Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has criticized the Indian industry. He has told the business practice of Indian industrialists against the interest of the country. He has also criticized the 153-year-old Tata Group. Regarding the Tata Group on Thursday, 12 August, he said that the business priorities of the Indian industry are against the national interest.
A 19-minute video of the minister’s remarks at the annual meeting of the Confederation of India Industry has created a controversy. Industry leaders are upset that the minister has accused them of not working in the national interest.
CII was also asked to remove the video from its YouTube channel. The edited version was uploaded on the night of 12 August, although it was also blocked on the next day i.e. Friday, 13 August. This video is no longer available on CII’s YouTube channel.
What did the minister say?
Referring to Banmali Agarwal, President, Infrastructure, Defense and Aerospace, Tata Sons, Goyal expressed deep anguish that Tata Sons opposed the rules designed to help consumers, The Hindu reported. The minister said, “Me, Myself, My company. We all need to go beyond this approach.”
“Kya aapke jaisi company, ek do aapne shaayad koi videshi company kharid li… Uska importance zyaada ho gaya, desh hith kam ho gaya? (A company like yours, maybe you bought one or two foreign companies, now their importance is greater than national interest? When I see Tata Sons objecting to some of the consumer laws or regulations that I am bringing, it clearly hurts me.”, Mr. Goyal said, adding that he had conveyed the same message to “Chandra” (Tata group chairman N. Chandrasekharan).
Piyush Goyal challenged Tata Steel to sell its goods to Japan and Korea, as these countries are “nationalists” and do not buy imported steel. He said,
“When we talk about nationalistic spirit, many people call us orthodox in the media, calling us backward. No one calls backward in Japan, Korea.”
He said “too much profit in a few hands can create a lot of problems for a country.” He urged the industry leaders not to “let many people be deprived of their necessities because of the greed of the few”.
At the same time, no comment has come out from the Tata group in this matter yet. Also, the newspaper did not get the answers to the questions asked in this matter by CII.
The minister also criticized Uday (Kotak), Pawan (Goenka), Tata, Ambani, Bajaj and Birla in his address. Industry leaders are upset that the minister has accused them of not working in the national interest.
In his address, Piyush Goyal said that 75 years ago we worked to get freedom, now we have to work in mission mode to become self-reliant. We will not have a better opportunity than this to take the country on the path of rapid development and prosperity. After 75 years of independence, we have to see how far we have come and where is the next destination.
According to the PIB report, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal addressed the special session of the Confederation of Indian Industry’s annual summit on ‘synergy between government and business for sustainable development’ via video conference. The theme of this annual meeting was ‘India@75: Government and business together for a self-reliant India’.