believe that something as basic and
time-tested approachesthrew up their hands in horror. From non-contentious, but at the same time very noble, such as the
parliamentary opposition to the media, the outrage was fierce. Swachh Bharat campaign, is motivated by a higher ideal. in the
But Modi stood his ground, not yielding on the fundamentals but case of demonetisation, many political buffs and even members
always willing to finetune his tactics depending on responses of the BJP could not comprehend the logic of a move that hit small
from the ground. the impact of demonetisation, as this years traders and businessmentraditionally the most loyal support-
refreshingly frank economic Survey conceded, will take years ers of a BJP that has seen many ups and downsthe hardest, at
to be fully gaugedand much will depend on how adroitly the least in the short run. true, they were collateral victims in a move
government follows through. however, one thing has become that was aimed, above all, at injecting ethics and transparency in
clear: Modis war against corruption isnt a cosmetic exercise aimed public life. But no indian politicianat least not since Mahatma

13 February 2017 www.openthemagazine.com 13

 openomics
budget 2017

gandhi gave mass politics a moral quotienthas risked the im- unmanageable, will testify to the extortionist demands of a media
mediate in pursuit of a loftier goal. whose sense of what is news often depends on a consideration.
this Budget was in many ways a predictably dreary affair: a the global outrage against ideologically driven Fake news was
few generous outlays on crucial sectors that warranted a leg up, a preceded in india by Paid news, a phenomenon that is hard to
little tweaking of the tax rates and a quota of platitudes. But there detect and impossible to check.
was one thing that stood out: an attempt to codify political fund- Second, the growing cost of contesting elections effectively
ing that took into account ground realities. made political parties completely dependent on large donations.
For as long as anyone can remember, it has been said that the this in turn influenced the hierarchies inside them. in the sphere
underground economy has thrived on political patronage. People of governance, decision-making was wilfully injected with a large
seeking advantage and those who wanted to cover-up some wrong- discretionary element to cater to those who had the ability to
doing have traditionally been generous donors to political parties. either bankroll politics or enhance personal fortunes.
Audited accounts suggested that between 65 and 75 per cent of the it is unlikely that the Modi governments initiatives will lead
income of parties came from anonymous cash donations. this is to total transparency and cleansing of political life. the rot is far
not including contributions to individual war chests that were too deep for such a profound change to take place by legislative
entirely cash donations. Maybe the Congress crafted this system fiat alone. Already there are those who are planning innovative
of political funding, a system that, given its long spell in power, ways by which the ceiling of Rs 2,000 in individual cash donations
proved tremendously advantageous. however, as political compe- can be circumvented. Who is to stop private donations in cash to
tition intensified, particularly in the states, other parties established individuals which can then be channelled into politics? We may
funding networks that mirrored the one established by the Con- also find that the cash restrictions lead to many politicians sud-
gress. even the new outfits born out of anti-corruption movements denly discovering the virtues of smaller, regional parties. i am sure
havent been entirely above board in their fund collection patterns. that ways will also be found to undermine the effectiveness of the
the net effect of this political practice was two-fold. election bonds proposed in the Budget. indeed, those who com-
First, political activists have become accustomed to easy plain that the reforms mooted on February 1st dont go far enough
money, particularly during elections. the venality has spread to also include those who dont want to upset the cosy status quo.
sections of the electorate that now both expect and demand to there will be a demand for the state funding of elections. in
be paid for their support. even the media has succumbed to this theory, this seems a legitimate call for a level playing field. in
lure of tax-free cash. Any politician who has contested elections, reality, given the proclivities of a spoilt political class, this will
particularly Lok Sabha polls where constituencies are vast and translate into getting money from multiple sources and enjoying

The impact of
demonetisation, as the
Economic Survey of 2017
conceded, will take years
to be fully gauged. One
thing has become clear:
MODIS WAR AGAINST
CORRUPTION isnt
a cosmetic exercise
aimed at winning a state
election, but driven by a
sense of mission

14 13 February 2017
 openomics
budget 2017

This Budget was

in many ways a
predictably dreary affair:
a few generous outlays
on crucial sectors, a
little tweaking of the tax
rates and a quota of
platitudes. But one
thing stood out: an
attempt to CODIFY
POLITICAL FUNDING
that took into account
ground realities

the best of both worlds. (character) in nation building. it is a tragedy that this emphasis
in his Budget speech, the Finance Minister released statistics on character-building was discarded after independence as the
that clearly suggest that tax compliance is, by and large, the prerog- focus shifted to identity and entitlements.
ative of the salaried class in government service and the organised there are times, particularly during election rallies, when
sector. What is shocking is how few of those who are independent Prime Minister Modi projects himself as a combative politician
businesses or in the professions actually bother to declare their in the traditional mould. however, there is a far more appealing
real incomes and pay taxes. Part of this stems from the lack of state Modi who comes across as something fundamentally different
penetrationwhich isnt necessarily a bad thing. But far more im- in his periodic Mann ki Baat radio addresses when he focuses
portant are the habits inculcated during the bad days of Congress on issues that go above partisan politics. it is that Modi which is
socialism when personal income tax rates crossed 90 per centan driving this bid to create an ethical india.
absurdity that naturally encouraged concealment of real incomes. the Prime Minister is known to be inspired by Swami Vive-
Bringing taxation down to the realistic levels of the present kanandas vision of a resurgent Bharat Mata where poverty and
and making life difficult for non-taxpayers are important steps caste indignities are buried and where india becomes a world
in enlarging the tax net, and, in time, reducing the dependence power on the strength of its spiritual and moral commitments.
on indirect taxes. however, there is a cultural problem that has to this vision, Modi has added the necessity of robust economic
to be attended to. As a rule and maybe due to historical reasons, development and capacity building to escape the indignities of
indians appear to have mastered the art of short-circuiting rules third World existence. the attempt to create a Swachh india both
and procedures. We saw some of this during the demonetisation in terms of physical surroundings and the quality of public life is
drive when fat cats made private deals with bank officials to ex- a feature of that endeavour.
change old notes for new, without the transactions being recorded. that no politician has tried to achieve some-
trust and a willingness to play by the rule book are very im- thing so audacious is no reason why it shouldnt
portant in establishing the moral fabric of a country. the writ- be tried at all. n
ings of late-19th century and early-20th century indian stalwarts,
particularly those who agonised over the reasons for indias Swapan Dasgupta is Indias foremost
loss of sovereignty, indicate the premium attached to charitra conservative writer and columnist

16 13 February 2017
 openomics
budget 2017

RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group

Chairman Sanjiv Goenka and
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley

The layers of accoun

ministries to the Prime
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his first inter
 Photographs by a shish sharma

tability of various
Minister is very high
action with industry leaders after the Budget
1

2 3

1. Arun Jaitley interacts with

industrialists;
2. (L-R) Sanjiv Goenka, Jaitley
and Anil Rai Gupta;
3. (L-R) Chief Creative Officer of
India Today Group Kalli Purie,
Director of Inox Wind Devansh
Jain and Shashwat Goenka;
4. (L-R) Shobana Kamineni,
Naushad Forbes and
Chandrajit Banerjee
 openomics
budget 2017

By Ullekh NP and Siddharth SiNgh

N
o Finance Minister can draft
a Union Budget that can please every-
one, considering the relatively meagre
resources that are available for allocation
after all the pre-committed expenditure.
But there are finance ministers who can
satisfy even the most demanding analyst
with the direction of their budgetary
proposals and focus on principles as a
policy guide. if arun Jaitley, a lawyer
by professional training, is eloquent in
Parliament, he is even more so speak-
ing impromptu. this was evident at his
open House interactive session with in-
dustry leaders on February 2nd, a day af-
ter he presented the Budget for 2017-18, at
the Leela Palace Hotel in Delhi, where he
held everyone in rapt attention with his
smile-inducing aphorisms, straight talk and exhaustive answers to questions on the Budget, offering
peeks into what the Modi Government has in mind to transform governance, ensure greater transpar-
ency, and turn the economy more efficient.
in the breakfast meeting moderated by sanjiv Goenka, chairman of the rP-sanjiv Goenka Group, the
parent company of Open, Jaitley began with a brief, yet persuasive introduction on the broad contours
of his Budget of February 1st to an exclusive audience comprising some leaders of indian industry,
including confederation of indian industry (cii) President naushad Forbes, cii Director General
chandrajit Banerjee, Modi enterprises President KK Modi, india today Group chairman aroon Purie,
Hero corporate services chairman sunil Munjal, DcM shriram chairman ajay shriram, ambuja
neotia Group chairman Harsh neotia, ernst & Young chairman & regional Managing Partner rajiv
Memani, apollo Hospitals executive Vice chairperson shobana Kamineni, Havells chairman and
MD anil rai Gupta, inox Gujarat Fluorochemicals MD Vivek Jain, rPsG Group sector Head of retail
shashwat Goenka, and Micromax co-Founder rahul sharma, among others.
With a quip on budgets of the pre-Liberalisation pastwhich until 1991 used to be all about which
products became dearer and which became cheaper before they shifted emphasis to economic
policyJaitley dwelt at length on a range of subjects, explaining the rationale of several expenditure
heads (including subsidies) and other budgetary proposals of the Government.
Munjal, who is also president of the all india Management association, raised a question on the
 openomics
budget 2017

(L-R) Harsh Neotia, intriguing possibility of converging all subsidies into a single allocation for a Universal Basic income
Sunil Munjal and (UBi), an idea elaborated upon in this years economic survey. in the past decade, indias subsidy
Vivek Jain
proliferation has posed a headache by making it harder to contain the fiscal deficit within a reason-
able limit (which, in turn, threatens macroeconomic stability). in response, Jaitley called the UBi a
wonderful idea, adding that it came from indias chief economic advisor arvind subramanian and
his team. the economic survey is prepared by the cea, said Jaitley, the political establishment
maintains an arms length from this. the UBi has been debated in Western countries for some years
now, but the Union Budget for 2017-18 referred to it for the first time in india. in essence, the idea
is to transfer a regular sum of money to the needy directly, instead of the state spending money on
provisions and mechanisms that do not always help the intended beneficiaries. today you have
We are caught in a unstructured and untargeted subsidies. Why shouldnt the Government pool all the subsidies and
then give the most vulnerable 30 per cent a cheque every month? argued Jaitley.
dilemma between it would need a political consensus, however, he added. there is another cause for caution. as
non-compliance the economic survey notes, subsidies to the rich and middle-class account for 1 per cent of indias
on the one hand GDP. if one adds subsidies on social sector programmes run by the centre, this sum rises by 2.07 per
cent. once the expenditure of state governments is added, this figure goes up by another 6.9 per cent
and harassment at of GDP. on paper, this is a substantial share of indias annual output. But in a politically complex
the hands of the country like india, any government needs to exercise care before trying to reduce or eliminate
taxman on the other subsidies. the Modi Government, for example, has put this tricky exercise at the end of a three-
part reform plan that went into operation when it came to power. the sequence has a reason, as
hand. There is NO the Finance Minister explained. the enactment and the coming rollout of the Goods and services
EASY SOLUTION tax (Gst) is a big reform that came first. then came demonetisation. the third in that category
to that is the JaM trinitythe Jan Dhan accounts, aadhaar and mobile numbers. For the first time in
the last two-three years, you have rationalisation of subsidies. We are targeting subsidies now.
Arun Jaitley Besides subsidies, you now have a system in place where you have done a pilot project on ending

13 February 2017
1 2

1. Aroon Purie; the kerosene subsidy; there is one for the fertiliser subsidywe are doing all that now, he said. in
2. Rajiv Memani; a system that is complex and has spanned half a century of political and economic evolution, it
3. (L-R) Rahul
Sharma, is difficult to wind up all the subsidies and then hand them over to the deserving as a lumpsum
Naushad Forbes amount. there is the economic problem of finding the resources to undertake a UBisomething
and Chandrajit that even at a basic level will cost the Government far in excess of its annual revenue. then there is
Banerjee the political problem of opposition to UBi and a change in the regime of subsidies. He also offered
a caveat: indian politics has to mature. indian politics should not compel us and say that Give
more after you are already giving something [like UBi].
the other significant issue addressed by the Finance Minister was that of the Governments
commitment to fiscal consolidation, for which it has widely been applauded by industry
representatives. Jaitley said that the centre has maintained its fiscal discipline in spite of a
global slowdown and other adverse dynamics that would have argued in favour of setting aside
the Fiscal responsibility and Budget Management (FrBM) act targets on this count. the
Government has reduced its fiscal deficit to 3.5 per cent of GDP in 2016-17, and the Budget for next year

24 13 February 2017
 openomics
budget 2017

(L-R) UK Modi, Anil promises to cut it further to 3.2 per cent.

Rai Gupta, KK Modi
and Rajya Sabha MP
in response to a question posed by Purie on disinvestment, Jaitley said the Government didnt
Rajkumar Dhoot want to make a song and dance about its programme to offload its equity holdings in public sector
enterprises. comparing nDa-2s record on this front with that of the Vajpayee-led nDa-1, which
logged rs 27,000 crore via such asset sales over its entire tenure, the Finance Minister said, this year
alone we have divested rs 31,000 crore so far, and the figure would go up to rs 45,000 crore. the
centre wanted to do more and talk less about this, he said, making it plain that drawing too much
attention to its efforts could risk unpopularity. also, he said, there are multiple ways in which the
exercise could make progress. as an example, he cited the case of general insurance companies,
which, to enlist on stock exchanges, have to mandatorily bring down the Governments stake to 74
per cent, which would mean the rest would have to be floated in the market just to meet the rules of
The enactment and the stockmarket regulator seBi. similar would be the story of indian railway catering and tourism
the coming rollout corp, an indian railways entity that handles catering, tourism and online ticketing that has been
of GST is a big earmarked for public listing. Despite media scepticism, he said, disinvestment was one of the centres
top priorities. it is the art of the possible, he said, Let no one be under the illusion that we are not
reform that came aggressive enough on that front. the target for 2017-18, he reminded everyone, was rs 73,000 crore.
first. Then came answering a query from Goenka on the imperative of buttressing indian manufacturing in line
demonetisation. withabroaderagendatocreatejobsandupliftthepoor,Jaitleysaidindiawasgoingthroughtoughtimes
in the aftermath of a global crisis that had lasted for almost a decade, and that there was no quick-fix
The third in that solutionlike switching on a buttonto the problems encountered by the country. it is going to
category is the be gradual, he said of a recovery in the sector, as demand picks up, i am sure the private sector will be
JAM TRINITY backtoitsoriginalsteam.theFinanceMinisteralsospokeofhowforeigninvestmentwasflowinginto
the Jan Dhan various sectors, and how, given additional government spending, it was time for the domestic private
sector to chip in to make the most of an uptick. i know that several companies have over-stretched
accounts, Aadhaar themselves, he said, alluding to infrastructure companies that had accumulated heaps of debt.
and mobile numbers in reply to a suggestion by Forbes on the Government creating innovative systems for the future
of the countryreferring to investment in institutions of higher learning that could serve as a base
Arun Jaitley for private sector r&DJaitley drew attention to foreign investment and related guidelines. in

13 February 2017
 openomics
budget 2017

1. Shashwat
Goenka speaks
to Vivek Jain
2. The audience
interacts with
Jaitley
2

his Budget speech, he had announced the abolition of the Foreign investment Promotion Board
(FiPB), the entity that was set up in the 1990s to okay FDi proposals. it had lost its relevance and was
ready to be phased out, said Jaitley: ninety per cent of FDi now comes through the automatic route
and the remaining 10 per cent can be processed by the individual ministries that consider specific
I was told that proposals, he said in response to a question.
the number of
TOURISTS
COMING TO J aitLeY, WHo HaD been Law Minister in the Vajpayee Government, reiterated the need to
turn political donations transparent. He explained the logic of creating bonds as a mechanism
for donors to fund political parties, an innovative measure that, he said, is expected to fight the
INDIA would
scourge of politicians being funded in lieu of favours. this Budget speech has lowered the cap for
greatly rise if we anonymous cash donations made by individuals to parties from rs 20,000 to rs 2,000. the details of
offer e-visas. There bond funding are yet to be worked out, but the centre has already faced criticism that this measure
are 160 countries is not fool-proof since parties can use their cadres to circumvent such rules. referring to such obser-
vations at the open House session, the Finance Minister said that misuse of provisions would be
that are now on the tracked by the Government, just as it has a hawks eye on all those who have deposited unaccounted-
e-visa scheme for money in their bank accounts following the demonetisation drive announced by the Prime
Minister on november 8th.
Arun Jaitley the Government, Jaitley said, had identified 1.8 million people whose deposits deserve the

13 February 2017
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 openomics
budget 2017

1. Harsh Neotia
and Chandrajit
Banerjee;
2. Ajay Shriram
1

Universal Basic
Income is a
wonderful idea
Today you have 2
unstructured
and untargeted
taxmans scrutiny, largely for being disproportionate to their declared sources of income. there
subsidies. Why is a fear of harassment due to discretionary power. How will your government address that?
shouldnt the ciis Banerjee asked the Finance Minister. the problem arises in cases where the tax Depart-
Government ment orders a scrutiny of tax returns and where there is personal contact during a hearing, said
Jaitley, i have spoken to the central Board of Direct taxes on how this can be reduced. the
POOL ALL THE broad effort, he elaborated, was to reduce the scope for personal contact between tax officers and
SUBSIDIES and assessees by moving towards a purely digital interface, with all communication kept on record and
then give the most available for examination.
if the fear of harassment is one side of the story, there is another one as well: non-compliance
vulnerable 30 per
with the countrys tax laws. in his Budget speech, Jaitley had highlighted some shocking statistics.
cent a cheque of the 37 million people who report their income in a country of 1.3 billion, 9.9 million claim to be
every month? earning below the income tax-paying threshold. only 124,000 people report incomes above rs 50
lakh. i reeled out data on how tax non-compliant we are as a country, said Jaitley, We are caught
Arun Jaitley in a dilemma between non-compliance on the one hand and harassment at the hands of the taxman

13 February 2017
 openomics
budget 2017

raul irani

The audience on the other hand. there is no easy solution to that.

couldnt seem the Finance Minister also used the occasion to hardsell the Modi Governments commitment to
to get enough
of Jaitley efficiency. in response to a question asked by Kamineni, he said that under the current dispensation
there was no question of under spending by any ministry, especially thanks to the close moni-
toring of projects and performance by the Prime Minister. the layers of accountability of various
ministries to the Prime Minister is very high, and therefore non-spending of allotted budgets by
any ministry doesnt arise.
Jaitley took a moment to commend Memani for his suggestions on simplifying the countrys
tax structure and offered to examine them closely. the Finance Bill is with the House and so i will
not comment on [this suggestion on minimum alternate tax], but i will consider your suggestions.
also up for easing is indias visa regime. touching upon a move that could aid tourism, Jaitley
said, i was told that the number of tourists coming to india would greatly rise if we offer e-visas.
there are 160 countries that are now on the e-visa scheme. in this context, he mentioned three
priorities: improving connectivity from international destinations to india; strengthening the
infrastructure in tourist-favoured cities; and making the country a top destination by taking mea-
sures to conserve heritage sites and other places of religious and historical interest. that requires
large investment, he said.
the audience couldnt seem to get enough of Jaitley, but the Finance Minister had another
engagement to attend. as clear from his open House session with industry leaders, there is
much to be done. n

32 13 February 2017
 openomics

ap
 oN the
right path
Modi and the marketplacethe story so far
By Siddharth Singh

S
o o n a f t e r t h e Internation-
al Monetary fund (IMf) issued an
update on the global economy in
January, there was excited commentary
that India was no longer the fastest growing
economy in the world. the IMf had shaved
0.4 percentage points off Indias growth estimate for 2017 from
what it had projected in october last year. Within no time, political
opinion was mixed with economic analysis. once the word de-
monetisation was added to this cauldron, a witchs brew was ready.
What was ignored in all this effervescenceor fury if you
wishwas Indias creditable economic performance in an oth-
erwise gloomy world. India is growing at double the rate of the
global economy and is many laps ahead of the sclerotic advanced
economies of europe, although this comparison is somewhat un-
fair to the eurozone. the truth of the matter is that in the last five
years, successive governments have adhered to fiscal targets that
are considered necessary for the countrys economic health. the re-
serve Bank of India (rBI) has maintained a conservative monetary
policy almost to the point of friction with the Union Government.
If one takes into account the political pressures on any government
in India to spend more, one could almost say it is a miracle that the
country currently boasts of high economic growthpegged at an
estimated 6.5-6.75 per cent in 2016-17and a reasonable fiscal defi-
cit of 3.5 per cent of GDP in the fiscal year that ends on March 31st.
the performance owes something to positive external devel-
opments such as the continuing softness in global oil prices over
the past three years. this is something that cannot be taken for
granted, and already there are signs that energy prices are headed
higher. there is more at hand, and all of it made in India. for one,
the countrys banking system has accumulated a dangerous level
of non-Performing assets (nPas), which refers to loans that have
gone bad. the nPa level for scheduled commercial banks rose from
7.8 per cent in March last year to an alarming 9.1 per cent in Septem-
Narendra Modi ber. this has dealt a double blow: on the one hand, banks are unable
or unwilling to lend in fear of gathering even more nPas, and on

www.openthemagazine.com 35
 openomics

the other hand, companiesthe drivers of growthare reluctant nothing illustrates this better than the expenditure pattern of
to borrow more money as they are already heavily leveraged. some recent budgets. In 2012-13, the penultimate year of the second
UPa Government, the proportion of non-Plan expenditure in total
expenditure stood at 71 per cent. non-Plan expenses are largely

F roM a BroaDer perspective, oil prices and bad loans

are the least of the challenges. India is home to some peculiar
economic problems that have defied solutions for more than half
accounted for by subsidies, wages and salaries of government
employees, pensions, interest payments and grants to states and
Union territories, among other items. In 2013-14, this figure again
a century of innovative thinking. these constraintsand it is use- stood at 71 per cent, and has since continued to hover around 72-73
ful to bundle them into two categorieshave imparted a distinct per cent. In contrast, Plan expenditureroughly the amount spent
flavour to Indian policymaking. on one side are what could be on enhancing the economys productive capacityhas remained
termed political exigenciesthe Government of the day has to less than one-third of the total for the last five years. It requires no
spend a majority of the budgeted sum of expenditure just to main- elaboration why this pattern of spending is counterproductive for
tain a certain social and political equilibrium. on the other side are economic growth. that running expenses differ from investments
the economic constraintsthe resources that are available to any in what they achieve is something commonly understood.
finance Minister when he rises in the Lok Sabha to present his a cynical way to explain this would be to blame the politics of
proposals. Successive finance ministers have been acutely aware patronage and vote banks, among a host of expressions. this is
of what they can do and what they cannot. It is against this double only partially correct. the operating reality is that India continues
bindpart political and part economicthat the Union Budget to remain a low-income country. If a government were to stop
has to manoeuvre itself. Usually, there is very little room for that. spending money on cheap food, subsidised healthcarefor what
it is worthand the provision, however imperfect, of basic goods
to the countrys poor, the danger of a political upheaval is indeed
get ty images
real. the vast bulk of Indians are so indigent that they can hardly
save any income for productive purposes. this is reflected in the
number of taxpayers in India. out of 1.3 billion citizens, there
are only 12.5 million taxpayers. Claims that governments are
bloated due to hefty tax collections are routinely heard. Viewed
purely from the number of taxpayers and the quantum of tax
paid, however, the Indian Government is pretty anaemic. If one
looks at all the major economies of the world, the ratio of taxes to
output, also known as the tax-to-GDP ratio, is the lowest in India.
With such low levels of taxation and multitudes of poor people,
the amount of money that can be mobilised for investment has
never been adequate since Independence. China and the former
miracle east asian economies, at the height of their boom, saved
in excess of 40 per cent of their GDP. India has never touched that
figure. In recent years, both the national savings and investment
rates have declined, and the latter precipitously so.
In the long-run, that poses acute
dilemmas for any government.
this is best explained using the
ARVIND analogy of a fast and a slow lane
SUBRAMANIANS first used by economist albert
Economic Survey backs hirschman to explain reactions to
high inequality in different coun-
the Universal Basic tries. Imagine if youre in a double
Income idea and suggests lane of vehicles on the road. Sup-
that a slow shift towards pose the lane you are in is not mov-
ing, while the other one is moving,
it by handing the poor a however slowly. this will first lead
monthly sum of money is to a sigh of relief; the hope is that
better than offering them sooner or later your vehicle, too,
will start moving ahead. But in case
the usual subsidies your lane does not budge, this hope
will turn into impatience and even

36 13 February 2017
 openomics

the right way to fix this

problem is to slowly withdraw
subsidies and reduce non-Plan
expenditure, and, in tandem,
spend more money on produc-
tive activities at the level of indi-
vidual citizens. Broad hints of ac-
tion in that direction are already
at hand. the special emphasis
on skill-building, the effort to
impart a technological push to
the Indian economy, and the en-
couragement to entrepreneurs
who leverage technology to cre-
ate new products and services,
the so-called startup sector,
are all one aspect of this change.
Much has been written against
these themes and the point
about technology has been sub-
jected to criticism and derision
by critics, mostly on the Left.
It is worth pointing out that at
another point in Indian history,
ap
A sniffer dog and security personnel check bags when a technological fix was
containing copies of the Union Budget for 2015-16 sought for another economic
problemthat of food short-
agescritics of the same stripe
anger. Something similar is at work in any process of economic laughed at the possibility of the Green revolution delivering the
growth that results in inequality. at first, the poor will willingly goods. as they say, the rest is history.
tolerate the gaps in the hope that someday their turn will come. another broad hint along these lines is provided in the eco-
But if that day never arrives, a clash of lanes is inevitable. on the nomic Survey released on January 31st: the debate on Universal
imagined road, you will try and bump your way into the other Basic Income (UBI). While UBIa lump sum payment to all Indi-
lane; in the real world, it will lead to law-and-order problems and ans irrespective of their income levelis beyond the means of any
ultimately the dangerous possibility of anarchy. government, a slow shift toward a UBI by targeting the poor and
this is, no doubt, a difficult situation for any government and handing them a sum of money every month is certainly feasible.
most have been acutely sensitive to the lane effect. But there are But for UBI to succeed, the plethora of schemes and subsidies that
two ways to try responding to it. one is to continue with the expen- currently plague Indias public finances has to end. that is easier
diture pattern that is usual in budgets, reducing them to the level of said than done. for one, India is a federal country with dozens
an annual ritual. the other is to understand the constraints and try of overlapping jurisdictions. Without some sort of agreement
out innovative ways to at least shake this damaging equilibrium. between various units, this transition is not possible. for another,
the former path was tried by the UPa for almost a decade: ever India is also a highly competitive political system that makes it im-
large sums were committed to social welfare schemes that did pre- possible for one party, however earnest its efforts may be, to walk
cious little towards the actual welfare of poor Indians, and worse, away with the ball. Unless there is a broad political consensus to
weakened the Indian economy to withstand external shocks like end the reign of subsidies, UBI is likely to remain a pipe dream.
high oil prices or the danger of protectionism that is now so evident Ultimately, the trick to solve all these pathologies of an
in the world.the other path, being tried now by theBJP, even if its intermediate regime is to somehow push the Indian economy
final results remain unknown at the moment, is not to ignore the to a higher growth trajectory. that goal has eluded policymak-
poor and instead bring them into the mainstream. By the nature ers since the days of Jawaharlal nehruuntil now, that is.
of the constraints highlighted above, it requires extra budgetary Whatever one may say about notebandi, Make in India, the
initiatives. there is only so much that can be redistributed by impetus to technological modernisation, there is some move-
using budgetary means: if well over two-thirds of the budgetary ment in India after a decade of quiescence that was based on
resources are already committed on an annual basis, no finance shrewd political calculations but did not push India to a higher
Minister can do more. level of development. n

38 13 February 2017
 openomics

the next
surge
A fine balance between
creativity and caution
By sajjid Z Chinoy

o
ne month into the year, it is now a
truism that 2017 is going to be a roller-coaster
ride for emerging markets. not just because
the United States Federal Reserve is expected
to continue raising interest rates this year. Yes,
that will inevitably tighten financial condi-
tions around the world and likely induce more capital outflows
from emerging markets. But ordinarily, that by itself should not
be a cause of concern. thats becausebarring a negative supply
shock like a surge in oil prices that pushes up inflation and forces
the Fed to tighteninterest rate increases in the US would be the
clearest admission yet that growth remains on solid footing there.
Stronger growth in the USin conjunction with positive growth
surprises in europe and Japanshould typically have a salutary
effect on exports from emerging markets and therefore boost
growth around the world. A rising tide should lift all boats, right?
except, this time, it may not. one of the most documented
phenomena of late has been that global trade, which powered
growth in the 1990s and 2000s, has slowed sharply in recent
years. Yet, as well documented as this phenomenon is, we dont
quite know whats behind it. in all likelihood, its a confluence of
factors: the fact that ageing populations have moved away from
consuming goods to services that are less import intensive, the
fact that capital expenditure (which is more import intensive)
has been sluggish in advanced economies, and the fact that some
commodity exporting emerging marketswhich came under
significant pressure when commodity prices collapsed from 2014
onwardshad to disproportionately slash capital expenditure Cargo is loaded onto a
and therefore imports. Whatever be the cause, the outcome is that Swiss containership at
it effectively breaks the umbilical cord between developed mar- Mundra port, Gujarat
kets and emerging markets. indeed, a percentage point of stronger

40
 growth in developed markets (Dm) has a much lower impact on

get ty images
emerging market (em) growth than it did in the pre-Lehman era.
this, of course, should not be a surprise because it has been
playing out for some years. Whats different in 2017 is that the
increased threat of protectionism from advanced economies is
likely to accentuate this de-globalisation. think of the Border
Adjustment tax that has been proposed in the United States, for
example. this is tantamount to an import tariff and an export
subsidy for firms based in the United States, and, if implemented,
is likely to make exports from other countries more expensive and
thereby put downward pressure on their currencies, creating its
own set of macroeconomic challenges.
therein lies the nub of the problem: the unprecedented mon-
etary support in the US has already taken the economy close to full
employment. if that is now compounded by a trump fiscal stimu-
lus, US growth is likely to be pushed above potential. this, in turn,
is likely to push up wages and price inflation and elicit a faster pace
of tightening by the Fed. the financial market spillover to the rest
of the world is likely to be swift. Forward-looking yield curves in
the United States and the rest of the world have already priced in
a tightening of monetary conditions around the world. in turn,
higher interest rates in emerging markets could depress growth
on the demand side and interfere with much-needed deleverag-
ingthe lowering of debt burdenson the supply side. So while
all this represents the cost of US rates going up, the commensu-
rate benefit through higher exports is unlikely to materialise if
protectionism rises in tandem with growth. no wonder then that
emerging markets will have to brace for a turbulent 2017.
So what are the implications for emerging markets and indian
policymakers? First, dont trade off macro-stability for growth in
this global environment. in the case of india, that means dont
overreact to any growth slowdown by over stimulating mon-
etary or fiscal policy. think back to the Lehman crisis. Worried
about the repercussions to growth, fiscal and monetary policy
was relaxed dramatically and in tandem. that was perhaps un-
derstandable because of the quantum of uncertainty at the time.
But what was harder to fathom was why the fiscal stimulus took
so long to be rolled back, for instance. By end-march 2012, more
than three years after the Lehman crisis,
the Centres fiscal deficit, at 5.9 per cent of
One of the most GDP, was still more than twice the level
documented before the global financial crisis.
What all this did was put pressure
phenomena has been on external imbalances. the current ac-
that global trade, which count deficit surged, in part because of
powered growth in the higher oil prices, because negative real
rates increased the demand for gold im-
1990s and 2000s, has ports, policy bottlenecks increased the
SLOWED SHARPLY need for imported coal, but also because
in recent years. Yet, stimulative fiscal and monetary policy
boosted non-oil, non-gold imports. As a
we dont quite know consequence, the current account defi-
whats behind it cit had surged to an unsustainable $88
billion dollars or 4.8 per cent of GDP by

www.openthemagazine.com 41
 openomics

2012-13 from 2.7 per cent of GDP in 2010-11. With a third of that stay contained in this global environment. the broader lesson:
($27 billion) being financed by portfolio inflowswhich was dont trade off macro stability for growth.
inevitable given the total quantum that had to be financed ex- the second implication is that, in this global environment,
ternallyit was an accident waiting to happen. we have to start looking for other sources of growth. the incon-
the accident did happen in the summer of 2013 at the first hint venient truth is that much of indias growth in the decade of
that the Feds asset purchases would be tapered later that year. the the 2000s was on the back of surging global trade. Between 2003
resulting taper tantrum meant that there was a sudden stop of to 2008, GDP growth averaged 8.8 per cent, but this was on the
capital flows to emerging markets, and indias macroeconomic back of exports growing at a scorching pace of 17.8 per cent in
vulnerabilities came to the fore. the resulting pressure on the those years.
balance of payments meant that the rupee was easily the worst in the last few years, however, for the reasons laid out above,
performing currency in the emerging market universe. All this export growth has slowed to a miserly 1.4 per cent. So if we cannot
was less than four years ago. bank on external demand driving exports and investment, we
much water has passed under the bridge since then. indian must look for other ways to perk up the economy. the obvious
policymakers deserve to be complimented for restoring macro driver is infrastructure, both physical and human. this entails
stability. Successive governments have chipped away at the at least three parts. First, we need to significantly ramp up pub-
central fiscal deficit, and the cur- lic investment in the Budgetand pay
rent Government and RBi deserve for it through disinvestmentthereby
kudos for institutionalising a new As the French economist effectively engineering an asset swap
monetary policy framework, which Jean-Baptiste Say once on the Governments balance sheet.
will ensure than never again will But public investment is not just about
indian households have to endure said, supply creates its the finances. We need to increase and
six years of double-digit Consumer own demand. If Indian improve state capacity to spend the re-
Price index inflation. the global policymakers double down sources. Second, policymakers must con-
perception has therefore been turned tinue chipping away at reducing imple-
on its head: india is now seen as a on infrastructure creation, it mentation bottlenecks (example: land
relative safe haven in the emerging will GENERATE DEMAND acquisition) on the ground and quickly
market universe. of its own, while addressing operationalise the bankruptcy law, so as
however, policy resolve will be to improve project viability, reduce the
tested if growth continues to stay
a key bottleneck in the balance sheet stress in the infrastructure
under pressure. the demand-shock economy and improving sector and improve the demand side
from demonetisation is expected to productivity. This must of credit. third, we need to continue
be temporary and one that policy- cleaning up and re-capitalising our
makers need to look through. And,
be the policy antidote to banksand broadening available sourc-
if growth slows more organicallyas trade pessimism es of financeto work on the supply side
was the case even before the decision of credit.
of 8th november last yearwe must only a combination of these policies
accept the new reality that potential will ensure that any public investment
growth around the world has fallen meaningfully, and india may has correspondingly higher multipliers and jump-starts private
not be able to completely buck that trend. over-reaching with a infrastructure investment. Remember, as the French economist
monetary/fiscal stimulus is simply likely to cause output gaps Jean-Baptiste Say once said, supply creates its own demand. if in-
to close more quickly, and to spill over into a larger current ac- dian policymakers double down on infrastructure creation, it will
count deficit. the collapse in oil and commoditiesand gener- generate demand of its own, while simultaneously addressing a
ally tepid growthhas meant that the current account deficit key bottleneck in the economy and improving productivity. Just
has narrowed sharply to less than 1 per cent of GDP in 2016-17. think back to what the golden quadrilateral or rural infrastruc-
But with oil prices likely to average $55 in 2017-18, commodities ture did to boosting asset prices, rural and urban, and, most of all,
firming up, and exports likely to be under pressure if the long firm productivity and competitiveness. this must be the policy
shadow of protectionism casts itself, the current account deficit antidote to trade pessimism.
could inevitably widen. over-stimulating growththat spills As the fast moving events in the global economy in recent
over into higher importswill simply increase the pressure months have demonstrated, we live in dangerous
precisely when portfolio flows are likely to take a hit. in the last times. this requires both caution and creativity
three months, for example, india has witnessed $10 billion of from policymakers in emerging markets. n
outflows. We are nowhere near the vulnerabilities of 2013, but
weve all seen this movie before. And we know how it ends. So Sajjid Z Chinoy is Chief India Economist at
policy must be even more careful to ensure external imbalances JP Morgan. These are his personal views

42 13 February 2017
 openomics

illustration by saurabh singh

nation and
automation
Catching up with the fourth
industrial revolution
By dhiraj nayyar

o
nce upon a time an economic heavyweight, India has
a longtwo-and-a-half century oldhabit of missing the
bus of the most tectonic, prosperity enhancing, shifts in
the global economy. When the First Industrial Revolution
swept through europe in the late 18th and early 19th centu-
ries, mechanising the textile industry and unleashing the
power of the steam engine, India was experiencing the slow demise of the Mughal
empire and the gradual emergence of a British empire, neither of which would
prepare it to join the bandwagon of prosperity. at the time of the Second Indus-
trial Revolution at the beginning of the 20th century, characterised by a move
to mass production and electric power, India was a colony (with no economic
autonomy) on the verge of a mass movement against empire. When the Third
Industrial Revolution dawned in the 1980s, with the advent of modern pcs, the
internet and digital technologies, India was in the last throes of socialism, a sys-
tem which had over four decades denied it a chance to catch up with leaders of
the second industrial revolution, something countries in east asia, like Korea,
Taiwan and Singapore achieved and others like china, Malaysia and Thailand
made significant strides in doing. unsurprisingly, an over-protected India failed
to make the most of the new opportunities in manufacturing (mobile phones,
pcs, laptops, other digital electronics) that came with these new technologies.
The world is on the cusp of a fourth industrial revolution. Will India be at the
 openomics

station when the bus rolls in? or is it destined to play catch up? bour is scarce and expensive, it may be worth replacing people
It is a fraught exercise to predict the future; only astrologers and with machines. In developing and emerging economies like
economists hazard it. For nations, just like for individuals, there India, given the lower costs of human resources, the economics
is a link between the past and the future, perhaps even a path may not favour machines yet. The Fourth Industrial Revolu-
dependency. There are some things we know well from Indias tion will be upon us when machines can operate at a scale and
experience with the second and third industrial revolutions. First, at a cost economical enough to replace human resources across
the country has never excelled at manufacturing, not even to a the board even in countries like India. There is some time to go
level that the Soviet union achieved before its collapse. Second, the for that to happen.
Government has always believed that it knows the answers to the But, already, it is clear that the opportunities for low skilled,
most vexed challenges, but invariably its interventions have been semi-educated workers who traditionally find employment in
counter-productive, too intrusive in spheres where unnecessary labour-intensive industries may not exist in the near future. This
(think labour laws, high taxes, the erstwhile Licence Raj) and too may not be as bad for India as it sounds largely because India has
little in spheres which needed it most (think infrastructure). Third, failed to create factory jobs on a mass scale that china and other
remarkably India has managed to achieve a reasonable degree of east asian countries did or the uS and europe did before them.
progress and rate of growth, particular- If theres one metric on which In-
ly in the last quarter of a century, despite dias economic performance has under-
those limitations, primarily driven by whelmed, even in periods of impressive
the services sector and entrepreneurs
The Fourth Industrial growth, it is in the generation of jobs in
of outstanding talent. all of this is very Revolution will be about a the quantum necessary to productively
relevant to Indias future economic serious INTENSIFICATION employ the countrys workforce. The
trajectory. best statistic to sum it up is the one
The Fourth Industrial Revolution OF THE TRENDS seen which tells that almost 50 per cent of
will be about a serious intensification in the Third Industrial Indias workforce is still employed in
of the trends seen in the Third Indus- Revolution. We are talking agriculture, producing just 14 per cent of
trial Revolution. We are talking about total GDp. according to the theory of de-
artificial intelligence, robots, automa- about artificial intelligence, velopment economics, it is industry or
tion, 3D printing. In the end, whenever robots, automation, 3D manufacturing which performs the task
it materialises, whether in a decade or of absorbing the excess workforce that
two from now, it will alter the world
printing. It will alter the exists in agriculture. and that is what
economy and indeed society in a way world economy and has been seen in practice in much of
that the First Industrial Revolution indeed society at the east asia and china as those economies
didat the roots, in the core. a lot of have advanced. India has defied conven-
the commentary around the Fourth roots, in the core tional wisdom. The share of industry in
Industrial Revolution centres on the GDp and the share of manufacturing in
exciting technology that would usher employment has barely grown in the 25
it in but plenty also focuses on the po- years since India liberalised its economy
tential job losses in all economies as a result of those technological and grew rapidly, touching near double-digits in the 2000s. unlike
breakthroughs. While it is true that many jobs as we know them in other emerging economies, the services sector has created more
today will be destroyed, there will be many new jobs that we may decent quality jobs in comparison to manufacturing.
not know of today that will be created. each industrial revolution The most prominent of Indias vast services sector industry
is about creative destruction: old jobs and industries die, others is Information Technology. It is the one services industry where
rise. The trouble is that the new isnt a like-for-like replacement India has produced world-class companies which operate on a
of the old; hence those who found productive employment in the global scale and which has created millions of jobs for Indias edu-
old order may not find it easily in the new order. cated middle-class. However, it isnt infotech services alone, which
elements of the forthcoming industrial revolution are already has created well-paid jobs. Less glamorous sectors like hotels and
on display, most noticeably the rise in automation in different restaurants and real estate have generated millions of jobs for
sectors. High-tech industries like aerospace engineering are those at the bottom end of the skill spectrum, absorbing at least
already highly automated. But changes are happening else- some of the labour force exiting agriculture.
where in the value chain. adidas, for example, is experimenting Development economists have been sceptical about a ser-
with a completely automated factory for shoes in Germany vices-led strategy for catch up, emphasising a manufacturing-
where a traditional labour-intensive activity is being replaced led strategy instead. They have good reasons for that. For one,
by machines. ultimately, the application of automation and every country that has advanced in the course of history since
artificial intelligence in real-world activities depends on the the industrial revolution has developed a strong manufactur-
cost economics. In advanced countries like Germany where la- ing base before moving to a more service-oriented economy

46 13 February 2017
 openomics

once high-income status has been achieved. also, services were and services. This is a positive trend as the world heads towards
not traditionally seen as being able to generate export earn- an ever greater knowledge-based economy. Just like the setting
ings since a large number of them were not tradeable. and, in up of the IITs and Indian Institute of Science shortly after inde-
general, the potential for productivity growth in manufactur- pendence laid the foundation for Indias infotech boom decades
ing outstripped services. India may yet defy the conventional later, a strong foundation of knowledge industries will yield high
wisdom. In many ways, it already has, growing rapidly without returns in a world driven more and more by technology in a de-
a strong labour-intensive manufacturing base. But the nature cade or two from now.
of services has changed. Infotech services, for example, are Second is the role performed by the Government, which has
highly exportable. Services like education and health have been negative on balance even in recent decades. Despite the steps
tremendous potential to earn foreign exchange through medi- taken to liberalise the economy over the last 25 years, Indias state
cal tourism and people abroad seeking educational opportuni- apparatus hasnt given up its tendency to dabble in economic activ-
ties in India. India has performed woefully in attracting tourists ity where unnecessary (via public Sector businesses or over-regu-
when tourism is one of the most labour-intensive and potential- lation) and to be absent, or present in a most inefficient fashion,
ly foreign exchange earning sectors of the economy. needless in areas where its role is necessary: in building, or at least financ-
to say, Indias potential for tourism ing, physical and social infrastructure.
of all kindsheritage, nature, adven- The big challenge for India is to move
tureis huge. beyond islands of excellence to a general
What is more significant, looking
In India, less glamorous prosperity for all. and there remains a
into the future, is the fact that automa- SERVICES SECTORS role for the Government in that.
tion is less likely to take over some of LIKE HOTELS AND The overarching goal of the cen-
the labour-intensive services sectors tres economic policy should be only
such as tourismthan manufacturing. RESTAURANTS and real one: the promotion and unleashing
India definitely has a services-ad- estate have generated of entrepreneurship. Governments
vantage. and it could be argued that do not do a good job of picking win-
the manufacturing-first pathway
millions of jobs for those ners. It is impossible to say with
that worked for europe or east asia at the bottom end of the certainty for any bureaucrat or poli-
may not work for India, especially skill spectrum, absorbing tician whether manufacturing or
if commercially viable automation services or whether sector a or B will
and artificial intelligence arrive in at least some of the labour be the dominant force of the future.
the next decade. on the other hand, force exiting agriculture The job of discovering that is best left
the line between manufacturing to risk-taking capitalists. But for that
and services may blur as technol- to happen, the Government needs to
ogy evolves. consider a product like clear the messy web of over-regula-
apples iphone. The real value added is not so much in the tion that chokes enterprise at birth. What the Government also
manufacturing part which happens in china, but in the design needs to focus on is the hardware (roads, power, airports and so
and innovation part (which could also qualify as services) which on) and software (education, health, skills) that will encourage
happens in the uS. In the final analysis, it is perhaps best, there- entrepreneurship. The Government also needs to be ready for
fore, to be agnostic about which sector of the economy will lead periods of possible disruptions in certain industries and jobs. It
growth and development. needs to lay out a reasonable, affordable safety net and re-skilling
programmes for those who are bound to be affected by major
technological shifts.

t HeRe aRe TWo big trendsone positive and one nega-

tivethat policymakers and other stakeholders should hold
on to tightly as the future unravels. The good news first. Indias
There is nothing spectacular in any of this, but the Govern-
ment in India needs to retreat decisively from the frontlines of
the economy to focus on building its backbone.
limited global success stories have come in knowledge-intensive If the Government fails to lay the foundation, India will be
industries. apart from infotech, India has built a globally com- ill-prepared to shake the hand of the Fourth Industrial Revolu-
petitive generic pharmaceuticals industry and a reasonably ro- tion when it does arrive in force. It may then be very long before
bust automobile engineering industry. In what is an exception India gets another chance to board the bus of prosperity for all. n
more than the rule, Indias space programme has done remark-
ably well despite being under Government control. autonomy Dhiraj Nayyar is Officer on Special Duty and Head,
in operations and distance from Delhi may have helped ISRo Economics, Finance & Commerce, NITI Aayog. The
achieve what other public organisations have not. In short, India views are personal and do not reflect the views of NITI
has already shown the ability to leapfrog the traditional path of Aayog, which does not take responsibility for the data
labour-intensive manufacturing to high-tech manufacturing used in this article or for the consequences of its use

48 13 February 2017
 openomics

Mr Laidback
The more money he makes,
the fewer hours he works

BEND IN THE curvE Reversal Point

Extra leisure
The odd behaviour of labour supply begins to
matter more
Hard Worker than extra
Will work extra earnings at this
for extra money income level
Survivor
With enough to get
by, hed rather not
work for anyone

Starvation Fighter
The less he earns,
the more he needs
to work

illustration by saurabh singh

 THE
could cramp an entire economy. No, its not a pleasant thought
in a country as poor as this.
so, to what extent do workers in india conform to the Curve?

LaBour
And if they do, at what point do they ease off? since the market
for daily-wage labour (majdoori) is the only one that has not been
distorted by modern complications like job contracts, office rules
and KRA incentives, it suggests itself as a good place to look.

Puzzle
its not a good time to look, though, as it turns out, barely three
months after the Centre expunged not just high-value currency
notes, but alsoas collateral damagethe bulk of demand for
manual labour, especially for construction projects.
i have been standing here looking for work since eight in the
At what point do Indian morning, says Dharmendra, a 19-year-old daily wager, still shiv-
workers slacken off? ering at 10-past-10 in the fog that has only just begun to lift over a
Or do they at all? street crossing near Gurgaons sikanderpur metro station, a spot
where thousands gather for contractors to come by and pick up
By AReSH SHIRAlI a lucky few for all-day grunt jobs. some months ago, their wages
used to range from Rs 350 to Rs 500 per day, but many are now
ready to work for less, he says, and at the risk of being relieved
several hours later than promised. i have had only four days
wages since notebandi, says this teenager from Beguserai, Bihar,

A
t times, it feels as if the only ones bend- his voice thinning to a plea, and no work at all for two months.
ing backwards are those of us whove read too these are hard times, 27-year-old sanjay singhania of Bhagal-
much for our own good. Or cant rid ourselves pur, Bihar, barges forth to say. Yeh log dhokebaaz bhi hain. employ-
of the itch to slap our snapshot of reality onto ers often refuse to pay up and then tolerate no protest, he adds,
an elegantly curved graph of an economic showing a hand hes had broken at work. it serves as a cue for
theoryan error that some ancient texts others to mill around and air their woes. some have been evicted
would call adhyaas (its eminently googleable, try it). trying not from their homes, a few have been beaten up by creditors, and
to slip up, however, is particularly tough when the slope in ques- nobody knows when all this will end.
tion is this odd little thing called the Backward Bending supply Given their desperation, it seems insensitive to even ask
Curve of Labour. about time off. earlier, singhania says, he used to go visit his
At first glance, the theory backing it makes intuitive sense. One family in Bihar every four months, but putting together the
can devote time to either labour or leisure, and while workahol- Rs 15,000 hed need for such a break is simply out of the question
ism does exist, its only humanand rodential and avian tooto now. intoxicants, he whispers, are what many make do with.
prefer the latter of the two. if one earns more for every extra hour they drink and dream of being rich. some just want to ease their
put in, one would work more and more to pack in the money, but aches. they even take needles, he says, unsure if he should envy
only up till a certain point. Once the income effect kicks in, a the two men whove just been picked from a crowd of hundreds at
rising pay packet induces a sharp reversal; more moolah makes the chowk. theyre being taken to lay 40 metres of cable on word
one want to work less and take more time off. An extra hour to of Rs 350 each, but who knows what they will get or when they
oneself is now more satisfying than the extra dough one couldve will be let off? even 40 metres is a lot for two men, but there must
made. People do it, rats do it, mice do it. even pigeons, which hap- be 50 or 60 metres to do.
pen to be ace slackersonce their bellies are fullamong bipeds the impact of demonetisation, however, might only be a blip
of the feathered kind, say researchers. the unstated message of in the larger scheme of things. For a longer view, older workers
such lab tests on other species, of course, is that the broad con- prove better subjects to quiz. Not only do they express less anger,
cept of a bend in the Curve shalt not be debunked. it applies to they are clearer about how they balance labour with leisure under
all, it all adds up, and if this implies that a point arises in every normal circumstances. mukesh Nand Kishore, for example, a
job market after which higher pay levels result in less work get- 40-year-old whos been on daily wages for 18 years, says he has
ting done, a kind of natural cap on what employers ought to pay no bank account but likes to go back home to his Kumhrai vil-
people if they know whats good for business, then so be it. Worse, lage in UP every four months for a three-month vacation. thats
if cultural conditions dictate a bend backwards at low levels of if his earnings allow it. the enabler, he says, is a monthly take-
income, then thats just too bad for the hard worker aspiring to home of Rs 20,000, which is enough to cover his rent of Rs 4,000,
a better life; best, then, to go with the flow, slacken off and spout rations of Rs 6,000 and other expenses for a wife and two sons, his
words of wisdom on destiny or whatever. By the same token, it daughter already having been married off (via a costless jaimaal at
follows that too many job markets with low bend-back points a temple). this year, hes not sure if hell be able to afford a break.

13 FEbruary 2017 www.openthemagazine.com 51

 openomics

Hes had only 36 days of work in the past three months, thoughhigher levels of womens education, firewood gathering having
his wife made Rs 6,000 this January. God, he hopes, will play the
become a thing of the past, greater mechanisation of farming
job-giverand rest assurerof last resort. its all in the hands
(with machines under male operation), and a decline in distress
of Parmatma. work as wages and real incomes of households improvethe
With or without divine intervention, an entire quarter offfamily-level Backward Bending supply Curve of Labour, apart
after every four months of work does sound like a classic case of
from the role of mNReGA in providing better work alternatives
the Backward Bending supply Curve of Labour. But the younger and reducing the need for extremely arduous and low paid work.
lot seem somewhat nonplussed as they listen to Kishore speak. Brought in a decade ago, the National Rural employment
might their attitudes have raised the income at which their Curve
Guarantee schemewhich assures a member of every rural fam-
begins to bend? Could an emerging set of lifestyle aspirations be
ily at least 100 days of work at a daily wage of about Rs 200was
playing a role in this? For all the adversity of the cash crunch,
arguably the last time a Central policy had an all-india impact on
theyve all kept their mobile phones paid up and running. if they
the unskilled labour market. in a single stroke, it upped the wages
could afford smartphones, one of them that had to be dangled for employers to
admits, they would upgrade. lure migrant labour as harvest hands on
In some parts of India, farms, as hard-hat workers at construction
the RURAL JOBS sites, and as various other doers of odd jobs

I N ACADemiA, tHe CURve is

frequently cited to explain such phe-
nomena as the falling female participa-
GUARANTEE is found
to have deprived urban
elsewhere. in some parts of india, accord-
ing to a few surveys, even offers of higher
pay have failed to attract labourers. A cru-
tion in indias workforce, a trend thats projects of workers, an cial dimension of the rural labour market
gaining force as the country emerges outcome perhaps of is the target income of the poor, write Par-
from poverty. the reasons, as Professor mod Kumar and Dipanwita Chakraborty
Jayati Ghosh of JNU lists them, include the Backward Bending in MNREGA: Employment, Wages and
Supply Curve of Labour
gEt ty iMagEs

52 13 FEbruary 2017
 openomics

gEt ty iMagEs
attention to the likelihood that fundamental differences exist be-
tween the realities of poor societies and the economic conditions
underlying a labour supply schedule in the text books.
in this view, a poverty-stricken market does not necessarily dis-
play the same behaviour. People here do not work more for more
money and then merely reverse this at shockingly low levels
of income, as the classic Curve would have us think. instead,
plain survival dictates life. Not only is the unit of labour supply
a family (rather than individual), the goal of its members is to
meet subsistence needs, for which a modest target is set and la-
bour services promptly withdrawn once its met. Why so? think
slavery, think caste oppression, think of all the
indignities at the edge of starvation. the less
one earns, the more one is forced to work. if one
Construction workers gets enough money, one would stay as far away
in Gurgaon appear to from a task master as possible. the bending, in
other words, begins right at the onset.
exhibit behaviour that Professor Chaudhury has studied it in
conforms with both the detail: some evidence shows that in a pre-
CLASSIC TEXTBOOK dominantly agrarian economy, lower wages
and incomes are associated with higher work
MODEL OF LABOUR participation rates, greater shares of females
SUPPLY and an in the workforce, more unemployment and
alternative one that takes out-migration of labour. this suggests that
the labour supply curve in such an economy
grim realities into account is downward sloping.
if true, the implications of such a slope
are grim: A rise (fall) in the wage rate, or an
increase (a decline) in amount or regularity of
employment opportunities for adults, caused
Migration in India (Roultedge, 2016, 318 pages, Rs 10,000), their either by economic change or by state policy, will lead to a drop
target income is the root cause of the Backward Bending sup- (rise) in supply of labour, particularly of child labour.
ply Curve of Labour the income from mNReGA alone can be a
substantial part of the target. Once a family reckons it has made
enough, under this analysis, it looks for no further work, which
may lead to an aggregate reduction in agricultural output in
spite of a moderate improvement in agricultural productivity
W HiCH OF tHe tWO GRAPHs to trust? is life below
the poverty line worse than what the classic Curve leads
us to imagine? since data from field studies can be tortured to
delivered by local projects under the scheme. so the policy focus, confess adherence to either model of labour supply, its hard to
Kumar and Chakraborty argue, should be to increase the target make out. Contradictory though they appear, both are plausible.
income by creating more market access and opportunities for poor Or perhaps such puffy parabolas of market theory should be seen
households [to enhance] their standard of living. as art more than science, as attempts to reflect the truth with all
Austerity and aspiration have always had a vexed relationship the follies that attend such gestures. so long as these drawings
in india, but almost everyone who worries about how low-level evoke empathy and set us thinking, its good enough.
bends in the Curve could condemn millions to drudgery wants Majdoor toh majboor hai, sighs one of the men looking for
the latter to win. Not just for the sake of the poor, but also for the work in Gurgaon. He feels so helpless that how much to work or
economy as a whole. And for this, perhaps nothing would work not is the last thing on his mind. Almost nobody is hiring. Con-
better than a massive outreach of bank credit. Aadhaar to the res- tractors say there just isnt enough cash to go around. Yes, access
cue, then: accounts for all and loans for everyone with a verifi- to credit would help. What about hand-outsas in a Universal
able identity. Once better lives begin to beckon, goes the rationale, Basic income? Hell have to see the money to believe it.
more work will get done. Alas, at the very bottom of the scale, that would still leave the
so far, so earnest. But what if the Curve turns out to be false? oppression factor unaddressed. its a tough nut to crack. much
Among the scholars who are sceptical of its universal applicability bowing and scraping goes on even at higher levels of employ-
is Professor Pradipta Chaudhury of the Centre for economic ment. But, surely, something can be done to ensure that all
studies and Planning at JNUs school of social sciences. He draws bending, backwards or otherwise, happens by choice. n

54 13 FEbruary 2017
openomics

Back to
bangalore
Shaping the arc of Indias infotech progress
 by V Shoba

a
favourite parlour game among
indian venture capitalists is to fantasise
about being in a mnage--trois with a tech-
nologist from Bengaluru and a businessman
from Delhi, a cross-cultural venture surely
destined for an ipo. the Bangalorean engi-
neer may not wear the pants in this relation-
ship, but he is the reason we are all here, says a partner at a vC
firm in Bengaluru that invests in early growth stage companies.
the baseline perception of Bengaluru as the infotech hub of india
falls short of evaluating its potential for further greatness. Benga-
luru, like Silicon valley, is an idea. it is a confederacy of visionar-
ies looking beyond profitability. it is a story where the underdog
triumphs and where failure is a rite of passage. it is home to a man
worth $1.5 billion who drives a toyota innova. it is where Mer-
cedes-Benz comes to shop for a startup that can tell them which
of their showroom walk-ins are prospective customers. it is that
bastion of creativity which can leave the most hidebound busi-
nessman from Mumbai with a sense of giddy discovery.
in a recent report by Jones lang leSalle (Jll), a global invest-
ment management company, Bengaluru has been ranked the
most dynamic city in the world, ahead of Ho Chi Minh City, Sili-
con valley, Shanghai, london, austin and others. the City Mo-
mentum index, a weighted average of various economic, social
and real estate parameters, measures a citys ability to embrace
rapid change in order to compete in the world. other indian cities
in the list are Hyderabad at the 5th position, pune at 13, Chen-
nai at 18, Delhi at 23 and Mumbai at 25. Bengaluru emerged on
top despite the fact that indian startups, especially B2C ecom-
merce companies, were starved for funds in 2016, with funding
almost halving from $7.6 billion the previous year to $3.8 billion.
obviously, adoption of technology, innovation and the digital
economy seem to be driving the dynamism of the top cities of the
world. With technology becoming central to all business, Ben-
galuru is witnessing a diversification in occupier base. What was
an it-oriented city is transforming into a wholesome corporate
centre, says ashutosh limaye, national research director at Jll.
it is more than a corporate centre. Bengaluru is shaping the arc
of indias progress by fostering the convergence of key ideas for
the future. ask bankers from Mumbai who regularly decamp to
the garden city to discuss the way forward for banking services.
With the unbundling of credit, payments and identity verifi-
cation, the banking sector is at a crossroads where it can either
AL AMY

embrace innovation that aims to serve the unserved millions

or lose to fintech companies. No other group of indian Ceos is
Infosys headquarters in as worried today as the heads of banks. their world will change
Bengaluru. Data shows that more in the next five years than it has in the last 50. Bengaluru
ex-Infosys employees have
founded 867 startups till date is at the centre of the effort to build the digital infrastructure for
this new banking paradigm, says Sharad Sharma, co-founder of
iSpirt, a software product think tank, and former Yahoo india

www.openthemagazine.com 57
 openomics

get tY iMAges

Bengalurus perennial
attraction, talent,
combined with a high
per capita income and
a readiness to try new
technology has made
it the best testing
ground for new ideas.
It has proved to be a
strategic geography
for BIG BASKET

Ceo. He is not just talking about the fintech startup sector that industry with built a digital infrastructure that will soon pro-
has received over $1.3 billion in the past three years to change the cess billions more transactions than bitcoin ever has. With this,
way we use moneyNCr has a lions share of this burgeoning seg- india will skip two generations of financial technologies and
ment, with the likes of paytm, Mobikwik, faircent and payu india build something as monumental as Chinas Great Wall and
headquartered there. Bengaluru, says Sharma, has a culture of get- americas interstate highways.
ting together to build things for the public good. aadhaar started the reason Bengaluru is at the heart of this wave of change,
in 2009 with ex-infosys Ceo Nandan Nilekani bringing together argues Sharad Sharma, is that it is home to technologists with
a team of Silicon valley veterans and young investment bankers the missionary zeal to build public infrastructure. take Dr Srid-
in an apartment on Sarjapur road and it is today the basis for a har Mitta and Subroto Bagchi at Wipro r&D who worked to get
multi-layered data infrastructure spanning across services from at&t to bring the source code of uNiX to india. they could have
paperless identity verification or eKYC to cashless payments. two kept their legal framework that gave comfort to at&t to them-
years ago, the National payments Corporation of india (NpCi), selves. instead they shared this framework for the benefit of the
the umbrella organisation for all retail payments, launched the industry. pioneers like Dr Mitta have shaped the culture of Benga-
united payments interface (upi), a mobile-first system that makes luru, says Sharma, who moved from the valley to Bengaluru in
peer-to-peer money transfers possible on the cheapest of phones 2004, enthused by an ambitious presentation by the then infosys
and enables inter-operability between banks. today, there are doz- Ceo, Nilekani. Bengaluru dreamed big, but lived simple, never
ens of banking apps built on the upi platform, including Bhim, forgetting its middle-class values. While NCr has emerged as
which was jointly developed by the NCpi and Juspay, a payments Bengalurus cognate in the northaccording to NaSSCoM, of a
tech company based in Koramangala. the aadhaar platform will, total of about 5,600 indian startups, Bengaluru is home to 27 per
additionally, introduce an electronic consent layer to allow users cent and Delhi and Mumbai to 23 per cent eachthe culture of
to selectively share their personal data, such as employment re- each city, Sharma says, is palpably unique. an uncle who worked
cords and bank statements, to get credit and to digitally sign for it. in the railways once told me that although Mumbai had two
Sharma and his colleagues at iSpirt refer to this entire digital zonal centresWestern and Centralthey each were run very
paradigm based on aadhaar as india Stack, and its apis are grab- differently. it is the same story with Delhi and Bengaluru, he says.
bing everyones attentionfrom Bill Gates to thriving young Bengaluru is unpretentious and culturally open, unlike Delhi
valley entrepreneurs who are astounded at the scale and the and Chennai. it has the best mentorship ecosystem in the coun-
sophistication of the project. in a recent, much-shared article try and it attracts top-class talent, especially in core tech areas like
in The Washington Post, vivek Wadhwa, a columnist and a pro- artificial intelligence and data analytics, says v Balakrishnan,
fessor at Carnegie Mellon university of engineering in Silicon former infosys Cfo and Chairman, exfinity venture partners, an
valley, wrote: india may have leapfrogged the uS technology early-stage fund that invests in B2B startups. So when exfinity-

58 13 February 2017
 openomics

funded Mad Street Den, an ai company headquartered in Chen- than, vice-president, industry initiatives, NaSSCoM, Bengaluru.
nai, ran into a wall trying to hire talent locally, he advised them to at Societe Generales Global Solutions Centre in Bengaluru, a few
set up a Bengaluru office. Bengaluru is the ideal place to be for hundred engineers are working on how to reduce loan process-
engineering-driven startups. and such startups have a low cost ing time from 28 days to 28 hours. Walmarts Bengaluru team is
of survival, which could keep them in business for a lot longer, busy figuring out how to reward a genuine buyer by preferring
says amit Somani, who lived and worked in the valley for 14 years her over others shopping online for the same product. target
before moving to Delhi as product head at MakeMytrip and fi- has deployed more than half its Bengaluru workforce towards
nally to Bengaluru in 2007. in Delhi, most startups are driven by developing a forecasting model for merchandising. and at time
a dhanda attitude. in Bengaluru, there are people actually thinking inc india, a wholly owned subsidiary of time, nearly a thousand
about how to change the world, says Somani, Managing partner at people are at work improving web and circulation analytics for
prime venture partners, an early-stage vC firm that works closely all the magazines in its stable, he says.
with its portfolio companies, insisting that they be based in Ben- the r&D centres may be grooming a generation of special-
galuru. MakeMytrips founders had deep roots in Delhi, but as ist engineers to bridge the few talent gaps Bengaluru has. the
the company scaled up, talk of setting up a Bengaluru office was city is, by far, the only place in india that can boast a workforce of
inevitable, says Somani. the travel company opened an r&D cen- 300,000 semiconductor engineers, a number that can rival that
tre here last year, following in the footsteps of other indian startups of Silicon valleys, the birthplace of the semiconductor indus-
like Quikr, Cleartax, Helpchat and razorpay try. the indian semiconductor industry
that made a beeline for Bengaluru. generates $35 billion in revenue annually.
With the infotech and it-enabled ser- Bengaluru has about half the work involves high-level
vices (it-ites) industrys growth slowing, design and architecture, the remaining
more engineers with a decade of experience
been ranked the is routine entry-level work like testing
behind them are likely to start up, some of MOST DYNAMIC and verification. We are moving up the
them hopefully in the under-served B2B CITY in the world value chain, taking on core design work
space. as per data from venture capital ahead of Ho Chi Minh and generating more ip than ever, says K
tracking firm tracxn, ex-infosys and ex- Krishnamoorthy, chairman of the india
Wipro employees have founded 867 and City, Silicon Valley, electronics and Semiconductor associa-
685 companies respectively. Bengaluru Shanghai, London and tion (ieSa). While design-led electronics
could yet become an incubator of mythic Austindespite Indian manufacturing is still a distant dream for
proportions. Consider this. there are any- india, the industry has matured enough
where between 50 and 100 it/ites compa- startup companies being to launch a small semiconductor startup
nies in Bengaluru employing over 5,000 starved of funds in 2016 movement, the most famous of them,
people, 200 others that employ about 3,000, Cosmic Circuits, making a successful exit
2,500 with 1,000-3,000 employees and a in 2013 with uS-based Cadence Design
great many other smaller companies. the System acquiring it. Back in the 1980s,
35 million sq ft of commercial real estate available in the city is the reason texas instruments (ti) set up an office in Bengaluru
not nearly enough to meet demand and other than a few strained was talent. Bengaluru had an electronics ecosystem even then,
ecommerce companies like flipkart who are scaling back on their thanks to institutions like Hal (Hindustan aeronautics ltd),
office space plans, everyone seems to want a bigger slice of Benga- DrDo (Defence research and Development organisation) and
luru. pockmarked roads, acute water scarcity and legendary traf- Bel (Bharat electrical ltd). in fact, the inside joke was that ti was
fic jams are not about to deter them from crowding this unlikely just iti (indian telephone industries ltd) minus the i, since its
paradise, a nowheresville whose only virtue is its unceasing cycle first employees were all ex-iti, says Krishnamoorthy.
of talent inflow and enterprise. the more things change, the more they remain the same. Ben-
galurus perennial attraction talentnow combined with a
high per capita income (rs 2.7 lakh a year, only slightly behind

I f CoSt arBitraGe put Bengaluru on the map as an out-

sourcing hub for MNCs, it has once again become their pre-
ferred destination, this time for setting up r&D captives. of the
Delhi), cosmopolitan culture and a readiness to try new technology
has made it the best testing groundand therefore incubatorfor
new ideas. it has proved to be a strategic geography for Big Basket,
1,000-plus Global inhouse Centres (GiCs) in india, about 600 are urban ladder, uber and Zoomcar and it is a dream market for new
r&D centres, almost half of whichincluding those of target, category-creating startups like licious, which is disrupting the
Walmart, lowes, time inc, Goldman Sachs and visaare locat- way india buys meat. it is here, in the thick of things, that ineffably
ed in Bengaluru. about 200 of them have crossed the threshold Bangalorean ideas are born and snaffled up by venture capitalists. if
where they have realised that they can get more value for their one stepped back to catch a breath, one would see that all of this
dollar by hiring and training top class talent in areas like stochas- the birth of a new world, the gold rush, the aggression, the fury,
tic modelling to build future-proof technology, says KS viswana- the crashhas happened here before. and it will happen again. n

60 13 February 2017
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 openomics

start-ups
Need
Bust-ups
In praise of risk
By Devangshu Datta
o
nce upon a time, a young person study-
ing in a well-known college decided to drop
out. This was not because that person was
incapable of doing course work, or passing
exams. That individual was a wannabe
entrepreneur with a clever business idea.
Thatpersonthought,Whynotfocusonde-
velopingthatidearatherthanwastetimepassingirrelevantexams?
The dropout managed to find some backers to fund the idea
and set up a company. after some initial struggles, the business
took off and then grew rapidly. The dropout eventually became a
household name with a gazillion-dollars of net worth. The com-
pany hired thousands of people who also became rich riding in
the billionaires wake. and they all lived happily ever after.
This is a fairy tale, of course. It is also true. The name doesnt
matter. Its all about ones risk-taking ability.
The name could be Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs,
Jack Dorsey, Larry ellison, Mike Dell, oprah Winfrey... all house-
hold names. all are first-generation entrepreneurs. everyone has
featured in the Forbes list of billionaires. all of them dropped out
to pursue dreams.
The global billionaire list features a lot of people who check
those boxes: first-generation entrepreneurs who found focus
early and took big risks. Some (like oprah) are rags-to-riches
stories. But many billionaires (like Gates and Jobs) come from
comfortable, middle-class backgrounds. They could have sought
cushy, stable careers instead of opting for the high-risk road to
billionaire-hood.
The risks of entrepreneurship may, comparatively speaking, be
higher for somebody who has the choice of a relatively easy ride.
That preponderance of risk-takers in the billionaires list
masks one thing: most risk-takers fail. each of those household
names is an exception that proves a rule. You cannot become
a first-generation billionaire without taking risks. Hence, a
very large proportion of billionaires are risk-takers. But a vanish-
ingly small proportion of risk-takers actually become rich. one
in a hundred startups gets to the stage where it receives some
funding. perhaps one out of every ten companies that get funded
actually becomes successful.
Many thousands of infotech-competent kids have opened
businesses in their parents garages in emulation of Gates and
Jobs; many young women have tried to break into the world of
broadcasting like oprah. The overwhelming majority have failed.
The failures have gone through gut-wrenching bankruptcies and
lost years of their lives. Some of them have never managed to put
their careers back on track again.
Life can be terrible for the risk-taker who fails. But society gains
because people take risks. Gates company, Microsoft employs
over 110,000 people directly; apple employs around 70,000. Both
companies generate employment for many millions more. Both
have created thousands of dollar millionaires.
even if only a small percentage of risk-takers eventually
manage to pull it off, it makes sense for society to actively
encourage such behaviour. The positive fallout from one success

www.openthemagazine.com 63
 openomics

over-compensates for the misery caused by many failures. against family wisdom. Its not that bright young Indians dont
This is where the uS really scores as a society. america salutes take career risks. But they dont do it as a matter of course, and they
entrepreneurs and american society allows individuals who go usually spend years building safety-nets before they dip their toes
bankrupt to pick themselves up off the floor and try again. The into potentially turbulent waters.
current uS president has been castigated for his many failings. The bright IIT-IIM type often opts to sell soap (as the president
But his six bankruptcies were never considered a deal-breaker, caustically pointed out), rather than run startups. or, as in the
even by his detractors. case of Infosys, our bright young men hang around for years in
India is different. That fairy tale? The name doesnt mat- dead-end jobs before they decide to spread their wings. Some of
ter. Gender doesnt matter. But environment does. nationality the IIT-IIM persons migrate abroad and take risks there, as Vinod
does. Rahul Yadav of Housing.com is among the very few Khosla did. In those cases, the bulk of the beneficiaries also tend
Indians who actually took the risk of dropping out of a good to be located abroad.
college to float a high-profile startup. unfortunately, Yadavs The risk aversion feeds into the lack of a certain kind of busi-
career crashed and burned. ness within the Indian ecosystem. There are multitudes of Indian
now, instead of being praised for his risk-taking, the poor chap infotech services firms. But there are almost no infotech product
is held up as an example of what the bright young Indian must not firms. an infotech services model is not considered too risky. But
do. Get your degree, is the first refrain of the middle-class Indian creating and marketing an infotech product? Thats risky. Yet, ev-
parent. If you can, become a professionala doctor, a lawyer, a ery technology products multinational is staffed by a large num-
chartered accountant, an engineer. once youve got the qualifi- ber of Indians. Its not as though Indians have a problem creating
cations, try and get a government job. If a government job is not and marketing products. But they prefer somebody else to take
available, try to bag a salaried private sector position. If you abso- the risk, or they create a safety net first.
lutely cant do this, well okay, you may as well go into business. There are many generic pharmaceuticals manufacturers in
Indian family life is built around that single paradigm: Do India. But there are very few Indian firms into cutting-edge
Not Take Risks. If you fail, your parents will bear the brunt of deri- R&D for new drugs. Yet, there are multitudes of ethnic Indians
sion, commiseration and fake sympathy from their friends and employed across drug-research labs abroad. The keyword is
from your extended family. Your siblings will have trouble find- employedthat is, not taking risks.
ing spouses if you suffer the shame of going Those holes in the business ecosys-
bankrupt. So, if you must dare what mustnt tem result in a lack of national compe-
be dared, create a safety net first. never mind tencies in certain areas. Maybe it feeds
the fact that somebody else might launch Face-
Instead of being praised into sectors like defence research and
book, or create a hit talk-show, while youre for his risk-taking, defence equipment as well. Indians
getting a passing grade. RAHUL YADAV of working abroad design military avi-
This judgmental attitude makes India an onics systems, target radar systems,
unforgiving environment for entrepreneurs.
Housing.com is held up infantry weapons and night-vision
Forgiveness matters when it comes to going as an example of what goggles. But Indian firms are reluctant
the bright young Indian to invest in these areas.
must not do. Get your There are other sectors where I
suspect that the national aversion to
degree, is the first refrain risk-taking also leads to a crippling
of the middle-class lack of national performance. Sports,
Indian parent for instance. This is the ultimate high-
risk, pointed-pyramid business.
even in well-funded team sports
like cricket, less than 200 cricketers
make a decent living globally. The
vast majority of first-division cricket-
ers will at best survive with a clerical
job in some public Sector undertaking.
every sportsperson has a short
career; every sportsperson risks
crippling injury; there is little point in
get ty images

being second-best.
anybody who wants to make it to
the top in any sport must focus on that
to the exclusion of all else. There is no

64 13 February 2017
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 openomics

The bright IIT-IIM

type often opts to sell
soap, rather than run
startups. Some of
them migrate abroad
and take risks there,
as VINOD KHOSLA
did. In those cases,
the bulk of the
beneficiaries also tend
to be located abroad

aL amy

time to create a safety net and get a degree. ways. only risk-takers can create new businesses that generate
Its no accident that very few Indians opt for a career in sports. the sort of employment that is required.
nor is it a coincidence that most Indians who challenge sporting policy changes can make some difference. The ease of Doing
barriers come from lower-income backgrounds. people from fi- business has to translate from mere slogans into better infrastruc-
nancially stable middle-class backgrounds find it more rational ture, cleaner tax systems, faster legal processes, less red tape, easier
to focus on getting a degree and a job. Its much safer than trying access to credit, etcetera, to encourage entrepreneurship.
to make a living hitting a ball, or turning cartwheels, or twisting But the core of the problem remains societal. There is no
other people into odd shapes. forgiveness for failure. Shaadi.com will not countenance the
The risk resistance also shows up in saving patterns. Indian dropout who tries to build a new business and fails. There is no
households save, and save obsessively. India has one of the sympathy for the wannabe Wimbledon champ, who returns to
highest savings rates in the world, with household savings the classroom at 25, after failing to crack the aTp Top 100. The
amounting to 19 per cent of Gross national Disposable Income young man who advises his family patriarch to invest in the
(GnDI, the part of all incomes added up thats available for stockmarket is referred to with contempt if the market falls. The
consumption and savings). forensic auditor who quits her Big Four accounting firm to start
But the composition of those savings is very conservative. a leather business (yes, I do know one) is treated as though shes
over 70 per cent of Indian household savings consist of safe, mentally ill by her family.
non-productive assets such as real estate and of gold. Less than until Indian society learns to encourage risk-taking and
1 per cent (0.7 per cent of GnDI according to the latest RBI data) to tolerate entrepreneurial failures, no amount
is in risky financial assets like equity. equity has consistently of policy change will be enough to create a
given huge returns in excess of inflation. But the sharebazaar start-up mindset.
has a reputation for being risky and most Indians shun it as a
kind of gamblers den. Devangshu Datta is a Delhi-based columnist who
More risk-taking would be good for our economy in many writes on economics and finance

66 13 February 2017
 openomics

The Bard
and The
BudGet
A brief history of figurative speech
By Lhendup G Bhutia

1948

T
he presentation of the Budget is The hand that nailed Jesus to the
a day of spectacle and tradition. it begins Cross reached out of the evil recesses
with cameramen and journalists pursuing of history once again and slew the
a man with a leather briefcase as though he latest in the line of prophets. In Mahatma Gandhi
might trip and spill its content. it is a route the world has lost an uplifting standard
everyone knows well, from his residence to RK ShanmuKham Chetty
the north Block office by 9 am, through the rashtrapati Bhavan
for a quick sit-down with the president, and finally to parliament
house sometime before 11 am, where on the hallowed steps of the
institution, he will pose for pictures. Meanwhile, industrialists the earliest budgets were grim affairs that reflected the horrors
and analysts elsewhere would have gathered around a screen as of partition and the pains of acute poverty. But like the leaders of
though watching a marquee match unfold. here, they spend all the time, they were heavy on literary aspirations, exercises really
morning in speculation over the contents of the briefcase, and, in faith and the hope of language. the first Union Budget of india,
once revealed, engage in lengthy exegetical performances. an interim one since it was being tabled just three months from the
however, at the end of it, the Budget is but a dense and dour 1948-49 Budget, was presented by rK shanmukham Chetty. it was
subject. hundreds and thousands of dry and dreary numbers and mostly a review of the economy with no new taxes proposed. the
words set on several hundred pages. Cold, unfeeling numbers and estimated revenue was just a paltry rs 171.15 crore and the revenue
the dismal details of a governments fiscal plans for revenue and expenditure, rs 197.39 crore. at one point, Chetty added, there is
spending. newspapers the next day take recourse to puns, graph- nothing spectacular about my statement and there will be no sur-
ics and images to jazz up its details. But to the man of the hour, the prises associated with a Budget. But despite the small figures and
finance Minister, all he has is his speech, the arithmetic often the fiscal pains of a newborn country, Chettys speech to parliament
leavened with humour, wit and literary references, some of them and the country brimmed with hope and ambition. ...We feel like
verses from many centuries ago, that illuminate his proposals. the pilgrim who drags his weary limbs finally to the mountain top
saints, philosophers and poets, they have all figured as signposts only to find higher peaks stretching before his eyes, he said. it is by
to the Governments approach to economic matters. such flour- no means the journeys end and the night falls and engulfs him in
ishes are usually met with either heavy protest or thunderous darkness. and like him, we are inspired to pray in the spirit of the
applause, establishing that the Budget is not just numbers and favourite hymn of Mahatma Gandhi Lead Kindly Light. the next
fiscal jargon. it is really the blueprint of the future, and, as John step is enough for us if it is illuminated by the star of our ambition
Mathai, indias second finance Minister had expressed in his only and fortified by the faith in our destiny. in the next Budget, little
budget speech in 1950, a human document of its time. had changed. there has been no material change in the general

68 13 February 2017
 get ty images
1958

While space travel beckons to us and to us and the vast expanses of the universe almost appear to be
the vast expanses of the universe in our reach, the horizon of our minds is limited by fear and the
almost appear to be in our reach, the shadow of terrible disaster hangs over us. how can we and others
horizon of our minds is limited by fear and the raise ourselves above fear and hatred and the petty conflicts that
shadow of terrible disaster hangs over us are so out of place in the new world that is taking shape? how can
JawahaRlal nehRu we in india function with courage and unity and grasp with strong
hands and stout hearts at this future?... this Budget statement is
a minor event in our march forward. We have to look at it in the
perspective of what we have to do and what we have to achieve.
economic conditions in our own country, Chetty remarked, the the 1980s were dull in comparison. Most governments had
dislocation caused by the mass migration of people between West- absolute majorities. and finance ministers, lacking the flamboy-
ern pakistan and india still remains to be surmounted and only the ance of the earlier generation and the literary efforts of later ones,
fringe of the problem of rehabilitating the millions of people who sought inspiration from the usual subjects. every finance minister
have crossed over to india has so far been touched. Gandhi had quoted either the prime Minister or past leaders, Jawaharlal ne-
been assassinated barely a month earlier, and it cast a long shadow hru and indira Gandhi being favourites, with Mahatma Gandhi
on the speech. the hand that nailed Jesus to the Cross reached out occasionally slipping in. nD tiwari, the butt of several later jokes,
of the evil recesses of history once again and slew the latest in the line presented what came to be known as the sindoor Budget in 1988,
of prophets, Chetty said. the tradition of finance ministers delving for the astonishing level of detail it had on exempting a variety of
into literature may have begun when he quoted George Bernard products, including sindoor and kajal, of excise duty. his speeches
shaw as saying, Must then a Christ perish in torment in every age were filled with effusive praise and quotes of rajiv Gandhi, the
to save those that have no imagination. in Mahatma Gandhi, then prime Minister, with nehru getting a word or two. populist
he added, the world has lost an uplifting standard, our nation its and unimaginative, the speeches were exceptionally dull.
founding father, and each one of his friend, philosopher and guide. By now, they were also becoming extremely long. pranab
Chetty was succeeded by CD Deshmukh and later tt Krish- Mukherjees 1982 speech went on for an hour and 35 minutes, lead-
namachari. after the latter was accused of a corruption scandal, ing indira Gandhi to remark, the shortest finance Minister has
Jawaharlal nehru became the first prime Minister to also hold the delivered the longest Budget speech. But parliament, as they say,
finance portfolio. presenting the 1958-59 Budget, nehrus speech hadnt heard anything yet. Jaswant singh clocked two hours and
was frank and contemplative, a classic. in the circumstances that 13 minutes when he finished his 15,081-word marathon for fiscal
we face today, i can only present before this house, what might be 2003-04. in word-length, he came close to his predecessor Yashwant
called a pedestrian budget, he said. ...While space travel beckons sinha, who went on for 15,882 words just the year before. indira

13 February 2017 www.openthemagazine.com 69

 openomics

1991 1999
Yunaan-o-Misr-o-Roma, Let me assure you that it would
sab mitt gaye jahaan se/ be our endeavour to support the
Ab tak magar hai baaki, entertainment industry Dil Se (from
naam-o-nishan humaara (Greece, our heart), and I am sure that no longer would
Egypt, Rome have vanished all/But the industry have to ask the Government
our name and glory live on) Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (who am I to you)?
manmohan Singh yaShwant Sinha

Gandhi was not around to take note, but for his 2012-13 Budget, powerful regional satraps, with intense criticism of fiscal poli-
pranab Mukherjees swansong, he droned on to cross over 14,000 cies, but also a bloom of literary references in budgets. finance
words. the stamina record, though, has been reset since. three ministers began to look at poetry and literary texts to make their
years ago, in his first Budget speech, arun Jaitley went on for over points. they joked and sparred.
two hours and 15 minutes, including a short break to recover from Budgets brought out a wry humour and yen for sher-o-shaiyari
exhaustion and a poor back, to deliver a 16,536-word epic. even in the usually reticent Manmohan singh. he quoted poets.
Yunaan-o-Misr-o-Roma, sab mitt gaye jahaan se/Ab tak magar hai
baaki, naam-o-nishan humaara (Greece, egypt, rome have vanished

G iven the lonG span of attention demanded of those

listening, comic relief is arguably as crucial as taxation relief.
Back in 1973, YB Chavan, who raised taxes on cigarettes in a couple
all/But our name and glory live on). he joked. this is in gratitude
to the east for providing a home to a homeless finance Minister,
referring to assam, which elected him to the rajya sabha. and
of his budgets said, there comes perhaps a time in the life of every at a time when he was often accused of bowing to diktats of the
smoker when the concern for his own health begins to outweigh World Bank, he once remarked during a Budget speech, i am do-
the loyalty to an old and faithful companion. for those who can- ing this under pressure from WB, and WB is not World Bank but
not shake off their consuming passion, there is at least the consola- West Bengal. his most unforgettable quote, of course, was made
tion that the more taxes they pay, the more they serve the common in 1991 when the economy was thrown open. no power on earth
cause. Cigarettes evoked a light moment in rajiv Gandhis only can stop an idea whose time has come, he said, citing victor hugo.
Budget speech in 1987 as well. in looking for more revenue, i have a few finance ministers since have almost become patrons
to fall back on the ever dependable and reliable friend of finance of some philosophers and sources. pranab Mukherjee would
ministers and the certified enemy of health ministers. he also quote Kautilya, the strategist of Chandragupta Maurya, in
switchedfromtheoldsystemofbasingtheexciserateontheprinted almost all his speeches. he once compared tax collectors to
priceofcigarettepacketstothelengthofcigarettesticks,asitistoday. honeybees gathering nectar without disturbing the flower. in
the 90s saw not just the arrival of coalition governments and 2009, he quoted Kautilya to say, Just as one plucks fruits from a

70 13 February 2017
 2009 2017

Just as one plucks fruits from a Nayi duniya hai, naya daur hai, nayi umang
garden as they ripen, so shall a hai/Kuchh thhe pehle ke tareeke, toh hain
King have revenue collected as it kuchh aaj ke dhang/Roshni aake andheron
becomes due. Just as one does not collect se jo takraegi/Kaale dhan ko bhi badalna pada, aaj apna
unripe fruits, he shall avoid taking wealth that rang (Theres a new world, new era, new hope/there were
is not due because that will make the people old ways, and there are new/when darkness collides with
angry and spoil the very sources of revenue light/even black money has to change colour)
PRanab muKheRJee aRun Jaitley

garden as they ripen, so shall a King have revenue collected as it speech.Jaswantsingh,presentinghisfirstandonlyBudgetin2003,

becomes due. Just as one does not collect unripe fruits, he shall said, it is not for nothing that even albert einstein had ruefully
avoid taking wealth that is not due because that will make the observed that he found income tax the most difficult thing
people angry and spoil the very sources of revenue. p Chidam- upon earth to understand.
baram also liked to quote from ancient indian texts, his favou- the current finance Minister, since his 2014 marathon speech,
rite being the tamil saint-poet thiruvalluvar. in 2007, he said, which was detailed and substantial but lacking in the lighter touch
Uzhavinar kai madangin illai vizhaivathoom vittame enbarkum nilai of his predecessors, has also begun to keep things breezy. he took a
(if ploughmen keep their hands folded, even sages claiming re- dig at the previous dispensation with a couplet. Kuchh toh phool khi-
nunciation cannot find salvation). laaye humne, aur kuchh phool khilaane hain. Mushkil yeh hai bagh mein
the BJp-led nDa governments finance ministers have not ab tak, kaante puraane hain (some flowers have blossomed under us
been found lacking. Yashwant sinha quoted the poet ramdhari and many more are to come. the difficulty is that the garden still
singh Dinkar in 1998. rise o warrior, march ahead undaunted. has thorns of the past). and last year, when parliament began its
You are the Creator of future history. the stars of the dark night are Budget day proceedings on a discordant note, with Congress and
fading. the whole sky belongs to you. the following year, while left members pressing for a privilege motion against smriti irani
announcing budgetary sops for the film industry, he peppered over her comments on the JnU and rohith vemula issues, Jaitley
his speech with cinema titles. let me assure you that it would be helped change the mood a bit with an Urdu couplet: Kashti cha-
our endeavour to support the entertainment industry Dil Se (from laane waalon ne jab haar kar di patwaar hamein, Lehar-lehar toofan mile
our heart), and i am sure that no longer would the industry have aur mauj-mauj majhdhaar hamein, Phir bhi dikhaya hai humnein aur
to ask the Government Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (who am i to you)? phir yeh dikha denge sabko, inn halaat mein aata hai dariya paar karna
he quipped. two years later, he did it again. it is time we brought humein (When the boats sailors handed the oars to us, we encoun-
about a fiscal regime to usher in more Khushi (happiness) and take tered storms and rough weather, but weve demonstrated and
away the remaining Gham (sadness) from the entertainment in- we will still show everyone that we know how to get across in
dustry.Filhal (for now), i shall have more to say on this in part B of my conditions like this). n

13 February 2017 www.openthemagazine.com 71

 openomics

The economicS
of romance
Being priced out of the dating market
By Sonali acharjee

illustration by saurabh singh

o
ver a round of whisky tast- had two relationships, both of which ended on account of financial
ings arranged by the offline dating constraints. Partners expect a certain level of treatment and style
group, Floh, in Bengaluru, Shikha these days. Im not saying they left me because I took several loans
Malhotra, 31, and vivek Fernandes, 33, began and couldnt take them out as much, he adds, Im saying things
what was to be a one-and-a-half year love changed when we were forced to stay indoors with nothing to do.
affair. Management consultants both, theyd So whats his game plan for the future then? Fernandes has
meet every Friday and Saturday night for dinner and drinks at decided to hire a dating coach from real Man, an academy in Mum-
some of citys trendiest restaurants. Tuna tartare and Laphroaig bai, to help him keep track of his dating budget. While he needs to
at the ritz Carlton, salmon sashimi and sake at edo, mutton and invest in his love life, he must not go overboard. If he spends a rupee
martinis at dum Pukht. Seven months after Malhotra dumped above rs 20,000 in a weekgifts, dates and phone bills included
him, Fernandes still recalls each and every meal he shared with his coach sends him a warning message to slow down. The hired
her; hes still paying the bills for them, after all. expert is also teaching him how to set benchmarks for the relation-
It would be unfair to say she had expensive tastes, we often ship by insisting the other party pay the bill at least 30-40 per cent of
went to standalone chain restaurants as wellSmokehouse deli, the time. I earn around rs 1.5 lakh a month [after tax], out of which
Social, Mocha. Going out is expensive, period. an average three- a lakh goes away on eMIs for my car, phone, household gadgets and
course meal with drinks for two will come to about rs 7,000 upto house. I cant afford to keep spending on love with zero returns on
rs 10,000 easily, says Fernandes, a graduate of Institute of Manage- my investment. Id rather keep my money in the hands of a third
ment Technology, nagpur. Having moved to the city in 2012, hes party who will monitor my expenditure effectively, he says.

72 13 February 2017
 In an age where love has become a Tinder algorithm, the tricki- when it comes to dating, says Gurgaon-based lawyer apoorva
est part of dating is figuring out where to put your money and with Kothari, 33. She adds that understanding male expectations when
whom. Fixing up a tte--tte now requires sound economic judge- it comes to settling the bill is no walk in the park either. You need
ment. Intelligent investing is all that will matter in the end. How to be independent, but without hurting his pride. I prefer going
do we evaluate the other person and how do we add value to their dutch, because then you arent beholden to the other person. and
lives in the manner theyre looking for? do we take an uber to meet how does she avoid having to lunge for the bill? I always tell the
them, hire an audi, or take out the good old Honda City for a spin? waiter beforehand that he must bring the bill to me, and then when
Should we meet at a highway dhaaba, arrange a picnic, or go to a the guy says, no, let me pay, I laugh it off and suggest we split it.
pub? are we eating Thai, Indo-fusion, Japanese or ethiopian? and Most restaurants accept two cards for payments, she replies.
do I dare ask to go dutch? When we order dom Perignon magnums others,likeashiGoenka,a25-year-oldgraduateofStXaviersCol-
instead of Kingfisher ultra, its because we know that what does or lege in Mumbai, have taken to adopting more drastic measures to
does not come out of our wallets (and not necessarily our mouths) hold their own. after having been dumped twice, both times when
will count in our dates assessment of the value of our company. the balance in her account dipped to less than rs 2,000, Goenka de-
In modern dating, say daters, every calculation matters. Think cidedtosetupaseparateaccountjustfordating.Whenyoustartsee-
Pride and Prejudice on steroidsthats the dating scene today. every- ing people after the familiar canteen-caf scene of college, you dont
one is super judgemental, especially when it comes to what youre realise rightaway how much more money you are spending. Its so
wearing, eating, driving, where you are living and what phone you much fun to be able to go out every weekendI have gone through
are using, says Himanshu Gupta, founder of a World alike, an rs 15,000 in one night without even realising it. I still remember
offline dating group based in delhi. The challenge isnt just about that the four taxes [luxury, service tax, service charge and education
finding the right person, its about being able to afford them. Theres cess] cost more than the most expensive dish we had ordered that
a tax on almost everythingmovies, gyms, salons, spas, hotels, night, she says, adding that while its important to let men know
food. The list goes on, he adds. of your financial independence, they
For many serial daters, offline meeting shouldnt start taking your credit card for
groups like Floh and a World alike actu- granted either.
ally work out cheaper than apps because
In an age where love With more and more people turning
of the advantages that come with bulk has become a Tinder to apps and websites in their hunt for love
booking. For rs 3,000 per month, you can algorithm, the trickiest and fun, the investors who make the most
socialise once a week over golf, chocolate, of what they put into love are those who
wine and more. But once you meet the part of dating is figuring look beyond the immediate and analyse
right person, the onus once again returns out where to put your the long-term payback in terms of fulfil-
to your own bank account to keep it going.
romance isnt cheap. But has it ever been?
money and with whom. ment. even the most carefully laid-out fi-
nancial budget for dating can go haywire
The knight never rescued the princess on Fixing up a tte--tte in the company of the right set of arms and
a second-hand dirty scooter, did he? What now requires sound cocktails. and while the occasional slip-up
has really changed today is that there are wont really harm our hearts or wallets, the
so many knights and princesses around, economic judgement law of diminishing returns on investment
all available on our phones. and for each could set in and wreak havoc. You put in
wrong knight or princess we pick, were more and more for less and less. and with
notlosingemotionallybutalsofinancially, costs soaring, it is all too easy to get priced
explains radhika Bose, a professor with university of delhi. right out of the dating game, if you dont think ahead.
a number of interesting studies point out the changing dy- That means having to watch both ends of it with due
namics between money and lovefinancial status isnt just prudence: whats going in and whats coming of the ex-
a reason not to date somebody, it has also become a perfectly penses. You have to know when the other person is
common and readily accepted reason to leave someone. a using you because you are ready to pay the bill. and if you find your-
2016 survey by Seekingarrangement.com, for example, shows self financially strapped, then stay at home and be alone instead
that not making enough money was the second most cited of getting into credit card debt for someone who may or may not
reason for relationships being called off that year. another be around when you can scarcely afford dahi-chaawal for lunch,
survey around the same time by Shaadi.com notes how sal- cautions Goenka. People should start investing in those things
ary disclosures now matter more than caste or religion. and it that will add value to their own lives first, adds Bose.
isnt just women who turn up their noses at scruffy shoes and So instead of wondering how some people have struck gold in
unwashed jeans, men are no different when it comes to status the economics of love or blowing up our last bonus on a fancy steak
indicators. It costs me rs 8,300 every month for waxing, eyebrows, dinner that were sure will set the wedding bells ringing, perhaps its
hair and skin maintenance. Lets not add the cost of clothes, cabs, better to recognise that investing in oneself comes first. The returns
food and drinks. Women have as much money at stake as men are guaranteed. n

13 February 2017 www.openthemagazine.com 73

 salon
CINEMA 76 | BOOKS 82 | ART 88 | NOT PEOPLE LIKE US 92

Dressing up
the book
Excerpts from
Jhumpa Lahiris
latest work 82

al amy
A shish VAishnAV

I dont need to wear

Rishi Kapoor reveals the glories and follies of Bollywoods first family in a tell-all autobiography.
 cinema

O
n my way to a shoot a week ago, I had
two choices. To re-read the script of the
film I was shooting for or to read a book
called Khullam Khulla. Thats the title of
Rishi Kapoors autobiography (HarperCollins, 284
pages, Rs 599), fresh off the rack, peeping out of my
leather bag. Reluctantly, I keep the script away and
open the book, so I can be prepared for our appoint-
ment scheduled for the coming week. why would
an actor like him want to write a book? I ask myself,
looking at his name written in gold and embedded
above his profile picture lit by the blazing bulbs of a
make-up room mirror.
The next thing I remember is keeping the book
down six hours later when I was called in for my first
shot that night. Incidentally, I had just reached the
part where Kapoor was describing his very first shot in
front of the camera as a two-year-old for the song Pyaar
Hua Ikraar Hua in his fathers film Barsaat (1949). It
was that famous scene with myself and my two older
brothers as kids in pouring rain with our raincoats
and boots. I kept crying because the rainwater would
hurt my eyes. Eventually, it was nargisji who con-
vinced me to do the shot by bribing me with a choco-
late, he says rocking back and forth on a plush black
easy chair in the corner of his study. we are now inside
his quaint yet flamboyant Bandra apartment, where
even his puppy pug has its own chair to sit on.
anyone who has met Rishi Kapoor will vouch
that he is amiable rather than daunting, even if it
might seem otherwise. His demeanour is relaxed,
and his words, impenitent. He not only calls a spade
a spade, but will also show you how to bloody well
use it. If he thinks youre wrong, he will reprimand
you just like your 60-year-old dad does, and that kind
of honesty is refreshing. Do not try to interrupt him
in the middle of a sentence, unless you want to be
reminded of old-school manners.
Rishi Kapoor on a Shall I sign this for you? he asks graciously, pick-
set for Chalk N Duster ing up my copy of his book and writing Cheers for my
in Mumbai, 2015 father who has always been a fan. I wrote this book
because no Kapoor has ever really written a first-hand
account of their lives in their words. Perhaps it was not

masks
in vogue those days. This one is all about how ones
life can be when you are part of a legacy of filmmak-
ing. Theres nothing fabricated in it. People lie, people
make a facade of themselves and the truth. They wear
a mask. I dont think I need to wear masks, and this
book helped me shed any even if I did, he says.
True to his word, his autobiography is a straight-
The actor in conversation with Divya Unny forward account of the life of an actor who saw and
 cinema

indulged in fame too early in life. Con-

trary to what the world thinks, being a
Kapoor child was no easy feat, and Rishi
Kapoor wants to underline this fact in
ink. He acknowledges the aristocracy he
was born to, but doesnt mince words in
revealing that nothing came easy to him
despite that. I may not have slept on
the pavement or gone hungry for days,
but my struggle was even more than
what my contemporaries went through.
when I entered, the whole scenario
changed to the angry mans image, the
reaction era. It was impossible for me to 1
keep my neck above the choppy waters
I was swimming in, he says. Between
amitabh Bachchans angry young man gravity of it, but I was happy that before
and Rajesh Khannas free-wheeling my grandfather passed away I could
lover boy image, Kapoor believes no- make him this proud, he adds.
body wanted to see a lanky young fellow But the book is about more than 2
wooing girls or singing songs. But I was ansoos and ashirwaads (tears and bless-
the only one who pursued it and kept go- ings), detailing all that went on behind
ing and kept at it with some success and the camera to make, or at times threaten, 1. Rishi Kapoor at the premier of Bobby in
Delhi, 1973; 2. with Neetu Singh at their
some dignity. I always say that I was the the first family of Hindi cinema. From wedding in 1980; 3. (clockwise from left)
right person at the wrong time. when dealing with depression after his film Rishi, Krishna, Randhir, Rajiv and Raj Kapoor
my innings as a romantic hero was Karz (1980) bombed at the box office,
finishing, the whole action era changed to buying an award for Bobby (1973)
into romance and thats when all these against amitabh Bachchans Zanjeer the
Khans came in. I would have had it same year, Rishi Kapoors life has been he had manufactured the romance for
much easier in this period, he adds. an eclectic mix of adventures, to say publicity. I was livid!
Through this book, he has an open the least. Khullam Khulla, as the name He isnt sure if his family has read the
conversation with his fans, friends, suggests, exposes everything about the book, and from his expression it seems
family members and even with himself. Kapoor Khandanfrom Raj Kapoors like he cares little. However, it has taken
He unabashedly writes about his weak- idiosyncrasies to Ranbir Kapoors Rishi Kapoor over 45 years to become
nesses, undoings and mistakes. why adamancies, from why Rishi and Rajiv the person he is today. after his first
should I lie about anything? whatever I dont see eye to eye, to why nargis Dutt major film Bobby turned him into a su-
am today is because of the journey I have stepped into RK Studios years after perstar overnight, he became a brat in
undertaken and I know it hasnt been leaving the banner. his own words. after that kind of fame I
perfect. Rishi Kapoor candidly mentions the couldnt care a shit about anybody. I was
He writes in his book, Mera Naam infamous affair between his father and a total brat. During the shoot of Bobby, I
Joker failed but my debut was applauded. the then-reigning queen of Hindi would be Papas scapegoat every time a
I didnt understand the importance of a cinema nargis, which has so far been scene went wrong and now I know why.
national award in those times but I was more folklore than fact. He writes, I I was nonsensical and very, very stupid,
excited. when I came to Dadaji (Prith- was very young when my father had an which I realised eventually. when a kid
viraj Kapoor) with the award he was affair with nargisji. I dont remember of 21 gets so much attention, anybody
visibly moved. He had tears in his eyes as much. all I remember is moving out of would get swayed. I soon realised that
he took the medal in his hand and kissed home into a hotel and then to another was not the way to live life, he says.
it. He said, Raj ne mera karza utar diya home in Chitrakoot when he was hav- He fondly mentions his first love
(Raj has repaid my debt today). now ing an affair with Vyjyantimala. my yasmein whom he lost to this fame,
thats an untainted tale from the Kapoor mother put her foot down and wouldnt fortune and the gossip around his affair
household that we would have never give in until he ended that chapter of with Dimple Kapadia during Bobby.
known otherwise. The award was a his life. In an interview published a few There was a ring yasmein had given
very poignant moment in my life. Of years ago, Vyjantimala denied ever hav- me which Dimple threw into the sea.
course, it took me a while to realise the ing an affair with my father and claimed Sometimes I go looking for that ring at

78 13 february 2017
 My father was not eyedsitting on Raj Kapoors lap. Its
also how he describes his relationship
raj Kapoor because of with his ingenious father who gave
prIthvIraj Kapoor. I aM not Indian cinema some of its best gems.
what he always told me was that you
rIshI Kapoor because of raj will be an actor in your own right and
Kapoor. we all have our not because of me. Im happy that has
MerIts Rishi Kapoor come true. my father was not Raj Kapoor
because of Prithviraj Kapoor. I am not
Rishi Kapoor because of Raj Kapoor. and
Ranbir is not Ranbir because of Rishi
Kapoor. we all have our merits. we all
worked hard. we all worked very sin-
cerely, passionately towards our work.
Being the senior-most star son today, I
want to reiterate that please do not ever
think a star son has it easy. I have had to
go through a lot of trauma in my career.
Rishi Kapoors versatility is well doc-
umented. He has played a variety of roles
from the baddie in Agneepath (2012) to
the nave middle-class man in Do Dooni
Chaar (2010) to the 90-year-old Casanova
in Kapoor and Sons (2016). we are lucky
we are still able to watch him perform.
3
I have been working for 45 years. I have
seen two generations come and go. How
many actors today will be able to sustain
Juhu beach, he says, with a laugh. His silence on neetu Singh having the way I have or Bachchan saab has?
For a generation of youngsters in the to leave the industry at the age of 21 is we never had scripts being given to us
70s, Rishi Kapoor was the actor who proof enough that he wishes she hadnt. or producers flocking to us on sets those
could carry off bellbottoms with the when we were marrying, we knew days. Hum toh Ram bharose chalte thhe
kind of flair that no one else could. His one was going to be a bread winner, one (wed be at the mercy of God). But we
onscreen romances were patented by a was a homemaker. we wanted to start lasted because of the love of the people
classic Rishi Kapoor charm. Be it multi- a family and by the grace of God, we and the heart they put into a film.
starrers like Amar Akbar Anthony (1977) have two lovely kids. I wouldnt say its He wants to work till his last day and
or hardcore romantic stories like Laila a perfect marriage, but then which mar- with his boots on. He may never have
Majnu (1979), Rishi Kapoor was not just riage is? neetu and I would fight often worked at Prithvi Theatre, which his
a fine actor, but had an allure which dis- even before marriage. She would sit in grandfather started, but today, at 65, hes
tinguished him from others. when his her makeup room and sulk. She says I ready to do something newnamely,
song Khullam khulla with neetu Singh am immature, which I dont agree with, live shows inspired by his own book.
(from the movie Khel Khel Mein, 1975) he says. It is little surprise that neetu many of these stories are better enacted
released, word is that young couples Singhs lovely afterword in the book than read. Im excited to perform, he
across India would walk around arm in starts like this; Is Rishi Kapoor a grouch? says, with the charm of that same 70s
arm, unabashed about showing their af- Guilty as charged. Is he loud, gregarious, heartthrob. Somehow I feel there is
fection. In the book, he writes, It was in and prone to wound with words? Check some redemption in my life after this
1975, during the shooting of Kabhi Kab- all three please. Is he possessive and book. I feel like I have stood in the con-
hie in Kashmir that our love affair blos- difficult to live with? you seem to know fession box. I have said whatever I have
somed. I went to Paris soon after and sent my husband well. So why am I still mrs to. Theres nothing to lie about. There
[neetu Singh] a telegram; Sikhni bahut Rishi Kapoor 37 years after saying I do? is nothing that is hidden. Theres no
yaad aati hai (I really miss the Sikhni). Because 37 years is a long time and I can- agenda, he says.
She was overjoyed when she received it not and would not live with any other. Its like a conversation with the
and showed it off to everyone on the set The book carries a picture of him as person who is hearing it, says Rishi
saying, See? Hes missing me. a small boychubby cheeked and blue Kapoor, and I am now sin free. n

13 february 2017 www.openthemagazine.com 79

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 books essay

Jhumpa Lahiri

Photograph by rohit chawl a

 Dressing up the Book
We are never alone together, the text and I
By Jhumpa Lahiri

L
ets move in a different direction and speak of the the naked book: solitary, without support. it allows one to read
naked book. in freedom, without previews or introductions. i believe that a
i did not own many books as a girl. i would go to the naked book, too, can stand on its own feet.
library, where books were often undressed: without Unfortunately it cant be sold that way. Almost no one wants
jackets or any images. i would find only hardcovers, and the to buy something unknown, not even a book, without prior
pages that they contained. information. in some ways todays reader resembles a tourist
i am the daughter of a librarian, and i too worked for many who, thanks to the guidebooksthis is, thanks to the impact
years in the public library where i grew up, from which i used of the book jacketbegins to inform and orient himself before
to borrow books. i know that it is costly, also challenging, to disembarking in an unknown place. Before discovering it,
protect the covers of volumes that will be read repeatedly by before being there. Before reading.
many. Book jackets are easily damaged the bound galleys of my first book
and, even though there are ways to published in the United states resembled a
protect themwith plastic covers, for ex- naked book to some degree. no image, just
ampleit is always easier to strip them. essential information. there was some-
Hardcovers are made specifically to live in thing generic rather than individual about
a library, while paperback pocket editions them. in the past, when i would go on tour
are more temporary. to promote a book, i would read from the
i have read hundreds of books, almost bound galleys. When i was forced to use
all the literature of my schooling, without a copy of the actual book, i would remove
a summary blurb on the flap, without the jacket. As i have said, the dressed book
an author photograph. they had an no longer belongs to me.
anonymous quality, secretive. they gave I hate readIng the sixteen years ago in America, when
nothing away in advance. to understand my first collection of stories was about to
them, you had to read them.
comments on the be released, critics and bookstore owners
the authors i loved at the time were cover; It Is to them received imageless bound galleys. Why?
embodied only by their words. the naked that we owe one of Perhaps because even the publishing
cover doesnt interfere. my first reading house, at the time, wanted the advance
happened outside of time, ignorant of the
the most repugnant copies to be pristine, without added dis-
market, of current events. the part of me words In the engLIsh tractions or noise, hence without a jacket.
that regards book jackets with suspicion Language: blurb this seems right.
seeks to rediscover that experience. these days, unfortunately, even the
When i purchase a book today, i bound galleys contain what to me is super-
acquire a range of other things: a picture fluous information. the galleys
of the author, biographical information, reviews. All of this of my last novel list the size of the printing run, my previous priz-
complicates matters. it causes confusion. it distracts me. i hate es and honors, and the titles of my other books. no matter how
reading the comments on the cover; it is to them that we owe essential it appears, the packaging seems rigged somehow. i
one of the most repugnant words in the english language: thought that the final cover was not there, but leafing through
blurb. Personally, i think it deplorable to place the words and the galley, i came across a reproduction of it on the first page, fol-
opinions of others on the book jacket. i want the first words lowed by the flap copy. it was all there, just slightly hidden. there
read by the reader of my book to be written by me. is no escape. For me, there are no more naked books. n
today the relationship between reader and book is far more
mediated, with a dozen people buzzing around. We are never Excerpted from the Clothing of Books by
alone together, the text and i. i miss the silence, the mystery of Jhumpa Lahiri (Hamish Hamilton; Rs 199; Pages 71)

13 february 2017 www.openthemagazine.com 83

 books

A Matter
of Genius
Scientist CNR Rao
always found a way
out of adversity
By CP Rajendran

A Life in science
CNR Rao

Penguin Random House

264 Pages | Rs 499

Saurabh Singh

H
erbert brown, a winner 1934, to nagesh rao and nagamma by another great scientist and nobel
of the nobel Prize and one in basavangudi in bangalore. Cnr laureate Linus Pauling, who also shaped
of the 20th-century giants in remembers the electrifying impact that Cnrs research life. Paulings book
Chemistry, taught Professor the visit of CV raman, the icon of Indian made Cnr curious about the structural
Cnr rao while he was a doctoral stu- science, had on him while he was still a peculiarities of molecules in matter.
dent at Purdue University. brown once student in basavangudi. He mentions He recounts how he made a third-class
said a grain of pollen becomes a tree and that the lecture by CV raman on Madam train journey to Hyderabad during his
a tree spreads into a forest, and a forest Curie inspired him to become a scientist. brief tenure in IIt Kharagpur to meet
into a continent. the new autobiogra- after graduating from Central College his idol Pauling. However, his desire was
phy, A Life in Science, by Professor Cnr in bangalore, Cnr secured the first rank quashed as the american government
rao, a recipient of the bharat ratna, is a in a Masters in Chemistry from the refused to let Pauling attend the Indian
perfect example of a man who created University of banaras in 1953. He credits Science Congress under the assumption
a continent from a grain of pollen. the his stay in banaras and the tutelage of that he was a communist.
book also offers a rare glimpse of how his teachers at the University for making at the University of Purdue, where he
science has blossomed in post-indepen- him a well-rounded researcher. the rar- was pursuing a doctorate, his colleagues
dent India. Cnr also throws insight on efied ambience of the city also developed in the Department of Chemistry were
the development and excellence of the in him a keen love for music. are there stalwarts like eugene Lieber, Herbert
institutions that he headed. He had a any links between scientific success and brown, and robert Livingston. He was
long stint as the chairman of the Science art? It is possible that imagination is cor- also finally able to meet his idol, Pauling.
advisory Council to the Prime Minister related with various creative activities by the time he earned his Doctorate
and has been instrumental in setting up outside science , and do the lives of many in Chemical Physics, in 1958, Cnr
many institutes, including the IISers. great scientists give credence to this had already authored several papers
Cnr was born as Chintamani nagesh proposal? In banaras, he chanced upon and established himself as a credible
ramachandra rao on the 30th of June, the book The Nature of The Chemical Bond research scientist. During his time at

84 13 february 2017
Purdue, Cnr discovered his interest and was inducted into the prestigious space research, while other areas of sci-
in Solid State Chemistry which would royal Society. at IISc, he laid the ground- ence are not getting equal importance. He
later become one of his primary areas work for a research department in Solid is critical of excessive bureaucracy in sci-
of research. after Purdue, he went on to State Chemistry. entific institutes. a word of advice from
do his post-doctoral research at Califor- him to practising scientists is not to get
nia University. Here, he worked with enamoured by administrative positions
Gn Luis, who is known as the father of
modern chemistry, and who had a tragic
death inhaling hydrogen cyanide in his
A LtHoUGH awarDS, fellow-
ships, and accolades from peers indi-
cate a scientists success, the true measure
but focus on their work. He believes that
even though the current scientific arena
is highly competitive, a good percentage
lab. although he never got a nobel Prize, is when their work is cited by future of scientists are averse to hard work. on
several of Luis students won the same. scientists. the works of CV raman, Saty- another note, the research area that a
In fact, Pauling has dedicated his book endra nath bose, and Meghnad Saha are scientist chooses dictates her/his success
on chemical bonds to Luis. Cnr recol- still revered because they have the quality to a large extent. If a scientist chooses a
lects the heated debates between Pauling that transcends the test of time. Cnrs popular area of research, all s/he can do is
and robert oppenheimer who spear- work is equally superior and thousands churn out some average publications as
headed the research on atomic bombs. of his papers have been cited repeatedly. opposed to creating a real impact.
Interestingly, however, when oppen- Cnr always stresses the importance of Cnr warns us about Indias inabil-
heimer was branded a communist by creativity (and of course imagination, ity to sustain the quality of its research
the american establishment, Pauling the god-like faculty that helps talented institutions. It is imperative that senior
was among the few who spoke in his men create things of lasting beauty) in scientists become role models for the
favour. Finally, in 1959, Cnr returned science rather than formal education. He younger generation. Students who have
to India with dreams of research in the often talks about the genius of those like been trained by him will vouch for his
chemistry of materials. Faraday and Michelangelo. the common influence as a mentor.
although Indian Institute of Science theme in all these great peoples work, Coming back to the words of Herbert
(IISc) offered him the post of a lecturer, including Cnrs, is not just talent alone, brown, about how a grain of pollen
it did not provide the basic necessities but relentless hard work. grows into a tree, a tree grows into a
needed for his research. Cnr also had Cnr remembers a time when forest, and a forest into a continent,
to bear the cynicism of his colleagues. Chemistry was synonymous with the scientific research starts from a single
but it is in the way he dealt with all these structure of asbestos, cement and steel. thought. Delving into this thought could
adversities that differentiates him from It was only when he went to Purdue lead to a discovery that transforms life.
others. Instead of complaining he chose that he discovered the intricacies and this happens only to a select few. nature
to excel intellectually by publishing his vastness of chemical bonds. In the 1950s is like an elusive lover. It takes a persever-
first book titled Ultraviolet and Visible there wasnt much study done on Solid ing mind and true grit to truly win her
Spectroscopy. there is a metaphorical State Chemistry. Its real growth only over. even in his golden age, Cnr has not
irony here that Cnr published his anal- started in the 60s. the peculiarities of lost his passion for nature and science.
ysis on light in order to break through the structural composition of matter are Somewhere in a corner of Jawaharlal ne-
the darkness that prevailed around him. currently being studied at the atomic hru Centre, the sanctuary of science that
Unlike an average scientist, who might and subatomic levels under the branch he created, one can still find him pursu-
sit back and assign blame to the system, called nanotechnology. (nano is one ing the endless horizon of excellence.
Cnr had a penchant to leap over the billionth of a metre.) nanotechnology A Life in Science is a grand exposition
shortcomings of the system. is a confluence of several branches of of the life of an extraordinary man who
In course of time, Cnrs name was scienceChemistry, Mathematics and developed an obsession with science
mentioned along with the contemporary biology. It plays a key role in ground- and how that passion helped him scale
stars of the scientific sphere like Satish breaking developments in electronics, the heights of glory. the book ends by
Dhawan, Vikram Sarabhai, Gn ramach- automobile, computer and energy paraphrasing an invocation from Ustad
andran, MGK Menon, raja ramanna industries as well as in the medical field. bismillah Khan, the virtuoso musician,
among others. with diligence and focus, equally important to note in this book Oh lord, keep me in the world of science, till
Cnr secured the next feather in his cap are his observations on Indian science the end. Ustad longed to live in the world
as an associate professor in the Chemis- and how it should be conducted. He of music forever. Passion seems to be the
try Department at IIt Kanpur in 1963. opines that the excessive importance common thread that runs through these
Cnr also proved his credentials in given to information technology, bank- worldsscience and music. n
the international sphere of scientific ing and management studies in India
research at oxford and Cambridge. In will be detrimental to other fields. the CP Rajendran is senior associate at Jawaharlal
1976, he moved back to IISc in bangalore Government is investing in atomic and Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research

13 february 2017 www.openthemagazine.com 85

 books

Kandy Cocktail
Ashok Ferrey turns a mocking eye to the foibles The Ceaseless ChaTTer
of Demons

and failings of high society in Sri Lanka Ashok Ferrey

Penguin
By Smriti Daniel 287 Pages | Rs 399

W
hen Mahinda toddlers birthday parties.
Rajapaksas astrologer The astrologers spectacularly unsuc- is trapped in a nightmare from which
advised the former Sri Lankan cessful gamble is too good a story to she hopes Sonny will rescue her.
President to call for elections two years resist, and Ferrey is clearly mining a rich Reliably, he only makes it all worse.
ahead of schedule, it turned out to be the vein here. Sri Lankas varied folkloric Rounding out this eccentric cast is
worst prediction of his career. Rajapaksa traditions are thick with superstition, the devil himself. But in Sri Lanka,
lost to Maithripala Sirisena in a dramatic demons waiting to be exorcised, and Lucifer is jostled by local demons,
election in 2015. his astrologer offered provide gorgeous visual spectacle. all quite miffed that he should spread
in his own defence this one line: even Sonny, when we meet him is already the stink of sulphur around their
nostradamus got things wrong. an adult, not beloved of his mother, but territory.
i recognise that hapless oracle early on his way to successfully wooing Luisa, in Ferreys interpretation, the
in the pages of ashok Ferreys new novel an american woman who he suspects is devil is an entertaining if somewhat
The Ceaseless Chatter of Demons. Our far too good for him. his mother Clarice, ineffectual being, a creature out of
protagonist Sonny Mahadewalas for- for reasons not always believable, is con- this time and certainly out of this place.
tune-telling grandfather suffers exactly vinced the boy is riddled with evil spirits. Fans will be divided on this one
such a catastrophe and is forced to go She puts him on a boat to Oxford, hope- i think that this book did not need a
into hiding. When he emerges, it is as a ful that his demons will be discouraged demon which Clarice repeatedly
broken man. his last years are dedicated from their possession by the water. The mistakes for a cape-wearing transgen-
to calculating the auspicious times for indomitable matriarch is as manipula- der australian, thereby insulting both
tive and callous as she soundsshe does transgender people and australians
courtesy ANISHA GOONERATNE
not want her son to come back home. simultaneously. (People who wear capes
For his part, Sonny drifts through are, of course, fair game.)
university, and eventually manages Ferreys usual stomping ground
to convince Luisa to marry him. They are is the Sri Lankan city of Colombo, but
both estranged from their pasts. Luisa Kandy is the perfect choice for this
from the wealth and ease she grew up book. The home of the Temple of the
with; Sonny from his life in Sacred Tooth Relic, the holy city is still
the Mahadewala Walauwa, the big where you go to find what remains of
house on the mountain that is his Sri Lankan royalty. it is a setting worthy
fiefdom. here Sonny is addressed as my of Ferreys social commentary, his
lord, yet is known to all as the bane of interest in turning a mocking eye on
his mothers existence. the foibles and failings of high society.
When Luisa and Sonny venture But Ferrey makes choices that have him
outside the cosy confines of their own skirting deeper waters, particularly in
marriage to meet each others families, the relationship between Clarice and
its a deeply uncomfortable, sometimes Sonny. The novel promises a meditation
hilarious process. Sonny is forced to on the complex nature of evil, but then
confront his mother, who at this point concludes little more than that evil is
has embarked on an ambitious exca- banal and ubiquitous.
vation project. Convinced there is an however, Ferreys talent, undeniably,
ancient treasure buried somewhere is for a novel that is the literary equiva-
under their home, she is digging up the lent of a great cocktail party. The
floors, room by room. Ceaseless Chatter of Demons is reliably
also waiting is the maid Sita. She and entertaining company, and easily one of
Ashok Ferrey
Sonny have always been close, and Sita Ferreys funniest offerings. n

86 13 february 2017
Missing the Mavericks
Portraits of historical and symbolic women heroines:
Powerful inDian women
of myTh & hisTory
that barely bring them to life Ira Mukhoty

By Sharanya Manivannan Aleph

211 Pages | Rs 499

a
ny WORK OF collected mini- tickmarks based on some beauty stan-
biographies is bound to have gaps, dard or another). draupadis lotus eyes
more names that deserved a place, and dark skin are fetishised; the latter body to her youthful one ends unequivo-
questions about who was chosen and is even suggested as a defence against cally: Such was my body once. now it
why. ira Mukhotys Heroines: Powerful In- contemporary fairness creams, losing is weary and tottering,/ The home of
dian Women in Myth and History features track of how the deeply complex drau- many ills, an old house with flaking
eight female historical and mythological padi is only admired, never emulated. plaster./ not otherwise is the word of
figures: draupadi, Radha, ambapali, The male gaze is given importance: Rani the truthful. Mukhoty insists however
Raziya Sultan, Meerabai, Jahanara, Lax- Laxmibais lawyer John Langs flatter- that the nun must have felt relief to no
mibai and hazrat Mahal. The gaps in this ing appraisal of her figure apparently longer barter beauty for favour. its an
highly conventional set of portraits of matters, as does Governor General Can- odd editorialisation, but keeps with the
famous women are larger than most. nings dismissal of her looks. Since little authors prudish analysis, hiding behind
notably, despite an attempt at is known of Raziya Sultans appearance, Buddhas biographers, of how a cour-
religious diversity (four hindus, three the author blatantly objectifies thus: she tesan like ambapali having a religious
Muslims, one Buddhist), Mukhotys was ethnically Turkish so it is likely that epiphany was proof that all people can
heroines are strictly north indian. They Raziya had the high cheekbones, wind- be saved even the worst of women.
largely belong to royalty, or enjoy royal blown complexion and almond eyes Mukhotys well-honed prose, with
patronage. it is unclear how the authors characteristic of people of the steppes. fine descriptions of locations, elevates
stated intent of challenging patriarchal Furthermore, that she was the only fe- the book from being more than a set
culture by propagating erased female male leader of the delhi Sultanate is true, of Wikipedia entries, but does little to
narratives is met, firstly, by choosing a set but Mukhotys assertion that she had no bring each character to life. a 30-page ap-
of protagonists on whom relatively ex- contemporaries elides the fact that she pendix of references and a bibliographi-
tensive material already exists, as does an ruled for just four years. The 12th century cal index indicate thorough research,
impact on the collective psyche. Whats saw other women in power worldwide: but demand the question: what does the
more, most of these heroines places in including south indias Rudramadevi of author have to add to these sources, and
history came from having been the con- the Kakatiya dynasty. While the authors indeed to our collective knowledge of
sort, daughter or widow of an influential research is clear, intellectual rigour is not. these historical and symbolic figures?
man. Only Meerabai and ambapali come The chapter on ambapali, the courte- Only at one point in Heroines does
close to being complete mavericks. san who became a Buddhist renunciate, something vaguely original seem to oc-
There is a vexing preoccupation in is enriched by verses from the Ther- cur. an expunged anecdote of Meerabai
this book with each womans physical igatha, an anthology of writing by nuns. is related, in which a charlatan posing
appearance (invariably, they all earn ambapalis song comparing her aged as a devotee says that Krishna has sent
SAuRAbH SINGH
him to her for a sexual liaison. The poet
agrees guilelessly and begins making a
bed on public display, for she feels that
if it is the will of her lord, the encounter
should be witnessed by all devotees.
This subversive apocrypha, more than
anything else, challenges patriarchal
culture todaywhich, like Mukhoty,
has put these eight individuals on pedes-
tals. More of this, more complexity and
less lustre could have turned even these
predictable portraits into something
befitting their inspiring protagonists. n

www.openthemagazine.com 87
 ART

The
Hyper-Realist
The meditative power of
V Ramesh is all over his canvas
By Ritika Kochhar

A
re you sitting on the edge of your couch or linseed oil and incense.
a seat? V ramesh asks me. i am, but the person on the walls are graced by three distinct kinds of art. there are
the other side of the phone is in Vishakhapatnam hyper-real, sensual watercolours of fruit, some surrounded by
and shouldnt know that. Call me whenever you lighter lines showing human viscera; sparse images of dogs
want, he continues affably. except between 1:30 and 2:30. sleeping peacefully at Maharishi ramanas Ashram; and three
thats my siesta time. i dont have my chair, so i cant paint right big oil-on-canvas paintings scribbled over with lines and co-
now. i just go and sit in my studio. lours that are based on stories from the ramayana. The Moment
rameshs favourite chair is in Delhi for an exhibition. its of Epiphany is based on the story of rama, Lakshman and Vish-
perched in front of an oil-on-canvas painting of him in the same wamitra meeting Ahilya; Savdhaan is about sitas kidnapping
chair; as is his dresser, mirror, calendar, marble-top table and by ravana; and The Genesis of an Epic is the tale in the Valmiki
a few books from his studio, including a book by salim Ali on ramayana about the origins of the epicwhere sage Valmiki
birds and John Bergers Bentos Sketchbook. on the opposite wall sees the male krounchi bird being killed by a hunter and frames
hangs a note detailing stories that his grandmother told him the first shloka.
as a child that influenced him all through his life. soft strains since it would be almost impossible to decipher these with-
of Ms subbulakshmi waft through the air, as does the smell of out a map, a small oleograph of the original image hangs next to

88 13 february 2017
 each. the images draw your gaze again and again. in rameshs
version, Ahilya towers over the young rama and Lakshman,
unlike the original image in which she is far smaller. in Savd-
haan, sita offers food to ravana before shes kidnapped. Her face
is obscured while the texture of her clothes is clear. in the top cor-
ner, Jatayu fights for sitas honour. And in The Genesis of an Epic,
the original figures of the two sages and the hunter are obscured
by the battle between ravana and rama. the only figures visible
in the centre of the painting are birdsone with an arrow pierc-
ing him. the scribbles and defacement give a sense of underly-
ing violence to the image and imbue it with a fresh meaning.
the hyper-real watercolours are similarly troubling. Pome-
granates that burst with blood, a bunch of bananas at the centre
of the ribcage, fecund plants with meaty thorns and a broken
banana plant branch called Fallen Warrior. their realism is so
perfect that someone at a show asked him if they were digital
prints. i should have poured a glass of water on them to prove
that they were real, he says with a laugh. its not the magic of
realism thats important.
its the ability to conjure
My work hints up an intensely emotional
at areas of landscape that moves you
deeply. Perhaps i use realism
faith and it has because of that, he adds. i
articulated notice that no one stands
these ideas in an close to these images of fruit
oblique Manner and viscera during the exhi-
bition opening. its almost
using both as if they are unconsciously
iMagery culled troubling.
froM Mythology And then there are the
dogs sleeping peacefully at
and voices froM ramana Ashram. ramesh
V Ramesh; Medieval poetry says that hed decided to do
(below) Body, Offering a series of 108 watercolours
a painting by him v raMesh
as a string of offerings to Ma-
harishi ramana. since the
series is called Devotees, they
open up another interesting line of conversation for the spiritu-
ally inclined. Whats the role of dogs in the eastern tradition?
someone asks. Problematic, it turns out. theyre a symbol of at-
tachment. And when the way to attain moksha is through non-
attachment, they are unexpected, to say the least, in a religious
painting. And yet, no one is at peace quite like a dog.
ramesh started mulling over these paintings in 2015 and
completed them in 2016, working on the oils and watercolours
simultaneously because it helped him stay intellectually and
mentally aware. the watercolours allowed him to show inner
spaces and areas that are smaller and more intimate. on the
other hand, the vast storyline of the ramayana; its percolation
and osmosis into todays society as well as its tales of underlying
violence moved him and made him commit to the story again.
An old book of raja ravi Varma oleographs which had 30-40
illustrations stoked his interest. of course, ravi Varmas women

www.openthemagazine.com 89
 ART

were equally troubling in their time, given their sexuality, and

both Ahilya and sita are a part of the Panchkanyawomen
who are viewed as ideal women and chaste wives while at the
same time being associated with more than one man, and break-
ing traditions. And sita, our heroine here, is shown as faceless
as ravana. i read this as an analogy that points to the situation
of women today and as an attempt to create a modern rama
rajyaa utopian nation.
sadanand Menon, the critic, once called ramesh a fabu-
list, and his paintings tapestry-like, with multiple layers
of submerged narratives, filled with deeply personal and
cultural memory; the visual equivalent of a time-lapsed call of
haunting voices across time. they definitely force the viewer dogs are a syMbol of attachMent.
to think and engage with them. Menon also called him one and when the way to attain Moksha
of many artists who seem to have fallen through the cracks of is through non-attachMent, they
modern indian art history. But today hes made up much of
the commercial distance between himself and his compatriots are unexpected, to say the least, in a
from Ms university, Vadodra where he studied. religious painting. and yet, no one
over the years, i realised this layering of images till one ar- is at peace quite like a dog
rives at the truth of the painting is a process that i enjoy. it has
percolated into my very mode of working as a painter, says
ramesh. its not only the layers of paint you have to penetrate,
but also layers of metaphors and historical references that are flux and through the layers of paint and images one has to
packed into a single canvas. they engage with abstractions like adopt strategies and improvise modes of expression, which i do
divinity and death; and spin parables culled from sages, mystics by borrowing from traditional narratives and using allegories.
and poets, while laughing at the impermanence of life. My work hints at areas of faith and it has articulated these ideas
remembrances of Voices Past (a solo show held in 2015) in an oblique manner using both imagery culled from mythol-
included works from the start of his career, in the early 90s, ogy and voices from medieval poetry, ramesh says.
when he brought his hyper realistic eye to the human body. How does his teaching interfere with or help his practice,
His theme then was, the matter-of-fact heroism of the survivor i ask the artist who has taught at the Department of Fine Arts,
who refuses to succumb to abjection or corruption, and who Andhra university, Visakhapatnam, for over 30 years. i was a
negotiates between vigorous activity and helplessness. By the reluctant teacher, but now it gives me as much satisfaction as
2000s, his emphasis had shifted to the role of memory, bhakti my creative work, he says. every time i have a show, they are
and allegory. His paintings contained large, cosmological and my first audience. they get excited. it takes them on a different
legendary figures that were often larger than the canvas, or tangent. they raise questions that i may have forgotten. you
even the landscape, and he gave coded references to the stories try to find the answers within you which may be relevant even
he was inviting the viewer to encounter. though they may not be easy, like What is the process that com-
But arguably, the most memorable of his works is Sanctum pels you to make a work? theyre often from underprivileged
Sanctorum: a Corner for Four Sisters, where he painted four bhakti families and come from small towns, but they have an intense
poets who were born centuries apart but whose lives were all desire to be artists. to be able to tell them stories and open their
equally tumultuous: Lal Ded from Kashmir, Karaikkal Am- minds is worth it. And they come back years later, telling me that
maiyar and Andal from tamil nadu and Akka Mahadevi from a story stayed with them and gave them an epiphany. true to
Karnataka. they all left home to wander as poet-saints and were his word, he tells me a story within a few minutes of meeting me.
equally reviled and revered for giving up their conventional its a mythological tale by a man called AK ramanujan. its such
roles in society. they were known for their insights into human an enjoyable tale, told with such enthusiasm, that i go home
existence, and their poetry was filled with passionate, intimate and order more of the great storytellers exquisite collections of
dialogues with their god. folktales and myths.
rameshs luminous text paintings of these poets were How does he know when a work is complete? i ruminate
genderless and intimate. He told their stories using text from on a work, sometimes for two years, before starting it, he says.
their poems and images that they were associated with; for And once im done, i cover it up and come back to it after a
example, he used a jasmine flower to represent Andal. it was week. if i feel happy, i know its done.
assumed that the viewer would know the myths and poems as
intimately as the painter. A solo show by V Ramesh is on at Gallery Threshold,
to be able to draw the viewer within, through this state of Delhi, till 10th March 2017

90 13 february 2017
 NOT PEOPLE
LIKE US

RAJEEV MASAND

Akshays Real-Life Antics he needs to repair, and confesses that when Karz flopped ear-
He plays a goofy lawyer in Lucknow desperate to make a ly on his career, he blamed his marriage and his wife Neetu
quick buck any which way he can, until his conscience Singh for his waning popularity with female fans.
points him towards the honest path in his latest film Jolly RK is currently on a book tour across India, and will stop
LLB2. Not a lot to draw on from his own life, evidently. Yet off in Hong Kong later to plug the autobiography further. Hes
Akshay Kumar insists there was at least one shade to the also been roped in by an events company to perform a live ver-
character that he could relate to. I play the sort of husband sion of it for paying audiences, which will involve him acting
who cooks for his wife, makes her a drink, and massages her out incidents and anecdotes in his trademark animated style.
feet at the end of a long day, he says of Jolly and the scenes in His comments on Amitabh Bachchan, a friend, col-
which he pampers his on-screen missus, played by Huma league, and now extended family member (Rishi Kapoors
Qureshi. He couldnt possibly mean he had practice from in- nephew Nikhil Nanda is married to ABs daughter Shweta),
dulging his own wife Twinkle. Thats exactly what I mean, made news, but RK isnt keen to stoke a controversy. He has
he says, laughing uproariously so you cant make out if hes written of his disappointment that Bachchan never acknowl-
serious or not. I do cook at home on and off, and I know my edged the contribution of his male co-stars to his success. But
way around the bar when we have guests over, he elabo- he wont discuss it. I said what I had to say in the
rates. Making it a point to clarify that hes still a teetotal- book. By talking about it again and again, the in-
ler, Akshay explains that his orange-based self-invented tention behind what I was trying to convey has
cocktail is all the rage with friends. been misconstrued.
Its his ridiculous sleeping habits that drive his fam-
ily nuts, he concedes. Famous for staying away from Patch-Up Pitfalls
late-night parties and after-dark socialising, Akshay Its such a shame that Bollywood cant be happy
says he hits the sack no later than 10 pm, and is up ev- for its own. The buzz in film circles is that a star
ery morning by 4 am for his workout. Thats the one wife has been making overtures to reunite with
thing I havent been able to get her to pick up her separated husband. But instead of cheer-
from me, he laments in jest, admitting ing for it, insiders are sniggering about her
that shes gotten used to his pottering motives. The lady in question, they say,
around the room when hes leaving for had a rethink about her grand plans in
a run while its still dark, and shes still life after she realised she had little stand-
tucked under the sheets. ing without her star husband. Didnt
help either that her relationship with an-
Out In the Open other actorwidely seen as the reason
Rishi Kapoor, veteran Bollywood for the marital riftdidnt pan out like
actor and now better known as she may have wanted it to, after he decid-
Ranbir Kapoors dad, is making ed to give his own marriage another go.
headlines for all the bold confes- Whatever the reasons, it looks like the
sions hes made in his memoir, star wife and her husband are trying to
aptly titled Khullam Khulla, af- work things out. Its a promising start.
ter one of his popular film songs. But apparently not for conspiracy theo-
The 65-year-old star admits to hav- rists who may have one marriage less to
ing paid money in the 70s to buy a gossip about. n
film award for his performance in
Bobby, he reveals he has a strained re- Rajeev Masand is entertainment editor and
lationship with his 34-year-old son that film critic at CNN-NEWS18

92 13 february 2017