Welcoming Lakshmi on Deepawali: The Bharatiya way

Bharatiya approach to economics has always remained unique since the ancient periods. Based on her long experience and spiritual orientation towards life, the Bharatiya approach towards economics and business has been different from that of the other countries. Though making money was necessary for business, ethical principles and value systems guided all the activities.

Evidence shows that Bharat remained the most prosperous region since the earliest periods. Recent studies by Angus Maddison reveal that Bharat was the most powerful economy during the last two millennia until the British started destroying our native systems. The sages and saints of our country have been emphasising higher values, and the scriptures and texts exhorted people to follow them in their day to day activities, including business.

Means of Wealth

The noted sage from South Bharat Thiruvalluvar allotted one full chapter entitled ‘means of wealth’ in his book Thirukkural to advise people as to how the higher ideals should guide them while creating wealth. He cautioned people to avoid earning wealth through wrongful methods and underlined that wealth should be earned through ethical means. Arthashashtra prescribed rules for fair practices in business. Business organisations and associations evolved their codes of conduct. In the earlier days, there was a type of business organisation called sreni, similar to the modern-day corporations. They had srenidharma to guide and regulate their activities.

The foreign merchants preferred to do business with the Bharat for their good character and helpful nature. In the context of western Bharat, it was noted: “The character and conduct of traders in western Bharat generally receive high acclaim from foreign travelers. Al Idrisi tells us that a large number of Muslim merchants visited Nathdwara (Anahilavada) because the people of the town were ‘noteworthy for the excellence of their justice, for keeping up their contracts, and for the beauty of their character’, and adds that the people of the region practised truth and abhorred falsehood. Marco Polo bestows more generous praise on the merchants of Lata yet. He says, ‘You must know that these Abraiaman are the best merchants in the world, and the most truthful, for they would not lie for anything on earth’…These observations of the foreign travelers may reflect the general ethos of the mercantile community in western Bharat.”

Ethics and Business

The businessmen were advised to follow ethical principles not only in earning money but also in using them. There was a moral compulsion to distribute wealth for good purposes and share it with the less privileged. It is unfortunate that the social and administrative systems that were in place were seriously disturbed by the Britishers during their period of domination.

“Our Lakshmi is not the Goddess of the cash balance in the bank; she is the symbol of that ideal plentitude which is never dissociated from goodness and beauty.” -Rabindranath Tagore 

In the modern context, business is competitive, and hence people in business must eliminate competition. But the Bharatiya reality is different. In all the business and industrial centres, entrepreneurs take pride in nurturing and developing more and more new entrepreneurs. Successful entrepreneurs encourage their relatives, friends and even employees to become entrepreneurs. In many cases, the employees request their employers to keep their weekly/monthly salaries with them so that after a few years when they promote their units, they would get a lump sum amount. Besides the ex-employees commence their businesses through the first transaction with their erstwhile owners and both of them are proud of it.

 It is the situation from Surat in Gujarat to Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu. As a result, entrepreneurship has been growing in Bharat over the years through networks of relationships and the higher idea of helping acquaintances to emerge as businessmen in their lives. This attitude cuts across the narrow caste and other boundaries that define the popular public discourse of the post-independent Bharat. Sankagiri in Tamil Nadu is the largest lorry transport centre in Bharat. A scheduled caste person was working with a majority community lorry owner as a loyal driver. After a few years, the owner bought him a lorry as a reward and made him an employee. Besides, there are many persons from diverse backgrounds engaged in businesses as owners without any difficulties. In places like the top knitwear export centre Tirupur, the businessmen come from many states of our country.

Money Sharing

Money is the most difficult commodity to part with many people. But in Bharat, sharing money for someone promoting and doing business is very common. Studies reveal that the entrepreneurs in the business and industrial centres mobilise a major share of funds through their relatives, friends and acquaintances only. A study among the Rajkot entrepreneurs showed that many of them mobilised their initial capital through their village connections. Thus villages contribute funds to their boys to become entrepreneurs without any personal expectations.

World Development Report 2001, published by World Bank notes that the community practice of helping their people in times of need has helped exporters in Tirupur to compete and emerge successfully in the international markets, as they get funds at cheaper costs and not at the market rates as in the case of other countries. London Business School had estimated earlier that Bharat has more than 85 million entrepreneurs, perhaps the largest number in the world. One of the major reasons for this is the higher idea of helping others that prevail in our society.

The value systems find demonstrations at different levels in economic and business activities. There is a company called HabasitIakoka in Coimbatore, engaged in textile belts manufacturing. It has a unique system of encouraging family values. Apart from its annual family day, it encourages its employees who live with their parents and parents-in-laws with higher monthly salaries. For those who live with their parents, a higher salary compared to others is given. For those lady employees who live with their parents-in-law, a still higher salary is given.

Business units operated by communities respond and rectify their mistakes when the public point out to them in the larger interests of the society, without bothering about their revenues. There is a cinema theatre in Paalamedu near Madurai in Tamil Nadu, owned by a community. At one point in time, there was a movie in which there were obscene scenes. When the viewers pointed it out, the community immediately removed the movie from the screens and appointed a committee to preview movies and approve only decent ones after that.

The higher value of helping the ordinary and the underprivileged sections remains the major objective of the corporate sector. In the western world, the medical facilities are very costly that it is not possible for many to get treatment easily. But in Bharat, many hospitals are conducting their operations with a service motive even while running their hospitals successfully. Arvind Hospitals is one of the best eye hospitals in the country applauded by the top foreign universities such as Harvard University for its efficiency. It uses the most modern equipment available in the world and provides services at a very cheap cost compared to the international standards. Cataract surgery in the hospital costs only $ 50 compared to $3000-$ 3500 in the United States. Besides, it provides free services to 60 per cent its patients free of cost and only 40 per cent pay.

Hence, even the modern Bharatiya corporate sector has its roots in the traditional Bharatiya values. The corporate system in Bharat is increasingly being recognised and appreciated by the west and the rest of the world in recent years for its ‘Indian-ness’. A team of professors from the United States under Peter Cappelli of the Wharton Business School interviewed the senior executives of about hundred largest Bharat based companies to find out how they drove their organisations towards higher performance. While presenting the reason for the superiority of the Bharatiya approach, they note: “The Bharatiya leadership approach arose from the unique circumstances of the Bharatiya economy and society.” Studies at different levels across the country show that a higher set of values prevail in the Bharatiya economic and business systems even today. The emergence of Bharatiya economy as a global power during the recent years has been fuelled and facilitated by the value systems prevalent in the society.