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The Rediff Business Interview/ Ananth Kumar

'My counter is still open to the Tatas'

Even as the aviation ministry is drawing flak for allowing the Tatas' domestic airlines project to ossify and die, M D Riti tracked down Civil Aviation Minister Ananth Kumar while he was on a visit to his modest, middle-class home in a small street of Vyalikaval in Bangalore, where his software engineer wife Tejaswini and their two children live.

Why did you turn down the Tata airlines proposal?

We never turned down the Tatas’ airlines proposal. We have an open mind on it even now. The Tatas, particularly, are pioneers in aviation management and industrial management. I think the Tatas acted in haste in pulling out like that.

Obviously, they received some signals from your ministry that made them feel this whole business was not worth pursuing.

There were two different proposals of the Tatas before three consecutive governments. We too were examining it for four-and-a-half months. Ratan Tata had a two-and-a-half-hour meeting with me, after which he even announced to the media that he was very happy with our discussions. This is why I cannot understand why the Tatas suddenly withdrew from the scene. I would have expected more forbearance from them.

If you were so keen to have them, why didn’t you talk to the Tatas as soon as they withdrew?

My counter is still open to the Tatas. But the civil aviation ministry is basically a regulatory and promoting authority. If an applicant withdraws, he should come back on his own. We should always maintain equanimity in our dealings. The government cannot become an entrepreneur, even if it is for the good of the country. Entrepreneurs enter into or back off from certain areas, depending upon their profitability, that's all.

Do you think the hostility the Tatas faced from your predecessor C M Ibrahim made them back off?

People of the stature of the Tatas should not have been bothered about previous governments. The time was here and now, and they did not grasp it. Actually, the Vajpayee government is a very proactive one, as you can see from the manner in which it has cleared five out of 12 fast-track projects already, which none of our predecessors had done, even though the so-called process of liberalisation began as far back as in 1991.

Nobody can accuse us of dragging our feet or being slow: see the way the government is responding to the international airport project in Karnataka.

Yes, but are you not concerned that the Tatas' withdrawal might send the wrong signals to foreign investors?

No, not at all. FI investments are on the rise every month. Vajpayee’s visits to the US and France got excellent responses. We attracted $ 4.19 billion in Resurgent India bonds. A large caucus in the American senate now feels the sanctions against India must be withdrawn. Our airport infrastructure policy provides for 74 per cent foreign investment, and even 100 per cent in some special cases. Actually, we now have an image of being very progressive.

Do you mean that swadeshi is no longer on the BJP agenda, at least in terms of aviation?

Swadeshi, definitely continues to be on the BJP agenda, especially in aviation. Self-reliance is a must for all countries, and cannot be abandoned in the name of globalisation or liberalisation. The process of liberalisation need not be steered by the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund. For us, globalisation must be a cautious, calibrated and moderated process, that does not deal a body-blow to the Indian economy.

Jayant Malhoutra, convener of the United Parliamentary Group that supported the Tatas project, describes you as a weak aviation minister without much knowledge about this project.

Sorry, I think it would be beneath me to comment upon the opinion or perceptions of a self-styled guru of aviation without any knowledge of the ground realities existing today.

As India's high-flying aviation minister, you have come a long way from the days when you used to commute by bus from Hubli to Bangalore and catch the train to Delhi.

I still travel a lot by rail and road. Even as recently as last week, I discussed agricultural problems with groups of farmers in rural Karnataka. I like best even now to travel by road, in a non air-conditioned vehicle, and eat my meals with villagers. The responsibility I have been given, of this aviation ministry, will, I hope, eventually make me a better socio-political worker: that is my real goal. I may be aviation minister, but I’m far from high-flying.

Interviews