Relative red tape

Foreigners are often said to be frustrated by India's bureaucracy, but sometimes there are exceptions. An investment banker brought the representative of a European firm to a regulator in Mumbai, seeking clarity on a planned investment and trying to understand the policy framework. The meeting lasted more than an hour and nothing conclusive emerged at the end of it. The company official, however, seemed quite happy. The fact that the regulator met us at such short notice and gave us so much time is a positive sign, he said. His atypical attitude to being stonewalled by Indian babudom was finally put down to the fact that he was from France, which is legendary for its red tape. The word bureaucracy is said to be French in origin.