FDI – What is it actually??

The recent hot topic in media and as usual, heavily debated by general public in social network medias is about Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).  Everybody has got an opinion on FDI and wants the Indian Government to ban FDI in retail sector.  So, I thought let me also write my opinion about FDI.  Now, whoever is reading this blog has no choice but to read my opinion!!!!

What’s wrong in allowing FDI in retail sector?  Isn’t competition good for business and also for end user?  I have seen few people saying the local traditional “nadar shops” and “chettiar shops” have to close down if Government allows FDI in retail sector.

What are these people trying to tell me? That nadar shops and chettiar shops are more expensive than Wal-Mart, Carrefour, etc.?  If yes, then I think it is only fair to bring these international giants in order for the nadar shops and chettiar shops to be in competitive range.

As an end-user consumer, where will we buy the product (assuming we are comparing apple to an apple)?  We will buy from the cheapest shop.  If this is the case, how can Wal-Mart and Carrefour be a threat or competition to local retail vendors?  How can a multi-national company, considering all the huge investments and expenses, be competitive than a local vendor?

In my opinion, the public is opposing FDI just because the media and some politicians are saying it is wrong.  Haven’t we, India as a country, allowed foreign companies in other sectors?  Where were all these individuals opposing FDI were at that time?

The day we decide to buy a car, we compare Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and Ford for price and fuel efficiency comparison.  We sometimes even forget that Maruti and Tata do make cars, which are Indian companies.

We want to celebrate a birthday party or get together at Pizza Hut, Dominoes Pizza, Mary Brown, KFC, etc.  At that time in our short list for venue, the Muniyandi Vilas, Thalapakattu Briyani and other local vendors name won’t feature.

Ask the current generation kids what soft drink they like.  Mostly, the answer will be Pepsi or Coca Cola.  They might have even forgotten that there was a local company producing Thumbs Up (now they may remember due to fantastic advertisement campaign with Akshay Kumar).  We want to drink Coke and Pepsi but don’t want foreign companies entering into retail business.

How many individuals own BPL TV or other Indian made televisions?  Most of us have Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, etc… Why don’t we stop buying foreign televisions?

I am not even sure if any Indian company makes cell phones in India.  The biggest market shareholder for cell phones are Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Blackberry, Apple, etc.  Why do we buy foreign brands if we are protesting against FDI?

So, we want to enjoy the fruits of all international comforts and cuisine.  When Government opens one more sector for foreign investment, we start the protest and say the Government is trying to kill retail vendors in the country.

Look at the other side also.  We proudly say Mr. Vijay Mallya has bought White & Mackay Distillery and he is now the world’s third largest distillery owner.  An Indian buying foreign companies and investing in foreign countries is national pride.

Tata Motors went ahead and bought Jaguar and Land Rover companies in a single deal.  We were very proud to say that now Jaguar and Land Rover are party Indian made cars (due to the ownership).

We want our Indian investors and businesses to invest/buy foreign businesses but we do not want foreign investments to enter into India.  Is this reasonable or being patriotic?  I think this is being greedy.  We want to take over the entire world with our money power but don’t want foreign companies making entry into India.

For some reason, Indian currency became weaker against dollar and many other foreign currencies.  What did happen?  There’s an article, which claims more than $700 million worth of foreign currency came into India during this period.  These are money transferred by NRI’s living outside India.  There was also an article, which stated that Saudi Arabia thought of banning money transfer into India for a while due to the amount of money going out of Saudi Arabia.

What does above indicate?  We have so many Indians working abroad (that includes me too!), who earn money living in a foreign country.  If we are all so patriotic that we do not want foreign countries to invest in India, why do we come abroad in search of a job?  By doing that, aren’t we taking away employment opportunity from local nationals, wherever we go to work?  In what way this is right if a foreign company investing in India is wrong?

I don’t want to deviate from the topic of this blog and I am going to write my next blog about the public mentality and media’s role in diverting issues.  Many of us blindly believe what media says is 100% truth. 

So, as I drive my Nissan SUV in UAE roads and spending Dirhams as I watch the Indian currency exchange rate keenly, I also protest FDI being allowed in India…. JAI HIND !!!

I HAVE A NECK SPRAIN… THIS IS BECAUSE OF THIS NEW GOVERNMENT!!!!

I know the title of this blog would have made few to raise their eyebrows.  I won’t say the few who read my blogs would have been ‘shocked’ with this title…

We blame the Government for everything.  This is the latest trend.  This can be seen in the newspapers, TV channels, Facebook, Twitter, etc…etc…  Yes, government is responsible for everything.  We, as common public, are not responsible.  Our only responsibility is to blame the government.

Severe power cut in Tamil Nadu – It’s all because of this new Government led by AIADMK.  Wow, how short people’s memory is!!!!  Before the elections, the general consensus among people, media and critics are that DMK may lose the elections mainly because of the power cut issue right through the state.  Now, when we have electricity shortage and face power cut, we blame it on the new Government.

What would have the old Government done if there’s power shortage?  How would have they solved this problem?  As general public, I don’t care… I have already blamed the current government for this problem.  My social responsibility as a citizen is over!!!  Worst case, if this power cut problem continues, we will start a demonstration, fasting and other acts of protest against the Government till the power cut problem is solved.

Ok, Government is trying their best to avoid this power cut problem.  What’s the best solution?  Alternate sources of energy.  Government has spent crores of rupees in Koodangulam Nuclear Power project.  What we did as general citizen of this country?  We staged demonstrations, fasting and protests against the Government stating the nuclear power plant should not be started.

On one hand we oppose the government for power shortage and on the other, we also oppose the government when they try to start new power plant projects.  So, what should the Government do?  As a common citizen, here’s my answer: “I don’t care…. They should not start nuclear power plant to overcome power shortage.  At the same time, there should not be any power shortage in the country/state”.

What’s the rule as per TNEB for new power connection?  Only one connection (meter) per kitchen.  This means, if a building has two houses, you can have only 2 connections and then one connection for common utilities (viz., motor, general lights, etc.).  But what do we do?  We pay ‘something’ under the table and split our electricity connection into multiple connections so that we will not pay high tariff due to high consumption slab.  With all this, obviously TNEB will make losses.  They raise their tariff in order to cover all actual expenses, what do we do?  Stage protests, demonstrate, fasting, etc.

Whenever the new Government takes over, people tend to agitate against each and every single decision about the government.   What this beautiful media and general public forget (conveniently) is that this new government is there in power because majority of the general public voted for that party!!!!

So, we select a government – this is disputable statement – majority of us are very busy to go even for voting.  Technically, we have always had minority government.  The maximum state-wide polling is about 60% only.  So, 40% of our learned public are too lazy or too busy to participate in electoral process.

But when the government is formed, we are ready 100% to find all loopholes in the decisions taken by the government and protest against it.  This is the true “PUBLIC DEMOCRACY” !!!!

Are the politicians only the corrupt people in this society?  This is a huge topic on which I have already written a blog and in general ‘majority’ of the readers disagreed with me!

What does general public do?  Mostly (out of the 60% who takes the pain to go the polling booth to cast their votes), they vote for the party offering better ‘terms’ for the vote.  If a party is giving free laptop, free grinder, free mixer, then we will vote for them.  So, we - the general public, have started selling our votes, which is our basic democratic right.  If we vote only to the party offering us more benefits, then this is business.  The political parties who offer such things have to make more money so that they can offer better terms for the next election.  So, why blame them for being corrupt?

Due to recent heavy rains in Chennai, there was havoc in the city.  Particularly the low-lying areas were flooded completely with water.  I was watching Sun News with my early morning cup of tea.  They were showing footage from one of the areas where the local residents were complaining about lack of facilities and were stating, “Government is not doing anything”.  Whoever was lucky enough to see that footage could have seen that the road was very narrow.  There was a small sitting area (thinnai) in almost every house.  Where is this built?  On the road, outside the proper land area owned by the resident.

Earlier, the Government has brought in a rule that every house should have rainwater-harvesting facility.  What did we as common public do?  We buy 800 sq. ft. of land and build a house edge-to-edge (half the balcony will be in the adjacent property-overhanging).  We make the entire plot total concrete.  What happens where there’s heavy rain? The rainwater goes into the sewage system, which is not built to take that much load.  We do not have any soil in our plot, which can absorb the water.  Who do we blame?  The Government… Because it is their problem that the water is not cleared from the roads and our own plots as soon the rain has stopped…

Why are we not contributing something to the society and then force the Government to continue it?  Why do we need everything to be done by the Government?  We want to by-pass the system in order to pay lesser utility bill, we will vote for the party, which offers more freebies, but when it comes to Government, they have to PLEASE ALL OF US… We don’t care how they can do it and the Government also cannot expect anything from us but we need it all.

Now, after writing this blog, still my neck is not alright. I think the Government has to do something about this!