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The Rediff Business Special/B K Karanjia

Love affair with France

Part 3: Espousing the cause of Indian products

At a symposium held in Bangalore in 1985, he pleaded for closer co-operation between the two countries in various matters. The French machine-tool industry was about three and a half times bigger than its Indian counterpart. French industry had earned fame for continuously evolving technology in the field of special purpose equipment for nuclear energy, aircraft and automobile industries and railways.

As for the status of the industry in India, in 1984 it registered a production of $ 200 million worth of metal-cutting and metal-forming machine tools. In spite, however, of its high standing in world markets, France ranked as low as seventh in import of machine tools by India. What was therefore needed was a proper nurturing of the Indian market.

At the Bangalore seminar, Sohrab recalled the Prime Minister's words that India's emphasis was now on higher technology, better management and quality excellence. He stressed that language barriers could easily be surmounted and that it was up to French trading agencies to ensure a proper evaluation in India of French products and technology. What was needed was a positive approach and a strategy of co-operation.

To the French participants in the seminar, he appealed: 'India is on the move and if you will give her your hand at this moment it will be most appreciated and you will earn a lot of goodwill for your industry. Educational and useful information about new developments in the French machine-tool industry is something I would like to stress to enable the users of your products to understand and profitably produce parts, components, at attractive prices in our country. During your present visit special effort should be made to find partners and collaborators with a view to produce in India some of your machine tools under licence.'

True, France was ten years too late. Still a start could be made to take advantage of the sincerity and goodwill of IFTA members towards France. During 1984, the Indian government approved of 752 products for foreign collaboration, followed in the first half of 1985 by 440 more products. Out of these, 258 products involved participation by foreign companies. His recommendation was that French machine-tool manufacturers should work out some kind of a joint arrangement in the area of research and development in machine tools.

This was quite a practical proposition and could prove to be of mutual benefit if a part of the programme was devoted to designing in India and the rest was done in France. The climate in India was inviting. The royalty rates and down-payment currently offered by Indian industry were fairly attractive. French collaborations were looked forward to, particularly as France had stressed the importance of culture through the ages and had evolved a unique way of life which included interest in different cultures.

Selling Godrej products abroad was a far cry from making Godrej internationally known. Exports were, for a number of years, handled by the sales department under Rustom Sanjana. It was only after a separate export department was established , and brother-in-law, K N Naoroji (who was till then working in Imperial Chemical Industries), took charge in 1967, that the export drive gathered a certain momentum. No doubt greater attention to exports and devaluation of the rupee also helped.

Almost all Godrej products, particularly steel furniture, security equipment and machine tools became globe-trotters, earning valuable foreign exchange from Russia, East Africa, the Middle East and the Gulf countries. Even so they made a poor showing. Naoroji believes that with quality considerably improved and prices made more competitive, the performance would improve in the years to come.

Part 5: Sohrab's life: a marathon race against time

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