Lobbying is not bad: Deepak Parekh

Amid the controversy over the role of lobbyists in India, top banker and government's key adviser Deepak Parekh today said lobbying is not bad and it really does not matter whether or not it is legalised in India.

"Not only in India, but lobbying is all over. In some countries, lobbying is done by very important people, who left the government -- retired senior bureaucrats. America is a case in point. Various ambassadors are lobbyists, so lobbying is not bad," Parekh, who is non-executive chairman of HDFC, told PTI.

He was responding to queries on lobbyists in India and the recent debate in Parliament over a powerful woman lobbyist and her reported role in allocation of telecom licences in 2008.

Stating that it was not a big issue whether lobbying is legalised or not in India, he said, "Some people call me a lobbyist but I'm not a lobbyist ... Many call me (the government's) troubleshooter."

Parekh, who advised successive governments on key financial, infrastructure and investment issues irrespective of which political party was at the helm, said, "Our problem in India is that we take far too long in decision-making; simply things get delayed for years and years.

"That is why we are so bureaucratic. What is the definition of bureaucracy? It delays. As we know and this is an old common statement - British invented bureaucracy and we perfected it."

Asked about his experience in peace-making between rivals and at times obstinate corporates, he said, "I have not done many of these things, but everyone realises that in disputes, going to the court is the last resort in India, but everywhere else it is the first."

Taking a dig at the time taken for dispute resolution at the courts, which as such are overburdened by cases, Parekh advocated for a quicker decision-making process in the government.

"It is said in a democracy, decisions take longer because you have to take consensus ... But if there is a clear conscientious decision, it does not take long. If there are vested interests, if there are undercurrents, if there are motivated interests of people in taking decisions, then it takes long," he said.

Parekh said lobbying is nothing but somebody making his point of view and it is the decision-maker who has to look at all the issues and make the decision rather than sit on the file or table.

Criticising the inertness at various levels of decision making, he said, "I wouldn't name him, but a chairman of a large public sector bank, told me that he became the chairman because he never opposed a paper that came from the bottom.

"If they say sanction the loan, he said yes. So there was nothing controversial in his personal papers and he became the chairman, he himself told me."