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Neeraj Saxena
The government is yet to implement the recommendations made in a study on exports undertaken by ICICI, its chairman N Vaghul said here on Wednesday.Speaking on `Quality in Governance', Vaghul pointed out that what the Indian companies lacked was a comprehensive quality perspective. ``Quality and price alone will not be able to push India in the time to come. These will only be the pre-qualifying criteria. The key drivers will be speed, reliability and service,'' said Vaghul, drawing an analogy from exports.
Quality is defined by action and not an unending study of theory and principles of quality as espoused in symposia, according to him. Indian companies will have to realise that price competitiveness is only the stepping stone to customer acceptance, he added.
The ICICI study had pointed out that while Indian exporters took between 180 to 240 days in delivery, the Chinese took about 120 days. This was in spite of the fact that manufacturing in India took 60 days against 90 days in the Chinese context.
But Indian exports were delayed due to factors like negotiations, arranging finance from banks and going through the customs. ``So it is the quality of service and delivery which can provide the cutting edge for Indian exports and the rest of the Indian industry,'' added Vaghul.
Giving his prescription for building a quality India, ICICI chairman came down heavily upon the corrupt practices deep rooted in various functions and departments of the government.
Praising Andhra chief minister Chandrababu Naidu for his steps on E-governance, he said, ``What matters is that you make a beginning somewhere, and he has been able to do it in places like registry office, considered to be the most corrupt in this country.''
``The way we run our organisations and offices will prove to be a litmus test for a qualitatively superior India. My advice is don't confuse the roadmap with the destination, just get on it,'' he added.
The only way to fight corruption is to have total quality people who focus more on self-improvement and individual introspection. ``Some account of sacrifice and foregoing is very necessary if you do not want to succumb to corruption. reform yourself and the organisation will get reformed automatically,'' prescribed ICICI chief and exhorted CEOs to ``stop reading the menu card and start ordering the food.''
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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