The idea of freedom

He has just spent a quiet Independence Day at home with Amartya Sen's The Idea of Justice thanks to the swine flu panic which put the spanner on his plans to speak at a school. Adi Godrej, chairman, Godrej Group, takes us through 67 years of freedom in terms of business.



August 15, 1947

I was small then (five years old); I remember Gandhiji's speeches on the radio the great excitement of throwing off the British yoke.

Heritage

I was proud of my family. My grand-uncle Ardeshir Godrej's desire to start an enterprise based on swadeshi, to be independent of the British has inspired me a lot. My grandfather Pirojsha Godrej conducted his businesses in a difficult environment because in those days, the British were not keen to support Indian businesses. They expected goods to be imported from Britain, and finished products and raw material to be exported to Britain.

Winds of change

Indian companies did come into their own after Independence. But there was not much emphasis on brands because there was a limited policy on any durables. Everything was in short supply, manufacture was restricted because of industrial licensing, and the socialist policies. Companies weren't allowed to grow under what they called The Monopoly Act.

Education, social development, inclusiveness, gender equality, caste equality should have been paid much more attention. Sure, we managed to establish a few good educational institutions but it wasn't until 1991 when we opened up the economy that we began progressing.

'There is no recession'

I'm extremely happy with the business scene in India today. There is no recession; recession is negative growth. True, there's a slowdown but we're one of the fastest growing economies in the world.