Corporate Chiefs Cautious, Seek Systemic Safeguards

Corporate chieftains reacted cautiously to yesterdays plunge in Asian markets following Peregrine Investments move to file for liquidation. The overwhelming consensus was that resorting to protectionist measures would be a mistake, though it was essential to institute safeguards to prevent a domino effect on Indian markets. Some also saw the Asian crisis as an opportunity for India.

India has to wait and watch. This is a very serious issue which must be tackled only after careful consideration. I dont believe we can be totally isolated or can go back to those days when we were protectionist. We have to somehow learn some lessons and think of some ways to stem this. One cant react just like that and we have too think carefully before taking any action, said Mahindra & Mahindra chairman Keshub Mahindra.

According to ICI India chairman Ashok Ganguly, The global meltdown is no doubt bad news and will have a domino effect. It will stimulate protectionist tendencies in the country but thats not the solution. The point is that money is flowing out of Hong Kong, Indonesia and other south-east Asian countries which will have to find other investment avenues. Here, India has a great opportunity. If we can put our heads together and take necessary measures to attract foreign money, we can certainly get a lot of these FIIs interested.

Godrej Soaps managing director Adi Godrej also struck a bullish note, saying, The crash in the BSE in response to the global stockmarkets fall is definitely a sign of the Indian stock exchanges being integrated with the global exchanges. This is due to the presence of global investors in our bourses. The fall is also a bad sign for the Indian economy and we have to take steps to safeguard our interests. The key lies in stimulating industrial growth. This can be done by reducing interest rates further and reducing excise duty.

Nicholas Piramal chairman Ajay Piramal agreed that the fall in the BSE was the inevitable price to be paid for globalisation and called upon the government to announce policy measures to arrest the slide.