India is changing for the world, Indians not for themselves.

A day after my arrival in New Delhi from the UK, I went to buy a bottle of Coke. It was twice the price it used to be four years back. I told this jokingly to the shopkeeper. He winced and told me in Hindi: des taraki kar raha hai, sir (The country is making progress, sir!)

Progress indeed:  four years of absence from India can mean a lot. The country’s urban landscape is changing at a staggering pace.  For someone who has lived here, the changes meet head-on. As you land in New Delhi, you can only marvel at its swanky world class air port. The city now has a state –of the art metro system, the cranky old buses have been replaced by sleek air-conditioned high capacity buses and good roads and giant flyovers dot the city.  

It is precisely this image of modern India that the world is looking at (alongside China) with both awe and envy. India’s economic miracle, the rise of its huge middle class, its growing military expansion offer enormous business opportunities for various businesses in the western world. In 2010 -11 the leaders of the P5 visited India in quick succession. Britain in particular called for a ‘special relationship’.

India’s flair for frugal innovation and entrepreneurship and the giant strides made by Indian conglomerates in terms of global mergers and acquisitions are catching the eye of the world. India’s Tata is now the largest industrial employer in Britain.

This is the good side of India the world knows about, and I had come to India on a professional visit with a great hope of working with a trendy young work force with a high sense of work ethics and professionalism. But to my dismay, things were utterly disturbing at the management level.  Whilst I found people here are hard working, have tremendous aspiration and go an extra mile to help you, they are let down by a system or a culture of work that is highly demoralizing and pays scant regard for the people they manage.

The inefficiency is a result of a number of factors:  it is an agonizing mix of ego, sense of superiority, lack of empathy, ownership and good manners – all at the administrative level. The combination of these factors creates an impregnable bureaucracy where there is little co-ordination between departments.  It results in an incessant delay for getting a simple work done. 

Private sector in India is a beacon of India’s hope and pride, but for Indians to be happy at work and prosperous in their careers; issues in management structure have to be addressed. Attributes like inability to communicate politely, or failing to take ownership of an issue, or using rough language indicates there is something fundamentally wrong in the manner we approach work.

 What is needed is a proper training in human management and communication skills to create a work culture that promotes efficiency and professionalism.  Mangers at all levels must be trained to behave in a more humane and professional manner. They must be taught good leadership qualities along with basic manners like  how to smile, empathize with subordinates and trouble shoot a problem within a fixed time frame.

The first glimpse of unprofessional behavior is witnessed   at the New Delhi’s swanky airport itself where the immigration officers lack even the basic courtesies - clearly demonstrating how incredible we are.

The biggest problem, however, is that no one wants to listen to you, let alone understand your problem. It is really disheartening when educated citizens of one of the world’s most literary cultures behave in such an appalling manner.