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'What is really shoddy in this country is service'

I think the fiscal reforms have by and large been welcomed by the people. Any polls I've seen show that people prefer these fiscal reforms. I saw a poll about the BJP's Swadeshi policy and I think a majority of people polled were against restriction.

I think people want change. I think people support change by and large, except when some vested interests try and interrupt the change.

Coming back to your company, what do you think Godrej needs to do in order to be reckoned among the best business houses in the world? Do you think Indian companies are capable of being truly global?.

We've got to get leaner. We've got to adapt more to global ways of doing business. We need to look at markets not just in India but all over the world. We need to improve the quality of our products. We need to improve our interface with our consumers. We need to deliver a higher level of satisfaction to our consumer.

Indian companies are not only capable but I am absolutely sure if liberalisation continues in 20 years time there will be many Indian companies which will become multinationals. Many. Twenty, thirty years ago nobody could have guessed that Japanese and Korean companies will become multinational.

What prevents Indian companies from being successful globally? Is it a lack of attention to quality?

I think Indian companies are getting much more stringent, much more quality minded. They realise if they are not more quality conscious they will be out of the market. The structure is changing very rapidly. I remember when I was young Japanese goods were considered very shoddy and they were shoddy. Today Japanese products are the best in the world.

With liberalisation, with competition it automatically changes. When you restrict competition people can get away with shoddy products. When you do not restrict competition nobody can get away with shoddy products.

What is really shoddy in this country is service. Products are not that bad -- they need improvement too -- but service is terrible in this country.Whether you go to a bank or a telephone company. There are some private hotels and airlines where the service is good. You can see the difference between Indian Airlines and some private airline. You can see the difference in a government-run hotel and a private hotel.

I think, in 40 years of lack of competition we Indians do not have a service mindset. That is very important.

Where do you see Godrej in 2000? Have you worked out a strategy for the next century?

I think by 2000, we should be providing better products at lower cost and with better service. That is where I see Godrej. That is our mission. We don't work out a strategy, we look at it every day.

We use TQM, we use team solutions, we use Japanese methods like Kaizen where our teams are constantly looking at how to improve customer satisfaction. The customer may be internal or external. For a manufacturing department the customer is the marketing department. For the marketing department the customer is the dealer. For the dealer the customer is the consumer. So we look at that carefully and we hope to improve very considerably.

What new areas does Godrej plan to venture in?

Not very much really. I think we need to focus on our existing business.

Sometime last year the company indicated an entry into poultry, cash and carry warehouses, even the insurance business?

These projects are on paper. There are some new areas we are looking at, but things are not yet clear. We will study them as and when the government clears them. Like the insurance business is not yet open to private investors.

Adi Godrej continued ,