Bajaj was speaking at the inaugural session of the Quality Summit which alsoannounced the winners of the CII-EXIM Award for Business Excellence. Said amarkedly mellowed Bajaj: ``The question whether India will have a trulynational industry is not relevant. What is important for India is to emergeas a major economic force in the new millennium.''

``Quality and customer satisfaction,'' he said, ``are among the key issueswhich can make it happen. ``Building a `Quality India' into the newmillennium is the call of the hour. What the international rules dictate isnot valid. What is important now is whether Indian companies can compete inthe new global setup, to create an environment which is conducive to growthand which allows efficient quality-conscious companies to excel,'' saidBajaj.

Stressing that economic development will hinge on quality, Bajaj highlightedsix points necessary for global success. These are: development of small andmedium entities in the industry; cost cutting; efficient use of energy andmanpower; technological initiatives with R&D; significant emphasis on HRD;and, enhanced quality and corporate governance.

``We, at CII, are trying to do our best, modestly. I expect that soon Indiawill start growing at a GDP growth of 8 per cent per annum,'' said Bajaj. Hecalled upon the industry to adopt these factors to increase globalcompetitiveness in terms of a high quality of leadership, management andgovernment. ``People who do not accept this will drift, and those who acceptthe challenge will tide over difficulties to excel. We all want India tostand proud. To make this dream come true, we need to take the qualityissues seriously,'' Bajaj summed up.

In his inaugural address, member (Planning Commission) Montek SinghAhluwalia expressed concern on whether India was really globallycompetitive. ``We could have had a better degree of penetration of theglobal export market. But we have still to achieve more. China's toy market,for instance, is 120 times more globally penetrated than the India market,''he said. A high degree of competitive environment, Ahluwalia said, is neededto enhance product development. Talking about the reduction in the tariffregime, he called upon the industry for support as ``it was important forIndia to be globally competitive.''

Finally, the inaugural session also saw four companies win certificates ofcommendation, on the CII-EXIM Award for Business Excellence. These were:Hindalco, Nuclear Power Corporation, TI Diamond Chain and Tata Liebert.