US/UK Travel Advisories Hurt Economies of India and West

[Guest guest]

Embassies On Backfoot Over Alarmist Travel Curbs On India

 

India Inc gets first hints that `biz as usual' demand is working

 

Rajeev Jayaswal & Rohit Bansal

 

New Delhi, June 13: On June 10, with many people complaining why he

has been silent beyond a "this-is-economic-sanctions" press release

last Sunday, CII director-general Tarun Das wrote out an identical,

somewhat unusual "advisory" to US envoy Robert Blackwill, British

high commissioner Rob Young, Japanese ambassador Hiroshi

Hirabayashi, and Caberra's man Penny Wensley.

That of "deep concern" to Indian industry was the fact that "recent

actions" against India were "taken to discourage business and other

travel". The letter extended "recent actions" to three other areas.

Beyond (US) travel advisories of May 31, which told people to try

and stay off India, which were then loyally followed by Anglo Saxon

allies Australia and the UK, and soon enough Japan, Mr Das

included "evacuation of people", "the slowdown in the issue of

visas", "and the denial of insurance cover" in his list of

objections. He then argued that the net effect of these four actions

isn't just hurting India, but "bilateral trade, business relations

and, thereby, economies of both our countries".

 

The sub-text? That alarmist is helping no one, indeed, the pain on

account of hasty action triggered by the US was a two-way street.

The argument? "India has emerged as a high growth economy in spite

of global recession and economic recession", and therefore "the

uncertainty about the situation—clearly evident in the flood of

written and verbal enquiries about the safety and security of doing

business with, and in, India" isn't such a smart idea.

 

Having said this, Mr Das requested an immediate reversal of

the "process", so that "business as usual should be the policy and

approach for all".

 

The first results are here. "Some envoys have responded," said CII

deputy director general Dilip Chenoy, though he won't name specific

missions. What he's willing to tell is that in these cases the visa

issue is being addressed right away. Also, there's clarity that

these embassies have "a strong programme for sustaining economic

relations with India".

 

So what next? "Our effort is on five planes," says Mr Chenoy, the

first being such "working together" with envoys to change their

concerns and messages. The second "plane" is to connect with

governments overseas and convey the position on the ground. A CEOs

mission comprising Arun Bharat Ram of SRF, Sudhir Deoras of Tata

International, YC Deveshwar of ITC, JJ Irani of Tata Sons, Prashant

Jhawar of Usha Beltron, Arun Maira of Boston Consulting, BVR Mohan

Reddy of Infotech Enterprises, Vijay Thadani of NIIT and Mr Das is

doing that in the US. This, together with enlisting support of

business associations overseas; multinational corporations based in

India; and insurance companies, is India Inc's strategy.