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A swadeshi government mela!

Amberish K Diwanji in Delhi

It was supposed to be the exhibition to beat all exhibitions, a fair to showcase the best of India in terms of products, brands, technology, the works and the razzmatazz. When first conceived, the organisers went overboard in promising the participation of the biggest names in consumer goods, durables, industry, you name it.

The Swadeshi Mela is being organised by the Centre for Bharatiya Marketing Development, a wing of the Swadeshi Jagran Manch that strongly believes and lobbies against foreign investment in India and fights for economic nationalism. The SJM is also linked to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party; the head of the CBMD is a Bharatiya Janata Party member of Parliament Rita Verma.

The Mela began on January 25 and will continue up to January 30. In sheer size, the Mela is no doubt impressive. It is being held at New Delhi's sprawling Pragati Maidan, home to the city's major exhibitions. Huge banners, in bright orange and yellow, announce the exhibition. Out of Maidan's 12 halls, the Mela is being held in five. And there are a few visitors.

As one saunters into the venue, one begins to discern certain things. First, given the size of the fair and the hype that surrounded it, there are not enough buyers to help the various stalls to recover their exhibition costs. However, January 26, a public holiday, did see huge crowds, but the next day was again low key.

Second, unlike most other exhibitions, entry to the Mela is free. The result is that freebooters amble and jaywalk on the premises as buyers are conspicuous by their absence.

A Coir Board stall worker said he had hardly sold five to six mats over the past three days. At most other fairs, the sales are much more. V N Sharma, selling kitchen items, too lamented the low sales.

Yet, the greatest reason to doubt the Mela's success is the absence or the namesake presence of the big-timers of the Indian industry -- the Tatas, the Birlas, the Ambanis, the Thapars, the others.

The Tatas and the Birlas (the two oldest and grandest names) are absent. The latest great symbol of swadeshi, the small car Indica from TELCO -- conceived, designed, built and tested wholly in India -- will be visible outside Pragati Maidan, not inside.

The third big name, Reliance Industries, is present, but in a very small way. First, they have not put up their stall with the other private corporate giants of India but have a small stall in the Gujarat hall, located some distance away from the primary hall.

A Gujarat hall? Believe it or not, the government of Gujarat (not surprisingly run by a BJP government) is a major participant in the Mela, having taken over an entire hall. Hence, mighty Reliance shares space with 93 other participants like Gujarat State Handloom Weavers Corporation and Gautam Handicrafts.

There are some big names from India's second most industrialised state such as Jet Airways, Hotel Intercontinental (like Reliance, is that limited to Gujarat alone?) and some well-known national and state companies such as Gujarat State Fertiliser Company. Yet the message is that Reliance has clearly played down their presence.

The Swadeshi Mela can be better described as a 'Government Mela'. The organisers claim there are 500 participants, though names of only 370 have been supplied. At least 80 per cent of the participants are government units, institutions, departments, companies, et al.

It is not just the public sector units that have a presence but a slew of companies whose presence is, at the very least, questionable. For instance, what is the Bhakra Dam and the Tehri Dam Project selling at the Mela? And what on earth is the ministry of sports doing at a supposedly corporate show?

In response, the organiser hummed and hawed, fumbled and fidgeted. "It is not just a Mela of companies but of all Indian units," stated Rita Verma, MP, president of the CBMD, enlightening those present. "Some companies work in the infrastructure sector, which is very important, so we wanted them present," claimed Anil Gachke, a top SJM official.

Rows and rows of the Mela show, and one only sees the names of government units, right from those that produce or supply papad, pickles, handlooms, handicrafts, power, dams, finance, kitchen ware, toys, sarees, ayurvedic medicines, machinery, tools, foundry, dies, casts, hotel rooms, soaps, oil, civil aviation (the ministry has a stall!). There is no synergy, no commonality of interests except that they are Indian, and mostly belonging to the government.

Incidentally, the major sponsors are the government-run and controlled Khadi and Village Industries Corporation and the National Small Industries Limited. The former looks after village and cottage industries, the latter after the small-scale industries. Together with the government units, they occupy 80 per cent of the total area. And they are popular with buyers seeking to pick up bargain deals for coir mats, handicrafts, handlooms, cheap leather shoes, etc.

The biggest presence of the private sector is that of Videocon, BPL, Bajaj Auto and TVS. The first two are among India's best white goods companies, the latter two are two-wheeler giants. And all the four have foreign participation in their products. For instance, Videocon, leaders in washing machines, are marketing Kenwood hi-fi systems. Hardly swadeshi!

And yes, Videocon and BPL have clearly survived the invasion of foreign brands in India. In the bargain, they have improved their quality, marketing, brand (BPL released a series of ads last year with the Big B as the star), and after sales service. Moreover, with lower labour costs and high technology, both Videocon and BPL have lower costs and have managed to outsell most foreign rivals. Their closet rival, Akai, currently number 3 in the television market, pushed up its sales with amazing low prices and by offering ''exchange an old TV for a new one'' schemes. The greatest gainer certainly has been the consumer.

Kulkarni, a shy young women in her late 20s, who refused to give her first name, hailing from Pune and now in Delhi thanks to her husband's job posting. She was looking at the various items on display, accompanied by her husband and five-year-old son. "When I buy a product, I never see whether it is Indian or foreign. I only look at the quality, then cost, attractiveness, and at the after sales service. I often buy foreign products only because I know that their quality is better, but if I am sure about Indian quality, then I will buy the Indian products. Swadeshi doesn't mean anything," she declared.

Her husband added, "Our biggest grouse against Indian products is that after sales service is very poor, unlike many foreign brands."

A few metres away, Rajalakshmi and her friend, Deepti, both in their early 20s, too were looking for a bargain deal (most of the stalls were offering huge discounts). These girls too agreed with Kulkarni, though with a slight difference. "Certainly when we buy a product, we first see quality, then the cost besides things like whether it will last long, and after sales service. However, if all things are equal, we prefer Indian products only because it is easier to get spares and have them repaired should something go wrong," said Rajalakshmi.

"Today, Indian products are as good as foreign, so it doesn't matter which one you buy. I like to buy Indian goods though, it is nice to see our name up there but only if everything else is fine," added Deepti.

Rajalakshmi and Deepti, like the Kulkarnis, have trooped in to buy some things for the house, not for any ideological reasons.

The CBMD has defined an Indian product in a straight-forward manner: only those products where the Indian company's equity is 51 per cent qualify. Thus, even Maruti, which controls 80 per cent of India's automobile market, is not "swadeshi" since 50 per cent is owned by Suzuki.

In one section of the exhibition hall, a video show is on. The ensuing movie commentator narrates how India has been invaded by the likes of Ghazni, Ghori, Genghiz Khan and Taimurlane, going to say that a small trading firm, namely the East India Company, went on to become imperial masters. Today, warns the narrator, hundreds of such East India Companies are present in India. These are, and hold your breath, Colgate toothpaste, Lux soap, Dettol lotion… The narrator concludes: The WTO and western countries have hatched a plot to take over India, and their agents are the foreign brands flooding India. The message: buy Indian goods.

In case you missed the subtle message, at the entrance was the typical Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh insignia: a huge portrait of the subcontinent in the background, a Goddess in the foreground holding a bhagwa (saffron flag) emblazoned with an 'Om' sign in her hand, and the names of various companies that have foreign partners mentioned all over the painting. Below is the message in Hindi exhorting people to save the Motherland by boycotting foreign goods.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who inaugurated the Swadeshi Mela on January 25, had declared then that there was no reason to fear foreign investment. "The East India Company took over India because we were not united. Today, no one can rule us." The SJM publication Swadeshi Patrika had a headline that screamed (in Hindi): ''No mother has a son who can take over India''.

Readers in India in the late 20s and early 30s might recall that in the 1970s, the government constantly flashed the message: ''Be Indian, Buy Indian.'' This was in the days when smuggling was the chief concern of the underground, with Indians seeking to buy anything with a 'phoren' tag. The reason then, as now, was superior quality. For the SJM, the bad news is that the craze for quality foreign items remains. The good news, however, is that many Indian firms are as good, often better. That will ensure buyers for goods swadeshi rather than fairs propped by a sympathetic government's various units and departments.

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