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the 2009 Wharton India economic Forum
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titled India the road ahead took place
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in Philadelphia and brought together
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CEOs of leading Indian companies
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investors heads of nonprofit
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organizations Sports celebrities and
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Bollywood stars to discuss where India
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is headed in an age of economic
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uncertainty Indian knowledge at Wharton
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brings you one-on-one conversations with
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these leaders David thank you very much
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for joining us today thank you it's a
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pleasure to be here thank you for
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inviting me I believe that you worked
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for the US state department for 34 years
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that's right before you joined the Tata
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group uh could you tell us a little bit
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about your career in government and uh
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how you're joining the Tata group came
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about well I I was 34 years in the
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government I spent 34 years in the
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Foreign Service and I I was fortunate I
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think I can look back on my career and
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say that I was very fortunate that I
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went to India in my very first
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assignment I had never thought about
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going to India I had never thought about
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India at all while I was growing up but
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when I joined the Foreign Service there
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was an opportunity of going to New Delhi
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and so I went there in 1971 I spent five
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years in India at that time and really
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sort of became enthralled with the place
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became very fond of India and uh and
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really thought that this might be a
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place I'd like to make my career but the
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uh the reality of the Foreign Service
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sort of entered and after those 5 years
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that I spent in India in the 1970s I
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went off to the Middle East spent over
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20 years in the Middle East but then had
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the opportunity of coming back to India
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1999 uh when I became Council General in
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Mumbai and spent three years in Mumbai
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and during those three years it also
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coincided with the time that India
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really began developing as a major
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economic power and really began
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developing its uh its it sector and
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because of that its relationship with
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the United States became became a much
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stronger one also and at the same time
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the political relations began to develop
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began to get better between the United
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States and India so after finishing my
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three years in Mumbai I went back to
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Washington and became director of the
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India Nepal and Sri Lanka office at the
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state department where I was able to
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sort of watch the development of the
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political uh relationship U from even
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closer quarters in Washington then I
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retired from the government in 2004 and
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at that time I could see that us India
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relations were really a uh a sort of
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growing concern and there were going to
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be a lot of opportunities perhaps in the
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private sector outside of government so
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I was looking in the private sector for
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some kind of a post-government career
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and always thought that I would probably
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end up working with an American company
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that was doing work in India but it just
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was coincidental that at the same time
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ronata the chairman of tatas had decided
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that he wanted to open up an office in
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Washington and someone got us together
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and uh I met people from from tatas and
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one thing led to another and then in
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early 2005 I joined the tatas as the
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North American representative I
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understand that Rutan Tata described
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your role as being the Ambassador for
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the tatas in the United States so what
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exactly does an ambassador for the tatas
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do in the US well I think what uh it's
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interesting because I think coming from
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a diplomatic background I found a lot of
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similarity between what I was being
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asked to do for Tatas and what I used to
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do for the American government uh it's
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true the ronata did tell me at the time
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that I met him before taking the
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position and that he envisioned my role
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as being that of an ambassador for the
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tatas and I think what he meant by that
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and the way that it's actually turned
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out is that you know I represent the
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debuts of uh of the tatas uh the
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objectives and goals of the tatas in the
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United States I interact with the
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government officials with Regulators
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with legislators with people from the
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executive branch uh on some issues of
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concern of interest to the tatas and I
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also report back to uh to Tata
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headquarters to Bombay uh about what I
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find What I Hear in Washington what the
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trends are what people are thinking
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about India what people are thinking
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about Indian business U try to sort of
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be an interlocutor if you will between
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the tatas in India and the United States
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government in particular but also with
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the population and with the uh with
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America at a bit large meaning with
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Academia with American business with
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American think tanks and to sort of
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explain one another to the other so what
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you referred to the objectives what what
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what are the Strategic objectives that
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the tatas have for the US well I think
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the the tatas want to grow in the United
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States as a good corporate citizen of
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the United States I think one thing that
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you can say very clearly about the tatas
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is that we would like to be known as a
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global company and we are a global
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company we're very proud of our Indian
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Heritage we're very proud of the the
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fact that uh that our roots are in India
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and they always will be in India and
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India will always be the the primary
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sort of source of our strength and the
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primary source of our growth but at the
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same time uh we we do we do wish to grow
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and we wish to grow internationally and
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that means that we want to grow
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according to Global standards so we want
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to be known as a global company also
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that happens to be rooted in India so in
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the United States so we want to grow as
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a company uh we want to be able to grow
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our revenues there for the benefit of
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the uh of the stock the shareholders uh
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but at the same time we also want to be
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known as good corporate citizens because
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as you know uh in India the tatas are
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really the gold standard for giving back
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to the community and we want to be known
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that way in the United States also and
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in fact in any country where we operate
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that we are a global company rooted in
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India but uh still very sort of
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concerned about our role in the
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community and wishing to make a
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contribution to that Community uh
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certainly in the past uh couple of years
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the tatas have pursued quite a few
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growth opportunities for example in the
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hospitality business in the US also in
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the automotive uh business where do you
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see growth opportunities for the tatas
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today and have these opport
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opportunities changed because of the
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global financial crisis oh the
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opportunities are I think are still
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there but I think that they're on hold
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right now I like to think of ourselves
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as not as a uh as a car that's come to a
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complete halt but rather one that's sort
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of in an idle stage right now um because
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the the whole uh Glo the situation of
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the global economy has meant that I
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think everybody's more interested in
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consolidation right now uh than in uh
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immediate growth I think that we still
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see growth opportunities but we're at
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this particular point I think we're kind
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of looking at those perhaps a year or so
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from now once the economy begins coming
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out of of the uh the situation in which
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it finds itself now where are the
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opportunities I think where they always
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were you mentioned Hospitality we
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already have three hotels in the United
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States with the Pierre Hotel in New York
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the former Ritz Carlton now called The
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Taj Boston in Boston and we have a hotel
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in San Francisco called the Campton
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place we're looking at uh the
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possibility of acquiring hotels and
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other major Gateway cities in the United
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States um we also have OBS opportunities
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in places that you may be surprised uh
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we now have two uh Tanish jewelry stores
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in the United States one outside of New
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York and New Jersey one outside of
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Chicago just outside of Chicago and
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Illinois we see that as a possible
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growth story right there and and hope to
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be able to open up more stores we have
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soda ash mines in Wyoming and we uh and
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we are Tata chemicals is now the second
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largest soda ash producer in the world
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and we see that as a gross story in the
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United States too and beverages you know
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we have as as I'm sure that you know we
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own tle tea the very iconic British tea
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tea brand but we also own and a lot of
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Americans don't know this 8 o00 coffee
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which is one of America's oldest coffee
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brands as well as a herbal tea company
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from California called called Good Earth
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tea and so we see beverages as another
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area in which we want to expand Tatam
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Motors uh the automotive sector I think
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will definitely have opportunity for
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expansion but I think right now the
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automotive sector is really sort of in
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is in the do drums right now I think
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we're going to have to wait until that
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begins to come out of its current you
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know rather difficult situation but yes
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I think we see the United States as a is
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a place for tatamotors to expand at
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sometime in the future we have a
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presence here now through Jaguar Land
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Rover that's right but we we're not
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selling any other kind of vehicles we do
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sell some Auto Parts in the United
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States do you think you might ever sell
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the Nano in the US I think it could be
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possible uh I think you as you probably
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know and we've just announced a design
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for a nano in Europe meeting European
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standards uh and I think it's quite
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possible and quite likely that sometime
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in the uh in the future I can't tell you
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exactly when because it's not in the
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it's not on the drawing boards right now
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but I think at sometime in the future I
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think that certainly uh some form of the
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Nano uh designed for the American roads
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and for the American Consumer is a very
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distinct possibility now as you pursue
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these opportunities that you just
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described uh what are some of the
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principal obstacles that uh the tatas
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have faced and how have you overcome
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them well I think that the you know
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coming to the United States the United
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States is a um a very complex Market uh
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it is uh it is one that um uh can be
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unforgiving in some ways I think that we
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want to be very careful how we present
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ourselves in the United States if you
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get off on the wrong foot you know if
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you sort of develop a reputation for uh
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delivering a product that's not quite
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right for the American Market it can
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take you a long time to come back again
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and to sort of build up your reputation
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so I think we we want to build up our
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build up our presence in the United
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States in those areas in which we have a
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lot of capabilities and a lot of
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experience like Hospitality uh like
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software U we have a very large software
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presence uh in the beverage area uh in
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engineering these are all areas in which
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we have a lot of experience in India and
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other countries and so these this this
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is where we've started in the in the
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United States speaking of software
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recently there was a there's been few
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reports that uh financial institutions
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that have accepted tarp funding May face
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some restrictions in hiring foreign
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workers do you see this affecting the
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tatas or other Indian companies and are
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you doing anything with Congress to try
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and address this well I mean this is of
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course the United States are trying very
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hard to come out of this recession that
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they're in and it's understandable that
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they would want that Congress and the
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administration would want to do things
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that are going to be helpful to uh to
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American businesses uh the tarp funds
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that are being given to financial
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institutions do have a provision that
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that institutions that receive tarp
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funds cannot directly hire H1B visas
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holders except under certain kind of
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conditions we don't think that the
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regulations the way that they're written
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right now are going to affect us very
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much um they're very they're very
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narrowly written in the sense that uh
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they only affect those institutions that
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are receiving TP funds which of course
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we are we are not um but nonetheless
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there is a direction here that does
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concern us a little bit uh if there if
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there are additional restrictions put on
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H1B visas or L1 Visa holders that's
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something that could create some
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difficulty for us in the future so yes
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we are talking to members of Congress
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and we're talking to our American
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business partners also because I think
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one thing that we want to make clear to
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people in the United States is that the
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uh that H1B Visa holders are not the
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problem with American unemploy
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employment I think there are a number of
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stories that show that Outsourcing the
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kind of profits and increased
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productivity that comes from Outsourcing
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certain kinds of functions to India and
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to other countries creates more wealth
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back in the United States than it
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actually loses and that wealth then
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creates more jobs and so we want to make
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sure that people understand the full
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picture of what uh what the H1B visas
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and L1 visas really mean and what what
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Outsourcing really means and how there's
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also a lot L amount of insourcing to the
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United States from Indian companies in
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fact there's a very important point I'd
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like to make very very quickly and that
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is that the traditional business model
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that Americans are familiar with of of
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Indian companies it companies coming in
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and sort of uh you know taking contracts
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and jobs and taking them back to India
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is really changing quite a bit it hasn't
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disappeared but what you have now is a
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new model whereby a number of Indian
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companies like tatos are actually coming
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into the United States and investing in
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the United States uh creating jobs in
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the United States and I can give you a
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number of different uh examples of that
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including call centers that we run and
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other Indian companies run where
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hundreds of Americans are answering
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telephones not in Bangalore not in Delhi
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but in places like uh Pensacola Florida
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and in Ohio on the uh in the middle of
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Appalachia I wonder if I could end with
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just one final personal question how do
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you how do you define
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success well I think success is uh is a
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couple of different things I think U
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first of all laying out a set of
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objectives having a clear plan to reach
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those objectives and actually uh
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achieving those objectives is is
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obviously a success U but I think you
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have to think also about what those how
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those objectives are going to be
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affecting the people around you it's
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something very important for Tatas and
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this is something that I've learned from
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the four years that I've been working
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with Tas and you find this absolutely
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through all levels of people working for
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Tatas and that is that there's success
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is only real success if you can bring a
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better life to the people around you jam
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G Tata who founded the tatas made it
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quite clear that there's no there's no
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valid reason to accumulate wealth unless
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you can take that wealth and return it
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to the people uh that from whom you you
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made that wealth and that's the the
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value by which the tatas have been
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operating over these last 130 years and
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I think that is the clearest measure of
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success for them Tata Executives well
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from the top to the bottom will ask
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themselves have what has What I've Done
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has what I've accomplished in the
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business sector actually improved the
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life of the people around me and that I
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think is our definition definition of
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success with in tatas David thank you so
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much for talking with us today it's been
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a real pleasure okay thank you very much
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for having me good to be
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here
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[Music]
