Recently I had been to the Society of Automotive Engineer’s International Conference at Detroit USA. This was a congregation of all leading international auto OEM manufacturers including GM, Ford, BMW, Honda, Toyota so on and auto component manufacturers. One of the key discussion point in all the sessions was Tata Nano and how Tata has redefined the rule of automotive manufacturing focusing on small and fuel efficient car.
Pricing a car at 2500 USD, in fact has shaken up the entire automotive world. It’s not just a challenge for Tata alone, it is a challenge for the entire India Inc to show the world maturity of an Indian company in managing its supply chain, managing technology and quality processes and thereby bringing out a vehicle at a price as low as 2500 $ and passing on the maximum benefit to the consumers. This is against the prevailing marketing driven unnecessary frills rich today’s automobiles where consumers pay an increasingly high component of the price towards the brand and frills of the car. The marketing hype of the international brands also unduly influences consumers in India and other such developing countries to fall prey to the marketing campaigns paying an unnecessarily high amount with very low value for money.
Global auto manufacturers are facing challenge today. They have a legacy system with high cost structure. To build a small fuel efficient vehicle that can be real competition to Tata Nano the global auto manufacturers need to rework their entire system.
I can clearly see Tata’s Nano to be a major threat to these international auto makers. The successful emergence of Nano from Tata’s stable will be equivalent to 50 gold medals that china won in 2008 Olympics. Like the way China has established their superiority over other nations in the globe through 2008 Beijing Olympics, it is now time for India to win over other global nations to establish its superiority in design and execution through rolling out this small sized fuel efficient Nano car which will set a whole new trend and open up doors for more such products.
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Singur is not only discussed in Bengal and India today, but the entire world is eagerly looking towards whether Nano will be rolled out by October. Tata’s Rolling out of Nano will redefine the global automotive industry. I’m very sure Tata’s Nano will force global automotive manufacturers to shift their manufacturing base of small vehicles to India or Indian subcontinent. From cost and supply chain point of view, this will only go to strengthen India’s economy.
What if Tata fails to roll out Nano? the opposition leader Mamata Banerjee may gain politically but the image of Bengal as industrially resurgent state will get a beating forever because not only in India but internationally Singur will become a black spot in Bengal’s industrial drive. I am so surprised that in the recent agitation by Mamata Banerjee in Singur against the acquisition of farming land to build the factory has been supported by other leaders from different social and political milieu such as Mr. Amar Singh and Ms Medha Patkar to name a few. I am curious to explore if the international automotive giants are also behind this so called farmer friendly agitation against the West Bengal government and Mamata Banerjee is falling a prey to this international conspiracy, though I have great regards for this leader for her great honesty and integrity.
It is time that the ruling left front realizes the muscle flexing politics and trying to build consensus through coercive measures cannot be taken far. In the case of Singur, instead of using wisdom and dialogue, these politicians resorted to cadre power. They are proved wrong as they cannot suppress the feelings of unorganized and displaced farmers which is the root cause of the problem. There are lands close to the Tata factory acquired by promoters in anticipation of price rise. Will the left front government flex its muscle again to acquire land from these promoters and exchange the same with the displaced farmers who are now demanding their land back?
Historically we have seen those in power always resort to violence against those who are weak but those days are over now. Thanks to Indian democracy. We have strong political parties in opposition and rightly or wrongly actions can no longer be taken unilaterally. This ensures better governance and answerability to public at large. Days of Stalinism are over. All said and done Mamta Banerjee should also come forward and help resolving the issue through dialogue. If Singur loses Tata Nano, history will never forgive us and the winner would be again the large automotive players whose only aim is to scuttle Tata Nano projects. Let us not sacrifice our technical and entrepreneurial sovereignity to global capitalists.
Whether India can match china’s 50 Olympic gold medals will be determined by whether or not Tata can roll out its Nano from Singur factory.
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