"India threatened Wednesday to cancel a deal to purchase 12 helicopters from the Italian firm Finmeccanica if an official inquiry proved the contract worth nearly $750 million was secured through kickbacks."
Source: AFP. (link)
India’s Cabinet approved a retired judge to probe claims that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) broke rules as it lobbied to enter the country’s retail market.
Source : Boolmberg (link)
In the Italian chopper case (or scandal as we love to call it), the Italian government has even termed it 'OK' to bribe or provide kickbacks of some kind for getting such deals ! Well, there is nothing to be surprised at, is it ? Not for them, but it is for us. As we somehow regard this way of acquiring business 'unethical' and'illegal'. I know there is a thin line between bribe and lobbying, but who draws that and who decides whats right ? Especially difficult when there are different cultural beliefs in play of the way business is done.
Read this news published in Firstpost.com - '... about 20 US-based companies and industry bodies spent more than $200 million (over Rs 1,000 crore) during 2012 on lobbying in India ... .'
We will be probing a lot of these 20 companies in the future for sure, especially if there is a big deal down the line, which will be given that there are big players involved.
Lobbying is certainly an alien concept in India. We do not like to spend time and money partying/networking, throwing out for lavish dinners for the sake of clinching deals. We believe in merit, and a fair tender process. However flawed this concept may be, it is how we like to operate (well, most of the times). This so called 'western' concept of 'Sifarish' (Reference) or of putting a good word for somebody to get something done favorably is difficult to digest. No wonder we are agitated when something of this sort happens.
Could this explain our inertia of reaching out to others when it comes to networking and (extend this to Lobbying) finding new opportunities ? To me it certainly does.
