Page 74 - EducationWorld June 2020

Postscript

National hero jected into the economy by the BJP/NDA government is
Rs.2 lakh crore — equivalent to a mere 1 percent of GDP.
During the course of Sitharaman’s several post-
N THE UNITED STATES, BILL GATES, WARREN presentation media briefings, the minister repeatedly
Buffet, Sam Walton, the late Steve Jobs and even Ray emphasised that the thrust of the stimulus package was
IKroc (founder of McDonalds) are national heroes. to urgently release collateral-free working capital credit
They are appreciated for inventing and innovating excel- to MSMEs (micro, small, medium enterprises) with good
lent products and services for the public and generating track records suffering temporary cash flow problems.
well-paid employment for millions of Americans, and To test the impact of this policy statement, your editor
paying billions of dollars to the government as taxes parlayed with the branch manager of Indian Overseas
utilised for public good. But in India, i.e, Bharat, Mukesh Bank with whom this publication has been banking for
Ambani who has grown the revenue of Reliance Indus- over 20 years, for a stand-by credit facility — just in case.
tries Ltd (RIL), the extraordinary corporation established Unsurprisingly, the branch manager whipped out
by his sire Dhirubhai in the 1960s, from Rs.65,000 crore a 37-point ‘check list’ of documents and data required
in 2004 to Rs.6.59 lakh crore in 2019-20, is never ac- by the bank to entertain the proposal. Apart from the
knowledged a national hero. Despite RIL having provided standard memorandum and articles of association, three
well-paid jobs to 255,000 employees and generating the years’ balance sheets and tax returns, directors’ details
equivalent of 5 percent of GDP by way of direct and indi- and IT returns, the check list demanded a guarantor’s
rect taxes to the Central and state governments, there’s statement, RBI defaulters list, copy of search report at
no shortage of wiseacres in the academy and media who ROC, industrial scenario and SWOT analysis. But surely
at best damn this business magnate with faint praise. Ac- given our 20-year association and debt-free balance
cording to them, Ambani has gamed the country’s licence- sheets, these requirements could be waived? Moreover,
permit-quota (LPQ) system to enrich RIL and himself. given our excellent track record of availing credit against
Yet the plain truth is that the LPQ regime itself is anti- our own deposits/savings, an emergency stand-by
national and against the public interest. It’s quite possible credit facility could be made available? On the contrary,
that with his proven skills of resource mobilisation and the package provides for additional credit to existing
management, but for LPQ raj pervasive even in post- debtors, he countered. EW’s debt-free record disqualifies
liberalisation India, Ambani would have been the richest it from stimulus package benefits.
man in the world, instead of India. Evidently, he is highly Forty years ago as founding-editor of India’s first
respected by hard-headed businessmen the world over. business magazine (Business India), your correspon-
During the past seven weeks, despite highly unfavourable dent warned that risk-averse government clerks can
market conditions, blue-chip foreign corporates including never transform into bankers. Between proclamation
Facebook, have invested $1.3 billion (Rs.98,000 crore) and practice, a long shadow continues to fall.
in Reliance Jio, a subsidiary of RIL engaged in the digital
tech and telecom services industry. In addition Reliance
Jio mopped an additional Rs.53,000 crore from Indian Below salt place
investors this month through a rights issue.
There’s a moral in the story of the rise and rise of S NOTED EDITORIALLY (p.10), THE UNION
Mukesh Ambani and RIL. According to a calculation government’s underwhelming stimulus package
of your correspondent, if post-independence India had Ato kickstart the economy battered by the Co-
not taken the socialist road to national bankruptcy and vid-19 induced national lockdown also offered a silver
allowed the country’s well-established private sector lining. While rolling out minute details of the package
tycoons — Birla, Tata, Walchand Hirachand, Sarabhai over five days (May 13-17), in an obiter dicta finance
and Shri Ram among others — to grow their businesses, minister Nirmala Sitharaman also provided relief to
today India’s annual GDP would have been $18 trillion, thousands of citizens suffering pangs of conscience for
just below the $21 trillion of the US and larger than being numbered among the top 1-2 percent of salary/
China’s $14 trillion. Against this, 21st century India’s income earners countrywide.
GDP is a pathetic $3 trillion. Moral of the story? Learn In one of these stimulus package rollouts on national
to admire India’s native spirit of free enterprise and television, she classified all individuals earning “only”
entrepreneurship instead of trashing it. Rs.18 lakh per year as lower middle class, indeed the
“lowest rung” of the middle class. “For the lowest rung
Proclamation & practice of the middle class earning Rs.6-18 lakh annual income,
the government will extend the CLSS (credit linked
subsidy scheme) for affordable loans till March 2021,”
HE ALLEGEDLY RS.20 LAKH CRORE — equiva- she said, unveiling the second tranche of the stimulus
lent to 10 percent of GDP — stimulus package package. CLSS is a housing loans interest subvention
Tannounced on national television and radio and programme of the Union government.
presented to the nation by the Union finance minister This classification came as great relief to your editor,
Nirmala Sitharaman in tranches over five days, not only who although falling squarely within the lowest rung
plunged the Sensex by over 1,000 points but also con- often had to endure club class lifestyle jibes from the
fused if not dumfounded the public. For a start, the best comrades community. Now having been shown my
estimate of over a dozen rating agencies, brokerages and place well below the salt, I can go about my business
fund managers is that the actual additional amount in- untroubled by pangs of conscience.

74 EDUCATIONWORLD JUNE 2020