If one does not balance the other ultimately, the effects on the country would be reminiscent of colonial exploitation; of India's surpluses flowing out to the rest of the world without a commensurate flow of profit to the Indian economy. None of us here in this major gathering of Indian business is against liberalisation. In fact, with one voice we are prepared to say that we are positively for liberalisation, for reforms, for more interaction with the business and technology of all countries of the world. What we now plead is for a single standard, for what has often been talked about as a level playing field. Let it not happen that we ever feel like a walnut in the nutcracker or, in our Indian metaphor, like a supari under the blade of a sarota, wherein prices continually fall but costs constantly rise.

On behalf of everyone in Indian business, let me offer gratitude to the Vajpayee government's intervention in stemming the rising tide of unfair, or even illegal imports, some called dumping, some described as undercutting and some of it unadulterated smuggling. We are also glad that the government has persuaded Beijing to try and stop the outflow of goods to India in an illegitimate manner. In fact, India, China and Nepal must build a strong and inalienable Asian partnership as we step into the Asian century. But, there are several other areas where threats menace Indian Industry. For example, the cost of electricity is getting prohibitive, which is 10 to 11 cents in India against 3-5 cents abroad.

In Gujarat, the pride of our industrial advance, thousands of businessmen and industrialists, small and big, are together agitating against a power tariff which will be unbearable. The proverbial inspector raj is only one example whereby production as well as productivity is interfered with very often for private gratification. The situation became serious because prices of Indian goods have to be in line with the lowest level of international prices. But costs are dictated by domestic circumstances like the high cost of power, whether electrical or manpower. The cost of borrowing money, whether for capital investment or for working funds, is probably the highest in the world. I make a few unconventional suggestions after taking into serious consideration the political climate of our nation.

The nation is of the unviability of cross subsidy in the realm of electrical power. Industry is overcharged to offer free power to the rural sector - power that is both intermittent and of poor quality. We suggest that the government start a grand experiment by offering top quality and undisturbed power to clusters of farmers who agree to install meters and pay user charges. We are convinced that thousands of village clusters would come forward voluntarily to avail guaranteed uninterrupted supply at regular voltage in return for user charges. Similarly, power distribution to all industrial clusters and in select cities be left in private hands expeditiously. With this, the theft of power will radically come down and so would transmission losses over time. These two pilot reforms could finally break the political lock jam and transform the Indian power matrix.

As for the complicated case of reforming India's industrial relations, we propose a pilot which could ultimately set the pace of change. Cheap labour was supposed to be a great competitive strength of Indian Industry. It is no longer so. True, the poorest worker is extremely poor. But the same cannot be said of organised labour which, in many areas, has become expensive without a commensurate rise in productivity. A young friend of mine recently visited a factory, three hours drive from Shanghai. There he saw one worker supervising as many as three automatic machines. His working shift was 12 hours and the only day off was the last day of the month. He did not even have the benefit of a weekly holiday despite his 12 hour shift. I am not suggesting that in India we run sweat shops. Certainly not. But ways and means have to be found so that we can stand up and compete rupee for rupee, paise for paise in the markets of the world. Can contract labour with much higher wages be given a trial only in SpecialEconomic Zones set up by the government?

One of the causes of the current industrial slowdown is the poor and wildly fluctuating growth rate of the agricultural sector. The Vajpayee government's focus on radical agricultural reforms and all-out encouragement of agri-business is not only good economics, but good politics as well. I have a few suggestions: