In news just coming in, Vijay Mallya's United Breweries has pulled out of its bid for the French champagne maker Taittinger following objections from the French labour unions and a bigger bid by a competitor. And, Lakshmi Mittal's bid for Arcelor continues to face trouble.
Questions: Are we really in the era of globalistion if only developing/underdeveloped countries are expected to throw open the doors of their markets? If we cringe at our labour unions setting obstacles to foreign investment, why do we meekly accept the protests of their labour unions? When their governments unbashedly function as an arm of business in pushing deals, should our government be lagging?
The issue really came into sharp focus when the Bush administration had to prevent the state-owned Dubai Ports from taking over administration of a set of ports on the East Coast. These ports were earlier being run by P&O (Peninsular & Oriental), which is British owned. If the British could run America’s ports, why not Arabs? Because all of them are terrorists? Ironically, the same Dubai Ports was in the news in India when their entry led to police firing in Andhra Pradesh, killing a protestor. Obviously, as an under-developed nation, we are on the backfoot since we need investments. But issues like these really show how we allow the West to run over us nd dictate terms, while we react meekly when they strike back at us.
It is true that we are always at the receiving side. But because globalisation has created a lot of job opportunities in the service sector, no one’s complaining. If our brightest kids are content with doing clerical jobs for the develpoed countries, so be it. When will our country realise its own potential
It’s double standards, pure and simple. Last year, when China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) made a $ 18.5 billion bid for Unocal – a Calif based oil company there was a shrill outcry of protests, all on predictable lines. Apart from the threat to national security, CNOOC’s technology was considered archaic. In due course, America’s second largest oil company Chevron whose bid was lower than CNOOC, snapped up Unocal.
Meanwhile, The Mittal-Arcelor battle lumbers along. The Mittal group has been accused of not having the ”values and vision” required to manage a company that produces ”high quality steel”…
And now, French Champagne maker Taittinger has shown the thumbs down to Dr.Mallya’s merry bandwagon. Last night’s NDTV (I think) – had a reporter speaking from Europe. She said that the joke doing the rounds in France was that they would soon have Hindi labels on their Champagene bottles!! Perhaps, that is French ribaldry…
Another busybody quoted in a media report said that the entire Champagne Region was concerned that the bid for Taittinger came from a country that did not respect the principle of controlled origins for wines. Inventive. What next?
Shouldn’t Mallya do a rethink on buying his fleet from Airbus Industrie?
To some extent, it is because we are on the backfoot, as others suggested.
I think the best way to hit back is economically or at least threaten to hit back and there is a chance that the objections would be muted or removed totally.